What did you do in the garden today?

[Liz Birdlover]

I waged war on the roly polies with diatemacious earth today!

My butternut squash and canteloupe plants are flowering! No female flowers yet on either. My first squash flower should open tomorrow!

I also have some cucumbers starting to germinate!

I am still trying to learn how to grow a garden in Texas. I am new to this 90 degree weather!

Are you talking about these bugs?


We call them Tubs, Tubbies or Roly Poly bugs...we've got gazillions of them, but I never minded them. They seem to just hang out, aerating soil, preferably in moist shade under rocks, etc. They haven't really done anything destructive here, as far I know...or am I wrong? I'd rather see those fire ants, ear wigs, black widows & hobo spiders gone more than anything. While watering the seedlings after work yesterday, Something crawled up inside my pant leg & bit me on the butt cheek, right where the underwear line is. Probably a fire ant, got a painful, darn welt on my butt cheek now.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I bought what I thought was crocus (long time ago). Seeing your makes me wonder if they are day lilies

You have Day Lilies. The crocus have less leaves & leaves are smaller.
These are crocus, usually only bloom early spring. Both are gorgeous though, your lilies look great & they have a much longer bloom time, too.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I ordered a bunch of new dahlia bulbs this spring since all my bulbs from last year rotted in the storage box to dust.

Well this morning I noticed that one bed had still not sprouted. I had 3 bulbs in that bed. I decided to dig them up to see what's going on with them. Guess what? They've ROTTED in the bed. Assuming because of how much rain and heat we had. I'm so disappointed. In the other raised beds I've noticed that there are easily 1-2 bulbs in each of those beds also haven't sprouted... Those probably rotted too.

About to give up entirely on dahlias.

I tried the "Dinner Plate Dahlias" many years ago (the 80s) & they did nothing, diddly squat. Not sure why. Ticked me off. Marigolds always did Fantastic so I always have plenty of those.

 

[chicken opey]

You have Day Lilies. The crocus have less leaves & leaves are smaller.
These are crocus, usually only bloom early spring. Both are gorgeous though, your lilies look great & they have a much longer bloom time, too.View attachment 3840051

Ah! Definitely lilies!! Ty

 

[chicken opey]

Are you talking about these bugs?
View attachment 3840047

We call them Tubs, Tubbies or Roly Poly bugs...we've got gazillions of them, but I never minded them. They seem to just hang out, aerating soil, preferably in moist shade under rocks, etc. They haven't really done anything destructive here, as far I know...or am I wrong? I'd rather see those fire ants, ear wigs, black widows & hobo spiders gone more than anything. While watering the seedlings after work yesterday, Something crawled up inside my pant leg & bit me on the butt cheek, right where the underwear line is. Probably a fire ant, got a painful, darn welt on my butt cheek now.

On the side, my chicks won’t eat these. I wonder why? Would help a lot

 

[Acre4Me]

Planting pre-germinated carrot seeds suspended in cornstarch gel out of the corner of a plastic bag. I'm going to try this method next time I plant carrots.

Thanks! He is right- you really need to baby the carrot seeds to get them to germinate. We have pretty good success with carrots, but we do try to keep them moist daily until true carrot leaves appear, so it’s a task that can get forgotten. I may try this for the last section of carrots that needs planting!

 

[NanaK]

Gorgeous! I love the pine needles, too.

Thank you!
I have lots of big pine trees so I use pine needles for mulching the flowers. Love free mulch!

 

[NanaK]

I bought what I thought was crocus (long time ago). Seeing your makes me wonder if they are day lilies

Yep, as @Liz Birdlover says, you have daylilies. Beautiful!
Over time they will multiply and you can divide them to make more plants.
I love them! Tough plants too.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I did the weed whacking on the dreaded slope then got the backyard all trimmed up. It got up to around 85F yesterday. Today is going to hit 89 or 90F. I’m definitely putting the AC units in today. The temps will be in the80’s for the rest of the week but go back to our more seasonable temperatures next week. We did get a brief evening thunderstorm. Very convenient so the garden got a little drink of water after all the heat. The snap peas are starting to climb up the string “tower” I set up yesterday. I’ll take a photo after I weed whack the garden area. Hoping to get the old chicken yard mowed tomorrow. It depends when the “forcasted” rain moves in. I’m hoping to hear from our gardening friends from the storm ravaged zones. Especially in Iowa. Hope all is well.

 

[NanaK]

I ordered a bunch of new dahlia bulbs this spring since all my bulbs from last year rotted in the storage box to dust.

Well this morning I noticed that one bed had still not sprouted. I had 3 bulbs in that bed. I decided to dig them up to see what's going on with them. Guess what? They've ROTTED in the bed. Assuming because of how much rain and heat we had. I'm so disappointed. In the other raised beds I've noticed that there are easily 1-2 bulbs in each of those beds also haven't sprouted... Those probably rotted too.

About to give up entirely on dahlias.

I've had problems growing the big dahlias here too. I can leave them in the ground as long as it's in an area that does not get to wet in winter.

My problems with them are spider mites. Once they start to show flower buds spider mites attack.

Have you tried the smaller types from seed? They usually do much better for me.
Wish I could have the big dinner plates size but they are a constant battle for me.