What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Yesterday was nice. No rain and it didn't get too warm until late in the day. There were only a few fireworks last night so that was nice too. I thinned out the cabbage yesterday. There were 5 heads growing really close together so I removed two of the plants. After clearing away the loose leaves I only had one small conehead. I saved the nicest leaves to make cabbage rolls. The others went into the compost. This morning I picked a larger handful of peas and my first zucchini of the season. There had been another zucchini developing but it was being crushed by the tomato cage so I removed it. Hopefully that will encourage more fruiting. My cucumbers are flowering and trying to develop cucumbers. All of my pepper plants except for the poblanos are blooming. So the garden is going well so far. I may hold off on mowing the backyard today since it isn't all that deep. But I will definitely weed whack the garden area. My sourdough bread is already on its first rise. So not much else to do. Love the sunflower @karenerwin. Have a great day everyone.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. No gardening at all this week except for watering, we'll be at 111, 112, 115...ugh! Heat warnings all week. I'm going to bring in a few things today, the heat is definitely getting to the christmas cacti; might need to bring the fern back in as well. I'm doing a few paint touch ups in the kitchen and then starting on the enclosed patio. Have a great day everyone!

 

[WthrLady]

Wow, @NightingaleJen, that is seriously sucky that you are that allergic to mosquito bites!!
View attachment 2230738View attachment 2230739Have you ever seen or heard of these products? The 1st picture is one you can spray on your person , the 2nd picture is used to treat your clothes or camping gear.
I wonder if either of these would help you?
I haven’t actually tried either of them but have used a product similar to the yellow can. Mostly to keep off ticks!
We make both of these products where I work ( and we are allowed to take 2 cans every day that we work) so I brought them home to try.

TWO CANS A DAY?!?!?! Good grief!

 

[Sueby]

TWO CANS A DAY?!?!?! Good grief!

My thoughts exactly! We use the permethrin on our clothes when we go wheeling in the woods for ticks & skeeters - I'd be all over that 2 cans a day! Especially not having to mix it up in a sprayer!

@igorsMistress Nope, way too hot!! Ugh.

Not much going on here today, busy busy at work. Still fighting the endless fight on the japanese & mexican beetles. The chickens are getting all the lettuce that bolted, they definitely love the endive the best. They wanted nothing to do with the beetles I dumped, ungrateful little witches.

Cool & cloudy today, back to hot & humid tomorrow & for the foreseeable future I think. Great.

Have a good one all!

 

[MrLeeHo]

Tomatoes are finally taking off, counted 45 on 6 plants yesterday. Was a slow start but hoping they are in gear now. Finally got my first fruit on zucchini and squash plants, had been looking at dozens of male flowers for the last week. Also finally getting fruit on the cukes. Canteloupe is flowering but all males as well. Peppers are forming except the Pablanos and Bananas. Doesn't look like we are going to get a very good onion harvest, I think we planted a few weeks late

 

[igorsMistress]

I went to walmart for a paint brush and came home with new dishes. If Igor kills me, rest assured my garden will be doing quite well!

 

[NewBoots]

I saved the nicest leaves to make cabbage rolls.

Doh, I never thought of doing that. Mmmm cabbage rolls...

No gardening at all this week except for watering, we'll be at 111, 112, 115...ugh!

I'd lose my mind, anything above 80 is too hot.

They wanted nothing to do with the beetles I dumped, ungrateful little witches.

Mine don't like worms. What the heck? Only my two sussex (clever girls) have the sense to eat them.

Tomatoes are finally taking off, counted 45 on 6 plants yesterday. Was a slow start but hoping they are in gear now.

Same here, my peppers are still lagging behind but I have hope.

I went to walmart for a paint brush and came home with new dishes. If Igor kills me, rest assured my garden will be doing quite well!

Yes but the wake will be held with lovely dishes

Watering's done, the soakers are on, chickens are munching on the yummy giant zucchini that thought they could hide from me (they could). A friend is going to drop off some frozen watermelon and cantaloupe rinds and give us half a banana bread, so score! Gave away all the ready snap peas this morning, a few beets, and more zucchini to a neighbor. Opened one jar of the pickled beets I made a few days ago (I wasn't positive the seal was right so it went into the fridge) and they are delicious! So I'll be making more of those. DP wants us to stock up on more supplies like rice and since fish and rice go so well together, I need to get the rest of the frozen fish canned.

Canning question, I know you can take the rings off of pressure canned jars and just leave the lid on for storage, do you? I worry that the jar will get bumped the let the seal fail but it would be nice to use less rings. What say you? Am I being a nervous nelly?

And now that I think of it, canning rabbit and chicken sounds like a good plan too. Gonna have to make a pretty canning cabinet like @WthrLady has.

 

[igorsMistress]

Doh, I never thought of doing that. Mmmm cabbage rolls...
I'd lose my mind, anything above 80 is too hot.
Mine don't like worms. What the heck? Only my two sussex (clever girls) have the sense to eat them.
Same here, my peppers are still lagging behind but I have hope.
Yes but the wake will be held with lovely dishes

Watering's done, the soakers are on, chickens are munching on the yummy giant zucchini that thought they could hide from me (they could). A friend is going to drop off some frozen watermelon and cantaloupe rinds and give us half a banana bread, so score! Gave away all the ready snap peas this morning, a few beets, and more zucchini to a neighbor. Opened one jar of the pickled beets I made a few days ago (I wasn't positive the seal was right so it went into the fridge) and they are delicious! So I'll be making more of those. DP wants us to stock up on more supplies like rice and since fish and rice go so well together, I need to get the rest of the frozen fish canned.

Canning question, I know you can take the rings off of pressure canned jars and just leave the lid on for storage, do you? I worry that the jar will get bumped the let the seal fail but it would be nice to use less rings. What say you? Am I being a nervous nelly?

And now that I think of it, canning rabbit and chicken sounds like a good plan too. Gonna have to make a pretty canning cabinet like @WthrLady has.

I don't remove the rings. I'm always worried they might get banged around and come loose too.

 

[WthrLady]

LOL. We haven't been below 83 as a high since May.

Another 2 hours in the hayfield. It's on it's final cure. I hope to bale it this evening. It will be awesome to be DONE,

currently 89 degrees with a dewpoint of 73

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I used to leave them on but I read in one of the canning cookbooks that you should take them off because they could rust. And cabbage rolls are a good way to use those big floppy cabbage leaves. They freeze well too.