Greetings from wet, cooler, southern New Hampshire!
I am getting a brief respite from outdoor, grunt work, thanks to the Creator! Household Six had her repeat cataract surgery and we are hoping for success, this time.
I am working on the area in the basement where the indoor gardening happens. I am running in rough plumbing and electrical upgrades to support a new counter top and sink with a lift pump to feed the sewer line to the septic tank. Once that is done and the counter and sink are plumbed in and working, I will turn my attention to the rest of the area.
Household Six is researching grow lights to replace the cobbled-together 4’ fixtures. What she doesn’t use elsewhere, will go to my shop expansion into the garage. We want her planting area in the basement to be more efficient, modular and convenient as we attempt to increase our garden towards self-sufficiency.
Speaking of the garden, with this rain, the garden is putting out some serious GREEN! Tomatoes are working their way up the cattle panel trellis. Beans are up and launching. Haven’t been out there in a couple of days, but so far, we have a garden.
With the water, the new raised beds are bulging, a bit. I might put a 2 by 4 along each long side at the bottom, with stakes into the ground to reinforce the walls. We will see.
What’s the best way to use coffee grounds in the garden?
I hit a mother lode of coffee grounds at the camp we’re at for the week.
This past week has been one toad strangler after another here in Central Missouri. 17.5” of rain over 11 days.
The sun came out yesterday, and the next few days are supposed to be dry, but it may be too late for my tomato plants. The majority of them went limp noodle on Thursday. Hopefully they’ll snap out of it, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Garlic is ready for harvest, but it’s too muddy for that. Turnip and rutabaga are near drowned. Peppers aren’t happy, but they’re hanging in there. Squash is thriving. Pole beans are a little on the yellow side but I think they’ll be ok. Cucumbers are looking good. Beets are loving it.
All of the grandkids will be here this weekend. Neighbor guy is throwing a big fish fry this evening. I donated a nice sack of catfish nuggets for that deal.
I got the grass mowed yesterday, so I think I’ll just relax and enjoy the festivities. Chores can wait.
[[and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. ]]
So if I ask a question I’m not dum?
It finally quit raining in mid-Missouri.
Local farmers market was busy.
One lady had four or five varieties of tomatoes, all red and ready for sliding.
We have a couple hundred tomatoes on the vine. All green...
I've got apples exploding:
My pineapple lily fully in bloom (with another offshoot coming up strong):
Beautiful canna lilies that love heat:
Cylamen that hate heat - and are usually done blooming by now:
Figs coming on strong:
And finally:
Happy 4th, everyone. And Happy Gardening!
Blooming lovely! Firefighter who spent four years transforming his tiny concrete patio into a tropical oasis for his wife is named B&Q Gardener of the Year
Gary McLaughlan, 44, from Sunderland, spent four years transforming his tiny patio into green oasis
Garden measures just 4.5 x 3.5m but features vertical irrigated plant walls and an ornamental fishpond
Has been named the first ever B&Q Gardener of the Year and awarded £10,000 in prize money
The firefighter revealed he was ‘new to gardening’ but wanted to create a space for his wife Lindsay
[many lovely garden pictures]
Mowing this evening & spotted a huge groundhog between the barn and tractor shed. I think it had just come out from under the barn and as I turned the mower, it spooked and ran for the shed. A couple of minutes later, I saw it on the other side of the tractor shed, running flat out for the barn. It was out in the grass at that point & boy, those suckers can really run!
By the time I finished on the mower, it was late & I didn’t feel like setting the big live trap. I’ll do that tomorrow - baiting it with apples off our old apple tree and a cucumber from the garden (I have more than enough cukes - could bait 10 traps). I’ll cut them up so the smell will waft in the air & maybe I’ll get lucky. I’ve not had good luck live trapping groundhogs before - only caught one young one years ago. While trying to catch ground hogs, I have caught a crow and a baby bunny (crow & bunny released with no harm done although the crow was pretty upset). If this big one finds my garden ....well, I don’t want to think about it.
Bookmark
