Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: June 12~18, 2022

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All! Hope everyone is having a good day today - oh what the heck; we might as try for a good week, what do ya think I'm trying to start the new week off on a proper footing - dog out, dog in, stray kitty fed, hummingbird feeders filled, dog out to see if the stray kitty left him any scraps, coffee made and a cup carried to the garden with me (and the dog, of course) to inspect the garden to make sure nothing had been dug up, etc... Now I'm just waiting for Hubby to get out of the shower so I can go start a load of laundry.

And Thank You, Marseydoats, for the tip on the siphon - I've got the Amazon link up on the computer and will show it to Hubby when he comes downstairs. He'd probably be thrilled not to have to fill the tiller and the lawn mower and the buggy and the weed-whacker and the "insert anything that uses fuel" (except chain saw - I'm not allowed to use the chain saw; my father's rule and Hubby has held me to it though he has been gone from us for over a decade now.)

Three of the four males in the house are still asleep; I shut the grand-dog in with the boys when we came back in as he was whining at their door and I wanted to keep it closed so they'd maybe sleep a bit longer so I'd have time to visit here before the breakfast chaos begins - grand-dog was climbing into middle grandson's bed as I closed the door, so wish me luck

My plans for the day started with a cup of coffee, a muffin from the Farmer's Market, and 600 mg of Ibuprofen - I'm hoping the coffee and ibuprofen kick in soon! I had to hang on to the porch rail to bend down to give the stray kitty her plate of food as I wasn't sure that I wouldn't face plant in to it. This getting old stuff ain't for sissies, as my Dad frequently said!

I keep checking the weather to see if I need to go out and water the garden; there is rain in the forecast but the time for it to start keeps changing and first it's a thunderstorm, and now it's isolated thunderstorms at 11, so who knows if we'll even get any rain?! I've got the long hose dragged around to that side of the house - now I just need to see if it will reach both gardens. If not, I've got another one I can attach. I'd hook up the sprinkler but I'd rather not encourage the weeds to grow in between the rows.

Well, I've been back and forth from the computer about 4 times now, so I reckon I'd better post this before I walk away to do something and forget about it

You folks all take care out there - stay safe!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Good Morning, Everyone!

It's going to be hot, today. Heat index of 105. I got out in the gardens early this morning. Took my coffee with me, just at daylight. Can't sleep in late when it's going to be this hot. Anything to be done outside has to be done early. We use Seven Dust on the gardens, cause nothing organic has worked for us. I had to get that put out. I found 2 more baby squash and several baby cucumbers, so me forcing the sex issue is paying off! Wish I knew a way to attract bees to the garden.........? I picked 6 banana peppers that are about 6 inches. Since the plants look so stressed, I thought going ahead and picking them would take some of the stress off. They're still blooming, and still have baby peppers. The plants just don't look good. Now that we're going into a dry period, I'll be able to manage the amount of water they get, so hopefully, they will begin to look better.

Everyone is coming over, today, for our home fellowship/bible study. We always look forward to seeing everyone. Afterwards, DDIL wants us to come over to their place to see her garden. She is thrilled that it's doing so well. She also wants me to see her first batch of pressure canned ground beef. She called me last night asking questions about it. She's as excited as I am about her new canner, and plans to use it a lot, especially with meat and garden veggies. She has a freezer full of venison that she wants to can up. I'm so proud of her! Believe it or not, her enthusiasm for gardening and prepping keeps me excited about it all. DS is very supportive of her.

I think Wednesday is going to be my next grocery shopping day. I don't know if Cary will want to make a trip to big town for Sam's shopping another day, or if he'll just want me to order online. I can't get the beef stew meat, unless I go there, so maybe, he'll be willing to go. If we go, I want to go to Aldis while in big town, even though, it's out of our way. Just my regular grocery shopping is done in small town which is a lot closer to home. We're having to watch how much gas we use.

