Posted on 05/20/2023 6:49:21 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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I got my poles in for the lean and lower maters and pole beans yesterday.
All three Red Deuce mater plants are in the ground.
Got home from work tonight and sowed some beans/seeds that I put in water last night to soak.
I have eight more mater plants to get in the ground once I add the horizontals to the lean and lower trellises.
Four Shisito pepper plants also need to go in the ground. I’m going to do a little raised bed for those and make them some good soil. Going to do the 1st edition version of Square Foot Gardening. Six inch tall, add six inches of good stuff and mix with six inches of this top soil and I’ll do it in the least rocky area.
The chart is from Cole’s Wild Bird seeds:
https://coleswildbird.com/products/blazing-hot-blend/
‘TM’ is Trademarked - it’s their own blend.
I remember that song from teaching Sunday School 150 years ago! :)
I had the younger kids, so music was always a big part of keeping them entertained/corralled for the hour or so I had them. ;)
They are few and far between up here, too - and we have a veritable buffet of foodstuffs for them to eat. :(
A few Honey Bees, a few Bumble Bees, a few Wasps - which I could always live without.
Thank you. Looks like there’s an Ace Hardware near me that carries this brand. I’ve not heard of it before. Always looking for other good bird food brands.
It’s “stuck” in my head now - I keep singing it! 🎵
Something to eat at mid summer when you sit outside with your liter of German Bier and admire the potato plot you planted on your summer house on Lake Michigan! ( I wish! ( At least for the house! ))
I spent most of my first week off getting caught up on chores around the house, not the least of which was getting some work done in the victory garden. I cut back to 16 tomato plants this time. I'm not planning to can any tomatoes this summer as I've got plenty left over from last years efforts. Also cutting back on peppers - I set out 10 sweet bell peppers but not growing any hot ones this time.
Brassicas are doing well. I've already harvested one head of broccoli, with several more and a couple cauliflowers getting close. I've got two napa cabbages that are ready to harvest which means it's time to hit the asian food store and buy a few ingredients to make some kimchi. Kaitlin and Stonehead cabbages are coming along nicely as are the collards/kale planted in the gap between two garlic rows.
Sweet corn is up ~6". I side-dressed it with urea a couple days ago. Pole beans started to show on Saturday. Cukes started to pop up middle of last week. Carrots are rocking it in the new raised beds. Gourds have been set out. Two new rhubarb plants have been set out. Spinach is done thanks to a few days of stupidly hot weather week before last. The last of the mustard greens will come out tomorrow evening. Yukon Gold spuds have started to bloom. Cantaloupe has been seeded but not yet up. Still need to seed the spaghetti squash and okra and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now.
I've been trying to do some stuff that will make make the gardening easier on my aching bones. I put up another cattle panel arbor for vining crops two weeks ago. I bought enough weed cloth to pretty much cover up all the places where I don't want weeds to grow, and every row of plants has its own soaker hose. I also installed 20 gallon watering bags and 3' weed mats on most of my orchard trees. Those few things should seriously reduce the time it takes me to keep things properly maintained.
The last rain we got put the sunflower field into good shape for tilling so I made a single pass over it. It's been a few years since I was able to get it planted due to wet spring weather. I'm looking forward to some color back there again this summer.
The catalpa tree in our front yard is in full bloom now.
“Those few things should seriously reduce the time it takes me to keep things properly maintained.”
Your ideas are all terrific! Your set-up looks fantastic! As I was on my knees planting cucumbers today, I was thinking that very thing; whatever I can do to make it easier on me (short of hiring help!) from here on out is going to be implemented!
God must love us to have invented hog and cattle panels; such useful things! :)
Home for Sale: Lakefront Potato Field, LOL!
There was a catalpa tree next to the farmhouse where I grew up. (And an orchard a barn and a cooling shed for the milk!) Dense shade, nice to sit under in hot summer!
How is the pond? Producing perch yet?
I made a 18” x 24” x 6 foot tall firewood rack with 5 shelves out of a single cattle panel that sits next to the wood stove.
Years ago, I made two pot/pan racks and all the hooks for them before I even knew what a cattle panel was. Found a chunk at the house we were renting and thought it was heavy duty fence which it technically is. I had just never seen a whole one and didn’t know they were feed lot panels.
and this year I’m using them for garden fence.
I cut standing dead trees for firewood but I don't cut them down if they have any holes that could be used by a critter for housing. That includes woodpecker holes as we have plenty of them around here. Nothing cool has moved into any of them yet though.
I caught a perch last week that, had she been caught earlier in the spring before she spawned, would likely have been a new Misery state record. She ate a 3.5" bluegill that I was using as bait while attempting to catch one of the hybrid striped bass. Was real close to, if not a bit over 18" long. I was in a big hurry to get her back in the water and didn't get a pic so maybe it's just a fish story. lol
Also last week I sent a couple hundred bluegills and half a dozen of the yellow perch that I'd trapped to live in my buddy's quarry lake. We caught a few bluegills hook-n-line two weeks ago - I filleted 19 of them that were between 7" and 9" - filled a quart ziplock bag about as tight as I could stuff it. Still haven't harvested any of the perch but haven't been trying very hard to figure out how to catch them. I now know they like to eat bluegill so that may be the secret.
Sometime try some small Shishito peppers and see what you think! They grill well, I think they would pickle well too!
That's actually a really good idea. I don't need any hot peppers for salsa, but I am getting low on pickled peppers. One of my favorite things to do is stuff a bottle with serrano peppers, fill it up with vinegar, cork it, then put it on the shelf for at least five years. The end result is a peppered vinegar that will make the nastiest pot of bitter greens palatable. Learned how to do that from my 'Bammer buddy's Gramma. She would always have a big pot of greens and country ham ready for us when we got back in from cutting firewood in the winter. That stuff would warm us right up.
We had a Pileated carve a wonderful hole for his lady to raise their babies a few years back, but the Mrs. didn’t pick that one. Too bad, as it was easily seen from my windows on the back side of the house. I did watch 5 bluebirds all hover in there from time to time in the winter one year when it was harsh.
Alas, about two years ago, a storm knocked that tree almost all the way over. It was huge. We hired our tree guy to cut it down and let it fall where it was. I’ve adjusted to the view, and the animals here use it as a great hiding spot. Win win.
Mom had those same poppies in one of her flower gardens.
Mrs. Augie got some of them the first spring after we moved into the new house in 2008. It’s amazing how well they reseed themselves and spread. Shame they don’t bloom for a longer period of time because they are stunning when they’re doing it.
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