What Did You Do In The Garden?

[seedcorn]

4 egg plants and replaced dead peppers.

@Nyboy Your "Yankee" are tough. They-so far-have handled the transfer from house to garden the best. Now IF that stupid rooster would stop messing with them.... if he wasn't so old and survived more dog attacks than I can count, I'd kill him.

 

[Beekissed]

Picked a few strawberries this morning...Mom said they were sweet! Rained all day, sometimes hard, sometimes just a steady drizzle, but all of it was really needed here.

My sugar snap peas are the best I've ever grown, most are now about 4 1/2-5 ft. tall now and starting to bloom at the top. They have strong, sturdy vines...best I've ever grown. I've got high hopes for them.

The potatoes are also showing strong, sturdy vines and the earliest planted ones are now showing blooms. That gives me hope too. Last year I had 5 ft. long vines, no flowers, and no spuds under those vines...what spuds grew were deformed and scabbed. This year they are stockier, nicely deep green and look to be very healthy.

I need to plant my pepper seeds into a tray this week, just haven't gotten around to it. Will be putting them out much, much later than usual. I'll germinate them inside but will likely place them under my low tunnel to finish out growing until time to set them out.

 

[thistlebloom]

Bee, potatoes don't need to bloom to set tubers, so I wouldn't worry much about that.
I have grown lots of potatoes that didn't bloom but had a heavy harvest. Some varieties are more prolific bloomers than others it seems.

 

[Beekissed]

Pulled some carrots that were planted last fall and finally grew this spring. The first one was tough as a hide, so not much hope for the others but I can say these are the first carrots grown successfully in this garden....ever. Heavy clay soils don't make for good carrot growing.

Planted a peony, this time planted it just like it is in the pot, with some of the root exposed and all. Didn't cover that part but did put plenty of compost in the hole along with the dirt from the pot. It has three or four buds on it already and I hope they emerge after planting.

Hoed and pulled all the weeds growing in the garden, supported some sugar snap peas...they are getting HUGE and heavy and haven't even set peas yet. Most are almost 5 ft. tall and starting to bloom.

Hauled a barrow full of chicken litter compost from the coop and spread onto thin areas, around rhubarb and squash/pumpkin plants. Will start to haul fresh chips to the garden in a bit.

So far I'm tickled at the growth I'm seeing in the garden this year...everything is loving the composted chips this year.

 

[seedcorn]

Planted some Swiss chard and pulled more grab grass.

 

[Beekissed]

Today I entered a new phase in gardening. Today I received a hoe that is not a tool, but a weapon. Truly...I could actually take out an opponent quite easily with this thing, it's that sharp.

It sliced through Bermuda grass like a hot knife through butter, with the easiest of movements...it's a scuffle hoe. This was my Mother's Day present from my oldest son and DIL and I'm tickled pink with it!

Here's a pic of one.....

I've found that a traditional chop hoe doesn't work so well in this wood chip...either the chips block it from completing a good chop or it just moves the weed a bit over in the chip, where it roots again.

This scuffle hoe cuts the weed right off below the soil surface and moves through these chips like a torpedo through water. Here's a little vid on it in regular garden soil....

 

[Nyboy]

Isn't it nice when you get a gift you want to use

 

[lcertuche]

Well with that hoe you are ready for the zombie apocalypse (or a snake).

 

[Nyboy]

 

[Beekissed]

That new hoe is a revelation, folks!!! WHERE has this thing been all my life???? You know how having the BTE garden makes weeding kind of fun? This hoe makes it fun too...you can hear it slicing through the stems of the weeds with a nice snicking sound....snick, snick, snick. Lovely.

No effort hoeing....just a gentle sliding back and forth, the handle is at just the right angle and length to reduce back strain. Weeding was done in record time and it even got close in to the landscaping timbers, sliding neatly under the edge to get the weeds growing from underneath. Incredible!

First hoe I ever wiped down after using and stored in a special place.