What did you do in the garden today?

[Franklinridgefarms]

We set up some drip tape irrigation for our potatoes and tomatoes. Wife picked some lettuce and zucchini today.

 

[NightingaleJen]

I totally know how you feel, I could never have afforded to do so much planting if we hadn't had the greenhouse, and I'm silly proud of it all. Even assuming we could have gone out to buy plants. We bought the trees and shrubs but 95% of the raised bed veg and flowers are all seed raised.

Part of it has to be that there is something sort of magical about it—from a wee seed comes all of this beauty and enjoyment. A greenhouse is definitely on my wishlist! (Probably DIY that, too, ha!) Now that the coop is about done...maybe this fall. In the meantime, winter sowing has done the trick for me about 90% of the time. That and the nursery's Sad Plant Rack. (I defy anyone to breeze by that.)

Good luck with those okra! IIRC, they do have very pretty blooms. Thank you for the compliments on the coop! We've gotten so much help here at BYC.

YES!! I made violet jelly this year. The water turns anywhere from a vivid blue to almost black,then you strain out the petals leaving the blue/black water, then when you add the lemon juice ( or lime juice, which I used) the water turns purple!!

We have tons of wild violets 'round here. Must try this next year, if only for the Mr. Wizard-ry of it. I know your Lowe's is out of tomato cages, but if you find or make some, recently I saw someone who actually uses those for their squash (zucchini and pattyinstead of their tomatoes! It seemed to work pretty well, and now that we have our cattle panels up for the tomatoes, the cages are being reserved for the squash.

Thanks for the powdered milk idea, @igorsMistress, will have to keep some on hand just in case. I think I've also read that for tomatoes, at least, it means they're not being watered deeply enough; they need the right amount of water to absorb calcium.

@Sueby, the mantis was made by a local guy. He is often at various fairs and festivals and we could not resist that mantis! There is actually a 6' one, too...maybe some day...

We are also on well water, but it is our own well. Of course it did not take long (two weeks, IIRC) to realize that we HAD to have a softener out here. But for us, whatever is in it prior to going through the softener makes the green beans happy—that or something about the softened water was keeping them from getting something they needed? I'm still not sure.

Our birds arrive the week of 7/20! We're getting Dominiques, Black Australorps, and EEs. I actually wanted Buckeyes or Buff Orpingtons, but neither would be available 'til September (thanks, COVID), plus Hubby thinks EEs are really cute.

Sorry to hear about your hive struggles, @WthrLady. So...do you buy new bees for the queen?

Over here I sowed a few more seeds (sunflowers, cabbage, marigold, more calendula, strawberry spinach—those rascals killed every marigold seedling!) back into the beds to replace what the disposed-of raccoons tore up. Also hoed some weeds out of an ornamental bed and planted the $1 echinacea (speaking of Sad Plants!) and threw some seeds in there, too, then yanked weeds out of the thick moss pouring over the stones in front of our ornamental beds. Mostly a maintenance day, I guess. The green beans and tomatoes do have some blossoms now, hooray!

No glow from the mantis! Tomorrow we'll have to hit him again with another coat of the glow paint. If it doesn't work, I guess we are only out $5.

 

[Lilokieescorter]

Watered & weeded my tomatoes, was looking to see if I had some red plums, but it looks like that ate freeze killed them but @ least I can get Blackberries to make jam with

 

[karenerwin]

Part of it has to be that there is something sort of magical about it—from a wee seed comes all of this beauty and enjoyment. A greenhouse is definitely on my wishlist! (Probably DIY that, too, ha!) Now that the coop is about done...maybe this fall. In the meantime, winter sowing has done the trick for me about 90% of the time. That and the nursery's Sad Plant Rack. (I defy anyone to breeze by that.)

