What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

I have 8 cherry tomatoes in the garden, and I'm pulling in more than a gallon of tomatoes a day. I'm considering cutting a couple at the ground to halt their season.

The chickens have their own tomato garden of 16 plants, they go in there looking for bugs, tomatoes, and for the shade. It can go until the frost for all I care.

Currently feels like 106. I left the girls inside and just changed out their water. On my way back to the barn I heard a prairie cicada in the willow tree and it was low enough I could reach it. I snatched it and tossed it into the run. 23 crazed beaks and one freaked out giant bug. LOL. The littles finally caught it and played with it for a while before eating it. What a ruckus.

I couldn't help but chuckle over you drowning in cherry tomatoes. I nearly bought 2 plants instead of 1. I only changed my mind because my DH isn't a big salad guy which would be the primary use of the tomatoes. I think my chickens get more cherry tomatoes than we do... I just gave them some chilled ones as a treat since it is so hot outside.

I haven't done any maintenance in the garden for over a week because of the heat. I can imagine everything has gone to hell in a handbasket down there.... At this point in the season, I'm all out of cares.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I dumped out 2 of my potato feed bags this morning and was pleasantly surprised. They held about 5 gallons of soil each and the russets produced a surprising amount of potatoes. There aren't all that many of them so I don't think I'll bother with curing them except for the seed potatoes for next year. There're 3 bags still out there that the foliage hasn't died back on so hopefully we have more coming. The reds and whites didn't produce at all (I just mixed them in the bags together when I planted them) but I'm fine with russets. I didn't expect anything at all and like the peppers, they've really surprised me with their production.

All my potatoes are grown in 10 gallon grow bags and/or feed bags that I've converted into grow bags. I harvested my last bag of Yukon Gold about a week ago. I had gotten lazy and only ended up filling half the bag with soil. I still got around 8 full sized potatoes and maybe 4-5 pearl potatoes out of it. Not bad....

I had some russets that had sprouted in a bag. I threw some of those in 3 feed bags. They seem to be growing quite well. I'm just going to keep cycling the crop and see if I can maintain it through winter since we tend to have mild winters.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Good morning gardeners. Having my second cup of coffee while my first batch of tomato sauce is doing its first cooking. I ran out of mustard seed for the pickles so while the tomatoes are cooling I can dash to the store and get more. The sauce is 2/3 San Marzano and 1/3 early girl and cherry tomatoes. The SM's are so sweet I like more tart taste of the other tomatoes to balance the sauce. The peaches are so close to ripening. The green hue is changing to yellow so maybe tomorrow? After canning for the first time on my new stove I can honestly say I'm so glad I got rid of the glass top monstrosity. The 16 quart canner heated up much faster and maintained the boil steadily. My huge exhaust hood was pretty amazing too as it sucked all the steam and heat up and out of the kitchen. Henri is finally gone out to sea. Yay! Although it will be a bit warmer today it's all sunny and dry. Tomorrow I should have some okra ready to pick and surprise, surprise I finally have lima beans in some of the pods. I think they should be ready tomorrow as well. Not much else going on, hoping for a relatively quiet, uneventful day without tornado warnings and tropical downpours. Have a great day all.

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Not so little ladies now
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What breed of chickens are those?

 

[TJAnonymous]

I had a Meyer lemon that I've been growing for 2-3 years now. I expected this summer to be the first time it fruited, but it got tempermental from being moved indoors over the winter and died on me about a week or two before it could be moved back outside again. I was pretty bummed about it. Posted about it here and on another garden site. Never got any advice on how to save it. Anyway, I had dragged the giant tub its in outside and left it there. Never got around to cleaning it out. Imagine my surprise when the root ball sent up a new shoot!!! I just let it go....haven't fed it at all. It's been watered when I water my other outdoor plants but no other special treatment. The new shoot is now nearly 3 ft tall! I am quite impressed. Now I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it this winter. From my recollection, I've got 2 options...

1. Leave it outside where it is. If the temp starts to drop below freezing, I can move it indoors for a day or so until the temp comes back up.

2. Leave it outdoors but move it into a hoop house that is covered in plastic to create a winter greenhouse.

Thoughts?

 

[vall]

I had a Meyer lemon that I've been growing for 2-3 years now. I expected this summer to be the first time it fruited, but it got tempermental from being moved indoors over the winter and died on me about a week or two before it could be moved back outside again. I was pretty bummed about it. Posted about it here and on another garden site. Never got any advice on how to save it. Anyway, I had dragged the giant tub its in outside and left it there. Never got around to cleaning it out. Imagine my surprise when the root ball sent up a new shoot!!! I just let it go....haven't fed it at all. It's been watered when I water my other outdoor plants but no other special treatment. The new shoot is now nearly 3 ft tall! I am quite impressed. Now I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it this winter. From my recollection, I've got 2 options...

1. Leave it outside where it is. If the temp starts to drop below freezing, I can move it indoors for a day or so until the temp comes back up.

2. Leave it outdoors but move it into a hoop house that is covered in plastic to create a winter greenhouse.

Thoughts?

Citrus is grafted. If that shoot is from the rootstock it won't give you Meyers. It might give you normal lemons, depending on which rootstock was used. Can you post a photo?

How cold does it get exactly? Citrus can survive temps in the 20s.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

What breed of chickens are those?

Colombian Wyandotte. They are almost 3 months old.

 

[Elyrian1]

So stinking hot outside. I wanted to water, but couldn't stand the thought of staying out long enough. All I managed to do was eyeball the giant mulch pile, which is more massive than I anticipated, and get the mail.

Maybe tonight once it starts cooling down I can pop out long enough to water. Depends on how I'm doing by the end of the day. Considering I just had a baby less than three full days ago, I might be ready to crawl in bed by then.

 

[igorsMistress]

I love that everyone is canning stuff (& harvesting)! I want pics from everyone! LOL. (I miss @igorsMistress, she always shamelessly begged for pics with me!)

Hi Sueby. Hope all is well in your garden. I do ask for pics, too much? People can grow a different variety of things I can’t so it’s fun to see what you all are doing!
We’ve had some storms, actually got some rain, and things are doing great. The xeriscape area is in full bloom and hopefully the two Arabian lilacs I added will make it.

 

[chickengr]

I had a Meyer lemon that I've been growing for 2-3 years now. I expected this summer to be the first time it fruited, but it got tempermental from being moved indoors over the winter and died on me about a week or two before it could be moved back outside again. I was pretty bummed about it. Posted about it here and on another garden site. Never got any advice on how to save it. Anyway, I had dragged the giant tub its in outside and left it there. Never got around to cleaning it out. Imagine my surprise when the root ball sent up a new shoot!!! I just let it go....haven't fed it at all. It's been watered when I water my other outdoor plants but no other special treatment. The new shoot is now nearly 3 ft tall! I am quite impressed. Now I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it this winter. From my recollection, I've got 2 options...

1. Leave it outside where it is. If the temp starts to drop below freezing, I can move it indoors for a day or so until the temp comes back up.

2. Leave it outdoors but move it into a hoop house that is covered in plastic to create a winter greenhouse.

Thoughts?

I would leave it outside.

 

[chickengr]

I was too tired to water my garden and went to sleep. around 1 am I heard noise from the coop. I went there and found a little pekin cockerel with beheaded by a rat (who ate 2 muscovie ducklings a few nights ago). he ate baits as well and I hope he will die soon. I just don't know how many of them there are.