Exciting times here this week. Hubby killed a copperhead last night. Of course, the big slobber bucket had to sniff all over where it was blown to bits. I'm expecting one to find me in the garden the way I've been pulling weeds. It's ridiculous how fast they grow. Every year same thing. They grow faster than the vegetable seeds do so they shade them out and all I have to show are weeds. You've seen those paintings of women out in the fields with bushels of wheat in their arms, that's me with weeds. Every morning, bushels and bushels. Still no end in sight. Of course, I'm accidentally pulling up volunteer tomatoes with the weeds so am sticking them in the ground wherever and it's up to them to recover. The little green tomatoes from last week are still green so hoping they'll ripen when the nephews get here next weekend.
I found some poison ivy a couple days ago so had hubby dig it up. I'm greatly surprised I'm not all broken out but now that I've said it, I'll probably get into some tomorrow. Crossing fingers and knocking wood.
The garlic is drying and needs to be braided.
Had some little bitty corn from the garden for supper last night. Tasted like candy, yum! I sampled the two blackberries the birds left me and can't wait until they've matured next year. They're sending out branches and rooting themselves so all’s good. I need to maintain the fence they're supposed to grow on because every fence here is destined to have a multitude of invasive vines growing on them. No matter the mowing or chopping or Round-Up or pulling, there WILL be vines. I don't think the berries will be able to eventually take over so don't know how that battle will turn out.
Will be picking the first cuke in a couple days. I ran out of fungicide and need to get some more for the cukes. They normally don't get the ick on their leaves until the end of summer so don't know what's going on.
Something ate through the mustard greens. Something happened to the cilantro overnight. It's like it decided life just wasn't worth living and poof! But the ginger is popping up nicely. And the cabbage looks like it's thinking of heading.
I have a mystery plant, too. Found it in the asparagus this morning. It has little miniature pepper looking fruit on it though I've never planted anything like that. A neighbor a few streets over has some ornamental peppers so maybe a bird was sharing. Will have to investigate but it's probably all kinds of poisonous. I've told y'all about the cardinals who wait for me to turn on the garden sprinkler, well this morning there were about 10 dove waiting to play in the water, too.
Ooh, mama kitty is still has an attitude. If it weren't for the kittens I wouldn't feed her. Though I think it's mainly because she's skin and bones from feeding her babies. The kittens are walking around now, though not straying from the corner she has them in. One's back legs aren't operating well but maybe he needs a couple more days to catch up to his sibling so here's hoping that's all it is. They're coming to me so I'm picking them up despite mama's growls and hisses. When I was in the garden this morning, two neighborhood dogs, soaking wet from the river, came by to say hello. Then I noticed one was leaving the garage. Yikes, he'd been in there drinking mama kitty's water (which she never drinks)! Wet paw prints to the water bowl and back out so I don't think he realized the cats were right there. Our monsters still don't have a clue but I'm going to have to introduce the kittens to them soon because the smaller one kills any creature that comes into the yard. Can't have that. Sweet as anything but it's HER yard. A simple introduction and she's fine. Plus having cats around will help with the snakes.
Hello bgill . . . could your mystery peppers be chile petins?
We have a feral momma cat that roams the neighborhood. She has kittens just about every spring, but lately she has been really good at hiding them.
I see her carrying a squirrel up the hill at the back yard fence where the vacant lot has plenty of bushes and stuff, so I guess she has them out there some where.
Yes. Veggie Oil.
What I found helps tremendously with weed control is landscape fabric.
Sam’s club sells it pretty cheap.
I cut it into strips as wide as the distance I want the rows to be apart and lay it down as I’m planting. That way the landscape fabric is almost touching the plants, leaving just a narrow strip that would allow weeds to grow and it makes my rows nice and straight.
When I put my tomato cages in, I puncture through the landscape fabric to do double duty and hold it down.
Then I spread a thin layer of straw over the top.
I get several years out of the landscape fabric when it’s covered.
It cuts out 90% of my veggie garden weeding.