What did you do in the garden today?

[Mutchi]

I'm wondering if I can start growing some carrots and those underground veggies. Or am I too late?

 

[Acre4Me]

Last night I canned.....CAKE!

Backstory: Last year during Covid lockdowns, I came across a recipe for canned cake in a small older article on a spice company's website about one of their long time customers, and it had nothing to do with Covid or germs, just the fact she used a particular spice blend of theirs for this recipe that she had been making for years. The article made me laugh bc now I knew what I was going to give my neighbors for Christmas - Sterile homemade cake untouched - after baking- by human hands! My neighbors all enjoyed the Covid-appropriate homemade baked goods, and the doctor neighbor laughed.

I made it again, bc it is good to have fresh, unfrosted cake at hand, ready to go. One jar is 2 servings, so easy to pop it out, cut in half, and store the rest back in the jar. If I want it sweeter, a bit of honey or maple syrup or caramel sauce is a nice touch.

So here is my canned cake. I clean/sterilize the jars. Make batter, add 1C per pint jar, bake, and when out of oven cap and seal, let cool. It helps to use the silicone baking mats to prevent the jars from sliding around on the baking sheet.

 

[Acre4Me]

Here are Garden pics:

Squash bed looks great!
In front are yellow squash. In the back/other side are the 2 butternut plants (will climb trellis), on the corners are smaller "HoneyBush" squash - like a small butternut, but have never grown them, and they are growing rather slowly - they look healthy - just slow.

Two growing Butternuts!

The gourds are doing well. In fact this pic was from 2 days ago, and they are bigger/ taller.

WHAT in the heck is this insect? Its hanging around my alpine strawberries on the deck (nowhere near the garden).

 

[Acre4Me]

I'm wondering if I can start growing some carrots and those underground veggies. Or am I too late?

What zone? When does colder/fall weather arrive? There are some carrots that are shorter time to harvest. I would also think anything rater as container-friendly (will indicate on seed packet) would also be fine. Beets and turnips would also work out fine. Parsnips are a Long season, so do not try those this year.

 

[Mutchi]

What zone? When does colder/fall weather arrive? There are some carrots that are shorter time to harvest. I would also think anything rater as container-friendly (will indicate on seed packet) would also be fine. Beets and turnips would also work out fine. Parsnips are a Long season, so do not try those this year.

Ya, if I wanted to grow long season growth. Then I would have started months ago! I live in the rocky mountains, so would that be the mountain zone? It gets colder around September.

 

[littledog]

I finally used all the cardboard I collected from work, to cover the walkways between the raised beds, then cover that with cedar chips from my chip-drop from last fall. So 1/3 of my garden is the way I want it to be. The rest of it might have to wait until next year, but in the meantime the tomatoes are awesome, the sunflowers are getting ready to bloom, The cukes and squashes are still alive.

 

[Elyrian1]

Ya, if I wanted to grow long season growth. Then I would have started months ago! I live in the rocky mountains, so would that be the mountain zone? It gets colder around September.

Montana? You're like zone 4 or some such, but you can check that with a goggle search of your zip code. I have a whole list of stuff because we thought we were moving that way, I'll tag you later with some things. All super short season, because depending where you are, you only get about 90 days an that started about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

@NewBoots - question about the buns... We recently became the new owner of a bun that someone dumped. I haven't owned rabbits in close to 20 yrs. A lot has changed....or maybe I'll just say that I've become enlightened by all the new knowledge about rabbit care. ha ha... Anyway, I've learned that rabbits can be litter box trained. I have a large cage set up in our sunroom that holds a Breeze litter box. I use a mix of shredded paper towels (Kaytee brand, non-dyed) and pine pellets. This is also where his hay rack is placed since rabbits like to go while eating. He uses it rather well all for urinating and most of his poos. Great for composting purposes....

I also have read that non-clumping cat litter is a big no-no. The concern is that they might ingest it and cause an impaction. This is where I have a question. We have a kitty litter box in our sunroom for our cats. The buns uses it too. I don't THINK he pees in there but he definitely poops in there. He doesn't lay down or hang out in it. Just uses it for his business and then goes on his merry way. I've never seen him attempt to eat it and there is nothing for him to eat in the vicinity of it so that seems like a low risk to me? There is a litter mat surrounding it to clean paws and not track litter everywhere so I think the risk of him licking it off his paws is also low.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I setting myself up for disaster or is likely a non-issue?

ETA - I do NOT compost the kitty litter. I only compost the litter from the rabbit litter box which is shredded paper towel and pine pellets. The buns uses both litter boxes all day long. We let him out to "free range" the sunroom during the day and he is only kept in the cage at night.

I missed this before. Don't know about the litter, you could get a cat litter box with a top opening if you are still concerned, but make sure the little darling has a stick or two to chew on and that it can't chew wires or light cords. I had a classroom bunny that was a little trouble maker in that regard. I'm glad he didn't electrocute himself.

 

[Ascholten]

Old chain? Are you metal detecting? I used to do that ages ago before life took over. Still have the high end machines too. That might be a hobby to re discover in my retirement years now.

That bug, we called them queen ants, like a flying ant, it WILL sting / bite you but typically are not as aggressive as a hornet might be.

Strawberry's, seems maybe a bit too warm down here now, mine produced and now are idle. Just keeping them alive, they have shown a sudden burst of growing, hopefully new crop coming soon?

Carrots and underground, give it a try, what MY issue seems to be is the ground getting too HOT. I cooked a few batches of potatoes that way by mistake. Found that by putting them on the south side of a northern placed tree, they catch the morning sun, shaded in the afternoon, then shaded in the late afternoon, and so far, that seems to be the magic ticket to growing taters in the summer in florida. I'll let you know for sure in probably about a month, when they fially die off and I harvest, if they do have taters or just huge green growth. They did flower pretty significantly so I am betting there are plenty of spuds for us though. TIme shall tell.

Aaron

 

[Elyrian1]

@Mutchi

New Kuroda Carrot from Baker Creek Seeds is a short growth, short season variety, but even then, you're zone 5b if you're in Hamilton proper. So your growing season runs from May31/June1st to Sept1st-15th very roughly. I'd say get anything you want to grow in the ground now, and longer season stuff hold off until next year.

As for next year! Have you thought about a greenhouse? Might be able to extend your growing season with one. I'm going to edit this post on my phone in a minute here, and include a picture of the entire veggie list I accumulated. You can browse it at your leisure.