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Post by desertwoman on Jul 6, 2020 22:39:49 GMT -5
Watered pots around the yard; repaired some holes that I think a skunk dug. Did a little cleanup at our hand dug pond. Then it was too hot to be working outside.
Wish I could say I got things done inside but when it's this hot not much gets done. It's very rare for a house to have air con around here- mostly because it's dry heat and the 90º+ days are for a short time (comparatively ) Fans help a lot (we have a few ceiling fans) and our thick adobe walls help the house to stay cool(ish).
There's a rhythm... open all the window at night. At 7000' the nights get quite cool. The house cools down. Then in the morning, before it starts to warm up, close most of the windows and doors, pull down some shades The adobes help to keep the house fairly comfortable until the evening when you open everything up again and get the cool evening/night breezes.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 7, 2020 14:16:50 GMT -5
First surveyed the damage (half my lettuce - luckily a heat-damaged variety - & half a large pot of Italian flat-leaf parsley) done during an apparent baby-groundhog commando raid on my deck garden last night. Then, as usual, watered, watered, & watered some more.
Afterwards, took a ride with hubby over to the dump/recycling center with kitchen trash & recyclables. Nothing like full dumpsters + hot asphalt + 95,000 Turkey vultures flapping around on a 100-degree day.
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Post by emmsmommy on Jul 7, 2020 19:39:41 GMT -5
I finally got my fall cabbage, kohlrabi and cauliflower seeds sown today as well as another round of chives and garlic chives. My mom fell for a computer scam last evening and spent my day with her, cancelling checking accounts, calling the credit reporting agencies and trying to do a system recovery on her computer. Everything taken care of except I still need to do some updates on the computer. On the way home we noticed that the creeks were muddy and to the top of the banks. Looks like we got about an inch of rain.
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Post by Mumsey on Jul 8, 2020 4:24:19 GMT -5
Fixed up a veggie goodie box for neighbors, as well as a huge bouquet of flowers. It's their 60th anniversary this week. Watered pots, a daily ritual. While sitting on the deck, Princess went running. A baby robin on the ground near the deck. I saw her and said "no, drop it". And she did. The daddy robin was dive bombing her and it scared her! The hair was standing up on that bird's head and he was making an awful ruckus. I watched, dad was getting bugs, and still making lots of noise even with the food in his beak. We went inside, watched from the window. Baby bird got up and hopped away, accompanied by dad. He was feeding it on the way to the hosta beds. I think Princess learned a lesson.  I saw that baby earlier in a big planter tub. I was watering and then saw something move. Poor baby. I was unknowingly pouring water directly on it. It got it's very first bath! |
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 8, 2020 7:50:53 GMT -5
I got up at 6 am today - something I almost never do, except when I don't want to. lol But one of the local supermarkets (I could count on one hand how many times I've shopped there, since the pandemic started) had some sales I couldn't pass up, so I went to the closest one (opens at 6 am), about 5 min away, around 6:45, and they were packed, so I went to the one about 9 miles away, that opens at 7 am, and almost nobody was in it, which is what I like! I was in and out in 15 min, and the cashier did a double take when he looked at the receipt, saying something like "Wow, you saved a lot more than you spent!" I told him that the only thing that I bought without some deal was a box of kosher salt - all the rest were digital coupons, or some other deal. They had this same deal on detergent just after Christmas (must be a twice a year thing) - ends up 99¢ per 60 load container, and you can buy up to 12! (Usually these kinds of deals have a limit of 1). Now I have enough clothes detergent to last me a few years, even as dirty as I get!  |
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Post by reuben on Jul 8, 2020 8:27:06 GMT -5
Yesterday I picked some lettuce and tomatos for Venerable Mom and family.
Today I rerigged the shade for the lettuce.
That'll probably be it for the garden today.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 8, 2020 12:08:42 GMT -5
The usual H2Oing going on here today. It's another scorchingly brutal day here, with no relief in sight. The heat index was already at 100 at 10:15 this morning.
Did pick my first two ripe "Sungold" cherry tomatoes to garnish my lunchtime salad, so that was nice.
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Post by Mumsey on Jul 8, 2020 15:57:27 GMT -5
0530: Walk. It was miserable even that early! 75 with 87% humidity. Cut a big tote full of kale. Cut 5 celery. Sat in the yard and cleaned it all. Can't imagine why the flies weren't bothering me. Strange. Picked beans. Watered the area where more beans will go, to soften up the soil. Watered all pots. Found some peppers to pick! Big Jim and red marconi, though it wasn't red yet. Somehow I spent 4 hours outside after the walk. The Princess saw the baby bird again, this time she was walking up to it, I said no, get out of there. And she did. Good dog. I think she remembers the bird bomb attack from yesterday. Went to CG and watered.
Froze all the kale and 3 of the celery. Made chicken tetrazzini for supper. Cooked up some beet greens. Cleaned out freezer of old stuff. Pretty proud, only 5 old packages of stuff. Lots of tomatoes in there to use up in soup, which I will be doing when I get some taters dug at Dad's. Later today I'll be picking stuff for a friend.
Sold 70 garlic since last night. People get snarky when I don't hold stuff for them. I tell them if I don't hear from you the day you have told me you would be here, then I go to next on the list. I don't send reminders. Plenty of people want it. That's all I'll be selling. The rest is for planting and eating.
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Post by tom 🕊 on Jul 9, 2020 7:35:33 GMT -5
I am growing a red half runner bean that the garden gave me. Do pods with the most seed have offspring with an increased number of seed? Can I increase yields by selecting the biggest pods? A neighbor attempted to increase peanut yields by such selection, and I heard it didn't work. Further, a plant with many small pods may produce more than a plant with a few large pods. It's a puzzle.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 9, 2020 15:08:25 GMT -5
Watering. What else when, once again, it's over 90 degrees out. But was heartened to see two tiny cucumbers on the two plants I sowed exactly just one month ago.
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Post by emmsmommy on Jul 9, 2020 20:23:27 GMT -5
Yesterday I did nothing but put the shade over the cabbage plants. One never perked back up so into the compost it went.
Today I got up early and dug the second bed of potatoes as the foliage had died down. Comparing yields with the first bed, I noticed that planting early and covering the bed with a makeshift hoop house during the cold paid off. Now to get some beans and peas planted in their place. Cabbage, cauliflower and kohlrabi have sprouted.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 9, 2020 20:38:13 GMT -5
Almost nothing. I did complete the garlic harvest. I think I’ve had a few too many days of intense sweating from working in the heat. This body needed a rest. And some rehydration.
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 9, 2020 21:27:36 GMT -5
I'm with you binnylou, Took a walk in the hills behind our place, in the AM, but after 5 hours in the gardens yesterday in 90+º I sat under the ceiling fan most of today and read. It got up to upper 90s today |
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 10, 2020 9:05:07 GMT -5
I have a day that I can do almost nothing, with that 4-5" of rain predicted. Maybe I'll find something to do in my workshop. Right now, it's getting very dark out there...
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Post by Wheelgarden on Jul 10, 2020 14:12:32 GMT -5
Picked more squash, and the first four full-size tomatoes --- Rutgers, of course, they usually win the race. Brandywine and Big Beef are battling for second. Got DS to take a photo of the area from a step-ladder. I love it when the garden starts going vertical. And yes, it's as hot and humid as it looks.  ...and from the cold frame:
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I saw that baby earlier in a big planter tub. I was watering and then saw something move. Poor baby. I was unknowingly pouring water directly on it. It got it's very first bath!
