Saturday Gardening Thread: July is heating up [KT]

Bluebell sent in the adorable bird babies above:

I mentioned on the blog a couple of weeks ago (can't remember if it was on the garden thread or not) that I had a bird's nest in one of my hanging baskets, and it had eggs in it. Well, the eggs hostaed, and now I have babies!
They are house wrens, and there are five of them. I tried to get a picture of the mama bird, but I had to do it from inside poking my phone out the window, and it was much too dark. So here's a photo of the basket (the middle part where there are no flowers is where the nest is), and then one of the baby birds. My son climbed up on the railing to get that one for me!

Hanging basket photo below.

Usually we have house finches in our baskets, and I hope the wrens are a little neater in their, ah, toilet habits than the finches are, although I doubt they will be. I hope I get to see them fledge. In the meantime I enjoy the mama's beautiful songs and the babies' little cries as Mama draws near with the food.
Thank you for doing the garden thread and the thread above each week - I always looks forward to it for many reasons, but one of them is that it always has the most beautiful pictures on the whole blog!

Thanks, Bluebell. Most of those beautiful pictures come from members of The Horde like you.

More Wildlife

Golfman sees some wildlife in the landscape from time to time:

Rode by this deer early in the morning. At first, I just saw the tail end and thought the coyotes had got them one. Backed up and checked and there xe sat. Never flinched. They are somewhat used to maintenance traffic early in the mornings. I was probably 20 feet away.

The Edible Garden

Sometimes, you just don't want deer in your garden. MarkY sent in one solution, plus a couple of other garden photos:

Hey there!
Love the thread, and thank you for doing it.
I've threatened to show our redneck deer-proof fencing. Here 'tis.
T-posts that drive in the ground to where 4' shows (for us, in this soil, that means 5'). 2 X 4 inch x 4' mesh cheap wire fencing on the bottom, attached to stakes with either zip ties or baling wire. Then, 1/2" conduit, cut into 4' sections with a sawzall, and skinned with 4' chicken wire. We attached the conduit with baling wire and good pliers, the fencing wire with zip ties for speed. Net 7' or so. Adequate to discourage deer.
The ribbons are needed to show the deer there is something there. I'ts surprising how that wire can disappear in low light.
The first two years we used deer netting on the top, but with sun degradation and one incursion by raccoons, we opted for a bit more permanency.
240' perimeter. Maybe 2 (4) hour sessions to install.

It's hot here, (Kansas City) and has been since early May, with very little reprieve. We had no spring. Went from freezing temps to 90's, so few cool season crops this year. Kale knows no weather.
We keep an aisle down the middle (tar paper... did I mention redneck?). And I'll spot spray glysophate early mornings when needed... but mostly we pull weeds. The straw helps.
The zukes and cukes are being picked every other day (or thrown out for being baseball bats). Peppers are doing good (Hungarian wax, jalapenos for pickling, and sweets, plus poblanos). Maters won't ripen til the evenings cool. Beans are about to explode, and we just picked our first okra... which means we better get out there every 2-3 days. Our squash of various tribes are ripening.
Tomatillos are just about ready for green sauce.
We did plant a row of corn, but that's only for the grandkids. Corn seems to be a coon magnet, and we don't need coons in that garden. Plus, with fresh picked sweetcorn $3/dozen not 20 minutes away, it's hard to get excited about taking away good garden space for it.

The garden shed. When we bought this property, it had 4 enormous wooden electrical poles on it left over from when the local util built major transmission lines 1/2 mile north. I had them sawn into 3/4" slabs, and used them for exterior siding on my outbuildings. They looked 100 years old the day they were built, and being treated with creosote, will last that long, too. The half moon for was grins. We ran a water line into the area, and placed the shed over it, just to keep the local chillen's from turning on the water and leaving.
Again, thanks for the thread. I enjoy seeing the challenges and crops from around the country.

Sometimes persistence pays off

Le Garde Vieux writes:

This bird of paradise flower has been cultivated and kept alive mostly by prayer for 18 years by my neighbor here in northern Alabama. It FINALLY bloomed.

Eighteen years, one flower. This Bird of Paradis is the official city flower of Los Angeles, and it is not winter hardy in climates much beyond the winter temperatures of Los Angeles, where it blooms more in winter than in summer (after June Gloom). Where adapted, it is tough. But in Northern Alabama, I imagine it takes some special attention. Recovers slowly from frost damage.