We have tons of wild violets 'round here. Must try this next year, if only for the Mr. Wizard-ry of it. I know your Lowe's is out of tomato cages, but if you find or make some, recently I saw someone who actually uses those for their squash (zucchini and pattyinstead of their tomatoes! It seemed to work pretty well, and now that we have our cattle panels up for the tomatoes, the cages are being reserved for the squash.
@Sueby, the mantis was made by a local guy. He is often at various fairs and festivals and we could not resist that mantis! There is actually a 6' one, too...maybe some day...

I too think that mantis is really cool!! and I also have a hard time walking by the clearance section without looking to see what I might NEED. Today I picked up 4 four packs of purple petunias for 10 cents a pack (and they were in much better shape than the last 10 cent petunia packs I bought a week or so ago!).

It's funny that you mention using the tomato cages for the squash. As I was trying to figure out how to get the homemade tomato cage around the biggest tomatillo plant I was looking at the cucumbers and thinking that I should make some cages for them as well.
I ended up making a shorter cage for the tomatillo plant. It needs to be taller but I couldn't see how to get it around the plant and not mess up either the plant or the tomatillos on it or the zucchini plants and sunflower plants near it.

I did manage to get my blood work done today but it was still a challenge. She didn't put the orders in until I went by her office this morning and then she didn't put in all of them. But we got it figured out for the most part. I also went and got my allergy shot.
Then went by Walmart and picked out some honey bee friendly flowers (and some that are just pretty). Oh, and I picked up 2 eggplants and planted them in the raised bed when I got home.

After I got home ( and ate) I did the split on my bee hive! There are a bunch of pictures in the thread, "The Honey Factory", if anyone wants to take a look.

I watered the gardens and made the 2 plant cages before calling it a night.
Tomorrow after my virtual doctor appointment, I need to cut grass and then make more plant cages and plant the purple petunias and the other flowers that I bought. Oh, and I haven't found the time to butcher any of the meat chickens yet this week like I need to.
I'm sure they don't mind!
We may get some rain on Saturday and/or Tuesday. We'll see.
I do have a couple of zucchini and a tiny yellow squash and a lot of smallish green tomatoes! I'm also still cutting asparagus and lettuce and the strawberries still have some flowers on them.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Our garden is getting to dry out maybe chickens yards will dry a bit they say rest of the summer we should be mostly be dry and warm we will see

 

[NewBoots]

It rained last night and this morning so no watering 'cept the greenhouse, just starting some new seeds for this interesting sage, phlomis russeliana (Jerusalem Sage):

Finally got the hasp put on the chicken coop door. Now any raccoon trying to get into the coop will have to be a master locksmith. Got the first section of lattice hung for the rose fence wall. Course that meant cutting the weeds and grass that had grown the lattice to the ground back on the bluff where we left stored it. I remember the dark time before weed eaters... Does anyone remember the floating lawnmowers? They floated above the ground on a cushion of air? Flymo! I think they're still a UK thing.

Planted the last of my seedling chard, added bone meal to all the beds with tomatoes or squash in them. Hopefully it will help with the end rot issue. Made some more saw-horses to use as work bench legs. We might make more but shorter to use as legs for benches. Starting to discuss building a huge pergola with a sail cloth top to make a sitting area by the chicken fountain.

We are getting so many humming birds now that we have to refill the three feeders every day so we're going to give the bottle type feeders another try. We stopped using them because they were so hard to clean properly but the one I'll be picking up with the Walmart order tomorrow is supposed to be easy clean and is cheap.

Our master plan to just leave the back 15' or so of the property wild has run into the reality of the fire hazard. I guess I'll be weeding eating it down to about 6" or so, rake it off, put it in the burn box, and throw clover seed over the wild area. Clover almost never dries out so will hopefully protect it from fire, won't mind being cut back, and still give little critters and such a place to winter over.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Now that sounds like a great plan maybe use some succulents
like hens chickens also

 

[AllenK RGV]