Other than grocery shopping, there is nothing else planned for this coming week. It will just be normal stuff. Going to be trying to stay cool. A heat advisory has been issued for us to last for the next 7 days.

Praying for All to have a very blessed week!

 

[etdeb]

Our garden is doing great except first ever fail with Contender varity of green beans.
I have grown these since the 70's but this year the beans are full size with only one or two beans inside. We are 5 bushels of pink eye purple hull peas in freezer so far and 20 quarts of squash. This is besides the peas and squash we eat fresh.
Tomatoes are just starting g to get ripe.
We we eat and enjoy plus make salsa and sweet hot tomato relish.

 

[CaryC]

We are 5 bushels of pink eye purple hull peas in freezer so far and 20 quarts of squash.

Man, there is no way that is right.

Y'all are cheating I just know it. Cuz like I don't care when you plant pink eye purple hulls they don't come in except during 4th of July week, every year. And I mean like without fail, every year 4th of July.

 

[moldy]

Raking a short break from weeding.....I have a little over half of the onions weeded. Came in for some Hawaiian punch (one of the few things that tastes good) and it tastes flat...not bad, just not good.

Plans for today are putting things away in the cellar, weeding, and loading the freeze dryer

 

[Marseydoats]

Good Morning, All! Hope everyone is having a good day today - oh what the heck; we might as try for a good week, what do ya think I'm trying to start the new week off on a proper footing - dog out, dog in, stray kitty fed, hummingbird feeders filled, dog out to see if the stray kitty left him any scraps, coffee made and a cup carried to the garden with me (and the dog, of course) to inspect the garden to make sure nothing had been dug up, etc... Now I'm just waiting for Hubby to get out of the shower so I can go start a load of laundry.

And Thank You, Marseydoats, for the tip on the siphon - I've got the Amazon link up on the computer and will show it to Hubby when he comes downstairs. He'd probably be thrilled not to have to fill the tiller and the lawn mower and the buggy and the weed-whacker and the "insert anything that uses fuel" (except chain saw - I'm not allowed to use the chain saw; my father's rule and Hubby has held me to it though he has been gone from us for over a decade now.)

Three of the four males in the house are still asleep; I shut the grand-dog in with the boys when we came back in as he was whining at their door and I wanted to keep it closed so they'd maybe sleep a bit longer so I'd have time to visit here before the breakfast chaos begins - grand-dog was climbing into middle grandson's bed as I closed the door, so wish me luck

My plans for the day started with a cup of coffee, a muffin from the Farmer's Market, and 600 mg of Ibuprofen - I'm hoping the coffee and ibuprofen kick in soon! I had to hang on to the porch rail to bend down to give the stray kitty her plate of food as I wasn't sure that I wouldn't face plant in to it. This getting old stuff ain't for sissies, as my Dad frequently said!

I keep checking the weather to see if I need to go out and water the garden; there is rain in the forecast but the time for it to start keeps changing and first it's a thunderstorm, and now it's isolated thunderstorms at 11, so who knows if we'll even get any rain?! I've got the long hose dragged around to that side of the house - now I just need to see if it will reach both gardens. If not, I've got another one I can attach. I'd hook up the sprinkler but I'd rather not encourage the weeds to grow in between the rows.

Well, I've been back and forth from the computer about 4 times now, so I reckon I'd better post this before I walk away to do something and forget about it

You folks all take care out there - stay safe!

Renee, you can get a transfer pump much cheaper than the one on Amazon. That's the first one I could find a photo of. I think I paid $2.99 for mine at the local hardware store.

 

[nomifyle]

Early this morning I went and laid down on the bed, with two pillows and did not cough, so I got a couple more hours of much need sleep. I actually feel a little better and feel like I can see the end of the tunnel on this coughing mess.

Yesterday I put ribs in the crockpot and they turned out really well, I usually cook them in the oven for several hours. One rack doesn't seem to go very far.

Its really time I get back on the laundry and the kitchen, just could not drag myself to do either.

