It's never good to hear that a drought is expected for your area, but that's exactly what I was told yesterday. It hasn't rained here in over a week, and the surplus in the rainbarrels has just been depleted over the weekend. Gosh, it looks like i'll have to use municipal water on the garden for the first time this year, and it's gonna be a pain in the butt. The spigot at my house is about 150 feet away from the closest point in the garden, and i'll resort to hauling buckets of water out to it. That means about 10 trips to do it all, and the swc's are the most demanding, of course...
Anyway, I wanted to give you an update on the butternut squash planted next to the woods - of which 2 fruit have formed thus far. The one on the right is probably gonna require a sling to keep the weight from putting too much pressure on the vine (especially since the wire mesh could sever the stem), but a well placed knee high will keep that from happening...
Since the squash in the main garden were pulled last week, the squashbugs have decided to relocate to this butternut planting. I found 4 clusters of eggs and 2 adults yesterday, and will keep monitoring the plants every couple of days - especially since I found a third fruit forming.
In other news, I learned something the other day. The pear trees provided enough fruit to make preserves with, so I decided to make it on Sunday evening. Well, a person should never try this while watching True Blood , because you'll end up making pear caramel instead. OOPS! Yeah, I completely blew it on this batch...hehe...Hey, the last 15 minutes of the episode were pretty intense!
I took a large bag of cucumbers and tomatoes to my neighbors down the street the other day, and they sure were appreciative of it. I need to do stuff like that more often, because there's no way that we can use it all. Chalk it up as my good deed for the day, I suppose.
I also spotted one of my furry friends about 60 feet up in a tree on Saturday morning - then BOOM! Hehe....it was toast....Now, only 4 more to go (that I know of). Yeah....i'm a muderer...
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
15 comments:
I can't remember the last time it rained here. It has been weeks. We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow and maybe Thursday.
I trapped 20 squirrels this spring. Unfortunately, I can't BOOM where I live now.
Sadly I had about 10 fruit form on my butternut that the groundhog ate. I've got one that is still unfound by him. I need you out here to get him for me - well them. I think it is a family of them under my neighbor's shed.
Nice butternut squash! I have exactly two as well. And like yours, I pulled some pumpkin vines the other day and the darn squash bugs are attacking the butternut now! Grrr. I understand the garden hose thing. My mom has about 3, maybe more hoses extended together to reach her garden. That is the fun of gardening on your own large piece of property!
that is pretty great that you have gone this far without having to pull city water, great job! Yeah, True Blood doesn't allow for much multi-tasking :)
I hope your drought is a short-lived one. Pear caramel, that sounds like it could have some tasty options. :)
I was hoping you'd have enough water to tide you through. Rats.
Wow, could ya come boom! take care of my vole problem? Too funny!
So, I still can't get over the fact that anyone can grow a summer garden on rain water, fresh from the heavens no less, mostly. I've never known anything other than annual summer droughts, truly no rain for months. My garden would be impossible without my PITA drip system.
So I guess "draught" is a dirty word for gardeners? I hope you get to grow those fruits to full size. I have full confidence in your knee high slinging abilities!
How many rain barrels do you have? I'm impressed that you can only use rain barrel water to water your garden! We only have 2 barrels, but I want like 10!! LOL.
I pulled some wilty cucumbers and a zucchini that had been attacked by squash vine borer (which I knew about thanks to you!) and were all wilted and sickly looking. Squash bugs were everywhere and, again, I knew what they were because of you! A bit more research and I now understand what happened to those plants and how important bug hunting will be next year. Thanks so much for your bug posts.
Robin - I'm thinking of getting a trap for them, because a patrol car came by the house after some shooting the other day. Hehe...
Daphne - oh gosh, i'd be after that groundhog!
ShawnAnn - thankfully, the squashbugs are pretty easy to find on the butternut vines - much easier than summer squash.
Erin - thanks, i'll get some more rainwater this weekend!
Kelly - the pear "concoction" setup as hard as a rock, and I had to throw the jars away. :-(
stefaneener - it's been a good year for rain, but the little drought as of late just used it all.
michelle - Oh yes...rainwater is the stuff!
thyme2garden - oh yes....definitely a dirty word in the gardening experience....
Meemsnyc - I have 4, which gives me a little more than 200 gallons storage capacity. If not for the demands of the swc's, it would be plenty.
Carrie - i'm glad that my bug posts were helpful to you!
Just found your blog. Makes me feel the need to get my garden more organized... Your beds look great and I particularly like your support systems. I need to do that!
Aloha!
Susan - thanks, i'm glad you stopped by!
I love your blog! You have so much growing in the garden! It's wonderful to read all about it!!
Your construction posts are great! I just might build something next year :-)
Glade you got some of those furry friends :-)
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