Garden 2025

[dragnlaw]

taxy, Morning Glory was my first thought too, until she said...

and it has a bunch of little soon-to-be blossoms hanging onto the stem.

 

[taxlady]

taxy, Morning Glory was my first thought too, until she said...

I'm not sure how that rules out morning glory. I understood it to mean that she could be looking at the vine and that the soon to be flowers are close by on the vine.

 

[larry_stewart]

Things progressing nicely ( Most things anyway). Picked my first batch of scapes yesterday . Supposed to be a wet week. Hopefully the garlics make it through without any issues .

Broccoli starting to crown, cabbage heads firming up, baby peppers appearing (I think this one is a banana pepper) and even baby oranges ( last yearI only had 2 or 3, but they dropped. This year about a dozen ors. Hoping a few make it).

Replanted som cukes and kirby's. Hoping this second round does ok.

 

[larry_stewart]

Almost forgot to mention My currants are kicking in too!

 

[dragnlaw]

I'm constantly amazed at how much farther ahead you guys are with your growing.
My current bush took a bit of a beating from the chickens before I got a net up. I'm not sure the raspberries will survive. Obviously the leaves seem to taste as good as, if not better, than the berries - to chickens.

 

[Kathleen]

I am embarrassed to say that I believe I am responsible for killing my garlic and onions this year. (In prior years, I blame Mother Nature.) I went to salvage the garlic and found that the soil was very moist to about two to three inches down but was bone dry beyond that. Sad....but I have ordered slow soaker hoses and believe that will solve the problem. Time will tell. To test this, I have some onion bulbs that I planted to see how it goes. On the other hand, the wheatgrass that I am growing for kittens is thriving!

 

[pepperhead212]

I cut most of my scapes today - a few of the smaller plants I left on them. I got them packed into a 2 gal ziploc - just like last year.
Garlic scapes, harvested on 6-9, only a few skipped. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also got those last two Matrosik eggplants planted. I'll look tomorrow, to make sure that there are no problems with them, and I'll take those 3 extras over to my friend. Those Swiss chards are almost ready to put out, and that pea EP is growing fast, now that they are in the larger pots.
The late Matrosik eggplants, planted on 6-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Poamoho Dark Long eggplant, getting taller than the Ichibans, which were the largest. That smaller one is the Green UH long EP. 6-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I couldn't spray the Surround on everything today, since there is more rain in the forecast, so all I did with the tomatoes and cukes was train them up the trellises, and trim some of those suckers. A lot of the tomatoes have gotten fruits on them since I last looked, and that Marbled Mystery are the largest cherries, so far, and several more have the fruits starting - several Bronze Torches (but no Red Torches), Matt's Mystery, Juliet, and Sunsugar. Of the larger ones, the Superfantastik, Moldovan Green, and more of those Mountain Rouge, with that first one getting over 2". Amazing what happens when I don't look for 2 days!

 

[taxlady]

I am embarrassed to say that I believe I am responsible for killing my garlic and onions this year. (In prior years, I blame Mother Nature.) I went to salvage the garlic and found that the soil was very moist to about two to three inches down but was bone dry beyond that. Sad....but I have ordered slow soaker hoses and believe that will solve the problem. Time will tell. To test this, I have some onion bulbs that I planted to see how it goes. On the other hand, the wheatgrass that I am growing for kittens is thriving!

View attachment 74407View attachment 74408

But, do the kittens want to eat the wheat grass? I have tried growing various grasses that were supposed to appeal to cats, and mine have never wanted anything to do with them, even if they would eat other plants and/or lawn grass.

Have you thought about getting a probe that measures the moisture? I have a small one that I use for my indoor herbs and stuff. It wasn't very expensive.

 

[dragnlaw]

This is mine. Last year I'm afraid I was responsible for some failed crops. Whether or not it was the watering, not sure. But this year I dug out of the closet my probe (which, like taxy, I got for my indoor plants). Believe I got it on Amazon.
Circled shows the button from Moist, Light, pH. You shove the probe to about root level for a reading. That whole thing is about 10" long.

I find it particularly helpful for the hanging baskets as they are very susceptible to drying out, compared to an inground plant. But now I measure them too. I've been watering the new plantings every day, but older ones maybe every 3 days. The garlic now depending on the rain we get. Especially as I've finally seen a scape or two. I probably won't water them at all. There was a light rain yesterday, supposedly some light rain this afternoon.

 

[Kathleen]

But, do the kittens want to eat the wheat grass? I have tried growing various grasses that were supposed to appeal to cats, and mine have never wanted anything to do with them, even if they would eat other plants and/or lawn grass.

Have you thought about getting a probe that measures the moisture? I have a small one that I use for my indoor herbs and stuff. It wasn't very expensive.

They love the wheat grass and will chomp on it regularly. I need to wait for it to fill in more otherwise they will pull it out and scatter dirt everywhere. Once it starts to die off, they lose interest. They like it best when it is long, lush, and bright green. Recently, they have showed interest in catnip as well, so I put a pot of it in my herb planter.

I will get a moisture measuring tool. Also, I will mix more straw into the soil for next year so the soil cannot become compacted.

@dragnlaw I found one similar to yours and bought it. It should be here tomorrow.

 

[taxlady]

Recently, they have showed interest in catnip as well, so I put a pot of it in my herb planter.

