What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

@BReeder! Great to see you!


Sounds like here. Dreading the 90s next week. I think the heat is keeping my butternut squash plants from having female flowers. I was hoping that a cool(ish) week would convince them it was safe.

Mine too! I loop mine through and around the tomato cages I use as supports. Calling them "bushes" is not accurate. They are a long stem, that's all.

I pulled lots of weeds today. I have a never ending battle with crab grass and other grasses.

Yesterday, I dug some potatoes. A few plants looked very nearly dead before we left for vacation, and they were toast when we got back. I've learned that happens pretty fast, so I mark plants with a stick when they start turning yellow.

The potatoes went into the air fryer and man, they were good! It was also our first taste of purple potatoes, and I'll definitely be growing them again. This variety was Purple Majesty, and only 4 of 8 ever grew. I planted another variety, Magic Molly, as well. 18 of 18 of those came up, and I really hope they taste as good. I haven't dug any of them yet. Interestingly, the Magic Molly plants have made quite a few seed balls. Not sure if I want to try saving any of those seeds. Maybe.

Anyone in zone 5 grow grapes? I tried many years ago, and they didn't do well at all. I blame myself, as I didn't read up on where/how to plant them, and put them "where I thought they'd look nice."

I want them for fresh eating and juice/jam/jelly, not for making wine. Any favorite varieties?

I'm not in Zone 5 but I have Concords and Catawba grapes. I make grape jelly (of course) but we also started growing them because DH wanted to make wine. This spring he came down with pancreatitis so he isn't supposed to have alcohol anymore. Not sure what to do with the grapes now....

 

[Fishychix]

My sweet potato slips are here!

 

[Swiss]

Today, I worked on pruning and trellising the last row of tomatoes (although, the other two rows need to be pruned again). Should have done this row FIRST because it's between the fence and another row of tomatoes.

Had to tie one of the trellis posts to 2 fence posts because those freaking moles made it structurally UNsound. Whenever I set the traps, they move to the other side of the garden.


I also got to harvest my first yellow straight neck squash(es). And harvested more heads of lettuce.

I found this guy hugging a bean plant yesterday. He was all crispy, and I am wondering if he was a victim of a parasitic wasp because his body had a bunch of circular holes.

 

[Acre4Me]

My sweet potato slips are here!

Yay!! Did you get them planted?

 

[Kidwantschickens]

What does it mean when you aren't getting any female flowers?! I've only gotten 4 males on my zucchini period...this is 3rd week like this.

I read that sometimes the younger plants will only have male flowers. Because they're not ready to produce. I have a summer squash that just had it's first female flower, all prior have been males. It's the strangest thing. Regardless, eventually it should start having some female flowers.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Anyone in zone 5 grow grapes? I tried many years ago, and they didn't do well at all. I blame myself, as I didn't read up on where/how to plant them, and put them "where I thought they'd look nice."

I want them for fresh eating and juice/jam/jelly, not for making wine. Any favorite varieties?

My parents have had Concord grapes for upwards of ten years, and only this past year have they gotten any sort of harvest worth mentioning--but they pretty much planted them and let them be. They're not suitable for fresh eating (unless you're a starving teenage boy), but they make excellent jelly.

According to "The Backyard Berry Book," you can grow bunch grapes in containers, so theoretically you could probably grow them anywhere.
"They can grow in something as small as a one gallon pot and still produce a few clusters of fruit."
"For most patio gardens, a five gallon pot is the ideal size...a yield of five pounds of grapes per vine is not an unreasonable expectation."
"It is best to use sandy loam garden soil for planting...potting mixes dry out too quickly and do not have the necessary balance of nutrients for grape growing"

She also recommends to have them facing south, because they need a lot of sunlight. They do well in well-drained, poor soils (because they'll stop growing earlier, and harden off better for winter), with a pH of 6.5.

Here's a list of seedless varieties. Hopefully, that'll help narrow it down some.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Bug hunting with uv light is fun...lol. Found two hornworms in one patch of my berries. Might have to make that a nightly thing for a bit if I want to get any berries at all this year.

Rearranged my garden again today. My peppers aren't producing this year so moved them back into a sunnier spot. They're green and bushy...but no flowers in sight. Planted cucumbers and sorted through my seeds. I keep eyeing my tomatoes and trying to decide if I should plant them outside yet. We've been cloudy and in the 90's for a few days and it makes me want to plant like crazy. The air is moist and heavy right now. But the triple digits probably aren't quite done with us yet.

I pulled out some bean, corn, cabbage, squash, melon and radish seeds. Not sure how much of that I'll plant since space is always tight for me. But want to plant it all. The dark green veggies are my have to have plants since I can never satisfy myself on those at the store. So definitely planting radishes...I love eating radish tops. Still too soon for most of my favorite green leafy veggies though.

I need to move all my pots of cactus cuttings out front and start planting them. The rains have come so it's time. Then figure out where to move my tree cuttings to until they can safely be planted. Both of those have been sitting in my keyhole garden just to keep them safe while they wait for the right time to plant. But once all that's done I can plant some seeds...

 

[sylviethecochin]

Pigweed is evil. Gallant soldier may reproduce like gangbusters, dock may be impossible to pull, and purslane may not know how to die, but nothing tries to take over a garden like pigweed. (There's nothing quite so annoying as pulling weeds for a couple hours and then coming back to find that half of them have re-rooted, and are sending out fresh shoots.)

For those (or the one person. Frankly, it's been a while, and I'm not reading back through to figure it out) who wanted gooseberry info: Hinnomaki Red gave me about fifteen berries this year. A few were like sweet, flavorless mush. A few were still underripe. And a few tasted very good. Sort of like a cross between apple juice and blueberries? It's hard to describe flavors. I'm not sure if the difference in taste was a watering thing.

The feathered rats (bantams) then came in under my netting and ate all the remaining berries. They did not eat the blackberries, so I suppose that's a chicken vote of approval. I'm not too annoyed. I got the intelligence I wanted, and I have a fence for next year.

Not strictly garden-related, but there was a half-dead baby skunk in the chicken run today. Apparently, the dogs were going nuts last night (I work nights, so I have no idea) but they were all penned, so I'm not sure what did it? Perhaps the neighbours' dog was visiting?

And I had two kittens with warbles. So that's fun. (They're not even my cat's.)

 

[chickengr]

I love pigweed. that is the only green thing I have in summer to give my chickens.

just watered. definitely no summer gardening ever again.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I’m in zone 5 @Sally PB and while I don’t grow grapes myself there are at least 2 farms within 5 miles of me that do grow grapes. They do very well.