The Good Day All Thread

Daniel on second thought this fall maybe transplant your beautiful grape vine . It is blocking your newly remodeled beautiful home. Takes away from the character of the home & outweighs everything around it. Maybe a smaller vine like climbing roses , clematis, would serve a better purpose. A accent plant small dwarf trees (acer palmatums) that flank the entry as assets to curb appeal.

 

Good Saturday morning all. Currently 17°C and sunny.
Such a busy week at work, but its the weekend now and time to get busy at home! I have lots of grass to cut, gardens to weed, laundry to wash, gardens to water.
I picked my first ripe tomatoes this week, a couple of 'Paul Robeson' and a handful of 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes...YUM! THIS is the reason I garden! I should be able to harvest the first zucchini today or tomorrow, and I've already picked loads of green beans. My little garden buddy, Thunder, has really started enjoying his time in the garden with me and knows the expression "want to go to the garden?" Hes a pretty clever little guy for 4 months, and has learned sit, down, paw, stay, spin, and rollover. He still tests his luck with out, off and no haha
Its always fun to see what he learns in a day

 

Hello folks. I frequently read the "news" here but have nothing worthy of posting so I have been in the background just enjoying, Its been a discouraging few years trying to grow gardens and flowers. This is the first year of no garden at all. The flea beetles are so bad and there is nothing that you can by or make to kill them or discourage them. They devour most plants before they can get established. The deer, oh my!! We did have an electric fence which they only very occasionally got through so no problem there. However, they have destroyed every rose bush, lilac, and all flower garden plants. I did plant a few tomatoes and cukes in buckets in a secure place close to the house. Those will bring me some joy in the meantime I will continue to admire all your beautiful flowers and veggies. I love Garden Stew it is such a happy place!

 

@Netty I always admire your busy routine and you seem to enjoy all the hardy work at your job and home duties.
I am at that stage where looking thru the eyes of younger gardeners can bring me back in time.
Nice to hear Thunder learned sits and stays, seems to be adjusting well to your routine.

My pup was from a rescue and at 6 months old she had a lot of bad habits and went thru a lot of owners. Border collies are a bit busy minded always thinkin. She’s doing great fitting in and now rules the roost. She’s a joy every day. Sometimes I wonder who has who trained.

 

@Chrisle reading your story was instant replay on my gardening experiences . It’s been a battle with deer. I have managed to discourage them from attacking my garden by two preventative techniques.

Deer:
1. Keep the pastures or lawns mowed down to nubbies. No field grass or clover to feed on. Spray with organic weed killer. Eliminate deer food in the pastures.no deer.
2. I use granule Plantskyyd to deter deer in the garden areas. It really works. Since I stared using it I have seen flowers I haven’t seen in awhile. They break thru our elec fence a lot. I haven’t had to repair the fences in a long time.

Flea beetles:
3. Flea beetles also seemed to disappear when I kept the grass low as well as other irritating insects. Spray with organic insecticide . Mowing -Especially worked well by totally eliminating the gophers, moles, voles and mice and deer.

4. For severe infestations of flea beetles I spray the area of plants with an "organic" insecticide- pyrethrum, neem, or spinosad. You can also dust plants with diatomaceous earth. Also there are systemic treatments available by Bayer, I use occasionally when I have severe infestation's of other insects too.

I declared war this season and decided to get some peace from all the darn critters and insects . It’s working but I still have ground squirrels invading . That’s a whole different story.

 

Flea Beatles are my nemesis Chrisle. I've only been able to get around them with four approaches.

1 - I make sure I till the soil in the fall. It seems to bring up the imps that are laying in wait for the spring and they don't overwinter. If I don't do this it is a FEAST on my plant babies.

2 - I over seed. Wait for the feast to end and hope for survivors. Thin accordingly once the feast ends.

3. - diatomaceous earth does work. It's very effective. But I have to keep the plants covered in it, so every rain etc I have to use it. I'm careful with it and wear a mask. It is such tiny particles. Every time I deal with flea beetles ( which is every year) if I use diatomaceous earth the destruction is drastically reduced. It's just a lot of work, but only for the few weeks that the flea beetles are hungry.

4 -plant your seeds a few weeks later - so the beetles aren't aggressively feeding. OR start your seeds as plant starts somewhere else other than the garden and transplant them as a strong seedling. Then there is just a few chewed on leaves, but no destruction.

I feel for you my Canadian Cousin ( so happy to meet you) - the beetles can be managed with some tricks!

 

Good Sunday morning all. Currently 20°C and sunny. Its going to be a hot day today, with the temperatures predicted to hit 30+°C today plus humidity. I only have a couple of things to do outside today, so I'll try to get them done before the hot part of the day. I picked lots of beans yesterday so I may can some up. I'm a little behind on my canning this year.
But it might be mostly a relaxing day today, or so I think haha
Have a great day all

 

We are processing blueberries for jam.

 

Good Wednesday afternoon all. Currently 27°C and high humidity feeling like 35°C. Its stinkin' hot for the 4th day in a row, and a few more days yet to come. Worked hard this morning, and then went in to the forest to work on the walking trails where it was cooler. I feel like I got a lot done.
Came home and picked an entire small bushel of greenbeans and a handfull of cherry tomatoes. I also picked a few slicers, and ate one for dinner. Yummy!
Now it is time to relax!

 

@Netty Holley Molley ….. where do you get all that energy to do so much in one day. Just ready your explanation make me start to sweat. In the meantime you are an inspiration to many who admire your working values.

@Sjoerd excellent idea blueberry jam. Sending good vibes your way that it all goes ok the first time with those canning jars.

 

Pac— they worked a treat. It was just a hot job, but all part and parcel for the harvest time.

 

@Sjoerd you are so prepared and clever when you do your canning. Where do you get the energy. It’s worth all the heat in the kitchen in winters when you grab a jar. For sure…

 

We said farewell to some old friends today. They came earlier in the week on short notice. There was lots of food, laughter and fishing. They left early this AM. And I am 12 rainbow trout richer which is really wonderful.

The day before they came a deer found a sneaky entrance to my upper veggie garden that I had just weeded and was so proud of. I woke to almost all of the swiss chard pulled up and eaten, the broccoli was eaten to stumps ( an obvious favourite) and all of the Black Seeded Simpson that I was growing for seed was mowed. I couldn't figure out how she got in so I set up the critter cameras, and found she was climbing in between the bottom and top barriers. I've improved the barrier that must make do for this year, picked the large cabbages and covered the remaining swiss chard and carrots with netting. The poppies that didn't get tromped on will be staked back upright today.

Tomorrow morning will be an early trip to town for a few groceries, and to deliver some giant cabbages to my Aunty and my daughter. Everyone will be making cabbage rolls tomorrow.

 

I am furious to hear this news, Mel. Things seemed to be going so well. Gad, I hope that you can salvage something. You might try replanting the chard. The chewed off plants will throw up new leaves.
Good luck and please keep us posted.