What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

Welp, the potatoes were a bust. They grew, put on flowers, flowers fell off, couple of weeks later they started turning yellow and dying back. They've been a few days without water so I went to dig them since they were starting to get crispy and got nothing. No tubers, nothing that looked like tubers starting to grow, nada. Bummer. My garden is not doing good this year. Still more than I've ever grown! My biggest garden yet. But just not producing a lot.

Time to yank the mustard and the kale. They're done with the heat the bugs.

I have had no luck with root vegetables. I might try digging a row then planting potatoes in straw in that row - sort of straw sunken beds. soil here becomes as hard as concrete, not good for root vegetables.

 

[Sueby]

Morning all. Not much happening in the garden, just wishing for some rain as we're in a big ole drought now.

The new squash I planted are starting to come up. I decided to let the hard neck garlic go another week before pulling. Everything else is just coming along nicely. JBs have slowed down quite a bit, didn't see a single one today.

 

[Iluveggers]

@Iluveggers adding in that all my olive eggers look like black cucko marans as well, must be part of their breeding stock the dark brown component to the blue + brown makes green party

Interesting. I was figuring the dark brown was probably cuckoo Marans, but without puffy cheeks would that make the other half part legbar? I don’t see a tuft on the top yet either (but my legbars of the same age don’t have theirs yet either). Unfortunately I think mine are all boys…no olive eggs for me, unless I cross them with blue or brown to get bluer green or browner green next time around. I *might* keep one at the farm for that purpose.

 

[igorsMistress]

Yeah, I'm going to put up a shade cloth. I have one already... Just gotta figure out how to tie it down. I did start some Sart Roloise tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket that's under partial shade. I sowed them a week ago and they are already 3" tall and looking very healthy. They are my backup plan...

If you’re wanting something temporary that you can take down, some of those stakes that hold wire fence and bungee cords through the grommets on the shade cloth work well. Also, even here in our sun I use no more than 50% shade on my gardens.

 

[Acre4Me]

I would put my chickens in that corner and it will become chickens heaven. at the end of season my chickens take care of my garden.

Unfortunately, my chickens are fixed in location. They live in a large run behind the barn. We let them out for short periods in fall/winter/early spring. Both gardens of the old-guy neighbors are in line with mine-all of us have gardens at the back of the property line, so I can see all 3 (mine, and their two) easily. So, I need to just deal with it. The neighbor to my south only has a few small raised beds, so no issues with bugs. But, behind her small barn, and mere feet from the south side of my garden, is a very healthy patch of thistle. She may let us spray herbicide on them -or she may do it herself, we just haven’t approached her. But, thistles are one of the few things for which we bring out the herbicide.

 

[Acre4Me]

JBs here have slowed down too! Yesterday only found a handful. Traps are still catching some too. Found another type of Assassin bug in another area of the garden. They look so strange to me, but eat pesky bugs, so ok.

I’ve been hoping to not need to apply Sevin against the grasshoppers again…I’ve put out wheat germ laced with Sevin 2x. But I’m seeing damage on my bean pods- this is grasshopper damage. So, I’ll put more out today. Reduce the numbers a little more to minimize the bean damage. They sure do like beans.

Will need to water today. Might see a little rain tonight, but not much and it will be a hot day today. Otherwise temps fall to low 80s for several days. Great for the garden -hot, but not extreme.

Will need to tie up some of the squash vines and cucumber vines again. They are in growth phase!

 

[igorsMistress]

DH helped me put up a temporary shade cloth over the tomatoes. Probably needed this weeks ago but I was hoping we'd get a break in this crappy weather at some point. Looks like it is going to stay in triple digits at least another 10 days minimum with no rain. I don't think the tomatoes can withstand it so this is my best defense. I also gave them a good pruning until it got too dark to see. Only about half way done. I have a lot of tying up to do too... The good news is that the Romas are FINALLY starting to turn red!

This drought is going to kill all the fish in my pond, I think. Even weeds are dying now. I was thinking that at least we can still go to the grocery store and find SOMETHING even if our gardens fail. Imagine periods in history when people didn't have that safety net. If our food chain continues to collapse, we will be facing trouble like we could never even imagine.

It’s pretty frightening I agree.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Interesting. I was figuring the dark brown was probably cuckoo Marans, but without puffy cheeks would that make the other half part legbar? I don’t see a tuft on the top yet either (but my legbars of the same age don’t have theirs yet either). Unfortunately I think mine are all boys…no olive eggs for me, unless I cross them with blue or brown to get bluer green or browner green next time around. I *might* keep one at the farm for that purpose.

So far the egg genetics is not working for me... My roosters are all blue gene carriers - either Ameracaunas, Easter Egger, CCLB, or Isbar. The cross offspring with my Marans are producing pretty birds but no olive eggs. Instead their eggs are like Marans eggs. I also have several offspring who were crossed from a Blue Andalusian hen (white eggs). You'd think their eggs would be a light blue but they are white like their mama instead.

 

[igorsMistress]

I have had no luck with root vegetables. I might try digging a row then planting potatoes in straw in that row - sort of straw sunken beds. soil here becomes as hard as concrete, not good for root vegetables.

Compost and garden gypsum would help with that.

 

[igorsMistress]

So far the egg genetics is not working for me... My roosters are all blue gene carriers - either Ameracaunas, Easter Egger, CCLB, or Isbar. The cross offspring with my Marans are producing pretty birds but no olive eggs. Instead their eggs are like Marans eggs. I also have several offspring who were crossed from a Blue Andalusian hen (white eggs). You'd think their eggs would be a light blue but they are white like their mama instead.

Do you know the genetics of your easter eggers? They aren’t a breed, nor are olive eggers, and won’t reliably lay blue eggs. Maybe the Marans eggs are too dark and a lighter brown laying breed would be better to cross for green or olive eggs.