What Did You Do In The Garden?

[akroberts]

Weeding and picked some cherry tomatoes, a yellow squash and 2 strawberries yesterday.

 

[ducks4you]

I had more help yesterday. The 21yo weed whacked along my east fence of the south pasture, all except for the burdock. He used my chainsaw and took the tops off of several trees. The boys, who had ignored them, found the leaves to suddenly be a delicacy.
I cleared out the piles of burdock in the training area, 3 tow wagons full, and burned them in the Inner Sanctum. Burned pretty hot, and the ashes show a shadow of the burrs. This Does burn up the seeds, too.
I made SURE to get all of the cut bindweed. Dry bindweed will rehydrate and regrow. There were about 20 bindweed seed pods that got burnt, too.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

It’s been very cool for mid August. No rain just dry lightening storms, that have started two more wildfires . Adding to smoky skies.

We need rain hundreds of thousands of acres have burned in our state alone . More burned than previous records.
I am enjoying the cooler 70’s temps and a break from manic/panic watering . In fact I have turned off the watering system last week. Most plants are shutting down . So preserving water.in the ground well.

Just using the blower to remove those pesky needles off the roof , driveway, walkways and patios. Yikes. A gardeners work is never done.

 

[mikethegardener]

Ashamed a bit, but been kind of lazy in the last month. Need to address that and correct myself.
But one thing that I did was think about changing the furniture. Thinking of rattan. Anyone with experience in it? I mean something like this set.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Hey it’s ok to be lazy… we all have those days too.
We have a storm watch today . Rain is coming. Very odd this time of year.

 

[Branching Out]

Spent a few hours washing pots, 6-cells, and nursery trays so I can store them indoors until I need them again in spring. It felt good to tidy up a bit!

 

[digitS']

Moved the last of the grass sod compost into buckets. Dug out and moved the chives – 7 bunches, anyway. And, moved the compost onto that ground.

It's been a slow process taking all that sod up, piling it in a not very good place, and allowing it to compost. Using it for mulch most recently, I thought that I would be pulling the first planting of bush beans and putting it there. But, the beans are staying healthy this year and beginning to produce a second crop. That bed could use more compost because it had little to start the season.

The compost bins in their every year locations are stuffed and have been all season. I can be emptying them into garden beds after the first frosts if the weather doesn't turn too quickly to Winter conditions. With the frost-killed plants, a couple of the new beds should gain a good amount of organic matter and be primed for 2025. The old beds can mostly be ignored since there were so many years with me struggling to get almost too much material into them. I know , having a bounty of compostables has been a Very Fortunate situation.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

...I know , having a bounty of compostables has been a Very Fortunate situation.

Steve

true! i've really been regretting how many buckets of weeds and seeds i've been having to put on the weed pile. the pile is back where it is because that is a low spot that we need to fill in anyways, but also because it is a spot i'll never want to dig back out again, all those weed seeds can stay there for evah!

today i was weeding a garden where i could actually bury most of the weeds for a change so i didn't feel quite so bad.

i also verified that my method of cleaning up a weedy garden is very efficient compared to other methods because the past few days i was using other methods and trying things and it was taking way too long to get that garden done. today i did a few rounds of scraping and picking weeds out of the scrapings and that was taking quite a long time because there were a lot of individual sprouts and not just single larger weeds taking up space. the best method was still getting a spot cleared, dig a hole and then burying what i could skim off the surface of the weeds. as long as there aren't too many weed seeds it's faster. this only works though if you can actually skim the surface and have enough area to dig a hole and bury stuff.

 

[SPedigrees]

What to do with the tomato over-abundance? I suppose it's time to start freezing batches to be combined later into a spaghetti sauce. This is after consigning a good amount of tomatoes to a large bowl of salsa that I'm still working my way through, and salad every night.

This has been a second summer of rain, and I wish we could have sent it to those who need(ed) it badly, ridding ourselves of it. I watch the Phoenix Arizona weather everyday, and when it rains there I water my cacti. It's been at least a month since they've had a drop of water.

I think "my" hummingbirds have left on their southward migration. They were having a feeding frenzy this past week at the jewelweed flowers, fueling up for the journey ahead and draining the feeder of nectar everyday. Now there seem to be only a handful of the little birds and they behave differently, skittish around me, so I'm guessing these are migrants from Canada, strangers to this area, following in the wake of my "regulars." Safe travels little birdies all!

I'm wondering what to do with this cluster of vines. The roses used to be dominant but just this past summer the kiwi vine has also come into its own and I fear may be too much for the trellises. After caring for it for nearly 10 years, the thought of cutting it down is disturbing, but it needs something bigger and far more substantial to climb on. I tied it back around itself to keep it from invading the propane tanks, but I know it's not happy or comfortable with this arrangement. Obviously I was lacking in foresight when I planted it. Even if I could transplant it, I have no place suitable to move it to. Dilemmas....

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@SPedigrees enjoy your garden stories and dilemmas. After all your garden critters , pics and adventures are always interesting.