[Diana in Wisconsin]

Pinging The List...

Good Morning, Gardeners! :)

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Good morning. Entering the dry season here Spain. If we get rain between now and mid September it is almost considered a Biblical event. Temperatures will be in the mid 80s with it occasionally hitting 90 but that is also rare. Since I hand water my peppers anyway it translates into ideal growing conditions.

[a little elbow grease]

...... still pulling that thistle from the pachysandra beds.

Anyone can help.

;-)

[SkyDancer]

Hai!!

[MomwithHope]

Greetings from west Michigan! We've had some great rain, not too much. Everything is growing great except my cucumbers, they got too much rain early on and are recovering now. Seems like I have to retie my tomato plants weekly they are growing so fast. Irises are almost done and the peonys are out, Bowl of Beauty. While I was taking a close up a nice yellow swallowtail paid a visit. Wasting out a dozen radishes a day, green onions, romaine. Still getting a few asparagus spears a day. This is shaping up to be our best and cleanest garden ever!

[Califreak]

Planted more cucumbers and some pinto beans.

Soaker hoses are working well. Don’t know why I didn’t get them years ago.

4x4 raised bed kit arrived yesterday.

Rusty garlic is looking awful. Don’t know if it will bulb and looking forward to yanking it out in favor of something that will hopefully be more of a success.

Zucchini is looking really good but I have to chase it with a q tip so it doesn’t wither up and die as we do have a shortage of bees around here.

Don’t know if the new raised bed will be greens, green beans or watermelon. I guess it depends on whether or not my watermelon plants survive

I have had no success with melons at all.

An occasional pumpkin but no melons.

[Melian]

Took an old chandelier and turned it into a solar chandelier for the patio. I like to sip sangria in the evenings and enjoy the glow!

[Ellendra]

I have a product review. This thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078JKHDC6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It made planting seeds SOOOO much easier! I’m not sure I’d use it for bulbs or seedlings, which it was technically meant for, because the “beak” doesn’t open wide enough in my soil. But for seeds, it was perfect. If you’ve ever walked with a cane, it was pretty much the same motion. Stab, drop a seed, squeeze the lever a teeny bit, pull it out.

I planted over 2000 seeds in a 24-hour period. Considering how often I need to take breaks because of my back, that is amazing!

Larger seeds like squash, melon, or cucumber worked as-is. For tiny seeds like tomato you might want to encapsulate them. I do that anyway, just because of how windy my garden is. To encapsulate a seed, start with some empty gelcaps. They’re sold for making your own herbal medicines with, and are usually pretty cheap. Put one seed in each capsule, then top it off with some kind of filler. Doesn’t have to be fancy, but choose something that won’t hurt the soil or inhibit the seed. Screened dry dirt is fine, so is sand or ground eggshells. Just anything to give the capsule a little extra weight. Once it’s filled, snap the two halves together and you’re done.

If I had lighter soil, this gadget would probably work with seedlings. For now, I’m just happy it helps with seeds.