Tootfinder

Dispatch — Squash Bug Front
Casualties: Adults 0 | Eggs 4
After last night's slaughter, both sides withdrew to their lines. No sentries crested the trenchline. Scattered egg fire at 0600 — harassing only, a reminder they still hold the zucchini salient.
#gardening #oklahoma

Traktörden de korkmuyorlar
#garden #garten #gardening

Evening Squash Bug War: Casualty Report
10 adults KIA, 4 egg pods destroyed.
O cursed stinkèd foe, thou crept upon my vine!
But lo — my thumb of justice, swift and firm,
Hath crushed thy copper eggs and broke thy line.
The Union garden stands. Begone, thou bug.
#gardening #oklahoma

'Midnight Snack' has the darkest leaves I've ever seen in a tomato. Not the best tasting cherry variety, I've read, but will definitely add some interesting color to summer salads. #tomatoes #gardening #anthocyanin

This transplanted arbutus tree has established itself and is reaching for the sky now!!
#arbutus #madrone #gardening #portalberni

Bu fotoğrafı dün çektim. Can eriği. Ve yarın büyük olasılıkla çoğu donacak. Zirai don bekleniyor.
#garden #garten #gardening

Morning Squash Bug War Casualty Report: Adults 1, another adult was able to escape. Egg Pods: 0
#gardening #oklahoma 🌱

My son has put up herb drying hooks for me in the utility room! I'm beyond delighted! He's also put up the plastic greenhouse we got weeks ago so it is now filling with things that need potting on and generally sorting out. I'm also hoping to sort out a small raised veg plot and a pond, so my garden mojo is well and truly back. It's nice to feel enthusiastic again. #gardening

Today's harvest.
#gardening

Evening Squash Bug War Casualty Report: Adults: 9, Egg Pods: 3.
After several days of light contact, the enemy returned in force. Much squishing was inflicted and some good leaves were lost. But we survive to harvest another day.
#gardening #oklahoma 🌱

2/2 Along the same plumbing lines... I am also preparing the pumps themselves.
One major thing to do was to splice in an extension cord to the cord for the pump. Obviously this is a "break the warranty" situation, but there is no way around it really. The included cord is only about 6ft to the electronic controller unit and AC/DC transformer. It needs to be much longer to reach even just the shed beside the intake bay where the main pump lives.
I do have two of these pumps so I am holding off extending the second one until I know this first one is successful and happily pumping away in the pond.
The second one will take water directly from the bottom of the main pond as opposed to the intake bay, but it is only additional capacity and isn't critical. Ideally I will have both on at half power normally. But for now, we start with this one!
Need to get butt connectors and heat shrink tubing tomorrow. Ill probably do this electrical work on Thursday or Friday night so I can test it out hopefully Saturday!
#poolpond #pandemicpond #backyardProject #portalberni #gardening #diy

My local arboretum had a plant swap for members and I scored four perennials and a bunch of seed packets from Burpee. It was a mob scene, with numbered admittance so that nobody got into fights about being first. My contribution was nine fig trees, and they went fast, I think. #swarthmore #garden #arboretum #gardening #flowers #plants

The onion crop is getting close, very excited. #gardening #oklahoma 🌱

I’m going out into the garden to check what seeds I have left over from last year, get some herb seeds into trays, and place them on the kitchen windowsill. I’m going to put the seed potatoes in over the next few days.
#gardening

1/2 #poolpond update since my last post got unintentionally deep-sixed and now there is further progress!
on Saturday and Sunday we got supplies and I installed the irrigation box. It involved digging Yet Another Hole, plus small trenches on three sides to accomodate pipes from the main water areas.
Convincing the valves/manifold to fit into the box was a chore, but we got there!
Also fed the main pipe line through the box which yes, involved disconnecting it from the filter pond end, and basically feeding the filter box along the pipe, back to the hole.
In all it turned iout well. I will be removing/rearranging the stream near the tree and adding another layer of liner just for that doversionary stream so I can contain/isolate it fully if I want and also feed the two pipes exiting toward the big pond under the stream so it is less visible in the end.
Sometimes I feel like as this goes I think up more things to do and it makes it all interminable, but really, it just makes it better!
but wait there's more after the pictures...
#pandemicpond #backyardProject #portalberni #gardening #diy

Morning Squash Bug War Casualty Report: Adults: 0, Egg Pods: 1. Suspect enemy has retreated into hiding to regroup and resupply.
Will need to increase our sentry duties in preparation for the next attack wave. #gardening #oklahoma

