What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

Another laugh...I started to paint my new 6 ft tall (green) metal t posts for my new grape arbor. I didn't realize that the orange paint Wasn't for metal, but for spray painting areas on your grass. I ended up painting 3 stumps that are hard to see. I can rub the paint off of the two posts, but tomorrow I will probably scrub them with soap and water and a kitchen scrungie sponge.
I painted 2 posts red...didn't realize that the red was primer.
I started painting two of them purple. Eureka!! It is a gloss final coat meant for exterior metal.
The plan is for 8 new posts:
Orange
Orange & White
Red
Red & White
Teal
Teal & White
Purple
Purple & White
I plan to tape off all but the knobby side and That will be white. I have a can of sealer, too.
Tuesday, I am going into town to buy:
1 can of orange exterior spray paint for metal
1 can of red exterior spray paint for metal
1 can of teal exterior spray paint for metal
I am being a lazykins and leaving them out tonight, even though it's gonna rain.
I have left the white tips alone. I have a can of silver paint that reflects light and I will spray paint all of them with this last, leaving the very top unpainted bc I will be pouding them in there. Then, I will come along and carefully spray the tops of all 8 of them.
The arbor will be about 5 ft further south, to line up with one that survived on the west side--I have planted a new one level with it in the east side. I plan to wait until the other posts are in the ground before I transplant the other two.
I am SO GLAD that I transplanted last spring, (and, for one of them, last Fall,) into potting soil! One of the grapes arrived last Fall 5 inches tall and 5 inch roots. I couldn't see planting it and watching it dry out and die.
When I dug the hole for the first grape

, I doubled the width, and then used my auger to go another 8 inches deeper in the middle. It was So easy to remove the grape and to loosen up the roots from the purchased soil. This grape had put on roots deep enough to go into the deeper hole, then I filled in with the soil that had been in the pot And then with the soil I had dug out of the hole, and I was sure to keep the base of the grape high, for settling. It seems pretty happy a week later.

 

[ducks4you]

Sawed down 3 saplings and, when transferring 2D-4 from the broken sprayer to the new one, I just poured it on the stumps. I am tired of cutting them down every year.
Burned the pile of burdock that has been drying out.
I sawed down tall weeds that got away from me, some of which have grown through the plastic where I have my firewood supply. I got an epiphany that if I pull the weed grasses I can burn them.
We had a nice steady rain yesterday evening, so I can clean up the sidewalk and around the house bc the weed grass will pull out easily today.

 

[ducks4you]

I sawed down ALL of the burdock and other weeds/saplings on one section of fencing, the one I see when I look out of the north windows of the porch. There are 14 sections of fencing. Also, mowed 1/2 the yard, the 1/2 the anybody sees when they drive by.

 

[Phaedra]

I removed most of the squashes and planted one apple, one Chinese mahogany (Toona Sinensis), and one plum blossom (Prunus mume).

I will keep cleaning and transplanting the leafy greens in the coming week.

 

[flowerbug]

picked some beans and did some caulking on the house. hard to believe it's been 25 years here already. will look much nicer once we get the stain refreshed. i liked the original color the best (which was an orangish red), but we could not get that same stain again and Mom just got some brown stuff which is ok, but not the best color. this round we're going with more of a plum color - we've been using up a can of it that we got a few years ago to do some touch up work and i think it will be better. wonder what the price of five gallons of good stain will cost for a house... *looks it up* not nearly as bad as i was thinking. *whew!*

 

[Zeedman]

The garden is winding down, but still producing. All Painted Mountain corn has been picked, shucked, and is drying under a fan. Still picking a lot of dry seed, but the adzuki, 2 beans, both cowpea/yardlongs, and 4/8 soybeans are mostly done. 3 of the remaining 4 soybeans have dropped leaves & are drying, I will cut them before the freeze to dry under cover.

I picked & cooked almost all remaining Uzice shelly beans (given that I'll most likely be picking all remaining beans at the end of next week). Can't eat them yet though, since I'll be in polite company tomorrow.

I picked all remaining bitter melon, luffa, and cucumbers:

The Emerite snap beans have re-bloomed, and are producing a decent amount every 2 days. Fall green beans are the sweetest.

Just starting to harvest dry seed for Grandma Gina & Blue Marbutt pole beans; but Bird Egg #3 is STILL stuck in shelly stage. I may need to cover those to get seed. The last soybean - Seneca - will probably need to be covered too, to get dry seed. Lots of Madagascar limas & Gigandes runner beans changing color, I should get at least one more round of dry seed - then before the freeze arrives, A LOT of shellies.

 

[Jane23]

It is a new season. What did you do in the garden today, yesterday, and last week ?

Two backyard beds have been covered with the temporary hoop house. Seed for Asian greens and escarole has been sown; bok choy transplants have gone in. The flower beds around the house have been cleaned up.

I have now begun in the little veggie garden by leveling a few beds cultivated last year, fertilizing, and planting some seed potatoes, onion sets and pea seed.

What did you do in your gardens ?

Steve

I have some of my onion seeds planted, kale, spinach, and romaine; I transplanted some potato plants from last year that still had tiny potatoes; they are doing well and are ready for wintering. I will plant my garlic cloves this week and keep cleaning out my summer beds of the last the tomatoes, zucchini, and my last remaining cantaloupe.

My husband and I are finishing up our barn, so this will be an on-again, off-again activity this week as I finally have some time off.

 

[digitS']

Harvested more tomatoes than any other time this year! There were still green beans to pick.

We will have some problems fitting these beans in the freezer .

If the frost doesn't arrive soon, more peppers are on their way. The WS is forecasting a better than average chance of higher than normal temperatures for the next 2 weeks! There may be some local records and I suspect that we will hear about some record late dates for first frost if this warm weather continues. 79°f right now at 4:30 (26°C)

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

i'm wondering if the green peppers are going to be conditioned enough by the cooler nights we've already had to survive yet another few cool nights or if that will shut them down. i probably should go out and pick some peppers now while i'm thinking of it. kinda late but i'll ask Mom if she thinks she really wants them or not first. i can eat them or not. hate to waste them or have them spoil... not quite 10pm so technically still today. she passed and said we can eat them anyways.

 

[Jane23]

I keep debating when to shut down my summer garden. I still have a lot of green tomatoes, the peppers are still growing, and I have a handful of zucchini that are the length of my fingers. The days are still in the 70s sometimes, but the nights are dropping into the 50s or below.

Is there a thread about ripening tomatoes off the plant? I know it can be done, and I think I must do this.