California - What are you doing this month?

Yolos, Try it again now. It's not true spinach. I planted mine during the summer.

sanderson wrote:Yolos,  Try it again now.  It's not true spinach.  I planted mine during the summer.

Yea it is on my to-do list but I don't seem to get it replanted.  Always seems to be something more important to do or something else I have to plant which I know will germinate without any fuss.

sanderson wrote:Yolos,  Try it again now.  It's not true spinach.  I planted mine during the summer.

Good, cuz that's when I'll be planting mine, too. 

Thanks for the link Sanderson.  I have never blanched, just tossed stuff in the freezer. I put bell peppers in whole, or slice them in strips.  Since I cook with them it has never made much of a difference.  I'm going to try blanching them also though.  Maybe it will keep them a little more crisp.  

I'm squashed out & ready to pull the plant.  It just won't quit.  My sisters run now when they see me coming.   

My Roma's have the same problem as Sanderson's tomatoes.  BER!  I have not had one good one.  The Celebrity has a ton of green ones on it (that are all going to be ripe at the same time).  They all have splits in the top however.  I just don't have the watering down.   They will be edible, just not pretty.  

Onward & upward.....

Melen, I have the Seal-a-meal 2000 series. You can custom size the baggies because you make your own. Just don't use the vacuum setting on a bag of soup! Blanching stops the deterioration and the ice bath stops the cooking. Drain well, and spread out on a cookie sheet in the freezer until solid, like 30 minutes, then bag and seal. Save those squash!

Try spraying the plant and soil with a milk solution. I use the jar that screws onto the hose. A package of non-fat dry milk, fill with water, mix til dissolved, then spray in the pre-dawn hours or when it's dark. Or use regular milk in the jar attachment and spray.

I'm plagued with grasshoppers, little green ones and some that are still small but turning brown. http://www.gardenandflowers.com/info_12321222_neem-oil-grasshopper-control.html

I'm doing NOTHING! I go outside, jump in the hot tub just long enough to get wet, do my watering while in my wet bathing suit, then run back in the house to cool off in the a/c. There are so many things I want to be doing outside, but I just can't take the heat. It's already in the high 70s when I wake up at 6:30am. 

105*F and 11% humidity today.  Eggplant:

Tomatillos:

Cucumbers:

oh my gosh.  Even under shade cloth.  At least your humidity is low.  Our humidity right now is 88%.

Wow sanderson and yolos. That is brutal. 

We are going up to about 85 F today and the current humidity is 66%. That combination will be enough to curtail my outdoor activities.

Yeah, I'm pretty much OVER the heat and my plants are right there with me.  Everything recovers when it cools but it still takes as much of their energy as it does of mine... *deep sigh* at least 3 more months of this to come!

Yes, everything is under shade cloth or Agribon-30. I've been getting up before the sun rises to get things done. This morning I got up at 5:15 and bottle-sprayed everything but herbs with a Neem oil solution. The little grasshoppers were just jumping ship left and right. I hoped that the leaves would be dry by the time the bees started their day, but along came a black bumble bee and I wanted to shoo him away. That could have been interesting. Thankfully, he took off to another yard. I pruned all of the damaged tomato stems. Hopefully they have insect damage rather than disease. Yeah, right!

So over the heat! We plan to go up the Table Top Mountain Casino for the barbecue buffet and so I can lose a $20.

We have 3 more days of 106-108 heat. A/C going 24/7.   I go out to water and come right back in again. Can't do anything fun out side. In the house I signed up for Netflix. Maybe that will keep me sane until I can get back outside again.

I have a few minutes before I go on the Foundation FB page as host for an hour. Yesterday I sprayed everything with Neem oil/ Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap solution. Little grasshoppers jumping every where! Then, at sundown I did it again. I also pruned off all the ugly dead tomato leaf stems. Today things look better but I'm sure it's just psychological. Killed 3 little GH with the flyswatter this morning. Arggg.

We are in a heat wave so you regulars know what that means for me. Time to build a Berkeley hot compost pile! "Mad dogs and Englishmen" Husband is gathering horse manure and making the round to the Starbucks right now. I go back on the FB page at 3 pm Pacific, 6 pm Eastern for another hour, then off to the Farmer's Market where there should be lots of wilted/mushy produce for me to haul away.

I'm so tired of the heat I could SCREAM! (And it has barely started).  I thought I'd be able to garden every morning and just be shut in after noon, but it's so hot when I wake up in the morning I don't even want to leave the house.

I'm as crazy as you are Sanderson.  I need to turn my compost pile today but my back is spasming   and of course I got a super-duper rush art request from my agents and I can't sit for very long in my computer chair *deep sigh*

Mellon,  For quotes, go to the reply with the wording you want to quote, and click the Quote button.  Edit down to the sentence or part you want to show as a quote by deleting everything else.  Make sure to leave the quote and /quote that are in brackets [ ].

Late fall for planting is Sept-Oct.  About the time I want to rip out every dry and miserable looking spring/summer plant!

