What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Zeedman]

The harvest has been heavy, snap beans, eggplant, and greens (chard & water spinach). The late-planted zucchini are just beginning to flower, so it won't be long now. The "bush" long bean ("Thai Soldier") is, as I expected, anything but... the plants have sent out 3' runners into surrounding rows, and are so thick that I can't see the ground. The dense ground-smothering growth is a desirable trait, just wish I had known that when planning. They are beginning to flower now, so I'll soon find out whether they are worth the space they occupy.

Nearly all peppers are growing ahead of schedule, especially Purple Jalapeno, which is beginning to show signs of ripening. Ironically, it is "Early Jalapeno" which has lagged behind the others. Three peppers, Pizza, Red Chile (a serrano type) and Thai Giant, are caged under Agribon for seed. The peppers really thrive in the cages, where they are protected from pests & sun scald.

I have one pepper which is a breeding project; the target is a pimento-thick, heart-shaped pepper with short DTM, high yield, rich flavor, and a moderate but lingering heat. About 75% of the plants this year seem to be close, but there are two off-types that reflect the influence of Alma Paprika. One of those is just loaded with 2" round, creamy white peppers... that taste more like a radish than a hot pepper??? Really unusual. I'll be saving seed from that one, it might be worth trying to stabilize some time in the future, when I have more time - like when I retire, a few years from now.

 

[ducks4you]

Got my first load of hay Sunday (w/50 bales straw bc my hay man only bales straw 1x/season). Held my help over one hour and they cleared both my fire pit area and the 12 x 12' 2nd chicken enclosure. Hired the 13yo boy across the street earlier this week and he put in 4 hours of hard labor. (I supplied the Gatorade.) I discovered that the 5 small arbor vitae next to my garden were covered with bagworms. I was using a 5 gallon ice cream bucket to remove them and had filled 6 of these the day before. He removed another 4. The first time I dumped them in my small burn pile I saw several start to crawl out!!!
Kerosene to the rescue!! I soaked them and then burned them. I repeated the day he cleared them for me. There are very few left AND I have a Neem Oil insecticide mix (concentrate, 2 tablespoons/gallon) and I intend to spray them tomorrow. I got a clearance 2 gallon sprayer, which makes 3 sprayers in my garden shed, one for D-3, one for Ground Clear and now one for Neem Oil (mix). Better get the sharpies out to label...
I could only find a windex sized spray bottle of straight Neem oil, so I sprayed my 3 small pine trees I am growing next to my training area for future Christmas trees with just the Neem oil. One is almost 5 ft tall this year and might be cut down in December, 2019. I will have to look for a larger size.
https://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
https://bugspray.com/article/bagworm.html
and, Yes, I have been trying to get rid of them on the pine trees in my south pasture, but I picked off a slough of them last winter, many which were on lower branches that I cut and burned.
After 90 minutes of tree "harvest", my help and I took my 2 reciprocating saws to the saplings growing next to the old cattle fence by the street. We made it 3/4 down to the neighbor's house, then drove them out to my big burn pile in my north pasture for future burning.
Horses have stripped the leaves. Typical...

 

[ducks4you]

Harvested, blanched and froze ~4 quarts of green beans! WHOOPEE!! ...more beans to come, too...
I was VERY surprised that I boiled dirt out of them.
Is that normal? hmmm...
Hired the boy across the street to cut saplings along the street, 2 days, 8 hours ($10/hr.) I LOVE jobs where you don't have to show DH what you did with your day home. =b
Started to harvest okra. Lots of big, green tomatoes that are turning. Checking the corn to see if I missed the harvest date. IF so, I will save the seeds for next year. I planted sweet corn, blue dent and multicolored (generic) "Indian Corn," whatEVER THAT is!
I think I destroyed my used riding mower!!!
I am seriously shopping for a utility tractor. Just had a loan closing with a guy that repairs large tractors for John Deere. HE suggested a Kubota bc it can pick up heavier loads with the shovel, and we have a Kubota dealer 30 minutes north of us. GOTTA have a place to get them serviced. It's really about time. Going on vacation in a few days. Gonna list my truck and turn around and buy a tractor THIS YEAR. I KNOW that diesel engines don't overheat and I need to get my mowing and knocking down of weeds done in one day and not have to let a mower "rest" for an hour, as my mower repairman warned me to do. I am beginning to believe that the TroyBuilt riding mower that my DD's bought for their in town corner lot can only handle a small yard. What do you all think?

