What did you do in the garden today?

[lazy gardener]

It won't be a problem with animals eating the bait if you cover it. Good luck finding an Aardvark.

 

[Stuffedcritter]

Any suggestions on soaps. It's my first year gardening.

You can use any fat/oil based soap (Murphy's,Doc. Bronner's, or Ivory ) T soap quart of water. Spray them in morning or evening so they don't get sun burnt.


ANTS: mint plants, corn meal, chalk, and I use Borax sprinkled it on my lawn also kills fleas used it around my base boards never had animal eat it. Six feet deep frost line this winter haven't seen any ants this year.

 

[Arielle]

Sigh. Our neighbors were mowing their lawn yesterday and did ours as well. Unfortunately he bumped our Honeycrisp Apple tree and it snapped at the graft point. Did our best to patch it up this morning. Hope it can survive.

Ouch. GOod luck with it.

Been trying to get the neighbor's TREE out of our yard, fell during a windy day, laying on the shared fence...chain sawing and clipper...was 50 foot high Fruitless Mulberry...got most of it from our side down and piled up...insurance company said it was an act of God and we have to pay for our half of removal, which is less than our deductible. Garden doing fine, lots of tomato plants, peppers, zucchini, squash, strawberries and hopefully pumpkins for the grand-cousins. Saves a lot of dough NOT to go to the pumpkin patch with them...cost me $28 last time, and two hours running through the patch. They get two choices...take it or leave it...sounding like my parents now. Get off my lawn!

Sorry about the clean up. I"m sure it will take a bit of time til the final clean up. Great thinking about saving a bit of dough!! Perhaps have a little event to go along with picking the pumpkins: cookies andmilk or decorating the pumpkins. TO make it fun and memorable.

Quote: lol Being a bit wooded here DH just does his business as he's doing chores. This morning though he almost hit a nesting broubon red hen. We were wondering where she had gone to. Found!

Wingless aphids? The glue traps help with those (aphids are also attracted to yellow). I'd hit them with an insecticidal soap.

Recipe??

Quote:
Just asked my mother for a few mint plants . . . again. My first starts lasted about 20 years. THen I got chickens. Decimated in 4 years. WIll plan better this time and have several locations for the mint so I can have enough to go around the house. Anti mouse from what little I've read!! lol

 

[RichnSteph]

I went out to the patch this morning to check on the berries only to scare a bunch of squirrels out of there. They've eaten every blueberry, blackberry and raspberry that was on the plants as well as a bunch of the little peppers and cucumbers that had just started. They even did some damage to the squash and melon blooms.

I hate them.

 

[jerryse]

I went out to the patch this morning to check on the berries only to scare a bunch of squirrels out of there. They've eaten every blueberry, blackberry and raspberry that was on the plants as well as a bunch of the little peppers and cucumbers that had just started. They even did some damage to the squash and melon blooms.

I hate them.

Plant mulberries . Squirrels love them . Maybe they will leave the other berries alone .

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Question for the gardening folk - zucchini.....I feed zucchini to my aquarium fish. We all know that during the summer there is an overabundance of zucchini and if you leave your car door unlocked or your front step unguarded you will likely be gifted by the "zucchini fairy" (at least that was the case where I grew up when everyone's garden came on and they were overwhelmed with veggies) - during the winter, though, it's supermarket city and prices are up. I do nothing to prepare the veggies for the fish - just cut, stick on a weight and drop it in the tank. Veggies go in a bit before lights out and are consumed by morning.
Last year I had several visits from the zucchini fairy and wanted to try to preserve some to be able to use to feed the fish through the winter so as not to have to pay the high store prices. I tried cutting and freezing - but that was not successful as whether they went straight in frozen or were thawed first, the consistency of the "meat" was such that it did not hold up in the water at all and just made a big mess that the fish wouldn't touch.
For those that preserve their harvest for use throughout the year - any ideas that would result in zucchini that holds together like a "fresh" piece of veggie when soaked in water?

 

[3goodeggs]

I grate it, and squeeze out the extra moisture, freeze it on a cookie tray then bag it. It then gets used in stir fry -I have not really paid attention to the firmness, it is squash -and I guess I expect it to be mushy.
However, I will pass 'the feeding it to the fish' on to the aquarium people in this house.
What do you do, slice it thin and float it?

Have you tried drying it then freezing it?

 

[3goodeggs]

I went out to the patch this morning to check on the berries only to scare a bunch of squirrels out of there. They've eaten every blueberry, blackberry and raspberry that was on the plants as well as a bunch of the little peppers and cucumbers that had just started. They even did some damage to the squash and melon blooms.

I hate them.

Rotten vermin. I have not gotten any berries either.
Deep fried squirrel isn't bad.

 

[RichnSteph]

Rotten vermin. I have not gotten any berries either.
Deep fried squirrel isn't bad.

I've enjoyed squirrel several different ways. My darling wife however isn't country enough to eat them. *laugh*. I'd hate to shoot them and not to do anything with the meat but they have got to leave my garden alone. I could probably drop them in the BSF bin as added protein for the grubs.

 

[Tiller]

I've enjoyed squirrel several different ways. My darling wife however isn't country enough to eat them. *laugh*. I'd hate to shoot them and not to do anything with the meat but they have got to leave my garden alone. I could probably drop them in the BSF bin as added protein for the grubs.

If you are into fishing, several fishing lure companies, mepps, and panther martin, buy squirrel tails off of hunters/trappers. Fish love to eat bits of meat too, so do cats dogs, etc.

I like the idea of freezing the shredded zuch's on a cookie tray, going to try that this year, most of what I froze last fall was a bit mushy and I had to account for that when we made it into bread over the winter.

The cold night last night put an end to my Okra, I should have covered it but I got lazy and paid the price for it.
looking forward to my first harvest of lettuce tonight, and maybe a few radish if they are ready.