What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners cooler day feels good will be out in the garden if I remember to take the phone ..

 

[WthrLady]

There are only 2 sheds nearby that are not concrete floors. Definitely an option. A few decks, but ours is completely blocked off with HWC and blocks. The other two homes don’t have any animals or gardens, so little draw, but always a possibility.



true. My neighbor whose flock was killed has been dismantling the area. He built a bigger coop, but started with a small pre-fab 3 years ago. He burned the prefab where it sat the other day, so that should have helped minimize the smell in that particular area. But coons aren’t neat eaters, so pieces of chickens were Spread around so smell will linger for awhile.



I’ve been wanting to get a trail camera, and am currently borrowing the neighbor’s. So, that is a bit of research for me to do today.

25$ wize camera

 

[NightingaleJen]

Couldn't sign on for a while, again. This week has been wildly busy! Even took off for an impromptu photo shoot Tuesday evening (I'm no longer officially in business, but still love taking pictures, so...). We have guest this evening so I spent this morning baking goodies before it got hot and stormy again. We've had a fair bit of rain, thunder, and lightning this week.

Glad to hear everyone's squash are blooming...I hope the male to female blossom ratio works out for the harvests!

The garden is most happy under its 3-4" straw blanket now. I also had another 25' soaker tape hose arrive two days later, which meant lots of fun pulling back said lovely straw 'blanket' to put in the new hose, but it will be worth it. The immovable dirt beneath my thumbnail, on the other hand...no, that will be worth it too. If I tell my guests it is immovable brownie batter, do you think they will believe me?

Lost that cucumber seedling, but since I planted a bunch more, maybe they'll live. I also put squash seeds inside old metal cans I sank halfway into the ground—might be a cutworm problem. If nobody germinates by the end of the week, it's off to the nursery for starts. You can't win them all, some years!

My tomatoes are finally tall enough to get gently tied to the trellis! Many blooms. Those alone make me happy! I also pulled a small handful of green beans off one of my plants. There are enough to be either a garnish or a snack, so...snack. Straight out of the garden. (Hey, it really has been raining a lot here this week...)



Turned the compost pile and not only does the 'done' part look dark and gorgeous...there are the biggest earthworms I have EVER seen in there! My fisherman grandfather would have loved to get his hands on these things. They're alien big.

No more beautiful turtles but while putting mulch in the flowerbeds, spotted to beautiful *actual* ladybugs—not the evil imposter kind. One was yellow with mostly black and one white spot! Plus the lightning bugs are coming out in force now.

Yesterday, the dianthus—alas, they hit the end of their bloom before the BBQ!—were given a haircut. As I was taking the leavings to the compost pile, a large black *something* crawled out of them and up my arm! AGH! So now there are little half-brown dianthus heads all over the ground twelve feet from the compost pile, because they were tossed and left. LOL It's okay, they'll be mowed over.

Thanks everyone for the sunflower encouragement. I've planted more—why not?—but did leave the beheaded one. Better to have a smallish bloom than none at all.

Is anyone having a rough time with marigolds this year? Usually I've several gigantic ones going by this point. While I suspect the raccoons destroyed most of my seedlings, I keep planting them and nothing happens. Out of the maybe 40 seeds...one plant (in a container). Nor could we find them at the nursery! Weird.

@Acre4Me That shed! Your veg beds! Beautiful! Congrats on catching a few of the masked handmaidens of Satan. Maybe all of us here can get a nice coonskin cap side business going... That is a LOT of raccoons. We literally live *in the woods* and have only caught three. Wait...four? Still. That's it (for now).

Beautiful baby tomato, @Sueby! Already looking for them here, though I think the plants have barely been in the bed for a month. LOL Gardeners are a special and delightful kind of crazy, aren't we?

@igorsMistress Cute new icon! Sounds to me like someone is taking advantage of the AC by doing indoors stuff... Do you have an actual dehydrator, or do you use your oven or one of those sun ovens? Pineapple is naturally so sweet already—maybe that is why it seems so sweet dehydrated. I'm sorry about your mom, and hope & pray she comes through okay. @penny1960 is right—treatment these days is light years ahead of where it was 20 years ago, maybe even ten years ago. Sill nothing you want anyone to go through. If it helps, my aunt had it fifteen years ago and is, thank God, still around with us, hale and hearty!

