What did you do in the garden today?

[Sylvester017]

Got the cattle panel cut up. Hopefully I’ll get to the herbs tomorrow, today was all rain!

Sun... rain... sun... rain! Our plants & chickens are so confused!

One Zucchini still figuring out if it should grow or wait for another weather change!

 

[TJAnonymous]

We aren't supposed to get more rain until Wednesday.... Woke up this morning and it was raining. Again. Granted, it was a light rain... I will probably add another coat of Surround to the squash plants tomorrow. Although it's supposed to rain Wednesday - Sunday this week.

Its rare when I say this but I'm so SICK of rain....

 

[jerryse]

2 nice days. Puttered around and made 2 inner and 1 outer cover for the beehives. Worked the bees and put new inner covers on. Another trick to foil SVB. I have Danja zuke that is parthenocarpic. You can cage it to keep out SVB. No pollination required.

 

[Sally PB]

I spent nearly all day planting mostly tomato plants today. Plus 5 marigolds and 2 cukes.

I have 22 more 'mater plants, 7 peppers, and 2 squash to go. I think that's it.

Digging a hole deep enough to plant the tomatoes is very different in the two gardens. In the heavy soil garden, it's slow and a lot of work. I have to take it slow, as a pulled back muscle would be a disaster right now. In the sandy soil garden, it's 4 shovelfuls of dirt, done.

Several plants have flowers already. Even one of the habaneros has a flower!

 

[KnARanch]

What did you do in your garden today?

I picked a bunch of Rattlesnake green beans and Cherokee wax beans, a few tomatoes, three eggplants, some broccoli shoots, and jalapenos. Pretty happy with today's harvest!

On Saturday, we planted 2 pine trees and Hubby dug out many HUGE rocks!

 

[atomic]

I potted some Walmart special flowers I got on sale. A periwinkle, marigold and Mexican heather. When I was putting things away inside I made a friend I was unaware of, a giant Florida woods roach was perched happily on my shoulder unbeknownst to me. With a shriek and a swipe, he meandered under my couch when I considered releasing my bearded dragon for dispatch. Instead, the roach made its way into my robot vacuum (Ray Bone. Don’t ask. My boyfriend named him.) where I had to precariously toss it outside. That roach was fat and happy I mean, it was chill as Cheech just cruising unbothered by anything. I read that they can shoot a stinky liquid at you if perturbed, ew! I feel like I could’ve stepped on this one and he’d be like, meh.

 

[chicken opey]

Sooooo.... Since the BT is unlikely to work on SVB larva, I've moved on to experimenting with another option... I sprayed the stems, stalks, and underside of leaves with All Season Horticultural oil (i.e. Mineral oil) and then coated the stems and stalks with kaolin clay.

My HOPE is that the horticulture oil will smother any eggs that I failed to find... And the kaolin clay slathered on the stems (adhering with help from the oil) will deter SVB from laying any more eggs.

While I was out there, an SVB was determinedly and furiously laying eggs on sections I hadn't gotten to yet... I tried spraying her away but she was very quick. I did find 2 or 3 squash bugs which I ended. I will be checking on my plants frequently to see if this new plan is working at all...

I have a different area where I have 2 more zucchini plants next to some spaghetti squash growing on a trellis... I haven't yet gone out to check that area over for SVB or squash bugs. It might be harder to treat because of the trellis...

Oh! Almost forgot... I read that you can go out at night and shine a flashlight into your stems to locate SVB larva inside. Anyone ever done that?

My heart aches for you TJ. I had an infestation that was like no other a few years ago.

I hand picked the eggs using tape. Then I would put that tape in a ziplock bag and throw away.
But, I had more success waiting to plant the squash. I’m about to put some out as they should have hatched and left.
they were a reason we got a lot of chickens. I turn them loose in garden at end of season to get the buggers.
I’m sorry.
I did successfully operate on one stem and remove it - taping up after

 

[Nym]

Too many zuchinis or marrows?

A firm family favourite as a child and also now as an adult this ‘Marrow Bread’ recipe is the perfect way to use up those large zucchinis and is a must if you are a ‘Banana Bread’ fan.​

Marrow Bread | Farmhouse Seeds

 

[TJAnonymous]

My heart aches for you TJ. I had an infestation that was like no other a few years ago.

I hand picked the eggs using tape. Then I would put that tape in a ziplock bag and throw away.
But, I had more success waiting to plant the squash. I’m about to put some out as they should have hatched and left.
they were a reason we got a lot of chickens. I turn them loose in garden at end of season to get the buggers.
I’m sorry.
I did successfully operate on one stem and remove it - taping up after

Most of my garden is kept far away from my flocks... They are not allowed in the garden area... However, I purposely planted the "squash mound" in the pasture hoping the ducks would help manage the pest load. They really could care less though... Chickens don't range in that area because of the tall grass. So I guess it will be up to me for pest management.

So far, all my plants are still thriving. I don't think anything has hatched yet... Or if they have, the damage is still minimal. Hopefully I caught it early enough and can address it with the oil and kaolin clay. I forgot to go out and check the plants last night with a flashlight. I'll have to remember to do it tonight.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Got most of the herbs up-potted today. I have to question past-me on the purpose of starting so much lemon balm. Also thanks to the Basil culinary blends I’m nearly out of pots, having tried to keep same varieties together when I don’t know what all of them are leading to a lot of singletons. Those will get consolidated as I figure out what is what.

Most of the remaining starts are going outside, but I think those are going to stay where they are until it heats up in a few days.