What have you done today in the Garden?

@AAnightowl sorry to hear about your eye, i hope that it gets better soon,i know from experience that if i rub my eyes it will make them worse. A few years ago i had a bit of grit or something go in one of mine, i rubbed it but it wouldn't get better. The next day i went to A & E and she said that my eyeball was scratched, i was given some antibiotic eye drops just incase, but i think that i was allergic to them and made my eye hurt, after i finished the course it got better. Now i always ware protective eye ware when gardening.

 

The blueberries are starting to ripen so i spent a long time covering the plants with horticultural fleece to stop the birds from eating them and a lot of watering.

 

Yesterday I weeded, watered, added a soaker hose, mulched and then fenced with 1/4 inch metal hardware cloth around the perimeter of my strawberries.

My dear friend and surrogate Momma bear called me today. I told her of my antics to try and keep the voles, chipmunks and deer out of the strawberries. She is an amazing gardener and naturalist. She suggested that I use Dog Wood boughs and braid a topper so that pollinators can get in, but deer cannot. If I begin to have an issue with greedy goblin chipmunks eating the berries it would be easy enough to drape the braided topper, and it would light enough to lift off. I'm very excited for this project and Hubby is on board for helping to build it. I'm eager to post photos when we are done.

Today I tackled the Northern Blueberry patch and thinned the carrots. Hubby mowed a pasture that is a couple acres and collected the clippings. They went into some walking rows of the lower vegetable garden. It stops weeds, retains moisture and gets tilled into the garden in the fall.

The Blubes were weeded, acidified, fertilized and then layered with Peat Moss ( with supervision from his friend Chuck Roast) , and finally watered and covered again with landscaping tarp. Then they were fenced with a little help from hubby when my hand and shoulder were tired from pounding steel posts and arms tired from getting poked from repurposed fencing that I was trying to wire in. The help was welcome. He saw me swearing and struggling from across the pasture and pulled up to offer a little help. Sweet sweet man.

My daughter is fixing my camera as my pictures were quite blurry. She is a skilled hobby photographer, so I hope to be able to post some photos soon. I'm proud of and pleased with the clean up improvements around the homestead.

 

Just watered and pulled a few weeds , preen and mulch definitely helping keep them down but they are still sneaking threw

 

I saw her nurse practitioner, and she prescribed some antibiotic eye drops for a few days.

The internet keeps cutting in and out all afternoon. Hopefully, tomorrow on the pictures.

 

Inspecting the orchard, I saw the Montmorency cherry tree is full of almost ripe cherries. This tree is about 15 years old. I dug it up at the old place and moved it here, 13 years ago.



Montmorency cherries have an amazing history dating back to ancient Rome and China. They have all sorts of supposed health promoting properties. Their name comes from the Montmorency Valley in France. They have been in the US since the 1600s.

https://www.traversebayfarms.com/bl...e-into-their-rich-history-and-unique-benefits

Seeing that they are almost ripe, I know the deer and birds will delight in them. I set up Mr. Gumby to show them the way and welcome the the little darlins.

Hello hello! Lookie here - lots of delicious cherries!



He waves his arms around and does a continuous dance, but he's disappointed they stay away from him! "Over here! Right next to me! So yummy!



Oh well, I guess I'll have to pick them soon!

Mr. Gumby has also been helpful around blueberries and blackberries. He's very lively.

The first blossoms are appearing on the new and "rescued" dayliles.

 

@AAnightowl hope you eye heals quickly.

 

@AAnightowl I also wish you healing as fast as possible.

 

Loving Mr Gumby @Daniel W !!

Wishing you a speedy recovery from your eye issues @AAnightowl . Healing hugs to you.

 

Daniel that’s a lot of cherry picken. There’s some great plant combo mixes and colorful blooms in your planters.

AAnightowl sending healing vibes your way.

 

That's good, i hope that it's better soon.

 

On the subject of wisterias, mentioned earlier in the thread, now is the time to get at them.
They'll be throwing out new growth from near the roots upwards.
Think of them as a long "leaky hose" with several holes in it, most of the water will be coming out of the holes nearest the tap.
You want the energy of the plant to produce the growth where you want it to be, don't give it the choice.

 

Phew!! We are now melting blobs!!! All the shade is now rapidly disappearing from our garden for the day.
Hubby finished the lawns and I made a start on the block pathway but had to pack it up as it was too hot.
Depending how I feel after having my hip injected later this afternoon I may continue this evening.


So far I have hooked out 37 VB seedlings from the path ,they are now in pots of water waiting to be planted out in a more appropriate position.

 

Nothing much today, just watering.

 

We don't normally eat a sweet after our meals...except when we have Strawberries. We don't freeze ..we eat fresh and share with others. I pick 2 servings each day one at lunch time to have with Greek Yogurt.....just picked these....

...and another in the evening to serve with our breakfast.