Duck's New Ragtag garden, Version 2020

[ducks4you]

HERE is what I planted in the spots where they were growing. I ended up leaving 3 iris in the two beds.:

 

[ducks4you]

These are the two beds that flank my sidewalk to the front door. I put in a few perennials, most mostly annuals. DD gave me the sedums and I was surprised that 3 were growing in the small pot, so I separated them. One of my rhubarbs is shading the sedum and somewhat shading the rose, but I don't think it will matter.
The iris were in so tight that I pulled some blue phlox out that was trying to grow in between them. I transplanted them in my north side sidewalk bed bc the one there was trying to die on me.:

 

[ducks4you]

Here is my blue salvia that I have read wouldn't make it bc our winters are too cold.
Let's see what I can do this afternoon! Btw, I could use some advice on dividing it this Fall.

 

[ducks4you]

Not much gardening to report. Chopped down a fenceline of burdock today, mowed aGAIN---VERY wet Summer, aGAIN. Mowed where I need to attach the old cattle fencing, south yard fenceline. The fencing is kinda crumpled so I took an old metal fencepost, minus the "heart" and lower part, pretty rusty really, tied a nylon strap to it and hooked it to my riding mower to pull as straight as possible, parked the mower and attached to 3 fenceposts. Hopefully I will have the newer pieces up by Sunday. Only been working on this project since February, and I put it down for months, but Eva wanders onto the neighbors property this way, and that neighbor doesn't like us anymore, so it's necessary.
Hate to admit that I would have a horse problem, but my big horse wasn't listening and spooking me, so I prayed for and FOUND a Great horse trainer. She doesn't LOOK like a horse trainer, or even an athlete, BUT, she had to leave her horse in another state, and HER horse is the same height, but about 200 pounds heavier, half draft. She has no fear of my gelding at all, has a wonderful way with my horse and we have had 3 great sessions so far. She is coming out again Saturday. We both concluded that my horse is spoiled, but that he DID enjoy himself throughout testing her. I got a good look at his "crowhop", which, to the horse people here feels nothing more that kicking at a fly with a back leg. She lunged him, I lunged him, he was dripping wet, but didn't want any water when we stopped and tied him in the shade for a break. We only worked in the morning bc the heat indexes were over 100 degrees F on Saturday. Finished each session with a "gentleman", happy to follow us around.
I am Thrilled to be getting my horse back. SHE is super happy to have a horse to ride. I think after the next session I am ready to ride him again.
We retreated to the AC, HE went to his stall, probably to take a nap. We had the best sandwiches, Barouche buns, ham, turkey, salami, 2 kinds of cheese and pretty good tomatoes with mayo, and chips. Repeat the same lunch This Saturday.
And, yes, gaited horses trot And pace (which is what you are looking at,) as well as their particular special gait.

 

[ducks4you]

Not much to report, on vacation with DH at The Cricket in CO, off of Clear Creek, BUT, I worked like the dickens the few days before I left. Riding mower slipped the belt--friend is fixing it while we are gone--so I had to do all of the trim with a push mower, which took me 2 days. I was mowing Tuesday night in the dark, though I had a moon and some street lighting.
I transplanted a bunch of small Romas directly into mulch on the west side of the garage. I didn't really separate them, but I noticed when I dug down 4 inches the mulch was moist, so I thoroughly "puddled" them. Some should survive. IF DD waters them, I also transplanted 2 sweet peppers. 4 established sweet peppers were blushing red as I left.
I Finally finished replacing the cattle fencing between my yard and my (now) trashy neighbor, so Eva will have a harder time invading his yard. Late last winter DH and I took the tractor and straightened out most of the old, rusty fencing that he had smashed dropping a tree on it. I couldn't really straighten out the worst of it, BUT, my 3 pieces of new fencing stretched far enough that I was able to cut off and remove the worst of it. I have been storing metal to take to recycle under our 16 ft aluminum canoe that we store on a rack next to the tool shed, and, after folding the sharp edges in I managed to fold 12 feet of old rust fencing into about 2 1/2 ft wide piece. Standing and bouncing on it finished the job.
I also sprayed ALL of the drip line area under the pine trees 12 ft from the fencing--which is how the previous owner planted ALL of the pine trees next to the fencing--And I poisoned all of the vegetation left after sawing any big weeds and mowing it all down. I also poisoned ALL of the 70 ft fenceline along the street.
If you remember, I bought 2 female hollys on clearance, ~$5.00 for both of them, and I have them in a big, tree pot until late next month. I still need to clean up the rest of the to-the-south fencline of saplings and weeds before I plant them. They are supposed to grow 10 ft tall and 7 ft wide, OR 7 ft tall and 10 ft wide, but I saved the tag. The roots when transplanted in the pot only fit 1/2 way down. I have been faithfully watering them and I hope to see some good root growth when I tip them out of the pot.
...more...

