What did you do in the garden today?

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Yep that's it.I absolutely loathe them.

Horses love to eat them, spines and all.
You can also use the seeds as food.

But yes, they spread like the dickens and hurt!

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Is kudzu edible???

It sure is!

Here's a fun article to begin with.

https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/the-weird-and-wonderful-ways-you-can-cook-with-kudzu-really/

And a pretty drink made from the flowers.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Thanks!!

One day I would like to eat a ripe honeydew. Not sure I’ve ever really had a ripe one. Clearly I’m going to try this year, as I have a few honeydew varieties. Last year a couple honeydew grew, and began to set fruit but then would wither and die. All melons this year are planted in different spots, using black plastic, and the soil is fertilized. All are stated from seeds.

We’ve had some luck with cantaloupe and watermelons in the past. But, last year was unsuccessful with those too.

I tried to look for shorter season or ones for more northern climates. The Charleston Grey watermelon is supposed to get pretty big, so we will see what happens with that one!

Here are some that we grew in 2020
View attachment 3521725View attachment 3521726View attachment 3521727

This year’s selection includes some yellow or gold watermelons, so that will be new to us.

I'm also trying the Sweet Passion Melon this year...

For watermelon, we are trying 2 new varieties - Shining Light which is a small variety and Strawberry which is a larger variety.

 

[Sueby]

I had the best melon I've ever tasted in my life from Costco. Boy do I wish I could remember what it was called!

I was out watering the garden & a baby bunny hopped out of the strawberry bed. I really don't want those stupid things peeing & pooping under my strawberries! Plus I'm covering the bed today as they are starting to ripen. So DH caught 2 & relocated them. Heading out after breakfast & I hear DH yell to me, 'should I let him eat this bunny?'

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I hope you are all enjoying Memorial Day. Got a late start this morning but managed to get a few herbs planted on the slope. Cilantro, parsley, basil and dill. The basil and dill are in the night shade garden aloing with some bunching onion seeds. I ran out of basil seeds so I'll have to take my extra pack of that along with the tarragon seeds either tomorrow or Wednesday. I also planted some mustard on the other side of the slope. Next up is clearing the space for the three sisters garden. I found several interesting designs for that but I'm going to go with the small circles. I should be able to do 5 small circles of corn and beans, then just a few squash plants. My new AC unit is awesome. On the low setting it cools the entire sunroom, dining room and the kitchen which is over half the house. I put one of the small window units in the living room and the house was finally a comfortable, OMG I'm not sweating anymore temperature. And it's very quiet. Today is much cooler than yesterday so likely won't need the ac until later in the week. I need to get moving. I need to clean the charcoal grill and get it set up for the ribs. Have a great day all.

 

[Sueby]

So mustard...is that like a green you eat? Or do you grow it for seeds to make mustard? I have no clue, I don't like mustard but I'm curious.

Found the bunny den, no more bunnies thankfully, DH cleaned it out. & we covered the strawberries. A couple look ready to pick even!

Putting down seed & straw on the part of the lawn he graded. Trying to find enough hose to get it watered! If I ever build a house it will have water spigots & electrical outlets on front & back. *grumblegrumble*

 

[Acre4Me]

don't remember how many slips I ordered...

Me either! Did I order 4 or 6 varieties??? Each variety will have 6 slips.

So mustard...is that like a green you eat? Or do you grow it for seeds to make mustard? I have no clue, I don't like mustard but I'm curious.

Yes and yes. The greens can be cooked and sautéed or eaten raw. My husband adds them to sandwiches instead of lettuce. There are very mild to very spicy varieties. Last year we grew 5 varieties. We have never let them go to seed for mustard though. The greens do not taste like mustard though (the yellow condiment)

Putting down seed & straw on the part of the lawn he graded. Trying to find enough hose to get it watered! If I ever build a house it will have water spigots & electrical outlets on front & back. *grumblegrumble*

Me too. A dream.

 

[gtaus]

I never thought of it like that, but what a good system for calculating value for money. I'm going to use your system every time I buy something I expect to keep long-term.

I like to spend the least amount of money possible, but sometimes that means spending a bit more up front to guarantee a longer service life. Of course, you have to keep your receipts and warranties just in case, but I've returned/exchanged 15-year warranty shovels, garden hose manifolds, hard disk drives, some power tools, etc...

You also have to factor in the expected life of the company. A 15-year warranty is worth nothing if the company goes out of business in a year or two. Lots of fake companies on Amazon offer good term warranties but they expect to dissolve the company and leave all their customers with no service before their inferior products start to fail. I'm thinking of all those off-brand knock-off power tool batteries that sell for less than half the price of the name brand tool battery. Read the reviews and you see customers who cannot get any replacements for failed batteries despite still under warranty and/or the company just disappeared later that year.

FWIW, last summer I purchased a couple of knock-off off-brand Ryobi 40v batteries from Amazon for less than half the price of the original Ryobi batteries sold at Home Depot. Well, they had about half the run time and were failing within the Amazon return period, so I sent them back for a full refund. Good thing too, because I read lots of updated reviews where the company would not replace their batteries after the Amazon return period and last time I looked, that company was dissolved and out of business. I think they plan it that way.

 

[gtaus]

I use and like Ryobi too - when my sister moved to Canada a few years ago, she let us raid her belongings - my niece and nephew had a garage sale, and we had our pick of all the stuff that didn't sell. She had several Ryobi tools, the batteries and charger were lost or sold, but I found replacements on Amazon that work great. My favorite is a little circular saw - too small to cut anything thicker than a 2x4, but I do very little that needs more than that, and it's so much easier to take the little saw and extra batteries down to the field to whatever I'm working on, than to haul wood up to the house and plug in the big saw.

I have been in the Ryobi line for almost 20 years. They have sales where you buy a tool and get free batteries, or buy a battery kit and get a free tool. It makes it hard to calculate the "real" cost of either the tool or the batteries when they offer those sales bundled together. I'm not a contractor making my living with these tools, but I can say that almost all my Ryobi tools have lasted much longer than the warranty period. I have no complaints.

 

[gtaus]

Good to know, my assumptions could be wrong - I'll definitely take another look at Bauer products. I've been hankering for a compound miter saw, I bet Harbor Freight will have a sale at some point.

I think for most people, once you buy into a tool system you are pretty much invested in their battery platform. I went with Ryobi 15+ years ago because they had the largest selection of tools that worked with their batteries and they made a promise to keep the same battery platform forever. So far, I think that have used the same stem battery design for about 25 years. Lots of other tool companies seem to change out their battery designs every few years forcing you to buy new tools and new batteries. I can still use my original Ryobi tools from 15+ years ago with any 18 volt Ryobi battery sold on the shelf today.