What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

I have a gigantic plant has gourds growing on the size of kids ball
now .. tryint to figure out it is the only gourd that lived

 

[BudgieKing15]

I was taking pics of my coleus. They're HUGE!

 

[pennyJo1960]

I was taking pics of my coleus. They're HUGE!

Got kick of your user name

 

[Sueby]

@NewBoots have you tried the chips yet, how are they? Wondering if I should try some! & your weather sounds fab, I told DH about it & he said he doesn't want to go to the west coast. I'd go in a heartbeat, my aunt, uncle & cousin are out there & they love it.

It is a look don't touch spider? Honestly looks like a common wolf to me. I don't see the markings of a Brown Reclues there. Nothing toxic. I am guilty of cuddling tarantulas the cuddliest spiders ever. So reflecting back on my life and grievances against my parents I am still upset 40 years later my dad would not let me keep the Timber Rattlesnake I caught. Back on the issue of unwanted pets my wife says we have scorpions in the mail box again.

That just cracked me up from beginning to end.

So I went with the nap. It didn't last long & we lost power. We had a big surge that must have fried something at our shared well house so now we have no water. We got a text from them saying when we do get water back we'll need to boil till they test it in 48 hours. Great. 5 days without power last week wasn't enough...

But on a fantastic note it's been raining allllll day! Not tons, just a light rain. We probably got .25 to .5 inches. Yay!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hope all are staying hydrated Chickens also even ducks can succumb to the heat

 

[AllenK RGV]

We grew 4 kinds of musk melons.

1. "Athena" - one plant produced 3 melons, all typical orange type, tasty, decent size. Here are the 3 melons. This was an all-at-once melon plant. No more melons started and once the third one was ripe, the plant essentially died.

2. "Sugar Salmon" - Still a favorite!!! YUM and its fragrant! A bit smaller than the Athena, but really good. Two plants have produced 3 melons that are picked and a fourth is now developing.

3. "Greely Wonder" - Pretty large, but not yet ripe. Two plants have produced 2 melons.
This pic shows the "Greely Wonder" in the middle. The other two are the "Sugar Salmon". The "Greely Wonder" is even bigger today!

4. "Green Nutmeg" - smaller size, half is a perfect one person serving. It is a green fleshed melon. We had the first one this morning - it was really tasty. Somewhat fragrant, but not highly fragrant. One plant has produced 2 ripe melons and approx 6 more in various stages of development! Here is the "Green Nutmeg". As you can tell from the spoon, this is just a regular sized Corelle bowl.

So, the melons have been pleasing! So nice to eat freshly picked melon! Of course, I've had my fair share of very delicious farm stand melons also picked very ripe. If you don't have the space, go for good farmstead purchase. If you do have the space, try growing a melon! All the above were started by direct seed in the ground in hills, with the exception of the "Athena" melon - I purchased one plant at a garden center and planted it in a hill.

Scorpions just sting the bejesus out of you. I remember feeding my tarantulas as a jungin though and they have an impressive set of mandibles. Still very mellow critters and they saved the bitey parts for the crickets I would collect for them. DW got hit by a scorpion in Austin in 2014 or so and man sailors do not curse like that. She fears the heck out of those things now. Part of the reason why we now own his and hers black lights. I flourseced 27 my first night with it and stomped them proper in my back yard. When I gave my wife the kill count she made me go out night after night and hire Terminex.

 

[WthrLady]

Happy Sunday all, just checking in quick, will catch up in a bit. You guys were chatty!

We went to Vermont yesterday to wheel, it was a great day. Nice & cool. Got a lot done in the garden today & it's actually raining a bit! Not a good soaking like we need, but a good add to the watering I did this am. I tied up tomatoes, pinched the tops back as they are almost 9 feet tall & I can barely reach them. I added a 2nd soaker hose so I don't have to water by hand anymore. I planted lettuce & covered it with a shade cloth, gosh I hope it grows.

OMG, I got so grossed out by the squash bugs the other day, I went to pick a couple canning tomatoes & like 20 of them scattered off the tomatoes! Ugh, I've treated with neem & insecticide 4 or 5 times now & they are still everywhere! I picked a squash and saw a million & lost my mind & busted out the Sevin. I have never used it in my garden before, I am very much not a fan, but I was so disgusted I caved, nothing 'organic' is helping, I've lost all control. LMAO.

I just made 2 more squash lasagnas & I'm debating a nap or baking some bread. Hmmm....

Have a great day all!

Am right there with you!

 

[WthrLady]

Mean storms today. I mowed all morning and took another 20# of orange tomatoes out of the garden "IN case" good thing. Hail found us. Grrrrr. I won't know if it did a lot of damage until things brown or bruise. Is there any hope that the hail only took out the squash beetles?

I find them SOOOO gross.

 

[Sequel]

Earlier in the season several of you got seeds for the Filderkraut cabbage, the extremely pointed ones. I was curious about how they are doing for you. I have a couple going ok but I had trouble getting any to grow early on.

 

[WthrLady]

They did fine once I got the worms under control, even tenting them at planting they found their way in. They are heavy feeders and needed a LOT of water. They looked great with a smaller core than a normal cabbage.