What did you do in the garden today?

[OnlySympathy]

My poor peregion beans

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

I have 100% switched to superb lids too. Much better quality.

I was just out pushing the dirt away from my onions, they aren't doing all that hot this year - I think it's been too wet. I've had quite a few rot. But I had to get some fertilizer in them so now they're even more wet.

Horsenettle is my new nemesis. That and bindweed. Both relatively new here. I'm about to get out the chemicals, and I never do that.

Is it a thing that bees can be all over your coneflowers so much so that they miss pollinating your squash? I think that's whats happening here and I'm annoyed I have to hand pollinate them now too.

I'm definitely not a bee expert by any means. I didn't realize until last couple of years that "squash bees" are native bees and do a lot of the squash pollination. I kept seeing my squash flowers close at night and could see something in them so I opened one up and a bee was in there. Dumb me, I started opening all up thinking oh no my bees are trapped somehow like maybe got sprayed by a chemical of a neighbor and are in the blossoms and can't go to their hives. After releasing every bee, I decided to look into it. From what I read they are native and solitary and sleep in the flowers quite often. I'm surprised they ever came back after I interrupted their routine. After this, I now watch for them and they come a little later in the season than the "regular" bees. Maybe yours just haven't arrived yet. If I'm wrong about this I apologize in advance, I'm definitely not knowledgeable about bees.

 

[Sally PB]

Good news today:

I didn't see ANY potato beetle grubs on the tater plants!

 

[WthrLady]

Never thought of putting them in the mash when I make it. Perfect example of my inability to put two and two together sometimes. I make mash to make sure the crumbs from the pellet feed get used…..but, using the BSFL crumbs somehow just never computed. Good idea and I think I’ll give it a go. I mean, unless I’ll be violating a patent or copyright or something.

Go for it.
I certainly havent' seen them as a mix in for my yoplait yogurt.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Getting a very small amount of rain off and on today... Probably less than a tenth of an inch total. After getting record rainfall all spring, even through June, the spigot has been off for several weeks. Plants beginning to suffer so we need the rain...

I did a little bit of weeding today. Still have HOURS of weeding left to do.

Thornless blackberries are starting put out their 2nd crop... While I was picking some, I noticed one of the canes has used a nearby tree for support. The cane is AT LEAST 8 or 9 feet tall! There are berries at the top of the cane....in the tree canopy. Yeah, I believe I'll leave those for the birds...

Since my horses passed away last year, I've had way less in the compost pile. Still some...from the goats, chickens, ducks, and bunny...but horse manure (along with shavings, hay, and straw) seemed to produce a pretty top quality compost. Anyways, because I had less compost, I didn't do my normal routine in the garden. Normally I dump 6" of hot compost in the garden beds in mid-winter. By spring, it's ready... This year, I dumped a bunch of dead leaves and covered everything with cardboard. The results are disappointing. Everything I've pulled out of the garden has been small. I even put out a bunch of 10-10-10 fertilizer, along with bone meal, potash, etc... Didn't matter. I think once this garden season is done, before I plant a fall garden, I need to do a big clean-out and dump 6-8" of good compost down first.

 

[OnlySympathy]

The kitchen isn’t that far from the garden . This was my first attempt at zucchini bread!

 

[Sally PB]

Looks good!

 

[Smokerbill]

I have tiny green flower buds on my zucchinis. Won't be long until I'm inundated with squash and making relish.

I need to trim off some more lower leaves and start training them up the poles. First year of growing vertical zucchinis for me.

I plan to leave as many leaves on as possible though. More leaves means more nutrients being made for the plant from sunshine.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

My second sowing of peas has started to sprout! And I got most of the dried pods off the first sowing, I just have a few more to wait on.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Think I'm going to try to make this homemade tomato soup with my fresh tomatoes. If it turns out well, maybe I'll can some... It's a good way to use some of the garlic, herbs, etc that I've harvested...

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/fresh-tomato-soup/