Cool zucs, @Kenzelton the 3rd! I've never seen that before!

Welcome to the party, @AusHen & @Sooner Magnolia !

@Flockincrazy Venison jerky is the best. Delish.

@Morgk I've heard of planting chamomile with tomatoes, too. Usually I surround mine with nasturtium and borage, as well as basil and cilantro.

@WthrLady That is some hardcore punishment for that snake going after your ankle. ;P (JK, that was hilarious.

@TropicalBabies Sorry to hear about your neighbor troubles. :/ That's not right. Never heard of a generation thinking it's not a woman's job to take care of things, thoug—well, maybe my sister... Still. Most gardeners I know are stupid generous and love to share once the garden is full swing. She couldn't wait? Or even say how beautiful your tomatoes looked and ask if she could have a taste? You are right, the lying is the worst part.

Have a great weekend, all, or what is left of it! Love the photos. You'd think I'd be better at taking them, but it is one of those years, I guess.

We're going to visit a collie breeder's kennel tomorrow. Hard to believe it has been six months now since we lost our buddy Ben. I think about and miss him every single day. Looking forward to getting my 'fix'.

Here's the garden as of yesterday! The veg garden, anyhow.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yeast bread about to go in the oven .. potato salad to make still go with dinner

 

[igorsMistress]

Couldn't sign on for a while, again. This week has been wildly busy! Even took off for an impromptu photo shoot Tuesday evening (I'm no longer officially in business, but still love taking pictures, so...). We have guest this evening so I spent this morning baking goodies before it got hot and stormy again. We've had a fair bit of rain, thunder, and lightning this week.

Glad to hear everyone's squash are blooming...I hope the male to female blossom ratio works out for the harvests!

The garden is most happy under its 3-4" straw blanket now. I also had another 25' soaker tape hose arrive two days later, which meant lots of fun pulling back said lovely straw 'blanket' to put in the new hose, but it will be worth it. The immovable dirt beneath my thumbnail, on the other hand...no, that will be worth it too. If I tell my guests it is immovable brownie batter, do you think they will believe me?

Lost that cucumber seedling, but since I planted a bunch more, maybe they'll live. I also put squash seeds inside old metal cans I sank halfway into the ground—might be a cutworm problem. If nobody germinates by the end of the week, it's off to the nursery for starts. You can't win them all, some years!

My tomatoes are finally tall enough to get gently tied to the trellis! Many blooms. Those alone make me happy! I also pulled a small handful of green beans off one of my plants. There are enough to be either a garnish or a snack, so...snack. Straight out of the garden. (Hey, it really has been raining a lot here this week...)

View attachment 2215236

Turned the compost pile and not only does the 'done' part look dark and gorgeous...there are the biggest earthworms I have EVER seen in there! My fisherman grandfather would have loved to get his hands on these things. They're alien big.

No more beautiful turtles but while putting mulch in the flowerbeds, spotted to beautiful *actual* ladybugs—not the evil imposter kind. One was yellow with mostly black and one white spot! Plus the lightning bugs are coming out in force now.

Yesterday, the dianthus—alas, they hit the end of their bloom before the BBQ!—were given a haircut. As I was taking the leavings to the compost pile, a large black *something* crawled out of them and up my arm! AGH! So now there are little half-brown dianthus heads all over the ground twelve feet from the compost pile, because they were tossed and left. LOL It's okay, they'll be mowed over.

Thanks everyone for the sunflower encouragement. I've planted more—why not?—but did leave the beheaded one. Better to have a smallish bloom than none at all.

Is anyone having a rough time with marigolds this year? Usually I've several gigantic ones going by this point. While I suspect the raccoons destroyed most of my seedlings, I keep planting them and nothing happens. Out of the maybe 40 seeds...one plant (in a container). Nor could we find them at the nursery! Weird.

