What did you do in the garden today?

[TheOddOneOut]

I had the birds clear a bed...by forgetting to close the chicken wire perimeter.
Bye-bye, lettuce.

 

[oldhen2345]

Anybody have good experience with watermelons?

I usually have watermelon vines- one or two every year. I have them in a raised bed and they grow out everywhere. I gave up trying to mow or keep the grass down because of the vines being all over. Most years I get a good crop. This year, I only planted one vine. Had two melons on it and was just waiting for them to ripen- a few days ago, I went out to water them and something had gotten into the biggest melon ( about the size of a football, maybe a little bigger). It was cracked open and was rotting. I am mad enough to bite nails. Well, got one melon left - fingers crossed.

 

[Flockincrazy]

my daughter is ready to bust she planted some icebox watermelon seeds and they are blooming she has probably 40 little watermelons she is bouncing off the walls with excitement

 

[Flockincrazy]

I had the birds clear a bed...by forgetting to close the chicken wire perimeter.
Bye-bye, lettuce.

oops

 

[ChickenCanoe]

took 4 pounds of orange tomatoes out of the garden as rain is causing splitting. I's rather NOT toss any more split ant covered tomatoes to the hens.

May have lost another hive to those darn wax moths. Weather is just brutal this year. The hive was fine 7 days ago, half full of comb and honey. Today. Most bees are gone, moth cocoons everywhere, comb a disaster and I couldn't find the queen. ARGH! I even treated that hive!

It's my second, but it was being watched and was treated for prevent moths. It's infuriating. The whole valley is battling them!

I stripped out the hive and put fresh everything inside. The bees were not happy, but I still have drones and workers. I will look for a queen again tomorrow. I will treat every couple of days. I hope maybe the ones left will make a queen and stay.

I guess you freeze the frames when moths invade. How long do you freeze for?

@WthrLady I am battling small hive beetles in my hive(s). A couple of people suggested Swiffer dry sweeping cloths so I am trying those. I am sorry that you are having so much trouble with your bee adventures this year.

In the garden, I harvested some more tomatoes, and tomatillos. I went to a friend's house to pick Dawson Plums. I had never heard of them. She said she remembers her mom and Grandma making jelly out of them. When I got there she couldn't figure out which tree they were coming from so I picked them up from the ground. It turns out that all of the ones I got were no good. But I did save some seeds. She said I could come back any time and try to figure out which tree it is and gather more. I tossed them in the coops this evening for the girls to enjoy. They look like persimmons, especially when not ripe. When they ripen they turn purple (instead of orange like a persimmon). Has lots of flat seeds like a persimmon does and the "cap" on top looks just like a persimmons too.

Oh, I butchered the turkey yesterday. Caught him trying to mate with another chicken hen. This one at least lived through the experience.

My sad news is that my mom is going to be evaluated for Hospice tomorrow. I believe she is ready. She has gotten so weak she can hardly even sit up much less do anything else. She is also in almost constant pain ( yes, she has pain meds). She has pretty much stopped eating and only rarely answers her phone anymore (and never calls anyone). I will meet with the hospice worker at 4:00 in the parking lot since this pandemic keeps me from being able to go in the facility.

Small hive beetles are an absolute pain. I have found the fully screened bottom boards with a trap tray beneath filled with cheap vegetable oil works for pretty good control.

Are those Dawson plums or Damson plums?
We had several Blue Damson plums at our farm and my grandmother had some she wasn't too fond of and she called them Blue Damn plums.

I thought the mail service was ok up until a few years ago. These last few years... I have lost and late packages 5 out of 10 times. If it gets mailed Fed Ex it now gets stuck on a boat and takes 4-6 weeks to get here, not 2 days- that is a 3 year old policy. We are not lucky enough to have home delivery. We walk, bike, scoot or drive to our dilapidated post office a proud 1/4 mile up the road where they have some nice A/C in the building where they work. It used to be a nice place to buy stamps and cool off before Covid19, now, not so much. Our boxes are not in the inclosed A/C building, just a room that gets hotter every year. Our last postmaster put in for some funding and got the parking lot fix and some of the rotted siding repaired and painted 5 years ago but that is the most I have ever seen done in my 40 years of looking at it. Of course 20 years ago it only needed help with the parking lot.
I have been raising chicks for my island community because we don't have 2 day or overnight mail and now... with this not-so-new admin, chicks (if we can get) can take 5 to 6 days. Eggs are in question too. And it is only supposed to get worse. Be nice if someone with a brain could rescue our postal service, save the jobs of those nice hard working people so they are not added onto the list of the tens of millions of other people who are now unemployed. We can spend trillions on our armed forces during peaceful times, trillions in tax breaks for the wealthy... why do we have a failed postal service?

