What Did You Do In The Garden?

[digitS']

What did I do? Harvesting.

I meant to take a picture of some melons. They are coming along well. Most things are .

The broccoli certainly should be included. Now, I will listen to DW telling me how we don't need more broccoli for the freezer. I've already pointed out that we used to buy lots and lots of broccoli before she made a wholesale commitment to kale. (She claims that she will try freezing that but we don't have all that many plants and she hasn't, yet. I can't turn off the broccoli - all lateral buds.

A 3 gallon bucket of cucumbers, oh no! I'm having my second Muncher of the Day, right now. Experimentally, nibbled on another. Okay. I absolutely don't dislike Marketmore!

The tomato plants are becoming loaded. They have put too much energy into growing rather than maturing fruit! I am sure that all the ripe (or, nearly ripe) ones would have fit in my hat.

Steve
who came home to corn on the cob for lunch. right now, 93°f (heat index 91°) at 6pm

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

My plants are getting scorched. It was 111 yesterday and will be over 100 for the next three days. I hand water early am and then late evening. The soil will not hold any water. Too darn hot.

 

[digitS']

Wow!

That heat is arriving here, @Rhodie Ranch . I'm expecting 100°f, today. Will soon have some extra water on the gardens here at home.

111! I remember 108° in Medford and the same temperature here - once. I'd rather not think much about it ... a wet towel over the neck, of course + a hat (can be wet), if'n you are out in it.

The last summer that I lived in Medford, there were 3 different "hot spells" of over 100. It was a hot summer and I hope that you don't have it any worse than that.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

What did I do? Harvesting.

I meant to take a picture of some melons. They are coming along well. Most things are .
...

we spent a few hours picking this morning, mostly tomatoes and cucumbers, but also what was ready of the peppers and some cherry tomatoes. going to be a long evening here.

speaking of melons, the picture i posted the other day of four melons nestled closely to each other... today i noticed just a few feet from those another group of four melons. i asked my friend if they liked melon and she responded that they do so i'm starting to line up my ripe-melon-distribution channel because if all these get ripe at once we're never going to be able to eat all these.

 

[Prairie Rose]

I watered the more vulnerable plants today, and pulled some weeds. Was going to rip out all of my tomatoes after all the hornworm damage and a groundhog eating off everything right as it started to turn, but they are recovering nicely. I will top them off next week so the remaining tomatoes can focus on ripening. The pumpkins, watermelon, and butternut squash are taking over the garden, but the vines are starting to die out on the melons.

It is really hard to believe that we're only about 7 weeks away from the first frost here.

 

[flowerbug]

I watered the more vulnerable plants today, and pulled some weeds. Was going to rip out all of my tomatoes after all the hornworm damage and a groundhog eating off everything right as it started to turn, but they are recovering nicely. I will top them off next week so the remaining tomatoes can focus on ripening. The pumpkins, watermelon, and butternut squash are taking over the garden, but the vines are starting to die out on the melons.

It is really hard to believe that we're only about 7 weeks away from the first frost here.

yeah, the season is going by quickly that is for sure.

 

[Zeedman]

Was going to rip out all of my tomatoes after all the hornworm damage and a groundhog eating off everything right as it started to turn, but they are recovering nicely.

I've noticed several mentions of tomato hornworms... the odd thing is, I haven't seen one for years. They were common in my youth, so where did they go? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of the hawk moths for years. Cecropia caterpillars are uncommon now as well. Shortly after I moved into this house, some govt. entity was doing airborne spraying for gypsy moth. Apparently the spraying killed the gypsy moth - I just wonder how many other native species were inadvertently wiped out at the same time.

It's been pretty busy; all vegetables bearing to some degree, and dry seed harvest underway. We've been pickling okra & dilly beans, and freezing beans & yardlongs. Leaf miners infested the water spinach; we cut it to the ground in hope of a clean recovery, and burned all the trimmings. The adjacent chard, on the other hand, is spotless, and on its 3rd picking - go figure. The Elfin tomatoes are crazy this year; with only two plants, we are giving them away to everyone we know... and unlike zucchini, they don't lock the door when they see us coming.

Three soybeans are beginning to dry down for seed, and the first edamame soybeans are ready. DW & I ate some today & really enjoyed them... because this is the same variety (Fledderjohn) that the voles completely destroyed last year. Wilt killed a couple plants in the other edamame (Gardensoy 12) and was spreading; so we pulled all the infected plants (more for the burn pile) and it appears to have stopped the outbreak. The silver lining: we were able to observe that the roots on the pulled plants were heavily nodulated, which proves that we no longer need to use inoculant in our gardens.

