What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

Only got to transplant some small sweet peppers outside to get bigger before I put them into the ground. I drilled some holes in an unusable black rubber horse bucket and transplanted the 4 survivors in there to get better roots.
Our city council is preparing to rebuild. We have a meeting Wednesday night and all paperwork, etc. has to be in order. That, AND my sick laptop took up a great deal of my day today.

 

[Prairie Rose]

THAT STORM MISSED YOU?!?!? Good thing, though, we had pebble sized hail.
It was probably 3 inches of rain, judging from my horse's feed buckets.

It popped up literally a mile east of my house....and moved east. I got all the wind, an awesome lightning show, all kinds of anxious pets...but not a drop of rain. It has been close to three weeks since it's rained here.

 

[Zeedman]

DW & I have settled into a routine; getting up early, an hour or so working in the yard & home gardens... then off to the rural garden to weed. My previous estimate of that task was way low, there are 2-4 weeds per square inch in some areas. There are 10-12 weeds within 1" of everything planted, and about 1000 square feet of purslane carpet. Honestly, if I didn't have so much old seed in need of renewal, I would just turn the whole thing over & plant cover crops for a couple years. The only ray of hope is that so far the sweet corn, gherkins, and soybeans are healthy in spite of the weed pressure.

DD showed up again today to help, she has really been pitching in a lot this year. Together we finished weeding 2 of the 7 pepper cages, finished weeding the bitter melon, and weeded two of the pole beans. I bought 2 stirrup hoes, which is the only reason we got that far. Weather permitting, those areas will be mulched tomorrow. The heat & humidity return again tomorrow - for at least another week - so our time in the garden will once again be limited. I'll be looking for a small rear-tine tiller to run between the rows, that might turn an insurmountable task into merely impossible.

At home, we planted a pear tree this morning. The Tromboncino has finally started getting male flowers (it started with all females) so I have begun hand pollinating, two so far. The eggplant in pots has started producing. We have begun harvesting chard & water spinach. The Emerite pole beans are covered with blossoms, so snap beans will be arriving soon.

Something else arrived a couple days ago - Japanese beetles. I put out 3 of the the same traps we used last year, and they are just as effective, catching hundreds. Only a few find their way into the gardens, mostly on soybeans & the Zebrina mallow that we allow to grow on the margins. That mallow is an outstanding JB trap crop.

 

[Trish Stretton]

What do parsnips taste like? I've never had them!

To me , they taste earthy, but sweet and have a soft texture. I love them roasted, steamed, in mash with potatoes and pumpkin, they are great in casseroles, go well with melted butter, meat gravey......Mmmmm

 

[flowerbug]

Only got to transplant some small sweet peppers outside to get bigger before I put them into the ground. I drilled some holes in an unusable black rubber horse bucket and transplanted the 4 survivors in there to get better roots.
Our city council is preparing to rebuild. We have a meeting Wednesday night and all paperwork, etc. has to be in order. That, AND my sick laptop took up a great deal of my day today.

preparing to rebuild what?

 

[flowerbug]

DW & I have settled into a routine; getting up early, an hour or so working in the yard & home gardens... then off to the rural garden to weed. My previous estimate of that task was way low, there are 2-4 weeds per square inch in some areas. There are 10-12 weeds within 1" of everything planted, and about 1000 square feet of purslane carpet. Honestly, if I didn't have so much old seed in need of renewal, I would just turn the whole thing over & plant cover crops for a couple years. The only ray of hope is that so far the sweet corn, gherkins, and soybeans are healthy in spite of the weed pressure.

DD showed up again today to help, she has really been pitching in a lot this year. Together we finished weeding 2 of the 7 pepper cages, finished weeding the bitter melon, and weeded two of the pole beans. I bought 2 stirrup hoes, which is the only reason we got that far. Weather permitting, those areas will be mulched tomorrow. The heat & humidity return again tomorrow - for at least another week - so our time in the garden will once again be limited. I'll be looking for a small rear-tine tiller to run between the rows, that might turn an insurmountable task into merely impossible.

At home, we planted a pear tree this morning. The Tromboncino has finally started getting male flowers (it started with all females) so I have begun hand pollinating, two so far. The eggplant in pots has started producing. We have begun harvesting chard & water spinach. The Emerite pole beans are covered with blossoms, so snap beans will be arriving soon.

Something else arrived a couple days ago - Japanese beetles. I put out 3 of the the same traps we used last year, and they are just as effective, catching hundreds. Only a few find their way into the gardens, mostly on soybeans & the Zebrina mallow that we allow to grow on the margins. That mallow is an outstanding JB trap crop.

stirrup hoes used early and used often save a ton of time here for the quick weeding between rows.

i know about that purselane carpeting too. i've always got a pretty good crop of that here and know to get it chopped back before it starts flowering and dropping billions of tiny specks of seeds all over. it may take quite a long time before the chop and drop of purselane is fully dead so it is important to stir those weeds drying on the surface a few times to keep them from rerooting. the close weeding in the rows right next to the plants i usually have a sharp small mason's trowel or a large dull knife to get the plants closer to the stems of the beans. it takes time, there's nothing really that helps there other than being consistent and getting every weed you can while disturbing the rest of the soil as little as possible. that is why i do not till as that just stirs things into the germination zone. at least the stirrup hoe doesn't do that as much.

have only seen a few JBs so far here. the Mallow ye speak of is a good trap crop for them here too, but also a lot of the animals seem to like eating it. another beautiful and invasive weed as far as i'm concerned. those seeds last many years in the soil seed bank and are a PITA to weed out of nearby more formal gardens. i like them as an edge plant along a ditch or someplace where they can do what they want and not need to be managed.

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday had to mow and do a few outside chores, but did not do much in the gardens. i need to get back to weeding and checking the gardens today and then pick some more peas that are finishing up so they can dry completely inside away from the dew/rains/critters.

so glad to see all the flowers on the beans.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I fiddle farted around in all of the beds... not doing much of anything, really. Just enjoying it!

 

[Zeedman]

A big day weeding in the rural garden. DD & her spouse joined DW & me for the afternoon. I pulled out the old weed-eater-turned-tiller, which in spite of not being used for about 10 years, started on the second pull. Unfortunately, after tilling 1 of the 6 sections & part of another, the motor blew out. Probably a gasket, given the long period of disuse. I've been searching for a smaller walk-behind tiller, which is probably the only way to get a handle on the massive weed infestation... but so far no luck.

On the home front, the hand-pollination of the Zucchetta Rampicante Tromboncino has been going well. Two successful pollinations on one plant, and the three remaining plants all have female blossoms that will open tomorrow. Provided that those pollinations take, that should be enough seed for the next 10 years.

The JB traps are working well, so far zero damage on the pole beans... the few beetles that make it in are drawn to the soybeans. To those who get severe JB damage on beans, soybeans may work well as a trap crop. The home-brewed bug spray (insecticidal soap, alcohol, cooking oil, and water) kills the JB effectively, with no damage to the soybeans. It does cause some deformation, though, when sprayed on squash vine tips to kill the cucumber beetles which often attack there... but at this point, the vines are outgrowing the beetle damage.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Harvested some zucchini we should have harvested a bit ago. 10 year old for scale


And also harvested some kohlrabi, which is a first. 3 (almost 4) year old for scale