What did you do in the garden today?

[chickadoodles]

We had a record breaking year for rain here this year. Went from drought to floods. But they are gone now and everything is back to bone dry. Dread tomorrow with all the fireworks that are not supposed to be lit in this part of the county.
Feel for you on all the plant issues.
What type of fruit trees root for you? I've grafted to suckers from the trees and grafted branches to different trees as well.

What kind of trees are you rooting?

I wish we were died out. I guess it's good they we aren't yet with the only neighbors shooting off rockets!

I took cuttings from my peach and plum tree and a sucker from one of my pear trees.
I grafted some of my plum tree cuttings onto my peach tree that does not produce any peaches. lol It needs to earn it's keep some how.
I am going to order some more tomato seeds and pick up a Better Boy in a gallon pot from Walmart probably.

 

[Pensmaster]

What kind of trees are you rooting?

I wish we were died out. I guess it's good they we aren't yet with the only neighbors shooting off rockets!

I took cuttings from my peach and plum tree and a sucker from one of my pear trees.
I grafted some of my plum tree cuttings onto my peach tree that does not produce any peaches. lol It needs to earn it's keep some how.
I am going to order some more tomato seeds and pick up a Better Boy in a gallon pot from Walmart probably.

I've only grafted fruit trees so far.
I have peach, apple, cherry, pear and a very productive plum. Since none of us are too fond of plum here I'll probably take it down this fall. Apples are doing better this year. Pear tree is very old. The former owner said its been here as long as he can remember. I've been here 17 years.
Oh and an apricot that's growing up between a split rock. It's also been here before I bought here.
Hope the tomatoes work out for you. Can't imagine getting all that rain. Our rain season was long enough.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Plums are terrific fruit trees to have for making jelly or jam! Plum jelly alone is our house favorite, but add strawberry, fig, blueberry, raspberry, citrus, grape, or pretty much any other fruit you can imagine and it gets even better! Plum skins have so much pectin that jellies made with them almost never need any pectin extra added to gel nicely. Plums make a great base or extender to stretch other fruits you may not have in abundance. We also use plums with roasted game, birds and pork. It adds a gentle fruity sweetness and naturally thickens the pan juices into a rich scrumptious sauce. That's gourmet, man!

ETA: plum juice also makes a great base for BBQ sauce. And a tasty tangy twist for homemade or almost homemade ketchup. Cook down strained plum juice into a thick "molasses" and use in sweet cocktails! I got a zillion uses for plums.

 

[Pensmaster]

Plums are terrific fruit trees to have for making jelly or jam! Plum jelly alone is our house favorite, but add strawberry, fig, blueberry, raspberry, citrus, grape, or pretty much any other fruit you can imagine and it gets even better! Plum skins have so much pectin that jellies made with them almost never need any pectin extra added to gel nicely. Plums make a great base or extender to stretch other fruits you may not have in abundance. We also use plums with roasted game, birds and pork. It adds a gentle fruity sweetness and naturally thickens the pan juices into a rich scrumptious sauce. That's gourmet, man!

ETA: plum juice also makes a great base for BBQ sauce. And a tasty tangy twist for homemade or almost homemade ketchup. Cook down strained plum juice into a thick "molasses" and use in sweet cocktails! I got a zillion uses for plums.

That sounds like a cook book all to itself. The skin is so tart that must be the pectin you are talking about.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Yup, the pectin is in the skin. You can actually skin the plums, simmer the skin alone to harvest the pectin, strain and save it for other uses. The tartness is good for some things, can be countered by natural sweetness in others, or added sweetener if need be. To me, it's like when you add just a touch of lemon juice or zest to a dish to get that little sparkle of freshness.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

This morning I transplanted my back up toms and cukes. The spring planted ones all suffered from our relentless rain fall.
This time Used oversized planter pots with caster wheels. I can roll them if needed out of weather conditions unfavorable for their well being.
Now we just might have fresh cukes and toms up to the first freeze.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Awesome. How's the dogs new colors doing?
We got the sunflower seeds planted in the 4x4 raised bed also. Along with a few other flowers. Hopefully the deer will leave them alone. Other than that I did a bunch of little things that were on the list to do. Time consuming little buggers.

The brown is about worn off the dog but the white kilz still is very visible. The sunflowers would take up too much space in my beds, so i am just planting them along the fence. Looks like our weather is going to turn rainy tomorrow, i just hope it does not last for too long like some folks have had.

 

[chickadoodles]

I've only grafted fruit trees so far.
I have peach, apple, cherry, pear and a very productive plum. Since none of us are too fond of plum here I'll probably take it down this fall. Apples are doing better this year. Pear tree is very old. The former owner said its been here as long as he can remember. I've been here 17 years.
Oh and an apricot that's growing up between a split rock. It's also been here before I bought here.
Hope the tomatoes work out for you. Can't imagine getting all that rain. Our rain season was long enough.

We have apple, peach, pear, plum, pomegranate. Our cherry tree's both died.
I am propagating my trees to add more fruit trees for canning, jam and jelly.
I also like to use fruit in cooking and bbq sauces. I like to take maraschino cherry juice and brown sugar and mix it in some ketchup! YUM!

 

[NanaKat]

Can you post pictures of your raised beds and tell me what the pros and cons are? My husband wants me to switch to raised beds, but I am reluctant.

We have used raised beds in three gardens now.
I have back issues so I can sit on the side of the bed and still weed the beds. Also drainage is great. Three or four rows of crops can go into each bed without walking row space and are easy to reach for picking.
A fifty foot soaker hose can make three rows in each 16 foot bed and with those snap on and off hookups you can focus the water on each bed instead of the paths ways.
The current beds were set on top of red clay and back filled with a sandy loam that I add compost and straw to each year to add humus to the loam. We also use the cleanout from the coops that has wood shavings as mulch. We double dig them every other year and the clay underneath has become better for the roots.
I have 16 beds that are 4 x 16, one that is 20 by 16 for vining crops like cantaloup, watermelon, or row crops corn or okra.
The 12 inch tall boxes are 4 x 16 feet made from treated lumber and I can put a 16 foot cattle panel down the middle on three T-posts for tying tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or for vining cucumbers, peas and beans.
I like to rotate crops so if I plant short crops like spinach, cabbage, carrots, onions on the edges, I can still plant peas or beans on the panel as the center rows.
I plant potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash in the same raised beds.
I also have beds that are 5 foot wide that are on a diagonal fence so the lengths go from 8 foot to 23 foot long. These beds also house more permanent crops like asparagus and some of my daylilies and iris.
The elderberry are planted on the north edge of the 16 x 20 foot bed and are tied to a 16 foot cattle panel to keep them from bowing to the ground.
Here is the garden in 2012 both spring and winter so you can see the initial layout of 7 foot wide path between rows of boxes. There is 5 feet between the boxes so I can get the mower and weed wacker in for the grass.

And here is the garden now in April 2017:
I've already posted some pictures earlier in this thread too.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

I need a "love love love" button for this @NanaKat !