Posted on 06/23/2017 3:20:13 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds.
From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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I bought some herbs at Walmart, and I am expanding one of my raised beds just a little to accommodate them. The passion flowers are blooming and smelling nice.
We have a few bush beans that I need to cook tonight or tomorrow. So far the onions are looking better than last year, so we may get a decent crop.
I bought one of those stoneware individual pots with a lid a while back and have really been enjoying making a quick French onion soup in it. Takes about 4 minutes to make and tastes really great.
Hope you are all doing well. Have a great weekend. Prayers up for all. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
I’ve dehydrated 6 gallons of blueberries, frozen 7 gallons of blueberries and made 7 pints of blueberry pie filling. I’ve got a batch of blueberry syrup draining through the jelly strainer thingie right now.
Neighbor gave us close to 3 bushels of apples earlier in the week (Anna, they make very early here). I’ve made 4 batches of ‘caramel apple pie jam’, dehydrated a 9 tray dehydrator load, eaten a bunch and have about 2 more batches of pie filling left to put up from them. Probably dehydrate the rest, we love dried fruit as a topping to oatmeal when it’s cold in the winter.
Probably 15 more gallons of blueberries left on the bushes at this point that need to be picked sometime.
Fall garden transplants sizing up nicely on the driveway.
It’s good for now.
Turning into rabbits here. Eating so much romaine lettuce, radishes, still getting asparagus. Everything else is exploding. We are going to have tons of Bush pickles. Have so many radishes I have cold pickled 2 jars in the fridge. Also eating and blanching and freezing baby bok choy. Chopped and vacuumed sealed after blanching it is great in soup or rice dishes. I have put up 6 bags already. Waiting on lots of stuff including tomatoes.
Japanese beetles are here. . .I had hoped they would skip a summer. What natural remedy does anyone recommend. I have used DE on non-flowering (yet) plants but I don’t want to kill the bees.
Here
Interesting article. Thanks for posting. Anyone for a mud bath? LOL
That’s fantastic news about all that produce. The critters got most of our early berries.
Our lettuce is finished except for the couple that I let bolt to get the seeds for next year.
We have used Japanese Beetle Traps and that helped our rose hips.
Howdy.
Hai!
I have a second crop of lettuce coming on. Plus the romaine heads I cut with shears are growing new leaves.
Thanks will check it out. I have taken a gloved hand/also a stick and wacked them in a bucket with water and dawn.
Where do you place the traps and how many would you suggest. I have rose bushes, bamboo, peach trees, etc. (some I can’t identify because I threw away the identification tag . . .most of my plants have been rescued on sale before they became a tax write off for WalMart and other stores selling plants.) I’ve been at this for two years.
Oh no!
We’ve got to get a berry bramble established this year. Hopefully in the next month or two so the first year canes can get established and make next year. We’re going to put 3 bull panels end to end and have one big row of raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, boysenberries and what have you.
Our blueberry bushes are predated by birds but the bushes themselves are 10ft tall at this point and about that far in diameter and there are 12 of them so they outproduce the boids.
Ok, I hadn’t thought of freezing the bok choy. You’ve given me ideas. I’m going to double or triple my bok choy and chinese cabbage plantings now.
Well, one thing we noticed a few years ago. We had leeks, and when they bolted and the flowers bloomed, the bees - all sizes and types - would be buzzing all over those flowers. The beetles would avoid being where the bees were, and the bees ignored humans while they were paying attention to the leeks blooms. And my grandfather always said that bees keep the beetles away, and from what I saw he was right. Other than that I got nothing for you. :)
Chickens.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/okay-for-chickens-to-eat-japanese-beatles.853642/
You probably know this but bok choy can’t be eaten raw. There’s,an enzyme that can cause hypothyroidism. I just wash chop and blanche with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. When it cools I put in the foodsaver bags, a couple of cups each. There’s just 2 of us. Great to add to chicken soup or homemade fried rice, or top a baked potato with it. Very nutritious.
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