What did you do in the garden today?

[NanaK]

I've gotten everything planted in the veg garden and it's coming along pretty good. I'll still be planting some pickling cucumbers when the green peas are finished. Been keeping those picked and have some in the freezer. The heat will take them out soon.

Had to start the top trellising for tomatoes this week.

Green beans are climbing.

Potatoes have lots of foliage and hopefully taters growing down there.

These are butterbeans. I had a purple coneflower volunteer in the compost bin last year so I moved it to the end of these beans. It should bloom this year.

Love seeing everyone's photos and those baby goats I saw are just too cute!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

So today is pretty much a washout. It rained all morning. It didn’t stop until after 1 pm. Just after grandkid’s soccer match ended. Although, I did manage to do a lot of weeding this morning. So much I wore out my weed picker. It lasted several years so no complaints. A replacement picker will be here on Tuesday. With this last round of rain the poison ivy is growing like crazy. I need to take the next break in the weather to do some serious weed whacking.

 

[Smokerbill]

So today is pretty much a washout. It rained all morning. It didn’t stop until after 1 pm. Just after grandkid’s soccer match ended. Although, I did manage to do a lot of weeding this morning. So much I wore out my weed picker. It lasted several years so no complaints. A replacement picker will be here on Tuesday. With this last round of rain the poison ivy is growing like crazy. I need to take the next break in the weather to do some serious weed whacking.

Weed picker? What's that?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey Gardeners ! I bought seeds on Amazon this year.
Bare root strawberry. All my walking onion and garlic came from there.
Part I like no one says cannot send till a certain date.
Let me decide that crap.

 

[WthrLady]

I agree. I'm STILL waiting for a bayberry from Burpee.

 

[cj2024]

I did a couple of sour dough experiments this morning. I mixed my sour dough in my kitchen aid for 13 minutes, formed it round and placed it in a bowl lined with parchment paper. After an hour I put it in my refrigerator overnight and baked it this morning. It came out the same as with me messing with it all day, so it was way easier and not much difference.

The other experiment I did was with scouring. I found that when I baked my covered sour dough in a bowl with my Breville Smart Oven for several minutes at 450F, it was easier to scour. I could cut it deep without it breaking the surface or sticking to the blade. In addition, I found out that to make an ear the blade need to be off center and kind of horizontal like making a flap. Note, baking right out of the refrigerator at 3 minutes the dough was still too wet or soft to make a clean cut.

 

[SarahLadd]

I'll get some pictures up in a bit, but my garden doesn't look nearly as bumpin' as some of you guys in higher zone numbers. I mean I sowed my carrots outside a month ago and they're about an inch tall, you can hardly see 'em.

The UofM put out an article at the end of last year that redrew zones for the state, and I went from 4b to 5a! The zone change doesn't seem to mean a whole lot to me, as my family in Iowa's 5b zones are having all their bearded irises bloom and mine are barely beginning to think about forming buds. I have 7 new varieties of bearded iris I'm waiting to see any blooms from: twist of sheree, mariposa skies, mother earth, final episode, struck twice, Halloween halo, and English charm. I 3d modeled and printed PLA labels for them all to paint over the winter.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Weed picker? What's that?

This is what it looks like.

 

[jerryse]

I never grew C. Maxima group until last year. I liked pink banana so much but it was not very productive. Only 2 squash on the 1 vine and not jumbo. I am trying Gete Okosomin and Sibley this year. All 3 seem closely related and banana shaped. Sibley is blue gray sometimes with a bit of pink. Pink banana AKA north Georgia candy roaster is from the Cheroke. Gete Okosomin from the Miami tribe of Ohio. Orangish pink up to 30 pounds. Hoping for larger more productive with the same good taste. I will also grow more vines of Pink Banana.

 

[Minanora]

I'll get some pictures up in a bit, but my garden doesn't look nearly as bumpin' as some of you guys in higher zone numbers. I mean I sowed my carrots outside a month ago and they're about an inch tall, you can hardly see 'em.

The UofM put out an article at the end of last year that redrew zones for the state, and I went from 4b to 5a! The zone change doesn't seem to mean a whole lot to me, as my family in Iowa's 5b zones are having all their bearded irises bloom and mine are barely beginning to think about forming buds. I have 7 new varieties of bearded iris I'm waiting to see any blooms from: twist of sheree, mariposa skies, mother earth, final episode, struck twice, Halloween halo, and English charm. I 3d modeled and printed PLA labels for them all to paint over the winter.
View attachment 3837336

Yeah we're in zone 9a here. But we've had a weird season start; much cooler but with bursts of heat that have made my plants look like such drama queens. I go out and look at them all wilty and sad, then check the soil; perfectly moist. Evening rolls around and everyone looks like nothing happened.

You have inspired me to actually get my 3D printer out and make some stuff! <3 I need to make more beer tap handles, DH broke two lifting a keg into the keezer (I told him to take them off before moving kegs >.>), so it'll be a win-win!


Nothing in my garden looks as epic as @NanaK 's DANG! Looking great! There's a bunch of other gardens that are looking amazing as well. We'll catch up here, or beat a dead horse tryin'! *shakes fist*

I just mowed my lawn; I'm looking forward to overseeding it in the fall.

Oh yeah, and I went to get the eggs after my post around midnight; I checked on the ladies and there was a scrub jay in the coop so I had to chase it out into the night. Since taking care of that gave me a boost of energy, I got out the flashlight to see what bugs were eating all of my pumpkins. EARWIGS. DEMONS OF THE NIGHT! They don't care about spinosad apparently. Just murdering my precious pie pumpkin plants, and my hull-less snacking seed pumpkins. There were also a few brown beetles; not sure what those are but I smooshed all of them that I found on the plants.

Today I noticed that my pole beans are finally escaping the shade of the butternut squash canopy! Hooray! I was worried they wouldn't be bold enough to get above them in time to get on the trellis ahead of the butternut vines.

Today I made chicken and dumpling soup with carrots, onions, and garlic all grown in my garden! Costco provided the chicken, and I used my canned stock that I make with the costco chicken carcasses. I haven't grown celery yet; that's in the cards for next year though! We don't use that much of it, so I feel like I can grow enough to supply us with what we use. Apparently I need to grow 6x as many carrots. I grew them last year but the root knot nematodes ruined the lot. This time they're perfect!

We're finally uncovering the boat for the first time of the season; time to clean it up and change the oil! We're going out next weekend with the rest of the lake rat family. Time to get some surfing in!