2022 Garden Thread

[Dan Freeman]

Final garlic harvest.
View attachment 297144

j/k- that's in Italy

LOL

 

[begreen]

LOL

You can probably smell that harvest a mile away.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Just right for a big bowl of pesto!

 

[bigealta]

A garlic Holzhausen

 

[Dan Freeman]

We moved 72 concrete blocks out of the old, raised garden area in our backyard today. It was hard work in this heat (90+). In all, we moved 73 blocks, but we had to lift each one 3 times (pick each out to wash it off, put each on a hand truck, and then lift each off the hand truck to pile them in a new area). About 8000 pounds of lifting! We have about 28 more to do tomorrow, about another 3000 pounds worth (lifting each 3x). Once finished, we can grade that area and plant clover. It will make our backyard area larger by about 375 square feet.

This is the area we are working on. The blocks are in the back against the sedum, and along the left side.

 

[begreen]

That's a nice backyard.

 

[clancey]

Freeman your work is sure making progress and very beautiful as well. Your designing is wonderful not including that gate--lol...Here my tomato plant is wide and bushy and large enough but so far only two yellow flowers on it..My yard has turned into a grasshopper paradise--thousands of them and maybe much more--they came from "nowhere" but they are here now...My lettuce went to seed and I stepped on the stem so I just cut it off but the mint is doing well in the container and the second container I am leaving it go just natural and its very pretty with such high grass and its nice to investigate to see what different kinds of weeds and plants are in there--of course they are crowding out my basil and parsley but we will see how it progresses--I am enjoying seeing it grow and discovering new weeds with pretty flowers--fine farmer I am--lol...All your gardens look good and seems to be paying off with food real well. It's been hot but not as bad as Texas (108-114) and next week will be cooler maybe even sooner if the

rain comes for you in Texas and you sure do need rain.. Be careful working out in the heat especially heavy work for it will get to you and really weakens your system so pace it better but its pretty --looking good everybody...Keep cool the best you can dg and begreen that garlic is amazing--its fun to see...Work harder lime and poindexter the only canning I ever did was to help with tomato's long ago and we put them in jars and I think we boiled them first--can't remember...The warmer temperatures in Alaska is doing you good and keep eating--especially vitamin c and d...Bigealta you named that garlic patch good---"a garlic holzhausen"..Lime that picture is beautiful of the mountains and lake...Thanks everyone and just keep plugging away at your wonderful work..clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

Woke up this morning to find all 5 of our chickens dead. I am thinking a fisher cat since the only way it could have gotten in is the 2" space between the corrugated roof and frame, perhaps in the new section I built on a few months ago where the corrugated Ondura roofing has a bit of give to it. I'll figure out a way to secure those small openings, and we'll get some more chickens.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Fisher isn’t going to fit through 2 inches. Might be a weasel or mink though. Same family, but with Napoleon Syndrome.

 

[Dan Freeman]

One of the chickens had all of its insides eaten out from the back. That's what made me think it might be a fisher cat. Looks like the kill blow on each was to the neck. When I went to remove them, one was still alive but badly injured, so I had to put her down. I did find 2 little tufts of fur on the wire in one place just below the front corrugated roof. Probably either the entrance and/or the exit area. We'll clean out the entire coop and run, seal up between the frame and corrugated roof, and get some more chickens.

Not our first killing. We used to have a good number of killings with our large flock back in the 2000teens from hawks and foxes, but we used to let them free range. Then, one night a racoon forced open the electric door and killed all of them within minutes. These present chickens have never been let out of the run. I thought that small space at the roof would not be a factor; it's been like that for 2+ years; I was wrong.

 

[clancey]

Sorry about the chickens and do you have "rats" where you are for they can sure fit into a 2 inch space. Like you say need to tighten up the chicken coop. Here my worry is raccoons for once in awhile one will go through the area and they are diggers and I have concrete footings under the soil where the 1/4 inch hard wire connects..Weasels are another animals that can get into small spaces. You will have better luck when you secure the coop...clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

Luckily, no rats Mrs. Clancey.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Look up weasel box if you’re looking to trap.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Look up weasel box if you’re looking to trap.

Have no interest in trapping the weasels...just have an interest in beefing up my chicken run.

This afternoon, I cleaned out the coop and run. Gave everything a good scrubbing and wash down. Tomorrow, I am going to pick up a few boards from Lowes to close up those small spaces at the top and then get more chickens.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@Dan Freeman, I’m sorry about your chickens. I’m sure that was a hard sight to see.

@begreen, your real garlic harvest looked beautiful (and your Italian picture was quite something, too). I’m glad your gardening season has finally kicked into higher gear.

My amaranth experiment is turning out well. The transplants in the garden are settling in and beginning to grow. I’m excited about that potential crop.

My cucumber suckers aren’t transitioning so well. They were hardened off, but the roots were not all developed when I put them in. Some have obviously died; others are hanging in there. We’ll see how it goes in upcoming days. It’s pretty hot here by afternoon, and the plants only get water in the morning.

My slicing cucumbers haven’t been at all prolific this year, but I harvested another one today for our lunchtime salad. If I’ve kept track correctly, I’ve now at least paid for the pack of seeds with cucumbers that I haven’t bought from the store. The vines are still in good shape with more (mostly male) flowers. I hope they’ll produce more, even if only a little at a time, in coming weeks.

