What did you do in the garden today?

[frustratedearthmother]

What a great idea - and the plants look great too!

 

[lcertuche]

@Hinotori nice! I picked a couple of Hungarian peppers yesterday and I saw some little bells growing. Also the beans are blooming. Tomatoes are getting ripe on the volunteer plant. I need to dig what little potatoes I have but it keeps raining. If I don't mulch the garden soon the weeds are going to be better than the plants.

 

[Joel_BC]

Hoed & hand weeded in the potato & corn patches. Watered the north end of our larger garden. I'll probably do another strawberry pick this evening... hoping somehow to evade mosquitoes!

A largish raccoon has been spotted in the afternoon, just over our western fence. I've set the trap for him/her.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Picked and ate some peas, weeded part of the main garden. Thinned some carrots, that my chickens had so graciously reorganized for me. My pole beans got huge in the past few days. It's great!

My spinach, which I planted early, didn't do a thing. Started growing and then got weird looking and stopped growing. I've never grown spinach before, does it require some magical touch I evidently don't have? Lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We've still got peppers coming on...and a few tomatoes are still hanging around ripening. Eggplants are blooming all over the place. I'm waiting on the potato vines to start shriveling up and I'll see what they produced in their tubs. It was mostly an experiment and since we don't eat a lot of potatoes it's ok if they didn't do great. Squash and zucchini aren't producing anymore. Don't know if I should rip 'em out or see if they'll start back up if it ever cools off. Eh.... might pull some and leave some.

 

[Mini Horses]

Lovely plants Hinotori

X2 I'm doing potatoes in bags...similar to your barrow. LOL Whatever happens, happens. Would be nice to work out. It is an experiment this year.


We've had off & on showers last few days. Today overcast in AM, sun after 12-1, clouded up about 5 & rained 8m. Late day showers, nice amounts, not excessive. My pole limas are growing so well, starting to climb. Volunteer tomato & winter squash vines are suddenly spurting up, lovely plants. Cool enough for the bees to pollinate and plants set fruits. YAH!!

I pushed a few onion sets into the ground in the tomato run. Whatever grows is good. LOL. Cuke plants taking off now. Iffy at first. 3 eggplant plants survived the chicken attack to my seedling bed a few weeks ago. Now appear they will survive and grow. Nice, I love eggplant parm. Late but, our season will have enough time to mature a few.

Got about 6 large, flat cardboard pieces from some packing at a work job today. Brought home for garden -- about 4X6 each. Will put those out there in next day or two.

Ever notice how MUCH faster the plants grow with rain instead of sprinklers? It is amazing.

 

[Beekissed]

Ever notice how MUCH faster the plants grow with rain instead of sprinklers? It is amazing.

There's a reason for that!

Nitrogen in Rainwater
A 2004 study of the chemical composition of rainwater at 48 sites in 31 states found nitrates in nearly all the samples, although there was a high degree of variation in both time and space. Several studies in the 1990s showed that locations along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico could expect to get 18 pounds of ammonium and nitrates per acre per year from rainwater. That's about a tenth of typical nitrogen requirements for growing crops.

Because rainwater contains nitrogen in forms that plants can absorb, and plants need nitrogen to grow, farmers have noticed that rainwater stimulates more plant growth than water from other sources.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'd say MY area has a lot of it in the rain! Couple that with rotted, wet manure (manure tea?) and poof. These rascals are growing like they are on steroids. Grass, too.

 

[Joel_BC]

My spinach, which I planted early, didn't do a thing. Started growing and then got weird looking and stopped growing. I've never grown spinach before, does it require some magical touch I evidently don't have? Lol

Gee, without knowing at all what your conditions at your place have been this year... my first suspicion would be a shift into warmer temperature and sunnier skies. Spinach is a cool-weather loving plant. Not cold-weather, mind you. But our experience has been that in the warmer part of our growing season it does poorly unless it's been planted in a semi-shady coolish spot.

It will sometimes survive in the beds of our unheated greenhouse over winter. If it does, it may look a bit shabby in the spring, but it starts putting out new leaves. But we plant fresh spinach in the spring and expect to harvest it before the air and soil temps get too warm.

 

[NH Homesteader]

It's in a semi shady spot but our weather has been weird. Temperatures all over the place and a LOT of rain.