Weekly Garden Thread - June 10-16, 2023 [Garden Trends for 2023 Edition]

June 10, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Qiviut]

This was my Sunday project …. a log holder for my fire pit …. worked on it all afternoon. All of the lumber is “scrap” from under our pole barn, which means it is 'warped' in some way from years of hot/cold/humidity. The warping makes for some interesting construction – you never quite know what you'll end up with.

The 4 posts are deck posts that we have for some reason … they were new originally, no screw holes, two even had tags stapled to the top … why they were never used, I have no idea. One of them had a pretty good 'warp' in it. They made for nice corner posts …. adds a little bit of “spiffy” to the whole look.

The wood for the fire pit is from some huge cedar branches that came down or split & was hanging off the tree & had to be cut after an ice storm. Some are too long for the fire pit & need cutting to a shorter length & most need to be split, so that job is still ahead.

Before (nothing!)

After:

Currently working on old metal shelving that was slated for the dump because one of the legs was bent & it would no longer stand up. I ended up cutting off all 4 legs with a hack saw, which reduced the height to 5'. I'm currently reinforcing the frame with some wood. If it works out, I will use it to hold boards, stakes, bricks, & other items that I use in the garden. Still planning on constructing the addition to the herb bed this week/weekend, but I need a trip to the hardware store first for deck board screws that are the right length - have every length but what I need!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Impressive wood stack!

We’ve been promised rain for 3 days running and have just barely been sprinkled on each time. Grrrr!

Today’s task is to haul the hose around to all the apple trees. Also did my Crab Apple - because I love her!

Other fruit trees will be soaked on Friday. My veggie garden, with the exception of what’s in pots, is doing really well under that layer of straw mulch, so she can wait for the weekend. I also have a chippy living in the greenhouse and taking a lot of pleasure in burying sunflower seeds he finds under the feeder.

No more suet for the birds until Fall, and the feeder has been switched to a smaller model that the squirrels can’t get into, but the small songbirds still can.

Had the first tick on me. I thought I felt something when I was in the treeline where the hydrant is, but I just brushed it off my arm, so time for my flea and tick medication!

83 today. Hazy and hot and more humid than we’ve been. No wind, so that means nothing is blowing in. :( A/C has kicked on - first time in a week, so that’s been nice!

[Qiviut]

Today was quite windy & I am sure that dried things out even more - the grass in the back fields is ‘crunchy’. It was quite overcast beginning about midmorning, so at least we weren’t broiling under the sun.

I almost gave up on those old metal shelves about 3 times. They were bent & warped and so was the wood I was trying to use to reinforce it. It became obvious it wasn’t going to stand in a way that was stable without some major carpentry & if that was the case, I might as well build something from scratch.

Then the light bulb went off - let the darn thing sit on the top shelf instead of the legs - just turn it upside-down. The shelves have holes, so water will drain out. I am using it to hold boards, T posts, metal fence posts & other items I use to stake up plants, so the 4 legs in the air still make a nice rack-like storage space. It works & now everything is all neat & organized instead of leaning up against the compost bin.

This evening, I listened to a 3 hour podcast while cleaning up the mess I made in the garage. I had been scrounging for bolts, hex nuts, washers & screws on the fire pit log holder & the shelf salvage which meant most of the time was sorting all the boxes that I had pulled out, then getting them in some small plastic drawers I found - there were 2 sets of drawers, one still in the original plastic wrap. The scrap wood was cleaned up for a trip to the dump. I can now get the mower out again. Tomorrow is the herb garden expansion, if I have gotten my energy back after today - I am pretty tuckered out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

'Catalpa bignonioides' are in bloom. So pretty! Can't beleive how nicely they're blooming with this heat and lack of rain, but I'll take my WINS where I can this season.

[Qiviut]

So pretty! Do they have a fragrance?

Went by Lowe’s for those 3” screws I need. Went by the perennials to see if they had any more lavender ... all gone, which was sort if a relief since the plants were not cheap. Sale rack had a few interesting items, but not interesting enough to pry my wallet open. Called the greenhouse where I got my $2.90 marigolds ... all sold out. I don’t want my lavender to be ‘lonely’.