The cleanup of the rural garden is complete! The tomatoes are recovering, and are beginning to ripen in ones & twos. Most of the beans are stunted, but all have pods in snap stage now; so I'm hopeful that there will at least be enough dry seed to renew my inventory. Both sweet corn patches received a lot of TLC after weeding; about 1/2 of the plants have fully recovered, and are in tassel. I'll be spraying the silks with BT tomorrow, and again next week. All of the cowpeas are healthy, flowering vigorously, and already have quite a few pods set.

There are several bare spots in the rural garden, where failed crops (stunted by weed pressure) were turned under with their accompanying weeds. Today we planted beets, kohlrabi, and several peas & snap peas in one of those areas. Tomorrow we will plant radishes & salad greens in another bare area, and a third area is reserved for a Fall garlic planting. If I can find a quick source for buckwheat seed in bulk, I will plant a cover crop in all remaining bare spots.

 

[flowerbug]

I've noticed several mentions of tomato hornworms... the odd thing is, I haven't seen one for years. They were common in my youth, so where did they go? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of the hawk moths for years. Cecropia caterpillars are uncommon now as well. Shortly after I moved into this house, some govt. entity was doing airborne spraying for gypsy moth. Apparently the spraying killed the gypsy moth - I just wonder how many other native species were inadvertently wiped out at the same time.

It's been pretty busy; all vegetables bearing to some degree, and dry seed harvest underway. We've been pickling okra & dilly beans, and freezing beans & yardlongs. Leaf miners infested the water spinach; we cut it to the ground in hope of a clean recovery, and burned all the trimmings. The adjacent chard, on the other hand, is spotless, and on its 3rd picking - go figure. The Elfin tomatoes are crazy this year; with only two plants, we are giving them away to everyone we know... and unlike zucchini, they don't lock the door when they see us coming.

Three soybeans are beginning to dry down for seed, and the first edamame soybeans are ready. DW & I ate some today & really enjoyed them... because this is the same variety (Fledderjohn) that the voles completely destroyed last year. Wilt killed a couple plants in the other edamame (Gardensoy 12) and was spreading; so we pulled all the infected plants (more for the burn pile) and it appears to have stopped the outbreak. The silver lining: we were able to observe that the roots on the pulled plants were heavily nodulated, which proves that we no longer need to use inoculant in our gardens.

The cleanup of the rural garden is complete! The tomatoes are recovering, and are beginning to ripen in ones & twos. Most of the beans are stunted, but all have pods in snap stage now; so I'm hopeful that there will at least be enough dry seed to renew my inventory. Both sweet corn patches received a lot of TLC after weeding; about 1/2 of the plants have fully recovered, and are in tassel. I'll be spraying the silks with BT tomorrow, and again next week. All of the cowpeas are healthy, flowering vigorously, and already have quite a few pods set.

There are several bare spots in the rural garden, where failed crops (stunted by weed pressure) were turned under with their accompanying weeds. Today we planted beets, kohlrabi, and several peas & snap peas in one of those areas. Tomorrow we will plant radishes & salad greens in another bare area, and a third area is reserved for a Fall garlic planting. If I can find a quick source for buckwheat seed in bulk, I will plant a cover crop in all remaining bare spots.

check any of your local grain elevators for buckwheat in bulk.

good news to hear about the gardens recovering and mostly doing well including the edamame! i'm watching my small test plot with eager eyes as perhaps i should get a few seeds back for the efforts. the bacteria that nodulate for soybeans are (i think) a different species than those that innoculate regular beans. also i have seen some of my regular beans get nodules on them and others not. soybeans are planted around here almost continually so i'd never plan on innoculating for soybean bacteria, but the regular bean bacteria i wasn't sure about until a few years when i pulled some diseased yellow eye beans and they had plenty of nodules on the roots so since then i've not thought i'd needed to do any innoculating either. i did think about it in some gardens though the past few years just to see if it actually made much of a difference mostly because those are gardens that were just recently put back into production so perhaps they could use a bit of a reintroduction.

just finished the last of the tomato juice for today so i'm ready to find some sleepytime. one thing so nice about days like this is that when i hit the pillow it is out like a light.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I've been in Southern OR for three years now and have yet to find a tomato hornworm either. But then at this new place, there haven't been any bees until last week. They are now swarming my older oak trees. Where were they the last three months??

 

[flowerbug]

i'm sure you don't want me to send you a batch... it's been an impressive year for hornworms here. i still pick them off when i can find them, but i know there are more out there anyways. this late in the season i'm surprised to find some still rather on the small side so that means i still have the adults around laying eggs. i've not managed to see a single adult anywhere.

as for bees, an insect hotel might help.