What did you do in the garden today?

[Sooner Magnolia]

Oklahoma weather is very fickle. A few rumblings and now all is clear. We'll see about overnight.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

Sorry about all the tree/sky pictures, but we do have some beautiful sunsets and I do appreciate all our big trees!

 

[Sequel]

Sorry about all the tree/sky pictures, but we do have some beautiful sunsets and I do appreciate all our big trees!View attachment 2269387View attachment 2269388View attachment 2269392

Very nice! Thanks for sharing them!

 

[Compost King]

I'm not sure how you'd use it in most recipes that call for "a flavorful liquid".

I will be using it tomorrow morning to slow cook my dry beans (with tomatoes and peppers) using the same spices used in chili. I might use my mild peppers instead of hot peppers. I will taste test the broth before I pick peppers.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Ok so the hurricane passed. I am still loving on this bottle of cashews I bought. Obviously it was great rescue food. And how else can you describe a kilo+ sized pacakage?

 

[Acre4Me]

@igorsMistress - thanks for the link! It’s probably not that problem bc it’s not in the stem end! But, now I know of another problem with tomatoes plants!

 

[littledog]

OK two funny stories to start your morning, and then I have to pop out for the day.

1. There is a lady on our local craigslist, who apparently never knew you don't need to plant the WHOLE package of zucchini. Yup, it has taken over the world. She is selling zucchini.
(Told the story before, but as a kid, mom used to send us down to the local market with our wagon loaded with bags of the stuff. If your car door was unlocked, surprise, you win free zucchini!)

2. I've been sharing the exploits of our large flock of newly fledged barn swallows. We had many nests fledge at the same time, and they have now formed their own gang. I won't call it a flock, as they fly around all day, en masse, getting into all kinds of mischief. They really love dive bombing me while I'm in the garden and seeing how close they can get to my head before I start swearing at them. The game 'drop and catch the feather' from great heights is still of hearty amusement to them, although the hens would prefer it if they would gather the loose feathers from the yard and not their butts.

So yesterday, I'm taking three minutes to myself in the shade of the barn, just kicking back in the Addy Chair and I hear one of those giant black and gold cicadas we have here. I love listening to them. But this one sounded odd. It wasn't a steady whir like it normally was. It had a doppler shift to the whirring. The sound was coming and going faintly, but not like it does when they have trouble getting their little engines going. So I got up out of the spot and wandered back into the sunshine (blast furnace) to look for it.

The whir was to my left, so I went to the willow tree. Nope, right, back to the garden. Behind me, off to the woodpile. Above my head, wait, what the hell?!

I look up and there is the Barn Swallow Gang, and one rather unfortunate Prairie Cicada. One of the birds had managed to snatch it, but either didn't know what to DO with the darn thing, but didn't want to let his treasure go, or he was taunting the others with his great treasure. He was flying to and fro with the thing, landing on the wires next to his friends, and all the while the poor thing is rattling off it's displeasure. This went on for almost 15 minutes before I got too hot to watch anymore, but good grief.

HaHa, that's awesome. Amazing the entertainment Mother Nature shows us when we just stop and look.

 

[Sueby]

@NewBoots - no polar bears - you crack me up. Beds are looking great, thanks for sharing!

@Acre4Me I've never seen tomatoes like that, that's a bummer, I hope they figure it out (& may have by the time I finish catching up!). How about black mold maybe?

@Sooner Magnolia - I love spaghetti squash! Don't forget to plant the melons! This was the carrot cake jam recipe I used ( I know u didn't ask me...) http://www.freshpreservinguk.co.uk/recipes/carrot-cake-jam

@karenerwin I made carrot cake jam 2 years ago fro Christmas gifts, it' was my favorite one so far - that stuff is fantastic!

So morning all. Hurt my back getting out of bed, now I'm couch bound with the heating pad. So no gardening today. We did get some rain last night, not sure how much though.

Look what I got yesterday - yay! My first maters of the season. Not perfect, but they were forming as I was treating for the early blight. The others on the plant look prettier but I'm not too impressed with this hybrid, it has the same issues as the Brandywines.

Have a great day all!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Another surprise shower yesterday afternoon. The local meteorologists are really missing the mark on the forecasts lately. We went a week without rain and high temps with no rain in the forecast for another week. So I watered my garden, and it has rained everyday and night since. I put down some calcium around the tomato plants the other day before I watered but I don't think it has helped any yet. I found 6 green tomatoes with what looked like blossom end rot on them. I picked them and tossed them in the compost pile. I picked a yellow squash, a jalapeno, an okra and 2 small bell peppers this morning. We got quite a bit of rain overnight so hopefully the grass will dry out early enough before the heat gets too bad so I can work on the mowing some more. Sorry about your back @Sueby. Hopefully a day of rest will help. I've never seen mold on tomatoes like that @Acre4Me . Maybe just too much rain. I hope it doesn't spread. Your gardens are lovely @NewBoots. Thank you for sunset pictures @Sooner Magnolia. The front of my house faces west and the houses across the street are a two story and a three story house with very large trees so I never really see the sunset anymore. Have a great day everyone.

Perhaps a developing birdsnest gourd??

Baby butternut squash that did have a bee in it this morning

 

[adirondak5]

Good morning all . Rain here this morn , we needed it . I did find 2 horn worms on one of the tomato plants yesterday . Once my boys saw how the chickens went after them they started looking for more . Those horn worms don't stand a chance now
Have a great day .