What did you do in the garden today?

[oldhen2345]

OH and for all of my fellow mass canning people, on my shopping trips this past week, I have seen pallets of canning jars starting to arrive.

Some Ball, some Kerr. A LOT of Golden harvest (which is the lower end of the jar market price wise and has a high rate of breakage), and at ACE Hardware I saw PUR Mason, which is made in China. So roll your dice on that one.

I have NOT see boxes or sleeves of canning lids anywhere I've been; target, home depot, menards, lowes, the amish/mennonite market, AceHardware, Orsheln, Tractor suppy, and two local grocery chains.

Many of my canning jars are from the 20s and 30s and after years of canning are showing stress fractures and have been moved to the dry storage shelves for dehydrated items.

I might have to purchase a few cases of new jars this year. OOOO I have one more farm store I haven't tried.

Just tossing that out there.

Just bought some ball jars. Noticed reusable jar lids on Amazon and ordered some of them- some of mine go in the freezer and the lids rust. We will see if these are worth the investment. Soon I can let the canning begin.

 

[WthrLady]

Lima Drama, sounds like drama llama LOL

Labeling is done as I wait for DH to return with petrol for the mower and the dew to burn off.

Maybe I'll hang a giant quilt as my screen. Hmmmm....I do have several around here.
Please ignore the mess on the left. That's the supplies for the master bathroom when I gut it and the piles from DS dorm room, and obviously the ghost of christmas tree past,LOL

Ahhhh Organization.

 

[WthrLady]

Amazon has the brand names, to all interested, I'd buy now rather than later when you need them. I might be needing some more actual jars this year, but I'll play it by ear a bit. Have plenty of people I can give stuff to if necessary.

Covid last year screwed me up too, still get randomly winded sometimes but the other nonsense has cleared.

Cooler today by a few degrees. I'll take it, sheesh.

They have them, but OMG the prices!!! I pay 3.99 MAX for a dozen flat lids (no rings) and I only get Ball or Kerr stamped, not the ones that say compatible with.....many of those can be questionable off brands with heaven knows what in the lid bottom and sealing ring.

 

[oldhen2345]

Went out this morning and fed the hens, checked their water, watered the garden and flowers. Except for squash bugs, everything looks good. The tomatoes are begining to turn pink, the corn is starting tassels, beans are growing up the corn stalks, and the one pepper is plant is thriving. There are female blooms on the yellow squash and no bugs yet. the zucchini has some female blooms, but is eaten up with squash bugs. I hand picked a bunch off and threw into a water bucket, but will get a spray when I go to town later today.

 

[oldhen2345]

Lima Drama, sounds like drama llama LOL

Labeling is done as I wait for DH to return with petrol for the mower and the dew to burn off.

Maybe I'll hang a giant quilt as my screen. Hmmmm....I do have several around here.
Please ignore the mess on the left. That's the supplies for the master bathroom when I gut it and the piles from DS dorm room, and obviously the ghost of christmas tree past,LOL

Ahhhh Organization.
View attachment 2716404

LOL, still looks fairly organized. I am inpressed.

 

[WthrLady]

My part is organized. DS pile, not so much. LOL.

 

[Wolfie2]

I usually get canning supplies @ grocery stores in the area. Sometimes have to shop around to find 'em. Bought some Ball caps & rings a few weeks ago for some pickles. Water bath canning and when I put the tops on, the lids kinda wrinkled up a litle. Never had that happen before. Went ahead and let them cool. Wrong move. 3 of the 5 did not seal. had to redo 2 of 'em. Other one went into the fridge. When I changed 'em out I thought they felt a little more flimsy/thinner that before. Is Ball cuttin quality?

 

[Acre4Me]

Garden Update:

So, I planted 8 melon types - LOL. We really enjoyed them last year, so we planted our two favorites and added 6 more. We really liked the Cherokee M&S from Sandhill, and saw that Territorial Seeds also had some seeds, so we planted both sources of the Cherokee M&S watermelon. Sugar Salmon Muskmelon was the other favorite. We planted 2 hills this year - but I forgot a pic today, so I added one from 2020.

Usually mix up the beds to have a few types of produce. Here is my typical tomato bed: Some carrots, some onion, marigolds, and tomatoes of course. So, this will be the first year adding in onions to this bed. Onions don't like a ton of water, so it will be interesting to see if they fare OK here - it is well drained.

Tomato bed in back, and pepper bed in front.

Squash! Finally, a male flower. I tried to hand pollinate the females. Their blossoms opened yesterday, so not likely to work, but figured I'd give it a try!

First Eggplant flower - so pretty!

Potato bed looking good. Only one type has open flowers at this stage.

Gourd bed for chicken run shade. Growing well!

Look at this boy!! He's only 9 months old (an early September hatch), but SOOO tall. I was trying to get the pic at his level. Look how "small" the HEN on his right looks. He is a Black Langshan and his name is "Thorin Oakenshield" for any Hobbit/LOTR fans.

 

[Sueby]

Hey all, catching up after a few days of being busy with graduation parties. Been locked in the house for a year & out partying the last 3 nights in a row - I'm beat!

I weeded yesterday so that's done. The peppers might be looking a little better after epsom salts & food so that's good. I found 2 squash bugs on the squash so I smushed em & decided to pull the mulch from those pots. I bought Sevin just in case & I never use poison in my garden but I won't go through what I did last year. Those bugs hardened me. I hand fertilized a couple squash, not seeing a lot of pollinators around yet & since they aren't in the garden but are on the deck I'm not sure any will venture to them this early.

I have to cut garlic scapes today. I'm not ready to do broth so I may freeze what I don't eat.

I've been buying canning jars a case at a time here & there. I still have quite a few lids so I should be good but will continue to buy as I see them if they're priced decently.

Can anyone recommend a good all around liquid veggie fertilizer? Preferably organic. I'm hoping to have my soil test back this week - maybe that'll help me decide what I need. I use Dr. Earth usually but I'd like to switch it up a bit & that one is too hard to make into a tea.

 

[Sueby]

Just bought some ball jars. Noticed reusable jar lids on Amazon and ordered some of them- some of mine go in the freezer and the lids rust. We will see if these are worth the investment. Soon I can let the canning begin.

I bought these a couple months ago & love them. They have a silicon seal so they're so much better than the plastic lids, they don't leak. The company that makes them is out of NY, but I'm guessing probably made in China, couldn't find any made in USA unfortunately.