 

[begreen]

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I moved my container cantaloupe to the larger raised bed yesterday and found this little baby hiding.


Corn is now taller than I am and tasseling nicely. The forecast is for nighttime temps to finally break 60 degrees. That should make the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant happier. I have been dealing with some powdery mildew on squash leaves due to the cool, dewy nights.

 

[begreen]

And today I pulled an onion to check it out. It weighed in at 22+ oz. The Poniente cucumbers in the greenhouse are going crazy. We have about a dozen on the plant currently with many over 12" long.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We're having quite a heatwave here. 98 and sunny yesterday. When I watered tge garden, some of the recently transplanted bok choy was trying to impersonate a jellyfish on land. It isn't not make it. The kale next to it said, bring the heat, I'm fine!

We still don't have all of the air conditioning in the windows yet. The wife decided she wanted to look out the kitchen window this year. So our downstairs is being cooled by 2 5000btu window units and upstairs is an 8000 unit. She was working from home yesterday. I walked into tge house around noon and only 1 5000btu window unit was on. There was also a plate of cinnamon buns cooling on tge stove. She grew up in Houston and the heat wasn't bothering her, lol.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Wow, @begreen, that cantaloupe, onion, and your cucumbers all look fantastic! What variety is the onion?

@EatenByLimestone , I’m sorry about your bok choy. Glad your kale is holding up.

 

[begreen]

Wow, @begreen, that cantaloupe, onion, and your cucumbers all look fantastic! What variety is the onion?

Thanks. We are going to start giving away cukes to the neighbors. They are really producing.
Normally I grow Copra yellow onions but I think these were Ringmaster because that was what our nursery ordered. Copra starts are hard to find now. Next year I go back to ordering directly from Dixondale Farms and may try Pattersons for their good keeping ability.

 

[begreen]

Looking good for August eggplants I hope.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Looking good for August eggplants I hope.
View attachment 297275

Beautiful, Begreen. Those are such vivid flowers, much darker than the ones of my Black Beauty plants. What variety is it? (That’s always what I ask you, isn’t it?)

My eggplants down here are getting hit hard by flea beetles. I don’t usually see them, but I see the damage they leave behind on the leaves. Unfortunately I think they’ve damaged some of my recent transplants enough (a few tomatoes and an eggplant seedling) that they aren’t going to be able to pull through. We’ll see.

My three spring-planted eggplants got pruned back a couple of weeks ago when I took down a lot of tomato foliage. They’ve put out new growth and more flowers since then, and they’re big enough to stand up to the flea beetles at this point. I’m just not sure if they’ll set much fruit in our continued heat.

 

[begreen]

I'll have to double check but I think that plant is a black beauty. The darkest flowers and leaves are on our ichiban. We've had bad flea beetle invasion in some years, but this one is not too bad so far. We'll see. They are usually more of an issue in spring with young plants. I have basil interplanted with them so maybe that is helping repel the little buggers? Have you tried yellow sticky traps for them?

How to Get Rid of Flea Beetles in the Organic Garden | Planet Natural

Many species of flea beetles are found throughout the U.S. They are small jumping insects commonly found in home gardens early in the growing season.

www.planetnatural.com

90º weather coming next week. I'll be putting the shade cloth up on the greenhouse Monday.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Very hot and humid today, but we worked outside for about 4 hours.

Here are a couple of pics of the new chickens. They are camera shy...and I don't blame them. They were packed into a metal trailer this morning in Lancaster, PA and transported to Sussex County, PA. Then, our 5 were put in cardboard boxes to make the trip to our place. They heads are probably spinning. It will take them a few days to acclimate to their new run/coop.



Today's tomato and cuke harvest.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I'll have to double check but I think that plant is a black beauty. The darkest flowers and leaves are on our ichiban. We've had bad flea beetle invasion in some years, but this one is not too bad so far. We'll see. They are usually more of an issue in spring with young plants. I have basil interplanted with them so maybe that is helping repel the little buggers? Have you tried yellow sticky traps for them?

How to Get Rid of Flea Beetles in the Organic Garden | Planet Natural

Many species of flea beetles are found throughout the U.S. They are small jumping insects commonly found in home gardens early in the growing season.

www.planetnatural.com

90º weather coming next week. I'll be putting the shade cloth up on the greenhouse Monday.

My Black Beauty is much lighter colored on the stems and flowers, but I’ve wondered if I don’t have some off-types in my seeds because I grew some pretty lavender eggplants last year from that pack. I’ve never seen such brilliant eggplant flowers as the ones in your pictures, but I haven’t seen too many different eggplant varieties either.



I’ve used yellow sticky traps in my garden before, but I tend to keep them more for my inside plants than my outside ones. I wasn’t thinking about flea beetles when I put my small transplants out, but they were sure thinking about those tender new leaves, and they feasted immediately and thoroughly. I don’t think the baby eggplant will be able to recover. The larger plants seem to handle the damage okay.

My amaranth is still growing well, but I had a couple more plants taken out by cutworms this morning. I put the cutoff tops in a little vase of water on my dining room table to see if they’ll perk back up or possibly even root. My mother has spent years pulling pigweed out of her garden, so she’s amused that I’m trying to grow this on purpose. At this point I’m really just trying to find something that will produce in this summer’s heat and drought, and this looks to be doing well so far.