Gardening, anyone?
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Summer, welcome! Your garden is amazing! I did the straw bale garden this year and it's doing great and will do all my Gardens that way from now on. I love that there's no weeding to do, I just mow around and between the bales. Today is mow day so I'll post updates later. Did you condition your bales for 10 days before planting your tomato plants? This will be the first year for us to get root veggies as our dirt is to heavy to grow them in. My pepper plants don't seem to be doing so well so we'll see how they do in the end.
Pink, my hydrangeas are the same way. I won't see flower formation for at least another 3 or 4 weeks. They have had a major growth spurt this year, I have 3 that are at least 6' tall or taller.
Gardennerd, thinking of you and your dad. We can only do so much for our parents. I take care of my mom as the other 5 siblings are to busy (their exact words) to bother with her. Their loss is my gain. I planted extra roma tomatoes this year. My salsa tomatos didn't produce last year so I made my salsa with roma tomatoes and my kids couldn't get enough of it. At the end of the season I can't let all the green tomatoes go to waste so I made green tomato salsa with them and gave it out as Christmas gifts. Everyone loved it, my hubby had 6 jars gone in about 4 weeks! He said I didn't make enough! They've all placed their orders for my salsas this past January.
Scotty, awesome picture! We have several cormorants, whooping cranes and the smaller purple cranes (name escapes me) that visit every year. It's amazing how long they'll wait for a fish to come by. I just wish they'd eat the smaller fish and save the big ones for us.
M0mmy, I love unexpected pop up rain storms/showers. We've been getting rain on a regular basis here with several days between showers. Our pool hates it but my garden is in heaven!
Coach Vicky, the first tomato and cucumbers are always the best!
My garden is doing great! I have 2 bales that are falling over so I transplanted the tomato plants into the bales that the spinach and lettuce didn't grow. The other toppling bale is my carrots, I have it supported with t-posts and I'm hoping that it holds on a few more weeks. I was concerned about transplanting the towith the plants being so big but it didn't seem to bother them at all. Did you know you can prune your tomato plants? I didn't but I'm trying it on a few plants to compare to the unpruned plants. I'll note the difference in growth/production and see if there's any difference. The things you learn from books lol
Gentle healing hugs to All 🤗🤗
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Welcome SummerRain. You have an amazing garden. Next year, maybe I'll try growing a few veggies in boxes on my deck. I don't have anymore sunny room in my backyard to plant a vegetable garden.
Scottie
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Checkedmy garden today and I more flowers showing up on the other tomato plants and my first tomato is about the size of a dime already
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Finally have a handle on the garden and pots. Need more tomatoes since I never did find the Juan Flamme (orange red beefsteak type). This is probably the last garden here since we will move in April - or be traveling to places for four months at a time or so to each then onward. Am meditating on how to make my garden portable. My favourite garden pot is actually a farmhouse sink full of thyme and two mini peppers. That will not travel. I will probably have to just take a few flowers in pots and do the organic farms and markets as we travel. That will be fun.
Love the blue heron photo. This morning there were oodles of baby ducks or two sizes in a stream near here. We drive every day and look for birds adn wildlife.
SummerRain, what fun to be gardening with a friend.
Lori - last year I had to buy special pruners for my tomatoes, they were glorious. Pruned them twice. Didn't much know what I was doing but took off the tops to a height of four feet then pruned out the sucker branches.
Tip - I learned on the Juliet tomatoes to have a few cookie sheets to slide beneath before trying to pick, they fall to the ground too easily. Less to pick off the grass.
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I found this on Xeloda and alternative uses. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC53402...
Am going to discuss with my oncologist. My goal was to be on Xeloda three months then (if all clear) to transition to alternative hard core with a medicine like this background. And this is a good report. I know I need help. And the hormone tx were nor working for me, so this could be the one. End tx was one tablet 3x / day continuously. See Case Report.
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The babies are here! I was petting 2 of them while they were busy eating lol
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I'll share how I freeze my tomatoes. I get a big pot, put in some olive oil, onion and garlic and sautee. I cut the tomatoes into chunks and add. Add salt and pepper. I cook down to thicken a bit. I may add tomato paste to thicken. I'll add some basil leaves at the end.