You can grow it as a big houseplant in Wisconsin, though. If you MUST have a touch of the tropics from a non-tropical plant.

Anybody want to identify the red-flowered vining companion to the Bird of Paradise in the photo? From the leaves?

Garden Photography

It's been a while since we checked in with Don in Kansas. He has a post up on the name game.

Belamcanda chinensis. Or is it Iris domestica? Or Pardanthus chinensis? Or Morea chinensis? Or Ixia chinensis, Gemmingia chinensis, Vanilla domestica or Epidendrum domesticum? Taxonomists have too much time on their hands.

Be sure to check out the link at the end of the post for additional photos from Don's trip to the botanical garden. You can embiggen them or even open them in a new window for a full size view. Lots of beauty there in Kansas. And you might want to visit Don's main page for posts on unboxing mail order orchids, on little cacti and orchids and on another visit to the botanical garden.

Roses

We haven't had an over-abundance of rose photos this year. The Invisible Hand sends us an old rose photo from San Clemente:

Our backyard, when we bought this home, at 85 rose bushes. My far better half didn't like them. I fought to save this one plant. A 37+ yr old heirloom white rose bush.

The "trunk" is tres impressive, eh?

Why, yes it is. Not sure which cultivar this is. Any guesses?

Gardens of The Horde

Denver sent in a couple of photos of a familiar scenario, entitled, My Moron Tomatoes.

I have lived in my home (near Denver) for about 17 years, and have grown tomatoes for most of them. Early on, I had great beginner's luck, yield too great for me alone to eat, even growing one plant that reached almost to the roof line of the house (I had to rig up quite the cage to keep it aloft).
Attached are a couple of pictures of my non-thriving tomato plants, with leaves that are curled and deformed. I don't know what the cause is. An expert at a local nursery told me it could be herbicide residue, or summer heat. I did spray the lawn for weeds sometime back, but don't remember if I had those tomatoes planted at the time. If did, I would have protected them from the spray. I am probably going to pluck them out and try again next year because they don't appear to want to come out of it.

I see some leaf curling . . .
Later he sent this note:

By the way, I pulled them the other day. They were obviously not going to come back.

We've all been there, Denver. Gardening is real life. But you've done it before. Hope things work out better next year. Planting anything for fall?

Here in the San Joaquin Valley, we are in our Monsoon Season, which generally does not mean rain - just 100 plus degrees with humidity. Toads have commandeered one of the Garden Kitties' water bowls as a swimming pool at night.

Anything going on in your garden?

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you just want to be a lurker.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:52 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 first to eat tha wee birdies?

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 12:53 PM (5IHGB)

2 KT, were any of the recent Cali fires near you?

Posted by: HH at July 14, 2018 12:54 PM (mIJBI)

3 first to eat tha wee birdies? and the doe on a rotisserie.......

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 12:55 PM (5IHGB)

4 first to eat tha wee birdies? and the doe on a rotisserie.......

oh and some of the assorted orgasmic veggies too mate.

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 12:58 PM (5IHGB)

5 I used to have blue finches come around when I had my bird feeder up alas the grackles and blackbirds ran them off and stripped the feeder. so I took it down.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at July 14, 2018 12:58 PM (mpXpK)

6 No fires hear us so far, HH. Maybe some road brush fires near the highways. Some of the other Western States are hard-hit already, too.

Posted by: KTbarthedoor at July 14, 2018 12:59 PM (BVQ+1)

7 The Rooskies were trying to flip MD to Trump. And Rooskies are so good at chess. This does not make sense

Posted by: REDACTED at July 14, 2018 01:00 PM (TdS5t)

8 Geez it lonely here in the garden off Yemen......oh here comes a naked lady wif an APPLE phone.....all is forgiven...

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 01:01 PM (5IHGB)

9 MarkY's garden does look sorta redneck. I like it.

Posted by: KTbarthedoor at July 14, 2018 01:03 PM (BVQ+1)

10 You want to see something exhausting? Watch house wrens feeding their young and hauling out the trash. Nonstop hustling in the heat of July. That's work!

