What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Zeedman]

Haven't been doing much in the gardens, other than waiting for them to dry out. But I ordered 4 Japanese beetle traps on 7/2, which were supposed to be delivered 7/9. At the end of the day on the 9th, I checked the status - and it had been canceled on the last day, as "unavailable"! Odd that the seller would commit to a date, then wait for the last day to back out. I had hoped to be prepared for the arrival of the JBs; but now they are starting, and I'll have to look elsewhere for the traps... and hope I find some before the big surge. Meanwhile, I'll be using my soap spray on the beetles which are appearing on my soybeans.

Oh, and while I was out spraying... the Grandson was over, and asked me what the weird wasps were that he saw on the soybeans. It was a pair of adult Squash Vine Borers! Don't know what they were doing on the soybeans, I have no squash in the home gardens. I was glad to have the spray bottle in hand, those moths are QUICK! Not quick enough to escape the spray though.

 

[flowerbug]

i haven't found soap sprays to be effective on JB's @Zeedman.

it just started raining here so i'm not sure i'll be doing anything in the gardens today. yesterday and the day before i was weeding and removing some plants and generally putzing about. did i say anything about purselane? most of what i'm removing now is either purselane or crab grass (especially along the edges closest to the grassy areas). the other weed that is usually in the gardens is the oxalis type plants that are grouped as wood sorels by me but i don't identify each type but i'm sure there are several here.

 

[Zeedman]

i haven't found soap sprays to be effective on JB's @Zeedman.

In a quart, I use a mixture of about 1/3 alcohol, 2/3 water (to fill), insecticidal soap (a little stronger than the recommended percentage) and... a generous tablespoon of maple syrup (or canola oil). After the last ingredient, I shake vigorously until the syrup is dissolved, or the oil is emulsified. The alcohol paralyses on contact, the soap acts as a wetting agent, and the syrup/oil asphyxiates, If wetted down completely, this will kill JB, wasps, squash bugs, or anything else it is sprayed on. The only insect I can't kill with it is cucumber beetles. If used as a spot spray, I find no need to rinse it off, since it causes little to no leaf burn.

 

[digitS']

Interesting mix, @Zeedman . If you haven’t sent that to the Cooperative Extension people, you should.

the other weed that is usually in the gardens is the oxalis type plants that are grouped as wood sorels by me but i don't identify each type but i'm sure there are several here.

That’s another! I’d say “singular” because I think that there is only one oxalis. Prickly Lettuce with a few others like Dandelion.

Here at home the Knotweed, Black Medic, and Quack Grass joins the group although the later 2 can be found in the distant garden. There’s more variety at home probably because there is a mix of shade and sun and with veggie and flower beds here for 120 years.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

A busy afternoon in the gardens, with DW & DD again helping. We weeded & then covered all 11 of the pepper cages today, to grow pure seed. The sad thing is that any peppers already pollinated (and any open flowers) are considered to be contaminated, and must be removed before the covers are closed. The rain has prevented us from covering the cages for 3 weeks, so some of those peppers were 2-4" long. We kept all the largest for eating.

DW finished weeding & thinning the sweet corn, which came up much better than expected. Some of the garlic was ready for harvest too: Carpati, Ron's Single Center, and the unknown hard neck which was growing in DW's flower garden. Having observed the "unknown" & compared it to the varieties I've grown previously, I believe it is Georgian Fire. The garlic looks really great, I'll post some photos once I purchase a download cable for the new phone.

On the downside... the heavy rains are really taking a toll on the rural garden. Much of the soil is waterlogged, and some plants throughout the garden are chlorotic & wilting. I was walking through mud to harvest the garlic, which fortunately was above the water line in the raised bed. The garden needs to dry out for some plants to be saved, but with more rain in the forecast, all I can do is hope it passes by quickly. One more "rain train" could wipe out much of the gains from the early start.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I put in a bunch of 8 foot stakes and lashed some cattle panel roof over a bunch of tomatoes. They are loaded and it is really wet so I am stringing them to the sky to keep them dry.

 

[flowerbug]

In a quart, I use a mixture of about 1/3 alcohol, 2/3 water (to fill), insecticidal soap (a little stronger than the recommended percentage) and... a generous tablespoon of maple syrup (or canola oil). After the last ingredient, I shake vigorously until the syrup is dissolved, or the oil is emulsified. The alcohol paralyses on contact, the soap acts as a wetting agent, and the syrup/oil asphyxiates, If wetted down completely, this will kill JB, wasps, squash bugs, or anything else it is sprayed on. The only insect I can't kill with it is cucumber beetles. If used as a spot spray, I find no need to rinse it off, since it causes little to no leaf burn.

try sometime to spray one and then put it someplace inside you can track if it moves. i've dropped hand picked JBs into a soap and water solution and let them sit in there for a few hours and then dumped it out only to find the JBs crawling away a while later. i'd be surprised they can't survive what you're doing to them... now when i'm out in the gardens when i pick JBs off the plants i squash them in my fingers and drop them on the ground. if i'm going through the effort of hand picking i want to know the dang boogers are dead!

 

[flowerbug]

making progress on getting the north garden taken care of. still a few days to go.

Mom finished up what she was doing so she helped scrape the edges where nothing else is at so she doesn't have to worry about other plants being in the way or slowing things down. in a half hour she can scrape those edges while at the same time it takes me to do a row and get around the bean plants. as this garden is without fences some of the bean plants are being chewed off the tops a bit and the deer are also eating the purselane and lambs quarters. so far they've mostly ignored the comfrey (which in the early spring they'll eat) and it is blooming and keeping the native bees happy. there's a lot of other bee forage around here also loaded with the native bees and also some honey bees.

i don't know who has hives around here but the bee farmer has not put hives out back this season and it is nice to be able to have the bird baths not get swarmed by bees all the time.

the weather is cooperating again today so i'll hope to get more rows done. it is coming along.

 

[Zeedman]

try sometime to spray one and then put it someplace inside you can track if it moves. i've dropped hand picked JBs into a soap and water solution and let them sit in there for a few hours and then dumped it out only to find the JBs crawling away a while later. i'd be surprised they can't survive what you're doing to them... now when i'm out in the gardens when i pick JBs off the plants i squash them in my fingers and drop them on the ground. if i'm going through the effort of hand picking i want to know the dang boogers are dead!

I agree about some beetles reviving later. If I use soap & water only, I've seen that happen... and even with the spray I use now, most of the cucumber beetles will revive unless I hit them a second time. But for the JBs, it is very effective. I just sprayed again before posting this, and found some of the carcasses of the beetles sprayed yesterday. The spray is also very handy for killing paper wasps, if they nest in bad locations... once sprayed, the wasps just drop.

 

[digitS']

Eating cucumbers and brought zucchini home for dinner. Okay, okay the cucumbers are from a friend's garden and I don't eat zucchini, willingly!

The zucchini plants look kinda rough but are producing. Our cucumbers look good but it will be awhile. Winter squash is growing well and The Melons Look Amazing! A couple of years ago, many failed completely in the up and down temperatures of 2018. I guess it was the down temperatures that knocked them out.

Put some more fertilizer on the corn that's fixin to tassel. The first corn set out (out of the picture) will be producing before long. Yay!

Ran the tiller for a little over an hour and figured that tilling could go on for another hour and I just didn't want to do it! Besides, the temperature was well above 80°f (28°C) and on its way to 99° (37°C), where it's at right now. Only 9% humidity - dry as toast.

Steve