OT: The Gardening Thread

[Ogre]

13 minutes ago, hsif said:

I harvested all the softneck garlic and am now drying/curing it....... and just started pulling the hardneck out of the ground to dry/cure. 

The question I have for experienced gardeners is...... I've now got a 15' by 20' piece of dirt where the garlic was. Is there a crop I could plant now that would do well into the fall? Zone 6 Rochester. Potatoes? Cabbage? This weekend, I did buy a couple of the "magnum" tomato plants and put them in the garlic garden, more or less as an experiment to see how much they will produce going into the ground this late in the growing season.

Peas, lettuce, spinach. Heck you have time for two more rounds of radishes. 

This is a 25 day radish. I’ll bet you’d also get a decent crop of beets. You’d at least have all those greens to eat.

[hsif]

not a radish eater...... but I'll try some spinach and potatoes.....

[Ogre]

Apparently chicks-n-hens occasionally flower. Who knew? They’ve been here for multiple years and this is the first time they’ve done this. 

[Ogre]

And this guy was gorgeous! Those light spots shimmered in the sun. You can’t tell from this pick but he had a big old lump in his belly where it dips down between those two rocks. 
Not too far up the digestive tract so he’d eaten it recently.....Good Boy!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

BLOODY HELL!!

[Ogre]

Zucchini and summer squash have gone bonkers. This is an everyday haul. Almost don’t want to eat the conjoined ones!

These little beauties are just starting to open their eyes!

[Ogre]

I didn’t get a pumpkin bigger than this guy last year so I’m somewhat encouraged.

[Ogre]

My potatoes are popping right out of the ground!  Adirondack Blue this year. I pruned the flowers this year so hopefully the taters are fat by fall.

Finally, we let Little Bear into the vegetable garden so she can get whatever Mr. Snake misses.

[Ogre]

5 hours ago, hsif said:

not a radish eater...... but I'll try some spinach and potatoes.....

I’m very interested in your results with the potatoes, in particular, at what point they flower. I was a little late with them last year and they flowered late. I had potatoes but they were small. It occurred to me that I should probably pinch the flowers if I wanted large taters. So far it seems like there’s a lot of them in each tire so I’m hoping they have some girth. (giggidy)

As far as those elderberries go, I’ve seen some on private property but nothing on the public lands. I’m not very good at recognizing them until they flower. I thought the town had dug all of ours out of the ditch(I’m guessing they didn’t flower last year)but there are some left after all now that I seen them flowering. Not a lot but enough for a pie and few jars of syrup. I hope you’ve stumbled onto better results.

[hsif]

Having a hard time finding seed potatoes...... I never knew eye inhibitor was a thing on store-bought taters. 

Elderberries are by far, easier to spot when flowering. I've located a couple of small bushes that will produce 3 or 4 pies.... but will purchase some from a fruit stand again this year. I planted 8 bushes at my house. This is the 2nd summer for the plants, and I'll maybe get a pie off them...... the funny thing was, that the plants flowered, but must not have pollinated...... there are very few berries compared to the flowers that were present, and the plants in my yard flowered WAY before the native elderberry plants I've seen around did.....

Edited July 14, 2020 by hsif

[Ogre]

24 minutes ago, hsif said:

the plants in my yard flowered WAY before the native elderberry plants I've seen around did.....

Different variety? I spent an hour and a half picking wild raspberries this morning and there are definitely two different varieties  of them here at Baileyshire. One has powdery looking berries, very bowl shaped. The other has rounder, darker, thimble like berries. They both end up in my belly. This morning they’re mixed in with my oatmeal. 
 

BTW, that a gallon sized container. I’ll easily fill that three times over before the season is done.(That’s container number two).

Edited July 14, 2020 by Ogre

[Ogre]

This squash plant came up in the middle of the popcorn from seed that had dropped from last years crop so I let it go to see what I’d get. 
 

Pretty weird. Yellow and bumps like a summer squash but obviously shaped like an acorn squash. 
 

Obviously those two are in the same species so I looked it up. Cucurbita pepo.

Do I pick it like a summer squash or let it go like an acorn? Maybe save it for seeds and see what I get next year?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

This seems to be a good place to put this warning, as I assume the culprit found me while I was gardening ...

I love deer, really, I do.  I do not like that they attract deer ticks that spread lyme.

Found something on my neck the other night.  Investigated and seemed to be scab from a scratched black fly bite.  Saw it again the next night (Wednesday night) and it was larger.  My wife carefully pulled it off and it was a deer tick large enough to clearly see it and it was intact (head was attached).  So, was in the process of engourging, but not finished.

I have a new doctor who is fantastic.  I am very happy that Canada has a different relationship with Cuba and Cubans than you guys.  She and her husband came to Canada years ago and she is an extemely well trained and educated doctor from Cuba.

Anyway, spent yesterday seeing her, picking up the single dose heavy duty anti-biotic and getting emergency blood work done (only by appointment, especially for rush tests during COVID).  I had a weird rash that is going away now, so doctor does not suspect lyme for that, but am doing the standard treatment for possible exposure.

I love Bambi.

But be very careful out there guys and gals.

[Ogre]

11 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

 Bambi.

be very careful out there guys and gals.

FTFY?

[Ogre]

So far the fishing line fence is working. I planted a TON of popcorn thinking I’d get an eighth of it. 
 

Now that I’ve seen what cross breeding can do, I’m slightly nervous I may not exactly end up with heirloom popcorn. We’ll see. I planted it tightly together so none of the local corn pollen would have much of a chance.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Ogre

[Ogre]

Just one reason I do all that hard work.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Blood work results in ... negative for Lyme.  Dodged that bullet.

[hsif]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/07/17/why-this-adorable-mouse-is-to-blame-for-the-spread-of-lyme-disease/

It's not always Bambi...... sometimes it's Mickey.

[Indabuff]

47 minutes ago, hsif said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/07/17/why-this-adorable-mouse-is-to-blame-for-the-spread-of-lyme-disease/

It's not always Bambi...... sometimes it's Mickey.

Finally.  I knew we'd eventually get some dirt on that goddam goody two-shoes rodent.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, hsif said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/07/17/why-this-adorable-mouse-is-to-blame-for-the-spread-of-lyme-disease/

It's not always Bambi...... sometimes it's Mickey.

BLOODY HELL!!

31 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

Finally.  I knew we'd eventually get some dirt on that goddam goody two-shoes rodent.

See above ...

[SwampD]

Finally killed the chipmunks burrowing into my foundation.

Unfortunately, my basement now smells like death,... and probably will for a while.

[Weave]

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

Finally killed the chipmunks burrowing into my foundation.

Unfortunately, my basement now smells like death,... and probably will for a while.

Mmmmm.... death

[Indabuff]

3 hours ago, SwampD said:

Finally killed the chipmunks burrowing into my foundation.

Unfortunately, my basement now smells like death,... and probably will for a while.

Embrace the stench.  It'll send a message to any other rat bastards not to ***** with you.

[Indabuff]

Got my Plumeria cutting in the mail.  Leaves fell off as anticipated but new foliage growth within a few days after repotting.  Unlikely to bloom this year but should get some nice flowering next season.

[Ogre]

Eyes wide open.