Posted by: gp at July 14, 2018 01:03 PM (mk9aG)

11 Anyone here have any experience using lime on your lawn? I have some patches in the yard, and I have read that sometimes soil pH can cause this problem. I used to use Tru-Green for yard treatment before I retired. I decided I could do just as bad a job myself and it wouldn't cost as much.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at July 14, 2018 01:03 PM (9BLnV)

12 Anonymous White Male at July 14, 2018 01:03 PM

Do you think the pH in your lawn is too low? Is that characteristic of the area where you live?

Posted by: KTbarthedoor at July 14, 2018 01:06 PM (BVQ+1)

13 "There's a wren in the willow wood,
Flies so high and he sings so good"

One of my favorite Kenny Loggins songs just came to mind reading about Bluebell's wren babies!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at July 14, 2018 01:06 PM (5tSKk)

14 7 The Rooskies were trying to flip MD to Trump. And Rooskies are so good at chess. This does not make sense
Posted by: REDACTED at July 14, 2018 01:00 PM (TdS5t)

Can't you wait for chess thread ? No sense of decorum ?

Posted by: BSG at July 14, 2018 01:11 PM (TdS5t)

15 You want to see something exhausting? Watch house wrens feeding their young and hauling out the trash. Nonstop hustling in the heat of July. That's work!
Posted by: gp at July 14, 2018 01:03 PM (mk9aG)
--------

I've been watching her. She goes in and out of that nest all day.

I've named the babies: Ace, Trace, Mace, Lace, and Vase. Just to be a little different.

Posted by: bluebell at July 14, 2018 01:16 PM (JJZzu)

16 I like the wildlife trend in the gardening threads.

The people I grew up around the internet with were fishing people. There's always a tension between how much you share and how much you keep to yourself, because Googans will ruin things but you want some people on your side.

A fair handful have graduated from fishing to wildlife photography. The dynamics seem to be exactly the same.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 14, 2018 01:18 PM (fuK7c)

17 Do you think the pH in your lawn is too low? Is that characteristic of the area where you live?
Posted by: KTbarthedoor at July 14, 2018 01:06 PM (BVQ+1)

Well, its more that Tru-Green and other sources recommend treating your lawn with lime every couple of years, and I know it hasn't been done in a couple of years. My neighbor had it done during the spring.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at July 14, 2018 01:19 PM (9BLnV)

18 Time to put out the fertilizer/bug stuff all in one shot.

Spread then water it in.

Property is hitting it's summertime stride and resembles the Burmese jungle right about now.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 14, 2018 01:30 PM (EoRCO)

19 So far this year, one tomato, two cucumbers and a few radishes. Not what I'd consider a huge success.

Posted by: Ronster at July 14, 2018 01:32 PM (NZ1jb)

20 My pH is too low but my Hp is saucy enuf..Lawn a mercy ize needs a roll inna hay and a four iron into the green for a birdie;...why do birds have worms...is it that Belgium diet thingy from years ago? Gardens R for Gnomes and big fountains and Chateaux an stuff....others use them to batter critters in their ponds..scum the lot of them..mow the man lot of them down and build parking lots for the unemployed Gov wallahs..build the swamp and they will come jerkily but assuredly.

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 01:36 PM (5IHGB)

21 The red flower vine looks like Cypress vine or Star Glory. Relative to Morning Glory. Supposed to be an annual, but self-seeding and can be quite invasive. It has red, yellow and white flowers and attracts bees and hummingbirds. Mine can grow 10 feet in one season. Planted it once several years ago and have been fighting it ever since.

Posted by: mary powell at July 14, 2018 01:39 PM (Tfj0x)

22 It's never really occured to me to take pictures of mule deer in my backyard, primarily because around here they are regarded as pests, like racoons. Their appetite for flowers has destroyed many a garden, and they can leap over most average height fences.

Pretty, but very annoying.

Posted by: Rusty Nail at July 14, 2018 01:39 PM (SN4NF)

23 I grew a potato plant from a chunk of sprouted purple sweet potato and gave it to an office-mate to grow in her garden. Hopefully I will get a few taters later on.

And that is the extent of my gardening (apartment dweller).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 14, 2018 01:42 PM (gUCYC)

24 Bluebell is really Snow White, isn't she?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at July 14, 2018 01:44 PM (hMwEB)

25 New critter in yard. JTB noticed a large groundhog waddling by the garden fence just before sunset.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB at July 14, 2018 01:48 PM (V+03K)

26 One of the Global Arborvitae I planted for my Mother 15 years ago is mostly brown this year. I trimmed it way back is there any hope or should I just pull it?

