Serpent said: I'd like to hear about the puppy.

Someone dumped a full blooded pitt bull dog with an unknown number of puppies out here. Monday morning I found screaming behind the backyard fence. Mother wasn't in sight so I got puppy to come to me. After I fed it and watered a bit I carried it in Tractor Supply where employees took it to hold onto until the adoption program the store is hosting this weekend.
Mother dog is still out roaming as of yesterday with possibly another puppy.

Home to the garden, have sugar snaps growing, chuckl. Watered the eggplants that decided to grow a bit, and have housework to do - dust made me sneeze my head off- the great grands have been here tracking in life. Their mom freaked a bit when they saw one of my non venomous watersnakes curled up in the dirt by the creek sunning itself, chuckl. A lot of unnecessary things are down and need put away. My daughter left for town to run errands, and I need to prioritize my chores...

we've had buckets and buckets of rain, and cool temps, spinach looks big, not much else happening outside. Well, all the fall brassicas bolting.

TomatoNut95 said: Someone dumped a full blooded pitt bull dog with an unknown number of puppies out here. Monday morning I found screaming behind the backyard fence. Mother wasn't in sight so I got puppy to come to me. After I fed it and watered a bit I carried it in Tractor Supply where employees took it to hold onto until the adoption program the store is hosting this weekend.
Mother dog is still out roaming as of yesterday with possibly another puppy.

I'm glad that one is okay.
I feel terrible about not having been back here in days.
Things have been a little strained around here, with the OG getting over his bout of flu and wanting to catch up with everything at once, me having to monitor new medication and minor domestic complications. No real problems - just a lot of distraction.

The weather has been so good the last couple of days, I got out there and started planting lettuce, kale, peas and onions in the bins. Not done much in the cold house yet except harvest the exuberant crop of chickweed that's been growing in there all winter. I made a nice pesto.
Little tomato and pepper seedlings coming along nicely; I guess it's time to start the cucurbits.

Weather's been so good the last couple

I planted bush beans, swiss chard, and beet seeds yesterday- the weather seems to have decided on spring so I figured it was worth trying.
I am not clearing off the garden much, except where I immediately plant. Most is covered in chickweed which I assume will die off. That which I've pulled and laid on the path has dried into a mat.
I have places set aside for tomatos. I need to remember that I want to grow summer squash, okra, peppers, maybe an eggplant.
I want to cram something in along some potatoes- yet, remembering the potatoes will get big and sprawl before they get dug in maybe July. I almost did bush beans- but that's prime undefended groundhog zone. And actually digging the potatoes makes a mess, so has to be something very quick. Peas are that quick- but again, groundhog.

What wouldn't a groundhog eat??

LOL Sandy.
They refuse to just stuff themselves on 10K square feet of mixed clover, grass, and greens. aka lawn. How can they ignore our generosity there?

In that case - maybe some quick-growing "greens" would be a good choice... things like spinach, chard, tatsoi, etc.

My critter deterrent this year is mint! Last summer I started dozens of little peppermint ('Chocolate') and spearmint ('Kentucky Colonel') plants and put them into the tomato bed and the main veggie garden, respectively. The peppermint is a thug, but the spearmint "plays well with others" (eg, doesn't seem to strangle them). Over last season and through this winter, the mints have spread a good bit. Last year, the bunnies did stay away from a few pepper plants that had mint growing around them. I'm hoping more mint will be a better deterrent.

I do realize I might regret planting mint in the ground, especially the peppermint. I've grown that spearmint variety in the bed in front of my deck for many years, and it seems to coexist well with the other things I plant there. (One year, I planted snow peas, and the bunnies never found them!)

I just may try getting some mint to grow in the fence line.

Jill, I might have said this previously...but the mint certainly can't be any worse than the catnip that pops up all over my garden (maybe because I let some grow because the cats like it, and then I let it flower because the bees like it, and then... it goes to seed )

sallyg said: I planted bush beans, swiss chard, and beet seeds yesterday- the weather seems to have decided on spring so I figured it was worth trying.
I am not clearing off the garden much, except where I immediately plant. Most is covered in chickweed which I assume will die off. That which I've pulled and laid on the path has dried into a mat.
I have places set aside for tomatos. I need to remember that I want to grow summer squash, okra, peppers, maybe an eggplant.
I want to cram something in along some potatoes- yet, remembering the potatoes will get big and sprawl before they get dug in maybe July. I almost did bush beans- but that's prime undefended groundhog zone. And actually digging the potatoes makes a mess, so has to be something very quick. Peas are that quick- but again, groundhog.

Chickweed will not die off, and I have found if you pull it and do not properly dispose of the debris, it will re-root and spread in a heart beat.
Unless you are digging it out, you cannot simply pull chickweed . It has a deep root system that unless you get all of it out, it will be back in a short time.
It is just as bad as Quack grass in that manner.

I have been fighting it for years, lawn and garden and have pretty much switched to simply spot poisoning it as I am tired of dealing with it.
There are two types up here and Mouse Leaf variety is the worse.

Best and Worst Potato Companion Plants
https://www.thespruce.com/comp...

critterologist said: My critter deterrent this year is mint! Last summer I started dozens of little peppermint ('Chocolate') and spearmint ('Kentucky Colonel') plants and put them into the tomato bed and the main veggie garden, respectively.

What a good idea! I can put some spearmint (lots out front under the cedars) and chocolate mint (I'm pretty sure I can still find a few in the old herb garden) in the tomato bins. No problem of invasion; they're already contained and I can pull them in the fall.

I got all the melons started in the nursery tent. Peppers and tomatoes growing nicely. No sign of peas and lettuce outside yet - we've had a bit of rough weather, even a little snow, but it looks promising again for next week.

I spent the last half of the day spraying garden malathion. The KY COL spearmint is loved by the fuzzy caterpillars I am covered with. I hate moths. I have counted 6 different varieties evacuating the spearmint, webworm, neon green caterpillar, a black and rust colored woolly caterpillar, a smilax caterpillar, tiny green worms, army moth caterpillar, and I got that spittlebug too. Of course, they are on other plants that aren't covered by tulle too- including the fences, and the porch...now I need to see about getting a new gasket for the sprayer.

How is it scallion is a best companion and onion is a worst companion, to potatoes?

sallyg said: How is it scallion is a best companion and onion is a worst companion, to potatoes?

I saw that and was wondering exactly the same thing.

Basil seedlings are growing so good. I should have plenty of basils to grow out.

My quick sashay thru the spearmint netted apparently malathion resistant villains- or late to the feast villains- the escapee from the rest, going to Eight next, quickly next.

Weedwhacker said: I saw that and was wondering exactly the same thing.

Most likely because -- Scallions are , usually , short term, eight to ten weeks before being pulled.
Onions DO NOT tolerate competition with other plants at all and are a full term plant.

I have experienced potatoes smothering any thing planted close to them, depending on variety of potato planted.
Just a guess though.