What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

I hope not. I ordered all females of each kind, and one male of the Marans. Nobody is perfect, though, and mistakes do happen. We shall see as they grow!

One of my peach trees is beginning to blossom, even though I TOLD it to hold off... I bought it last year, so it's small enough that I could cover it to protect it from the cold temps we are expecting soon.

Trees are like kids.... They never listen.

FWIW, both my peach trees AND my kids have somehow managed to survive their poor life choices so far so there's hope....

 

[cj2024]

I am starting on a new adventure with sour dough. I like the idea of being self-sufficient. I watched a few sour dough videos on how to make the starter but decided to get a head start with this San Fransico style culture. I am having so much fun.......

 

[Minanora]

Yeah, shade does nothing when it’s 115 for days here. Glad you can wing it well!

Yeah that's brutal. We only get a week of 112+, usually. Knock on wood, hoping this year is more mild.

I can't stand sitting on the tractor with a mask on when it's that hot and I have tons of grading to do this summer.

Busy... moved some of my raised beds. Planted thyme and basil around tomatoes. Checking for worms and bugs daily and watering.
We are taking the next step in our homestead process...fruit trees. I am getting peach and pear from a local nursery.
Love to read about your gardens.View attachment 3803657View attachment 3803658

Your garden is so beautiful! Fruit trees are great! I look forward to seeing more!

G’morning all. Nothing much outside here today, job hunting and inside chores are on my agenda. Blah. The aloe is in bloom along with another succulent that I don’t remember the name of. So are the yellow bells

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Carolina jessamine is blooming too. Elvis is behind it, he was fibbing about some treat he found back there
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These are our temps for the next week. My weekend will be spent arranging things for maximum shade and getting the pool ready. Still too early for ice water, but some cool water in the afternoon will be appreciated
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Your weather reminds me that I spent two weeks on Blythe in the summer working between rows of hot solar panels. I about melted. Desert garden though! That's a pretty amazing challenge!

Yeah, I was looking at the Harvest Right. It's currently on sale for $2300 which is still pretty expensive. Might have to wait until the fall...or Black Friday.

This is the one I'm thinking of getting. Possibly two medium units.

Oh yeah, the purslane has already sprouted! Two days! Wow....

It's a weed I tell you! A weed!


Anyway, on my lunch I got that new bed amended and couldn't help but plant some calendulas on it's edge by the walkway. Seeds for corn and bush beans go in tomorrow.

Also my clover is starting to kinda fill in. Kinda.

The pest pressure on my pumpkins is insane. One plant is already dead. One cucumber plant as well. Three other pumpkins have severe damage. I applied more neem this evening. Hopefully they start to outgrow the pest pressure as they establish. The race is on and I'm starting more seeds just in case. I think the mulch is part of my problem.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Well, I've got the garden about 90% done... I got soil in the remaining raised beds. Seeded some St Johns Wort, Black Cumin, Zinnias, and more nasturtiums.

Also planted the new dahlia bulbs. I really wish the dahlias I planted last year had survived... They were so pretty... I'm not going to dig the new ones up this year. I'll over winter them in the soil. I only dug up the previous ones because the chickens decided to do a number on the bed they were in. The good news is that they can't get to the beds in the garden where I planted the new ones.

If I don’t dig up my dahlias in fall, nothing would come up in spring, the frost kills the bulbs and they turn into mush
Against pests, have you tried planting lavender and marigolds?! Their smell usually keeps many pests away

 

[MotherofOrpies]

My garlic has been in the ground since last October and some of the plants are over a foot tall now. The garlic remained green through a couple of snow storms and several days of temps in the teens. Didn't phase it!

My garlic hasn’t done well, most green sprouts just vanished, I fear it was too dry

 

[Sally PB]

yeah, I was looking at the Harvest Right.

Yeah, I've seen them at TSC. Still can't justify the $$$$.

I just can't seem to pull the cord and jump

Same. I've looked into how much electricity they take (quite a bit) and how loud they are (quite a bit) and that keeps me from walking out of TSC with one of them.

One of my peach trees is beginning to blossom, even though I TOLD it to hold off... I bought it last year, so it's small enough that I could cover it to protect it from the cold temps we are expecting soon.

My cherry trees need to hold off! I saw white showing in some blossoms yesterday. We have 4 nights out of the next 8 with 32-35 degree temps. We have 2 nights before that for them to open more and then pay the price.

I haven't looked more closely at the blueberries yet...

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I am starting on a new adventure with sour dough. I like the idea of being self-sufficient. I watched a few sour dough videos on how to make the starter but decided to get a head start with this San Fransico style culture. I am having so much fun.......
View attachment 3804468

I’ve being doing sourdough for years now however my original culture that I made from scratch finally died of neglect. I purchased some San Francisco starter, I think it was likely 2 years ago and I really like it. I’m being more attentive to this culture. Good luck with your baking.

 

[igorsMistress]

Yeah that's brutal. We only get a week of 112+, usually. Knock on wood, hoping this year is more mild.

I can't stand sitting on the tractor with a mask on when it's that hot and I have tons of grading to do this summer.


Your garden is so beautiful! Fruit trees are great! I look forward to seeing more!

Your weather reminds me that I spent two weeks on Blythe in the summer working between rows of hot solar panels. I about melted. Desert garden though! That's a pretty amazing challenge!

This is the one I'm thinking of getting. Possibly two medium units.

It's a weed I tell you! A weed!


Anyway, on my lunch I got that new bed amended and couldn't help but plant some calendulas on it's edge by the walkway. Seeds for corn and bush beans go in tomorrow.
View attachment 3804481

Also my clover is starting to kinda fill in. Kinda.
View attachment 3804480

The pest pressure on my pumpkins is insane. One plant is already dead. One cucumber plant as well. Three other pumpkins have severe damage. I applied more neem this evening. Hopefully they start to outgrow the pest pressure as they establish. The race is on and I'm starting more seeds just in case. I think the mulch is part of my problem.

So what are your overnight lows with this daytime highs?

 

[jerryse]

I have a young apple blooming for the first time. See what I really get. Pretty sure I got scammed. Supposed to be Honeycrisp. It came as a 1 foot whip and no graft union. Nearly 10 year wait. I can graft it if needed. Fell for it. Most likely a rootstock. Happened on a sour cherry once. Turned out to be Mahaleb = bird cherry rootstock. Grafted sour cherry on it.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I have to say we have been truly blessed in the weather department here in the station we watch. Not perfect, but pretty accurate.

I like being able to look at the weather radar on the stations website so we can see what’s happening in real time. Very useful tool.

I use the radar often, too. I can see there are big green blobs of rain coming, but then at times they split, so just north & south will get pummeled while we get a slight mist. It is different than where I used to live. Weather is a more varied & can really vary just 15 miles from the next area. Heck, I've even seen it rain it's butt off so bad driving we were down to 5mph or had to pull over, then 5 miles down the road is dry as a bone. I can't yell at the weather dude all of the time, he does say "spotty showers, may or may not hit your neighborhood" so being near the ocean with tons of rivers & the bay & canals, and then the wind shifts, all do affect where the storms actually hit.