• Join Home Gardening Forum

Whatcha Up To???

MR. G. L.

Active Member
Messages
143
Planting Zone
9
rain just spotted the drive way.. caught 1 rat in a spring trap an 1 in a home made bucket with a can smeared with peanut butter strung on a wire stretched across the top.. he rolled off into about 3" of water picked 4 egg plants . tomatoes . bell peppers . enjoyed the day with family AND great grand kids
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
3 tomatoes planted
8' row of pole beans seeded
12' row of kale seeded

High of 68 F today.

Bedtime around here right now and I told the kids to slowly and quietly come over to the open front door to see the bobcat outside. They were disappointed to just see a skid loader on a trailer. It was worth it.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
We received another 1.42" of rain last night. The lightning was bright enough to wake me up @ 0135 hrs. As of now, it's a sunny & beautiful day.

Harvested more tomatoes & green beans.

Ordered more herbicides for the pastures.
 
Last edited:

MR. G. L.

Active Member
Messages
143
Planting Zone
9
1.4 rain hard blowing for a few minutes as already stated lightning very bright .. some tall loaded egg plants laying over took dogs to groomer bath an hair cut
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Made bread.

Went to town to get a haircut.

Started spot spraying crabgrass.

Seasoned up pork chops that I smoked for supper, but it feels so hot/humid (94 degees, heat index was 109 degrees & the humidity was 99%) that neither I, nor Mrs. Ranch, felt like eating. Even Dieter hasn't been eating normal. We're thinking about going to the house in Panama right now.
 
Last edited:

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Cut the grass (started at 0830 hrs to beat the heat).

Cleaned & refilled the bird's water trough,
 
Last edited:
K

ksk

Guest
Weedeater around planter boxes.Thinned out tomato vines as they were running between boxes.Picked beans,squash,bells, and cucumbers.Sprayed Roundup around garden fence. Watered garden.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Watered the garden, asparagus, all the trees, flowerbeds, hanging baskets & porch pots.

Fixed an issue with one of the heads for the back yard trees... apparently a root pinched off the water supply requiring me to dig & replace that piece of flexible pipe. It was time consuming & way too hot/humid to be doing this, but it is now done.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Made bread.

Did the weekly shopping.

Fed the cattle.

Put up a new Texas flag at the main entry.

Harvested another tub of tomatoes this morning that will be tuned into straight tomato sauce & canned. Also harvested more cucumbers.

Mrs. Ranch made a command decision by deciding that we are having bruschetta for supper tonight, so I went back out & harvested a big bowl of basil this afternoon, most of it went into the dehydrator so I can start replenishing the pantry's spice rack.

basil_062119-jpg.jpg
 
Last edited:
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Spent 3+ hours sitting in line at the Secretary of State to get a Michigan driver's license and plates. They allow you to schedule appointments ahead of time but the system sucks and poorly notes the date you scheduled. I knew I was set for Friday at 11:50. But turns out it was Friday June 28th and I walked in on Friday June 21. The UI needs to be fixed, leave it to a government system...


I think I killed my garden seed collection when I stored it in the shipping pods. Temps must have been too high for too long. The kale seeds, garden bean seeds, and cucumber seeds I planted have failed to grow. This is a mix of saved seeds over years of selection and unplanted packs I bought.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Oh yeah, summer solstice today
Sun rise 5:17 A.M.
Sun set 8:36 P.M.

That gives 15 hours 17 minutes of daylight.

Only "sun set" was about an hour ago and it is still very bright out. Twilight has long tails this time of year.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
@whistech I used to watch several of MI Gardener's vids but stopped as now he talks too much and teaches too little. I also get the impression that his way is the only right way so my way must be wrong.

I bought some seeds and plant starts from a local(ish) old school place this year - De Bruyn Seeds. As I was planting out the 4 packs I saw a sticker on the side saying they were grown in the same city I live in. And the 4 packs were 89 cents each. The 1/4 oz seed pack of Lettuce Gourmet Blend was 89 cents - 1/4 oz of lettuce seed is a lot of seed.

I also like these seed companies:
  • Jung Seeds which is outside of Madison Wisconsin
  • Johnny's Seeds in Maine
  • Botanical Interests in Colorado
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Started prepping & roasting the tomatoes for straight tomato sauce. I'll can it up tomorrow.

Tomato_Sauce_062219.jpg


Harvested another tub of green beans which we prepped & blanched prior to Mrs. Ranch freezing them in the vacuum-pack bags (they'll be vacuum packed tomorrow). Here's the first batch:

GreenBeans_062219.jpg
 
Last edited:
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Took the kids out this morning to a bike shop, library, and farmer's market.

1 - local library has a seed library in it. Use your library card to "checkout" small packs of seeds. All the seeds are OP type land races and have only a few seeds in a tiny ziplock bag. The chard, cabbage, and kale seed packs had between 10 and 30 seeds each, but for how I start and grow that is plenty of seed for my garden.

2 - farmers market haul - asparagus, summer squash, rosemary plant, parsley plant.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
After reducing the tomato sauce to the consistency I wanted , I canned it up (11 pints).

Vacuum packed the green beans now that they're frozen.
 
Last edited:
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
I HATE HIGH EFFICIENCY FRONT LOAD LAUNDRY WASHING MACHINES

Loaded in my work button down shirts and khaki pants and a pair of jeans to wash them this morning. They came out of the fancy washing machine smeared with a gray gritty greasy gunk. This gunk reminded me more of the sludge from a clogged drain than machine grease. This is the second load of shirts that one of these things has ruined on me.

This was an LG front loading washer.

I *may* have lost a brand new Lands Ends pin point button down shirt, a brand new pair of Round House jeans, a brand new pair of Lands End khakis, two worn button down shirts, and a worn polo / golf style shirt. I treated and hand washed the stains and cleaned the washer.
 
M

Monotropa

Guest
Do you use the pods? We stopped using those in both our wash machines and dishwashers because we noticed that the "skin" or what ever you want to call it doesn't always complete dissolve. I would find it accumulating in places and it was like a greasy gelatin texture.

We have had clothes come out with the "skins" from the pods glued to them and thought at first the kids had put something in the dryer (we forgot to check their pockets). Just a thought without knowing all the details.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,449
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
LOL!!! Dieter tried his darnedest his very first day (clawing & kicking for all he was worth), but he did manage to do it on his 2nd day & he was so proud of himself!!!
 
Top