Thanks to Augie for posting last week's thread. My laptop got knocked off a table and cracked the battery pack, so it will no longer hold a charge. The free wifi at the hotel was difficult to access, and the available computers would not allow me to do much on FR either.
So my home computer is now having issues. The windows updated, and ever since then, I keep getting messages about running out of disk space, and the cursor pointer keeps freezing up. Have been researching how to free up disk space - these darn new programs are way more stuff than I need - I hate updates, and having to waste time figuring out new stuff to do what I used to do quickly.
Anyway the weather in MO. has been Hot. THE HEAT IS ON!!! We did have a little rain this week, but garden needed some additional watering. Swimming pool is full, so we should be okay. I got some additional lettuce and green stuff planted in a somewhat shady location for summer salads later on.
Volunteer tomato has some flowers, and the volunteer summer squash is doing great, but now covers the walkway. Hubby is using pavers to expand the patio outside the greenhouse door. The patio furniture from Springfield will go there. I have rearranged some things in the greenhouse too.
Paid most of the mortgage, home equity, and charge card balances off-left an amount about equal to one monthly payment which will hit automatically next month as the last payment. Avoids the hassle with getting final payoff amount. I got the air conditioner fixed this past week.
I am now shopping for a better used car, and reading up on solar and wind power in Mo. and sun room design. We want to build a back porch style sunroom with plenty of double paned windows, skylights, insulation, wood stove, and attic style fan as a place to congregate in the winter and also grow many more veggies in the winter. Life is very good!!!
We closed on the Springfield house sale on Friday, and got everything loaded into a 15 ft uhaul truck and suv on Friday afternoon/evening. Took off from Springfield on Saturday Morning, and unloaded Saturday afternoon.
The Garage is now stuffed full of furniture and boxes. I have worked all week on "spring" cleaning - better name might be purge and reorganize. Some of the furniture was stuff that my daughter requested, and she is also redoing stuff in order to move the stuff in.
Prayers up for all. Have a great father's day weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Update on my everlasting war with this squirrel.
I swear he’s sentient. He knows I hate him. He finds it funny.
Shaved my head. Spread the hair around the tomato plants.
Peed in a thing all day. Watered the shrubs around the plants with it.
Got grease pencils from walmart...now applying camo.
She won’t let me kill it, so I have 2 nerf bats with noisemakers at the end.
Imma hide in the cactus till he shows.
(The last few lines may be exaggerated)
*BUMP* for late morning coffee...after I finish cleaning dog kennels and watering the garden & porch pots at the crack of dawn before it gets too bloody HOT!
Heat advisories all weekend. Blech! But - great Tomato & Pepper growing weather, for sure.
Always look on the bright side of life! :)
Sorry about your tech issues. Those stink.
Rest up from your move! Sounds tiring. You need a jacuzzi :)
I ordered 100 assorted sweet potato slips from Sand Hill Preservation, they were having a half price sale. Ended up getting TWO hundred. That was the first order. Before I got the first order I decided I wanted another hundred so I ordered another hundred. Got those in yesterday. Looks to be at LEAST 150 slips in the second order. I will end up with somewhere between 350 and 400 slips.
Anyone want any sweet potatoes?
Sale is still on BTW. Sandhillpreservation.com I think. Have had super luck with Glenn’s stuff in the past.
Been picking blueberries, 22 gallons so far. Dehydrating them to use in oatmeal, muffins, pancakes, granola, etc. Also got a couple 5 gal buckets of apples (Anna) from a neighbor. Will probably pick more of those tomorrow. Dehydrating apple dices all week. Still have at least 15 gal. of blueberries left on the bushes.
Had some family medical drama early in spring so bailed on spring garden, i’m planning (and planting) accordingly to have a fall garden.
Anyone know anything about snake gourds? Mine bloom but never seem to set any females :(
FINALLY, my gardens are planted. Already the losses - no carrots, broccoli, spinach - are piling up. Had to buy way more plants than I expected - lettuce, pickles and eggplant. Lots more in window boxes than planned, especially radishes.
Had a beautiful eggplant started and a squirrel grabbed it (despite cayenne pepper), took a bite of each end and threw it into the back yard.