I still have two orders from w/m.com that I need to get put away. One order is still in the box on the front porch covered up. I don't see myself getting any of that taken care of if I'm working on other things.

The sun is shinning and its going to be another hot day today, mid to high 90's all week.

 

[ioujc]

We are in the high 90's all this week. Already experiencing BROWN OUTS here!!

The electric usually flips the fuse box every day at about 4 to 6:30 PM. I guess that's when everyone is home from work and is fixing dinner and starting the laundry, taking showers......prime time for electricity use. Today, the A/C has been switching on and off since about noon.....never staying on long enough to cool anything..... must be in the mid-80's in the RV today.,...NOT FUN!!

I really believe they are going to try to destroy us by not only starving us, but by leaving us with minimal to NO ELECTRICITY!! I HAVE GOT TO GET THE FOOD IN THE FREEZERS CANNED!!! I just have a really, really BAD feeling about the rest of 2022 and on into 2023.....somewhat DISTURBING!!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Question......With all the wood splitting, cutting, and stacking, Cary has accumulated quite a bit of sawdust on the ground. He scooped it up, and put it in a 5gal bucket. There will be much more than that, once he gets all the firewood finished. Can I put this saw dust on the raised beds this fall, or will it still be too hot for the beds next spring? We don't have a compost pile to put it in. No, Cary doesn't want one......

After seeing our DDIL's gardens, hers puts mine to shame!!!!! Everything in her gardens were planted much later than mine, and her plants are 3 times the size of mine and bearing lots of veggies. We just didn't put enough effort into preparing our soil the way it should have been worked this year. I'm not at all surprised that hers is doing so much better. She also tripled the size of her garden this year, and it's all raised beds. She's also using an organic fertilizer, but Cary won't use anything but Miracle Gro on the end of a hose.

 

[blackguard]

Been working the raised beds and so far so good. Potatoes are doing well, corn is coming along and a couple of the melon plants. Started another round of seeds today, hope to transplant them next month. Did a grocery run, shelves were not well stocked at all. Plan on improving the rain catchment system this week by adding another barrel. Have some additional ammo coming in (Freedom Munitions) later this week so going to the range next week to get another of the rifles zeroed in. Been walking to work to save fuel and it helps my health. Supposed to be quite hot here all week. We'll see. Be safe all.

 

[briches]

We did have the guy come and pick up the dog kennel we had listed for sale (I mentioned in last week’s thread). I believe I sold it for more than I paid for it.
We never used it. Money is bring put away to go towards Christmas. That’s my current intention anyway …..

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Another question. Can we use pine straw as mulch on our raised beds? We have lots of pine trees on our property, and I'd like to save money by not having to buy mulch.

 

[ioujc]

Yes, you can. Just be aware that pine needles will increase the acidity of your soil. You can balance that out by adding various additives and fertilizers. I cannot recall what they are, as I tend to have alkaline soil......

If you are growing blueberries, they (the pine needles) will help the plants immensely!!

I used OLD sawdust from mills around here and I will NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!! It is mostly oak, which is not particularly good for the soil. It has rotted down completely in the past 5 years, but literally NOTHING will grow in it!! I am NOT impressed at all!!

 

[etdeb]

Man, there is no way that is right.

Y'all are cheating I just know it. Cuz like I don't care when you plant pink eye purple hulls they don't come in except during 4th of July week, every year. And

Man, there is no way that is right.

Y'all are cheating I just know it. Cuz like I don't care when you plant pink eye purple hulls they don't come in except during 4th of July week, every year. And I mean like without fail, envery year 4th of July.

Sorry you don't believe but its true. Cream peas will have first picking this week. We pick half bushel of pink eyes everyday.

