What's Growing in the Garden

Just heard that we did have a small EF 1 tornado that was confirmed a few miles east of us.

On the way to town tonight to grab a sandwich, saw a ~1500 bu hopper bin laying in the middle of corn field about a half mile from where it was previously sitting.
That is wild. Hope that’s it for you.
 
Just watched the local weather, and talking about another couple rounds tomorrow. One in the morning with just minor thunderstorms. Then clearing around noon with sunshine all afternoon. Late afternoon, storms will start again with winds up to 70 mph and potential for 2"+ hail. Not really worried about the hail, historically, we just don't get much. The winds I can do without.... Hoping it stays cloudy all afternoon...
 
Just watched the local weather, and talking about another couple rounds tomorrow. One in the morning with just minor thunderstorms. Then clearing around noon with sunshine all afternoon. Late afternoon, storms will start again with winds up to 70 mph and potential for 2"+ hail. Not really worried about the hail, historically, we just don't get much. The winds I can do without.... Hoping it stays cloudy all afternoon...
Will be thinking about you. Alexa is handy to check on weather conditions. We use that feature to see what is going on.
 
Just watched the local weather, and talking about another couple rounds tomorrow. One in the morning with just minor thunderstorms. Then clearing around noon with sunshine all afternoon. Late afternoon, storms will start again with winds up to 70 mph and potential for 2"+ hail. Not really worried about the hail, historically, we just don't get much. The winds I can do without.... Hoping it stays cloudy all afternoon...
I would just cut the top off that white pine and red pine flat across and put a bird house on both and enjoy them a few more years before hitting the burn pile.
 
Down here when we get pine tree damage like that during a thunderstorm it is an indication that there may have been a little twister come through. These yellow pines are pretty flexible and it takes a strong sustained wind to break one off. When that hurricane went through Lake Charles a year or so ago it sheared the tops off of all the trees along the interstate. Cat 4 winds will do that.

Alan
Alan, you beat me to it.

Tim, so glad all you experienced was some snapped trees!
 
Dug a hill of potatoes for supper tonight. Largest is about 2" diameter. Happy to report they were delicious!

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I would just cut the top off that white pine and red pine flat across and put a bird house on both and enjoy them a few more years before hitting the burn pile.

That's a good idea! Both still have a few branches below the breaking point and putting a house on top of each of them gives me a good excuse for not cutting them down :good2:
 
Well, all is not bad news with the wind damage. Took a walk tonight to check raspberries on backside of the property and look what I found.

Nice sized honey locust blown down. Approximately 20" DBH, should cut up into a lot of blanks. Only problem is with beans up in the adjacent field, no way to get to it other than walking. Guess it will have to wait until fall to get any of it out of there.

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One of the worst problems with good dense hardwoods is getting the tree from where it grew to where it can be used without a major construction project just to get the tree.

I've got a couple of big mesquite trees, dead but still standing, that may as well be on the moon for all it's going to take to get them out. But I guess that's why they get so big. Nobody is whacking at them for their whole lives....

Alan
 
@Sprung
Got some cherry pit syrup going, and wow! Only been a few hours and already tastes incredible. Going to let it go overnight before I strain and bottle it, but I don't anticipate it lasting long.....
 
Yup, it won't last long, lol! Good thing is you don't need much of it to give some good cherry flavor to whatever you're adding it to.
 
The fruit just keeps coming. Wild black raspberries are starting to ripen. Picked a little over a quart tonight.

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Update on my hydroponic cucumbers. Doing great. pulled about a dozen so far but I can see at least 2 dozen more in various stages. My only concern now is running out of water. Putting more water in is very tricky. If you put too much you'll drown them. DAMHIKT. It's still about 35-40% full I think!

First picture May 18th ---------- 2nd June 1st ---------- 3rd 6/10 added netting ------------- 4th 6/29 vines have grown up to top of netting--------------------------------------------------------------------------- needed step ladder to help ----------and back down halfway

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Actually there's 2 plants in the left cup and 3 in the right. I should have thinned them to no more than 3 plants but we'll see

Typical fruit of my labor...well actually no labor in this style growing

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Update on my hydroponic cucumbers. Doing great. pulled about a dozen so far but I can see at least 2 dozen more in various stages. My only concern now is running out of water. Putting more water in is very tricky. If you put too much you'll drown them. DAMHIKT. It's still about 35-40% full I think!

First picture May 18th ---------- 2nd June 1st ---------- 3rd 6/10 added netting ------------- 4th 6/29 vines have grown up to top of netting--------------------------------------------------------------------------- needed step ladder to help ----------and back down halfway

View attachment 211998 View attachment 211999 View attachment 212000 View attachment 212001


Actually there's 2 plants in the left cup and 3 in the right. I should have thinned them to no more than 3 plants but we'll see

Typical fruit of my labor...well actually no labor in this style growing

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Very nice. Will a sight glass help?
 
You know they make toilet bowl valves and floats that can solve your adding water problem.

Very nice. Will a sight glass help?
It would have to be refilled with the fertilizer/water solution not just plain tap water otherwise interesting ideas. A sight glass would tell me where the level is but refilling it may drown the plants. As the level goes down the roots grow and follow it down. "Air" roots also follow it down staying in the vapor space above it. When you refill it, you may flood the air roots thus drowning the plant. Keeping a constant level or supplying enough for the entire growing season initially is ideal. Here's a pic of my BIL with his first attempt showing the mass of roots

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Float valve with a 5 gallon water jug (clear) on a raised stand for gravity feed. Kinda like a camp sink setup. Fertilizer mix will be visible as it drains into the barrel keeping air roots from expanding due to there not being any extra air to expand into.
 
Here's my latest crop, was walking through Target a while back and saw these kits on the discount shelf. Still cost 10 bucks, not sure if there is 10 bucks worth of mushrooms there, but it was kind of neat to watch them grow, took about 8 days to get to this point, harvested them last night and put some on a pizza. They are oyster mushrooms. Might try it again, I see there are all kinds of kits on line...
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Float valve with a 5 gallon water jug (clear) on a raised stand for gravity feed. Kinda like a camp sink setup. Fertilizer mix will be visible as it drains into the barrel keeping air roots from expanding due to there not being any extra air to expand into.
Kinda what I as going to suggest,
 
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