Something new this year - burrowing creatures. See the holes, but haven’t seen critters yet. Ideas? I’m in Delaware. I suspect ground squirrels.
Weather is nice with cool mornings until 10 AM, 80’s in midday and then cool evenings after 6 PM. Not much rain so the water bill will be up. BTW, what watering method do you use? I use a sprinkler and try to simulate a rain shower.
Plantings done...now starts the war on parslane.
If'n I lose, at least it's edible. So I hear.
I just moved as well. I transplanted some garlic from the other place first. I just the other day got around to a tomato plant and some oregano.
I can completely relate with the computer issues in paragraph three! The lyrics from “You took a fine time to leave me, Lucille!” keep going through my head when that happens. lol The heat and humidity have killed most of the pansies. Can hardly wait for fall to come so I can plant new ones. The lettuce is dying out, also because of heat and humidity. Keep looking at those tomatoes, getting bigger and bigger. Can hardly wait for them to ripen. The caladiums are sprouting nicely and I’ll use them to fill in the bare spots where the pansies were.
Excellent modeling of being a good steward with the provisions from God - thanks!
Put in another box garden and moved the strawberry patch to a sunnier location.
Tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, cukes, carrots, beets, radishes, kale, and lettuces are all in.
Discovered a lot of volunteer potatoes and onions in the partial shade garden top of the hill - yah, freebies!
Raspberries are just about ready to pick, and finally found a good location for our rhubarb - great crop this year.
Thank you again for toiling away at the gardening threads - we pray for your health and a bountiful harvest, greeneyes.
As noted, we have a huge problem with fruit rats (cute small rats, but are still rats), that eat tomatoes, corn and most anything else that they can find in the middle of the night to munch on.
Typically they choose tomatoes that are just about ripe, but occasionally just bite a green one, probably for spite.
I’ve used powdered Cayenne (one pound shake jars/Amazon) in the past but you have to refresh it after watering and it’s tough to get it onto the plant leaves and fruit. I suspect that if the critters try to walk through it and lick their paws, it gets a bit toasty for them, but not if they jump onto the plant from a higher platform which they have been known to do.
So, the search was for something else as a deterrent and I discovered Mint or Peppermint Extract from Walmart or any food store. Just pour a small amount into a spray bottle, add water and spray all over the plant, pot dirt and surrounding area. Much easier than sprinkling powdered Cayenne.
Rather than being a deterrent, it confuses the critter’s internal smell programs (ISP’s) and doesn’t smell like anything that registers as something good to chew on.
I spray in the morning, afternoon (mainly for the squirrels) and then in the late evening. So far, on my Campari tomatoes, no signs of our fruit rats. I’ll check in with further results. The Campari’s are just turning red.
I also spray our 28 cup vertical hydroponic “Tower Garden” to protect the Strawberries.
(I’ve even put out a Trail Cam (“AimTom” brand/Amazon) to record the varmints, just in case).
Now to the Campari tomato seeds and where I got them…
I squished a few overripe Campari’s, put the seeds pods into a fine screen colander ran water over the mass, picked out the non-seed parts, added some dish detergent, swished the goop/seeds around for a while with my fingers, then washed all the goop off the now separated seeds.
I mention this because the common method of harvesting tomato seeds is to put the mass into a jar, add water, let it sit for a couple days to ferment (yuck) and then drain away the stinky stuff. A colander, dish detergent and water is much more appetizing.
Some won’t germinate but they are free.
I do this same exact seed harvesting with Cantaloupes and various melons. Very easy to do and did the same with the tiny seeds from overly soft Blackberries. Small screen colander, dish detergent and water. Simple…
Bob/Bradenton
Well you have been busy!! That is a lot of work. Sorry about the computer. I have had many experiences that have taught me that if it’s old - just get a new one. Garden is growing well and I have pictures to post hopefully this weekend. We have been busy too. A lot of it getting ready for house guests in 16 days who will be here for 3 weeks. We seem to be ahead of the game except for the garden which needs weed pulling. Was going to hit it this morning but it is raining. We’ve been eating lettuce, green onions, radishes, broccoli first head, asparagus is done. Beans almost flowering. It will be awhile on tomatoes. I keep telling myself it’s only mid June. Happy gardening everyone!
