What Did You Do In The Garden?

[flowerbug]

...

During what should have been a mid-day siesta in the 90 degree heat, drove out to the rural garden to check on the garlic (a pleasant breeze there made it bearable). All but 2 varieties were ready; so dug them, let the roots dry for about an hour, brushed off most remaining dirt, and bundled them to be hung. We always hung those in the patio to cure; but that room is currently 1/2 way through a complete rebuild... I'll need to put up some hooks in the garage tomorrow. Photos to follow.

the garlic here went from almost all green to ready in less than a week. i was hoping to lift it this weekend but i think i'll be doing it tomorrow instead. not too many bulbs. just enough for us to eat and a few for replanting.

gotta get out this morning and water everything well. probably no time to pick peas and beans. too busy with other things today to do much else.

 

[baymule]

Is there a variety of black eyed peas where the plants don’t get so rank?

Nope.

 

[baymule]

My “garden” now consists of 3 pots of walking onions, thanks to @Zeedman . I watered them.

 

[digitS']

Mostly running sprinklers but there was an hour of weeding before that had to start. It looks like my tilling last week was fairly effective for weed control - pleased about that. Good to be home and to the AC with the thermometer above 90°f (32°C) at the moment.

Peas came home again today and with them, a couple of plants' worth of new potatoes. Marilyn Monroe wouldn't have had any trouble carrying them in a handbag but we had plenty for a couple of servings for the afternoon meal .

Prime year for bok choy and the plants there were bolting. Not discouraged, we just carried off the tops and are happy with those at the table. More Tiara cabbage was harvested for a gift on the way home. That variety makes nice little side sprouts to be harvested later. Sort of larger size Brussel sprouts but much more to my liking .

We are clearing out the cabbage patch fairly quickly and last week's spraying of Spinosad looks like it didn't harm any plants despite it being mid-day. There was no sign of living cabbage worms on anything. The sow thistle in the fallow neighbor's garden is sticky with aphids. Yuck! Very little nightshade around - I don't know why. That is a prime host for potato beetles but now I see that sow thistle hosts aphids in a major way!

Filled up with gas while we waited to turn off the sprinklers and it was good to see that transportation to and from the distant garden won't be costing quite as much. Oh, and the mower was out there today for a quick run on the border with the neighbor's lawn.

Steve

 

[Phaedra]

Arranged two simple bouquets from the urban garden in Cologne:
Foxtail amaranth, mints, sunflower, and wild carrot

One for my FIL one for me

 

[flowerbug]

picked peas and beans. having fresh steamed peas/pods for lunch. will do the beans later today.

was hoping to get the garlic lifted but not going to happen.

 

[flowerbug]

garlic did get lifted this morning. it wasn't too difficult to do as i hadn't planted nearly as much as before. 10-15 bulbs worth.

in the past i've used the hose to rinse the dirt off the bulbs, but this year i decided to try something different and used a brush to get the dirt off after i trimmed off the dry leaves and the roots. so now it is in the garage to finish drying and curing. i wouldn't want to leave it out in the sun all day in this heat.

bulb size was moderate to large on all of them. i'd planted pretty large cloves to begin with so that always gives them a better chance of being larger, but also where i planted them was in pretty good topsoil that's seen a fair amount of weeds being buried in the past few years so there should have been plenty of nutrients and enough organic matter out there for them and there was.

the only crop that garden will grow that the deer will not eat. onions did have some tops munched off (probably by accident because the deer were going after the bean plants).

also managed to get a bunch of pathways and gardens weeded including the squash patches and the large other bean garden that has still got some bean plants growing in there. all this done before 9:30 and i had to make sure Mom was not overdoing it herself in this heat. gladly when i came in i found out she was in and decided herself that it was too much for her out there. she may not always listen to me.

time for breakfast.

 

[Phaedra]

Brought the fresh sunflower seeds to the chickens

 

[digitS']

garlic did get lifted this morning

Wash? Trim?

Notice that I have the motion detection camera for security. DW claims that garlic is very expensive at the store 🤷‍♂️. I asked if she wanted me to start sleeping in the carport but I don't think she took me seriously .

Steve
it's called a carport but in nearly 30 years, i've never seen a car in there. it's at the very back of the lots and lots of lawngrass would have to be driven over to arrive there. "the garage" is next door - previous owner put a wood floor in there and turned it into a workshop. okay, we can go with that .

 

[flowerbug]

View attachment 50561
Wash? Trim?

You Raise Me Up! they look like they'll cure fine there.

i wanted to try something different than what i'd done before. i figured cutting the roots off is ok as that is mostly water and i didn't want to wait for those roots to be fully dry before putting the bulbs in box tops so they could finish drying. getting the dirt off without using water was another goal since i wanted to see how the brush worked. it went ok. not super quick but not really too bad. acceptible for how many bulbs i had and the time to get it done. worked out. i didn't trim all the leaves or stems off as they were not fully dried yet - i only trimmed off what had already turned brown and crunchy. within a few weeks after they're fully dried i'll remove the scapes and leaves and check everything for soundness before i put them into a dark spot (wrapped in old towels).

Notice that I have the motion detection camera for security. DW claims that garlic is very expensive at the store 🤷‍♂️. I asked if she wanted me to start sleeping in the carport but I don't think she took me seriously .

Steve
it's called a carport but in nearly 30 years, i've never seen a car in there. it's at the very back of the lots and lots of lawngrass would have to be driven over to arrive there. "the garage" is next door - previous owner put a wood floor in there and turned it into a workshop. okay, we can go with that .

sometimes just going with it is great.