I worked on building the new pile last night from 7-9:30 pm and finished this morning 7-10 AM.  All showered and shampooed and ready for a cool nap with the cat.  I got a little bit of heat exhaustion there at the end.

Oh, this morning at 6:30, my unfriendly west neighbor came outside to sit on her patio.  "What's that awful smell?"  A few minutes later, she went inside and slammed her door.  I think it's the cacophony of ingredient smells that are also out of place.  Coffee?  Straw?  Alfalfa hay?  Mild, dry horse manure?  Dried leaves?  Chopped fruits and veggies?  It will be interesting to see if she calls Code Enforcement.  Of course, just the other side of the fence has been dog poop for 21 years.  So delightful after a week of no clean out, in the heat.

Thanks Sanderson.  I remember seeing somewhere else you talking about "count back from October."  (to start seeds indoors for planting out in October?)

Also thank you for the direction on freezing squash.  I also have a food saver and have done (would you believe) dog & cat food (roaches!!!).  I did plan on using it for the squash but was going to grate everything.  I'm going to try slicing & dicing some also to see how they come out.

I quick froze peaches last night.  My neighbor came over with a huge Walmart bag full.  I ate probably 2-3 that were just too juicy to freeze  .  Boy are they good.  He also brought me two HUGE bags of last year's walnuts.  He APOLOGIZED!  Nothing wrong with last year's walnuts that have been in the freezer.  

I have a plethora of goods it seems.  Finally got some slicing tomatoes off my Celebrity vine.  These weren't even split on top.

QUESTION for the experts:  I have ANTS on my prolific squash vine.  HUH?  How do I get rid of them without poisoning myself?

The search box brings up 61 threads, so you know Ants is a frequent topic. I use talc powder and am going to try DE (diatomaceous earth) this year. Just don't breathe either.

Yesterday evening, I set up the ingredients for the pile.  Love that new used chipper for leaves and hay.  I forgot to try it for the dried horse pucks.  Of course, after the neighbor's loud comment this morning, maybe it was a good thing I didn't try it.  Look at all those bags from Starbuck's, a full 15 gallons!

Compost is cooking away. After 48 hours it rose from base temp of 80*F to 140*F. It took 6 more buckets than the Dec one because the leaves and alfalfa were run through the yellow chipper/shredder. The Dec one, in turn, took 8 more buckets than the Aug one, because the leaves and alfalfa were just run over twice with the lawn mower. So, the finer you chop, the more buckets will be needed.

CN, Received your seeds. Thank you!

I have 1 sprouted marvel lettuce, 2 malabar spinach, and this morning 3 little NZ spinach sprouts. 

Also, I experimented with my asparagus beans and re-planted my seeds from this season. They are also sprouting but they're tiny little things. The new planting of regular long beans seems bigger and more sturdy than the asparagus beans, so, fingers crossed that we'll actually be eating beans some time this year, and next year I'll make sure I plant an early, hardy variety.

My vine peach is doing well. I actually thought they'd look like, well, peaches, but I have one the size, shape, and color of a spaghetti squash.  I can't wait for it to ripen so we can try it.

I have one beautiful red tomato. I was hoping to pick it today, but it's still hard. I didn't come all this way for a grocery store tomato, so I will try to be patient a little longer.

Banana squash was planted by the mulch pile. I put the seedlings in nursery pots with the bottoms cut out. Makes for more efficient watering and will hopefully deter pests (including chickens and cats). When they get bigger, they can climb the mulch pile to their hearts' content. If this works, next year we'll turn the mulch pile into a garden feature by putting a ring of those shaped retaining wall bricks around it and planting all my big climbers around the outside. That would sure save space in my sfg for the little guys.

Happy Friday, Y'all!

I need to start fall/winter seedlings shortly.  I always end up doing them later than I should so I told myself over and over again last year, do it by mid-july and that's right around the corner!!! 

I am planning to make pumpkin flour (and some other winter squash flours) so I studied how to do that today.  I LOVE pumpkin muffins that are low carb so I'll use it for that.  Also use it for soups and who know what else I'll think of to make with them.  My monster Boston Marrow are getting close

Audrey, I can't believe that you are starting winter seedlings by mid July! I guess I should also. I've always bought 6-packs but I have some unusual ones I want to grow this winter.

CN, I'm glad the NZ are sprouting. The plants spread out or fall over the side of the box so don't plant more than one per square.

I turned and re-watered the compost pile for the first time this morning. Got up at 5:19 to get it done before the neighbor stepped outside for her morning coffee. The temp was only 152*F. This evening it is really smelling so maybe it will heat up to 160*F this round. The plants are doing better after the milk and Neem spraying and the drop in temps. The tomatoes are small but at least I'm getting a few. Dragon tongues are also starting to produce again. No KY wonder or rattlesnake beans to date.

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:I need to start fall/winter seedlings shortly.  I always end up doing them later than I should so I told myself over and over again last year, do it by mid-july and that's right around the corner!!! 

My winter seed order just arrived. My planned seed planting date is August 1, but this is my first year, so who knows if that's right or not.