How about turning them under to enrich the soil? Chuck
What's Growing in the Garden
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That's too much work
. I'd also have to water the ground before I could till it.Seriously though, that is a good idea and doing that can really improve the soil over time. For me though, I till about 0.2 acre for garden, pumpkins and berries so not really worth it for my large area.
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Some bright yellow yarrow on a gloomy day.
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First sunflower of the year.
So we've been really dry here for several weeks now. My water tubs were getting pretty low but we just got hammered the past four days running with 4 inches just the past 24 hours. Was happy for the water, not happy for how it once again pulverized many of my mature lettuce plants. Is there some special trick to growing lettuce where it has to be protected from rain? Hard to believe it's so damned fragile. There were some really heavy downpours but I'm starting to wonder how anyone ever grew lettuce in this region before greenhouses & high tunnels.
Today I count 24 baby Saguaros.
................ Jerry (in Tucson)
................ Jerry (in Tucson)
We've been getting a lot of rainy cloudy weather with smoke from the wild fires in Quebec, but the peas are enjoying it. I think they are a little late this year. Looks forward to some fresh peas and baby potatoes.
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Part of today's harvest. Most of the broccoli and cauliflower will be frozen, the potatoes are for some potato salad to go with the brisket that is on the grill.
Nature’s bounty right before our very eyes!!! Chuck
I've been under the impression that the stem bending over is just a common trait, taken as a signal the bulb is at peak for harvesting. Many of the garlic growing guides I've seen say to wait for this to happen. But then again, I've never had good results in doing that. Haven't had "good" results growing garlic at all, here on Pestilence Farms.
Regardless, that looks like some mighty fine garlic. I'm envious.
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I learned from last years severe draught and I've increased my rainwater storage, now up to 325 gallons. The two open tubs grow algae and other muck, no issue at all. The only thing I care about is the mosquitos, so my son goes to the pond and catches a few small Blue Gill sunfish and they work mosquito patrol all season till the cold hits. Probably eating some of the algae too but this year we discovered some snails hitched a ride and are now keeping the tubs clean.
I've been using a method of fermenting plant waste in a bucket to create natural fertilizers and improve the soil micro-biome at the same time. It's been effective. I can't imagine algae, aquatic plant life, is going to be harmful.
Nice harvest. I pulled our onions today. The white were setting, the yellows we're down to just bulbs, and the reds were primarily spoiling. Don't think I will raise reds again.
Potatoes are ready for a quick mulching on the late planted ones and the early plants are starting to die off. Will be digging them next week, I reckon.
Potatoes are ready for a quick mulching on the late planted ones and the early plants are starting to die off. Will be digging them next week, I reckon.
My oldest son takes grain dust and ground up fish (less the fillets) and pours it into holes next to his tomato plants. He has a little wood lid over the hole and waters the plants through the hole. He pulls the first three bloom spikes before he allows fruit to set. He has to trim the plants with a machete when they get too big. Lots and lots of tomatoes. Oddly enough there is no smell of rotting fish either.
Alan
Alan
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My experience is that by the time the stems are bent, the outer wrapper layers on the bulb have started to break down. No problem with that, but the garlic won't store long term. I try to harvest when 3-4 green leaves are left on the top of the plants. These are all hardneck, don't know if the same ”rules" apply for softneck varieties.
Garden continues to grow well overall. Late last week I harvested the remaining garlic scapes, plus the first few snap peas. Tomorrow morning I'll go out and harvest some more peas and lettuce - there will be lots of salads eaten in the coming days. With lots of sun, some heat (though nothing like any of you guys have had), and very little rain, we've been doing a lot of watering, though thankfully no longer need to do it near daily at this point. After I took this pic, I gently went at the squash and moved it to go up the trellis, since it's now big/long enough to weave it through a couple levels of the string on the trellis.
Corn is over knee high, which I wasn't sure what to expect out of these varieties as to how fast they would gain any height, considering the Blue Jade corn is only supposed to grow to be about 3' tall and the Strawberry Popcorn to be about 4' tall.
Broccoli seems to be a failure. Plants have gotten to be a good size, but have then bolted - sending up a small head, no bigger than a quarter, which has opened to flowers near immediately. Will be pulling the plants later this week, when I have the time to, and will maybe try it again next year, but for a fall harvest instead. My bok choy bolted early too, last month. At least the brussel sprout plants seems to be doing well, showing no signs that they're going to bolt. But, so far we just haven't had good success growing anything in the brassica family in our attempts over the last few years.
Corn is over knee high, which I wasn't sure what to expect out of these varieties as to how fast they would gain any height, considering the Blue Jade corn is only supposed to grow to be about 3' tall and the Strawberry Popcorn to be about 4' tall.
Broccoli seems to be a failure. Plants have gotten to be a good size, but have then bolted - sending up a small head, no bigger than a quarter, which has opened to flowers near immediately. Will be pulling the plants later this week, when I have the time to, and will maybe try it again next year, but for a fall harvest instead. My bok choy bolted early too, last month. At least the brussel sprout plants seems to be doing well, showing no signs that they're going to bolt. But, so far we just haven't had good success growing anything in the brassica family in our attempts over the last few years.
So nice to see such a prolific garden! Chuck
Explains why mine never had intact wrappers on them while I was hoping they where developing more, waiting for them to bend over. Never planted any this past fall, just couldn't come to terms with the possibility that I'd STILL be in the Jersey cesspool. Hopefully this fall, up north.
I've tried to bury fish I've caught (minus the fillets-lol) in the garden. Something always digs them up.
I wise old lady (my Mom) told me that coffee grounds were good for rose bushes. Banana peels as well. So I've been saving the grounds this year. Any truth or use with them?