What did you do in the garden today?

[589205]

Tha

That storm LITERALLY started right here, the first high wind report that day was from me and it only got worse from here. It was scary!!

Thankfully our guardian angels were watching over us that day.

 

[CNJ]

I have another idea. I was enjoying a small size folded flour burrito stuffed with an omelet and a mixture of thinly sliced roasted pork shoulder blades, onions, tomato, and diced-skinned egg plants, seasoned with garlic salt and a little lime juice. While I was eating this folded micro waved floured burrito, some of the filling would slide out from the other end.

The next time time I do this, I will pre cook the mixture and pour it on top my omelet, so the filling stick to the omelet while it hardens, so it doesn't come out the other end when I bite into my folded breakfast burrito.

 

[TJAnonymous]

@TJAnonymous, interesting info about your blueberries. How many years did you add stuff to acidify it, to end up with such acidic soil?

I just "assumed" my soil was acidic, since I pile lots of oak leaves on it every year. Nope. It certainly is well drained, as it's a hill of sand. You can tell where I've been "helping" it, as it's much richer looking. But still not acidic.

At least now I have a reason to make yogurt as often as possible: Whey for the blueberries!

My first 2 blueberry beds were not really raised beds. In 2020, I had put a 2x4 frame on a mounded hill so it was essentially in the ground. The leaves on my plants looked to be suffering from chlorosis. When I searched the symptoms online it indicated the soil pH was too high. I *did* try to get a soil test from Lowes but I doubt the accuracy (or maybe my abilities) in getting a legitimate reading. So every few weeks, I'd do something else to try to lower the pH further. Incidentally, this is how I discovered that diluted vinegar can and will kill plants just like a weedkiller. I lost my first blueberry bush to this mistake. Bought a 3rd bush and planted it in the bed where I'd accidentally killed the 1st.

A few months later (fall 2020), I decided to build some real raised beds. In an effort to make sure the beds were properly acidic, I was strategic about the materials I used to fill the beds. For example, I put a thick 6"+ layer of pine needles and pine chips in the bottom. The soil was a mix of peat moss, humus, compost, and soil. Then I put a 3-4" layer of wood chips on top. The blueberries I bought for these beds (Plants number 4 - 7) did well at first, but then they started dying off too. Same symptoms....leaves suffering from chlorosis, then dying. So in Spring 2021, I added a bunch of sulphur around the plants hoping it would help.

I also decided to do what I SHOULD have done right from the beginning....got a soil test. It came back with data that is close to what you see in the report I just posted. I immediately STOPPED doing anything to the soil. I had hoped by leaving it alone that my amendments would simply wash out and the soil would self-adjust. Didn't work. Soil doesn't fluctuate that quickly. My plants began dying one by one. I felt helpless to save them.

Early this spring, I decided to pick up a few new blueberry plants. Actually, some random stranger took pity on me and purchased 2 blueberry plants of my choice and simply gave them to me. I was determined NOT to kill these....so I did not plant them in the raised beds. Instead, I took another soil sample to have it analyzed. That's when I got the report shown above. So my soil is still toxic....which is frustrating because weeds seem to LOVE this bed. Why can't blueberries have the fortification of weeds??? I'm leaving my blueberries in their pots for this season until I get the soil right. THEN AND ONLY THEN will I put them back in their forever homes.

In the meantime, I have started adding small amounts of lime each month before big rainstorms. I'm hoping doing this gradually will help rebalance the pH. Once that is done, then I can add some Muriate of Potash and some ammonium sulfate to the bed before planting some fava beans (hopefully, god willing....). I will get the soil tested by the extension office again in September or October to see the results before putting anything else in there.

This was my EXPENSIVE lesson in learning to grow blueberries. Hopefully it will help another blueberry novice not make the same mistakes.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I have another idea. I was enjoying a small size folded flour burrito stuffed with an omelet and a mixture of thinly sliced roasted pork shoulder blades, onions, tomato, and diced-skinned egg plants, seasoned with garlic salt and a little lime juice. While I was eating this folded micro waved floured burrito, some of the filling would slide out from the other end.

The next time time I do this, I will pre cook the mixture and pour it on top my omelet, so the filling stick to the omelet while it hardens, so it doesn't come out the other end when I bite into my folded breakfast burrito.

Try folding your burrito like an envelope. It works for me.

 

[CNJ]

Try folding your burrito like an envelope. It works for me.

I can fold the ends of the large flour burrito but the small ones are the size of a taco and I only have the small ones.

 

[CNJ]

I started grinding my egg shells in a ninja blender with water when ever I have them and pour them on my tomato plants. I guess I was ignorant or lazy before the light came on. I have chickens and they lay a lot of eggs.

Everyday, in every way, I get better and better.

 

[Kidwantschickens]

Hi everybody. It’s Tuesday already. Nearly hump day. My partner and I live in western Montana. I wish it was more rural but we are in a good place. We are on about 2/3 of an acre, with less than half of it fenced in.

Today was the first dry day in a while. We are starting to dry out; once summer really starts things will dry out and start to burn. Then smoke. At least it makes the sunsets their own kind of beautiful.

Herbs/flowers by the side of the house are really liking the cooler temps and damp weather. (Size 11 shoe for scale) None of the transplanted garden plants have croaked or wilted. I sprayed one of our apple trees with copper concentrate as it has an issue that needs dealing with. I also hopped on top of the coop to look at where the run is going. I was also gifted some concord/reliance/mystery grapes from the guy who runs the community garden.

I did stop by the community garden to start weeding out our plots that we have there…my work is cut out for me. I feel bad as I am usually very active down there, but I don’t seem to have the energy between my job, the house, and the community garden. It’s a bummer because it’s an amazing resource for a lot of people and is really a unique and beautiful place when it has some work put into it.

All the best.

Hey! Where are you in western Montana? I'm in Helena and yes the weather has been crazy lately. I moved from Ohio 5 years ago and it is so weird to me to be just now planting!! But this is our third year with a garden so hopefully we do better every year. I'm really bad at it!

 

[igorsMistress]

I do know. Are fruiting problems in blueberries usually about acidity? The soil here is alkaline and the water is too so I grow them in acidic planters and amend through out the year. I think my biggest problem is the heat....but not sure. My understanding is that they like a cool root zone and I think that's where I'm failing. I keep trying to figure out how to cool the roots naturally and think I'm not succeeding well enough. Clay pots with a water reservoir keeps them alive but not thriving. I have a type recommended for hot areas but I've forgotten the name...it's a southern highbush variety though. It might be that the alkaline water is the problem?

Put the pots on soil not cement and mulch around them. Straw or whatever. You can partially bury the pot in dirt also.

 

[igorsMistress]

I started grinding my egg shells in a ninja blender with water when ever I have them and pour them on my tomato plants. I guess I was ignorant or lazy before the light came on. I have chickens and they lay a lot of eggs.

Everyday, in every way, I get better and better.

I’ve read that the water you boil eggs in contains calcium and you can water your plants with it when cool. I haven’t really researched it all though.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

Another sunflower sprout eaten

Would grubs eat sunflowers? They look like been eaten from the bottom.