I'd say our country is burning down the way some wanted. Yes, you are going to hear some complaints, it would be remiss as Americans if we did not. These are embarrassing times and I am old enough to remember Nixon.

Island life is a blessing and a curse.
I feel your pain. I find myself from time to time apologizing for my countrymen.

 

[Acre4Me]

Anybody have good experience with watermelons?

Not much experience, but I'm having some current success.

I planted 3 types that should do well in my area.

1. "Greely Wonder", it produced 2 melons, then got "sick" with some kind of wilt, I think, and faded away, and melons didn't get any larger than a softball.

2. "Wilson Sweet" - growing well. 2 plants, and I see 2 melons growing.

3. "Cherokee Moon and Stars" also growing well. 2 plants, and I see 2 melons growing. They are large (but not southern large), and its hard to tell if they are growing anymore. I haven't checked the bottom of them for bugs, but the stems are still green and thick, so they aren't ready to pick.

So, not sure if they will ripen fully yet, but It is fun to watch and hope for success.

 

[WthrLady]

I should show you some of our village post offices. Oh wait. Power of the internet. Hang on.
Many here are the size of a closet. One person can get in at once. The rest of the building, which is smaller than a 1 car garage in total is behind the counter. AC ? HA!
My only peeve with the PO is if you are charging me for 2 day post, it better get there in 2 days, not 5/6/8.

This is the closest village post office. It has room for three people in line (precovid) and actual little brass post office pick up boxes) All the other villages around have room for one person.

I'm always in awe at the huge post office in the city with it's 1920s stonework and art deco decor, but not with it's kindness or parking situation.

 

[WthrLady]

I had the birds clear a bed...by forgetting to close the chicken wire perimeter.
Bye-bye, lettuce.

Ain't no party like a good salad party!

 

[Flockincrazy]

Not much experience, but I'm having some current success.

I planted 3 types that should do well in my area.

1. "Greely Wonder", it produced 2 melons, then got "sick" with some kind of wilt, I think, and faded away, and melons didn't get any larger than a softball.

2. "Wilson Sweet" - growing well. 2 plants, and I see 2 melons growing.
View attachment 2278553

3. "Cherokee Moon and Stars" also growing well. 2 plants, and I see 2 melons growing. They are large (but not southern large), and its hard to tell if they are growing anymore. I haven't checked the bottom of them for bugs, but the stems are still green and thick, so they aren't ready to pick.

View attachment 2278552

So, not sure if they will ripen fully yet, but It is fun to watch and hope for success.

We love watermelon my 10yo daughter planted icebox watermelon and they are doing well we turn ours a little every day when they get softball sized

 

[Acre4Me]

I should show you some of our village post offices. Oh wait. Power of the internet. Hang on.
Many here are the size of a closet. One person can get in at once. The rest of the building, which is smaller than a 1 car garage in total is behind the counter. AC ? HA!
My only peeve with the PO is if you are charging me for 2 day post, it better get there in 2 days, not 5/6/8.
View attachment 2278644This is the closest village post office. It has room for three people in line (precovid) and actual little brass post office pick up boxes) All the other villages around have room for one person.

I'm always in awe at the huge post office in the city with it's 1920s stonework and art deco decor, but not with it's kindness or parking situation.

many tiny P.O. buildings in the area. But,the one in mycity is old/historic, just off the downtown square. Last year they re-grouted the entire building leaving the original brick. It took a few months, but they removed old grout, put in new between all the bricks. While the building didn’t originally have a/c, at some point it got a/c.


in 2017 and 2018 I mailed a normal sized box to my kid in FL. Priority Mail, expected delivery 2-3 days. It took 11 days to arrive each time!!! Yes, it was before Christmas, but that was insane. I additionally mailed priority packages to Seattle, LA, and DC At same time. All of those arrived in the 2-3 day time frame. FL kid is not rural. Lived on base both years, but that was not the delay! Tracking showed bizarre route in FL before it even made it to the final city. last year, sent it priority, 13 or 14 days ahead.....it made it there before Christmas, but after everyone else I mailed got their packages. Another time, I mailed a package toFL Kid, but there was no rush....so I mailed it regular type mail. It took OVER 2 weeks to get there!!! This was in October, no holidays, and kid no longer lived on base, but in a regular apartment. Tracking showed it parked in one random FL location for over a week!Not sure why so much difficulty in FL, but it’s strangely inefficient there (In my experience).