What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

Prayed for rain, and this week I have been heard!!
I went outside before the the next 3 hours of predicted t storms.
I was able to move a small wheelbarrow full of used stall bedding to put down in between the 4th and 5th fencelines of my big garden.
I counted 3 tiny Brussels Sprouts up!!!
Happy to report that the small cucumbers that I transplanted 7 and 10ft from their sprouting spots have ALL survived and perked up after I heavily watered them yesterday!!
Went over the the East garden bed north of the garage. I weeded and hand raked, caged 2/3 volunteer tomatoes, wound the 3rd around a perennial growing there, then I emptied a box of impatiens that I had bought in 2017 at Dollar General (plant BY 2017.) CERTAINLY the seeds aren't kept well in a cardboard box a bit larger than a small cereal box, and, of course, 5 yo seeds, and I will keep them well watered and see if any sprout. Never know...
The package materials now carpet the loosened soil around 4 wax begonias, 3 tomatoes and next to a white vinca.
If I am Lucky some will sprout and may fill in.
"How long are impatiens seeds viable?

Impatiens seeds sprout best within in a year, but they can remain viable for two years or more.Nov 16, 2020"

How to Get the Seeds From the Impatiens Flower

How to Get the Seeds From the Impatiens Flower. Impatiens earn their name by the way they spread their seeds. The pods burst open, and the seeds spread over a large area. Saving seeds from impatiens requires preparation beforehand to ensure the seed isn't lost to the garden bed. In Northern...

homeguides.sfgate.com

 

[Phaedra]

I kept working on sweet potato cuttings and strawberry propagation.

 

[digitS']

Made the run through the wildfire smoke to the distant garden. No, it wasn’t that bad . The smoke was worse during early morning here at home.

Dry out there and very windy. Things have suffered but it was not a good morning to turn the sprinklers on. Carried a bucket of water to some taller pepper plants that looked to be in real need. Ran lawnmower and rototiller.

And, ran and ran. No real breaks with about 2 1/2 hours of the 3 hours out there spent behind a machine but beat the heck outta the weeds in most of the paths. Can no longer till between the vines, of course.

Pulled down the pea trellis, grabbed 6 ears of sweet corn and a few other things. Headed for home deciding that 30 mph wind gusts were enough and not wanting to experience the worst of it through the afternoon.

Very quiet this morning and watering should go well. Corn on the cob was a little too early but, of course, very tender. And so it begins - sweet corn, cucumbers and ripe tomatoes .

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

picked tomato worms again this morning. found 10 of them, but the good news is that i could find most of them after a few minutes of sleuthing around looking for fresh droppings on the leaves and ground and then looking up through the plants until i could find it. they're very well hidden by their shape and color pattern, but once you get your eyes trained it becomes easier. of the 10 i found 1 larger adult, 8 medium sized ones and 1 very tiny one (about an inch long) and oh boy was it cute! hard to imagine me calling such a pest cute but it sure was (and then i cut it in half like the rest of them).

i take the clippers with me out there so that i can clip off damaged branches so that the next time i go out i can survery and see where new damage is happening and hope to get them all found again. not sure how many more are out there. i think this year because i got out and found the medium worms before they got closer to the end stage i might have prevented a lot more damage because last year i remember they were really mowing down the plants. we'll see how things look tomorrow morning...

the nicest thing was that it was actually cool enough out this morning that i wasn't feeling like just coming right back inside as soon as i stepped out of the house. the rains and cool front really helped. alos helped sprout a billion weed seeds but i can scrape those quickly enough where they are happening the most because that garden has been kept bare on purpose this season specifically so i could do this sort of scraping (it will take all of 20 minutes to do 400 square feet). it has been getting too far out of control the past years and so it was time to take it back a few notches. i'll do that tomorrow not that it will be cool enough in the morning for me to do that for a few hours. the afternoons are going to return to being pretty hot this weekend so i can retire to the AC for the day after a few hours of morning chores. bean plants and tomatoes are smothering most gardens and not much is sprouting in those now for me to weed.

 

[Phaedra]

Working on the quails' new home

Hopefully, I can finish it today.

 

[flowerbug]

checked for tomato worms (did not find any), cleaned out the bird baths, weeded a part of a large garden until it got hot enough and i made enough progress that i could take a break the rest of today. i was going to pick beans but my leg is telling me to shut up and play on this computer instead. isn't it nice when your body is smart enough to tell you what you want to hear anyways?

 

[Zeedman]

My body is telling me to quit working on my patio & spend more time in the garden. My brother is an expert carpenter, and has been helping me to rebuild it from the ground up. Fortunately as of today, all construction is now done, just some wiring & carpeting left to do. Will post photos when complete.

Harvest from the garden has finally begun; cucumbers, luffa, bitter melon, chard, and Emerite snap beans. Most will be given away, except for 1/2 of the beans (which will be frozen) and a few cukes for my own use.

Luffa, bitter melon, cucumbers, green beans

The luffa has been the real surprise of my garden this year, especially after 2 previous failures trying to grow luffa. This variety bears early, even after my late start this year. I say "bears" because like many gourds, they are edible when young. They are especially good in the Filipino dish Miswa.

"Joy" luffa

The Painted Mountain corn (2nd planting, of remaining seed from @baymule ) looks really promising. I modified the spacing to a higher density, and to judge by the low amount of sunlight reaching the ground there, this may be close to optimal. The closer spacing has thus far stood up to several thunderstorms too, with the plants supporting each other. I'm hopeful that with Painted Mountain's short DTM, this crop will still have time to mature.

While weeding earlier in the season, I found a patch of wild strawberries hidden in my perennial onions. I was weeding in that area again today... and much to my surprise, those strawberries appear to be everbearing:

These strawberries are sending out runners like crazy, and the berries are not unbearably small. I plan on transferring all of the onions to a different location this month, but will make a special effort to preserve these strawberries as well.

 

[baymule]

Your Painted Mountain looks good! I’ve run out of cornmeal and need to mill some more. I’ll have some help Saturday to start moving stuff, 1 friend. Next Saturday I’ll have 2 friends and can move heavier stuff. Somewhere before surgery I need to get the mill out and make up some more cornmeal. Store bought is so blah.

 

[flowerbug]

watered some squash plants and then got more weeding caught up in the North Garden this morning until it was almost done, one more day should do it.

then picked beans so we can eat them later.

today is garden club meeting so i have to get a shower and ready for that.

 

[Zeedman]

watered some squash plants and then got more weeding caught up in the North Garden this morning until it was almost done, one more day should do it.

then picked beans so we can eat them later.

today is garden club meeting so i have to get a shower and ready for that.

Garden club? Is this a large(r) group of people? Sounds like fun.