Last time i had my blood drawn (Lab corps) the check-in screen said water and also coffee were ok and still counted as fasting. The coffee had to be black, I'm pretty sure. But i think sugar was allowed for some reason.
Also, a doctor once told me that something my son had eaten (he forgot to fast) was fine, and it still counted as fasting. The reasoning was along the lines of no protein, or fat, I think. Something to that effect. As long as the body wasn't stimulated to squirt out gall bladder juice, it was fine and the tests would be accurate.
Of course, we're not talking about blood sugar tests here.
Maybe the 50 mile drive can be managed w black sugared coffee and an apple. And a roll with jelly! How's that for fasting? Really, I think food quantity was involved in the equation, as well. But if your doctor knows how to converse with a patient, maybe all is not lost and they can give you acceptable tips.


Asprin for what purpose?

The sugar would be an issue and make your CMP look off or they might think you could be prediabetic/diabetic due to the >120 blood sugar. Then they redraw you for a HGA1C later.

I never do my VA lab work on the scheduled date/time. That day is usually a Mon-Tue and you will be sitting there for hours before they get to you as it feels like a cattle feed lot(my personal kryptonite a full VA waiting area). You never see those waiting areas insanely full any other time of the week. I wait until Wed-Friday for my lab draws.

However, if you are ever looking for helpful hints with your next colonoscopy.... I got the answer to making an evening on the crapper more enjoyable with your golytely. Basically, vodka jello shots for your evening meal or add any clear spirit to the golytely. Being a bit hung over the next morning seems to help me with the sense of time passing for procedural delays related to the colonoscopy. NOT SOUND MEDICAL ADVICE- but good general practice from my experience. Added bonus the alcohol breaks down into calories to fix that AM hangryness(another of my theories). I don't worry about the potential for additive CNS depression from the narcotic/hypnotics they push as you are on a cardiac and respiratory monitor.

 

[Sueby]

LOL @AllenK RGV - I like the way you think! Jello shots!

@NewBoots that sage is SO pretty!

Just got back from the doc for my spinal injections. Here's hoping they help otherwise I have to start considering surgery & I really don't want to do that. Got the chickens all watered & fed before the Novocain wears off, seems to be a 50/50 shot if I'm able to walk or not by the end of the day. Even if I can DH gets to cook dinner. Going to get humid hear & I heard the words heat wave. Ugh, yuck.

So needless to say I won't be doing anything in the garden today. Watered a real deep water yesterday & thinned out the bush squash since they aren't vines like I thought. Moved some herb pots off the deck & into the garden where they will stay now, that gives the fig tree much better light. The blueberries are starting to ripen, yay!

So do you all pinch of the first couple of blooms from your tomato plants while they're small, or do you let them go? I can never decide which way to go & have a bunch on the San Marzanos. They're only about a foot tall, maybe a foot & a half.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I sure hope the shot helps with your back pain @Sueby. And yes despite it being 47F this morning the temps are supposed to jump up near and above 90F starting tomorrow. And let's just not mention the humidity. I got the side yard mowed and trimmed yesterday. That's the area with the 45 degree incline that I only mow when absolutely necessary. Today I'll trim the front yard and get the big mower out. I also picked a small head of endive and romaine lettuce that were growing too close to the cabbage. Thanks for all the advice on the fasting blood work thing, but I think I'll just work something out with my doctor. And I'm sorry you have a problem with your VA clinic @AllenK RGV, but the Boston VA is very well run and I've had only an occasional delay in the waiting rooms. Nothing to be too concerned about. And I must say the phlebotomists are excellent as are all of the medical personnel. I'm grateful for the excellent care I receive there and it is so worth the long commute. I still have a few things that need to be planted. OMG! what a slow year for the garden. I did manage to get some bread baked yesterday. Thank goodness for that. Tomorrow is being set aside for putting the AC units in the windows. My house stays pretty cool but sometimes a little AC is needed. The peas are blooming and still climbing so hopefully I'll have some peas soo. The bush beans look like they might be blooming soon as well. Please send some of your rain this way @penny1960 it's so dry here. Have a great day everyone.