Ducks4you 2021 Ragtag Thread

[Zeedman]

Can you eat the wild grapes?

They have more acid than cultivated grapes - so even in the best years, not really good eaten raw (unless you like sour things). In years where they bear heavily though, I use them for jelly. In the past, I used them to make wine, chiefly because I can collect bushels full along some of the hiking trails.

 

[ducks4you]

Sorry to make you wait on pictures. I was home yesterday and I worked on the 2nd fenced row of 8 tomatoes. I worked outside during the heat advisory weather for 2 hours. Good thing, too! The tomatoes had started to sprawl and were trying to set root on any stem that touched the ground. I find a scar on one big tomato and two smaller ones were splitting, just like last year.
The First row has perfect fruit! 5 more got my joke and are all blushing.
I got ALL of them pruned back, trimmed up and the area cleared of weeds, still need to put down straw.
My oldest corn got knocked down from the last storm and I need to pound in another metal fencepost and secure a line about 3 ft high to pull them up. They are already trying to right themselves. They are silked up, so worth the trouble.
I Still have another tomato row that needs pruning and tying up. Fortunately I found two rolls of gardening type twine, so plenty for my uses. The last 2 fencerows only have flowers and aren't tall enough to mess with yet.
Tomorrow I will harvest whatever broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage that I can, then I will pull the plants and give them to my horses. I got behind and they are so holy and eaten up, not worth saving. Better to start seeds indoors for late August transplant, and look forward to harvesting them in Much cooler weather.

 

[ducks4you]

Since I grow tomatoes mostly for DH, he throws me compliments like, "Duck, you ARE a Master Gardener!' Not so sure about this, but I am marching towards it. I bought a muskmelon from WM, says grown locally, according to the packaging. Cut it this morning, and decided to save the seeds. I am home all day today, so I will be filling the 2 cups that the seeds are in with water, putting them outside (away from the house) and try fermenting them.

 

[ducks4you]

Speaking of seeds, let's start some pictures. I figure that most of us have been too busy gardening right now for updates, and MY pictures are from this weekend, but not TOO much has changed.
I started my first rows of (2020 seeds) corn late, but they have caught up with the field corn. A storm pushed 1/2 of them over, so I pounded in a metal fence post and strung clothesline between that and the clematis fencing to prop them up. ALWAYS worth a try, right? Already the ears are growing. Hoping to eat some in the next two weeks. Hard to see it, but I have several more rows of sweet corn in front of them. I Plan to lop off the tops of the corn as we eat the ears, and feed that to my horses. It is tempting to pull them out, but I also have pumpkins and beans scattered amongst the corn and I might disturb their roots.

 

[ducks4you]

Okra is up, flowering and starting to produce.

 

[ducks4you]

Tomatoes...I made 5 rows out of chicken wire (bc I had a LOT of it stored.) I pounded in one 6 or 8 ft tall metal fencing post ~12 ft away from the horse fencing (in the Inner Sanctum, in front of the barn and bordering my big garden.) Then I strung clothesline across the top, and 12-15 inches from the bottom. I added extra support from 5 older and compromised fence posts in the centers. I also bought some of "I don't know WHAT they are, but I think that they used for glass reflective markers. They are skinny with a bow point at the bottom, stand about 5 ft high. I bought and used 12 of them. The last row used a compromised section of chicken wire, so i used the last 2 of them to stiffen it up. So far all of the chicken wire contraptions are working pretty well. I have my eye on a 100 ft roll of 6 ft tall cattle fencing for next year. HOPEFULLY, the farm stores will have a 6 hr window of 1/2 price on merchandise for the morning of Black Friday, and I can cut the $150.00 down to cheaper. Still, I am well pleased. I let them get away from me and had a LOT of weeding, pruning and throwing away bad fruit. THIS picture represents about 25 hours of labor to make. I now have Preen'd 3 of them, and thrown down straw from the barn's loft to suppress weeds and add to the bed's tilth next year.

 

[ducks4you]

We ate one ripe tomato on July 31st, which was the goal to meet this year!
DD's demanded BLT's, and preferred MY tomatoes to the farm stand variety, which we Pretty good on their own.
I am amazed at the size of some of them. Here they are ripening, and I had to tie up several huge green tomatoes trying to crack the vines and lay on the ground. I found that I had bought and stored 2 rolls of twine. I am pleased that the twine is strong enough to hold them! Should burn good when I clean up this Fall.

 

[ducks4you]

Neighbor's yard is Still a junk yard, so, as everybody does, you plant on your own property to hide it. It will take awhile, but the two China Girls that I planted last Fall are doing well. I bought "China Twins," supposed to be a China Boy and China Girl. They were, as Always, Very potbound, but Are now sitting happily in water in a muck bucket. I will wait until Saturday to try separating them. I learned to separate intertwined plants when I used to buy clearance overgrown tomatoes, too many for a small pot. Wish me Luck separating these two!

 

[ducks4you]

Missed some work days bc of the heat. DH and help helped me to clean 1/2 of my horse's shelter on saturday. We never finished it in 2020, so there are still about 4 hours work left to finish, but I can see the end of the tunnel. TOday I managed an hour pulling bindweed off of the old east cattle fencing by the driveway to the garage, by the street. It is Just starting to go to pod seed and I should be able to clean it up tomorrow and Wednesday so I can transplant all of the Roma tomatoes that are growing out of their pots and setting fruit!

 

[baymule]

You have been busy! Yay for tomatoes! I still haven’t had a ripe tomato from our garden. I have some that heard your dirty joke and they are blushing. Guess I need to talk dirty to them and get them to turn red!