 

[ReneeT]

I am very impressed by your pink eye purple hull peas, etdeb!! Thanks for showing them to us - I don't think that I've ever had them, but will search out seed. I see that you freeze them - do you blanch them prior to freezing, then just take them out of the freezer and cook them like you would regular green beans? Can they be canned? And do you let some pods mature to save seed for the next year? I looked up cream peas but all I got were recipes for regular peas in a cream sauce lol!

 

[summerthyme]

Good Morning, Everyone!

It's going to be hot, today. Heat index of 105. I got out in the gardens early this morning. Took my coffee with me, just at daylight. Can't sleep in late when it's going to be this hot. Anything to be done outside has to be done early. We use Seven Dust on the gardens, cause nothing organic has worked for us. I had to get that put out. I found 2 more baby squash and several baby cucumbers, so me forcing the sex issue is paying off! Wish I knew a way to attract bees to the garden.........? I picked 6 banana peppers that are about 6 inches. Since the plants look so stressed, I thought going ahead and picking them would take some of the stress off. They're still blooming, and still have baby peppers. The plants just don't look good. Now that we're going into a dry period, I'll be able to manage the amount of water they get, so hopefully, they will begin to look better.

Everyone is coming over, today, for our home fellowship/bible study. We always look forward to seeing everyone. Afterwards, DDIL wants us to come over to their place to see her garden. She is thrilled that it's doing so well. She also wants me to see her first batch of pressure canned ground beef. She called me last night asking questions about it. She's as excited as I am about her new canner, and plans to use it a lot, especially with meat and garden veggies. She has a freezer full of venison that she wants to can up. I'm so proud of her! Believe it or not, her enthusiasm for gardening and prepping keeps me excited about it all. DS is very supportive of her.

I think Wednesday is going to be my next grocery shopping day. I don't know if Cary will want to make a trip to big town for Sam's shopping another day, or if he'll just want me to order online. I can't get the beef stew meat, unless I go there, so maybe, he'll be willing to go. If we go, I want to go to Aldis while in big town, even though, it's out of our way. Just my regular grocery shopping is done in small town which is a lot closer to home. We're having to watch how much gas we use.

Other than grocery shopping, there is nothing else planned for this coming week. It will just be normal stuff. Going to be trying to stay cool. A heat advisory has been issued for us to last for the next 7 days.

Praying for All to have a very blessed week!

Sherree... if you plant some easy flowers that bees like in or close to the garden, it really helps. I have patches of zinnias and mixed decorative sunflowers planted in multiple spots. The Zinnias bloom from about 6 weeks from planting until frost. The sunflowers start a little later, but if we cut them (to sell for cut flowers, rather than letting them all go to seed), they also will keep blooming until frost. The bees LOVE both of them.

That's assuming there ARE any living bees around... I read beekeepers lost around 90% of their hives past winter! We only saw an occasional honeybee on the clover in the orchard and pasture last year, but the Zinnias and Sunflowers (and poppies) were buzzing with them.

So far, we've only seen two honeybees on the farm, despite tons of blooming honeysuckle (that you can usually hear the bees working from a hundred yards away). I'm planting the flowers with a prayer attached. We hand pollinated dozens of fruit trees, with decent results. There were solitary ground bees and others working occasional blooms, but nothing like what's needed.

Summerthyme

 

[nomifyle]

Personally I would never use pine anything on my garden, nor would DH.

Right now at 7:30 pm its 91 outside and the heat index is 103. Apparently the high was 99. I can believe it because it got up to 90 in the living room. I still did not turn on the central air. We took cool baths. That helped a lot but trying to get anything done, even if I felt like it was very difficult. I'm going to wait until early morning to try to get a couple of things tackled.

Judy

 

[etdeb]

I am very impressed by your pink eye purple hull peas, etdeb!! Thanks for showing them to us - I don't think that I've ever had them, but will search out seed. I see that you freeze them - do you blanch them prior to freezing, then just take them out of the freezer and cook them like you would regular green beans? Can they be canned? And do you let some pods mature to save seed for the next year? I looked up cream peas but all I got were recipes for regular peas in a cream sauce lol!

