Weekly Garden Thread - June 11-17, 2022 [The History of the Scarecrow Edition]

June 11, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[bgill]

This is the first year deer have camped out in the yard and wanting inside.

Thinking of setting effigies of Pelosi and the View cast on the porch.

[FamiliarFace]

I’ve used both of those in the past but completely forgot to apply it to the cart this year. There are still green nubs left so I’m hoping that’s enough to keep the plants alive until they can form new blossoms.

[left that other site]

Now, if it only had a brain!

[goodnesswins]

Yes...have pondered that type of watery grave...and air gun...we aren’t up to it yet. I have found cayenne to, so far, be a deterrent. But, we have had mucho rain washing it away. We do not really have any edibles yet, however they seem to eat a lot of weed tops. The battles are likely just beginning.

[GaltAdonis]

Coastal central New Jersey - 6/11/22:

Most of my tomato plants are in (outdoor 5 gallon pots), and caged.
I just need to transplant & cage 8 more tomato 'seedlings'.
They're over a foot tall now - so out they go.
(Roma plum & Early Girl. I need to go buy a few more cages.)

Most of the pepper seedlings are also transplanted outside.
10 more need to go out. (Red/Yellow Bell & Marconi)

Simpson, red leaf & green leaf lettuce are growing in flats outside.
I grow lettuces in moveable flats - so they can be rescued from the deer,
groundhogs, rabbits - or whatever other critters - if need be.

I have started basil and zucchini for a second time -
the nighttime cold & wind killed both the first time.
That was weeks ago - I moved them outside way too early.

And, while rummaging around in all of my gardening stuff -
I found a packet of spinach seeds leftover from last year.
Maybe if I plant them, they will grow. (LOL!)
So baby spinach salad will be on the way - with any luck.

And that is about all I am going to attempt to grow this year,
vegetable-wise.

I'm not going to attempt parsley this year - due to the 'parsley caterpillars' -
(they become black swallowtail butterflies)
Going out every morning and squashing caterpillars by hand
every morning is too much to ask for parsley - I'll just buy it.)

They are both pretty though -

Happy gardening everybody!

[Pollard]

One ‘funny’ - I read about someone participating in a CSA who got their “box” & it was mostly kohlrabi. They didn’t know what it was or how to prepare it. Tough gardening year & the one crop the CSA had a lot of was kohlrabi. I think it was a good portion of several boxes - folks were sick of it by the time different produce was available & discontented with those kohlrabi boxes.

Yep. Can lose half your customers quick like that. That's one of the problems with CSA. At a farmer's market, you bring what you have and people can buy it or not buy it. I can only imagine growing a steady supply and variety for a CSA.

I grew a couple of kohlrabi this year to try but I've never seen it in the stores. They sell baby greens mixes, kale, generic green/red leaf lettuce and sometimes collards in the stores here but don't sell much of any of those. This is meat and potato land. For market gardeners in a metro area, baby salads greens are their mainstay. They can also sell other trendy veggies that wouldn't sell here at all.

I've heard of small farmers growing what they eat and then finding out they're about the only ones in their area that eat certain things. Your relatives might want to do a customer survey ahead of time to see what they want. They also might want to look into a high tunnel to extend the growing season.

[tennmountainman]

Happy and productive gardening to all.

[Qiviut]

We have had a couple of farmers markets pop up in our area. One that was pretty good due to a variety of different vendors, was just down the road. I need to check on them - they might have moved out to the next county, but if they haven’t, I should go. I get busy on Saturday mornings & forget about the markets.

BTW, my relative has a green thumb when it comes to flowers - has gorgeous flower gardens during the growing season. This Easter, she made 5 vases full of flowers, not a formal arrangement, but ‘casual’ & beautiful combinations. They advertised them on FB - $35 including delivery if nearby - sold in a flash! She’s very good at finding opportunities to take excess & abundance from their place & turning it into some cash.

[metmom]

I’m growing some for the first time this year, so have no idea what to do with shallots.

Mine are really small yet.

[LibWhacker]

Camouflage: The harmless scarlet king snake, right, mimics the coloring and patterns of the deadly coral snake, on the left.

The Beryozka Dance Ensemble whose steps are so small, they look like they're floating

[metmom]

Swallowtails are worth keeping. I’d let them have my parsley.

I planted lots so have enough to spare.

[FamiliarFace]

We will have your mid 90s temps starting Tuesday here in central Indiana. I must be a little off kilter, because I kinda like those temps in small doses. A few days in a row is fine. A week of it isn’t much fun unless I’m at the beach or a lake or a river.

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you Diana, maybe I will set up a scare crow! Couldn’t hurt!

[FamiliarFace]

That should scare off anybody!

[GaltAdonis]

"...Swallowtails are worth keeping. I’d let them have my parsley."

I've done, and do, my benevolent duty by letting the voracious chipmunks
eat MANY of my tomatoes - without me becoming unduly bloodthirsty for 'revenge'...

;-)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I was THRILLED to find the first ripe strawberries of the season this morning, and neither had any Chipmunk bites, either! That was a first. They don’t take much - I still eat the strawberries. ;)

My cat, Boyd, nearly brought a chipmunk into the house last evening; I should’ve known something was up.

He was so PROUD of his conquest, and luckily when he was showing it off to me, he dropped it and it escaped and that was the end of that!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I would run from either snake, and that ‘dancing’ doesn’t seem humanly possible!

[GaltAdonis]

Years ago the mockingbirds would sit on the neighbor's fence
and wait and watch for the blueberries to get ripe on the bushes.
And as soon as they were -

"Hey, there's nothing but GREEN berries left on these bushes now!
There were dozens of ripe ones yesterday - Dang-it!"

And then when I was a kid, our Maine coon cat 'Fluffy' brought
a baby bunny rabbit to the back dining room door as a 'present'.

The bunny was alive - Fluffy had it by it's ears dangling from her mouth.

My three year old little brother thought that this was so 'cool'
that he opened the door. Fluffy dropped the bunny - and Zoom!
away ran the bunny to who-knows-where in the house.

The thing spent the entire night in the house. We only found, captured
and released the darn thing the next day.

[FamiliarFace]

Oh goodness, I’ve had many a run in with critters that one of our cats has captured and bestowed as a gift, many times quite alive. I’ve rescued baby squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and birds several times. I could tell the stories but maybe one that would sum it up best would be the response from the school secretary who once told me I had the most interesting “stories” of why the kids were late to school a few times. I snorted back that all of my “stories” were true, and she could ask the kids for more details if she wanted to. It’s a good thing she liked me, but I think the principal wasn’t happy. C’est la vie!

[GaltAdonis]

Fluffy would lie on the backyard lawn - dead-still -
trying to feel the movement of a mole borrowing underground.

And when she felt one - she would start digging furiously
until she got it. And she almost always did!
I remember only once when I saw here give up in 'mid dig'.

She would also sit on the roof of the house watching birds on
the lawn - and then: 'Death From Above!'
It was a one story house, mind you.
But nevertheless she gave that up when she started to get fat.
I guess it hurt her belly to hit the ground so hard.