What did you do in the garden today?

[Katanahamon]

Well..Boscobel and Lady of Shalott roses have been spectacular, the dahlias are finally in their groove, and I’m starting to realize how little use a giant pumpkin will be..I can’t really hold the large iPad and get a good shot of the pumpkin anymore, that’s why I stuck my knee out to show how monstrous it is getting..

edit..the Boscobel and Lady are brand new this year..I got them from Cattail Creek..expensive as they ship five gallon (umm..two and a half gal I think..)container, but..if you want to send a gift of a rose plant as a condolence, to a mom, etc, they are high quality..!

 

[Katanahamon]

hauled in 18 pounds of tomatoes, but they won't be canning ripe until Wednesday.
Also 15 pounds of catawba grapes for jelly. I'll do those Wednesday or Thursday.

The magpies have started their raids..grapes, even flat peaches are disappearing..

 

[TJAnonymous]

hauled in 18 pounds of tomatoes, but they won't be canning ripe until Wednesday.
Also 15 pounds of catawba grapes for jelly. I'll do those Wednesday or Thursday.

I'm jealous about the grapes.... My catawba grapes are finally producing this year (2nd year). I need 3.5 lbs of grapes to make jelly. I have 2 lbs. Grrr... There's still a couple of bunches that haven't ripened up yet so I'm waiting on them to see if it takes me over the limit.

I'll be making jelly since DH doesn't have enough grapes for wine.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Well..Boscobel and Lady of Shalott roses have been spectacular, the dahlias are finally in their groove, and I’m starting to realize how little use a giant pumpkin will be..I can’t really hold the large iPad and get a good shot of the pumpkin anymore, that’s why I stuck my knee out to show how monstrous it is getting..

edit..the Boscobel and Lady are brand new this year..I got them from Cattail Creek..expensive as they ship five gallon (umm..two and a half gal I think..)container, but..if you want to send a gift of a rose plant as a condolence, to a mom, etc, they are high quality..!

What are you going to do with a pumpkin that big?

 

[NewBoots]

Harvested flowers and arranged a bouquet for the living room

Your arrangements are just beautiful. Your flower garden must be buzzing with bees.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I'm losing the war with the squash bugs. Once they killed all my curcubits outside the hoop house, they attacked them all inside. I had 1 yellow squash, 1 spaghetti squash, and 2 pickling cucumbers left. This morning I realized 1 of the cukes was in a wilted, dead heap on the ground. This evening I went about my daily rounds catching & killing squash bugs and clearing out any eggs I find. I must have captured 2 DOZEN adults & large juveniles. I sprayed dozens more with neem oil and also squashed countless nymphs by hand. But removing eggs was the worst.... There were so many that I just started tearing holes in the leaves instead of trying to gently remove them without damaging the plants. And I also found eggs ALL OVER the place aside from the plants. They are laying eggs on the hoop house netting, on my tomatoes, on the runner bean leaves, on flowers, everywhere!

Words cannot describe how frustrated I am.

ditto with harlequin bugs and flea beetles! That trio are my primary insect problems. Using row covers helps loads, but that gets expensive and too hot in the summer, here, if you don't use the lightest screening/mesh. It becomes expensive to treat with organic insecticide, as well! Hence, the lure of the cheap and nearly certain chemical toxin solution as opposed to the sustainable and safer approaches. Hang in there, safe homegrown food and respecting our habitat, soil and water is worth the effort!

 

[Birdsonghill]

I'm jealous about the grapes.... My catawba grapes are finally producing this year (2nd year). I need 3.5 lbs of grapes to make jelly. I have 2 lbs. Grrr... There's still a couple of bunches that haven't ripened up yet so I'm waiting on them to see if it takes me over the limit.

I'll be making jelly since DH doesn't have enough grapes for wine.

I Love Catawba jelly! My old muscadine vines have been let go and become a "wildlife" habitat, after the arbor rotted and broke off. They still make sporadic fruits the birds love but are time consuming to pick more than a handful! Maybe I will rehab them this winter. The mention of Catawba jelly is inspirational to me!

 

[Sueby]

Hey all! Home for a couple weeks now. The garden really needs some tending but this is busy time at work so I can only do a little here & there. Hope everyone's well & gardens are producing!

Did get to pull half the onions, water & pick a few veggies today. & snap a couple pics.

My figs all ripened while I was away - yay:


Dahlias are blooming:


Some garden border, out of control black eyed susans that need to be divided in the fall:


Some of todays dinner harvest, the first brandywine & a couple overgrown cukes for the chickens:


Half the onions laid out to dry:


I made a batch of broccoli soup today for DHs lunches & I snuck 3 large cucumbers in there. It's actually delish, I used my beef broth from our cow & that stuff could make anything taste good.

 

[WthrLady]

What are you going to do with a pumpkin that big?

Rent it out on Air BnB

 

[TJAnonymous]

ditto with harlequin bugs and flea beetles! That trio are my primary insect problems. Using row covers helps loads, but that gets expensive and too hot in the summer, here, if you don't use the lightest screening/mesh. It becomes expensive to treat with organic insecticide, as well! Hence, the lure of the cheap and nearly certain chemical toxin solution as opposed to the sustainable and safer approaches. Hang in there, safe homegrown food and respecting our habitat, soil and water is worth the effort!

I used insect netting over my hoop house but the squash bugs have managed to crawl UNDER the hoop house walls to get in.

I can partially bury the walls in the dirt next year which will help....but I have to figure out what to use as mulch. I won't be using wood mulch again since they clearly LOVE that.... I can't just leave bare dirt because the weeds become too aggressive and take over. I used animal feed bags as a weed barrier but the white color allowed the sun to penetrate so I had a big problem with weed growth BENEATH the bags. Maybe if I paint the bags black? Or perhaps several layers of newspaper or cardboard? I'll figure something out....