Posted on 06/17/2017 5:29:37 AM PDT by greeneyes
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Quite a weekend road trip. We had 4 days of rain last week, so didn’t get much done on the garden. Have been out this AM doing a little puttering around. Still have a few very small spaces to fill in.
I’ll have to tell hubby about the soap thing. It’s worth a try for the blueberries and strawberries since the squirrels were able to get under the netting and deprive us of most of those.
I have seen pictures of gizmos that are used to encourage more angle between the branches, but am not familiar with doing it. I’d check out some of the catalogs such as Stark Brothers to see if there is something to order that is ready made that comes with instructions.
Once you have it, you might be able to rig up something yourself that would suffice from materials you have around.
Or you could check several University Extension Office in you area, web pages for what you are looking for.
Now that means that we all want you to share your recipe. LOL Please?
Hubby is growing squash in flower pots this year. We have something in soil that kills them, so he bought some soil and is trying the bucket thing.
Yes, and they increasingly don’t want us to be able to own property or afford our own transportation. There are some that would like us to all be renters of small apartments in mega-cities - so called sustainable living. Ugh.
My idea of sustainable living is own my land, grow my food, no property taxes which basically interferes with ownership, since they can take it away if you don’t pay those taxes.
Really nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the rain came in just the right amounts daily, so that you never had to water the garden? LOL
Yes, I can’t believe that something so simple worked so well. I did a test, and the Romaine that had soap around it wasn’t touched while romaine in another area was eaten.
I hung some around three fruit trees that had outgrown their netting. And the only thing that was eaten was some branches that snuck through the netting in the ones I didn’t have soap on!
I didn’t read anything about squirrels though. With the deer and said the strong scent interfered with them being able to smell predators. So they didn’t want to be around it. But it works for the bunnies, maybe for the same reason. So squirrels should be similar.
It did say the soap needs to be 3 feet apart. That the sent doesn’t waft much farther than that. So far I’ve used about 20 bars! It’s still probably cheaper than anything else. My husband went out there last night after a rain storm and said that the whole garden reeked, LOL!
Good idea On checking out the extension. I thought instead of putting something in between the branches I would try instead tying twine around the branches and then anchoring it to something in the ground. The trees are small enough that that shouldn’t interfere with mowing since we have probably a 5 foot circle around each tree Without grass. Seems like that way the branches might get damaged less. I was worried about rubbing.
Small apartments In mega-cities – that sounds an awful lot like most of Europe. By design of course! Luckily the United States has a lot of land. But unfortunately most people are living in cities. Well, that’s their choice! Like you said, I want to be self-sufficient and I can’t do that in a city. We quit jobs early and moved across country just for that reason. It was a huge financial gamble, but we are super happy :-)
Sign me up for that rain on demand application...
All of my empty spaces automagically get filled with weeds.
I’ll be happy to share, with the caveat that 1) I’m a rank amateur at pickling and 2) I have been known to triple the amount of garlic in a recipe and *still* have my family gripe that it’s not garlicky enough.
This is an approximation for two pounds of squash, so adjust accordingly.
Soak your squash in cold water for 2-3 hours (this is optional but makes for a crispier texture). Take out your icy cold squash, trim it, and slice it into thin rounds, then pile it into pint jars until just short of the fill line. Dump 1-2 teaspoons of minced garlic on top of the squash.
Take 2.5 cups of white vinegar, 1.25 cups of water, one-third cup of sugar, and four teaspoons of salt, mix them together, and bring them to a boil. While waiting for the vinegar to boil (run a fan! Wear goggles! Get an enemy to stir the vinegar for you!), mix two teaspoons of mustard seeds, two teaspoons of dill seeds, and one teaspoon of dried dill leaves. Toss in a quarter teaspoon of saffron if you have it; it mellows things out beautifully. (I’m considering pink peppercorns for the next iteration, because saffron costs insane amounts.) Divide this equally on your jars of sliced squash.
When your vinegar boils, ladle it into the jars until your squash is all covered. Seal your jars and can in a water bath for 10 minutes. When the jars are cool, shake them to get the spice evenly distributed and let them sit for at least a week. I’m still fine-tuning, but the first batch was pretty tasty.
Besides, I was DUMB and lucky/unlucky because I planted three yellow squash on the assumption that one or two would die. They didn’t. I am oversquashed and it’s only June...
Yeah, I am at continual war with squash borers. This is why CHICKENS are next on my gardening wish list.
My eyes are watering clear out here in Benderville...
What type of container (if any) did you plant the chard in?
It’s a 21 inch high pot flower pot with an 18 inch surface. Containers on the ground need to be that high to keep the rabbits out. I have four plants sharing the space with some lettuce.
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