Posted by: X-ray at July 14, 2018 01:51 PM (2YOIh)

27 Hi Eris, Last year I had a decent tater crop from planting the organic taters I had not gotten eaten before they sprouted and got wrinkly. So I bought a bag this winter and planted some again. The plants are good sized and some have flowered. So hopefully I will get a few taters.

I buy the red taters but last year a third or so of the taters I dug were white/tan skinned. Still tasted fine. That is the sum of my veggie garden this year. I was going to plant a couple zucchinis but I was too lazy to haul out the tiller to work up a spot for them. We had some flowers (I don't know their name) in May/June but they have dried up and I don't know if the hollyhocks are going to bloom this year.

Posted by: PaleRider, simply irredeemable at July 14, 2018 01:53 PM (r4KP2)

28 I have a bird box right outside one of my kitchen windows and every year, a sparrow family uses it. This year was no exception. But after this years babies had fledged and the parents flew the coop, one has remained. His (?) coloring isn't quite right and his feathers don't look like I think they should. He hangs around the box and chirps (cries) incessantly. For hours and hours, every day. He has the sads.

He seems to fly okay but something isn't quite right with him. I call him *Ed* - short for special ed. I worry he will come to a bad end. I know, Darwin and all, but still.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2018 01:56 PM (9rIkM)

29 PaleRider, my gardening friend had limited success with all her other veggies but her potato crop was epic. So my fingers are crossed! Purple sweet potatoes are my favorite tuber.

Maryland summers are horrible. You end up with a few $35 dollar peppers.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 14, 2018 01:57 PM (gUCYC)

30 Nice deer defenses ... I tried the cheap plastic deer fence on the top layer in a couple spots, so far so good but the part in the sun may not last more than a couple years. Raccoons get in regardless here, but I could tighten it up and maybe stop more of them.

The first fawns were over a month ago, but saw two right in front of the house yesterday, with mom worried from a little further away. Five cardinal babies got eaten a few nights ago, I got revenge on the coon the next day, as the battle against the cute little terrorists continues.

5-10 ripe tomatoes a day now ... the chickens like the blemished ones just fine. Late frost got all the nectarines, and most peaches. Japanese beetles damaged most of the remaining peaches ... I bagged more than a garbage can of the beetles from the traps, sprayed Sevin a couple times so trees are not damaged at least.

About 36 Frontenac grapevines are producing pretty well and grapes turning purple. Need to net them and let them hang till really sweet, to avoid the malolactic fermentation they do with this grape up north. It was designed in Minnesota (survives -30F), and their shorter season usually leaves the juice too acidic.

Or maybe I get lazy and let the birds eat them ... it's so hot. Intervals for work outside get shorter, shirts still get soaked. It's all good.

Posted by: illiniwek at July 14, 2018 02:03 PM (bT8Z4)

31 I haven't grown tomatoes in years. They just started getting worse and worse. Anyway, do garden stores ever sell late season tomatoes this late in the year? And if so can I grow them in a pot? I know, I know, I sound like a rube.

Posted by: Max Power at July 14, 2018 02:10 PM (q177U)

32 Bluebell is really Snow White, isn't she?

Posted by: votermom

By day, anyway.

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:14 PM (mEBHl)

33 Purple sweet potatoes are my favorite tuber.

Do they taste grapey ?

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:15 PM (mEBHl)

34 Heh. When we moved to Mississippi some years back I saw an article in our weekly newspaper-- in late May-- from the Ag Extension agent: TIME TO START TOMATO SEEDS. WTF? Time to start seeds is January. And then I realized these were FALL tomatoes. SO here everyone (but me) rips them out in mid-July and replants new plants. I can sometimes harvest tomatoes into November.

Posted by: Marica at July 14, 2018 02:16 PM (9HV5Z)

35 From Idaho's Treasure Valley (Boise area, for those of you that may be new): It's high summer here. We're having highs in the upper 90's, and lows in the high 60's. You betcha I get up early on harvesting days, so I don't get roasted.

