Papa Pea finished the huge job of mowing today. Yes, we absolutely have to wear our bugshirts when doing ANYTHING outside. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The biting bugs are horrendous this year. Ugh.
I put eight full trays of mint in the dehydrator today. That's the first cutting of mint for the season.
One of our peony bushes has a gazillion (okay, only half a gazillion) buds on it this year.
And look what I cut to bring in today. (The blooms are FULL of ants!)
Checking out the strawberry patch, I found many plants with lots of developing berries on them.
And one beautiful berry that is already ripe. The very first one always goes to my husband as strawberries are his most favorite fruit.
About every four years I lose my senses and try planting corn. Again. This isn't a good picture, but I got 100% germination on the four 12-foot rows planted. Now if we have warm enough weather and the stalks don't get flattened by some of our crazy wind storms . . .
I just hilled the potatoes up for the second time and they're lookin' good.
As with the corn, every few years I pretend I'm Ruth Stout and try planting a few potatoes under straw mulch. So far, this method seems to be doing what it usually does for me. Only half of the eyes have popped up with sturdy green vines.
A week ago, I planted seeds for some mini pumpkins, little things only 3" across that I would like for fall decorations, next to each side of the garden trellis. Seed packet says germination should take place in 7-14 days. Nuttin' yet. (The garden soil looks cracked and dry, but right beneath the surface it's quite moist as we've had many cool and wet days. That could be slowing up the sprouting of the seeds, too.)
Shell peas are coming along. Slowly. (So are the rocks. Always the rocks.)
The cabbages are growing great. Both the green and red ones.
That's all for now. More to come if all goes well. Some sprouts are so small yet they're not ready for their close-ups!
Always love seeing what’s going on with your gardens. I felt a little better seeing your peas. The rabbits got most of my first ones and I’ve replanted. Still waiting for some decent growth.Good luck with your corn. I have read Ruth Stout’s book over and over! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteWow, your peonies are about a month behind of those around here (I don't have any). My "losing my senses" garden project is butternut squash. Never had much luck with winter squash, but I had room and my guys LOVE the butternut lasagne I make....
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed I don't see any weeds! I usually have more weeds than veggies. :o And your cabbage! Every time I try to grow cabbage, the moths devour the poor things.
ReplyDeleteI just pulled all my pea plants the other day; done for the season. It's lovely to see the fresh green of yours. I hope your corn does well! Just this once!
Jenn - We would be having rabbit stew if those little critters ate my peas! Weird aside, whenever I think of Ruth Stout I'm filling with envy (jealousy?) because her sister lived with her and her husband and created wonderful meals each day with the produce from Ruth's garden. Oh, to have a live-in cook during gardening season when I'm so (happily) occupied outside and there is an abundance of glorious freshness to use!
ReplyDeleteMichelle - Good luck with your squash! I didn't plant any squash this year except for the zucchini which my husband will wonder about me 'cause we all know the plant will produce way more than we can ever use. Our good neighbors grow a winter squash and always share with us so we'll have some from them.
Leigh - Ya know, I've never had cabbage moths attack my cabbage, but they so love my broccoli. Papa Pea has promised to keep the broccoli protected with organic sprays and dustings this year plus I've planted dill between each broccoli plant which is supposed to keep the moths away from them. We'll see how that actually works!
Everything is just beautiful! So glad to see a post from you! Love the deep pink peonies. I think Papa Pea has my bug jacket....
ReplyDeleteCurious about how much rain you have had lately. A snippit I heard on the news said Minn. has been in a multi-year drought, but had received a lot of rain???
How do you keep critters from eating your strawberries. I'm about to give up on growing them.
I did the dill thing with the brassicas last year...helped a bit...but am resorting to a floating row cover this year.
Rosalea - About a week ago we had a HUGE rain storm that dropped from 3" to 8" on various parts of our county. Many roads were washed out and many hiking trails are still closed because of severe damage. Even main highways have been reduced to one lane traffic until repairs can be made. It may be that the southern part of the state (Minnesota is a big state) is still suffering drought conditions but that's no longer the case here. Re the strawberries, we've been extremely lucky in that neither the birds nor chipmunks/squirrels do much damage to our strawberries. There are always a few pulled off the plant and left half eaten (grrr), but (so far) it's been nothing serious. We've tried floating row covers over our broccoli and I think we had as many worm invaders (yuck!) as without the coverings. We've found it nearly impossible to keep the covers tight enough on all four sides so that the white butterflies (moths) don't sneak in to feast and lay their eggs. Gardening is always fun, isn't it? ;o)
ReplyDeleteRabbits ate all of our tomatoes, so we've had to replant and fence that area. We are currently looking for sale price fencing for the other. We have never had any problems with rabbits until this year. It's been one heck of a garden year for sure. I'm now looking for Ruth Stouts's book. I have never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I were both huge Ruth Stout fans. So, of course we tried the plant and cover with hay system, too. Not very good results. Then, I kept studying Ruth. She was a cagey old gal! She told the truth, but the truth often hid the facts. Her garden was deep in old hay compost. When she planted her spuds, they were laying in/on deep hay compost. Then when she covered them with hay, she didn't put fresh horse hay on 'em. She added 'spoiled hay,' which is another way to say partially composted wet rotten hay. That works! It's easier for me and Henry Ford to just plant 'em and hill 'em the old fashioned way. Any way you do it, fresh spuds from the garden is the treat! Cheers
ReplyDeletePioneer Woman at Heart - Ugh, so sorry to hear about the rabbits destroying your tomatoes. There's no way we could garden in our area without high fencing to keep all the little and big critters out. Got our first harvest (small) of strawberries yesterday and the only damage I saw was a few small holes in a couple of the berries from slugs. Don't know how to fence them out!
ReplyDeleteTim - Yep, I've learned the hard way that old or half-rotten straw is the only way to go if using Ruth Strout's method. New hay, at least, has way too many seeds in it! When I did my 8' long row in a garden bed this year with leftover potato eyes, I did have old straw I used. But having used all of it for other mulching (new post coming), I had to spread new straw on those emerging potato vines. Probably a good thing I'm not depending on those spuds in that raised bed to feed us through the winter!
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