The cream peas are a variety of crowder pea, some call zipper creams or lady cream peas.
My grandfather that made a living truck farming up until he passed away years ago showed me how he shelled peas and put into cotton pillow cases set down in the chest freezer.
When he wanted peas he scooped out a mess and washed them and into the pot.
They can be canned even dehydrated.
The pink eyes are a milder taste than purple hulls.

 

[paxsim2]

DH is cleaning out the garage, it was in the 90s here with high humidity. I have hurt my back somehow so I'm sitting on the massage pad. That was a good buy for sure!
Doing laundry but I'm almost out of detergent so I'll make a quick run to the store tomorrow morning.
Need to do some more organizing in the pantries.
Trying not to let the doom and gloom get to me.

 

[ReneeT]

Thank you, etdeb! Do you shell the pink eye purple hull peas as well or cook them within the hull; by which I mean is the hull edible? I brought your photo up as large as I could make it (I'm computer deficient lol!) and they looked like a bumpy green bean to me. My Granny raised something we called a shelly bean; you'd pick them fresh and pull the string like unzipping a jacket and dump the beans out into a pan to cook on the stove top; pretty sure they were a tan colored speckled bean. I don't think she cooked them in a pressure cooker; just a regular pan - but that could have been because they were fresh rather than dried. She did let this same variety dry after they'd had all they wanted fresh - they weren't nearly as easy to shell when dry - and she did cook them in a pressure cooker. My Mama was not a fan of beans, so she didn't cook them regularly other than baked beans and weenies. She counted on Granny cook the soup beans. Granny would fix Sunday lunch for the family, and the grown-up kids (her children) would tuck a some cash in the cream pitcher to help her cover her expenses. If we showed up for lunch and it was cornbread and beans, they knew to tuck some extra cash in the pitcher.

 

[Terrwyn]

I'm doing the only thing I can at this point and added to my food stores. 1 case of Amy's Vegetable soup and 1 case of Refried Black beans and 6 Alpinaire freeze dried potato cheddar soup.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

I am looking for ways to keep my cantankerous feathered kids well fed if chicken feed gets too expensive, or completely unavailable

My kids favorite weed is, I think, what they call curly dock. Anyway, that is what an old timey farmer lady friend of mine calls them. They look very similar to comfrey, but not quite the same.

Anyway, the plants have bolted and gone to seed and the seed towers are beginning to turn brown now. I feed them the leaves in the early spring, then in late May I feed the girls the seed towers with the still maturing green seeds.

By this time next week, I will get the seeds off the dried, dark brown seed towers - and pull what remains of the plants for the kids to eat and to scratch in. The dried seeds, I am told, are a great source of supplemental protein for chickens.

A local park grows alot of this weed along the bike trail, so when the seed towers dry up and trun brown, I take a bucket and fill it with curly dock seeds to provide more free food for the chickens. The park folks do not have a problem with me doing that.

But I am trying to figure out other ways to feed my birds if everything goes south. I really don’t want to cull any.

The garden is doing well. Spring cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and strawberry crops are finished, and I now have squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and bush beans growing where the leafy spring crops once grew.

I fixed a squash, onion and sweet pepper casserole for supper. I had to use store bought onion, but was able to use squash and peppers from my own garden for the casserole,

My sweetie is feeling really good these past few days, so good that she insisted on helping out in the garden this morning.

Any day she is feeling good is a great day, IMHO!

 

[John Deere Girl]

I am looking for ways to keep my cantankerous feathered kids well fed if chicken feed gets too expensive, or completely unavailable

My kids favorite weed is, I think, what they call curly dock. Anyway, that is what an old timey farmer lady friend of mine calls them. They look very similar to comfrey, but not quite the same.

Anyway, the plants have bolted and gone to seed and the seed towers are beginning to turn brown now. I feed them the leaves in the early spring, then in late May I feed the girls the seed towers with the still maturing green seeds.