#raspberry #gardening

Evening Squash Bug War Casualty Report: Adults: 0, Egg Pods: 6. This is starting to feel less like a war and more like a scene from Alien. On the plus side, we did get to harvest our first squash, albeit a small one. #gardening #oklahoma 🌱

I noticed an army of ladybugs 🐞 🐞 🐞 🐞 in the yard recently. We had a hard freeze last night, so I covered some young trees with sheets to protect them. When I removed the sheets just now, they had lots of aphids on them. Now I know why the ladybugs are so active! #gardening

The cucumbers are flowering already. It's 3°C tonight. What the heck.
#gardening #climatecrisis

The apricot that I grew from a stone is flowering for the first time. A bit beyond its comfort zone here in Manchester but here's hoping. Not many insects about, but some big bombus. So hand pollinated with a paintbrush.
#ExperimentalGardening #gardening
Edit: Google gboard…

Tonight’s Squash Bug War Casualty Counts: 6 adults, 2 In flagrante delicto. 4 egg pods. #gardening #oklahoma

I have sown basil, lemongrass, and coriander seeds in trays on the kitchen windowsill. I’ve also planted some marrow seeds into pots and put them in a warm place to germinate. Finally, I have sown some Welsh onion seeds in a large pot and again put it somewhere warm indoors to germinate.
#gardening

For probably the 100th time I've pruned the neighbor's border privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium) that was planted right along the property line. Always makes me grumpy. #invasive #noxious #privet #gardening #ligustrum #oleaceae

Signs of things to come
#gardening

#garden #garten #gardening

I had a mad idea this spring to allow all of my volunteer sunflowers to grow in the yard. I hope this pans outs into something magical because right now mowing is difficult and I am afraid I might get lost in my own yard.
Music by the genius Kristy Kruger. #gardening #oklahoma 🌱

Is it too early to plant beans? Probably a little. But I did anyway. I also mixed all the seeds up so I'll end up with a wall of vines with colors scattered everywhere. Hopefully. No guarantees in gardening. #gardeningthoughts

My Sisyphean battle with the squash bug has begun. I face this battle with resignation in my heart. On the plus side though, there are blackberries. #oklahoma #gardening 🌱

There's a single strawberry ripening in the garden and you know I'm checking on it twice a day. 'Eclair', a June-bearing variety that per one site has "notes of raspberry and orange." #strawberry #strawberries #fragaria #berries #garden #gardening #fruit

my least favourite part of our garden is the hedge we share with the neighbour (who are extremely nice).
Thus, when I do maintenance of it... I tend to be a little more brutal.
like say.... cutting any branches on our side down to the stump.
it grows so fast! it also harbours evil ivy and holly bushes
#gardening #portalberni

#Annabelle #hydrangeas going nuts this year!
#gardening #garden

spring is nice
#pandemicpond #portalberni #gardening

Husband has been out in the yard this morning...
#Pumpkins #Tomatoes #Gardening #Canberra

Last October when I pruned my fig tree I threw the clippings into a moist bin in my basement in case some of them rooted. Which they did. Now I have to unload them on neighbors and passersby. "Hey, pssst: want a fig tree?" #figs #ficus #gardening

Sharing my solution to squash vine borers (Eichlinia cucurbitae), the larvae of which burrow into the roots and eventually kill the plant: inject Thuricide Bt into stem wherever you see frass accumulating. This is easier to do if you train your plant vertically so that lower parts are visible. I also regularly police for eggs. #garden #gardening #squash #zucchini #vegetables #allotment #insects #lepidoptera #moths

I completed a checklist item for the #pandemicpond this morning. Retrieving some of the rocks that had fallen into the pond over the past couple winters. Since I upgraded to the rain barrel filters I had made a larger waterfall out of a blue water carrier and the original store-bought waterfall. (See historical pics). But I really wanted to embed it into the rocks and have the water flow out onto flat stones like the ones that line the edge.
Mission accomplished. Here’s some of the evolution.
Short video in next reply.
#gardening #home #pondlife

My 12 tomato plants are now in. Each gets a deep hole filled with compost, plus a root waterer made from a cut-off wine bottle and some PVC pipe that has holes drilled along one side. Now hoping weather cooperates. Zone 7b. #tomatoes #allotment #garden #gardening #watering

It’s the first long stretch of warm weather of the spring and summer! #pandemicpond #bloomscrolling #gardening #pondlife

