What's Growing in the Garden

Now that you mention armadillo, we now have them in southern to central Illinois. On Memorial Day we drove to the little town where Mom and Dad grew up for services at the cemetery. On the way there, saw a dead one on the road near the Spoon river.

Have not seen any around here, but then we are more upland and drier with heavier souls.
 
I’m no farmer but today potted some blueberry bushes for my wife who loves blueberries. Bountiful Blue, Emerald Blue, and Sunshine Blue are the varieties, all supposedly ok for Southern California.
 
trc65 said:
Now that you mention armadillo, we now have them in southern to central Illinois. On Memorial Day we drove to the little town where Mom and Dad grew up for services at the cemetery. On the way there, saw a dead one on the road near the Spoon river.

Have not seen any around here, but then we are more upland and drier with heavier souls.
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Well, get as many dead ones as you can. They dig giant burrow holes everywhere, usually in the worst spots. They will ravage your garden and flower beds digging up and eating the earthworms that are actually beneficial. They aren’t afraid of small dogs. You’ve got to shoot them in the head or they bounce around spewing blood and God only know what else until they run into the hole they dug under your back door and die stinking for two weeks… I used to leave them alone, but there was only one or two and they ate some grubs out of the lawn and left. These I’m dealing with now I can only assume run in packs for the damage they do. I think they wait until they see me turn off the lights because I’ve stayed up laying for them and it hasn’t been very productive. The only way to catch them in a trap is to put it in their run under a fence and hope they run into it. I’ve tried baiting with earthworms but they don’t seem to care about that and want to dig their own….

They are reported to carry leprosy, which may be the least destructive thing about them...

Squirrels are much easier. They’re out in the daytime.

Alan
 
Now that the primocanes are getting to the point of needing pruning, figured I better get going on my trellis for the black raspberries. Got a couple black locust poles cut, holes dug, and posts dropped in. About 30 inches deep.

Noticed the black soil. Dug about 24" before I start getting a little lighter colored clay. It's the reason I can plant and grow almost anything (within our hardiness zone and pH) without too much effort. Unfortunately, the only way to get this kind of soil is to plant native grasses, let the buffalo roam and wait a few hundred/thousand years. We are lucky!

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Haven't decided on exact spacing of wires, but will have a pair about two ft apart at ~ 20" high and a second pair a little wider around 40" high. PXL_20260531_210111888.webp

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That tree to the side is a peach that regrew from a rootstock. When it produces, the peaches are huge and beautiful, but have no flavor. It's coming down! Although, I have thought about trying to graft some scion wood from my tiny tree that produces great peaches. Have to read up on that, I've never done any grafting.
 
trc65 said:
Now that the primocanes are getting to the point of needing pruning, figured I better get going on my trellis for the black raspberries. Got a couple black locust poles cut, holes dug, and posts dropped in. About 30 inches deep.

Noticed the black soil. Dug about 24" before I start getting a little lighter colored clay. It's the reason I can plant and grow almost anything (within our hardiness zone and pH) without too much effort. Unfortunately, the only way to get this kind of soil is to plant native grasses, let the buffalo roam and wait a few hundred/thousand years. We are lucky!

View attachment 289227

Haven't decided on exact spacing of wires, but will have a pair about two ft apart at ~ 20" high and a second pair a little wider around 40" high.View attachment 289228

View attachment 289229

View attachment 289230

That tree to the side is a peach that regrew from a rootstock. When it produces, the peaches are huge and beautiful, but have no flavor. It's coming down! Although, I have thought about trying to graft some scion wood from my tiny tree that produces great peaches. Have to read up on that, I've never done any grafting.
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You know where I can get a couple buffalo? My clay is only 2" to 6" down so I'm slowly amending sections in my garden 50/50 with compost. Potatoes will be the test of that this year. This compost is wood that have either been burned or just left to decompose. Good texture, but I don't know what that's done to the pH. Haven't checked. Sometimes it seems like it holds too much moisture.

Aren't those auger style post hole diggers nice?

A local farmer when I was growing up, use to graft fruit trees. Never got the chance to learn from him. More lost knowledge.
 
djg said:
You know where I can get a couple buffalo? My clay is only 2" to 6" down so I'm slowly amending sections in my garden 50/50 with compost. Potatoes will be the test of that this year. This compost is wood that have either been burned or just left to decompose. Good texture, but I don't know what that's done to the pH. Haven't checked. Sometimes it seems like it holds too much moisture.

Aren't those auger style post hole diggers nice?

A local farmer when I was growing up, use to graft fruit trees. Never got the chance to learn from him. More lost knowledge.
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I think a lot of composted hardwood ends up slightly acidic to neutral,n depending on too many factors..... Wood ash is highly alkaline though so you want to be careful with that. The good news is the soils natural ability to buffer pH is immense so changes are only slight with time.

I do love this auger, probably older than I am. Don't let anybody borrow it, even though it's old and rusty, could probably never find one as well built.

Intro Hort class as a college freshman talked about grafting in one or two lectures and we got to play with knives during one lab session. Remember almost nothing from it. Good news is can find almost any needed info on the web.
 
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I have the same hole digger. Mine was new in the 1930's or 40's. Mine has the 10 foot extention rods, so assume it was used more for finding water than simply digging.
 
Mr. Peet said:
I have the same hole digger. Mine was new in the 1930's or 40's. Mine has the 10 foot extention rods, so assume it was used more for finding water than simply digging.
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I've got two of the newer ones that are adjustable. Bought mine at a yard sale for $15 or less and then inherited my Dad's.
 
Almost done with the black raspberry trellis. Lower cables are stretched, just need to finish the upper half.

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At the end of the strawberry season, after we've made a years worth of jam, make a pot of syrup. This is a quick and easy recipe that may be canned, frozen, or just refrigerated. Best thing about this recipe is it retains some tartness along with the sweet and uses only 1/4 the amount of sugar that is used in jams.

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trc65 said:
At the end of the strawberry season, after we've made a years worth of jam, make a pot of syrup. This is a quick and easy recipe that may be canned, frozen, or just refrigerated. Best thing about this recipe is it retains some tartness along with the sweet and uses only 1/4 the amount of sugar that is used in jams.

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Just cook down the berries and strain for syrup? How much sugar?
 
djg said:
Just cook down the berries and strain for syrup? How much sugar?
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Smash the strawberries first, I use a food processor.

6 cups smashed strawberries
3 cups sugar
2 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS vanilla

Add all to a pot, bring to a boil stirring constantly, reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Need to watch/stir constantly as it will foam like crazy.

I BWB can the sauce. 1/2" headspace, 10 minutes in the BWB. I always use pint jars, but half pint work as well. Makes just slightly under 4 pints per batch. Since this is sauce, ratios aren't critical and pH is naturally low. Lemon juice is to balance flavor, but also lowers pH.

This was a double batch.

If you don't have enough for a full batch, adjust everything accordingly. Can also use frozen berries. If you want a thicker sauce, just simmer it for a while.
 
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