I'm reminded of a story about my late husband's family cat when he was still living at home. They had a cat who was a "sissy". He was afraid of other cats and didn't want to go outside, if there were other cats in the yard. So, Mary, my late MIL, planted catnip. This cat was quite fond of catnip. But, then the neighbourhood cats discovered the catnip. The scaredy cat did not want to share his catnip with strangers. He kept an eye on the catnip from a window and wanted to go outside and defend it as soon as he saw other cats in his yard. No more Mr. Scaredy Cat, he was no longer a "sissy".

 

[Kathleen]

Sometimes, you gotta throw down to protect your crops.

 

[dragnlaw]

Thanks taxy - good chuckle!
Also reminded me I was adding some mint to a recipe (don't remember what) but come supper time I thought it tasted a bit different. My son-in-law recognized it right away and said I'd picked the catnip by mistake. We all started meowing right off!

 

[pepperhead212]

I saw a volunteer today, I hadn't noticed before, but I know it's been there a while, since I know it is slow, at first. I've also seen many tomatillos, tomatoes, and lettuce volunteer plants, but this surprised me:
A volunteer epazote plant, growing against the raised bed in the back, but the plants were growing out front last year! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

When everything was dry, and the shade was getting back there, I sprayed the Surround on my larger tomatoes, tomatillos, plus all the rest - cucumbers, squash, and eggplants. The cherry, and other smaller tomatoes (most of which are getting loaded with fruits) I sprayed with the H2O2 solution. Tomorrow I'll probably add the calcium nitrate to the tomato SIPs, to help prevent BER in those tomatoes. Early, I'll spray the front and side - the okra, peppers, and other things, when they'll be in the shade (that's in the sun, later in the day).

 

[larry_stewart]

A lot of times my volunteer dll does better than the intentionally planted . Im guessing the wind blows some seeds as Im sowing them and mother nature does the rest. I once had a carrot growing in a pebble path, yet none of the ones I intentionally planted germinated.

 

[pepperhead212]

I forgot about the dill! That's one that gets all over! I even have one in the pot of my bay laurel, which grew through the entire winter, and started flowering after I put it out in the spring. It's got a huge number of flowers on it, which I'm waiting to turn to seed. Recently, another plant popped up in the same pot. That has to be from last year's seeds, as those from this year aren't drying out yet.

 

[blissful]

SE Wisconsin: Our scapes aren't even ready to cut, maybe a week or two until that.
Our volunteers are tomatoes, mustard, lettuce, and parsley growing in the hay bale deterioration area, so we added some dirt and planted squash so it is outside the gardens. We tend to dump kitchen compost into that hay bale area in the fall.

The goose berry has green berries on it! Hinnonmaki Red Gooseberry Plants. We have two but the berries are not red yet.
Asparagus season for us has just ended. I put the last of the spears cut in 1 inch pieces into our stir fry (steamed). We also had extra seeds from a couple years ago so those got spread into all the areas of the asparagus in case they want to grow.
Harvested one mint plant/small bush, made some mint simple syrup to add to lemonade/strawberryade...whatever we are using to cool off after being in the heat.
I gave away a dozen cone flower plants because so many grew in the west flower area. We'd put in seeds for 'honeybee mix' and cone flowers were part of the package. They are beautiful when they bloom and they come back on their own every year.
We gave away a dozen basil transplants and she gave us a nice pot with yellow cosmos growing in it, cool! Then she bought some honey comb. Win win.

 

[Kathleen]

@taxlady So, I brought the wheatgrass in for the kittens just for you! Ygritte had her face buried in it for a bit. Mance chewed a few times, but he will wait for them to chomp it down more. I keep it moist and on the front porch in between maul-ings.

I thought I was done planting. However, when we placed the dwarf mulberry tree, I noticed my very empty wall. I knew I was not going to get another tree prior to the spring and had a lot of space. In my seed bin, I had some "Baby Bubba Okra" seed that were simply sitting. I also had some bush shelly beans that were starting to age out. Last of all, I went to find some cabbage plants, but found a sale on peppers and pickling cucumbers. For twenty dollars, I got 12 cucumbers and and 14 peppers. So...peppers went in with okra seed behind them and beans in the front. Cucumbers on a trellis along the side. The mulberry is in the center spot along the wall. It's not too late for the beans. The okra says 55 days for maturity...let's hope.

I also found some onion bulbs on sale so placed them where the garlic had been.

A trellis for pickling cucumbers.

Melons are starting to climb...and the winter squash is setting fruit.

The gardens in the front yard are chugging along. I have one strawberry that is starting to ripen.

I got the meter to measure moisture today.

 

[pepperhead212]

Before harvesting those greens, I did a lot of trimming of my tomatoes, removing those very low branches, as well as some of those suckers, and training those plants through the trellises - they are all taking off now, even those few that don't have any visible tomatoes yet, like Amish paste, they are growing wild. I also gave them all a "snack" of calcium nitrate, for the BER - not really near their ripening times, but that's a preventative started early, which usually works well.

 

[dragnlaw]

I've just spent 5 hours searching for Kaolin Clay (and/or Surround WP) None of which is available in quantities for the average gardener. I could however order it by the ton. Or buy a block of potters clay (4 lb) and dilute and hydrate myself. OR purchase some facial clay at fantastic prices to give the plants a beauty treatment. Helps to clear the skin and get rid of their blackheads. blech...
A bit frustrated right now.

(Written at 2 pm, posted at 7 pm)