What have you done today in the Garden?

@Jewell I had forgotten all about deer ferns and painted ferns. Painted ferns are gorgeous and they never seemed to get very big or do well in my garden. Sword ferns pop up everywhere.The deer ferns are nice to have in heavily shaded areas. Most tassel and autumn ferns are a nice addition too. In the mountains and hillsides in the PNW ferns are everywhere. Moved here from a high desert climate where you never see ferns growing out in the wild. It was quite a shock to see them everywhere in the PNW .

I agree and a huge believer about using leverage when coping with difficult and challenging garden projects or heavy items in the garden.

@AAnightowl Really like fiddleheads of the ostrich ferns. They make a great addition to floral arrangements . Great in salads but they can also be a bit difficult controlling them. Once they get large they are impossible to dig up without a jackhammer. No joke . Tough plant and hard to eliminate . And the lovely Boston ferns are always a welcome hanging plant …So elegant and stately. Will stand out in any garden.
The power goes out here too without warning or notification. Very frustrating…

 

@Jewell , leverage is helpful when needed. I will see if I can get those rocks of mine into the wheelbarrow sometime. There are 3 still to be moved, maybe a 4th one across my driveway? Missouri is a very rocky state also. A friend once told a joke about "What do they call 1/2 inch gravel in Missouri? .... topsoil.." But we have loads of large rocks also.

I had had some ostrich plume ferns some years ago.... They died on me. My current ones are in a large flower pot in a shady corner. Maybe I can put them under a large tree in the fall? Summer heat is not good for transplants. I would not mind if these go crazy like one of you mentioned.

I need to get outdoors and try to get some of my work done. I have a very long to-do list to choose from. We have heat advisories for today, so will be in and out a lot.

Plants I would LOVE to be rid of: wisteria, trumpet vines and American bittersweet for starters. There are some other thorny vines that are terrible but do not know their names.

 

@Pacnorwest I did not know that ferns were edible also.

 

@AAnightowl Fiddlehead ferns are thenfiddlehead greens which are the furled fronds , harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond. Many recipes online. I haven’t tried to eat them but use them in floral displays.

Careful out in the heat today. Have you tried to carry a personal mister when out in the heat. They can cool down body temp and keep from over heating. Or you can just run thru the sprinklers… but I find the water icy cold from the well. I prefer the light mist to keep me cool .
Have a nice day.

 

I'm slowly getting back to weeding and maintaining after 16 days with company out of the last 21. We are irrigating daily to keep things as green as possible. Yesterday was a harvest of first thinned baby carrots, beets, broccoli and cabbage. Today was picking haskaps, strawberries, aruba peppers and romaine. And pickling beets. (nom nom nom)

 

Very good harvest … you have been buzzy. Yummy pepper posted with pen, I’m thinkin poblano Chiles rellenos for that one.
Fresh broccoli and carrots . Hascaps ? And more lettuce and berries and more. You Got Skills !

 

Mel— those pics of your veg look soooooo good. You must be so chuffed so far. I would love to see more as they are harvested, or even whilst growing on the plants.

 

Beautiful harvest, Mel! Fantastic!

 

Not to be a downer, but please be careful eating ferns. You need the correct variety and preparation.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.wem.2019.12.011

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/fiddling-with-fiddleheads-may-be-dangerous-warns-food-agency-1.558077

 

@Daniel W .. Not a Debbie downer . Important facts to know. Thank you.

 

I won't eat ferns unless I have the right kind. I have not had time to check out what kinds. I don't think I have a fiddle leaf fern?

I did some trimming and ran out of string in the trimmer. DS had filled it last night. I opened the video and watched it again. I cannot open the trimmer to do that. I have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and I cannot do it. I did try. I took it to my neighbor and he fought with that thing over an hour and could only get half the string in it. Guess I will do other chores, maybe son can manage it? There is no shortage of work to do around here and I can find LOTS to do indoors or outdoors.

If I want to cool off outdoors, I will use the ice water from the well. A mister would make me even hotter. A hat full of ice water is nice... but then I would need to change clothes most likely.

 

Thank you for the veggie garden support



This is the first picking of Haskaps. They are like a cross between a blueberry and a prairie large saskatoon? They are the size of two blueberries next to each other.

I'll be sure to post more growing pics Sjoerd.

 

I do the same at our creek Dip my hat quite often. My daughter was in Archeology for a few years, and as a fair red head she had quite a time in the summer. There is a neck kerchief that she had that had cooling abilities. Our pharmacy sells them. She found them to be a life saver as they cooled the back of the neck.

 

I harvested a few rows of German garlic, and planted three rows of bush bean green beans. The bed is ready for about three or four more rows of beans. There is lots more garlic to harvest.

Of course there was much more watering.

Deer ate the top of some container cosmo plants, so I trimmed the rough chewed parts and moved them to a safer spot.

 

I'm sorry to hear about the cosmos. :-( My very dear friend (pun intended ) that taught me to garden and used to run a market garden at the neighbouring property now lives on Vancouver Island. They've had a lot of drought over the last years. And logging. She said in her area the deer are starving and when heat and drought happens, they naturally find the greener/moister areas which often are gardens.

I'm sorry your plants are being devoured. In light of the heat and weather, and what you mentioned about them eating squash plants ( prickly and not desirable I would have thought) I'm extending my ugly but effective pea netting or wraps of baler twine around my squash plants.