What did you do in the garden today?

[MACCanadianCoop]

Sorry for your loss @Sueby wishing love and peace to your family

 

[WthrLady]

Just came in from spraying, I ran out of spray.
I think this batch of mulch came in with crap in it. AND to top it all off it's already rotted down to dirt after going down in late March and going down THICK. It had construction trash in it too. I've sent a note to vigaro, but I doubt I'll hear anything back.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I think our blackberry patches must be related..... I think ours act the same way. The only thing more annoying than the rabid blackberries are the wild raspberries and the pokeweed. The raspberries are bitter and super invasive. They are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to irradicate. And I just plain HATE pokeweed. I spend most of my summer trying to tear it out wherever I find it and it keeps coming back. I've even taken an axe to the rhizome and it STILL comes back.

We have two goats. They LOVE to eat the blackberry leaves but we have far too many for 2 goats to handle. I really want to get another female goat but prices on them have gone up too. First of all, unless you go to an auction, they are terribly hard to find. Lots of wethers and billies on Craigslist, few to none on the females. When you do find a female, they are usually $300 - $400. I simply haven't been able to justify that cost for another female.

Call me crazy...but O I want blackberries!
I read a study by the U of A here where they experimented with growing blackberries and raspberries and reported what growing methods and varieties work best in the desert. I know they're hard to grow here but I think I'll try it next year. I broke my foot last year...the second time for the same spot...and it hasn't healed well this go round. But it is healing and I think by next year I'll be able to handle giving it a go. Since everything native here has biting thorns...it'd be nice to get fruit along with it!

We had goats for years and used to make cheese from their milk. Our last goat passed away at 16 last fall. I'll never forget the time one of my kids friends mom asked to borrow a goat for a weed whacker. She had mostly London rocket for weeds so I explained to her that the goat would eat her tree and her wooden fence faster then the London rocket. She still wanted to give it a go and made the 45 minute drive to come pick one up...and made the same drive the next morning to bring him back.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Call me crazy...but O I want blackberries!
I read a study by the U of A here where they experimented with growing blackberries and raspberries and reported what growing methods and varieties work best in the desert. I know they're hard to grow here but I think I'll try it next year. I broke my foot last year...the second time for the same spot...and it hasn't healed well this go round. But it is healing and I think by next year I'll be able to handle giving it a go. Since everything native here has biting thorns...it'd be nice to get fruit along with it!

We had goats for years and used to make cheese from their milk. Our last goat passed away at 16 last fall. I'll never forget the time one of my kids friends mom asked to borrow a goat for a weed whacker. She had mostly London rocket for weeds so I explained to her that the goat would eat her tree and her wooden fence faster then the London rocket. She still wanted to give it a go and made the 45 minute drive to come pick one up...and made the same drive the next morning to bring him back.

A lot of people don't realize that goats are browsers, not grazers. They pick bits to eat here and there while they walk around. They don't graze through a pasture the way a horse or cow does. And yes, they love to eat trees. Mine would rather eat fresh fallen oak leaves than grass. They also nibble at the bark. I have to put up fencing around my young trees to keep them away so they don't kill them. Luckily there are many other interesting things to check out and nibble so they quickly move on to easier delectables, like my flower beds.

 

[Sueby]

Just weeded Moms beds. I'm trying to dig all mine out at home & they keep putting them in here. Way too much work for something they never see since they never leave the house. But man that invasive vine (I think it's Kudzu or Mile A Minute) is all over EVERYTHING.

 

[DramaBrahmaMama]

Well, I decided after reading that my sugar snaps may lose their flavor in the heat to harvest some of the large ones. It'll go nice in the chicken stir fry for tonight's dinner. Then, I harvested the last of my spinach and made a quick batch of wilted spinach and turnip greens in bacon grease with onions. That'll go in hubs lunch tomorrow. Along with a fresh salad from the garden!!!

 

[igorsMistress]

Yeah, we're experiencing a cold front here too. It's expected to only reach 99°F today, down from yesterday's 107°F. Brrrrr.

I can very much relate to this. Down to 107 from 113 yesterday.

 

[igorsMistress]

Well, it might be the heat...but I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with my mulch. The peppers are doing better since I pushed all the mulch back to give them a 6 inch clearance between the peppers and the edge of the mulch. But places where the mulch is touching my nasturtiums, sunflowers, and dill, I've also got plants dying. Most of my nasturtiums are dying after reaching about 6"+. The sunflowers that don't have any mulch around them are doing great. The ones in the mulched area have either died or are stunted. That just seems like an awful lot of coincidence to me to not be suspicious of the mulch. It was a pile of green mulch (shredded bark, logs, leaves, pine needles, in addition to wood chips) that was dropped last spring (2021) so it has had a year to break down and compost a little. There's tons of fungi that grows on that pile but I don't know what else would make it toxic or bad? It's not exposed to chemicals or anything...

Maybe it’s still to hot? Or something was sprayed in the area where it was collected?

 

[Acre4Me]

Here's something else funny.... My zucchini have also stopped producing. They were doing great. I have already even pulled 6 large, plump fruit off my plants. Now suddenly they have stopped producing female flowers. All the baby fruit are rotting before the flowers even open. This is happening on plants that were flipped by the storm as well as those that weren't. Again, not sure what is going on..... I will try to add some bone meal later tonight. Too hot to do it now and garden is already watered for the day. I'll water again on Wednesday.

Maybe Squash Vine borer? Can’t remember if yours are under netting.

What was planted in that space or bed last year? Maybe something has hatched and is detrimental.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. @Wee Farmer Sarah sometimes you can find Food Savers at Walmart. Mine is flat but also does the canisters and I’m pretty sure I found it there.

I’ve had the water going since around 0400, almost done. I joked about our change in temp, but it is noticeably cooler this morning compared to the weekend. I found some really mad out there when I moved the hose, fortunately before they found me!