What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

I need to feed the plants some fertilizer. But, went to open the new bag of fertilizer and couldn’t do it, will have to wait a few days. The bag had a warning of “eye irritation”. Of course, I’ll be cautious, but am currently sporting a “bandaid” contact lens to cover my cornea that is scratched all up from some undetermined thing. A couple of days ago, woke up early, and within 10 min, something was in my eye (I walked from my bedroom to the laundry room, indoors). OW! It hurt, thought it was eyelash…so went to get regular eye drops (just hydrating ones) from the cabinet to help flush whatever out and looked, but could see nothing at all in my eye. But, it really hurt! I flushed it with distilled water, still really hurt! So, was able to get into the eye doctor that day , and during the drive there I was alternatively holding that eyelid down or holding it up off my eye bc blinking really hurt, and thankfully it was on low travelled roads there to get there. So now medicated, band aid contact lens covering the scratched cornea, and eye drops. Yeah, I’m avoiding anything labeled “eye irritant” for now.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Most states have them

 

[Acre4Me]

You are totally correct... 12x4. And I got a little attached to my seedlings! I was going to try the square foot approach but don't think that would have worked. I should try to prune while staking them today.

Haha…that was me last year. My tomato bed is 16x4 raised bed 12” high. I had 22 tomato plants in there and that was crazy town in there-like a jungle of very tall and full and struggling for sun plants. So…this year, same bed, and I have a very tame 11 plants in there. I have carrots and onions scattered in there too. (I find carrots irritatingly slow to grow, so this way I can ignore them).

However, I also learned to place the small cherry/grape types elsewhere. They tend to be large, full, bushy, heavy. So I have 4 in another smaller bed along with carrots throughout and melons at two corners. Interestingly, one melon corner isn’t going as well bc it gets less light due to the bushy nature of the tomato to the east which blocks the morning sun. Of course, the melon gets plenty of light from later morning on throughout the day, so maybe it’s not a vigorous variety of melon.

I do have a few more tomato plants in another large bed, but they are on the south side, and not causing issues to any other plants.

we always grow a couple in large pots on the deck as it is fun to grab a few here and there. They are only smaller types on the deck. Problem with pots is they need to be watered a lot.

your plants look really healthy though!!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Just went outside to make up some compost tea that I can feed to the tomatoes tomorrow morning. I went to scoop some water out of the pond and realized that the water level is getting really low...

We need a good solid rain that will deliver a couple of inches....

Ironically it started sprinkling when I was making the tea but I think we are only expecting around .05 inches or something. Not enough to hardly even wet the ground.

 

[Swiss]

My tomatoes have just exploded with growth!
The buckets are my indeterminate Orange Icicle tomatoes.

The planter box has my determinate Sweetheart of the Patio cherry tomatoes. I've been pruning some leaves in the thick of them to get better airflow. I don't remember the plants getting this big! I originally was going to have 4 of these in this planter, but all 6 cells were happy, so I planted them all in here. Maybe I should do more pruning today...

 

[Sueby]

Hey all. I need to go catch up but it's been a few days so I'm soooo behind! It's hot & humid out there & this is just the beginning, this week is supposed to be icky. Joy. Garden is doing well, took some pics.

Picked some purple green beans, they are delish!


Have eaten a few squash, still looking good & hand picking the bugs


Blue Lake beans are climbing now


Honestly my cucumbers have never looked so good, lots of flowers & bees


My butterfly weed, but no butterflies yet


First blueberry to ripen


Strawberries are looking good & I'm working on the runners, some have rooted


Brandywines coming in


My 2 next projects, the fire hydrant the neighbor gave us (ugh) & an old engine - I need to get them cleaned & painted I guess. DH is going to make they hydrant into a spigot eventually. I just can't decide what color to paint either one, so they sit...



Ok, off to catch up, have a great day!

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

Extension offices... what the heck are they? Extension of what? And how do I find them near me?

Ours is sponsored by Oklahoma State University Agriculture department. Also puts on the Oklahoma Gardening show on PBS. They aren't everywhere? "OSU Extension - Home | Oklahoma State University" https://extension.okstate.edu

 

[TJAnonymous]

I came across this article about spraying milk on your pasture. I want to try it. DH thinks I'm nuts... There is a dairy farm in the next town over. I don't know the owner or if they would sell me some unpasteurized milk for the experiment but worst they could say is no, right? DH thinks it will kill the grass or make our horses sick.

What do you think?

https://www.agupdate.com/minnesotaf...cle_51d44570-06a0-5015-8b8a-e7a5abed9d48.html

 

[Acre4Me]

Extension offices... what the heck are they? Extension of what? And how do I find them near me?

https://extension.illinois.edu/dkk

 

[Acre4Me]

My 2 next projects, the fire hydrant the neighbor gave us (ugh) & an old engine - I need to get them cleaned & painted I guess. DH is going to make they hydrant into a spigot eventually. I just can't decide what color to paint either one, so they sit...

When in doubt about color then paint it a neutral first (cream, white, grey, etc) or just primer. That way it will be cleaned up and have its base coat applied. It will likely look more inspiring at that point bc most of the hard work (the cleaning) will have been completed.