No sooner had I typed last week, "I'm keeping an eye out for the first green beans", than I went out next morning and there they were. I'm using a 2-gallon bucket to carry the harvest around, as I work. So far, I haven't filled it past halfway, on the 28 feet of row I'm harvesting from - but there are 36 feet of row that aren't producing yet, so as soon as the last-planted rows get going, the bucket will be fuller. We'll have to start processing and freezing them soon, unless we want to eat them for 2 meals a day!

I check the squash leaves on my 2 zucchini (producing fruit) and 1 butternut squash (showing tiny future fruits now), every other day, and squish the squash bugs and their eggs. The second butternut squash has died of unknown causes. - Does anyone know why squash bugs smell like *oranges* when you squish them??

The spring peas are all done. I've been cutting down the shelling pea vines first, throwing some in the compost each week and covering them with lawn clippings and leaves. The Asian pod peas are still producing one or two each day, so I'll cut them down last.

My compost heap, by the way, the one covered with tomato plants whose photo has appeared in this Illustrious Thread? - those plants are still doing quite well, and even flowering, so I may just get some tomatoes out of it! There's also a cantaloupe vine growing at the base of the pile.

I have 2 Roma tomatoes in raised beds, 2 Nyagous and 2 Big Boy in the ground - they all have fruit, but none have ripened. I had 7 basil seeds sprout, and those plants are shooting up nicely, so hopefully I'll have lots of basil ready when it's time to can our homemade tomato sauce.

My Hoosier husband is in charge of the corn - we've already spotted some ears on the earliest-planted rows.

The cucumbers appear to want to grow along the ground, rather than up their trellis - annoying.

I planted a fall carrot crop, but germination rate was very low.

The red raspberries had a good spring crop, but they're tapering off. Now they take a break, and we wait for their fall crop. We'll steam-juice some of the squishy, seedy ones, and freeze the juice for later use. We did just use the last batch of juice in our home-brew raspberry wheat beer. We put juice into the secondary, as we did with previous batches, but we're trying a new experiment. Half the batch was bottled with priming sugar added, and half was bottled with juice added. We'll wait a month to do our taste test comparison.

We went to a nearby you-pick blueberry farm for the second time this year, and got 7 more pounds, which will probably all get frozen. Given how poorly our baby blueberry bushes have fared, we're starting to consider whether devoting two 4x8 foot beds to those 8 little bushes... is a waste of time, space, and money (if we have to buy new bushes every year).

Bleepin' goat-heads! I spent some time walking a pattern through the paddock/garden area, and found more of them. I thought they were only growing out by the irrigation canal at the back of the property. Now I have to make sure I search at least once a week, so they don't get a chance to seed out.

We have some Yukon Gold potatoes growing in cloth bags, and some of those plus some random Purple Majesty (found them in a box in the garage) stuck in a raised bed. The latter has all dead leaves, so I guess I can harvest whatever they may have produced, any time now.

Posted by: Pat* at July 14, 2018 02:17 PM (2pX/F)

36 too late for planting tomatoes Max, imo. Maybe you could get a big one on sale someplace, but the magic is having them spend a couple months getting huge, then they start to produce big time in full sun and long days.

They could grow in a pot, move them inside later, give them some extra light and have tomatoes in winter? You location matters. Spices grown in a pot are popular, easier. (though mysterious things can happen, even to basil)

Posted by: illiniwek at July 14, 2018 02:17 PM (bT8Z4)

37 And that is the extent of my gardening (apartment dweller).

Posted by: All Hail Eris,

Do you have a terrace ?

You could do like Oliver Wendell Douglas !

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:17 PM (mEBHl)

38 The curled leaf tomatoes might have been done in by herbicide residue.

Apparently there's an herbicide called "grazon" which is used for grazing fields and (maybe) hay that's used for animal feed. From what I've read, it's persistent even after being put through a cow or horse. So if you fertilized those tomatoes with steer manure, or hay bales, that might be what did them in.

http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/dealing-with-grazon-contamination/

Posted by: Razell at July 14, 2018 02:20 PM (D2LEY)

39 Baby birds are really cute when they have no beaks and those Al Jolson lips. I rescued a bay sparrow years ago when he was that age. Fed him hamburger and then dog food with toothpicks, shoving it down his throat because he had not learned to swallow yet.

Had Ferdinand (Ferd the Bird) for over three years, he would go out and hang with the other birds during the day but always came back home at night.

One of my best pets, with lots of personality, considering he only seemed to have a dozen or so brain cells.

