Although Will was hoping for no rain so he could get into the hayfield, it clouded up very dark and soon began to rain — then pour! I can’t say I was sad though as our poor gardens were getting stressed from lack of moisture. Four of them we can water easily. One a little harder and two (the North and Wolf Gardens) very hard to get water to, being they’re half a mile from the house. We watched the rain pour off the house, knowing the gardens were soaking it up happily. When it quit, we went out and got busy, continuing to weed. It seems weeds thrive in a drought!
Today, our friends, Dara and Sherri, came and went to work again weeding the long carrot rows. They weeded them a few weeks ago but the darned weeds came back with a vengeance. We ran out of the Reed Canary grass hay we use for mulch so Will hauled out several bales of regular clover/grass hay to mulch the tomatoes. Unfortunately, it had some seeds, which germinated in the hay and boy do we have weeds in the tomato rows this year! It is beyond pulling them. Will took the old push lawnmower out there and started mowing in-between the rows. That made them look much better and is sure to stunt the weeds’ growth. I’ve got to get out there and trim some of the long tomato branches, so the different varieties don’t cross. We’ve found that if the flowers don’t rub together, we very seldom have any crossing, even though they’re planted six feet apart. Will and I are busy trying to weed the jalapeños in the Sand Garden. They kind of got left behind when other work needed us and now, they’re pretty weedy. And I want to make tons more Cowboy Candy!
Our flowers are rewarding us with a bounty of blooms, especially the lilies in the backyard. Although they’re toxic to cats, we have never had a problem. Maybe it’s because the cats don’t spend much time out there and they don’t eat the lilies or hang around to get pollen on their coats. I’m trying to get the flower beds all mulched with wood chips and it’s going slowly but surely.
The melons are slow this year, but we’ve found some as big as a softball. That’s encouraging! We’re praying for a late fall so things can get caught up. — Jackie
Boy! That looks like Oregon rain LOL
Those day lilies and fuchsia look gorgeous!
So much work, so little time!
Boy, isn’t that the truth!! Sometimes I wish I was triplets!!
What a beautiful piece of property! Sorry you are having trouble with the weeds. We haven’t had measurable rain in over 90 days here in Idaho and the weeds are the bane of my existence !
Why is it that those darned weeds grow so well, no matter how the garden struggles???
The bane of our garden is the horsetail. I swear the dang stuff would come up through concrete; no amount of mulch, weed barrier, old carpet, cardboard – nothing even slows it down.
We had an extremely dry July, but so far August has been wetter. Not so much as to flood the garden, but enough to keep everything nice and wet.
I’m replanting all the strawberry beds because the darn groundhog ate the leaves off all the plants and they just never really recovered. We didn’t get many strawberries this year as a result :( but the blueberries are really nice, my pink blueberry bush is finally bearing this year and I’m so pleased. The wild blackberries are coming in now too.
Selena: there are tons of wild turkeys around here this year, more than I’ve ever seen before. Last week a bunch of adults and dozens of babies walked right down our road, which is an unpaved dead end so not much traffic.
We are being visited fairly regularly by a mama and three black bear cubs. I’d rather that they found somewhere else to hang out, it’s unnerving to walk down to the barn and suddenly see the bunch of them prancing around. Game warden advised a paintball gun as the safest to scare them away, will have to look into getting one.
We love bears but sure wouldn’t want them hanging around that close. Will they run if you shout at them? The ones we had in Montana would. And I was glad of that too.
We only have a few wild turkeys and none come to the yard. We miss them. The bad winter we had a few years ago must have done in a lot of them, as it did the deer. It was a really tough year for wildlife!
One year I mulched my strawberry beds with old grassy hay-what a crop of weeds I got after winter. We too got a much needed one inch of rain. My tomatoes have been slow to ripen. After 3 plantings of beets I think I have a total of 4-5. I think they could not erupt through the soil crust. You have a long row “to hoe” with your large plantings. I’m glad you have the great help.
The absolute worst weed problem I’ve ever had was when I was young and used old hay chaff from the barn to mulch the garden. I had a wonderful crop of grass, not vegetables. It took three years for me to get rid of it, hand weeding like mad every year. Ugh!!
