What did you do in the garden today?

[Compost King]

Today in the Garden I pruned out Yellow Squash leaves to promote air flow to the middle to the plant. I sowed one Hemp seed just because I had it and wanted to see if it was viable. I attempted to hand Pollenate a pepper plant to make a hybrid (Ghost Pepper x Carolina Reaper) but I forgot to mark the pollination flower so I won't know which one to let go to seed lol. I washed out my Oyster Shell storage can and poured the water in with my peppers and tomatoes. I picked 3 yellow squash. I watered all the peppers plants that started to wilt at 2 pm. Not many wilted because we had a short burst of light rain. With my hottest peppers I wait until the plant starts to wilt before I water them. I keep my Jalapeños watered frequently because they aren't very hot and I am hoping for high volumes of low flavored Jalapeños because they go great in a recipe I make frequently when they are grown that way.

 

[littledog]

Well I believe I know what the folks around here spent their stimulus money on: fireworks! Good grief. In addition to the daily evening fireworks for the past 30 days, last night the first were set off around 7:30 pm and intensified to more noise then the Battle of the Bulge and lasted until after midnight. Needless to say I got little sleep last night.

Oh, I hear you! With all the public fireworks displays cancelled, it was like a Baghdad war zone surrounding us last night. Everybody all up and down the street and across the river, competing with each other for the loudest bangs. The colorful decorative fireworks I can appreciate, but what is so patriotic about huge explosive booms in the middle of the day? Even our 14-y-old dog who's almost totally deaf heard those, and kept barking until the noise calmed down at around 2am. Our hens didn't like all that noise either, we've only collected 4 eggs in the past two days.

We got almost everything mowed and weed-whacked, around the house where it's publicly visible, as well as the field, except around the garden and coop. My buckwheat cover crop is coming up well in 2/3 of the garden (thanks to a suggestion from a gardener here) so I hoed the whole garden, pulled up the biggest weeds in the buckwheat area and every weed in the rest, then and planted red cabbage and basil there (in between the dahlias that are sprouting) and loofah underneath the trellis. Risky to be planting at this late date, but I ordered some row covers that can hopefully extend the growing season - we'll see what happens. Lots of overtime at work reduced my gardening time, but sauerkraut and pesto is all I really need for this year, I have lots of beans, peas, butternut, pumpkin and tomato sauce canned or frozen.

Our one hen Creamy who was getting picked on until she was bloody, we put in the enclosed but only partially finished big pen a couple weeks ago, so she could heal. Loki the rooster was acting like he wanted to breed her, but once he caught her he would savage her without even breeding, and the boss hen would join in with pecking. So now that poor Creamy has had a couple weeks away from the flock and is totally healed and fluffy, we put her back with the other hens and put the rooster into the big pen by himself.
So far so good, all the hens are getting along and Creamy is part of the flock. Hopefully, a couple weeks in "rooster jail" will teach Loki to be a better protector. If not, he's destined for freezer camp.

My hope is that once we have the big pen complete and can let them all out there, we won't have any more issues.

 

[Sueby]

@karenerwin so sorry about the hen.

@Compost King it sounds like you like some hot peppers! My DH loves them, but I don't have the room to grow what he comsumes. I buy a bushel of jalapenos & can them for him once a year because I can't afford to buy all that he eats! I wish I could get hotter jalapenos, they get so mellow when I can them. Is there such a thing, a hotter jalapeno? I like to make cowboy candy out of super hot peppers.

Morning all. Back to work today but I managed to get the shade netting for the beans up this am, nice & easy to work with:

Very productive squash plants:

Todays haul, will be stuffed squash tonight:

My San Marzanos are coming along nice, thankfully I think I caught the blight in time:

Like my VINE squash? They really climb that trellis well. I really can't be too mad they are huge producers even packed in as tight as they are since they were supposed to be climbing:

Bad pic, but I finally have female cukes after replanting so many times because of that stupid squirrel:

Have a happy day all! Stay cool if it's as hot & humid as it is here for the rest of you!

 

[adirondak5]

The wife , grandkiddies , and I started picking wax beans last evening , will pick more today and get the canning supplies out and get some put up .

