What did you do in the garden today?

[jerryse]

The male flowers come out first. I see lots of male flowers before I see any female on my butternut squash.

I took 3 dozen seed potatoes and 10 Amish Paste tomato starts to a friend of mine. On the way home, I stopped at two Starbucks. I came home with a dozen BIG bags of coffee grounds!

I have a 50 lb bag of rabbit poop. A lot of that is going to go on my tomato bed. I hope I can keep getting the hauls of coffee grounds from Starbucks. That and the poop would be a nice amendment to put in the tomato holes when I plant them. Then gobs of mulch. That garden is going to become some good soil.... I hope....

There are seedless female only types out there . Not sure who sells seed . I bought a butternut at the store last year and it was seedless .

 

[Sally PB]

There are seedless female only types out there . Not sure who sells seed . I bought a butternut at the store last year and it was seedless .

Interesting! I've never heard of those for butternut. Watermelons, yes.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I setup a wash station and washed pots. Getting ready to pot up 18 Moringa tree seedlings later today along with at least 48 peppers and some herbs. I intend for Moringa to be planted around coops to supplement protien/vitamin content of feed. If I have too many I might sell some.

And I planted a few big tomato starts in the greenhouse beds.

I've been trying to grow morninga for the last three years. I get them growing like gang busters all year long, but come February, they die. Fingers crossed this year goes better!

 

[CNJ]

I've been trying to grow morninga for the last three years. I get them growing like gang busters all year long, but come February, they die. Fingers crossed this year goes better!

I don't know why, but my chicken is not fond of moringa? They prefer young banana leaves..........

 

[TJAnonymous]

Some of you may remember my disaster last summer with the blueberries. Essentially, my blueberries were looking really chlorotic. I thought it was because the soil was acidified enough so I kept adding sulphur & fertilizer. This ended up killing my plants. I got a soil report done by the extension office last summer but it was too late. I stopped added ANYTHING to the soil immediately but was unable to save the plants. Six of 7 of my blueberry bushes died.

Well, I got two new blueberry bushes this spring but I've been hesitant to plant them because of the soil concerns. I was hoping that a year of rain would help level the soil out. Anyway, it's a good thing I waited because I have the new soil reports from the extension office.

I took two soil samples from my big raised blueberry bed - one from each end of the bed. The soil pH is ranging from 2.9 to 3.2! Also the phosphorus is still incredibly high 138 - 181 ppm. Optimum range is 36 - 50 ppm! Potassium & Zinc are also really low. Well, the positive news is that I can add lime, ammonium sulfate, and potash which will make a big difference. The tricky party is the phosphorus. I haven't been able to find any way to lower it with an amendment. The only advice I've seen is to plant nitrogen-fixing plants and pray. Anyway, it's a really GOOD thing I waited to plant the new blueberries because they would have died in this bed. I'm going to keep them in their containers for this year and retest the soil next year to see if it is improved before moving them into their permanent home.

The 2nd bed soil is where my only remaining plant is located. It was slightly better. The pH is 4.4, however the phosphorus is still too high at 154 ppm. Potassium & Zinc are also very low. So, basically the same problems.

ETA - When I built these beds I added quite a bit of compost, pine needles, etc...basically things that are probably contributing to the high phosphorus.

 

[chickengr]

I'm so glad we put the mini splits in last year. I HATE summer & HATE hot & HATE humid. So not looking forward to the weekend. But I will feed & water plants & chickens before hand & just stay inside. @Wee Farmer Sarah it sounds like you'll be a bit warmer than us. I guess the cold ocean water this time of year helps us there.

I don't understand someone hates summer, lol. I have been loving summer since kid: no school, going on vacation and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies - does not it sound like paradise?

 

[chickengr]

Beautiful out today.

The blueberries have flowers & the bees have found them!
View attachment 3113414

My pathetic tomato starts. I think they're stunted, they haven't grown at all:
View attachment 3113415

My dill bolted already
View attachment 3113416

Killing slugs in the lettuce, hopefully:
View attachment 3113417


Got the strawberries covered, soooo many bees!
View attachment 3113422

my tomatoes were like that. with hot weather within a week they grew up and blossomed! I keep all blossoms as in july and beginning of august there are no blossoms at all.

 

[chickengr]

Got the rest of my tomatoes in today! Also added bamboo poles and twine across my pea rows, a few are about 5 inches tall already and needed a trellis! Topped off my tomato bags with dirt. Do these look ok to you guys? First time trying them.
View attachment 3113460

Tomorrow I’ll seed my curcubits and flowers since it’s supposed to rain all day. Friday I’ll put my peppers in, supposed to be 80, and 91 with thunderstorms on Sat!

Things are starting to come together. My favorite point in the year when the garden starts looking less like dirt and more like a garden. Pretty soon everything will be higher than me!

you said tomato bags but I see potatoes?!

 

[Acre4Me]

Some of you may remember my disaster last summer with the blueberries. Essentially, my blueberries were looking really chlorotic. I thought it was because the soil was acidified enough so I kept adding sulphur & fertilizer. This ended up killing my plants. I got a soil report done by the extension office last summer but it was too late. I stopped added ANYTHING to the soil immediately but was unable to save the plants. Six of 7 of my blueberry bushes died.

Well, I got two new blueberry bushes this spring but I've been hesitant to plant them because of the soil concerns. I was hoping that a year of rain would help level the soil out. Anyway, it's a good thing I waited because I have the new soil reports from the extension office.

I took two soil samples from my big raised blueberry bed - one from each end of the bed. The soil pH is ranging from 2.9 to 3.2! Also the phosphorus is still incredibly high 138 - 181 ppm. Optimum range is 36 - 50 ppm! Potassium & Zinc are also really low. Well, the positive news is that I can add lime, ammonium sulfate, and potash which will make a big difference. The tricky party is the phosphorus. I haven't been able to find any way to lower it with an amendment. The only advice I've seen is to plant nitrogen-fixing plants and pray. Anyway, it's a really GOOD thing I waited to plant the new blueberries because they would have died in this bed. I'm going to keep them in their containers for this year and retest the soil next year to see if it is improved before moving them into their permanent home.

The 2nd bed soil is where my only remaining plant is located. It was slightly better. The pH is 4.4, however the phosphorus is still too high at 154 ppm. Potassium & Zinc are also very low. So, basically the same problems.

ETA - When I built these beds I added quite a bit of compost, pine needles, etc...basically things that are probably contributing to the high phosphorus.

Glad you have some answers! We have found soil reports very helpful. We have had the opposite problem: pH is a bit too high (one area close to pH 8!). So we are amending it down, but not very fast. We’ve added sulfur 2x so far, and peat moss, but not a huge drop in pH, which is ok. So, we continue to amend with compost, leaves in the fall, and this year we added some dried manure. I think I’ll look to get more soil tests done this fall since I haven’t done any for this year.

Hopefully you will be able to get that area back into a good planting zone.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

I don't understand someone hates summer, lol. I have been loving summer since kid: no school, going on vacation and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies - does not it sound like paradise?

Plus no snow, no subfreezing temps, no bundling up in layer upon layer to try to stay moderately warm

I love summer!