@Acre4Me That shed! Your veg beds! Beautiful! Congrats on catching a few of the masked handmaidens of Satan. Maybe all of us here can get a nice coonskin cap side business going... That is a LOT of raccoons. We literally live *in the woods* and have only caught three. Wait...four? Still. That's it (for now).

Beautiful baby tomato, @Sueby! Already looking for them here, though I think the plants have barely been in the bed for a month. LOL Gardeners are a special and delightful kind of crazy, aren't we?

@igorsMistress Cute new icon! Sounds to me like someone is taking advantage of the AC by doing indoors stuff... Do you have an actual dehydrator, or do you use your oven or one of those sun ovens? Pineapple is naturally so sweet already—maybe that is why it seems so sweet dehydrated. I'm sorry about your mom, and hope & pray she comes through okay. @penny1960 is right—treatment these days is light years ahead of where it was 20 years ago, maybe even ten years ago. Sill nothing you want anyone to go through. If it helps, my aunt had it fifteen years ago and is, thank God, still around with us, hale and hearty!

Cool zucs, @Kenzelton the 3rd! I've never seen that before!

Welcome to the party, @AusHen & @Sooner Magnolia !

@Flockincrazy Venison jerky is the best. Delish.

@Morgk I've heard of planting chamomile with tomatoes, too. Usually I surround mine with nasturtium and borage, as well as basil and cilantro.

@WthrLady That is some hardcore punishment for that snake going after your ankle. ;P (JK, that was hilarious.

@TropicalBabies Sorry to hear about your neighbor troubles. :/ That's not right. Never heard of a generation thinking it's not a woman's job to take care of things, thoug—well, maybe my sister... Still. Most gardeners I know are stupid generous and love to share once the garden is full swing. She couldn't wait? Or even say how beautiful your tomatoes looked and ask if she could have a taste? You are right, the lying is the worst part.

Have a great weekend, all, or what is left of it! Love the photos. You'd think I'd be better at taking them, but it is one of those years, I guess.

We're going to visit a collie breeder's kennel tomorrow. Hard to believe it has been six months now since we lost our buddy Ben. I think about and miss him every single day. Looking forward to getting my 'fix'.

Here's the garden as of yesterday! The veg garden, anyhow.

View attachment 2215238

Thanks for the well wishes. My mom is going to be fine, she and I decided that already! I do have an actual dehydrator. It has 6 trays, but can take up to 9 I think, and temperature control. I've had it for a long time, ten years I think, and use it a lot. As for staying in the a/c you know it! It's been around 110 this week and that's just nasty!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hard to get motivated in 110 We are like 73 today gosh feels nice
I made a pullman loaf 16 inch pan.. Made a nice one

 

[WthrLady]

Phew. We skipped June altogether and jumped from mid may to late July. Heat indexes have been from 85-108 every day since then. Happy tomato weather. I can stand working about 30 minutes before the heat starts to win. YUCK. It's just draining.

Ran into town today to get lumber for a small project. Their large saw was broken and I can't get a 4x8 ply in my truck and didn't have the trailer today. So I tabled that project.

Stopped at tractor store for baling twine and grease.

Quick market trip. Managed 93% fat free beef for $4 a pound, so bought several to cook and can up.

Added the extra 12 drip lines in the garden, pruned the tomatoes and fed them. I still need to attach the lines to nearer the plants they water, but for this hot afternoon, they're close enough.

A couple of baby tomatoes out there and a couple of baby boston marrow squash. Cabbages look good too, a few ripening raspberries.

 

[jerryse]

I have bees in one of my swarm traps . So back in beekeeping .

 

[pennyJo1960]

Should I put a bee box up ? have some every now and then ?

 

[AllenK RGV]

Should I put a bee box up ? have some every now and then ?

wish I knew. I just know I can't pass on those bee house tube things we do have a few set up. We definitely need more pollinators in this world.

Late Edit for photo:
Even our 1860's(ok I was a bit off on the dating 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831 per wikipedia) or so opium war era porch ashtray gets used by bees and wasps. This is an old soapstone carved thing we picked up at a French Flea market a decade or so ago for around 5 dollars. The eyes and mouth get filled in though for their offspring.