[greeneyes]

Greetings from Missouri. We have cloudy weather today, temperature is about 73 degrees, very humid, and it feels like rain is on the way.

I bought some herbs at Walmart, and I am expanding one of my raised beds just a little to accommodate them. The passion flowers are blooming and smelling nice.

We have a few bush beans that I need to cook tonight or tomorrow. So far the onions are looking better than last year, so we may get a decent crop.

I bought one of those stoneware individual pots with a lid a while back and have really been enjoying making a quick French onion soup in it. Takes about 4 minutes to make and tastes really great.

Hope you are all doing well. Have a great weekend. Prayers up for all. God Bless.

[greeneyes]

Pinging the list.

[CGASMIA68]

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/soil-helps-depression

[Maudeen]

Japanese beetles are here. . .I had hoped they would skip a summer. What natural remedy does anyone recommend. I have used DE on non-flowering (yet) plants but I don’t want to kill the bees.

[Ellendra]

My garden isn't producing as well as it usually does. Mostly the result of neglect, I've been so busy with the chickens and with trying to earn some extra money, that I haven't been weeding as much as I should. There have also been several delays with getting my field tilled up. The tractor is working, but the days I have off work, it's almost always raining!

The way things are going, I'm just hoping to get it tilled in time for the fall-planted crops.

I may be picking up a new hobby soon. I found a book on at-home wine making. Normally that wouldn't be of interest, I've never liked the taste of wine, it always tasted like mold. But, twice this spring I tasted wines that I actually liked. No moldy flavor at all! I'm determined to figure out how to replicate that. And if I get my berry bushes all planted like I want to, I'm going to have plenty of ingredients :)

Just for fun, here's a pic of the chickies playing:

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A blurry picture of our Supper Salad (I made 2 on 8" plates) this evening with kale, lettuces and zucchini from the garden. Leftover roast chicken (No one we knew!) chopped HB eggs and avocado & croutons. I am doing a 'Garden Produce Challenge' with some of my girlfriends and we're seeing how many days out of the year we can eat directly from our garden or eat something we've preserved/frozen ourselves. Bonus Points for ANYTHING 'local' that you've purchased thrown in there, too! Since I have a freezer full of meat (venison, bear, wild hog, fish just caught in Canada-Eh! and 30# of ground beef & one more roast from our steer) I am also seeing what I can use up from the freezer every day, too. Thanks to Pollard for the photo-sizing info. *HUGS*

[tubebender]

I was so proud of my 2 !/2 quarts of Blueberries and then someone says they picked 15 gallons of them...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A squirrel or two got into our raised bed tomatoes, despite having a raised frame around the bed and bird netting (wish I could post pix.)

We had some spare netting and built an “overhead” wrap of net and this seems to have put a stop to the raids.

Jalapenos and other peppers are doing great.
We had a snack of stuffed jalapenos last week.

Life is good.

[tubebender]

This plus This = This…

[left that other site]

Mostly herbs still...with some flowers that will turn into tomatoes and cukes. I LOVE fresh veggies!

[Excellence]

What the cold and wind didn’t kill the heat is determined to finish off. We’ve had highs of 108* F, and some leaves are burnt. On the other hand, the spinach seeds I planted two weeks ago are coming up right on schedule.

[CottonBall]

Yum, French onion soup… It’s going to be cool here the next few days, well, cool for us in the low 70s. So maybe I should make some…

My garden is being pelted with rain as I type. I love not having to go out and water but the amount of rain we’re getting is ridiculous. Every time I check on the garden the weeds have grown by double.

[Augie]

Lovely weather we’re having this week in Central Missouri. We’ve gotten a bit of rainfall and the temps have been rather pleasant for this time of the year.

The japanese beetles started to appear about ten days ago and I’ve had to spray seven on my orchard trees and set out the traps. Several of my plum trees had already been hit pretty hard by the time I noticed, but I put some hurt on the bugs and managed to knock the first wave down quite well.

Nephew came over yesterday evening and helped me pull dripline on the pumpkin rows. I’ll get the taps installed on the mainline later today and replant the skips. The rains came at a good time and I got a good stand but there are a dozen or so hills where nothing came up. I expect the birds dug the seeds up before they sprouted.

Spent a couple hours pulling weeds in the kitchen garden this morning. I’ve got a spot cleaned up and ready for Mrs. Augie’s russian pickle cucumbers. I just need to put the fence up and stick some seeds in the ground.

My tomato plants are doing well. Most of them are waist high and have apple-sized green tomatoes. The garlic tops are starting to die back so it won’t be long before that’s ready to dig. Spuds are all blooming. The blue lake pole beans have made it about ten feet up the arbor and are branching like crazy.

I harvested the last of the sugar snap peas and pulled the vines a couple days ago. I’m going to come behind those with kentucky wonder pole beans and some other variety of pole bean that Nephew is wanting to try out.

Busy, busy, busy...

[Wneighbor]

God Bless you all, I am recovering well from back surgery last month. At my daughter’s house in north Alabama for the past 12 days. Got held here a few extra days due to tropical storm this week. Dug up some lovely strong scented lemon balm-gone-wild here to take home with me.

My over-wintered pepper plants back home in Texas have provided a bumper crop thanks to frequent rains. I’m going back home Tuesday. Guess my first garden project of the year (aside from directing hubby in carrying over-wintered pots outside) is to plant this luscious lemon balm. My back (and hips, knees and legs) feel much better. Thank you all for prayers when I asked.

Oddly enough I have also got tomatoes to put out. I put seeds down in a corner of my sunroom before I went topsy-turvy over a hay bale. I hardly believe those little seedlings made it thru all this time in seed starting mix with a little water when I was able and a couple good doses of compost tea lately.

[Augie]

I’ve been hard at it all weekend and now I’m out of gas.

Skips in the pumpkin patch have been reseeded. Skips in the watermelon and cantelope have been reseeded. Sweet corn didn’t make a stand worth squat, so I tilled it up and replanted the whole thing.

Still need to reseed the skips in the cukes and butternut squash but I’ve had all the sun and fun I want for today so that will have to wait.

I’ve got three slabs of baby back ribs in the smoker for supper tonight and now I’m going to hit the shower and then relax for the rest of the day.

[trisham]

That sounds heavenly. Here in Massachusetts, we finally planted our tomatoes in the big raised planter.

This pic is actually from 5/29/14. Last summer and this summer we haven't been able to plant until the end of June or early July. We have a nice crop of cilantro in a raised planter on the back deck, along with a few lettuces, all volunteers. My new little irises and azalea are doing well in pots on the deck. I hope to plant them next weekend. It's been so hot here, but still with many cool nights. We have corn plants in the front yard. I'll have to get a picture soon. Thanks for the thread, greeneyes!