What have you done today in the Garden?

Dont think Ill be getting anything done outside today, its drizzly :/ Supposed to get some sun later, but Im not sure it'll be enough.

 

Finally, a dry and sunny day! I'll be mowing the back yard this afternoon and bagging the grass to let dry and use as mulch in the vegetable gardens. The veggie gardens are still too soggy to get into, but by tomorrow I'll be able to do some weeding and then mulch.

 

Bought Grani-Grit (two fifties), and pine bark mulch (about one fifty). I have at least one more nursery delivery due...

 

It was knee work today with trowelling and sifting soil to remove ground elder--what a mess.

The green house was made ready for the toms in the sense that the soil in there was saturated with rainwater and the last few litres of Comfrey tea from last season. That greenhouse is right rank at the moment.

Planted out the Pak Choi--10 plants raised at home. I covered it with chicken wire gauze to keep the wood pigeons from them.

Checked on the bees and they were all flying madly in and out.
I took a couple of pics today...this one is from the sitting bench in front of the showing the Huchera, Corydalis and the last of the wood anemone's. In the distance near the birdbath you can see the white flowers of the Allium ursinum.


--Things are picking-up here finally.

at the end of the day, I called up my pal in the harbopur that has a fish stall by the harbour tower to ask if he was open already this season. He was and would be open until 19.00 hours. I had to get a wiggle on, but made it well before closing time and here is what I had:


A good days' work deserves a good meal. I sure do lurve a good fish meal.

 

today was actually a beautiful day here. Not hot not cold. I needed a light jacket for outside, but it was sunny! I planted watermelon, cantaloupe and squash seeds. Finished planting the two rows of cabbage I started last week. watered all the plants... sold a few more things today.

 

My bok choi are being munched by flea beetles! I have tried tightening down the row cover, but unfortunately that's like closing the proverbial barn door after the horse has left. So, I researched other methods of dealing with these @#$%^&^%$ flea beetles. I got some yellow sticky traps today. The idea is that the flea beetles will get stuck on them when they hop. If that doesn't work well enough, I'll try Diatomaceous earth.

In other news, our newly planted baby asparagus are up!!! And boy are they cute!

Carolyn, glad you have finally had some good weather!

Sjoerd your last photo is making me hungry!

 

Mary, you might want to try nematodes (they come in a box and you dilute them with water and water the ground in you garden with them) to battle the flea beetles. It may be less effective this year until the larvae are being used as food, but eventually I think you will see a great improvement from the pestilence of them.

 

Hi Toni,
Good luck with that new bed. I am guessing your soil in Texas is pretty sandy? Sounds like you are doing a good job adding amendments to it. Do you have a coffee shop near you? I have been getting used coffee grounds from a café. They are great, surprisingly have a neutral ph, have some nitrogen & of course, add organic matter. They don't even need to be composted first. And they are FREE!

Carolyn, Thanks for the suggestion of nematodes. I saw that on line....only they were $30 and the yellow sticky traps were only $5. If I go with the nematodes, should I wait until next spring, ie when is the best time to apply them? I now realize that it was flea beetles that were going after our eggplants. I love this community garden but the downside is that we *share* bugs & pests.

 

I tried to cultivate in the vegetable garden, but it was still too damp and all I was doing was making clods. Then I decided to go ahead and mulch over the emerging grass around the squash plants. I found that if I mulched and then stepped on it, I didn't bog down!
Picked edible pod peas, green beans, and got a few more new potatoes for dinner. Of course the hens were out eyeing me (if I'm working, it MUST be for their benefit) so I pulled some weeds and tossed them in the outside coop. Checked the nest boxes and had four eggs. That may not sound like much, but our ladies prefer to lay eggs in the late afternoon after their siesta and before dinner.

 

Cleaning away Ground Elder.
Made a little furrow-ette for the parsnips. I shall leave it open and let it warm up for a few days in hopes that this will help them germinate better. Successful germination of parsnip seeds is an infamous challenge here.

 

Put them on as soon as possible.They will get to work on other pests that will attack you garden all Summer long. as long as they have a food source they will keep working.

 

Ok Sjoerd, I have heard you rabbiting on about removing 'ground elder'.....more than once! I finally googled it. What you call 'ground elder' I know as 'goutweed' or 'Bishop's weed' and NOW I know why you have been rabbiting on about it. It is a scourge!!! I wish you well with your removal attempts!

 

I wound up taking last year off. So I am digging out and weeding. Bed #1 is about 75% done. Bed # 2 is weeded, mulched, and top dressed with grass clippings. Bed #3 weeded and half planted and mulched. Bed #4 is todays mill-stone...