The Garden Thread - July, 2025

July, 1, 2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Just took a stroll out in the garden. I have SO MANY CUCUMBERS, it’s ridiculous! Cr@ptastic tomatoes; I don’t see how they can recover this late in the game. :(

So, I went looking for ideas as to how to use up the surplus, as I have NEVER had a Cucumber Season like this one, with all the rain!

What to Do With Extra Cucumbers (35 Ways to Use Surplus Cucumbers)

https://www.healthygreensavvy.com/what-do-with-extra-cucumbers-recipes/

16 More Ideas:

https://littlesproutslearning.co/16-ways-use-excess-cucumbers-garden/

So far I have printed out recipes for ‘Cucumber Mint Jam’ and ‘Cucumber Cream Cheese Tuna Roll Ups.’ :)

[MomwithHope]

I made a spread the other day. Sour cream, salt, pepper, crushed garlic maybe 3 large cloves. And a medium sized peeled cucumber. Cut out the seeds and shred. Started with just a cup and a half of sour cream. Had it on light crusty bread toasted and some seared lamb chunks topped with chopped greens, onions and a couple of cherry tomatoes. The sauce is great. If you have a juicer I would be juicing that many cucumbers and drinking it.

[metmom]

My d-i-l makes French Toast with cream, a tad of sugar, and some nutmeg. I think she adds more but not sure what it is.

[TheConservativeParty]

FR needs a “like button” !
I ♥️ that picture.

😁

[TheConservativeParty]

LOL, I am crunching on a bowl of cucumber slices as I am reading this thread.
🥒

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“If you have a juicer I would be juicing that many cucumbers and drinking it.”

Great thinking! I don’t have a juicer, but I have a very powerful blender. They suggested Cucumber Smoothies/Juice Drinks on one of the sites I visited. ‘Pineapple Cucumber’ sounds really good to me!

https://www.acouplecooks.com/cucumber-juice/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Everyone in SW WI should be having a banner Cucumber Season with all of this rain! :)

[left that other site]

I LOVE Blue Heelers.

Here's a Painting I did of my gal, Tippy.

ML/LTOS

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Got a jug of Cucumber & Lemon Water chilling in the fridge.

Made a dip similar to the one you posted about - have cuke chunks and carrot sticks for dipping. I accidentally bought Ithaca a FIVE POUND bag of carrots last week - must’ve clicked the wrong button - so Carrots are the next thing on hand to use up. Yes, he’d eat them all, but he’s got to share with ME. They’re nice carrots from Bolthouse.

I have everything on hand for that Cucumber Smoothie (with frozen banana and pineapple chunks!) for Beau’s treat before bedtime. ;)

I have all I need to make the Bread and Butter Pickles and also the Jalapeno Pickle Relish, so I’ll see if Mom will help me with those on Monday.

[Albion Wilde]

Hilarious! Hope those dogs’ parents locked the doggie door and gave them an outdoor shower on a sunny day before they got back in the house!

[Albion Wilde]

Sourdough Pull Apart Cheese Bread

Oh, wow, that is gorgeous. Thanks for the recipe! That's going to my next church social.

[Liz]

Spectacular serve.......so easy to achieve.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I've been owned by THREE Lady Labs through the years. Luckily they ARE Wash-N-Wear. They LOVE mud. And even DRY dirt. And Snow. And anything smelly to roll in. :)

Miss Lucy Lou from Kalamzoo. No longer with us, but very fondly remembered. *HEART*

Frosty Face:

My Honey-Colored Pup:

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I told Beau tonight that while he’s still home from Bear Camp* that EVERY meal between now and when he hits the road again comes with this adage:

‘NOW WITH EXTRA CUCUMBERS!’ LOL!

*Major vehicle problems being repaired this week; hunting friends are feeding/watering, hunting and looking after our dogs up at camp.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Re: Tour painting of Tippy. Nice work. You got the eyes exactly right - which is not easy to do on animals or people! :)

[metmom]

Dang! I’m having trouble with vermin this year.

I was thinning my carrots and got to the fourth bucket and it was half dug up with only wilting carrot tops left. Got the chicken wire wrapped around those buckets ASAP.

Next year, I cut some chicken wire the diameter of the bucket, sow the seeds and then lay the chicken wire on top of the soil and let the carrots grow up through that.

And I probably will wrap wire around the buckets again.

The peas are almost done and as we are leaving Monday for a week out of town, I’ll get my last picking Monday morning and cover them with floating row covers to try to keep them dry and deal with whatever I find when we get back. Hopefully many seed pods will be dry by then.

I Planted three Brussel Sprout plants. One was snacked on. It got chicken wired. The two Brussel Sprout plants I planted nestled among the thyme are untouched. The beans have been getting eaten, except the ones near the thyme as well.

After seeing some videos from MIGardener and Epic gardening on intercropping and ignoring plant spacing guidelines, I am rethinking how next year’s garden is going to be planted and plan on planting to disguise the smell of the crops with the smell of the herbs, I’m going to work from that angle. Definitely planting more dill and thyme and I’m thinking basil. Stuff that’s strongly fragrant.

I’m also going to try a few container plants. They don’t do quite as well as the ones in the garden, but I can control for vermin easier.

The Chinese 5 color peppers are coming in with lots of small peppers that are all purple at the moment. I don’t know if they’ll change color or the ones the plant produces later will come in a different color. Time will tell.

[MomwithHope]

Here you go - health benefits of cucumbers. You are just being blessed.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/benefits-of-cucumbers

[Pollard]

Oh boy. Heat index 106 for the next couple of days and probably the same or higher for a solid week. (slight exaggeration with all that red but that's what the narrative is these days - world is ending - madness and mayhem - it's your fault because you have a gas stove - bla bla bla)

Guess I shouldn't be expecting a bunch of ripe tomatoes anytime soon. Good year to try that fried green tomatoes thing.

I'm ready for another tank of water for the garden but we got an inch of rain in about 15 minutes yesterday so the creeks are raging. Had to take the long way home yesterday. Garden looks fine and I should be able to get water in a couple of days. Might be time to text my IBC tank guy and make sure he still sells them though. Just a few days ago I was saying I can get by with one.

I've got three, one stays in the back of the truck as a tote. Another is down at the tunnel and another is in back of the house but it's not the house tank. Kind of utility use, wringer washer, wash my hands, rinse pots etc. It needs cleaning so I'll pull the one in the truck out down at the tunnel and put the other in the truck to slosh around the Simple Green. Then dump and rinse and it can be my new truck tote until I get more tanks. Meanwhile I'll have two at the tunnel then and that will allow me to stick to my plan of buying what will be a $400 ladder after taxes which is the next thing I need.

One of my indoor projects is replacing this 1/8" paneling with drywall and it's looking like good weather for that. Get to work indoors and it will get cooler in here as I go. LOL

[left that other site]

You can see the mischief in her eyes. She’s a live wire.

Thanks for your kind words! :-)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“You are just being blessed.”

Isn’t that funny? This SOGGY growing season will probably be a BUST on tomatoes and peppers, but I’ll learn every single thing there IS to learn about Cucumbers in one fell swoop!

Great link. Thanks, FRiend. :)