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Post by breezygardener on Jul 9, 2024 17:34:11 GMT -5
Continuing to attempt to be defiant to this miserable heat & humidity, I dutifully watered everything & then weeded, turned over, & topped up a couple of extra-large pots/tubs in preparation for some planting. One of them had what definitely looks like a tree seedling of some type, so gently repotted that. I hate to kill trees. If nothing else, they could always turn out to be possible bonsai trainees.
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Post by gardendmpls on Jul 9, 2024 21:38:39 GMT -5
Went out around 9 this morning. Came in after 11. Took a shower. Clothes soaked so tossed the shirt in the wash basket and saved the skirt for evening gardening. My hair looked like I had just washed it, but I hadn't. One of the posts in "It's so hot that" mentioned this. Later found the humidity here was 97-98 percent. Went back out at 7 and came in at 8:15. Weeded, fertilized (chicken compost an inch deep raked even) and mulched the large bed, by the tree stump, with hay. Ripped out about half the ivy (3 types, not poison) on the stump along with cutting back the thorny, wild type rose that leaks through the fence from the neighbor each year. Planning to plant corn there tomorrow. Realized the part by the stump is the place to plant the 7 hot peppers. Another problem solved. Tomorrow, I want to plant the pole beans and maybe set up the trellis. Then it's on to the squash bed and cucumbers and melons. Looks like I will need to water this week, as no rain until the end of the week. Those babies can get real thirsty until they sink their roots down a bit.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 9, 2024 22:22:54 GMT -5
That humidity was close to 100% here, too, as when I went out around 8:30 am, and everything thing was wet, and the temperature was up to about 80° (77° was the low overnight). I came back inside, since I don't do anything with the plants when they are wet. About 11 am it was already close to 90, and most of that dew had lifted, though it was still very humid - mid 70s for the dewpoint, and 97° high, with the HI 104°. I was out around 25, 40, and 30 minutes, in the different sections while they were in the shade. I can't imagine doing that in the sun, in this heat.
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 9, 2024 23:12:56 GMT -5
Clothes soaked so tossed the shirt in the wash basket and saved the skirt for evening gardening. Ha! I do the same thing. Skirts hold up to sweat better than pants and shirts. |
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 9, 2024 23:19:28 GMT -5
Pulled down the temporary chicken wire that we had put up to protect the babies I had planted last month. Hand watered a few things that aren't on drip irrigation (since they don't need weekly watering). Placed all the dug up garlic on screens under the carport for the next few weeks. Would have taken a pic but the rain came and I never got back out to the carport. Maybe tomorrow.
After my shower I gave myself my 2 month haircut and caught up on some emails and tasks I needed to get to.
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Post by emmsmommy on Jul 10, 2024 4:49:34 GMT -5
Finished planting the trial peppers Monday and had hoped to mulch them but after the sun came out I managed four peppers on every trip as it was 92°. When I finally finished I pulled out some orange plastic construction fencing and began temporarily fencing the new section. I'd pulled the length of fence between the gardens and used a few sections I'd used as pea trellises, so the fence has a very Sanford and Son look to it but it's effective. Up early yesterday determined to get those peppers mulched before going to the dentist but didn't even get 1/4 of them done before it was time to go inside and clean up. Tooth came out harder than any I've ever had extracted and I have a bit of swelling yet. Assured hubby I wouldn't overdo it yesterday and actually took an afternoon nap and let kiddo mother me. At 7:30 it was still 86° and I took a stroll around the garden, filled up the 15-gallon drum from the rain barrel and watered the latest row of bean seed with the other. They say necessity is the mother of invention so I'm adding a picture of what I jokingly refer to as my MWU or mobile watering unit. I used it to thoroughly saturate the cardboard before applying the mulch.   |
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Post by reuben on Jul 10, 2024 11:37:21 GMT -5
7am, 80F, 80% humidity. Decided to clean up some of the downed branches from the last couple of months while the weather was still good, har dee har har. I did a full face walk into one spider web, and got a good chunk of another later. The first one even scored a 9.4 from the Belarusian judge. Darn things are hard to see in the shade, but when the sun gets up and I can see them better, the weather's worse. Maybe one of the spiders is in my hair, will bite me, and give me a superpower, like being immune to heat/humidity. Har dee har har. Some tomato plants are setting good fruit. Hopefully they'll taste good with the bad soil. By the time I got the soil sample results here at the new place it was too late to apply much in the way of remedies. I'm kinda surprised at the number of buds and fruit considering that the test results said that I'm severely deficient in phosphorous.
Mama turkey and chillen were near the closest brush pile, but mama didn't seem to be too concerned about me. They just slowly ambled down the trail into the woods.
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Post by datgirl on Jul 10, 2024 12:07:04 GMT -5
reuben,did you move far from the old place? Are the weather conditions pretty much the same?
