Weekly Garden Thread - June 4-10, 2022 [Weed, Water & Wait Edition]

June 4, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Augie]

This past week was mostly sunny and warm here in Central Missouri, with a couple or three rain showers mixed in.

We got all of the weeding in the victory garden done for now, and straw mulch put down around the potato plants. Seeded ~15' row of cilantro straight into the dirt yesterday, along with starter cells of sage, rosemary, thyme, and peppermint in the greenhouse.

The okra and basil that I started last week are rocking. I think the okra will be ready to transplant by the end of this week. The basil probably won't be quite big enough to move into grow-out pots by then, but it won't be long until it is.

While I was working out there yesterday I got stung on the leg by a red wasp. It was just mildly annoying at the time, and I did get my full measure of payback, but I think the bug may get the last laugh. My left knee is so stiff and painful today that I don't want to move or touch it. Every time I get stung it's worse than the time before. One of these days I'm liable to fall over dead from a sting.

Mrs. Augie's cucumbers are just a few days away from their first picking of the season. The dill is knee-high and lush just waiting on the cukes to size up a bit.

I put the puddle jumper boat into the pond and cleaned up the scary snake tree that fell in last summer. Now Mrs. Augie will be able to go swimming without any fear of being swallowed whole by the giant anaconda. lol

With the tree out of the way I was able to place the aeration diffuser out in the deep water. I'm very late getting that started this time so a slow-roll startup will be required to avoid bringing up a bunch of anoxic water all at once and causing a fish kill.

[Pollard]

Tomato Hornworm at night, seen using a blacklight flashlight

No more camouflage for Mr Hornworm

[Pollard]

Every time I get stung it's worse than the time before.

They used to not bother me but now my whole hand or elbow etc will swell up. I used to never have issues with pollen but I have a mild pollen allergy and have to blow my nose several times every day, when I'm not too stuffed up to do so.

[Augie]

The cats are happy to have their catio back.

I had never heard of a catio until #1 Marine Daughter's BF built one at their house. It's not terribly large, 4'x8' enclosure that's maybe 6' high, with a gas vent pipe tunnel through a window into the house.

They built a climbing gym inside it, added a couple cardboard box hidey holes, and some tree limbs for sharpening the toenails.

Their cats seem to enjoy it.

[Augie]

The human immune system is a strange construct.

When I was a kid if I so much as looked at poison ivy I would get infested with the stuff. Now I can get into it bare-handed and will barely get a blister.

Bee/wasp stings are exactly the opposite. Those didn’t bother me much at all when I was young. Now I swell up like a balloon when I get stung.

I keep an epi pen handy at all times these days.

[FamiliarFace]

Sounds very much like ours. Ours is 4’ x 4’ x 6’. We started with a Master Paws “lucky” dog enclosure. https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/fencing/outdoor-dog-kennels/master-paws-reg-6-x-4-x-4-black-kennel-kit/1711665/p-1444430931887.htm

I added a (new) weather guard to it over the weekend that I crafted from a heavy duty shower curtain and Gorilla Glue tape, and have bungee tie downs to keep it in place. Keeps the rain and the snow out for the most part. The cats love to be outside in any kind of weather. It looks and fits like the cover that comes with the unit, but is clear so the cats can see through it.

We also have a cat door through the window that leads to a tube tunnel (12” corrugated tube) for them to get into and out of the catio by themselves. We have a small lock on the gate so that raccoons and others who don’t belong can’t get in there. We’ve had an occasional bird or chipmunk get though and be captured. Anyone that survives is rescued and released.

We have a loft for them as the tippy top level with several ledges for them to climb on and perch from. Also, when we had a few limbs removed from trees years ago, I kept one of the very branched ones, and let it season for a year or more. Then I scraped off what bark remained. Weather proofed it with marine grade varnish, added rope sections for scratching. It’s an indoor/outdoor cat’s paradise!

[Pollard]

Pepper plants are perennial and can be overwintered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdmD54Bsu4

[Paul R.]

The biggest threat is to our 2 cats, who will keep us awake all night if we don’t let them out and / or don’t always return to our back porch @ dusk. (It’s also beneficial that the cats get some of the rodents.) Our chickens are FAIRLY secure, but not, well, in Ft. Knox @ night. Yeah, I could pour concrete strips around the coops and runs but it’d be a pretty substantial project. :-(

FWIW, no coons have actually broken into a run or coop for a few years, but I’m not confident a really big determined raccoon couldn’t do it if we were away a couple nights and it had time to do serious digging.

Trash is stashed in a “tight” metal building - no problems there. (Learned that lesson about 30 years ago.) But... Our “draw” is probably the garden in the summer & fall and our (sometimes free range) chickens, although we’ve not lost one to a coon for a year or so. Still, sometimes a bird doesn’t come back in at dusk, and I think the raccoons somehow know that... The chickens often scatter some of their food outside their runs so that is a draw too, but not a LOT gets out.