Posted by: West at July 14, 2018 02:25 PM (v9gSJ)

40 That white 'rose' bush/tree could be a Mockorange because I remember them as very woody and fragrant. Orange blossoms probably mock orange.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 14, 2018 02:25 PM (MIKMs)

41 I love the baby birds in the planter!! Thanks bluebell, that is a great pic. Thanks to your son forgetting the shot!

We have gutter birds that protect my garden from squirrels and birds they don't deem worthy. I watched one little bird peck the heck out of a squirrel that tried to eat my blackberries.

That'll do, bird. That'll do.

Posted by: moki at July 14, 2018 02:27 PM (V+V48)

42 33 Purple sweet potatoes are my favorite tuber.

Do they taste grapey ?
Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:15 PM (mEBHl)
---
Nope, just like regular sweet potaters.

Do you have a terrace ?

You could do like Oliver Wendell Douglas !
Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:17 PM (mEBHl)
----
No, alas! No wheat on the terrace. Nor do I have a basement for, uh, grow-lights.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 14, 2018 02:33 PM (gUCYC)

43 Thanks KT for the great post. Harvested some sweet cherry tomatoes this week as well as a Lebanese cucumber.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB at July 14, 2018 02:35 PM (V+03K)

44 Harvested some sweet cherry tomatoes this week as well as a Lebanese cucumber.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB

Did it have a big nose ?

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:37 PM (mEBHl)

45 Thanks iliniwek. We just paved over most of the garden (LOL) Gotta start thinking outside the box for next year.

Posted by: Max Power at July 14, 2018 02:38 PM (q177U)

46 I'm hungry.

I could have a ham sandwich.

If I had some ham.

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:50 PM (mEBHl)

47 The heat is upon us in Central WA. 99 yesterday, but a dry heat. No really, 21% humidity. Aside from the blooming sweet peas, yucca and some day lily, all I have are weeds and tobacco. Mock oranges are gone which is sad because I just love sticking my nose in the blossoms.
No real garden because the soil is a fine layer of dust over gravel over basalt.

Posted by: Winston at July 14, 2018 02:53 PM (wgCUV)

48 Hope I didn't drown my tomato plant that I have on my balcony. It was slightly cooler today and I watered it this morning. Then it started to cloud up with the threat of rain. So I moved it out where it could get some more water.

And then the storm hit. Man did it pour and pour. Enough so with the lightning and rain blowing sideways that I didn't want to go outside to move it.

Oh well, I figure unless the river sises over it you can't drown a tomato plant.

Posted by: HH at July 14, 2018 02:53 PM (mIJBI)

49 Late to party was out weed wsckjng.
Something ate into #3&4 ripe tomatoes I left on the plants, a rodent no doubt. Cucumbers are coming along slowly and had a serving of wax beans this week. Peppers are growing but green.
Really need rain, been watering from rain barrel, no rain forecasted until Tuesday then only a possible TShower

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 02:54 PM (pHfeF)

50 Something ate into #3&4 ripe tomatoes I left on the plants, a rodent no doubt.

Squirrels have been known to do that.

One year I planted mini watermelons and squirrels took ONE bite out of each one.

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:57 PM (mEBHl)

51 I am sure field mice and 1 chipmunk as well as grey squirrels live in my yard. Worse part lots of green tomatoes but no more turning red.

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 03:00 PM (pHfeF)

52 And being the slacker I am this morning finally got the pile of last year's leaves into the compost bin.

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 03:04 PM (pHfeF)

53 Worse part lots of green tomatoes but no more turning red.

Its still early in the season.

If we get any cool nights in a row, they'll start reddening.

Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 03:04 PM (mEBHl)

54 Awesome Redneck garden, MarkY. Coons may like the sweetcorn, but I can assure you that the deer love it too. I live on a deer path and they think mine is a all you can eat buffet. Surprisingly, you can get a spray to outline the garden boundaries that will keep the deer out. It's something creatively titled like "Deer be gone" or some such.

What surprised me is how much Possums like tomatoes...or maybe it's just the ones up here. They actually fight over them. You can hear the clicking and spitting late at night and you know another battle over a tomato is commencing.

Posted by: Orson at July 14, 2018 03:08 PM (wAUEU)

55 Gardening right now.

Canning some beets. Three rows ... 20' each. We didn't thin them "quite" enough - so they came in a little small. But they still look good.