I like it. ❤️ 💧 🐠 🌴 🌺
#video #pandemicpond #gardening #home #pondlife

Around the #pandemicpond today. The marsh marigolds are flowering in the filter barrels! The rhodo will pop soon. The tinker bell lilac is so pretty and the Japanese maple has finally established itself and gained some height and foliage. Providing good morning shade to the stream and top pond.
#bloomscrolling #gardening #pondlife

Strawberry plant blinged out with droplets of xylem sap. I've never seen it, but apparently the minerals in the fluid can leave a white residue when the water evaporates. #guttation #biology #strawberry #fragaria #gardening #plants #xylem

Inside view of my fruit cage. The blackberries and raspberries are too new to produce much this year but the strawberries (raised bed and hanging baskets, upper right) have hundreds of developing fruit and I can't wait. When everything is ripe it's very satisfying to watch the birds and squirrels try to break in. #fruit #garden #gardening #blackberries #raspberries #strawberries

Flowers on my 'Belle of Georgia' dwarf peach (Prunus persica). Squirrels ate every single fruit last year so this season I'm going to encase them in stainless steel mesh bags. Might even use a finer mesh plastic bag inside to prevent peach-loving moths from ovipositing. #flowers #blumen #peach #prunus #tree #gardening

Quick update on my quest to rid my yard of plants I dislike. Bamboo, privet, and English ivy are 100% gone, though latter still tries to creep in from neighbors' yards. Hosta, wisteria, garlic mustard, and unidentified invasive bulbs are next on the list. #garden #gardening #weeds #bamboo

One of the shelling peas grew up on the wrong side of the bird netting. Sad, but a nice reminder that all the effort setting up the structure was worth it. #peas #sparrows #gardening #pisum #birds #allotment

My fruit enclosure. On the left side along the back is a raised bed with strawberries, plus aerial baskets with even more varieties. Four blueberry bushes are on the back right but still too small to really provide much this year. In the front are blackberries, raspberries (normal and black), tayberries, and boysenberries that I put in last year (and also a bit small). In the corners are grapes that are being trellised to grow along the back in a single vine. Spanning the width (27 feet) are several galvanized wires onto which the berries and grapes will be attached when they get bigger. #berries #strawberries #garden #gardening #fruit

4/4 Spent the day today with @… turning the water on and off, and the pump on and off.. watching how the water comes out of the bog filter and down into the poolpond. Pump is only at 25%, which is more like 15% as there will be a second pump as well in time.
Shifted some of the flat stones around and got them in a nice place. I had to do some hand digging under the lining near the tree. I am pretty sure the berm is too low there for when the pumps are at full force, but I am ok with where things are now. There is lots of opportunity to build the edges up if need be.
For now, I am going to work on sealing the rocks along the edge in to help direct the water.
I also need to splice in an extension cord into the pump wiring so that I can run a long enough distance to have the power supply and controller in the small shed and not hiding under the liner at the top of the pond. 🤣
#pandemicpond #PoolPond #gardening #portalberni #home #yard #bloomscrolling #BackyardProject

I'm getting hyped up to shovel rocks into our new garden cart tomorrow.
No really, i think it’ll be kinda therapeutic, even if it hurts a lot afterward. lol
It's been hard to even think about the #poolpond and the next steps for it, let alone do anything. So I really want to try to get some stuff done on Saturday.
#gardening #shovelTheStressAway #backpain

Just a reminder that gardening centers will happily sell you plants such as Pelargonium citrosum that are supposedly able to repel mosquitoes. But don't be suckered. No plant has that ability even if thousands of Pinterest pages insist it's true. #mosquitoes #gardening #gardens #plants

PS.
Here are the two outlets. This is probably not how it will look in the end, but just a starting point. Once I have the water flowing how I want it to, I will use pond foam sealant to lock the rocks into place and force the water into its final channels and patterns but as you can imagine there is some trial and error to be done before that big step.
For noe you can see there is a fold of liner sitting vertically betwewn the rocks to split the channel. I really have no idea where the water will get to once at full force so this might be too high, or too low but it should not be too far off.
The main thing is that the water is contained within the greater system around the tree. That's the trickiest part right now.
It is a wonderful tree. We don't want to drown it.
Speaking of which, if you are wondering about water. Yes. This is thousands of litres of water. But at this point I am not worried if I need to fill up and drain the bog filter a few times. All extracted water will go into the rest of the garden anyway, so aside from a little evaporation, nothing will be wasted.
Still waiting on it to fill. Looks like it won't be full before quitting time. oh well! Back tomorrow water experiments!
#pandemicpond #PoolPond #gardening #portalberni #home #yard #bloomscrolling #BackyardProject

