What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Cosmo spring garden]

Harvested some mint to dehydrate for tea. Will go out later and pick off Japanese beetles

 

[flowerbug]

raining today. i did go out in the rain and get the bird bath sprayed out and refilled because i don't think birdies should be drinking water with other birdies honey suckle poo in it (no that's not a good name for a band, don't do it).

did not get out and get anything else done.

 

[ducks4you]

I had to check in. We indeed, DID have a derechio. DH and DD's took the tractor and pulled down 4 dangerous limbs that were hanging from 2 of the trees in the yard.
I have chopped down 2 inch thick saplings and had them fall on my head. This was before I realized that you cut into upper pieces First!
I believe that one of the limbs weighed a full 2,000 pounds or possibly more and you could end up dead if it fell on you.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Larch in the north yard next to the fence. It took down 1/2 of the pine to it's east, but NO fence damage and NO house damage.
PRAISE GOD FOR BOTH!!!
I need to organize my pictures as I continue cleanup. Check out my thread next week.
I am busy cleaning up. Here is also DH on the tractor. He got quite a workout, 4 hours worth of hauling, pushing the pile together, etc.
We could not have gotten the dangerous limbs down withOUT a tractor.
I watched neighbors to our north working on 2 limbs from one tree. They were chainsawing at the bottom, I saw one woman walking underneath the limb and a tractor would have gotten the whole thing down.
I dare NOT volunteer MY tractor! I don't want to be responsible for anybody's ER visit, and it wouldn't be appreciated.
The other two tractors in town are a subcompact and a very old one, neither of which could do what my compact tractor did.
Anyway, I will be checking in periodically, so you know that I am still here, but I have a lot on my plate.
Love you ALL!!!!

 

[Phaedra]

Heatwave from today till next Tuesday - so we can only work outside in the very early morning or very late in the evening.

We used the high-pressure washer to thoroughly clean the chicken coops (plastic), did some summer pruning, and removed the pea plants after harvest. Next week, I have many succession seedlings to be transplanted.

 

[flowerbug]

got a boatload of gardens scraped/weeded this morning and woke up way too early. Mom's card playing friend just got here so i said hello and then good night as i'm going to take a nap. them chattering in the background will put me right out...

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Last week I harvested one zuc and three yellow squash. Yesterday I harvested 5 yellow wax beans.

 

[Zeedman]

It's been a busy few days, trying to get caught up in the rural garden. Weeded about 1/2 of the garden (roughly 1500 square feet), then put up poles while it was still cool & tied some of the string trellises. Laid mulch on the rows that were weeded; everything already mulched is greening up. Still quite a bit of trellis & mulch to do yet, and I need to cover the pepper cages - but not today, its 90F. degrees out there. I watered everything heavily this morning, then puttered around until I had to get in out of the heat.

I've been holding back squash transplants until July. That timing seems to allow me to cover them during the SVB egg laying period, without the plants outgrowing the cover, while still allowing enough time for squash to ripen once the cover is removed. Heavy weeding in their spots set me back a few days, but I transplanted & covered the last plants yesterday.

Then today, saw the first SVB moth flitting about the garden, looking for something to lay its eggs on. Sorry, too slow... HA! HA!

Saw the first Japanese beetle today too, so the battle will be on soon. Hopefully our extended dry spell will negatively affect the JB hatch; that has certainly been true of the mosquito hatch thus far. They hatch out of the lawn, and most of that is dry enough for a grass fire. It crunches when I walk on it, which makes me wonder if it is actually dead.

 

[Phaedra]

I harvested some cauliflowers, cucumbers, and lettuce. The lettuces sowed at the end of January are still producing.

Meanwhile, I also started summer pruning and finished Delphiniums and a few roses today.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Harvested, washed and bagged up carrots. This is from less than half of a 20ft long bed. I am still amazed I grew carrots that are somewhat long and straight! I give a lot of credits to having my chicken coop on that area and my DH broadforking it before we planted.
Also harvested oregano and rosemary and put them in the dehydrator.
Making chow chow relish to can. Bever made it before but my neighbor kept telling me how much her daughter in law loves it so I will gift her some. Her daughter in law has been sick for a long time so I'm hoping this will make her smile.
Moved a broody hen to her own tractor and she didn't like it . She is sitting on the eggs so I'm glad for that!

 

[flowerbug]

...
Saw the first Japanese beetle today too, so the battle will be on soon. Hopefully our extended dry spell will negatively affect the JB hatch; that has certainly been true of the mosquito hatch thus far. They hatch out of the lawn, and most of that is dry enough for a grass fire. It crunches when I walk on it, which makes me wonder if it is actually dead.

laughed about the SVB too late comment.

grass just went dormant, won't be dead yet.