We also have on two sides of us ditches that sometimes have water in them long enough to generate up to ~3” crayfish, and in another area partially extending into our property not far from the coops a good part of the year it is wet enough (near marsh) that we get some considerably bigger crayfish out there.

That and we are between a wooded area and some other houses and also (right across the road) a set of medium size grain silos and a short elevator — there is spilled grain there often. We get a lot of animal traffic through our property, and not all are wild animals - a few are neighbor’s pets, and most are strays. There are more stray cats than dogs, actually: one tom that we think got torn up by a big raccoon we got fixed up (in more ways than one) and he’s now just the biggest sweetie (makes up for his mediocre mousing skills, I guess.) But, the coons get big and are VERY smart, as you well know.

The mesh panels & spring door of the trap I have are all undamaged. Maybe I’ll try to make my own trigger mechanism?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Time for, 'Nature Crafting With Diana!' I started a wild grapevine wreath. I will continue to add to it through the season until it's nice and thick and sturdy and I will pretty it up later once it's completely dried and sturdy. The trick is getting that first 'loop' to stay together. Feel free to use floral wire or whatever you have on hand until you get the hang of it. I've made dozens, so you get the 'feel' of things after a while.

I leave as many of the 'tendrils' on as I can for added interest. The leaves will dry up and fall off, so I don't bother taking off the small ones, but I do clip off the really big ones as I gather the vines:

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[campaignPete R-CT]

It has been an inspiration. Or is it motivational?

Either way, I spent hours in a plant bed out back today ... I had to pull the weeds so I could find the Creepy Charlie underneath. Much progress.

I know Charlie will mount a comeback, but I have a battle plan to deal with the counterattack.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I know Charlie will mount a comeback, but I have a battle plan to deal with the counterattack.”

At Ease, General, LOL!

[tob2]

Love that sign! Have been pulling up spent pansies. It is getting too hot for them. Luckily, I still have a few pansy plants for however long they survive. Caladiums and dianthus are taking their place. There are a couple of tiny tomatoes on the plant. I don't think they will be ready for July 4th but I will be having fresh, homegrown tomatoes later this summer.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Pollard]

Crazy Ozarks weather and garden report.

Tomatoes are starting to flower. Now the weather forecast is calling for three days of 96 degrees and 75 at night starting Monday. Apt to get blossom drop. Meanwhile it was 51 yesterday morning. The plants aren’t exactly huge yet so it might not be a bad thing to lose the first batch of flowers. Tallest one is three foot.

Broccoli is just starting to form tiny florets.

Cabbage not forming heads yet. Only got two cabbage plants, cabbage is cheap and my son doesn’t like it anyway so no biggie if I get none.

Leaf lettuce is 2 foot tall so that will likely bolt. Ice Queen lettuce is just forming heads but I can shade that pretty easily. Might pull the biggest just so I can say I ate some.

Collards can take some heat but are nice size so I can pull them whenever.

I’ll eat as much leaf lettuce as I can but leave the plants because they shade the broccoli/cabbage a bit.

Lincoln pea pods are just filling out. Most of my pea plants are sugar snap so I’ll get as many as I can before it gets hot and we’ll see if the plants make it through the heat. I think I’ll stick some green bean and cucumber seeds in the ground between the peas and they can take over that spot.

I need a tunnel/greenhouse so I can grow the cold weather crops a lot earlier and some, right through the winter. Spring is short here. Kinda makes it hard to grow brassicas that take nearly three months. Even with row covers, I could have started those at least a month earlier.

I should have started a little earlier on everything and done more potting up to promote faster growth. Also need to fertilize the seedlings better. I didn’t find much of anything to be root bound but everything seemed to stop growing at 2 inches tall. My homemade potting mix probably wasn’t the best either. My seedlings were far from looking as nice as the ones in the stores.

This whole seed starting thing was kind of spur of the moment and my first time doing it. Next year I’ll prep and plan better and spend a little money on potting soil and fertilizer.

Swiss Chard isn’t really growing in the garden. I didn’t realize they were a member of the beet family and those don’t like low pH which I have here. Need to test the soil and probably lime.

Need to do succession planting too, especially on the leaf lettuce so I don’t end up with a dozen 2 foot tall plants like I have now. LOL

Son doesn’t do salad either so it’s just me. Likewise with almost everything I grew. He eats corn, green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes and that’s about it. He likes sweet potatoes too which is a new one for him so I’ll have to look at growing them.

Copying this to my garden journal too.

[campaignPete R-CT]

I had upper molar #15 extracted at 3pm EDT. It was almost pain free. And the soreness is gone already, 4 hours later. So I am refraining from pleading for sympathy.

A pleasant surprise.

I’m reporting it here because the molar had roots. They told me to stay sedentary today and that weeding is not allowed.

I also learned that there is a weed killer (herbicide) that I can spray on the Charlie without harming the grass.

A pleasant surprise.

[Pollard]

Homestead Pantry Tour | Self-Sufficiency and Food Storage 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vgamhffcr8