By this time next week, I will get the seeds off the dried, dark brown seed towers - and pull what remains of the plants for the kids to eat and to scratch in. The dried seeds, I am told, are a great source of supplemental protein for chickens.

A local park grows alot of this weed along the bike trail, so when the seed towers dry up and trun brown, I take a bucket and fill it with curly dock seeds to provide more free food for the chickens. The park folks do not have a problem with me doing that.

But I am trying to figure out other ways to feed my birds if everything goes south. I really don’t want to cull any.

The garden is doing well. Spring cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and strawberry crops are finished, and I now have squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and bush beans growing where the leafy spring crops once grew.

I fixed a squash, onion and sweet pepper casserole for supper. I had to use store bought onion, but was able to use squash and peppers from my own garden for the casserole,

My sweetie is feeling really good these past few days, so good that she insisted on helping out in the garden this morning.

Any day she is feeling good is a great day, IMHO!

So happy to hear your wife is doing well! God Is so good!

I'm raising extra squash, pumpkin, and sunflowers for our poultry this year. Can you make a small portable chicken tractor to allow your birds to eat in your yard?

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

So happy to hear your wife is doing well! God Is so good!

I'm raising extra squash, pumpkin, and sunflowers for our poultry this year. Can you make a small portable chicken tractor to allow your birds to eat in your yard?

I have one I made out of a large dog cage - I cut out most of the bottom, cut a 2 by 4 into two pieces to make handles to push it and two wagon wheels on it to make it mobile. Then I tied indoor-outdoor carpet in the top to provide a rain roof and sun protection.

Finally, I got two 7 inch rechargeable fans to put on the sides to give them some relief from the heat.

But the heat index this week will be over 100 degrees, and nothing I do will be enough to help keep them cool In that mobile unit.

Right now, I have three 6 week old youngsters in it. Tomorrow, I think I am going to have to bring them back in to the house to protect them from the heat.

 

[ioujc]

The heat was UNBELIEVABLE yesterday!!

The A/C literally COULD NOT keep it cool in the RV!! I thought I was being "dramatic" until my little Doxie came to me panting and whining!! I got cold water on a wash cloth and wiped him down and I soaked my feet in cold water and put a cold wash cloth on my head. We existed until night time and FINALLY at midnight, it started to cool down. I PRAY the rest of summer is NOT like this!!

I find heat VERY debilitating. I have had "heat exhaustion" and very very close to heat stroke twice in my life..... NOT pleasant at all!! This is starting to SCARE ME!!

 

[Illini Warrior]

Another question. Can we use pine straw as mulch on our raised beds? We have lots of pine trees on our property, and I'd like to save money by not having to buy mulch.

if you just use the pine needles for weed and moisture control - rake it off for disposal or long term composting - it's nature's answer to good gardening >>> wouldn't be mixing it into the soil and then try adjusting for the Ph changes - you'd need some special composting pens and do some careful mixing of other compost materials .....

 

[ReneeT]

Glad to hear that your wife is doing well, Barry Natchitoches

Whew - I'm melting!! Went out to water everything while it was still cool outside; then kicked dry dirt over the areas when the top of the soil was wet so that the ground wouldn't crack. I may invest in some more soaker hoses... Though I'd likely turn them on, then fall asleep and end up with a bog in the yard The humidity was miserable - so I pointed the nozzle of the hose up in the air as I dragged it back up to the house and gave myself a nice soak down. Good thing I only have one half way close neighbor - and they already know I'm crazy!

Today starts an at least 10 day stretch of temps in the 90's, possibly a couple in the 100's; with heat indexes elevated from that due to the humidity. I usually freeze at work from about 11pm to when I get off work at 7:30 am, but I'm carrying in a short sleeve t-shirt and jacket to keep in my locker as we are likely to be on supplemental generator power off and on if the power company can't supply our needs. Where I work is considered one of the 'cooling stations' in the area. We've had people who use oxygen concentraters, bi-paps, and c-paps, etc... lining the halls in the past.

