What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Here is a squash update. @Sueby requested pics of the over large butternut variety called "Trombone"


Here is the first one that developed. It seems to be changing color, but very slowly. As a size comparison, there was a butternut hanging to the right of this, and it was about 1.5 fence squares long, and not as thick.

Here is the other one. I had hopes that it would get bigger, but I think the plant has been impacted by the squash bugs too much. This one also seems to maybe have stopped or at least slowed its growth. It may also be turning color - or it could be the lighting.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Here is a squash update. @Sueby requested pics of the over large butternut variety called "Trombone"


Here is the first one that developed. It seems to be changing color, but very slowly. As a size comparison, there was a butternut hanging to the right of this, and it was about 1.5 fence squares long, and not as thick.
View attachment 2299667



Here is the other one. I had hopes that it would get bigger, but I think the plant has been impacted by the squash bugs too much. This one also seems to maybe have stopped or at least slowed its growth. It may also be turning color - or it could be the lighting.
View attachment 2299668

Could these have cross pollinated with your gourds?

 

[Compost King]

The day I took off from the garden a Hornworm feasted on Jalapeños... I imagine he burned himself a few times because he would bite into a bunch of peppers part of the way then move on. ate all the leaves off of one plant. I had no idea what it was as I was picking Jalapeños for my chili beans I am cooking today (about 1/3rd of peppers on 2 plants were partially eaten)... then I found a giant fat Horn Worm, larger than any I have ever seen before was sitting in one of the pots that the Jalapeños are growing in. He wasn't even easy to kill... his skin would not break for about 2 minutes then I got a razor blade and cut him in half.
While removing dead or sick leaves on the Cucumbers I found a giant pickling cucumber that I never saw... about 6 inches long and 4 inches wide, the size of a beer can. it was filled with Pickle Worm holes so Chickens got to eat it. I though about saving seeds from it but when I broke it up the seeds were not mature. How big does a Pickle Cucumber need to be before the seeds become viable? I have no idea, maybe they were viable but needed to be dehydrated. I should go look for a video on saving Cucumber seeds. Not that I need to save them but I should know how and I should have learned this before I was 46 years old.

 

[Acre4Me]

Could these have cross pollinated with your gourds?

I don't know - they are not that close to each other. One type of gourd flowers at in the evening, another one during the morning (like squash). I don't really see bees around the gourd flowers, rather, they seem to attract flies (which I had read about before planting the gourd seeds). But, the bees really do like the squash flowers.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Wonder if some of you would share your success with growing rhubarb. I've grown it in beds along with ornamentals. Now I have moved them to a raised vegetable bed and they have stayed small and are not thriving. Besides, it seems like a waste to have them take up a whole vegetable bed. Think I'll move them again. Any suggestions on what they need to grow big and beautiful?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Wonder if some of you would share your success with growing rhubarb. I've grown it in beds along with ornamentals. Now I have moved them to a raised vegetable bed and they have stayed small and are not thriving. Besides, it seems like a waste to have them take up a whole vegetable bed. Think I'll move them again. Any suggestions on what they need to grow big and beautiful?

I thought rhubarb was super picking. You pretty much have to plant them as soon as you divide them. I wonder if fertilizer would help. I use 10-10-10 in my vegetable garden.
I do have a huge rhubarb plant that was here when I bought my house 10 years ago. I actually don't touch it or divide it because the lady before me pulled the old railroad ties from the woods and used them as a raised bed for the rhubarb. Used Railroad ties can be toxic to plants and people who eat the plants that are near these ties.
I'm hoping to get a chunk of rhubarb from my mom's garden next Spring but I was planning on planting it in a raised bed by the vegetable garden, I will have to try this with fertilizer.

 

[Sueby]

@TropicalBabies - wow, what an ordeal. Good for you for maintaining yourself, it's best in the end.

@Acre4Me that squash is huge!

Morning all. I had a busy morning, I had a lot of garden clean up to do because I left the garden gate open & a turkey got in...and get this...was fighting with another that was on the outside of the garden fence! He tore up my garden. DH had to go out & chase him out of the garden, but in the meantime he ran from one end to the other fighting with the other one destroying all my squash plants & the cover I built over the blueberry & gooseberry bushes.