Our beets did fine but boy is our sweet corn struggling. Like your beets, the seedlings couldn’t break through the clumpy clay. I think we’ll have enough to eat and can. Maybe…..
Wow, what awesome friends you have there!! Rain would be nice here in Pacific Northwest. Seems everyone is having an unusual growing season this year. Have a few melons 🍈 bigger than softballs! Can’t wait to taste them. Unfortunately have yet to see ANY peppers 🌶️ :( glad I canned up so much last year. Glad everyone is doing well
Wish I could have rain down here. So thankful you got some. I can water my garden and it’s small compared to yours. At least, I have water. 😁
And that’s a blessing. I wish I could send you some of ours. It’s been raining a lot lately and Will really needs to get haying!
Hi, Jackie: I’ve always planted my tomatoes 3 ft apart, because I heard their roots get that long. You’re saying yours are 6 ft apart. And you’re also saying all your varieties are next to each other, still 6 ft apart. So tomato varieties don’t need to be a quarter mile or a half mile apart to harvest true seed? But 6 ft only? And that it’s only necessary for their branches and blossoms not to touch. I learn so much reading your blog and from using your recipe books frequently. I’m rendering suet now, for canning tallow, and have so many home canned foods, that I have stacks and no shelves for them. I call that progress! We won’t get rain until fall, maybe November. But, I still have to get in a mid-Aug fall garden: onions, garlic, greens, etc.
Thanks from far north California
No, tomatoes don’t need to be planted half a mile apart in order not to cross. I have three seed saving books by experts and there’s a lot I disagree with, out of years of experience. A few years ago, I was worried we may be planting them too closely and asked a very experienced tomato guru, Al Anderson, who raised 1,500 varieties how close he planted his tomatoes. He said, “Oh, about two feet apart.”. He said he very, very rarely got a cross and said that was a happy fluke.
The only time we have gotten a cross (two times) was when the branches got too long and rubbed their neighbor’s branches. So we do minimal pruning to avoid this.
Good for you, canning up so much food!!
So glad you have great helpers! We, too, are battling the weeds like crazy here in Michigan. And we got the same kind of welcome rain yesterday (Tuesday). But the plants are loaded with produce so we are happy!
We’re starting to get some tomatoes, summer squash, peppers, snap beans and cukes. Not enough to can, but lots for fresh eating. Hooray!!
Our heat wave broke last night – the temp was 20 degrees lower today than yesterday. It did rain 1/2 inch last night which made it just a tad “sticky” today. But a nice breeze which was most welcome.
I squat when I weed. Usually wear my reading glasses too. I did weed the strawberries last Saturday (worked up a very nice sweat I must say). I need to go back through and precision weed but it was a bit dry at that time. Volunteer trees are my worst nemesis but that can’t be helped. We use straw to mulch open areas in the garden. Yeah, it does have some seeds but have to admit, the sprouts weren’t too bad. Garlic order will be here before I know it so deciding where it gets planted this fall. I think we’re going to add a bit of sand to next year’s tater area.
The yellow squash plant is done. Zuke and cuke still going strong. While going to be later than normal, we will get some slicing tomatoes. Better half went all Fort Knox after first time ever bad bambi’s take-a-bite-and-spit-it-out visit. I have to admit the twin fawns and the single fawn are quite cute.
It has been a bumper year for wild turkeys – might have been the cicadas. Neighbor has had 30 chicks in her yard, we’ve had at one group of least 18 (three hens have banded together) and another of a dozen or so (they just won’t stand still long enough for me to get an accurate count). I swear they all doubled in size in a week’s time.
And Pepe, saw him/her last night. At least no “aromatic” evidence this morning. I did watch carefully and saw no signs of it being infected by rabies (whew).
We’re really happy we have very few skunks. Cute but the potential for rabies is kind of scary. I can’t kneel, sit on the ground nor squat to weed. My knees are way too painful for any of those options. I either stand and bend over or sit on a five-gallon bucket and weed. I’m kind of slow.
Does the rolling seat work for you, Jackie? I was thinking you had one at one time. I have one, and it works well if there isn’t back problems, which I DO have, so no longer use mine very much. Leaning forward while sitting is a big No-No to me.
Now I use the rolling seat to set a heavy bucket of potatoes etc on and roll them to the house. If a big load, I use the wheelbarrow.
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