Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[ducks4you]

Puppies are napping right now, me, too, SOON. House training is...progressing, but when they hide their poo and run to the back door to go out, we are making headway. They know their names And "sit" now.
MEANWHILE, there IS some gardening going on at Duck's place...
I have been harvesting both hot peppers and tomatoes from my pots. Here are 2 shots of the front yard peppers and the pot where I started basil, died, started marigolds, died, sprouted zinnias and 1/6 nasturtiums.

 

[ducks4you]

Went to LOWE's Thursday, didn't quite find what I wanted. I have a stump of a tree that is fairly tall, and a wild raspberry is growing around it, about 7 ft tall now. I left it growing bc when you back up in our driveway towards to barn, you might hit the stump.
I was looking for the same as I bought a couple of years ago and used to stiffen up my chicken wire fencing most recently used for growing peas, and, in the past for growing pole beans. Looks a lot like this:

LOWE's doesn't carry them, so I had to settle for this, instead, bought 4 of them:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gardener-s-Blue-Ribbon-72-in-Red-Metal-Stake/1001462392?store=80&cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-PMAX_LWN_000_Priority_Item_Omni-_-1001462392-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22872375781&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W-CvDOgAU2yZcaPPxsaUtJtv&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJTGBhCbARIsANFBfgsa9e1KVMBhQCuH6dw3OxEtlJQ7gHV-1oxaWN8nLx-p668GdLbb3LQaAvTIEALw_wcB

I need to both chop down the raspberries, pound in some rebar to create holes about one ft deep, then remove the chicken wire fencing poles and REPLACE them with the new red ones.
I gotta have Something there so we don't slam a car into the stump!
I have some flourescent spray paint to paint on the tops to see them in the dark, too.

 

[ducks4you]

Bigger store is the LOWE's wanted me to jump through hoops to collect on a measly $10 "rewards" (from a >$3K appliances purchase).
I printed the information out today so that next week I can go back and get them to give me my rewards.
Customer service has become nonexistent at many box stores.
I NEED to get more bolts for my tow wagon, so I will try again.
MEANWHILE, I bought some clearance plants. I picked up 3 mums, too small to transplant this Fall, but I'll bring them in to overwinter after I transplant them to a bigger pot for the front for "Fall decorating." pictures later on that...
Good price, $2/each, just potbound and dried out--another week and they would have been toast. I gave them a good watering.
I also was on the hunt for replacement office plants for youngest DD, who killed off her spider plant and brought home a flourishing Amaryllis, currently NO office plants. She will be hard put to kill This one.

 

[ducks4you]

I removed and transferred the label for this plant, WITH care instructions on a scan code. It had enough glue to stick to my ceramic blue pot. You can see that I Could have divided this--later...
This is a hybrid aloe. I liked it bc it has a blue tinge AND I pulled off a short pup With roots And a smaller one.
I have read that you air dry a succulent leaf and that's when it develops roots.
DD has a very small ceramic castle with it's own tiny plastic pot. I plan to transplant the little ones to it for her desk.

 

[ducks4you]

Yesterday puppies and I took a field trip to the south side of the big garden. I harvested 13 medium sized tomatoes there and 2 more from the pot by the house.
I have read about various ways to plant your tomatoes:
1) transplant them like a tree, hole big enough for the roots, stem just above dirt level
2) transplant with the stem buried and on it's side and shallow
3) deep transplant, which is what I have done for years
I planted Mine this year about 14 inches deep, with dried manure on the bottom of the holes and compost, then fill back in the dirt. I used a hand auger and expanded each tomato hole, as you would planting a tree.
The LAST TIME I WATERED THESE TOMATOES was the beginning of July. We have had a terrible and ongoing drought.
Even yesterday there with t storms that delayed the Purdue football game but passed US by...aGAIN.
I recommend deep transplant. If you have a drought year, you can establish the tomatoes early, water them When you can, and still get a harvest, like I am doing this year.
NOBODY in my family volunteered to water them while I recovered from surgery, so they were left out to fend for themselves and succor whatever rain we Did get this summer.
IF the year was wet, they would have also flourished here bc it is not a low lying area prone to flooding and they would have taken off.
DD's are away this weekend. DH and I had lettuce salad with a cut onion, canned tunafish and tomatoes for dinner last night.

 

[ducks4you]

I used broth to make a roast one week ago and couldn't pass up the opportunity to make MORE broth.
Poot puppies had to smell this all week, as I am taking them out at 3AM and not getting enough sleep to finish the pressure canning. It was still bubbling when I took the 5 jars out to cool.
I took puppies out this morning,let them wolf inside and finished the borthing, deep, dark beef broth for the Fall/Winter consumption.