What did you do in the garden today?

[Artichoke Lover]

It’s been insanely wet here so far. Normally we have to water a good bit in the front garden and the back garden usually does poorly even with extra water because it’s very sandy and on a hill. May and June have gotten double the average rainfall and July looks to be the same we’ve gotten 20 inches since May 1st! The ground was still saturated in the back garden yesterday despite no rain over the long weekend. And this is the forecast for the next 10 days

 

[WthrLady]

Rain and a cold front overnight, and cool this morning.The house is open for fresh air inside, but the humidity is near 100%. The air scrubbers will take care of that when I turn them back on for tonight as the 90s come back tomorrow.

Some people can get by with the new mouthguards instead of cpap, maybe your situation might qualify?

I can't even sleep with a guard in for my teeth, LOL.

I'm a horrible sleeper. It takes me forever to fall asleep, and I wake up and then cannot fall back to sleep. For grins one night I slapped my bluetooth headset on and fell asleep to a 10 hour loop of thunder and rain on a window. OMG I slept like a brick. I've been at that a month. I fall asleep in minutes and zonk out for 8 hard hours. The few nights I've done without to test it, or forgot to charge the headset I'm up half the night, like last night from 200am until 5am. UGH.

Nothing in the garden or with stock today. It's dark and wet, and foxy out, so even the birds will stay in today.

Have a great day all

 

[Acre4Me]

We will begin a series of at least 10 days with decent chances of rain or storms. But, this is norm here at this time - One child has a birthday coming up soon. EVERY.SINGLE.BIRTHDAY spent in Ohio (and this child was born in Ohio), it has rained heavily or outright stormed through much of the day. But, of the few birthdays spent elsewhere (MD, WA, and the North sea off coast of England) - No rain on those birthdays (even off the coast of England ). So, rain here is right on cue!

 

[Acre4Me]

So, 3 types of potatoes. one of them (Carola, a yellow type), has been large, green and very, very full of blossoms. As expected, it is dying back, beginning with the leaves turning brown starting at the tip. The other two types are longer season, and fewer flowers on them, but looking good.

So, today, I go out to do my morning inspection against the Colorado Potato Beetle and what do I find, but more flowers on a Carola plant!! So, we are on 6 weeks of flowers from the Carola plants! I checked, and it was May 5 that they began to pop up above ground, and May 31 when first flower buds where close to opening on the Carola.

Pic from this morning - you can see where the plants are getting more pale and have browning leaf tips to begin die-back.

This sounds like I should get a good amount of potatoes... I hope so! I only fertilized with compost, so should not have been heavy on the N (meaning all leaves, few tubers). This past weekend, I tried to dig up one Carola plant - enough to see how the tubers were doing, but did not come across any tubers, but didn't do much to disturb the root system, since they are only beginning to die back.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have a caterpillar problem! Little green things that are eating all my lettuce, mixed greens n spinach! Then I have some kind of critter that lays their eggs within the leaves turning the leaves swirly white on my kale!
And it all just started growing really well!
Any suggestions on how to eliminate these critters without messing up the plants?

 

[Iluveggers]

I have a caterpillar problem! Little green things that are eating all my lettuce, mixed greens n spinach! Then I have some kind of critter that lays their eggs within the leaves turning the leaves swirly white on my kale!
And it all just started growing really well!
Any suggestions on how to eliminate these critters without messing up the plants?

I had a horrendous slug problem after my newly planted sprouts came up this spring. I don’t use pesticides, so I went out with a headlamp every night for about 30 minutes when it got dark. After a week there was a noticeable difference. I also set some beer traps but they wouldn’t last long with our never-ending rain. Doubt the beer traps would work for caterpillars but if you have the time & patience handpicking will get rid of a bunch I’m sure. Do you have a picture of the caterpillars l? Sorry I can’t help you w chemical remedies if that’s what your looking for. Good luck!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I had a horrendous slug problem after my newly planted sprouts came up this spring. I don’t use pesticides, so I went out with a headlamp every night for about 30 minutes when it got dark. After a week there was a noticeable difference. I also set some beer traps but they wouldn’t last long with our never-ending rain. Doubt the beer traps would work for caterpillars but if you have the time & patience handpicking will get rid of a bunch I’m sure. Do you have a picture of the caterpillars l? Sorry I can’t help you w chemical remedies if that’s what your looking for. Good luck!

Ugh...I had a hard time seeing the little booger in broad day light cuz it blended in perfectly with the leaves!
Awful pic but maybe u can tell something bout this lil demon.

 

[Iluveggers]

Ugh...I had a hard time seeing the little booger in broad day light cuz it blended in perfectly with the leaves!
Awful pic but maybe u can tell something bout this lil demon.

It looks like a cabbage worm but hard to tell. They like brassicas (kale, cabbage, collards, Brussels sprouts, arugula) the best but will eat lots of leafy greens. Unless you want to dust with powder I think your best bet is to pluck off as many as you can find. My neighbor gave her kids 10 cents for each one they put in a cup and lost a few dollars but gained a clean garden lol!

Edited: I put row cover on my cabbage, kale & brussel sprouts this year & I’ve had much less of a problem. Left one little patch of kale for them to lay eggs on & I just pluck them out of that one spot.
The white lines might be leaf miner. I had some on my Swiss chard & just kept removing the infected leaves and eventually it got big enough & I dont see much damage anymore. I hope that helps, but so many bugs have similar colors & tendencies it’s hard to know for sure!

 

[Acre4Me]

Ugh...I had a hard time seeing the little booger in broad day light cuz it blended in perfectly with the leaves!
Awful pic but maybe u can tell something bout this lil demon.

Cabbage looper, most likely. Get caterpillar spray - all natural bc it is a bacterium that gets in caterpillar gut, they cannot eat so die. Works well unless bad infestation. TSC or similar will sell this spray.

we put our Brussels and cabbage under insect netting, they were so bad last year. Since they could not lay their eggs on their preferred thing, they have decimated my arugula in pots on the deck, and the nasturtium flowers in the garden. The only nasturtium not touched is surrounded by marigolds.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

My neighbor gave her kids 10 cents for each one they put in a cup and lost a few dollars but gained a clean garden lol!

Too funny! Good idea!!!