Moving is exciting, but a LOT of work - sounds like you’ve got the worst of it done!
SQUASH BUGS - how much do I hate them? Let me count the ways ....
These darn bugs are pretty much the worst thing to hit my garden & my SIL’s, who is next door. They ruin the squash plants in no time flat & really reduce the yield. I was looking on the internet for solutions and found an article which initially gave me great hope - using duct tape to pull off the eggs & young hatchlings (look sort of like spiders which grosses me out!). I tried the duct tape one evening, but the eggs often get laid in the “V” formed by the leaf veins & it is very hard to get the eggs out.
Article link: https://www.reformationacres.com/2012/07/how-to-kill-squash-bugs-squash-bug-eggs-and-nymphs.html
The article also mentioned that for killing adults, biodegradable dish detergent smothers them quickly. I got some detergent & since I could see no adults, I got a paintbrush & smeared a slightly diluted mixture on any eggs I could find. Wonder of wonders, the eggs did not hatch!! The only downside is the leaf turns white where the detergent is brushed, so that’s not so great. I need to use something smaller & get just the eggs - tried a Q-tip this morning, but the leaf is rough enough that the cotton on the end doesn’t last. I’m going to the store later & will get small sponge brushes, used for painting small areas - that should work. I did find some juvenile squash bugs & sprayed them with a watered-down detergent mix (had to thin it enough to spray) and from their reaction, they are not ‘happy campers’ and hopefully will be dead campers soon. The squash plants are looking really good right now and producing well and I’d like to keep them that way.
My “pepper patch” is producing well - Big Berthas, Poblanos, Jalapenos & Hot Hungarian Wax Peppers. I planted Burpless cukes this year for the first time and like them a lot - the vine is full of babies & I’ve already harvested about 6 larger ones. The tomatoes are blooming so that’s good - initially, they were just putting on lots of green foliage (heavily fertilized the beds this spring).
Squirrels .... we have quite a few this year as opposed to years past (we thinned out the population about 3 years ago). So far, they’re not in the garden, but I’m sure they’ll be in it at some point. We’ll have to do some more “thinning” when that starts to happen. Our resident hawks, who greatly help with squirrel control & intimidation (the squirrels are afraid to cross the open field to the garden) evidently nested somewhere else this year - I hear them at times when out walking so I know they’re around, just not patrolling my garden area.
Crows - aside from “Hoppy”, the crow with only one good leg, the murder of crows that hangs around our place haven’t been around much .... until the last week or so. They always know when there are “goodies” in the garden. My fencing will have to go up soon .... the downside is that a lot of the zip ties holding the netting to the pvc frame have finally succumbed to the weather, gotten brittle and broken so I’ll have to do some panel repairs.
Made my first batch(es) of basil pesto Thursday. Cut all the plants back and ended up with 6 batches (two packed cups of leaves per batch). Pulling pesto out of the freezer in the winter is like having a little ray of summer sunshine visit for a brief while - love the stuff.
So far, it’s been a good garden season, even if we got a late start due to lingering cold nights - plenty of rain since May was an all time record with 10 inches plus.
My succulent garden is doing well. I keep breaking leaves off and starting new plants with them. They then get plugged into bare spots. I’m considering a passionflower vine for a sunny spot.
Try resetting to a pre-update Restore Point; then go into >Control Panel< >Windows Updates< and set it for either OFF or Ask First. In any case, do NOT allow automatic updates.
Since I did that, I’ve not been nagged, nor had my system messed up by Macroshaft.
The heat is on for sure here in Central Missouri. It has been absolutely miserable outside for the past few days.
But thanks to the miracle of irrigation my garden is rocking. It’s looking like I’ll have tomatoes for BLTs by the 4th of July. The okra that I seeded last weekend is up. Transplanted basils are very happy. Cukes are vining like crazy and starting to blossom. Garlic is ready to come out. Cabbages and peppers both doing very well.
Pumpkins, squash and sweetcorn are all peeking out of the ground in the market garden. I’ve got a few skips to replant, but that won’t take long.