What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

It's effort to pump them up and my newest sprayer won't spray unless it's on an angle. I plan to poison (more, bc I have been poisoning), starting late next week, under the fences. PLUS, I have to tend to all 5 acres, not a small lawn. I found a small suitcase type caddy with wheels that has been missing, and that's what I'll use to pull and tip that sprayer. I have one sprayer with D-2 which has worked this year where I sprayed and another with vegetation killer. I ALSO have a 12 ft fence patch or poison ivy to deal with this summer. It will wait for a little while longer. I plan to poison it first with D-2 AND vegetation killer, then dress for it and pull and throw all of it away, then cover with garbage bags weighted with bricks. Since DD's got me a nice Rubbermaid garden box
Looks a lot like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pr...ac6-491f-9e84-1e15c014b604_400_compressed.jpg
and I put some shelving in there
Looks a lot like this, and I went 3 high and made a "bench" of the top:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-4-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Plastic-Shelves-White/8251816
I have my poisons organized. NOTHING is more frustrating that finding the time to do the job and having to search for your tools.

 

[baymule]

Today I am watching the rain generously watering the weeds in the garden.

 

[ducks4you]

If they ever make an affordable machine that turns weeds into electric power, I'M in.

 

[baymule]

This is the time of year that it is so darn hot, that the weeds win and I don't care. I can part the weeds and pick veggies just fine.

 

[ducks4you]

You do your best and you can't care if it's not picture perfect. I planted lettuce where I am clearing to put in my tomatoes and the lettuce surrounded by weeds hasn't bolted, so I've been digging it up and transplanting it.
I leave some of the weeds and volunteers, at least for a little while. I leave most clover and I leave purslane and plan to even try to cook it someday. I have one purslane in a bed going to seed and I understand that it sets like thousands of seeds at a time, hence why it's in my beds even though I never planted one. The colonists grew purslane.
I even leave some of the other weeds while they are small when I see that the bugs are eating on the weeds and NOT my crops. I pull them when they get bigger.
ALSO, I have been planting flower seeds along with my vegetables. I planted several kinds of flowers with the small cabbages that I bought to transplant. Seems the other flowers didn't come up, but the marigolds DID. I have been weeding crabgrass and some other weeds around them, but the marigolds are getting big enough to start shading my cabbages. When you use filler plants there is less open garden space for the weeds. Just some thoughts...

 

[baymule]

I had black eyed susans come up and I transplanted some of them so I wouldn't step on them. Also had lambs quarters come up and I am letting them go to seed, will scatter in my struggling new pastures, the sheep LOVE lambs quarters. Thinking about transplanting some of that giant ragweed... the sheep LOVE that too!

 

[Nyboy]

Ducks you need a goat or two. tell your horses they strange ponies

 

[ducks4you]

Ducks you need a goat or two. tell your horses they strange ponies

 

[ducks4you]

Seriously can't do goats. They could shimmy through my fencing! Good thought, though, bc there is a great market for goat meat!
Yesterday I was exhausted. Went to church--getting beautiful saps your energy --worked for 30 minutes at DD's place on picking up sticks and watering. Their grape tomatoes are starting to come in.
I only had energy to transplant a 4 x 4' bed north of the garage. The top of the soil was hard as a rock, better underneath, so I dug it out and replaced it with some amended soil from a previous stall waste dump pile and planted 11 red leaved/red flowered wax begonias and one purple sweet potato vine, which was on clearance as WM last week for .50 cents/piece.
Can't recommend enough buying a large plastic pot with NO drain hole! It makes the best place to temporarily plant the annuals that you just bought but run out of time/energy to get into the ground. You can keep it watered and if there is too much rain you can tip it sideways and drain the extra. I lose annuals in cells and small pots every year bc of time and they dry out and die--$ down the drain.
Mine is a whiskey barrel that came with a plastic insert.
The other sweet potato vines go in the back yard at DD's place, which seriously needs some weeding and work. DD and I tried to use the paint sprayer (still in the box) to paint the old fence (we have the white paint w/primer) and THEN found out that it also needs lubricating oil, WtFudge?!?! ONE more thing to buy? so That gets put back to next Saturday.
Today I am home again and we'll see what I get done. I'm feeling like the summer of 1985 when I started my riding academy and was on my feet all day and got into super great shape! There IS a payoff and don't let ANYBODY tell you that gardening isn't a great workout.

 

[digitS']

It is!

Although the only thing I did in the garden yesterday was run the sprinkler in the little dahlia garden.

There was quite a lot of stretching activities last week and those continue and increase. Even if the gardener limits lifting, if plants are at his or her feet, I don't know how one gardens without getting down there amongst them. Surely, really stretching is about the best exercise for most of us.

Walking too! If I did the math right, the paths between my garden rows and beds actually amount to more than one-half mile. I don't traverse all of them every time I am out there but still! And, I also have to walk some distance to and from those paths.

Steve