What did you do in the garden today?

[Rick589]

We spent a couple of hours outside peeling and chopping about 5 gallon buckets worth of Rome and Granny Smith apples from our trees(5 gallons after the peeling and chopping). Promptly converted them into 7 quarts of tasty apple sauce.

 

[Rick589]

Picked my first six tomatoes today.

for you.

 

[Rick589]

Tried very carefully harvesting my first batch of potatoes today. I guess last year wasn’t a fluke; even taking into consideration I may have missed some trying not to disturb the beans they were interplanted with I didn’t get out significantly more than I put in. I’d blame the weather but I thought potatoes liked cooler weather.

I’ve found that too high of a Ph will stunt potato production.

 

[Rick589]

This batch of sauerkraut is definitely the best I've made yet. It spent 23 days in the fermenter at ~70°F. It's made out of cabbage from my garden.

View attachment 4193465

I cooked the Oregon Grape berries picked a few days ago and strained them out through cheesecloth. I have a cup and a quarter of juice for jelly making.

View attachment 4193466

I chopped the green apples thinned from the tree and have them cooking down to extract the pectin. They've been on the stove about two hours now but still feel a little firm.

They need to get to the point of mushiness, then I'll strain out the liquid through more cheesecloth. It's supposed to be strained overnight in the fridge. Made sure I had space in there.

I didn't realize boxed pectin was so pricey now, $3 or $4 bucks a box is what I saw. If this works I'll save a few bucks.

View attachment 4193467

What cabbage did you grow? In the past I’ve grown Bravo, this year I grew Stonehead. Waiting to see if the kraut taste noticeably different.

 

[C Siena]

We have an abundance of Kale, so harvested some, blanched then dried.
Weeded, tied up the tomato plants as much as we could. See the last pic as some are over 6'. I will probably have to trim/top them.

Couldn't work as much around the cucumbers as we have had guests.

They have grown in 5 days. This is from today.

Tall tomato plants. I have garden shoes on, so my height is 5' 5.5", next to them. They are Just beginning turn reddish.

 

[Smokerbill]

What cabbage did you grow? In the past I’ve grown Bravo, this year I grew Stonehead. Waiting to see if the kraut taste noticeably different.

Golden Acre. The heads weren't dense and tight, but kind of loose and lightweight. I cut the cabbage around 1/4" thick for the kraut, and it's nice and crisp. I started some Brunswick cabbage seeds for my fall crop. Not sure what it'll be like, but it's supposed to keep well.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Was reading an article today about staggering losses caused by varroa mites....

https://www.zerohedge.com/food/record-us-honey-bee-losses-and-what-mite-be-behind-them

It got me thinking about natural predators so I started googling. I came across an article that said varroa mites can't survive temperatures between 104 and 108 degrees for more than a few hours.

This heat dome has been centered over the middle of the country for a month and doesn't seem to be lessening for at least the next 2 weeks. Temperatures here in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, etc have easily exceeded those temperatures. I wonder if that might be a silver lining to help our bee populations?

I have seen less than 5 honey bees ALL SUMMER. I get a moderate amount of Bumblebees and far more wasps... But honeybees are almost nonexistent around here.

 

[C Siena]

Was reading an article today about staggering losses caused by varroa mites....

https://www.zerohedge.com/food/record-us-honey-bee-losses-and-what-mite-be-behind-them

It got me thinking about natural predators so I started googling. I came across an article that said varroa mites can't survive temperatures between 104 and 108 degrees for more than a few hours.

This heat dome has been centered over the middle of the country for a month and doesn't seem to be lessening for at least the next 2 weeks. Temperatures here in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, etc have easily exceeded those temperatures. I wonder if that might be a silver lining to help our bee populations?

I have seen less than 5 honey bees ALL SUMMER. I get a moderate amount of Bumblebees and far more wasps... But honeybees are almost nonexistent around here.

Last year we did not have many honey bees, just mostly Bumblebees, Carpenter Bees, YUK!, and sweat Bees. This year we have an increase of Honey and many bees! If we leave the water buckets by the garden, we cover them as too many times the bees fly in the water (in years past). I get them out, if I catch in time. Now, we just cover the water to protect them.

 

[Rick589]

This recent broody hen of ours, about six weeks after hatching her peeps, has turned neurotic and dismissive. Pure pyscho.

 

[Nym]

Still raining here ...cleared 40+mm from the rain gauge early when I fed the girls. The dogs are bored