Junior Football League practice starts early next week - I'm hoping for a break in the heat for practices. Most of the coaches have jobs so early evening is when they are available. I'm going to pick up some tubs of Gatorade powder today to drop off to the coaches when I take middle grandson to pick up his gear on Wednesday.

I'm wondering how long the pool the neighbor and I go to will stay open if utility costs go through the roof? They shut down for a few months a while back due to natural gas costs for heating; wonder if they will need to do the same for cooling...

Well, I'd better get this posted as I need to get some cooking done for my work lunches while it's still cool.

Take care, all - stay safe out there!

 

[nomifyle]

It never got below 84 in the house yesterday, even the ac in the front room didn't seem help and then early even it go kind of comfortable in the living room I turned the ac off and it got uncomfortable again. There is no end in sight, hopefully we will get a tropical depression, but no hurricane.

Still coughing, the heat makes it worse, still not turning on the main ac. We'll just have to deal with the heat.

 

[school marm]

Well, there's a freeze warning for our area tonight, so I get to go put wall o' waters back up around all the tomato and pepper plants--about 40 in all. Ugh.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Etdeb, Cary was just messing with ya! We've planted purple hull peas like forever, and no matter when they're planted, it seems they are all ready to begin being harvested the week of the 4th when he was on vacation. He always tells people what he told you, in fun. We never got to go on vacation that week, because we had to stay home and deal with the peas.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Sherree... if you plant some easy flowers that bees like in or close to the garden, it really helps. I have patches of zinnias and mixed decorative sunflowers planted in multiple spots. The Zinnias bloom from about 6 weeks from planting until frost. The sunflowers start a little later, but if we cut them (to sell for cut flowers, rather than letting them all go to seed), they also will keep blooming until frost. The bees LOVE both of them.

That's assuming there ARE any living bees around... I read beekeepers lost around 90% of their hives past winter! We only saw an occasional honeybee on the clover in the orchard and pasture last year, but the Zinnias and Sunflowers (and poppies) were buzzing with them.

So far, we've only seen two honeybees on the farm, despite tons of blooming honeysuckle (that you can usually hear the bees working from a hundred yards away). I'm planting the flowers with a prayer attached. We hand pollinated dozens of fruit trees, with decent results. There were solitary ground bees and others working occasional blooms, but nothing like what's needed.

Summerthyme

Thanks. I've got 2 large pots of begonias hanging on the deck that is very close to the first raised beds, and marigolds planted in the beds with the tomatoes. I still haven't seen any bees. Most years, they are swarming, and Cary has traps set for those awful boring bees. We're not seeing any of those now, either. They were eating the cedar siding off our house! It's been years, since we've seen any honeybees.

One year, I got ants in a few bags of sugar. Cary took all of it out to the far corner of our property, and poured it out. Within a few minutes, the sugar was swarming with honeybee. They worked on that sugar all day. The next morning, it was all gone. We watched as they would form a line straight to the sugar, then fly back in a line to the woods. That's why I thought of sprinkling a little sugar around in the gardens. Is that a bad idea? Will it just attract ants?

 

[summerthyme]

Thanks. I've got 2 large pots of begonias hanging on the deck that is very close to the first raised beds, and marigolds planted in the beds with the tomatoes. I still haven't seen any bees. Most years, they are swarming, and Cary has traps set for those awful boring bees. We're not seeing any of those now, either. They were eating the cedar siding off our house! It's been years, since we've seen any honeybees.

One year, I got ants in a few bags of sugar. Cary took all of it out to the far corner of our property, and poured it out. Within a few minutes, the sugar was swarming with honeybee. They worked on that sugar all day. The next morning, it was all gone. We watched as they would form a line straight to the sugar, then fly back in a line to the woods. That's why I thought of sprinkling a little sugar around in the gardens. Is that a bad idea? Will it just attract ants?

