What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

Oh ok my going crazy squash is called sweet momma so acorn we love them

 

[NewBoots]

@NewBoots interesting that you got that much fertilizer! I've been thinking about trying compost tea so let us know if you think it helped please.

Will do. A 5 gallon bucket made about 4 gallons of finished "tea" and at 10 to 1 it's roughly 40 gallons or so. I'm really hoping it works, very little work for a lot of liquid fertilizer. I figure once I run out of borage I'll use whatever I'm pulling or cutting at the time.

The dill I planted in the garden bed with the butternut squash is growing. I'm not sure how well it will grow however, since the squash vines are just monstrous.

This is the only time I've successfully grown dill and I think shading the base of the dill was why it did so well this year. That's kale growing at the base.

. More rain coming today.

Could you send us some please? 20% chance of rain here next Monday but I'm not counting on it. Folks who've lived here a long time say the rain stops by mid June and doesn't rain again till late September. You'd think there'd be more rain on the Oregon coast.

Bought Swiss Chard and Collard seeds to plant for the fall garden. I never did a fall garden before but food security is a big motivating factor.

Kale is excellent too and just keeps producing. And if you get a little frost, Dragon Tongue mustard greens are awesome. Frost makes them sweeter and they're another long producer.

Put that Carolina Reaper in it. Did I make a Mistake? Did I find a use for a pepper too hot for anything else? I will find out the hardware lol.

Well it'll be great for sipping when you have a head or chest cold, but I'm not sure how you'd use it in most recipes that call for "a flavorful liquid".

Did the watering and critter care done. Swapped out a couple of leaking chicken waterers and then cleaned out the damp shavings and replaced them this clean dry shavings. Amelia (my BO and a sweet girl, good nature as can be) is always the first one to come back into the coop to inspect my work. It passed inspection. I got the tomatoes topped so I shouldn't need a ladder to pick the fruit. The marigolds I planted next to the tomatoes are well behaved and are content with the fringes of the raised beds.

I don't know if they did anything to keep away pests but I don't have any bugs on the tomatoes. No polar bears either for that matter so who knows?

A few general pics:

View of the beds from the front porch.

Supposed to be a Oregon native clarkia but given the different colors we're getting, they are mixed domestic crosses. Pretty though and likes to climb through other more robust plants and pop out with some color.

Comfrey plants, they have pretty dark purple flowers and the native bees love them. You can also feed them to rabbits in moderation. If nothing else, I'll make compost tea out of them at the end of the season.

Last of the peas in the background, and Brussels sprouts. Never grown them before so I can't wait to see how they do. Right now they are huge but the sprouts are teeny bumps.

Wow, got kinda nut with the pictures, that's all for now.

 

[Acre4Me]

Looks like the regular and XL Butternut squash plants are putting out a new female bud. Regular one bloomed today, the XL one blooms tomorrow. Even the female flower is larger on the XL plant.

Regular butternut is on left. The XL "Trombone" variety is on the right.

Garden mystery: Neighbor pulled these off a single plant. This is not blossom end rot. Also, the tomatoes are still firm. Neighbor is wondering what is this problem? These tomatoes were not on the ground, they were attached to the stem above ground. There isn't anything tall in front of or behind the plants, so they would be getting good airflow . Sunburn....not sure, but the leaves have never been trimmed, and looks like a lot of shady foliage for the tomatoes.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

Don't laugh.....okay, I know you won't be able to help it, so go ahead. Remember when I was asking about cages for my daughter's mini melons, well, the biggest one turned yellow. I'm not used to things turning from yellow to green, so I got to thinking and checked the seed packets. They are spaghetti squash! Her eyes got really big when I fessed up today. Score for me, I love them! We'll have to try to get a watermelon going in time for her LOL. Tomorrow! Also remembering the discussion about mixing summer and winter squash. The vine is growing like crazy and I have new yellow summer squash on the top of the hay bale. Should I move the vine or remove male flowers from that section?

Bean and pea flowers are pretty.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

I can’t believe it! More storms coming

 

[karenerwin]

Our all day rain held off until around 5 this evening and then let loose!
I picked 4 more big zucchini and 3 or 4 tomatoes today. Oh, and I dumped one of the potato buckets. It was less than impressive.
I got 5 red potatoes out of it.

None of them are very big, hopefully they are super delicious to make up for it! Also 3 tomatillos had yellow husks. So now I am wondering if I should have waited for all the rest to get yellow husks before I picked them?
I made the pickles I mentioned earlier then I butchered one of the meat birds. ( 12 more to go! Out of 22). Then
I made another batch of carrot cake jam. Yes, I cleaned and disinfected first.

Here is the big red bowl of tomatillos I have sitting in the counter.

 

[karenerwin]

@NewBoots I would gladly send you some of our rain. We are supposed to get more the next 2 days then have 2 or 3 sunny days then back to 2 to 3 days of rain! August and July aren’t usually this wet here!!

 

[igorsMistress]

Looks like the regular and XL Butternut squash plants are putting out a new female bud. Regular one bloomed today, the XL one blooms tomorrow. Even the female flower is larger on the XL plant.

Regular butternut is on left. The XL "Trombone" variety is on the right.
View attachment 2269018


Garden mystery: Neighbor pulled these off a single plant. This is not blossom end rot. Also, the tomatoes are still firm. Neighbor is wondering what is this problem? These tomatoes were not on the ground, they were attached to the stem above ground. There isn't anything tall in front of or behind the plants, so they would be getting good airflow . Sunburn....not sure, but the leaves have never been trimmed, and looks like a lot of shady foliage for the tomatoes.
View attachment 2269023

Maybe this? https://www.thespruce.com/tomato-problems-botrytis-or-gray-mold-1402967

 

[igorsMistress]

Our all day rain held off until around 5 this evening and then let loose!
I picked 4 more big zucchini and 3 or 4 tomatoes today. Oh, and I dumped one of the potato buckets. It was less than impressive.
I got 5 red potatoes out of it. View attachment 2269216None of them are very big, hopefully they are super delicious to make up for it! Also 3 tomatillos had yellow husks. So now I am wondering if I should have waited for all the rest to get yellow husks before I picked them?
I made the pickles I mentioned earlier then I butchered one of the meat birds. ( 12 more to go! Out of 22). Then
I made another batch of carrot cake jam. Yes, I cleaned and disinfected first. View attachment 2269218Here is the big red bowl of tomatillos I have sitting in the counter.

I've seen tomatillos without yellowing husks. I think they're like tomatoes, they'll ripen on a counter or windowsill

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

Carrot cake jam sounds intriguing. Recipe please?