2021 garden thread

[WLLady]

ARGH! we got hail yesterday. Not impressed. all my squash have tons of holes in the leaves. it knocked over some of my corn that was just starting to tassle. and it flattened my potatoes. crazy winds in that storm, we got the tornado warning 10 minutes after the storm....and i was sure that storm would have a tornado. it chased me towards the basement....we had water sheeting off the roof, completely missing the eavestroughs, which were totally full and overwhelmed. everything flooded. we had water coming into the basement (unfinished thankfully) and the basement window wells were completely full with water. we dug some trenches to move the water away (got soaked in the process). It was just insane. The garden doesn't mind the water, but we could have done without the hail. we lost a pile of branches on the mulberry trees in the wind. just as the mulberries are ripening. Seems strangely in line with the year this year. We had another more tame storm this morning already, and lost the hydro. and it's rumbling out there again....go figure

[Ontario Chick]

I guess we avoided the worst of it and the rain seems to be coming in very short spurts, just enough to water the garden but not much more.
Turns out I planted bush beans rather the pole beens, not really fond of harvesting beens on all four, so may just leave them there
Cukes are coming fast and furious, just in time since lettuce has bolted in the heat.
Radicchio my newest experiment, looked very decorative, finally tried some very nice in small doses....

[labradors]

OC I love beans and I think that bush beans are well worth bending over to pick. Please don't let them go to waste.
I also grow pole beans and runner beans, but I'll throw in a row of bush beans once I remove the mustard greens that I never used. The flea beetles made them look very unappetizing .

[Jaye]

I love bush beans too, but like OC, I have come to a point where knees and back are uncooperative and unforgiving, and not worth it to try to argue with them. I'm sure there will be some visitors who will appreciate them and put them to good use (if not friends or family, then I think wild turkeys and deer may benefit).

[KimChick]

Our beans are not ready yet. I still need to continue thinning the row of beets; I've been using the kneeling pad to get down on one or both knees. If I'm down on one knee, I can take a moment to twist my back (opposite elbow/arm over bent knee) for a stretch, or switch the knee I'm on. It works for a little while.

[Killerbunny]

@KimChick do you have one of those kneelers with the handles to get up? I always laughed at them until I blew my knee for the nth time. Now I always use it although the knee is fine now.
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/outsunny-g ... lsrc=aw.ds

[Killerbunny]

Exciting news! First I have a dull wretched life but we have butternuts hanging in the trees! No squirrels have shown up so Iguess that's not a good sign LOL.What do we do now?

[Ontario Chick]

Exciting news! First I have a dull wretched life but we have butternuts hanging in the trees! No squirrels have shown up so Iguess that's not a good sign LOL.What do we do now?

Here comes the bad news, they are pretty much impossible to get in to and over the years we have tried every implement we own, and there are still butternut shells to be found in the basement in some very surprising places, but in the end I am sorry to say the result didn't justify the effort

I am sure even now your DH the mad inventor is coming up with a gizmo, just tell him BTW if he tries to drive over them with a truck, they will lift the truck and remain unscathed

[lolotsung]

How about a concrete compression testing machine to crack the nuts? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ferJ1OncnQ

[Killerbunny]

@lolotsung I am NOT showing this to DH!