It WILL attract ants! You could try setting up a simple homemade nectar feeder (lots of YouTubes), but just sprinkling it on the ground is going to give you happy ants.

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Ok, thanks Everyone who answered my questions.

No sugar in the gardens, and no pine straw.......I still don't know what to do with all the oak sawdust that is accumulating.

I went out at daylight this morning with my hoe, and worked a lot of organic material into the soil in each bed. Everything is looking good, but still falls short of DDIL's gardens. I wish I had photos to show ya'll her gardens! I was amazed. Squash and cucumbers are putting out lots of babies. I don't know if bees are slipping in and doing their job, or if it's, because I'm helping them out. Even the banana peppers are looking better. They haven't been getting as much water, since the rain has stopped. Tomorrow is watering with MiracleGro day.

I also washed and hung a load of laundry on the line to dry.

At 9:14 am temp is 90 with heat index of 99. High today, 98 with heat index of 111.

I'm tired already, and going to go take a nice cool shower, before I do anything else.

 

[Illini Warrior]

heat coming in is predicted to set off severe storms - thunderstorms this time of year usually come with almost certain tornadoes ....

 

[Illini Warrior]

Ok, thanks Everyone who answered my questions.

No sugar in the gardens, and no pine straw.......I still don't know what to do with all the oak sawdust that is accumulating.

I went out at daylight this morning with my hoe, and worked a lot of organic material into the soil in each bed. Everything is looking good, but still falls short of DDIL's gardens. I wish I had photos to show ya'll her gardens! I was amazed. Squash and cucumbers are putting out lots of babies. I don't know if bees are slipping in and doing their job, or if it's, because I'm helping them out. Even the banana peppers are looking better. They haven't been getting as much water, since the rain has stopped. Tomorrow is watering with MiracleGro day.

I also washed and hung a load of laundry on the line to dry.

At 9:14 am temp is 90 with heat index of 99. High today, 98 with heat index of 111.

I'm tired already, and going to go take a nice cool shower, before I do anything else.

no local stable wants the sawdust?

 

[SouthernBreeze]

no local stable wants the sawdust?

No stables around here. I'll just get him to dump it in a spot out of the way on the property. I might just start a compost pile with it myself. I don't think he'll fuss too much if I do. We had a large one at one time, but he didn't like messing with it. Like I've said before, he lost interest in gardening, and my health has been bad. This year is the first year we've been able to do what little I've got growing in a couple of years. Raised beds could have used a lot more soil preparation.

 

[moldy]

The sawdust would be great for an outhouse or composting toilet.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I was thinking that aged sawdust was good for working into the garden soil. Guess I'm mistaken.

 

[coloradohermit]

This is going to be a busy medical week. A few weeks ago I had my routine(for smokers) CT lung scan. It came back with a few iffy maybes so I was referred to a Pulmonologist. He scheduled me for a PET scan which was last week and a lung function test tomorrow. I won't see him again for 2 weeks, so I won't know any results for a while. Pooey!

I also have a routine annual followup with my cardiologist Wed, so fingers crossed he doesn't turn up anything. I have no reason to think he will.

With this going on, my dog has been having issues. She hasn't pooped in several days, just dribbles of liquid diarhea. So, she goes to the vet tomorrow morning to see if she has some kind of blockage. Fingers crossed that it'll be something simple like needing her anal glands expressed.

 

[nomifyle]

My last walmart.com order was a week ago yesterday. I had two orders and they were mostly the same, it took longer for it to get here than usual. Both packages were very heavy, and I'm sure the 20#s of sugar in each package made it that heavy, in addition to the canned goods. I want to order more pickled beets but they have been on pickup only, along with other canned veggies. So no ordering for me until they go back to shipping. Its best for me to stay out of the stores and saves on gas too. Since I've been sick nothing has gotten put away. Maybe tomorrow.