What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

I love Kale and Mustard greens in salads
Brought 10 silkie home pictures tomorrow

 

[Elyrian1]

Today, managed to get out and water this evening, picked up a double-handful of old tire-wire, nails, flattened aluminum cans, etc-from the street and driveways. The last renters were... messy. Okay they were downright trashy, and they never paid their rent. Hence why they're gone. At nine months pregnant, I probably looked hilarious. All belly. Can't bend straight over anymore; have to put my feet apart and half squat to reach the ground. It doesn't hurt to have landlady see me actually cleaning up her property, in addition to being quite punctual with the rent.

I'm hopeful to have a fall/winter garden. At the very least it'll be a good learning experience concerning our climate. Meanwhile, DH keeps rescuing monster wolf spiders from work and bringing them home to help with our black widow population. These suckers have a leg spread the size of my palm. (I'm not a big person, lol) I've seen considerably fewer webs in the last two weeks since he brought two big ones home and did a thorough black widow roast with the torch. I think the combo made a dent. He also brought home a huge pile of cardboard boxes to start our landscaping project, but hasn't had the time to get a load of woodchips/mulch in yet. We'll get there. Lots of things on the todo list and everything baby comes first right now. Goodnight all!

 

[Happy hen lover]

I will when school starts . Hey do you plant any fall crops in August? What and when?

SOMEtimes I put in some lettuce, but otherwise nope. We don't eat kale or anything from the brassica family that isn't eaten alive by the bugs in the fall here. The hoppers are relentless by September. I could toss some sweet short season corn, but why when I can pay $5 a dozen for organic local corn.
Honestly, by the time canning is done in September, I've seen enough of the garden.

I might try lettuce and maybe some spinach .I agree about corn it's fresh picked that day and most years I've gotten it for free.

 

[chickengr]

I've noticed that none of my companion planting, with one exception, has worked. I have one tomato that is planted in a giant truck tire. I planted a couple of nasturtiums in the tire which pretty much took over the planter. The tomato had to grow pretty big to finally overcome the nasturtium....however, this seems to have saved it from aphids, thrips, etc...because the tomato is incredibly healthy and strong now with no sign of blight or pests.

the same here. nasturtiums help with aphids.

 

[chickengr]

I considered just cooking the habaneros, chiltepes and scorpion chilies in vinegar and water with onion and garlic and then blending it all and canning it.

recipe please.

 

[NewBoots]

Meanwhile, DH keeps rescuing monster wolf spiders from work and bringing them home to help with our black widow population.

I needed a flat surface to use the foot pump on the trailer tires so I flipped over broken stepping stone and there was a big fat widow spider. Not for long though...

I might try lettuce and maybe some spinach .I agree about corn it's fresh picked that day and most years I've gotten it for free.

I'll plant more lettuce, spinach and kale (cabbage loopers didn't bother the kale last 2 seasons for some reason) this fall. Probably some mustard greens too. We both love greens.

As I was running around today I finally remembered to stop and get some fresh oysters. This is one of the best areas of the U.S. to get them and I keep forgetting. I deep fried some today and I'll make some shooters and an oyster stew tomorrow.

 

[Acre4Me]

I watered the heavy soil garden today.

Today, August 5, is usually the day I cull all the melons that are not yet the size of my fist. On my 4 muskmelon plants, I have 1. Single. Melon. on each plant. I have a watermelon the size of a golf ball on the watermelon plant.

I could have had another 40 tomato plants in the space I gave to the melons.

Next year, I will have 60-70 tomato plants up there. I give up on melons.

Remind me of this next spring.... I have a short memory when it comes to melons.

It has not been a great melon year here either. I’ve ripped out 5 varieties bc they were not growing well. Possibly poorly placed on a couple of them. I have one watermelon plant growing ok, with 2 small melons (fist to softball size), and a few muskmelon plants that seem to be producing several. Technically I have another watermelon variety growing, but not a single flower as of yet.

 

[Sally PB]

DEATH TO ALL VINE BORERS & SQUASH BUGS!!!!

And Japanese Beetles! I and the chickens are doing our best to eradicate them.

 

[Iluveggers]

I planted two more zucchini & 2 more summer squash plants last week. Although I’ve been able to fight off the vine borers who did get in to my plants, (they took a hit before I dissected the stems and are now recovering), off of the 5 plants I planted we’ve only had about 10 squash the whole summer. Usually I am GIVING them away. . It is 55 days til fruit for both varieties, and I saw two sprouted yesterday, which would put harvest date around late September which is two weeks before first frost here. Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll get a few more on the second round. I didn’t even freeze any since we’ve eaten the few I’ve been able to grow.

 

[Acre4Me]

I planted two more zucchini & 2 more summer squash plants last week. Although I’ve been able to fight off the vine borers who did get in to my plants, (they took a hit before I dissected the stems and are now recovering), off of the 5 plants I planted we’ve only had about 10 squash the whole summer. Usually I am GIVING them away

Same Here! Planted 2 zucchini and 2 different yellow squash about 10 days ago. Hoping for a few more to eat before the end of the season. They tend to dislike the colder nights as it gets into September, so it all depends on how cold the nights get.

The vine borer even got my butternuts! I've heard that usually they leave butternuts alone. One of the two butternuts isn't looking great - it produced 3 squash, and may be done. The other has produced 3, and has recently set 2 more, so hopefully it lives long enough to get those two to maturity. They got my pumpkins, and I dissected, but not sure if I got them all - the big pumpkin is limping along, the decorative small ones seem ok, but its hard to get to the hill as I let 7 of those plants grow.