Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 25, June 22, 2012

Friday, June 22, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Anybody enjoying the heat???? Good morning, FRiends and fellow gardeners! My thanks to Red Devil_232 and his beautiful tomato plants for hosting last week's gardening thread.

Here in NELA, we welcomed the first day of summer with temps in 3 digits ... at one time yesterday afternoon, our digital weather station had the temperature outside at 102.4! The remote unit that is transmitting the temp is on the north end of the house, tucked up under the eve and out of the sun. Whew!

Lots going on here. We've been enjoying sweet corn (var. Serendipity) all week, and the harvest begins in earnest tomorrow. Three acres ready now and another 3 acres that is 2 weeks behind the first planting.

Last week, I think it was although everything is in a blur here lately, we happened across a few wild plum trees and picked until the heat and humidity wouldn't let us pick any more. After cooking them down and filtering the juice, I got 3 beautiful gallons with which to make jelly. Didn't really have time to do this, but when you try to live from the land as I do, you have to take what you can get when you can get it. We were thrilled.

My husband was kind enough to plant a few acres of scarlet cowpeas for me, which started coming up on the 2nd day after planting. Heat and adequate moisture are magic with seeds this time of year! Enjoyed the first tomatoes of the season from my volunteer plants. I have no idea what they were, but they were delish.

The apiary is also buzzing and keeping me very busy. I harvested another 7 gallons of honey Tuesday, off of 2 hives. Got a call yesterday to go look at 2 hives in one house that need to be removed ... both large and active! That will bring my beeyard up to 12 hives, more than enough to keep me busy and deep in honey year-round.

So ... what have you been up to???

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Previous weeks' threads:

Weekly Gardening Thread (Catalog Fever) Vol. 1 Jan 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 3, January 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (U.S. Hardiness Zones) Supplemental Vol. 1
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Types) Vol. 4, January 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 5, February 03, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 6, February 10, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation?) Vol. 7, February 17, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Home Sweet Home) Vol. 8, February 24, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Structure Part 1) Vol. 9, March 2, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Transplanting Tomatoes) Vol. 10, March 9, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Useful Links) Vol. 11, March 16, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 12, March 23, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 13, March 31, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Happy Easter!) Vol. 14, April 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 15, April 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 16, April 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 17, April 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 18, May 4, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 19 (Getting Projects Done) May 11, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Harvesting Wheat) Vol. 20, May 18, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 21 (Keywords) May 25, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 22 (Keywords 2) June 1, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 23, June 8, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 24, June 15, 2012

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Thread Member List

Please let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the ping list.

[BipolarBob]

I’m picking cukes, ‘maters and squash.-) Nectarines are rotting on the tree -(. My first year for nectarines. The tree was loaded. They started turning blotchy and are getting brown then rotting. Green beans going great.

[hoosiermama]

Morning....Hopfully cooler today

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Sorry about the nectarines. Do you determined a cause?

[momtothree]

The wild plum juice has the most beautiful color!! I am betting the jelly will be beautiful as well. Good job, JADB!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Mornin’, mama. I hope it is cooler for you ... we are supposed to be getting hotter all weekend. Thank goodness all of my chores today are inside, except for hanging clothes on the line.

[illiac]

North Idaho - had our first two days in the 80’s this year....has been wet...quarter size hail. Corn up about 1 foot tall, other veggies struggling to make it due to all the rain and cool weather. Another thunder and lightning storm coming in tonight and tomorrow night. Tomatoes fairing very well with three tomatos on each plant any many blossums...early here for them, but will be happy with what we get. Everyone have a great weekend!

[rightly_dividing]

Good morning! The plum jelly looks great. Temps here have been mild, low 90's but forecast for Tuesday is 104.

We have been enjoying the first fruits of our tomatos for this year all week long, about two per day. Wife put up 4 pints of banana peppers, with more coming, and we have an eggplant growing now. The okry is coming along just fine.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Thanks, mom! One of the things on my to-do list today is a couple of batches of jelly. It should be crystal clear and hot pink in color. We’ll see ...

[Gabz]

Good morning!

Here in NELA, we welcomed the first day of summer with temps in 3 digits ... at one time yesterday afternoon, our digital weather station had the temperature outside at 102.4! The remote unit that is transmitting the temp is on the north end of the house, tucked up under the eve and out of the sun. Whew!

at 11:30 yesterday morning the weather station fit 101.2 with a heat index reading of 112 here in coastal Virginia. It too is on the north side under the eave. It is reading 99.9 right now. It is supposed to break with T'storms this evening - praying it happens!

[wita]

So far this year the garden is in four half whiskey barrels.

Eight tomato plants with blooms, and two bolting lettuce plants that were volunteers. Even have lettuce growing in the driveway. The wind must really blow those seeds around.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Your plum nectar looks great. Do you all remember 2 years ago when I was trying my hand at making jam after nearly 25 years of NOT making jam? I was trying to make cherry preserves and it never jelled, despite following the recipe slavishly, so I re-labled my jars “cherry sauce” and gave it away to friends and family. I found a left-over jar the other day, and it has finally jelled. It has turned into an excellent jam, which I am enjoying. Why so long?

[painter]

Ate my first tomato yesterday,nothing like it. I'll have sweet corn (Incredible)in a couple weeks if I can keep the treerats out of it.

[texas_mrs]

Wow! Your energy is boundless! The jelly turned out beautiful. I must learn to can someday when I have more time.

Hot as heck here and getting hotter. I have tons of green beans that need picking and no time to do it, but with the weekend coming on maybe I can catch up. Picking okra now, still no ripe tomatoes. Zukes, squash and cucumbers for 5 or 6 families. I must not do this again. Still no anasazi beans, but starting to flower. A few watermelons almost ready to pick. Pretty satisfied overall and starting to think about the Fall garden. Love going back and reading everyone's posts :)

[BipolarBob]

Do you determined a cause?

Negative. All of the other fruit trees are doing good. Been picking peaches. Pears look good. I'm at a loss. The first year of fruiting for this tree. I've never sprayed anything on it. I guess I'll try dormant oil this winter.

[trisham]

Beautiful jelly! I love these threads for the wonderful photos, great advice, and friendly conversation. :)

[FiscalSanity]

That is beautiful plum juice. I bet it will make wonderful jelly (plum jelly is my favorite).

I made dill pickles (for the first time ever) this week. It’s so hard to wait for pickles’ flavor to develop. I keep wanting to open a jar and taste them. Next, I really need to make some pesto with all of that basil out there.

In addition to cucumbers, I am picking okra, long beans, pineapple tomatillos, bell peppers, herbs as needed, and I am getting watermelons and cantaloupes occasionally. Ancho peppers are almost ready (I planted them late) and the tomatillo plants have just started setting fruit. I am about to pull the last of the carrots. They have been in the ground way past the supposed maturity date; I guess they are never going to size up in this heat. (I’ll plant more in the fall; they should do better then.) I just pulled the last of the pole beans and planted more long beans in their spot.

The spring tomatoes have just about had it, but I am starting seeds for fall tomatoes. I just planted seeds for my first try at winter squash (moschata types). Hopefully they will grow well.

[JDoutrider]

Happy to report that our new raised garden survived without a hitch from that ten inches of rainfall here in NE MN! The rest of the garden was a lake for two days and all lost there... replanting when it dries out.

The cities southeast of us got creamed in that downpour (Duluth). We also had our driveway and road washout, but am heading into town later today to arrange for some gravel/roadbase to be delivered to alleviate that problem... All in all we came through the flood quite well!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Thanks for checking in! I hope you weather improves for gardening. We are headed up to Montana for July 4th.