What did you do in the garden today?

[Elyrian1]

I've never had calabaza before, but this guy I used to work with would go on at length, in Spanish hilariously, about how good they were and how to make them. I don't speak it fluently enough to know what all he was actually saying though. But! That's what Google is for, haha! If I get to grow some squash this year, I'll have to try a few, in his memory.

 

[TJAnonymous]

My gardens always start out wonderfully and then everything just goes downhill... *sigh* One of these days, I will get really good at gardening.....

Pretty sure my tomatoes have wilt. The question is which one? I have a hard time figuring these things out because so many diseases look similar in the south.

Blueberries are still on their downhill slide. Heard nothing from the extension office about my soil samples. Probably need to call them.

My young peach tree sapling has started losing leaves. Not sure why.... It is in a raised bed. Soil is moist but not soggy (well drained).

About the only thing that is producing in spades is my yellow squash and my peppers. Spaghetti squash is still a ways from harvest but it is looking great too.

I've got several watermelons growing now. The largest is slightly smaller than a football already.

Oh, and raspberries won't produce until next year but they are looking really great. At least 4 ft tall and lush....lots of spread popping up.

Hmm, I guess there are things to be happy for that are doing well, but I'm still feeling a little dejected about the things that have died or are heading that way. I don't like feeling helpless or clueless about how to fix it.

 

[24Elsinore]

Blueberries are still on their downhill slide. Heard nothing from the extension office about my soil samples. Probably need to call them.

Not exactly sure what your soils are like in Arkansas but blueberries generally require acidic soils to thrive. I apologize if you already know this. It's just that here in northern Illinois a lot of people buy blueberries and then wonder why they always fail because they don't know that our soils are generally alkaline and blueberries need the opposite. You can always look up your soils in the Soil Survey as well.

https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

I'm not a soils scientist but if you need any help interpreting let me know.

 

[WthrLady]

They hay has been baled and put away in its own shed for curing. I am SO unbelievably tired. I've been at it since 430am.
We finished at 715.
Now it's storming. Villages to my immediate west are dealing with quarter and larger hail. One friend has lost her whole garden. One had hives blow over. Ya the wind is insane too.

Hay dried quickly with extra raking and the crazy low humidity but high heat we've had for three days.
It tested dry enough, but I always worry anyway.
This year we just have to do the one cutting, so I'll clean all the equipment next time the temperatures drop again and put it all away.
Garden looks ok.
Tossed a dead onion. The zinnias are terrible this year.
Grabbed another tomato and a blackberry and called it a day.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Not exactly sure what your soils are like in Arkansas but blueberries generally require acidic soils to thrive. I apologize if you already know this. It's just that here in northern Illinois a lot of people buy blueberries and then wonder why they always fail because they don't know that our soils are generally alkaline and blueberries need the opposite. You can always look up your soils in the Soil Survey as well.

https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

I'm not a soils scientist but if you need any help interpreting let me know.

Thanks for sharing.... I'm aware of the acidity requirements. I have invested quite a bit of money, time, and effort to try to ensure the soil acidity is in the required range. My blueberries are in raised beds (to ensure proper drainage). The soil is a mix of compost, peat moss, peat humus, pine needles, pine bark mulch, and other amendments (sulphur, fertilizer, minerals, etc...). Yet, my plants are still chloritic which means that the plants can't process what they need from the soil. Not sure why exactly (waiting on the extension report for that) but my guess is that the heavy rains in May and early June may have washed out a lot of the amendments. Then, in my rush to fix the problem, I may have added too much and have subsequently burned the roots. This is a guess....but I have lost 2 plants in the past 3 weeks and ALL the remaining plants are showing signs of stress, dying leaves, and chlorosis.

I am sincerely concerned that I will end up losing ALL of my plants. I have easily spent $300+ on blueberry bushes. If I lose them this season, I give up. This will be the 2nd year that I have lost all my plants. I lost 2 plants last year too.

 

[chickengr]

I have a few errands to run in town today, but hope to throw in some top soil mixed with chicken run compost in those planters later today. Trying to decide if I want to turn the planters into hügelkultur pots, putting a few inches of wood chips or unsifted, woody, compost in the bottom of the planters and drill a drainage hole an inch or so up the side of the planter. Leaning towards that idea because knocking out the drain holes on the bottom of the planter just lets the water run through so fast and dry out the soil.

I'll follow up on the success or failure of the experiment. All my gardening books say that the peas and pole beans grow "up" a trellis, so I am not too sure if they will equally as well grow dangling down from the top of the deck. But I figure I have noting to lose as I will be using leftover seed packets and my newly found planters in the shed. So no new money invested in the project and I just might learn a valuable lesson.

some people did it with tomatoes and had success.

 

[chickengr]

Squash/pumpkin blossoms are edible. My neighbor really likes them. Last year they told me how to make them, but I was out of one ingredient (can’t remember which one) in their recipe, so I looked up recipes and found one that used a batter vs using dry breading. But, pick fresh blossoms (go out in the morning). Remove middle stamen (part with pollen). If not preparing until dinner, place in a container with a damp paper towel or Damp cloth. When ready, follow whichever recipe you choose to pan fry. They cook quickly. They are lightly flavored, a but sweet. My spouse was “Meh, it ok” , my kid refused to try, but I liked them. I tried the recipe neighbor uses -a dry breading, but preferred the batter method. Sorry don’t have a particular recipe, as I looked one up last year. I’ll see if neighbor can text me their recipe.

when I lived in italy I ate a lott of fried squash/pumpkin blossom. they were stuffed with cheese.

 

[alfie10]

finally getting back in the garden properly ,had a bad fall on the concrete patio a few weeks ago cut my elbow and damaged my hands .took a while for the swelling to go down,then a couple of weeks ago i fell in the bath ,felt such a fool trying to get out .I am getting so clumsy it,s scary .now i have tied the peas up and weeded around their patch ,feel better ,got lots more weeding to do .amazing how it gets away from you .I,ll water tonight we haven,t had much rain for a while. going to take all the crazy paving paths up in the autumn and grass them over ,i can walk better on grass .I,ll build raised beds with the paving ,just got to take it slowly .hope you all have a good day .

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Made the bouquet from flowers picked yesterday, after overnight conditioning, they are quite ready this morning. A colorful combination for my father-in-law who once enjoyed gardening very much and had most of the flowers in this bouquet in his garden.

 

[Sueby]

Made the bouquet from flowers picked yesterday, after overnight conditioning, they are quite ready this morning. A colorful combination for my father-in-law who once enjoyed gardening very much and had most of the flowers in this bouquet in his garden.

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Your flowers are just perfect & so beautiful!

It's a beautiful, cool, dry 55 degrees out there. Feels great. I went out & stuck some strawberry runners in the ground, smushed a squash bug I found on my cucumbers, tied up some tomatoes & pulled 3 more garlic.

Problem with so much garlic is I have no where to dry it really so it's in the house. Smells good in here, lol. I'm thinking I'll blend it into the oil freezer paste now, why bother curing it first I guess.

I want to move a tibetan chili plant, its huge & the cucumbers are invading its space. I hope it doesn't hate me, it's the only one I have.