What have you done today in the Garden?

I have found the colored ones are better for mashing. I usually use the yellow fleshed ones for fries. But I don't have an air fryer or a deep fryer. I just cut them and put seasoning and oil on them, then they all go in my cast iron skillets and in the oven. They turn out great that way. I'm hoping the pink ones will be different because they're fingerlings.

 

I miss it so much! I absolutely loved that climate and location. I'm the opposite of you. Born and raised in the PNW. I am now in Milwaukee, which I think is considered midwest?

 

I've been through there in the early 70's. I hitch hiked from Mass. to B.C. Canada...in January, when I was 17. I thought it was nice but I really fell in love with B.C. Anyway, too expensive for me being on my own and on Social Security. If I were rich, different story !!

 

I managed to get the front garden sorted. Although rain has been "threatened" all we've had so far is thunder.

The tree is done.
There were a lot more, "stick-up-bits," than can be seen in the photo, particularly at the top. A case of putting the "stepladder," in two places on the lawn and then two on the "pavement" next to our low curtilage wall.
I couldn't reach the offending branches in the middle of the top even with the ladder. But I could reach them by standing under the tree and using my pruner that way. A case of walking half-way down the street a few times to see exactly where they were. I also tidied the azaleas, rhodos and viburnums.

Not the best view as there's another tree behind it in next door's garden.





Here in the UK, we still call it the "pavement," as they used to be made up of large concrete paving slabs. These are long gone.
The problem was the, "two wheels up on the kerb," of cars parked, as if you didn't and parked a car as you should, if there was another parked on the other side of the road, with our narrow suburban roads, cars could not pass between them.

Then there were lorries that did the same thing when making a delivery. Consequently, the paving stones over time often cracked due to the weight of the vehicles, so in the end, councils removed the paving stones and replaced them with tarmac.

Anyway all done and dusted. The lawn cut and the border weeded.

I even swept the pavement in front of the house and weeded the gutter.

"Back in the day," the council used to send a man with a little vehicle a couple of times a year and he'd spray the gutters with weedkiller. This doesn't happen now. They'll excuse it by saying it wasn't "eco friendly," but really they don't want to spend the money on it. Though, they do occasionally, send a vehicle to sweep the gutters. But of course with cars parked, "two wheels up on the kerb," much of it never gets swept.

It annoys me, as I never park my car anywhere other than in our drive. With most of the houses in our road, you can get two or three cars on the drives. But most don't bother if they've more than one car.

 

DHR sorry bout the council giving upon spraying the gutters and you were lucky they sprayed around your street and gutters a while back. No suck luck here had to do my own forever. With one exception the county has hired tree scalpers to remove roadside tree branches interfering with power lines.

Your Japanese maple is the bell of the ball. Just standing proud a nice specimen plant . It does look similar to one of mine
Of course this mini maple is trimmed differently but this cut lace leaf maple could be a cousin?
Japanese maple..Acer palmatum 'Otto's Dissectum'

 

@Doghouse Riley When I lived in Germany they parked half on the sidewalk along the side streets. I was appalled !!
In the US you'd a great big parking ticket for parking on the "sidewalk". Sidewalk because it's the place designated for pedestrians to walk along the side of the road. The "pavement" is what's put on the road as a surface to drive on. You get your driveway "paved" if you don't want to park in dirt.

When I first heard of people in UK walking on pavement I wondered why they didn't install sidewalks because on major roads here, like highways, there are no sidewalks and if you walk on the pavement you are in the right-of-way of the motor vehicles.

Very confusing until you realize the differences !!

 

The problem people face in the UK is that many suburban streets and houses were built before 1900, before cars were available. Many houses have very small front gardens and in industrial areas, no gardens at all. So nowhere to park a car except on the road.

 

I am behind as usual.

Some don't like this method, but if I get an in-ground yellow jacket nest in the yard, I pour a small amount of gasoline in the hole AT DUSK when they are all in there and then light it. I have never measured it. It is rare that I have had to do this. You do need to be really careful with this. This only gets the yellow jackets, and the gas burns off.