2/2 Then I moved on to working on finalizing the stream and edges of the poolpond.
After a trial run last fall I realized I needed to do a little more sculpting of the clay at the front of the pond where the bog filter and poolpond meet.
I would like to encourage a long waterfall along the front edge.
So after some peeling back of the liners to reinforce the berm in a few spots near the tree especially, I made a proper ledge at the front and am laying down some of the slate that we also used on the #pandemicpond in the front yard. It'll tie the two in conceptually.
Now I am filling the bog filter with city water (the likelihood of filling from the skies is long gone now) but I will only fill it enough to get a read on where the water is wanting to flow.
Ideally I would like two channels from the bog filter.
The main one will go toward the poolpond, along the front and spill over from there.
A secondary one will go close to the tree to be used if I need to divert the water from the poolpond but still want to keep the filter and system active.
Now I wait... I'm running out of time for today but will be back tomorrow. If I'm lucky, I might be able to get a pump back in and start up the system!
the apple waych strap is hiding a tan line... but it is not just a tan unfortunately lol
#PoolPond #gardening #portalberni #home #yard #bloomscrolling #BackyardProject

Silly gardening tip: before using a hose on a hot day, purge the superheated water into a container for later use. #watering #water #garden #gardening #hose

Finally managed to weed eat and cut the lawn today and got the last of the gravel moved so that we can get a bobcat in here to level the yard!! Yaaayy!!
Also did some cleaning out on the pond. Turns out the moss is great… until it REALLY latches in and makes space for grass. There was so much into the stream that it was backing up into the top pond, causing it to overflow, and the whole system lose water!
When I pulled up the moss, it pulled much of the gravel with it! So lesson learned. Very light on the moss, no more gravel in the stream, keep things neat and tidy!
In all though, the pond cleared up fast thanks to the barrel filters and all is good!
#pandemicpond #gardening #pondlife #spring #portalberni #backyardPond #PoolPond

Anyone have a recommendation on elbow-length gloves for harvesting berries from thorned plants? There are lots of leather ones but I'm worried it would be hard to pick off individual fruit. #blackberries #raspberries #garden #gardening #thorns #gloves

Last photos! The arbutus is doing great!!
I am a little worries that the damage it suffered from rutting deer last year will lead to disease. 🤞
But the hazelnut tree is budding!
#poolPond #Gardening #Spring #PortAlberni #Home #Pond #PandemicPond

Things are growing in the backyard despite the continued #poolPond chaos.
Rhubarb is sprouting fast. A daffodil held on near the hazelnut tree even with all the disturbances.
And the young plum tree is budding!
#Gardening #Spring #PortAlberni #Home #Pond #PandemicPond

The strawberry section inside my bird- and squirrel-proof garden cage. No fruit yet but hundreds of flowers. #strawberries #fragaria #garden #gardening #raisedbed #fruit #erdbeeren

Every spring I reread this article on how tomatoes respond physiologically to even a single night below 50 °F (season-long reduction in yield). I'm always left wondering whether planting them out now (lows in upper 40s) might allow an earlier harvest, albeit at the expense of total productivity. Because I'd be OK with that. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. USDA 7b. #tomato #tomatoes #garden #biology #circadian #gardening #temperature #weather #allotment #philadelphia https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/1996/oct/tomato/

rocks moved!
Managed to move the last of the larger rock off the blue tarp and spread it around the top of the pond. A tiny hope of mine is that this could be enough to stabilize the liner so that when I empty it of its (quickly algae-ifying) rain water, it doesn't bulge out from the sides. I doubt I will be that lucky so I will have to fill it with city water (chlorinated) to keep the algae and mosquitoes at bay while preserving the shape of the liner until the ground around it hardens up.
The rainy season is winding down!
thankfully i didnt have to use any city water to clean the rocks as I moved them. Just used the hose emptying water from the other ponds.

