Happy Spring, Fellow Gardeners!

[Adalaide]

I do have pineapple mint but I got it later than the others so it isn't a beastly thing yet like the other two. I also don't drink, which I'm sure leaves some thinking it is wasted! I'm thinking it'll make wonderful melon salads all summer. Right now I'm thinking that the most appealing thing to do with that freaking BUSH of strawberry mint out there is to make some mint chocolate chip ice cream. I told my husband and he said "that's a funny way of saying fudge."

 

My husband always helps make pickles every summer. I don't think he would find it appealing for me to do it alone, even though I probably could now too. I think its great that we got our guys so addicted to being our kitchen helpers.

[IrishHeart]

when i leave mine alone, he cooks all kinds of stuff i hate to eat.  pork fat stew, gizzards with lizzards, innards with brain cheese, you know.  and he grows a beard.  and takes things apart.  one time i went up to my sister's and when i came home, the dining room ceiling was gone.......  true story......  

Mine is NOT allowed to start any new projects when I am not here..... un- uh. Nope.

Absolutely not .   The End.

 

The bright yellow primrose are open now and they are pretty spectacular next to the purple rock cress.

 

The hub's blueberry bushes...are full of berries this year (that took forever) and they are starting to turn blue.

 

 

I have pineapple mint and chocolate mint. and  my PT Elaine has tons of orange mint & she said I could have all I want.

 

So, looks like I'll be thinking of more ways to use mint !!! (besides beverages --those I know LOL)

My man would be very offended if I made the pickles and corn relish without him even though I could do it myself

now, too  but frankly, it is more of a two-person job, so I would be a sillypants to not include him in the tedious work  er, fun.

 

Not sure if any of you like corn relish,  but I have a terrific recipe for it that everyone seems to love, if you are interested.

[notme]

Mine is NOT allowed to start any new projects when I am not here..... un- uh. Nope.

Absolutely not .   The End.

 

yeah, i used to not have that rule.  it's like the warning on the windex bottle:  "do not spray directly into eyes"  lolz  

 

i think it's so funny y'all's husbands like to help with the canning!  i thought it was just mine, and because he used to help his grammy and his aunt put stuff up.  (he also knows how to sew and tries to pretend he doesn't - but when he absent-mindedly tells me don't forget to clip the corners or to stay stitch the collar and sleeves, he gives it away - goob)

[GottaSki]

yeah, i used to not have that rule.  it's like the warning on the windex bottle:  "do not spray directly into eyes"  lolz  

 

i think it's so funny y'all's husbands like to help with the canning!  i thought it was just mine, and because he used to help his grammy and his aunt put stuff up.  (he also knows how to sew and tries to pretend he doesn't - but when he absent-mindedly tells me don't forget to clip the corners or to stay stitch the collar and sleeves, he gives it away - goob)

 

lol...mine taught me how to can so we could can his deep sea catches together

[dilettantesteph]

I hand pick my Japanese beetles - yuck!  I have heard that the traps don't work so I haven't tried them.  Open Original Shared Link

 

Gardening is such a battle with pests.  I get deer eating everything that I don't enclose with mesh.  There was one hanging out in the neighbors yard as I worked the other day.  Now I see a chipmunk hole in the middle of my stone patio.  There was a foot of tamped gravel that the beasties had to dig through.  It's going to be a big pain to repair.  I plugged it up with a rock do now they are digging elsewhere - hopefully not on my property, but that is dreaming.

[IrishHeart]

Yeah, we have investigated every option for handling those Japanese beetles. The answer is to place the traps 30 feet away from the garden beds ---with perfectly stationed traps  in a giant square--down wind, etc.---- and this is very effective. It lures them away from the flowers and veggies. 

 

 I  do not notice an increase in the bugs as a result. I am not sure why it works (when so many things say it may not) but to hand kill every one---I'd be out there all day long! lol

 

One thing that happens to get in the way of this successful "bugs lured into the bag "operation is that nocturnal animals strolling by like to EAT the bugs in the traps. They think "oh boy, dinner".

 

Now, granted, this is very effective pest control being eaten by something larger in the food chain LOL---but that also means I have to replace the traps because they chew right through the bags! No, putting cayenne and tabasco did not stop them.

 

Mother nature---always keeps us busy.

[notme]

i had harlequin bugs (beetle types) last year and i didn't know what they were but i spotted one or two hanging around the broccoli and cauliflower.  we went to my sister's for a week and when i came back, three rows of cole crops were decimated - wiped out!!  this year, i saw one on the (failed) napa cabbage plants and we ripped them all out - crossing my fingers that's all they wanted to eat.......  stoopit bugs  

[IrishHeart]

yeah.....stoopid bugs

[dilettantesteph]

For some reason, my Japanese beetles mainly leave the veggies alone.  They do like the grape leaves, but not the grapes. I don't have nearly so many now as I used to so it doesn't take up as much time dealing with them.   I'm glad you found a way to get the traps to work for you.