Another thing I have used on yellow jackets, is an empty milk jug, add something sweet like pancake syrup or such, and a similar amount of water to make it about 1/3 full. They go in to drink and drown. I had to do that when I still had my apple orchard (it got old and died off) because the dropped apples attracted a lot of yellow jackets. I used the apples and shared them as fast as I could, but the yellow jackets still came. Other kinds of bees might also drown.

We finally have some sunny weather, along with extreme heat advisories for the week. Yesterday, I mowed 3 sections of my yard, and took lots of breaks in this heat. Today, I mowed 4 sections, plus some. I have 2 more sections, and the pond path. I might save the pond path for cooler weather.

My friend brought my cattle panel the other day, so I hope to make that tunnel this week. (She does not take her trailer to town every day, so I had to wait.)

I had some chicken wire scraps, so I fenced my rhubarb babies so they are protected from something bothering them. I hope that helps them. It seems like something has been stomping them?

I got my first ripe tomato from the garden today, and a couple other not quite ripe tomatoes.

The pumpkin vines are HUGE and going crazy. I hope to take some pictures tomorrow? There are at least 3 gourds in among them so far. The vines will be good compost after frost. The other squash and cuke vines look good.

I guess I ought to remove my bush bean vines, I don't think they are doing much now. I can plant more beans or something else there instead.

I need to haul some of my homemade fertilizer to various plants. Maybe I can do that this week.

 

@AAnightowl you are really buzy. There is so much to do this time of year.

Thank you for your yellow jacket techniques . I have done those techniques you suggested in the past. I have a foam can of yellow bee spectracide foam to shoots down the opening to the nest. I will try again soon. Sneaking out at dusk seems to be the rule for not getting stung. It’s a tricky area to get to.

After mowing our gardens they always look so fresh and clean. Mowing is always a tricky issue sometimes ya never know when you could run into a ground bee situation. Be careful out there mowing I carry a can of spray that shoot off 5 feet but only for emergencies I carry in the seat compartment if my mower.

Sounds like you might have a deer running around your garden. The leaves on rhubarb are posionous the deer seem to know that & don’t bother mine . I like the huge leaves to make cement casting then paint them . Or making rhubarb pies. It’s sounds like your method to protect your plants is a good one.

Nice to hear your tomatoes and pumpkins are doing great. Isn’t it like magic to plant a veggie and in no time your harvesting . I never get over how a seed can grow so big and produce such large vegetables /crops.

Nice to hear all about your gardening updates. Hope to see pics soon. I remember last seasons pics were wonderful and your gardening style is amazing.

 

My X almost caught himself on fire using gasoline on a giant ant hill. It explodes when you light it and he got his eyebrows singed !!

DO NOT DO THAT !!

 

Today I trimmed and cleaned up the rest of the garlic.

I planted a Russian Sage and a Rudbeckia in bloom that I bought at the local small membership store.

I watered and pollinated squashes.

I harvested blackberries and figs. Such tasty fruits!




@Anniekay this is the hose timer I use. Mechanical, no electronics involved.



I set it for one hour for half of the garden, then switch the water lines and run for one hour on the other half.

 

@Daniel W too bad that I am not mechanically inclined. I barely know how my own legs work nevermind figuring out how to fix a timer between two hoses !!

I was going to get one you screw onto the tap and screw the hose on the other side. That's about all I can manage. Gimme an animal to train or some seeds to grow and THAT I can do, no problem !!

 

Daniel those figs look scrumptious.. lovely annuals bloomin and also like what you have done with your watering system.

It’s similar to b-Hive computer program installed a few years ago using miles of hoses and soakers it’s all automatic and on timers for several different zones set up by my DH several years ago. I think he set the system up outta self defense , just to have enough water left in the holding tanks by the end of the day for a shower .

Also elec set up black wire thru the outside wall to an electrical outlet.




Modular’s to set up on computer.

 

OMG @Pacnorwest !! What a puzzle that all is !! I wouldn't know if I were coming or going !!

 

OMG I feel the same way. Not sure if I’ll ever figure out how to reset it… that’s was the mind of my very intelligent DH. But it all works just great. Let’s just say it covers a few acres and over 12 different zones.