What did you do in the garden today?

[oldwynooche]

Do you have a soaker hose under that weed fabric?

 

[woodlandsprite]

Hi all....I'm Debbie and we have a late garden this year...Not sure how it's going to work out since we live in Oregon, but we're hoping...It's late because in May my sister passed away and I stayed with my mom for a month...Then waited another couple weeks before I planted anything cause I just didn't want to...I still have some lemon cucumbers,cucumbers and jalapenos to plant..Funny thing is when my husband tilled the ground some seeds from last years garden were in there...So I have some pumpkins,zucchini and acorn squash plants that are already producing...I have alot of weeding to do..Sometimes it feels like it'll never get done..

 

[nordicacres]

It has been awhile since I've been able to check in here! My garden is finally really producing. I picked our first zucchini today. The yellow squash are going mad - we have more than we can eat and I need to look into freezing them. I've picked (and frozen) about 3-4 bushels of green beans and I planted another small crop today. I also put in some more cucumbers because mine just aren't producing very well. I'm determined to make my own pickles this year. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, but overall the plants are not looking great. Tomatoes have always done well for us, but we are in a new place this year so it is a learning experience.

. . . and I did a batch of pickled banana peppers today! I've never pickled anything before so I'm eager to try them in a few weeks

 

[FridayYet]

Oooh those pickled banana peppers sound great!

I've got way, WAY too much zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. Haven't been able to keep up with the squash bugs either, so tomorrow all the plants are coming out except for one of each.

My giant pumpkins still look terrible, but I have a few growing on a few vines, so if I even get one for Halloween I'll call it a success. Next year they are definitely going on the other side of the garden so they can have afternoon shade. Guess they are not the best desert plants!

 

[Arielle]

welcome woodland sprite Hope you get that garden going. Not too late for your area based on the fact that I can still plant now for fall crops. GOod luck.

 

[FridayYet]

Hi all....I'm Debbie and we have a late garden this year...Not sure how it's going to work out since we live in Oregon, but we're hoping...It's late because in May my sister passed away and I stayed with my mom for a month...Then waited another couple weeks before I planted anything cause I just didn't want to...I still have some lemon cucumbers,cucumbers and jalapenos to plant..Funny thing is when my husband tilled the ground some seeds from last years garden were in there...So I have some pumpkins,zucchini and acorn squash plants that are already producing...I have alot of weeding to do..Sometimes it feels like it'll never get done..

I hear you on the weeding. In the Fall I'm going to get a load of wood chips and try to start the "Back to Eden" style of gardening. Who knows whether it will work here or not, but I think it's worth a try.

 

[Peep_Show]

Howdy, Folks!

I'm Peep_Show (a/k/a Dee) and I know a bunch of you already. (FridayYet's DH helped construct the veggie compound... It's beautiful!)

Got a late start on the garden also. But we've got things growing: Peppers, lavender, eggplant, lemon cukes and pickling cukes, radishes, kale, chard, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, summer squash, rhubarb and strawberries. The chard and kale are going to town and being harvested regularly, the rest we're watching the little veggies grow (baby pickles, SO cute!) Got lots of fruit trees, too: Peaches, apricots, apples, pears, figs, nectarines, cherries. And a nice gooseberry bush that really put forth this year. I have an elevated trug to-be-assembled in my living room for some lettuce. Most of our veggies are in raised beds or heavily amended railroad ties rows.

Really hot today in NM. Spent a lot of time in the veggie garden not because I was gardening, per se, but because I finally put the Jr. Varsity pullets in with the layers and wanted to keep an eye on them to make sure we weren't hosting any chicken fights. The door opened to the coop and the established girls ran down the ramp into the run to find the full-sized pullet there. It was funny. They all just sat there looking at each other and looking confused. There is strength in numbers. There were four new ones and if there had only been one or two it might've been a pluckfest for sure. As is they just maintained their distance from each other all day (kind of like a jr. high dance with boys on one wall and girls on the other), but got all cozy in the coop at night. Of course, egg production REALLY dropped for that incident, as if the heat weren't curtailing production enough.

Haven't had the squash bugs, but some weird beetle is nestled into the forks of the eggplant and gnawing. It's a plump grubby looking thing with a mottled pattern on the wings and it does fly. But when hunkered down it looks like it cannot and looks, well, kind of like a blob. I'm thinking possibly a Colorado Potato Beetle? Have to do more research..... Also found one enormous tomato horn worm today. The only one thus far that I can tell as no other plants have damage. Chickens enjoyed that.

 

[Peep_Show]

It's not a Colorado Potato Beetle... No stripes on the wings. It's kind of grey/brown instead.

 

[Stuffedcritter]

It's not a Colorado Potato Beetle... No stripes on the wings. It's kind of grey/brown instead.

Is it a Japanese Beetle?

 

[Peep_Show]

Those are too shiny and iridescent.

I had flea beetles (no big harm), but these are about the size of a 3/4 dime, thick and juicy. I'm trying to find one in the plants, but after they really gnawed I broke out the Neem and ferti-loam for a spritz fest and haven't seen them since.