[love2travel]

My vegetables are still at the tiny stage but are growing quickly in this (dreadful) heat.  The wild roses are beginning to bloom as are the irises.  The lilacs are going strong.  My herbs are very happy.  I've been using  them a LOT.

 

Open Original Shared Link

[Adalaide]

I went out today and trimmed the hedges harvested my mint. The fudge recipe I found says 1/2 cup and I can easily double that recipe and have leftover Moroccan mint. I need 3 cups of strawberry mint for my mint chocolate chip ice cream. I think I'll have right about enough for that when I go get it off its stems. If I'm short I could probably get a bit more off the plant. I left it far bushier than was necessary. I'll dry my leftover Moroccan mint because I use it with lavender to flavor water, since until I win the lottery I can't afford to live off of San Pellegrino.

[Adalaide]

My vegetables are still at the tiny stage but are growing quickly in this (dreadful) heat.  The wild roses are beginning to bloom as are the irises.  The lilacs are going strong.  My herbs are very happy.  I've been using  them a LOT.

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

It has been 100ish every here day. Last night when I rolled in at 1 in the morning it was still 80. This is entirely not normal here. Then again neither was our dreadfully cold winter. I can take the 80 in the middle of the night, it feels downright awesome... 100 in the middle of the day not so much.

[notme]

I went out today and trimmed the hedges harvested my mint.

lolz!  mine is still behaving nicely, but then again, it remains in solitary.  i actually have taken the hedge trimmers to the rosemary 'bush' (i tried to make it into a heart - it's harder to do than you would think!)  anyways, here's what a bloomed artichoke looks like:  

 

 

i hope the picture comes out - i think it's so beautious, i may not eat the last one and just let it bloom.....

 

canned beans all day yesterday.  my 3 day half-sours were a big hit at the church pickanick.  i need a nap, but going with hubs in the big truck.  sending our cultural exchange student back to belgium and she wished for a ride in the big truck    she doesn't realize i am dooming her for life to fall in love with a truck drivin' cowboy    

[GottaSki]

lolz!  mine is still behaving nicely, but then again, it remains in solitary.  i actually have taken the hedge trimmers to the rosemary 'bush' (i tried to make it into a heart - it's harder to do than you would think!)  anyways, here's what a bloomed artichoke looks like:  

 

imagejpeg_2 (34).webp

 

i hope the picture comes out - i think it's so beautious, i may not eat the last one and just let it bloom.....

 

canned beans all day yesterday.  my 3 day half-sours were a big hit at the church pickanick.  i need a nap, but going with hubs in the big truck.  sending our cultural exchange student back to belgium and she wished for a ride in the big truck    she doesn't realize i am dooming her for life to fall in love with a truck drivin' cowboy    

 

Beautiful!!!

 

how did you attach said picture...I like the little one in the thread to open if someone wishes to see it larger.

[Adalaide]

idk if its my browser or I'm an idiot these days (possible) or what but I can't look at those attachments. I do know what a blooming artichoke looks like though.

[notme]

Beautiful!!!

 

how did you attach said picture...I like the little one in the thread to open if someone wishes to see it larger.

i went to 'more reply options' and it let me browse the photos on my laptop to add an attachment.  then you add it to the post  

[GottaSki]

i went to 'more reply options' and it let me browse the photos on my laptop to add an attachment.  then you add it to the post  

 

Thanks

[howlnmad]

Welp, cabbages are out. Some shredded for fresh kraut, the others awaiting to be chopped up for chow-chow and sweet and sour red cabbage. Lots of pickles put up (thank you sweetheart). Maters are about to turn I'm sure cuz we're going to take a little vacation break. Got a few killer zukes and yellow squash with lots of blossoms. Can't wait to get back and see how over run it is. Weeded the other day so hopefully it won't be to bad. Still have beets in the ground. I wish we had time to do them before we leave but I guess they'll just have to wait.

[Adalaide]

Our corn is tasseled and covered in pollen. This has led to an alarming discovery. I am allergic to corn pollen! I was fine out in the garden with the corn until about 10ish days ago. Then I started noticing in the evenings that my arms were itchy. My legs too sometimes, heck sometimes even my neck and head. I was slowly putting two and two together and tonight it clicked when it started while I was still in the garden watering the corn. I suppose I have to start wearing long sleeves to go out and water and to be super careful when I go out to hand pollinate tomorrow or Monday. I sure wish I didn't have to do this whole stupid hand pollination thing.

 

All three mint plants are looking like shrubs again. It looks like I need to go recipe hunting again. I just can't drink enough water with mint in it to make a dent in those monsters! I think brownies this time instead of fudge, my husband can bellyache all he wants about it too. I've been getting 2-6 little yellow cherry tomatoes every day, and they don't seem to be bothering me as long as I'm keeping the rest of my diet super tight.