And then, I put it all in this machine: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/italian-t..
A tomato press that quickly separates the seeds and skins from the sauce and leaves a nice finished product. I put in mason jars, and have pasta sauce ready to go.
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Hi flaviarose! It's good to see you! I'll have to try your recipe and get me one of those gadgets. It sounds yummy!
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Ohhhh what great pictures of the heron...and those sweet looking baby raccoons.
Summerrain, beautiful garden!
I noticed last night that I have a zucchinni about 5 inches long and another about 3 inches. I bet I will be picking those early next week.
~Heidi
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Keep an eye on that zucchini. It likes to double in size overnight (and get tough while it does). It grows really well here and is left on people's desks at work anonymously because it's really prolific. I seem to remember okra being that way in OK. Here it's so expensive I sent my brother a photo of it and the price ($2.98). Just not hot enough here for it.
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I definitely will! My student worker is anxious for me to make zucchini bread with mine fresh from the garden. I know I can buy zukes and do the same thing, but it is still different...you know? :-)
Okra does super well here because of the heat. However I only like okra deep fried and my DH won't eat it. Too much of a mess to make just for me. Hmmm, maybe I need to invest in an air fryer. Anyone here have an use one?
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I know a few people with air fryers and they swear by them.
We're going to my HS reunion in the fall. Our dinner is at a barbeque place. I looked at their menu and they have fried okra as a side. I could eat a big plate of that and skip the rest of it. In Tx we could buy frozen already breaded okra. Here we're doing well if we can find it for Hoppin John on New Year's.
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Heidi. . .we bought an air fryer on sale from Sam's because I had to go anti-inflammatory and gluten-free diet last year and was missing my fried stuff. We tried it out twice - Fried Dill Pickles and Fried Blooming Onion. For us it was more hastle than it was worth and we could not get it to cook well. Returned the fryer.
Constant rain is putting a crimp in my outdoor exercise. Guess it's the dreadmill again today.
Scottie
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Thank you Wren and Scottie. I put the cart before the horse and bought an air fryer cookbook to see if things looked complicated to make. Maybe I'll invest in one in a month or so and see how it does. My problem is my tiny galley kitchen doesn't have a lot of counter space. I love kitchen gadgets but would hate to have to store things in the garage.
Zukes were still tiny last night. Plants were starting to droop too. :-( I checked for squash bugs but could not find any so am hoping it was just the heat of the day that did that.
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Dh and I hiked about 2.5 miles today at a local park along the river. Very humid and river was swollen and muddy from all the rain we've been getting, however, I did manage to photograph a turtle convention.
Scottie
P. S. I have had enough rain already. I'm sending it away to all who need it.
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Here's an updated picture of my straw bale garden. It's gone crazy this past week! Unfortunately I'm not going to get any zucchini this year. The plants are big and healthy but the blossoms just fall off.
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend and please stay safe!
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Any hints on growing strawberries? I planted last year with no results but very nice plants. This year I have berries but I think I should have planted them higher or on straw or something.
Suggestions?
Coach Vicky
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My Mom always mulched with straw. It was so dry in Okla that it helped conserve moisture from the watering. Ours here are in a raised bed because slugs love them. As a child, I hunted in the strawberries for horned toads (actually a spiny harmless lizard). They liked the shade. I would play with them for a while and put them back.
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I put beer in plastic cups I buried and the slugs are gone
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Scottie, how cute is that picture of the turtles?! Mae me smile. :-)
Lori, the garden is looking super. Sorry about not getting any zukes this year. I picked my first one yesterday and have 3 babies on the plants. All the other blossoms are males. Also have 2 spaghetti squash growing. Yeah! Ate some more "fruit of the yard" this weekend.....apples, asian pears, blackberries. Looks like I will have a few hot peppers soon. Typically the pepper plants don't start a wild growth spurt until the end of July so I am anxious to see how they do.
I love fireworks but absolutely do not like neighbors firing them off after 11 p.m. when I need to get some sleep. UGH I know tomorrow night wlll be so much worse. Because we live outside the city limits it is legal to have them here but people, have some respe
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I see buds on the hydrangeas
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Clematis in full bloom. Definitely need to cut it back this fall. Too much dead at the bottom.
