What did you do in the garden today?

I have to replant zucchini. I have more yellow squash plants than id need for the entire neighborhood and then some because theyre all doing great. Tomatoes and hot peppers are doing well. Sweet and bell peppers, not so much. Zucchini all died, and potatoes all rotted. But okra is growing well. I ate our first blackberry, and a few blueberries. 1 apple tree has beautiful big green apples, and the figs and Asian pears are growing well.

CrealCritter said:

Finally got a big section of my summer garden tilled yesterday evening. I called the troops to help plant/sow seeds this evening

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Finally, good weather!! Nice that you have help you can call upon. You grow huge amounts -- do the kids share in the garden?

I remember coming home from both grandmas with fresh in season and jars of canned in winter. Sure helped out with the meager pay my dad got from the Navy. Back then his entire monthly income was less than most get for "housing allowance" now days. A garden was a good and necessary thing. But he was gone on ships a lot and mom & I in a rental. When he had a home based assignment, & they had bought a house, he would grow some things.

I would love help. It's always more "fun" to work with another helping....to share time, talk and excitement with.
And I like to share the bounty! Feels good and makes you proud of the accomplishments. DD & DgD eat far too few veggies. DS eats them but not real happy with growing then. Both helped out when young -- probably because I "encouraged" them but, not fights or long work days. DGD not interested in hot & sweaty.

It is a lot of work, admittedly. Sure tastes good!

Pulled weeds, and mulched my first cucumber patch. The straw is good, and starting to compost. We had a rain shower last night, and it helped with the dryness. Hopefully, we can get more rain today.

I'm going to try and procure some livestock panels to trellis cucumbers on. I want something accessible to use. I have used pallets and old wire in years past. I'm ready for something more heavy duty that will last a while.

I also have blueberries to pick tonight!!

@BarredBuff you're ahead of us on the berries. I think I've picked 5 so far. We have a lot more berries growing this year, but they're not ready for picking yet. And we've had 4 blackberries so far. Some of my berry bushes got hit by late frosts are are completely bare.

This is one of my crook neck summer squash. You can literally set back and watch it grow. I have four plants in two hills, and two zucchini plants.



Yesterday's strawberry freezer jam. That is the third and fourth batch, and finishes up the berry crop for this year. This batch was super good!



So, I got a pretty good deal on these panels. However, the panels should have been placed and then cucumbers planted. I could've planted them more closely and planted a lot more plants. (These were actually planted before I came home) This year is my relearning year! They will trellis up them some, but not the most efficiently this year. However, these will work out well for sugar snap peas this fall too. (And yes, those are zip ties!)

BarredBuff said:

(And yes, those are zip ties!)

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LOL - my whole place is put together with zip ties!!

frustratedearthmother said:

LOL - my whole place is put together with zip ties!!

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Are you really a homesteader if you don't use zip ties?

I spent yesterday and some of today weeding the lawn area, around the garden etc. Planted some more dwarf sunflowers, cucumbers (finally!) and more tomatoes.

It's raining! We haven't had a good rainfall for over a week and the grass was worrying me a bit. I'm relying on rain to keep them wet and growing.

We've been getting good rains here too.

Today I've been picking up free compost from the county and spreading it over the area that will be my new pollinator garden. Yesterday i hauled DL from the coop and spread it over the old hay already there. Today, I've already picked up and unloaded 2 loads of tbis wonderful (free) compost, and will be leaving soon for a third load if the rain holds off. It started raining lightly just as I finished the last load. I'm hoping I'll finish with a good layer of compost before the next wave of rain moves in.

BarredBuff said:

View attachment 7662

This is one of my crook neck summer squash. You can literally set back and watch it grow. I have four plants in two hills, and two zucchini plants.

View attachment 7663

Yesterday's strawberry freezer jam. That is the third and fourth batch, and finishes up the berry crop for this year. This batch was super good!

View attachment 7664

So, I got a pretty good deal on these panels. However, the panels should have been placed and then cucumbers planted. I could've planted them more closely and planted a lot more plants. (These were actually planted before I came home) This year is my relearning year! They will trellis up them some, but not the most efficiently this year. However, these will work out well for sugar snap peas this fall too. (And yes, those are zip ties!)

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BB, your garden looks GOOD, especially those onions! Wish mine looked like that.

BarredBuff said:

Are you really a homesteader if you don't use zip ties?

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Not nowadays, but with one exception...you still use baling twine on everything.