Somewhere ... Dana Loesch sniffs the air.

Composting the greens and other stuff left over. I'll add the compost, turn the area, and cover over with mulch.

Never had good luck with a cover crop here.

Posted by: ScoggDog at July 14, 2018 03:11 PM (fiGNd)

56 Maryland summers are horrible. You end up with a few $35 dollar peppers.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 14, 2018 01:57 PM (gUCYC)

Sounds about right.

To the pH issue: unless some non-native soil has been introduced to your yard, a decline in pH would be across your entire yard.

I would lean more toward an insect problem.

What kind of grass?

Posted by: Golfman at July 14, 2018 03:13 PM (38N3p)

57 Well, late to the party cause I took a nap. Was out in the garden harvesting, tying up maters and pulling weeds.
We threw about an inch of water on the garden this morning when done, and just got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in a thunderboomer! We brought it on...
We've had 95+ heat and so have been plucking any tomatoes that as much as blush. They won't ripen in heat, so we bring them in, and in 2-3 days, are ripe.
Wife is pickling tomatoes and peppers. We're giving zukes and cukes to anybody that dares show up. We grew slicing cukes and pickling cukes both this year.
Orson, I didn't know possums like tomatoes. I'm not going to give them a chance!
Also, tomatoes are an "indicator" plant for herbicides. Even volatilization will curl leaves. Redbuds are like that, too... they should both grow out of it.

Posted by: MarkY at July 14, 2018 03:16 PM (Vigjq)

58 There are these little ( 1/4") hopping bugs black with with spots all over. My sister showed a download from Pennsylvania State that they are a very bad pest from China. Saw 1 on my cucumber and my sister had a bush plant that had 10s of thousands.
Kill them, kill them all

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 03:21 PM (pHfeF)

59 JT, No big nose on the Lebanese cuke. We received the seeds from a friend from the middle east. We had no idea what the cuke would look or taste like.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB at July 14, 2018 03:22 PM (V+03K)

60 46 I'm hungry.

I could have a ham sandwich.

If I had some ham.
Posted by: JT at July 14, 2018 02:50 PM (mEBHl)

Got plenty, c'mon over

Posted by: Robert Mueller at July 14, 2018 03:23 PM (TdS5t)

61 Pat, I had to look up goat head. Is it prostrate?

Posted by: MarkY at July 14, 2018 03:23 PM (Vigjq)

62 Just finished giving my 10 acres of trees and shrubs a ice drink of water. Welded up a new watering rig this spring. 3 inch pump, 2 300 gallon tanks, all on it's own trailer. It pumps out 4 hoses at 60 psi and takes about 7 minutes to fill. I pull it with my honda foreman. The river is at the front of my property.

Posted by: REDACTED at July 14, 2018 03:31 PM (TdS5t)

63 REDACTED,
That's over 5,000 pounds! Must be flat ground, or that Honda Foreman is a beast.

Posted by: MarkY at July 14, 2018 03:34 PM (Vigjq)

64 Skip, are you talking about Japanese beetles? They've become citified here this year. Used to be only the bean farmers worried about them.

Posted by: MarkY at July 14, 2018 03:35 PM (Vigjq)

65 Front Range Colorado, here. Some sort of blight on potatoes, tomatoes and, possibly, some eggplant. Not much yield, this year. Usually it shows up end of August. Cukes producing, raised bed onions and peppers doing well. Strawberries did ok (3rd year), raspberries are pathetic - not freezing a lot, this year. Peach trees actually set fruit. The birds are so surprised they are pecking each green peach.

Posted by: stonecutter at July 14, 2018 03:48 PM (Bfr22)

66 No, I have to look them up, but speaking of Japanese Beetles I usually have them but haven't seen any. Tent caterpillars also but nothing this year yet.

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 04:00 PM (pHfeF)

67 tomatoes are nutrient black holes: if you are planting them in the same location every year, the soil is likely worn out.

you can either amend the hello out of it, which means lots of digging and mixing every year, or you can try what i cave up and did:

went to Home Despot, and found a couple of really big plastic pots. if you can, see if there are any with cracks, etc, and ask for a discount.

brought them home, dug a hole a little deeper than the pot, laid down some gravel for drainage, and put the pot in, with the rim just above ground level. back fill exterior, and fill pot with bagged planting mix.

plant 'maters, etc...

at the end of the season, or next spring, empty used soil and scatter around the yard as needed. refill with new soil, plant 'maters, etc.

lather, rinse, repeat cycle.