 

I also found our first baby melon today. Just the size of the end of my thumb, I'm surprised I saw it at all while it was so small. Those melon plants have taken over everything in the back of the garden. I keep wondering if I'm going to go out one day and it will have turned into a Little Shop of Horrors scene with this giant melon plant begging to be fed. I keep having to disentangle them from climbing the corn because I'm not so sure a corn stalk can support a full grown melon. One day they're all on the ground, the next they're a full foot or more up the corn again. Its a little frightening.

[notme]

cherry tomatoes!!!!!  yeah!!!!  i'm eating them like candy (3 a day haha that's how much candy i can have hahahaa)  but still loving them right off the vine.  gave some to the 'neighbors' (our son & his girlfriend lolz) they came over and raided the garden for some cukes and rosemary also.  the weeds are uber overtaking everything since it has been raining and raining.  God said he would never make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights again, but he didn't say nothin about 39!  lolz!!  looks like the sun is actually going to stay out today  we have the beginnings of the Onslaught of Jalapenos - the artichoke evidently blooms and DIES i am very unhappy with that  but i let it bloom, so am gonna googly and see if i can get seeds out of the 'flower'.....  hmmmm....   

[Marilyn R]

Adelaide, that mint is wonderful in a hot bath with Epsom salts if you ever get a chance to take a soak.

 

We had a really nice pineapple today that took 2 years from start  to harvest!  Lemon grass has gone crazy.  Have sage, mint, rosemary and chives. 

 

I used to be an avid gardener, but can't tolerate the sun with the darned Discoid Lupus.  I sneak out at night to water my herbs. 

[Adalaide]

So I know not everyone is super awesome at growing stuff. I killed my fair share of things before I got the hang of it. I found this incredibly cool thing today that would be so awesome for people who don't have time, don't know what to grow, or just aren't good at it. Something called a Nourishmat. Open Original Shared Link

 

Its a little pricy the first time, but you just refill it with the seed balls every year, and the seeds come as a ball with all the nutrients and everything they need to grown. You hook the thing up to a hose so and just turn it on twice a day and it tells you for how long. It is 100% idiot proof. Everything is labeled, you won't ever stare at a plant going omg... what was that thing? (Not that I've ever done that. ) It just looks incredibly cool. Heck, I may even want one!

[GFreeSweetie]

This was our first year attempting to garden, and much to our surprise, it's worked out VERY well! The only problems were 1) winter lingered till May!! and 2) I think we over-planted the tiny space we allotted ourselves. I'm pretty sure our green beans, cucumbers, and peas would be doing much better if they had more space for roots and maybe some kind of mesh or wire to cling to. They're pretty crowded at this point..

 

Otherwise, our lettuce did awesome, and our tomatoes are plentiful! Beefsteak, roma & cherry! We even have some carrots and bitty peppers on their way..!

[notme]

. Everything is labeled, you won't ever stare at a plant going omg... what was that thing? (Not that I've ever done that. )

 

HAHAHA never!!  billy 'weeded' my tarragon.  now it's (tarra) gone  the only thing i went all over town to find the right kind.  damb. it. -  the weeds are insane in the herb section.  

This was our first year attempting to garden, and much to our surprise, it's worked out VERY well! The only problems were 1) winter lingered till May!! and 2) I think we over-planted the tiny space we allotted ourselves. I'm pretty sure our green beans, cucumbers, and peas would be doing much better if they had more space for roots and maybe some kind of mesh or wire to cling to. They're pretty crowded at this point..

 

Otherwise, our lettuce did awesome, and our tomatoes are plentiful! Beefsteak, roma & cherry! We even have some carrots and bitty peppers on their way..!

you can 'co-plant' to maximize your space.  ski-lisa had posted such a plan earlier in this thread - i'll see if i can find it.  i was sort of doing the 'cover crop' thing, to choke out the weeds with, say, lettuce or arugula, but i planted them too close to the other row, and now, if they are still alive, they surely have stockholm syndrome lolz because they have been taken over  

 

i love to garden - i'm glad your first attempt went so well!  

[IrishHeart]

J's Tomatoes have blight. He is very sad.  Poor guy--worked so hard on them. Babies them. 

Every year, we have so many we have to give them away to the neighbors, the local nursing home kitchen staff , the church food pantry that serves daily lunches to the homeless, even Sherry's cafe. I mean, we are blessed with abundance.

 

Same with the apple trees--although we may not be around to see those this year (okay, that made me a little sad typing that....) anyway....

 

Not this year. No toms. Nope. BUMMER. 

 

 

Meanwhile, the herbs are crazy big. Mega basil...not toms...no caprese salad...

have to hit up the local farms again. Theirs are de-lish!