What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ByFaithFarm]

Hand pollinated some cucumbers.

Transplanted some volunteer morning glory sprouts into back porch pots, added some window rooted peppermint sprigs to those same pots.

DE treated some aphids and some kind of a munchy worm on various plants.

Enjoyed sniffing my newly bloomed gardenia and watching a pair of very energetic Ruby Throated Humming Birds at the feeder!

 

[ducks4you]

The burning of yard twigs and debris has been working well enough to produce the first full wheelbarrow of charcoal. Hitting the hot fire with water blows it apart so I do not have to chop it or process it further. I do not miss using the chipper at all. I find this much easier. A blower helps the fire blow hot so the smoke is minimized and not obnoxious for the neighborhood. I hope to find something better than wire fence since I have so much more wood to burn.

I have been staking tomatoes and trellising cucumbers. I planted 30 knockouts on top of the clay and mulched them with hardwood bark. Being too fresh and draining too well that bark turned into a dry situation so I re-mulched with black cow compost and the bark on top so they are getting happy again. I put out japanese beetle traps and put grubex on the lawn. Its time to start spraying the garden, the eggplants are showing some holes and its never to soon to protect cucumbers.

What do you use the charcoal for?

 

[ducks4you]

 

[ducks4you]

Wanna watch the video on Leech Collecting?

 

[ducks4you]

Just up-potted 15 tomato seedlings and put them in the fish tank on the porch, which only gets full sun in the morning. I don't like to plant ones before their stems are 1/4 inch+ diameter. I planted all up to the top leaves, except 2 that were 6 inches tall and leggy.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

What do you use the charcoal for?

We have heavy acidic clay, pH 5. Charcoal helps on multiple levels like oxygenation, tilth, pH and biodome as it retains moisture where our clay can get hard as a brick in deep summer heat.

 

[ducks4you]

Very Interesting!! And they say, don't burn stuff! HA!

 

[ducks4you]

Useless day. Took a short nap, transplanted 5 San Marzano tomatoes, and transplanted and caged 12 Sweet Banana Peppers. Moved the 6 Sweet Red Pepper seedlings from the basement to top of the fridge. Except for two that needed water, the other four should be ready to transplant outside in a few weeks.
Darn kittens!! It has made it really difficult to grow anything from seed this year!
As soon as my completed painted office gets put back together I will be starting perennial flowers from seed upstairs. Windows face south and I have planters to keep them off of the ground...where the kittens dig everything out.
Back to another nap. 5:30AM yesterday, checking documents and fixing a printer problem for 90 minutes, then packing up and working on DD's yard for 3 hours, THEN, driving over an hour to do a signing...wore me OUT!

 

[Prairie Rose]

I pulled some more bindweed, and ran from the carpenter bees. I try not to mess with pollinators, but these things are aggressive even if they can't sting. The pyrenees runs from them...I have a couple of traps coming to hopefully get the population under control in his area....they bounce off the sliding glass door trying to get to the dog while he's inside.

 

[henless]

I pulled the rest of my onions except for the ones that are flowering. My onions did so good this year. I hope to save the seeds for next year.

I picked a few cucumbers to use in our salad tonight. I love to eat pickling cucumbers raw. They taste so fresh.