“In” early. We are getting soaked. No work outside today except to check to see how bad the yard is flooding...
The battle begins.
Bought some 2, 4 D weed killer last week and sprayed a few horsenettle. Those plants are looking half dead. Then I read on an AG extension site that the roots are weakest when they’re flowering because they’re putting all their energy into reproducing. Went and looked at them this morning and they’re flowering, even the little ones. Seems early but something’s also chewed a lot of holes in the leaves so I think they went into flowering mode as a survival mechanism.
Hit most of them and used up the 24 oz spray bottle so I hit the Dollar store and they had it in the gallon sprayer for just a few bucks more than the small spray bottle. The sun’s on them so it dries out quick. I’m going to wait until the sun’s down past the trees and hit them again. Might be able to hit them again tomorrow after work if it’s not raining.
Speaking of trees. The few I cut down around the tunnel allow it to get sun a bit before 9am as of now. I’ll have to check throughout the rest of the year as the sun changes it’s path to see which other ones need to come down.
Hooked up the finish mower on the back of the tractor last weekend. Engaged the PTO and boy that thing was quiet. Took me a second to realize it has no belt on it so the blades weren’t spinning. I forgot it broke last year. That belt is $40 now, pretty much double what they were a few years ago.
Very nice weather this past week here in Central Missouri. It hasn’t really gotten hot yet so we’ve still got the house windows open to the breeze. We picked up another 7/10ths inch of rain Friday night while I was in Iowa for the races.
The garden was still too muddy to mess with when I got home yesterday which is just as well because I had camper problems to deal with. I had not one, not two, but three camper tire blowouts on this trip. One going up and two coming home. Bought a new one in Knoxville after we got there on Friday. 20 miles into the trip home the tire that had been the spare blew out so I stopped and put the new tire on and headed back out. About 20 miles from home the third one blew out. At that point I had no spare so I limped it home on three wheels. Also noticed the water heater is leaking around the anode rod plug. This was the first time I hooked to city water since I changed the anode so maybe it just needs to be pulled out, re-taped, and re-installed.
Hopefully the ground will be dried up enough to get around the garden this evening. I need to get some seeds into the dirt.
I now have six tiny parsnips germinating (vs. 4 last week), but if they poop out soon from the heat, I’ll survive, & count the days till fall-ish. :-)
Tomato plants (from seed) coming along well so far, as are the Sugar Baby watermelons (my sister gave me some more seeds out of sympathy). So far no blister beetles or gophers.
Gotta keep an eye on myself, so that my small victories don’t give me a swelled head!
I was worried when I clicked on FR later in the morning & your Saturday post wasn’t up. Glad you’re okay!
Broccoli Cheddar Soup / Panera clone
The popular restaurant soup, using multiple garden vegs. Hearty, creamy incredible flavor.
Ing--- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter , divided 1 small sweet onion , diced small 1/4 cup flour 2 cups whole milk 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 & 1/2 cups coarse-chp broccoli florets 1 cup carrot matchsticks 1 stalk celery , thinly sliced (1/2 cup) 10 oz sharp shredded cheddar (2 & 1/2 cups) 3/4 tsp k/salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp ground mustard pinch cayenne
Steps--melt 1 tbl butter; add onion, stir/saute til translucent, 3-4 min. Reset heat to med-low; melt remaining 4 tbl butter. Add flour; whisk/combine. Gradually add milk, whisking til no lumps or flour remain, then whisk in broth. BTB, reduce heat to a gentle bubble, whisking occasionally 5 min.
Add broccoli, carrot, and celery; gently simmer tender, about 10-15 min. Reduce heat to low; stir in cheese til melted, a minute. Stir in s/p, ground mustard, cayenne. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.
Does anyone know...
On a Cub Cadet LTX 1042 KW Riding Mower, a lever pulls a cable attached to a stiff spring (with a straight section on one end) to move a pulley to engage and disengage the mower blades.
Said spring broke on me, yesterday evening. Bah!
Does this spring have a particular name, such as “Blade Engage Linkage Spring” or something like that?
(You can tell I’m not a riding mower mechanic, but, I think I can fix this if I can find the part / describe it properly to a Cub Cadet parts supplier.) I can perhaps “rig” something with a “similar” spring if need be, but a correct part would be better, to most properly tension the blades’ drive belt.
If someone has a parts diagram, that’d be great. I imagine most of Cub Cadet’s riders of this vintage have a similar part.
If no one knows this off the top of their head, or has a manual / diagram, I can try to do web searches this evening.
Thanks!
One of my 4 “Heatwave II” tomato plants that I was able to keep going through the winter started off great in the garden this spring, even starting to fruit, but the bottom of the stem has turned brownish in this last week, and the plant wilts if not given constant water drip at the base. I’m guessing “something” has damaged or attacked the roots. The plants on either side of it are doing fine, and all get similar watering, etc.
MAYBE I can cut the stem where it turns nicely green, plunk this thing in a tall narrow vase with water, and get it to sprout new roots? Would some sort of root hormone help? Maybe trim off 1/2 of the existing foliage to reduce water demand?
Thanks!
I’ve decided I just can’t grow onions in our soil worth a darn... :-(
Bulbs cut off the bottom of spring onions do ok in pots for me, indoors with lots of light, including in the winter. In the garden they get about 8-10” high and die. I have no idea why. Tomatoes and okra (and weeds, of course!) in the same spots do fine.
Rats.
here in eastern Washington we’ve had frost warnings this past week....we had sleet yesterday...:(
Well, garlic scapes have been coming in and I’ve been clipping them and processing them.
Some will be used as is.
The rest I’m dicing up and either freezing or dehydrating so see which way works best for us.
With this heat, (mid-90’s) I didn’t want to run the stove, so put the diced up scapes on a cookie sheet and covered it with netting and put it out in the sun. They’re drying better than using the oven.
I covered the snow peas and Romaine with floating row covers and it seems to be helping. Nothing has bolted. Yet.
I’m going to harvest what I can because we’re going on vacation next week and there’ll be nobody yet, to babysit the garden and pick stuff. I guess I’ll be saving lettuce and pea seeds.