Not sure what this plant is. Bought it at Home Depot but sure do love the color.
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Wow! What gorgeous pops of color!
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Thanks Wren44.
Put a plastic cup in the ground. Fill with beer. Slugs gone!
Coach Vicky
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I love tart cherries for pies, and they're so hard to find.
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Summerrain - glad you came out from lurking. Love the pics of your garden. Lucky to have a friend that helps too. It has a nice layout.
Coachvicki - congrats on that first tomato. My first one didn't even make it to the table . . . hmm? not even out of the garden. Burp.
Mommyof2 - won't be long, it sounds like, and you're going to have lots of tomato's.
Bluebird - I imagine it is hard to give up your garden for travel. Thinking of how you could have a mobile garden, I can only think of pots. But I imagine if then they would be limited as to how many you could travel with. Maybe you should consider smaller crops, such as going with herbs. Or if possible a few hanging pots.
Lori - Raccoon babies so CUTE. Mamma doesn't mind you petting them. I've heard of people having raccoons as pets but as soon as they get mature, they are less domestic and unreliable as being safe to be around.
Rose - thanks for the idea about the tomato pasta. I know in years to come I will be producing more tomato's and love this idea.
Scottiemom - We've been hit hard with rain also. Month of June broke a historical rain record. Over 20 inches in month of June. I'm up close to DC and they are hurting for rain. Everyone wishing for some and I'm thinking I don't want to see another drop for a while. Hubby is picking veggies everyday as everything is splitting.
Thanks to all on well wishes for my Dad. He is in physical therapy facility and doing well considering he is 92. It wasn't a week ago and he was in ICU so we are very happy to see the improvement. I am unfortunately the child that does not live close by (1000 miles away), but I am here with him now. I am blessed to have a brother that lives in the area AND is very actively involved with our Dads care. And so much of my visit is my desire to relieve him of the stress he has had in past two months. I can't do enough (in my mind). For those that have experienced in being the main caretaker for their parent(s) if you can offer any suggestions for the sibling that does live close by in how you would have loved their help, please share. Eventually I will have to go back home and work leaving my brother with all the responsibility again.
And please keep sending in pics of your gardens, I miss mine . . . .
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Gardennerd, I'm glad to hear your Dad is doing much better. Praying he continues to improve daily!
Coach Vickie, I put my strawberries in a wooden box my hubby put on a stand to keep them off the ground. I planted them in Miracle Grow potting soil and placed straw all around them and they are starting to get tons of strawberries on them.
Pink, I love your pictures of your flowers. Very beautiful colors indeed! The bottom plant looks a lot like the coneflowers we get in Indiana. They are very pretty too. My hydrangeas are starting to bloom too. I'll get pictures once they get a lot bigger.
Heidi, my pepper plants aren't very big yet but I'm getting peppers so I'm not going to complain. My FIL's pepper plants are beautiful but he has no signs of peppers yet. I think I'll take my little scrawny plants with peppers! lol
We came back from visiting my hubby's parents in Peoria last night. When I checked on my garden the tomato worms were having a blast with my tomato plants! One of my Early Girl tomato plants has been reduced to twigs but I have 5 nice sized tomatoes on it. I'm hoping it comes back but I'm not holding my breath as it hurts when I hit the floor! I got 6 cucumbers while we were away, my hubby took a few to snack on while at work today. I'm glad he left one for me!
Sending out gentle healing hugs to All 🤗
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Congrats on the cukes an tomatoes, Lori! I have now picked 4 zucchini and have at least 4 more babies. I managed to hunt and find one lil bitty cucumber. I also saw 3 spaghetti squash. Hurrah!
We had rain twice within the past week which is highly unusual for us in July (or almost any month!) The chiggers are horrid this year, for my husband at least. They don't seem to bite me as much nor do the mosquitos.
I bought some Tanglefoot to smear on my pecan trees in hope of staving off the pecan weevils this year. DH cut a lot of tentworms out of the trees too. UGH.
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fruits-and veggies-of your your labor as well as the beauty of the flower gardens.
~Heidi
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Still having daily heavy rains. My backyard is starting to melt into the lake and my hummingbird and heron went into hiding.
Scottie
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We got our very first tomato! It's one of the little ones but we'll cut it in half and share.
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