What did you do in the garden today?

[littledog]

You would think the doc would know, but they often have no damn clue.

Exactly, because health care in the USA is done by management committees now! Not actual doctors, because doctors are just useful pawns in the For-Profit "health-care" industry.
I definitely don't blame the doctors (some might be clueless, but not the majority, I believe) they're just forced to work under For-Profit-Company protocols that reward them for prescribing the drug fad of the day, and firing them if they regularly spend more than the 15-minutes allowed for appointments to actually listen to their patients.
My sister moved to Canada partly for this reason - she actually cares about her patients, and could no longer tolerate working under the thumb of corporate management types who docked her for spending too long on her patients. Not that the Canadian health-care system is perfect, but it sounds way better - she gets to care for her patients, get to know them and their medical history long-term, know what medications they're taking and whether a new one might interact badly, and not have to listen to "I saw this ad for a miracle-cure for my condition".
I have health insurance through my employer that is better than most (because I chose a plan that I have to pay more for) but my wrist is messed-up and I can't get in to see my doctor because "no appointments are available." Is it arthritis? tendonitis? carpal tunnel? hairline fracture? Who knows!
The call-in Med line nurse tells me to rest and ice, I did that. Wear a brace, been doing that for 5 months and it's no better. If no better, make an appointment, but "no appointments are available." Obviously, my wrist can't be cured by the newest fad drug, so I guess I'm SOL until an appointment becomes available.

 

[littledog]

Be careful. Temu steals credit card info and orders stuff not for you. Over 900 complaints with the BBB

Agree, I don't trust Temu and will never order from them. I think they're affiliated with the Chinese government (not sure, do your own research) but they're always putting advertisements on my phone, every one of their products are Chinese-made, and most of their positive reviews sound fake.
I have absolutely nothing but respect for Chinese people or people who are from there. But the government of China is a different story - they control their manufacturers, and I believe the best interests of their American customers come in last place, after their primary goal of learning about, influencing and stealing information from American consumers and the companies they buy from.
Remember a couple years ago when the dog food sold to us from Chinese manufacturers contained adulterated ingredients that killed a lot of people's pets? How about the random seeds sent from China to people in America that they never ordered, that turned out to be invasive species?
Yeah, I don't trust them.

 

[littledog]

I bought 3 more blueberries and planted them but one isn't doing very well. I'm still working on getting the soil to the right acidity for all my blueberries.

It's probably not the right time to plant blueberries? Depending on what your summer weather is like. Maybe create some shade for them while getting your soil in shape? I know mine appreciate partial shade, and my summers in the PNW are not as hot as yours in Iowa.

 

[Sally PB]

I haven't had it tested recently... But the whole reason why the other 6 blueberry bushes died is because I didn't know what I was doing and ended up OVER-acidifying the soil. The soil in one bed was literally around 2.9 pH! I ended up having the dig all the soil out of that bed and replace it because nothing would grow there...

Wow! 2.9 is just mind boggling!

I just checked the soil with my 3 in 1 tester and the bush that's dying the alkalinity level is very high but the acidity level is almost non-existent. The other bush is lower alkalinity level and a little bit of acidity level.

FYI, for anyone, blueberries like a pH of 4.5 to 5.5.

Maybe it needs a second bush to cross-pollinate?

Blueberries are self fertile, but will do better if they're paired with another bush of a different type. They do need to bloom at the same time.

 

[Sueby]

Gonna be a hot/humid one today. I've been waking up early to tend to the garden before work & heat, it's been nice. But 5am kinda stinks, lol.

I pollinated my first spaghetti (I think, lol) squash this am. I have teeny eggplants, so excited for my first ones ever. My melon plants are finally growing, one has made it to the trellis.

I ordered some Superb canning lids, I need to make some strawberry rhubarb jam but I have no lids.

 

[igorsMistress]

Exactly, because health care in the USA is done by management committees now! Not actual doctors, because doctors are just useful pawns in the For-Profit "health-care" industry.
I definitely don't blame the doctors (some might be clueless, but not the majority, I believe) they're just forced to work under For-Profit-Company protocols that reward them for prescribing the drug fad of the day, and firing them if they regularly spend more than the 15-minutes allowed for appointments to actually listen to their patients.
My sister moved to Canada partly for this reason - she actually cares about her patients, and could no longer tolerate working under the thumb of corporate management types who docked her for spending too long on her patients. Not that the Canadian health-care system is perfect, but it sounds way better - she gets to care for her patients, get to know them and their medical history long-term, know what medications they're taking and whether a new one might interact badly, and not have to listen to "I saw this ad for a miracle-cure for my condition".
I have health insurance through my employer that is better than most (because I chose a plan that I have to pay more for) but my wrist is messed-up and I can't get in to see my doctor because "no appointments are available." Is it arthritis? tendonitis? carpal tunnel? hairline fracture? Who knows!
The call-in Med line nurse tells me to rest and ice, I did that. Wear a brace, been doing that for 5 months and it's no better. If no better, make an appointment, but "no appointments are available." Obviously, my wrist can't be cured by the newest fad drug, so I guess I'm SOL until an appointment becomes available.

No, my doctor isn’t part of a group. She’s fully private and has been able to resist the groups and companies so far. She prefers it that way, thank goodness for that.

 

[Acre4Me]

I had a reply nearly completed earlier this morning… but something odd happened and it took me back 2 screens to another thread i had read, and lost my reply. I suspect a glitch with the ads. They jump around in the screen sometimes.

It rained yesterday, and looks like it will rain today. Nice temps, warm but not 90s.

A few Curcubits have gotten hit by something, so lost a melon plant and a cucumber plant today. The first summer squash were harvested.

Raccoons have visited, put out two traps last night, but nothing was caught. We will continue to set traps.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Maybe it's just a thing. I have 4 blueberries, one is amazing, two are happy, but one is just not thriving, hasn't for years, no matter what I do. I'm putting them in the ground this winter though! Very exciting!

Hmm yeah maybe it depends

 

[Sammster]

I ordered from Temu, once. Never again. No problems with my card (yet? this was 8 months ago), but ENDLESS emails. I tried to unsubscribe, and that failed. Hubby finally told me what to do, and I forgot what that was.

I'm to the point that if I can't buy it in the stores, I seriously think of doing without, unless I know the company. I hate Amazon. Hate them.

Mark your next email from Temu as "spam". That should take care of it.

 

[Minanora]

Gonna be a hot/humid one today. I've been waking up early to tend to the garden before work & heat, it's been nice. But 5am kinda stinks, lol.

I pollinated my first spaghetti (I think, lol) squash this am. I have teeny eggplants, so excited for my first ones ever. My melon plants are finally growing, one has made it to the trellis.

I ordered some Superb canning lids, I need to make some strawberry rhubarb jam but I have no lids.

Have you used that brand of lids before? And how well do they work on various brands of jars? I'm looking to find an affordable replacement for the Ball lids and replace the awful lids from a few cases of Pur jars that were gifted to me. First Street lids don't have enough of a "pop" for my taste; they're hard to tell when they actually seal. Not all lids (or jars) are made equal!