What did you do in the garden today?

[ChocolateMouse]

Penny - not supposed to be a service dog. Just a pet. But she has RA and has trouble walking/handling the dogs she has. She can't grip the leashes comfortably for example and is frequently tired - too tired to exercise them. It's just two big dogs and one small dog is a lot of dog for someone with a disability that inhibits motion.

It probably would have been OK if she'd gotten a smaller dog. She had one big dog and one small dog and added a second big dog to her house. A second smaller dog would have probably worked out better.

 

[dunnmom]

Been picking some bush beans and tomatoes.

Yanked out my snap pea plants to make more room for my cantaloupe to run. Seeing female flowers on those, finally.

Found some flowers on my cucumbers. Yay for pickles! Anyone have a good refrigerator pickle recipe?

I found out where the bees went. I hadn't been seeing any in the garden, but there were definitely some in our jujube tree. It's flowers smell so good! No wonder they are getting all of the bee action.

 

[dunnmom]

Hello garden friends. I lost her yesterday. She was gone when I got home from work. I checked her vent, all fine. No idea why. I'm sad. RIP sweet Ruby the black birchen marans. She was shaping up to be a lap chicken before she got sick.

That said, since I only had her for about two months, it isn't quite as painful as when I lost Elena, my first. She was three and I was a mess.

I'm so sorry about Ruby, and Elena.

 

[Chris2018]

Well they were watered much more than I would have wanted. We’ve had anywhere from 12 to 15 inches of rain in the past few weeks. Finally dry for a few days now. When I do water them it is either from my water barrel or my tap water from inside which is well water. Everything I research makes it look like it is a phosphorus deficiency. And it kind of makes sense because I just opened this new area to expand my garden . I added blood meal With my Manoe were yesterday so hopefully that will straighten all that up. Only two tomatoes were showing signs of the purple leaves so I’m hoping I caught all the rest of them before they start looking funny

I believe since you had so much water your tomatoes are in a nutrient lockout. Basicly its not taking in any nutrients and your getting a phosphorus deficiency. If this is correct then once the soil dryers out you tomatoes should come slowly out of it. In my experience if the plants are in lockout adding fertilizer to the ground does little to no good until they they start taking in nutrients again. What you could try is foliar feeding with a good fertilizer about 1/2 straight at first.

 

[Birdsong 82]

They’ve been growing and dropping blooms like crazy. We had a week or dry weather thank goodness. I’m surprised I didn’t have any losses from all that rain. Lots of people around here lost a lot plants. Never heard of nutrient lock-out. Thanks for the info! Just glad it’s not blight

 

[Birdsong 82]

What is folier feeding?

 

[Birdsong 82]

Leaving my garden for 2 days to the fate of my husband. Scary. Raleigh NC bound!!!! I get outta the house like once a year lol. Nice hanging with HIgh school friend. Especially since we used to be so close and lost touch for 10 years give or take and reconnected and right where we left off. So many things happened in that time like marriage and owning a home and well.... growing up but found we’re still so much alike after all those changes

 

[Chris2018]

What is folier feeding?

Foliar feeding is feeding a way of feeding your plants through there leaves instead of there roots.
Basicly your mixing the fertilizer at around half strength then adding the mixture to a pump up sprayer then you spray your folage (top and bottom).

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Foliar feeding is also a great way to treat blossom end rot in tomatoes and zucchini. We get it almost every year and we just spray the plants down with about a cup of milk in a gallon of water. It gives them a huge calcium boost that is immediately available to the plants and the next group of blossoms develop into fruits instead of rotting.

 

[dunnmom]

Foliar feeding is also a great way to treat blossom end rot in tomatoes and zucchini. We get it almost every year and we just spray the plants down with about a cup of milk in a gallon of water. It gives them a huge calcium boost that is immediately available to the plants and the next group of blossoms develop into fruits instead of rotting.

Oh man! I didn't know about the milk. Maybe I should try that. We have lots of BER fruits on our San Marzanos. There's a few on our Cherokee Purples, too. They are producing heavily, but we still have a long growing season ahead. Would this work on our peppers? They've been aborting their fruits before they have a chance to grow.