Picked my first six tomatoes today.
for you.
I’ve found that too high of a Ph will stunt potato production.Tried very carefully harvesting my first batch of potatoes today. I guess last year wasn’t a fluke; even taking into consideration I may have missed some trying not to disturb the beans they were interplanted with I didn’t get out significantly more than I put in.I’d blame the weather but I thought potatoes liked cooler weather.
What cabbage did you grow? In the past I’ve grown Bravo, this year I grew Stonehead. Waiting to see if the kraut taste noticeably different.
Golden Acre. The heads weren't dense and tight, but kind of loose and lightweight. I cut the cabbage around 1/4" thick for the kraut, and it's nice and crisp. I started some Brunswick cabbage seeds for my fall crop. Not sure what it'll be like, but it's supposed to keep well.
Last year we did not have many honey bees, just mostly Bumblebees, Carpenter Bees, YUK!, and sweat Bees. This year we have an increase of Honey and many bees! If we leave the water buckets by the garden, we cover them as too many times the bees fly in the water (in years past). I get them out, if I catch in time. Now, we just cover the water to protect them.Was reading an article today about staggering losses caused by varroa mites....
https://www.zerohedge.com/food/record-us-honey-bee-losses-and-what-mite-be-behind-them
It got me thinking about natural predators so I started googling. I came across an article that said varroa mites can't survive temperatures between 104 and 108 degrees for more than a few hours.
This heat dome has been centered over the middle of the country for a month and doesn't seem to be lessening for at least the next 2 weeks. Temperatures here in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, etc have easily exceeded those temperatures. I wonder if that might be a silver lining to help our bee populations?
I have seen less than 5 honey bees ALL SUMMER. I get a moderate amount of Bumblebees and far more wasps... But honeybees are almost nonexistent around here.