Posted by: redc1c4 at July 14, 2018 04:26 PM (KEX6Y)

68 63 REDACTED,
That's over 5,000 pounds! Must be flat ground, or that Honda Foreman is a beast.
Posted by: MarkY at July 14, 2018 03:34 PM (Vigjq)

It does it quite easily. The trailer is super balanced, so the tongue weight is at a minimum.

Posted by: REDACTED at July 14, 2018 05:02 PM (TdS5t)

69 Posted by: redc1c4 at July 14, 2018 04:26 PM (KEX6Y)

--------------

Great idea, I'll remember that!

Posted by: blake - used comment salesman at July 14, 2018 05:09 PM (WEBkv)

70 Out shooting an IDPA match, so I get to be willowed on the gardening thread. Oh well.

Great job again. Like the pictures, bluebell.

Posted by: blake - used comment salesman at July 14, 2018 05:10 PM (WEBkv)

71 I love the straightforward, earnest look on the face of Golfman's deer.

Posted by: KTbarthedoor at July 14, 2018 05:26 PM (BVQ+1)

72 Pat, you had a mystery tree photo a few weeks ago. A "do nothing" tree.

My guess: some variant of aspen, hybrid poplar, black cottonwood, balsam poplar.

That's not a cop-out. They hybridize like nothing else, range from Alaska to Mexico to Maine. The aspens (Populus tremuloides and P. grandidentata) and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) belong to the same genus as cottonwoods.

They aggressively propogate by root sprouts, and play a crucial role in wildlife food supply and land reclaimation (mining, burns, etc). Male and female flowers of black cottonwood are borne on separate trees and appear before or just as the leaves emerge.

So, possibly some hybrid aspen/cottonwood, perhaps a quaking aspen - black cottonwood combo?

www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/
plants/tree/poptre/all.html

www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/
usda/amwood/231cotto.pdf

Posted by: Silvics at July 14, 2018 05:42 PM (AhHxo)

73 blake: you can give us an update on the gub thread tomorrow

Posted by: redc1c4 at July 14, 2018 05:42 PM (8zGKp)

74 seems most of the "gardeners" R fapping in the shade..time to FER Der LIZA. Bloomin shame.

Posted by: saf at July 14, 2018 06:14 PM (5IHGB)

75 Agree on the tomatoes suffering from Grazon damage. You cannot trust hay, straw or manure any more. I had one of my beds contaminated last year. I dug it all out and replaced with new soil.

That is just a lot of sweat. Get it into your trees or other ornamental, and you're really screwed.

Posted by: Gordon Scott at July 14, 2018 06:42 PM (MHHyI)

76 Haven't yet had trouble with my compost mix in my garden with any plants.

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2018 06:53 PM (pHfeF)

77 DENVER: Ive been there too. I also find that there are many varieties that i can't grow anywhere. I've never had a Big Beef, Beefmaster, BHN, or Bonnie Best produce a healthy plant. Celebrity and Better Boy have proven most productive and disease tolerant for me.

Posted by: Cumberland Astro at July 14, 2018 08:20 PM (d9Cw3)

78 Ya, Skip, that's what I'm doing too, compost. I had a really great supplier of horse barn sweepings. They bagged it up, come take all you want, tell your friends. Stuff was like golden fertilizer (though the neighbors would close their windows when I applied it!).

But last year, it started on one end of the bed, and then eventually the roots from the other side found the bad spot, and everything was stunted. I still got tomatoes, but they were very small.

I have so many leaves that fall in my yard that there's no reason to use anything else. I run them through the shredder and that gets them well along to compostness. Worms do the rest.

Posted by: Gordon at July 14, 2018 10:50 PM (ONABR)

79 61 MarkY, this is Goatheads:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris
Yes, they're prostrate. Nasty things - Caltrop family.

Posted by: Pat* at July 14, 2018 11:56 PM (2pX/F)

80 My late Grandperents once had a Bird build its nest in a Virginia Creeper on the front poarch of their home on our towns Main Street

Posted by: Spurwing Plover at July 15, 2018 02:01 AM (FLiOE)

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