About to hook up my “sled” & head for the pole barn on a lumber run, since I have screws. I’m laughing because I am getting comments on my latest 2 projects like “hey, we need one of those!” (log holder & shelf/rack). 😉

[Pollard]

Every start pole beans in a Jiffy Pot?

[Pollard]

PELLET, Jiffy Pellet

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I have not, BUT - I may need to if Mr. Chipmunk keeps digging mine up!

Amazingly, I’ve seen green beans sold in 6 packs! How silly, but it might help in this situation.

My drying beans have germinated but none of the green pole beans, yet. I’ll investigate that in the morning - too hot outside tight now. ;)

I can’t see why it WOULDN’T work.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“...but not interesting enough to pry my wallet open.”

Me, either.

Sis and I went out to lunch today, then to Walmart for some misc. things and to look at the Garden Center.

Things are looking really nice, but it is PACKED with merchandise.

Usually after Father’s Day things wind down. They were marking down some of the more expensive stuff, we noted.

I am going to light a fire under my butt come morning (when it’s cool) and get the rest of the things planted - just a few more sunflowers to pop in and a few Zinnia.

Things are doing OK, but the dry weather is not helping. There’s just something about RAIN that makes all the difference. :( (I think we talked about that a few weeks back!)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

New puppy, 'Arikara' and 'old' puppy, 'Chief.'

[Pollard]

I’m trying some and will see how it goes.

A mouse got in the house and stole a bunch of beans I was trying to germinate. Evidently, Rattlesnake and Roma II pole beans are yummy because it stole all of those. I really want to grow/try some of the Rattlesnake beans. I’ve had ROMA II but will resow some just to see how they grow here.

For my mole issue, I’m going to dig a trench and shove hardware cloth down in a U shape.

Beans don’t like their roots disturbed and moles don’t are carnivorous but do disturb roots.

Yeah, they sell all sorts of odd veggie starts now. Sweet corn too.

[Qiviut]

Chief looks very ‘patient’ - love those big brown eyes. It’s fun watching puppies grow up & become hunting dogs or farm working dogs. The Collie has become very ‘protective’ ... all bark & fur, but doubt she would bite anyone. She flunked the snake test today- big rat snake sunning on the porch & she wouldn’t tackle chasing it off. There’s a bird nest in a hanging plant on the porch & that was likely the snake ‘attractant’.

[Qiviut]

4 sides of herb garden raised bed finished as of 10 tonight. Tomorrow, all 4 sections will go to the garden to be connected .... doing it on site because the whole thing together would be too heavy for me to move.

If plans work out, once I have it together, I am treating myself to a yard of topsoil from the local garden center - digging/hauling from the old brush pile in the back field is just more than I wish to handle in the heat. Per my calculations, I need 1.09 yards, so I will add a little compost to the topsoil & all should be good.

I am absolutely whipped right now 🥱

[Diana in Wisconsin]

How green is my valley? Pretty green, though still no rain in the forecast. A little 'crispy' around the edges. Field Corn in the center field strip, struggling to survive.

[Paul R.]

Hi, Diana - thanks. Since I was using a high end commercial “soil”, the Burpee’s Seed Starting Mix, and some of the containers were new (didn’t seem to matter -results were equally disastrous, new starter containers or old), I’m gonna run with the soil too wet. I don’t think I quite took well enough into account how astonishingly well these new “super soils” retain moisture and watered TOO “regularly” without rechecking the soil(s). Usually my problem is the opposite — I get overwhelmed with stuff to do, and don’t quite get back to the plants in time over a couple warm to hot low humidity days - so I get back to my starts a day too late to find they sprouted and then wilted in dry (soil) containers. :-(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

There’s a LOT of trial and error in seed starting. It ain’t for the faint of heart, LOL!

[Hot Tabasco]

I recently saw a couple Youtube videos on how to find any tomato worms on your plants. Get a black light flashlight and go out at night and shine it on your plants. No matter how small they are, the tomato worms will glow and you can easily pick them off......

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great advice. There are a few here who swear by that and have had great success ‘Tomato Hornworm Hunting.’

*SHUDDER* :)