 

[ducks4you]

Bee guys came out. Done in 5 minutes. I do NOT have honey bees. I have a nest of Bumblebees. Hooray...
I found a couple of viable solutions. Bee guys suggested flooding them out Might work. I have run the hose for several hours on the nest.
Here is a solution I like:
Here Is How to Trap Bumblebees
I recommend turning to this DIY solution when you can’t access the bumble bee nest, but it is still needed to drive these insects away from your garden. For this method, you will need to construct a couple of traps of your own.

As a trap, you can use even a simple two-liter bottle with the inverted top. Cut the bottle where it starts to straighten, then turn the piece upside down and attach it with a stapler to the surface. After that, fill the trap with honey and poison it with some chemicals. Hang the trap where you often see bumble bees and do not forget to clean it every couple of weeks. It will deter these insects for good.

https://pestcontrolhacks.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bumble-bees/
They also suggested cinnamon and later, to repel, planting spearmint.
I bought it on myself, bc I should have cut the excess poultry fencing off, then storing a 100 gal. water tank upside down bc that is what they were using. Bee guys moved the tank for me. And Yes, I DID get stung, fortunately NOT on my face. I had caught some netting on my push mower and was bent down to clear it off of the blade when I got stung on my calf. It took several days for the poison to work itself out, and it helped to exercise it. NOT allergic, fortunately.
Since I have been using fly traps all summer, I can certainly make several of these traps and hang them on the chain link fencing after dark. I have several bottles of honey/corn syrup that I am never going to use, so here is their purpose.
I PROMISE to upload some pictures I took before I left.
When I hacked down the saplings on the fencing by the street I discovered 2 volunteer sunflowers from last year. Birds must have dropped the seeds. I was careful to not poison them and 2 use the fencing to support them.
No time to plant okra. I hope to start cold weather crops when I get back.
I pulled a weed from my potato bed and had to cover up a lovely red potato. I am looking forward to harvesting potatoes and making a storage "bed" in my pantry from scrap wood.
I have 3 volunteer potatoes from my beet bed. Guess we'll see how many grow there.
Brussels Sprouts will be started when I get back in the potato bed.

 

[Prairie Rose]

Finally have a few minutes to catch up, thanks for all the pictures to look at! Looks like you are making lots of progress on your garden, and your big guy! He's very handsome, and sometimes it does so much good to have an outside opinion on things.

What kind of horse is he? My old horse was a quarter horse, and most of the horses I have ridden were quarters or paints. I've never been on a gaited one...have thought about taking lessons again on one to see if I might like it.

 

[ducks4you]

He is registered as "Kentucky Mountain." NOT typey, should have been one hand smaller--he is 16.3hh--but sweet natured and often gets in between me and my goofball quarter horse on the ground to protect me.
My friend says he just needs to know who is in charge, since he is my herd leader. I have been truely blessed making her my friend! She misses her 16.2hh half-draft, which she had to leave in another state when she changed jobs. She maintains that she is Not a trainer, but she is forceful, but quick to praise, and he responds to this. She also laughs when he misbehaves and sometimes whistles and hums. You KNOW you cannot win a fight with a horse--TOO BIG!
You WOULD enjoy gaited. I have owned 35 horses over the years. When we did CW Reenacting, and I used those horses for my riding lessons, we bought and sold, bought and sold, some didn't make the cut for the hobby. I have owned 5 gaited or half gaited. The genes are dominant. When you expect a trot you get a fast shuffling gait that doesn't throw you around.
They all have 6 gaits:
walk
trot
canter (lope)
gait peculiar to that breed
pace--they pull this when they aren't happy with you
broken washing machine--they pull this when they REALLY aren't happy with you, but it's better than bucking!

 

[ducks4you]

Speaking of the horses, my hay man decided to bring Both loads of hay before I left. I bought the usual, 400 bales hay, 50 bales straw. He uses his big tractors, etc to load his trailers, but with the 2nd one nobody could figure out how to climb on top. He brought 3 guys to unload, and one of the two friends that I pay to unload and stack had borrowed my extension ladder last Spring, so I asked him to set it up for them. Looked like this:

 

[ducks4you]

I did get some actual plant photos before I left for CO.
Here is one of 13 banana peppers, that are all over producing for me. My 3 x 6 bed told me to plant beets. I also have 3 volunteer potatoes and one volunteer tomato. I created a raised bed for my potatoes, 2 ft deep, with rotted ash that had turned to dirt, covered with rotted used stall bedding, hence the straw. I LOVE your idea of plucking what we want, although I might be able to harvest them all, dry on my picnic table and store in the basement.