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Post by reuben on Jul 10, 2024 12:41:56 GMT -5
reuben,did you move far from the old place? Are the weather conditions pretty much the same? I just moved one county south. Probably a tad cooler, as I'm back in a more rural area - more vegetation, fewer roads and buildings, but also a slightly farther from large bodies of water. I have 12 acres and a pond, with a large shed and a pole barn. Still getting it all together both indoors and out, but also letting some parts of the outside go wild - two neighbors have offered to mow my grass because, well, I guess they assume that I'm too cheap, poor, or lazy to do it myself. Some was/is up to my chest. My neighbors seem OK, though - they seem to be offering to help rather than being nosy or disdainful, although only one showed up at my housewarming party. Family and friends were more than enough, though. Homemade gumbo, bread, ice cream, Cherry Breeze, games, stories... and we didn't even break out the frisbees, horseshoes, or croquet! Kids love hammocks and tree swings. Solar panels are installed, but not yet approved to connect. Geothermal was already in place. Insulation is about 1/4 done. Paint is done - I hate painting. Electrical fixes are done (I hope). Humidity/mold is probably 99% done. The gas stove and two gas fireplaces are gone - solar should easily supply more than 100% of my annual needs (net metering). I could have gone up over 200% but the initial cost was too high. The new stove is electrical induction - I had to buy a new tea kettle! The major dust issue seems to be fixed. Vegetable garden is mostly done, but needs more work - NPK, organic matter, breaking up the hard soil down deeper, better bracing, move one gate. I've killed most of the non-native and invasive English Ivy. Got it on myself twice, around my eyes, probably from rubbing, and had to get prednisone prescriptions due to swelling - they said if it spread down toward my throat or if I started having trouble breathing to call 911. Yeah, it can be bad - you can suffocate and die. I don't think that the leaves are particularly bad, but if you get the sap on you as I apparently did it can be a whole different ballgame. I have a few Chinese Chestnut trees, but never got around to roasting any last fall when I got here. I tried to put in a wild meadow in one area, but it was so wet for so long that I couldn't get the tractor in there. Then when it dried out it stayed that way and crows ate all of the seed! Now it's just a junk area. Maybe I'll till a few times times this winter to kill it again (it takes several times), and then try again in the spring. I dunno. I got a box blade for the tractor, but it's not the best tool for the job. Busy busy, worky worky! |
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Post by binnylou on Jul 10, 2024 12:46:14 GMT -5
reuben, aren’t those turkey youngsters just about full grown? We never did see any mamas with poults this year. We could hear them nearby, but in the tall grass and out of sight. theres the group of five Tom’s and then the single hen who wanders around like she’s looking for the rest of the family. We quit feeding grain for the season, so they moved on.
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Post by reuben on Jul 10, 2024 12:56:54 GMT -5
I'm not a turkey expert, but to my inexperienced eye the poults appear to be about half the size of mom or dad at most, looking at just the body, not feathers or longer neck.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 10, 2024 15:26:40 GMT -5
Another scorcher here, & we're currently on a "Severe Thunderstorm Watch" for the next few hours. The rain we definitely need; the wind & flotsam/jetsam not so much. It's dark & the wind is picking up, so hopefully we'll at least get some water. I skipped watering today in expectation, but did plant my sprouted okra seeds & water them in. Hopefully any storms we get won't rain hard enough to dislodge them.
I had that happen once - planted some seeds, had a storm blow through, & then about a week later had little seedlings popping up everywhere except where I put 'em.
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Post by datgirl on Jul 10, 2024 15:28:44 GMT -5
Wow reuben, you've been busy. We had a neighbor ask if we wanted help "maintaining" our property. These are the people with the perfect lawn and no trees anymore because they cut them all down, and the landscaper that comes every Friday like clockwork. Good luck with the wild meadow. |
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 10, 2024 15:34:07 GMT -5
I'm not a turkey expert, but to my inexperienced eye the poults appear to be about half the size of mom or dad at most, looking at just the body, not feathers or longer neck. That's about right for this time of year, depending on when they hatched. Tiny poults start appearing here in early June, but they grow quickly. They have to in order to avoid becoming a meal for anything & everything around here. It's a mad race to get large enough to fly or at least flutter. |
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Post by reuben on Jul 10, 2024 15:39:01 GMT -5
Wow reuben, you've been busy. We had a neighbor ask if we wanted help "maintaining" our property. These are the people with the perfect lawn and no trees anymore because they cut them all down, and the landscaper that comes every Friday like clockwork. Good luck with the wild meadow. Good luck with your sterile neighbors. We all think that we're doing the right thing, we just don't agree on what it is. You could invite them to a compost or weeding party. Let them see how the other half lives and all that, then maybe they'll reciprocate. It's not likely to work for either side, but ya never know. |
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