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Mother Nature provided the fireworks last night. We had a couple of strong thunderstorms with really high winds roll through at bedtime of course. There were at least two cells that blew through and of course, between storms you could hear fireworks going off. Seriously? That's OK, I still got a fairly decent night's sleep. Despite the wind and heavy downpours there was no damage in the vegetable gardens. I picked some more peas this morning. Your squash looks amazing @Sueby. I have one zucchini that should be ready to pick tomorrow and one baby yellow squash. That's OK since I still have squash fritters from last year in the freezer. My cucumbers are starting to develop and the tomatoes are blooming heavily now. If the jalapenos aren't hot enough, try growing Serrano peppers. Definitely more heat in them. I know the onions work for ground hogs and I believe rabbits. However, I've never seen a rabbit in my garden. They really like clover so I make a point in leaving plenty of that for them. My little chipmunks are the mischievous little munchers this season. I wasn't sure if the onion was working on them so I added siracha sauce. I think that worked. However, with the rain from last night I think I need to reapply another dose. It's a bit cooler today and tomorrow so laundry today and grass mowing in the backyard tomorrow. Also planning on making more bread tomorrow then we're headed for another heat wave. Good news, the littles finally discovered the roost inside their little coop. Have a great day everyone.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners.

@karenerwin I'm sorry about your chicken. I hope it's the last time that happens!

I watered this morning, the grass really needed it; I've neglected it while painting and it's starting to show. We got a Scott's product that's supposed to help with the burn spots, planning to get that done next weekend. I moved the shade cover over the kiddie pool and now both are under there; every other day I wet down the mini coop too, add the fan and the flock seems to be handling the heat pretty well. So far the oleanders are making it. I watered with the soaker hose this morning but I think I'll supplement with the watering can tomorrow morning, maybe give them some food as well. I'm not too sure about the ground cover I moved. I need to get out there an inspect that too. Anyway, have a great day everyone!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning gardeners Guess we will be dry today hope to get my brussle sprouts planted

 

[jerryse]

Well I broke out the shorts and Arctic cool shirts a few days . Trying to do some garden stuff .

 

[NewBoots]

Well I put soup in the canner and one jar exploded about 5 minutes in. The other two look terrible, so I won't be keeping them. It was an experimental recipe. Fail.

Normally, how does home canned soup come out? Commercial canned soup is always so bland and mushy. And what about cream of mushroom or celery or any other cream soups? I tend to over buy mushrooms and we can only eat so much cream of mushroom soup no matter how good.

Oh and last night I made some strawberry jam. It turned out horrible.

Dang how disappointing, I hope the fix works.

Anyway, something killed and partially ate the hen.

I'm so sorry.

My San Marzanos are coming along nice, thankfully I think I caught the blight in time:

Oh good, I spread bone meal like a crazed thing on the squash and tomatoes and while it's too early to know about the tomatoes, the squash are all fine and producing now.

The wife , grandkiddies , and I started picking wax beans last evening , will pick more today and get the canning supplies out and get some put up

My wax beans are a fail. I'll try climbers next season. I so wanted to have some for freezing and bean salad too. Grats on your crop!

No rain and none in the foreseeable future so did the watering and livestock care. Yesterday, I got some of the native flower seedlings up-potted, over time I'd love to be able to fill most of the bluff with them and hand out seedlings to the neighbors. And I'm sure as heck going to try to get the borage growing back there.

Just opened my first jar of refrigerated sugar snap pickles and they are yummy! DP would like them better if I had made them a little sweeter so I'll make a note on the recipe but I really like them as they are. Well, maybe I'll make some just for me with more heat. Now I can't wait till I can start pickling hot peppers. I have to assume that if I made them shelf stable I'd lose that lovely crunch though. Gonna have to get on finding a decent used fridge/freezer for the garage/barn, I'm really keen on pickling right now.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Normally, how does home canned soup come out? Commercial canned soup is always so bland and mushy. And what about cream of mushroom or celery or any other cream soups? I tend to over buy mushrooms and we can only eat so much cream of mushroom soup no matter how good.
Dang how disappointing, I hope the fix works.
I'm so sorry.
Oh good, I spread bone meal like a crazed thing on the squash and tomatoes and while it's too early to know about the tomatoes, the squash are all fine and producing now.
My wax beans are a fail. I'll try climbers next season. I so wanted to have some for freezing and bean salad too. Grats on your crop!

No rain and none in the foreseeable future so did the watering and livestock care. Yesterday, I got some of the native flower seedlings up-potted, over time I'd love to be able to fill most of the bluff with them and hand out seedlings to the neighbors. And I'm sure as heck going to try to get the borage growing back there.

Just opened my first jar of refrigerated sugar snap pickles and they are yummy! DP would like them better if I had made them a little sweeter so I'll make a note on the recipe but I really like them as they are. Well, maybe I'll make some just for me with more heat. Now I can't wait till I can start pickling hot peppers. I have to assume that if I made them shelf stable I'd lose that lovely crunch though. Gonna have to get on finding a decent used fridge/freezer for the garage/barn, I'm really keen on pickling right now.

I can my pickles. I use a bread and butter pickle recipe from the Joy of Cooking and I love the flavor. I’ve noticed that the longer you let them “cure” in the salt the crispier they are.