 

[flowerbug]

i don't know much about tractors. if we had one there's a good chance this whole lot would get razed a few times a year (knowing Mom ).

cutters, loppers, scythe, electric hedge trimmers. mulching lawn mower and in extreme cases herbicide.

cutters i use a few times a week for some tree branches or other woody stems that i can get through without having to resort to the loppers.

loppers i use a few times a season to take down saplings or to remove branches that are getting in the way.

scythe is on my wish list.

mulching mower Mom uses frequently, but i will help her once in a while with mowing if she needs it, but otherwise i use it as little as possible. i just don't like noise/exhaust from it nor the damage it does to certain other creatures and the fact that it removes all plants. i'd much rather weed selectively, but i don't have that much time and i am looking forwards to the day when i can get rid of it entirely.

hedge trimmers i used to use more often until the electric cords become victims of Mom's use of hedge trimmer on said cords and i've not fixed the cords yet (because i don't have the arm for using the trimmers myself and she doesn't need to use them either so...).

herbicide i've used three times in 12yrs (and never in any veggie gardens for 7-20yrs+ previous). i'm also looking forwards to when i never have to use it again.

 

[ducks4you]

LOADS of grapes!!!
Don't know how many I will be able to harvest, but I canned almost 3 gallons worth today. I had 1/2 gallon jars on hand, which helps, and I put them up With the skins bc I WILL be making wine this year...and grape jelly. Going on vacation next week so we'll see...

 

[ducks4you]

Harvesting green beans, okra and tomatoes. BOTH riding mowers had problems yesterday. Mower fixit guy came down and ascertained that the belt on the deck of DH's riding mower was the problem. He put it back on, but it was rubbing, so He mowed until it broke. Told me to buy a new one and then we could replace it, but DH said to have him look at the wheels. DH has mowed about 12 hours, more or less and it wasn't rubbing and making stinky until yesterday. That will have to wait until after our CO vacation this week. No worries! I mowed most of what was left with my bag mower and it looks manicured by the street, which is what the town wants, so it's all good. ALSO, DD's live 12 minutes up the road and, if we have to, we will borrow their riding mower while the others are in the shop.
DH is now FULLY CONVINCED that I need my Utility Tractor!!!!
One of my hay guys is coming over this morning to help me pick up the brush that my neighbor left when he took down the hated tree next to the house, but left me the brush to move. I moved one load but there are 5 more. He, (T.), will also help me finish harvesting my grapes. T. told me that he helped his mom harvest sugar snap peas last year, and ate his way through the row. I don't care How Many grapes he eats, bc there are so many. Out to ride. Found a new Dressage site with good tips bc I couldn't remember how far apart to place my ground poles. T. will help me build cavaletti this Fall. My other cavaletti bit the dust many years ago, beFore I moved here.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Green beans, peppers, squash, cucumbers, blackberries. I never did start my fall garden things I planned. I told DS we are so tired it is like having a new baby here and he said we are taking care of 3 babies, meaning his sister, husband and baby. lol DS dug plum tree seedlings out of the yard. He was shocked how the roots ran so far. I think I am going to start moving the rabbit manure to the side of the garden and be ready to take out old plants as soon as the first frost kills things and this year get the leaves and things spread BEFORE it snows.

 

[Zeedman]

Tomatoes are coming on strong now & many peppers are already ripe... which means its salsa time! My biggest concern over the reduced size of my garden was that I might not be able to make my usual canned salsa this year, so I'm delighted to see the plants I put in doing so well. I hope to make a batch or two Saturday, weather permitting. Haven't picked the peppers yet, and not sure I'll be able to do so; rain is forecast for most of the day tomorrow.

The white bitter melon (somewhat similar to that in my avatar) has a lot of full-grown "melons", so DW & I will be using some in a recipe, to evaluate its flavor. While there are several vegetables that are "good for you but taste terrible", bitter melon probably would win in that category. There are ways to reduce the bitterness, but regardless of how you prepare it, bitter melon is an acquired taste. I am trying this variety because it is supposedly less bitter than most... time will tell.

 

[Zeedman]

Because of the increasing Japanese Beetle population, my daily routine has been to go into the gardens as soon as I get home from work, and search for beetles. A sprayer with insecticidal soap has proven to be effective at killing them, and causes little to no damage to the plants.

Lately, the JB's have taken a special liking to the scarlet runner blossoms, I find 10-20 beetles there every day. I've several times had company while doing so - hummingbirds. There are quite a few of them now; if I watch for an hour, chances are I will see one. Today one showed up as I was beetle hunting, and I froze when I saw it. It continued to feed, oblivious to my presence, sometimes only a foot away. I did my best imitation of a hummingbird chirp, and it hovered in front of my face, and chirped back! It then even tried to take a sip from the sprayer in my hand... so I gently moved the bottle away from it. It again hovered around my head, so close I could hear its wings beating... then flew away. I think I've found a friend.

I think I could get some really good hummingbird photos, if I could find a way to rig a remote hand-held trigger to my cell phone camera. All I would need to do is stand between the rows, as I did today.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Blanched and froze green beans and picked peppers.