I watered today, cleaned up all the squash leaves as to not give the squash bugs anyplace else to hide. Picked some volunteer sungold tomatoes & some green beans. The lettuce I planted is coming up. I made the pullet coop run a bit bigger in preparation for the newcomers, I hope they are ready soon! The girls had a ball hanging out with me, extending the run required moving a bunch of rocks so they followed me around & devoured all the bugs that were hiding.

OMG @NewBoots the squash chips are SO GOOD! They will be gone by the end of the day, lol. I was going to make some squash soup but I think I might make more chips instead. DH can have broccoli soup instead.

Have a great day all!

ETA: @Backyard Hencam Rhubarb - they are heavy feeders, I compost mine in the fall & spring. They like lots of sun, lots of space & lots of water. They like to be divided every few years & don't let them go to seed. That's my experience anyway. They may need a year to recover from the move.

 

[Acre4Me]

in the meantime he ran from one end to the other fighting with the other one destroying all my squash plants & the cover I built over the blueberry & gooseberry bushes.

Wow! So strange...the one time you leave your gate open is when 2 male turkeys are fighting and happen to find your open gate.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Nothing in the garden today, but we sent the USPS some love a while ago and today they sent it back! Just little stocking stuffers. The big box was unable to be opened gracefully. We only ordered 6 so nothing too cray cray.


Oh yes and something went bad on my lawn mower and instead of having me drive 30 miles to the Warranty Repair place they are just sending me an entirely new one so that was 45 minutes well spent on hold for a 300+ dollar Greenworks Pro 80V lawn mower. I'll still drive the 30 miles to the repair place and have them replace the busted PCB and have two functioning mowers.

 

[NewBoots]

It's unfortunate to have to deal with the cruelties inflicted by ill informed persons, but until there's a law against stupid, we just have to suck it up and move on.

Wise words and I've had to tell myself variations of it (sometimes even without profanity) these last few years.

Wonder if some of you would share your success with growing rhubarb. I've grown it in beds along with ornamentals.

I planted two chunks last winter in my new raised beds. They went crazy and since I didn't want to harvest them their first year, they've nearly taken over that bed. I'll probably remove one of them and put it in the hedgerow this fall. Mine got a lot of water, as far as fertilizer, it was a new raised bed so there's fish carcasses in the very bottom and mediocre compost and a little horse manure in there for good measure.

OMG @NewBoots the squash chips are SO GOOD! They will be gone by the end of the day, lol. I was going to make some squash soup but I think I might make more chips instead. DH can have broccoli soup instead.

Dang! What spice or pepper did you add? Inquiring minds and all that! I need to make some more myself though soup does sound good too.

Good morning gardeners, Glyness and Koraline (sisters) sang an egg duet this morning at 6:40 am for about 5 minutes, but when I went out to check, no egg. But at just about noon here, Glyness started to sing again and walked out of the coop to drink a lot of water (singing between sips) and by golly there was an egg! Three eggs in two days! Koraline and Amelia are both getting really red combs and both take part in the singing so I'm hoping they're about to start laying as well. Sorry for the non-garden sidebar but I'm just so pleased and excited!

We only got maybe an 1/8th of an inch of rain so far but fingers crossed for more later. The pressure in still really low so I'll keep my hopes up. I'm glad I did bring in the tomatoes with color to them, it was enough rain to crack them.

I moved most of the potted tomatoes to a spot in the lawn that never grows to get them away from the greenhouse. The close stacking of the pots next to the greenhouse was a mistake, it's too hard to work with and water the plants and it gets too warm there. I'll start them there next year but move them further apart sooner. The stupice and san marzanos are doing good though and I finally got them all tied up. So much easier when you can walk around the bush, and now I can see where snails and slugs (this is their state capital) have been able to get to the plants. I'll still use the deck just with more of an eye for maintenance.

Time for lunch, in clearing out the chest freezer, I found a small container of my hot chili, yum!