#poolPond #Gardening #Spring #PortAlberni #Home #Pond #PandemicPond

Here's my tomato waterer in action. The screening attached to the wine-bottle funnel prevents insects and garden debris from getting trapped inside the PVC tube. #tomatoes #water #gardening #allotment

From the archives, here's a drip-irrigation device I made for spot watering at the allotment. Because watering is just a drip or a trickle (you choose), it goes fully into the soil rather than running off to the side. As a bonus, fewer weeds around the plant because they never get water. #garden #gardening #water #artichoke #allotment #wine #bottle #diy

4 inch rock moved to new spot. And new gravel spot ready,#poolpond #backyard #home #gardening #BackyardProject #pandemicpond

I finished caging my peach tree to keep the squirrels and catbirds away. Each fruit is also bagged to keep flies and moths from ovipositing. #peaches #prunus #fruit #trees #gardening

two loads in the cart. One load left on the ground of the 1 inch rocks then it's into the gravel
don't be fooled by what you can see. The black fabric is actually concealing, almost half of the pile of gravel lol
#poolpond #backyard #home #gardening #BackyardProject #pandemicpond

it's time to move the last of this rock out of this back part of the yard to somewhere else so that the mountain of dirt can be flattened and spread out and ready for planting and other things.
The clay is already hardening up!
#poolpond #backyard #home #gardening #BackyardProject #pandemicpond

Made labels for the raspberry, boysenberry, tayberry, black raspberry, and blackberry I planted last year. Quickly realized that the some of the temporary markers had disappeared during the winter and that I'll need to guess which is which. Oops. Hoping they'll be useful differences in stems, leaves, and fruit. #garden #gardening #rubus #raspberry #boysenberry #tayberry #blackberry #plants #berries

back and muscles say i am done for now but I made a good dent in the gravel. Managed to get all the gravel off the black fabric so that can be stored away. Just a two or three cart loads left but I don't want any nasty back surprises!
Maybe I can look up some folks with a bobcat and book a date for levelling! 🙌 🚜
emptying the poolpond of icky water.
and rhubarb!!
time for tylenol and a snack
/end
#poolpond #backyard #home #gardening #BackyardProject #pandemicpond

I gave away some fig treelets yesterday and boy did they go fast. If you have one that gets pruned I urge you to do the same: just throw the stems in a bin, cover with moist sand, and ignore in your basement during the winter. In the spring, just pot them up. Easy peasy. #figs #ficus #plants #gardening #swarthmore

I had to rearrange the cane fruit in my garden but failed to transfer the identifying stakes. Anyone have an opinion on what this might be? Options are Prime Ark blackberry, Jewel black raspberry, raspberry, tayberry, and boysenberry. The fruit should resolve it in several weeks but I'm dying of curiosity. #berries #rubus #garden #gardening #flowers

Hornfaced bee (Osmia cornifrons) using mud to cap a nest at one of my insect hotels. Called the bean-flower bee (mame-ko bachi) in Japan because the balls of pollen and nectar they pack inside stems for their larvae to eat are as tasty as a dessert made from honey and soybean flour. The species was introduced to North America in the 1970s as a way to increase productivity of apple orchards. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #pollination #bees #osmia #insects #orchard #gardening

Dug a new weed pit at my allotment this morning. The victims spend a week or so drying out, then get buried. I've been doing this for years and the soil is slowly getting better. #allotment #gardening #weeds #weeding #composting #soil

The tulip display at Longwood Gardens was incredible this year. #LongwoodGardens #tulip #tulips #tulipa #tulpen #flowers #bulbs #garden #gardening #pennsylvania

This morning I prepped the spots at my allotment where the tomatoes will go. The soil becomes rock-hard clay at approximately 6", so I use a posthole digger to make an 18" hole that gets filled with compost. And to make watering easier and more effective, I have PVC pipes, capped at the bottoms, that have 1/8" holes along their lengths so that I can quickly slosh in a bunch of water and let it slowly percolate to the roots. A bit of work to make these watering funnels but the tomatoes develop very deep roots and are fine if ignored on a hot day. #tomatoes #gardening #allotment #soil #vegetables #wine #roots

From the archives but resharing because it's that time of year: my blog post on protecting pea plants from birds. And soon I'll post pics of my new and improved pea cage. #peas #gardening #garden #pisum #birds #allotment #blog #VegetableGardening https://colinpurrington.com/2024/05/birds-are-eating-my-pea-plants/

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) flower in the female phase, with anthers still packed into a ball that looks like an osage orange. Mostly pollinated by beetles and flies attracted to the unpleasant odor. I'm hoping for fruit this year. #pawpaw #fruit #botany #flowers #tree #nature #pollination #annonaceae #gardening

If you grow milkweed to support monarch butterflies, spring is the time to pot up all those volunteers in your yard and to gift them to neighbors without asking them whether they want them. #monarchs #butterflies #milkweed #asclepias #plants #flowers #gardening #garden #pollinators