What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

I caught up on this thread. Does that count as "working in my garden today?"

Yes. Yes it does.

 

[Sueby]

Happy Belated Birthday Penny!!

 

[Acre4Me]

Happy birthday Penny! Your first full day of being 59 years young.

 

[Sueby]

I had read that Catch 22 composting thread - it made me laugh at myself because all I do is dump EVERYTHING in a pile & pitchfork it once in a while, LOL. My numbers are so far off, I'm sure. But nature will do her thing eventually. I did get the idea to add my shredded paper to it though! I really should go water it, its dry, but I'm waiting for DH to finish the gutter/rain barrel system I'm putting on the coop so I don't have to haul water. Or more water than I already do for the girls.

I picked some veggies last night to bring in for a coworker & pulled up the last of the lettuce that bolted. I had thrown more seed down but it's just too hot for it, even in the shade under the trellis. I watered the carrots, melons, cukes & onions.

I have a bunch of watermelons now & one that's between softball & football size! How do you know when it's time to pick watermelon??

 

[Sueby]

I took a pic of my 30 year old grapefruit tree. I hate grapefruit so I don't care that it's never so much as flowered. It was a gift from my late grandmother a million years ago so it's just sentimental. I keep it way trimmed back to this size, every few years I take it out of the pot & trim the roots back & add some new dirt.

 

[perchie.girl]

love grapefruit my self... peel them and eat them like an orange... Back at my mobile home I had Grapefruit, Tangerine, Valencia orange, Navel Orange, And Lemon trees. They were in a sorry state un tended and overgrown with Iceplant.

I stripped the Tangerine of its fruit some over a year old... Still good Got four grocery bags full. I Cut out the Dead branches then pruned it back to fit the space it had way overgrown... The next year I only had a few tangerines but the year after that they were big and beautiful.... double the size of what I stripped off.

Essentially did the same for all the citrus... Lemon tree was happy and gave me loads of lemons.

The other side of the mobile I had to do some major cutting of ice plant... Citrus needs bare ground underneath because they absorb water from the surface.... The trees were tiny too probably only about five years old.... And only as tall as my waist. Even dwarf trees get bigger than that...

They finally started producing fruit after about three more years. Not a lot but they were happier after being fed and watered properly.

That was back when I was still fit and able to dig... Set up sprinklers too.

Oh and I had an avocado... looked to be grown from a seed... I wonder if it ever produced any fruit. I should do a drive by and see...

deb

 

[Sueby]

I wish I could grow an avocado tree here!!

 

[perchie.girl]

I wish I could grow an avocado tree here!!

they get big... Really big... need to be planted on slopes with lots of big rocks to convey warmth to their roots...

Old growth Avocado makes great fire wood as well.

Sadly the drought has hit the groves hard. Water table is down a hundred feet in some places and its hard to irrigate....

deb

 

[Sueby]

they get big... Really big... need to be planted on slopes with lots of big rocks to convey warmth to their roots...

Old growth Avocado makes great fire wood as well.

Sadly the drought has hit the groves hard. Water table is down a hundred feet in some places and its hard to irrigate....

deb

DH would kill me if I had yet another, even bigger, tree we needed to bring in for the winter.

This is me:

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I finally have a bloom on the pole beans. Yay! I found two overgrown cucumbers this morning. I think they are too big to pickle so I'll just turn them into a chopped salad or tabbouleh. I'm getting a handful of cherry tomatoes daily now. I also got 5 jalapenos yesterday. When I see jalapenos and tomatoes together I think "Pico de Gallo." So dinner was a quesadilla and Pico de Gallo. I'm still getting green onions so it's all homegrown. Like you @IamRainey, I don't have the freezer space to freeze my tomatoes so I can them all. I usually just make sauce, however this year if the harvest is good enough I may make some salsa and stewed tomatoes. And don't be afraid to discuss composting tips here, most of us do that already. I have a double chamber tumbler and also a pile. New England has pretty decent soil, however I'm close to New Hampshire (a.k.a. the Granite State) and we have our share of rocks, clay and decomposed granite, so we must compost here. Thank you @Sueby for giving me hope for my fig tree. There was a fig tree in my grandmother's yard when I was a child and I loved sneaking fresh figs for a treat. Of course that was much farther south. Have a great day everyone and Happy Birthday Penny!