Dill, cilantro and spinach planting.

Yep, its a bit on the side of "late" to be doing this now, but the space that had the fennel was just making the weeds happy and me irked.  So i went ahead and cleaned it up and am attempting a somewhat late planting of Mammoth dill, cilantro and i used up the last of a very old packet of spinach that has been hanging around 9 years or so.  I never know what to do with things like that. I don't even know if any of the spinach will come up, but if it does it will be interesting. If not, no loss.
  According to what i read, i could expect a good harvest of dill if i had planted it a couple weeks ago, maybe i can expect a paltry harvest if planted now. Paltry is fine!  Anything is fine. 

I was thinking i might plant peas, but i don't eat peas. My kids do, but i don't think its a good time to try.  I need to consider remembering to get some snow pea type seeds, i eat those.

The hubbs took the little one with him grocery shopping so i have an extra hour and now she's napping so i actually had some extra time to do stuff.
I even managed to make some Summer Squash Bread...yes, its actually a recipe for summer squash, not just zucchini. Not like they are very much different of course.... but still.
I don't eat such things but hubby reports that it is very good.  I made it per instructions, i didn't change anything. You can find it here if you'd like:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Summer-Squash-Bread/Detail.aspx

I also set some carrots to dry, they look so cool like this.  Of course, one had to jump ship.

Today is pleasant and a bit on the cool side, but not at all cold (mid to high 70's), dry and breezy. Its very nice actually.  I hope we get the rain that was mentioned in the forecast last time i looked.

It usually misses us lately, like it is literally being pushed away by something..

I found a tennis ball sized cantaloupe in the garden this morning, didn't get a picture, but its great to see,  i was wondering if i had forgot to plant them or something, lol.
I just remembered that i haven't seen hide or hair of a banana melon yet. 

I'll have to take a close look around there.  Its funny how big a melon can get before i see it... they blend in so well and the vines tangle so much.  I think i need to get some serious trellises built next year.

Woodchuck, part 3.

So, woodchuck number three has been captured and is awaiting relocation.

We actually caught this one last night.  I had the trap set and baited for the last couple days (i think i am getting pretty good at anticipating their entry points) and i had been checking it every so often.  I had spread some blood meal and bone meal on Thursday, but i watered the whole garden deeply yesterday morning, washing much of it away- at least the smell.

But hubby was outside last night, enjoying a cigar and the new patio set he cobbled together from the clearance sections of a few stores. (It looks nice and it all actually matches.) And he kept hearing this clashing metal sound.  After a good 45 minutes he remembered that i'd set the trap and he went to check it.  There was the  groundhog.
So hubby and the groundhog spent the evening  at the patio set, in front of the  fire pit, chatting it up.   Hubby gave it another apple and a few greens.  He placed two small pieces of plywood in a tipi shape to help it relax overnight.

So anyway, its now been moved to the shade and in a few minutes it will be relocated- hubby has some errands to run in that direction but has other things to be doing right now...

I did find it interesting that the first woodchuck was caught in broad daylight- brazen little thing-  that was the crazy one that attacked me and gave me "Lord of the Flies" mental flashbacks for  3 weeks....

The second woodchuck was caught in the early morning and this third one was an evening raider.
I guess they all find their little niche.
And they all found my Havahart.
Of course they found my veggies first.

This one sampled everything though. Carrot & parsnip tops, sweet potato leaves, cabbage, JA leaves, collards, the remains of my broccoli... but not the Swiss chard or Kale.  That kale...  i wonder if the other stuff is simply tastier or woodchucks don't like kale.  Seems unlikely, but if kale would be safe from them i'd grow rows of it forever.  Anyhow, the only things it really damaged are the 3 collard plants.

I haven't cleared out the broccoli and chard yet because the seeds i planted for a fall crop have not sprouted yet.  None of them.  Six types of seed, from different places and no sign of a seedling. I'm a little surprised at this.

I'm trying to think of something i can direct sow into those spots that will actually produce before the end of the season, but i'm not sure of anything- Johnny's SS blog did mention dill and cilantro can still grow this time of year in this area, but time is running out quickly.  I wish i'd planted more beans & cukes and i wonder if its too hot to plant peas.
We have had some cool nights and daytime temps have been cool, high 70's.  Its been great weather for humans.  Its also been dry, no rain the last 4 days and none in sight for the next three at least.

No ripe tomatoes yet. The Romas are starting to get that bronzy look though, where the red pigment starts to come through and mixes with the green.
I have a lot of very green tomatoes and the Polfast has a giant tomato on it.
I guess i have to see if i can look up what weather conditions are conducive to tomato ripening. I have been reading garden boards and blogs a lot and i keep seeing that other people's 'maters aren't ripening the usual way this year.

I picked a huge bunch of basil yesterday and made Macadamia, Roasted Garlic & Basil Pesto. I had to leave the garlic out of hubby's cause he's scared of garlic.  Until he tried mine (i added the roasted and smashed garlic to half the batch in a separate bowl), and realized he was being silly.
I made one of those  "meat" with 40 cloves one time and the aroma of it freaked him out. I thought it was delicious but he was traumatized i guess.  Its been 5 years, but he still thinks i was trying to drive him out of the house that night, lol.

Oh, speaking of garlic, i think i might pick the bulb fennel, it hasn't grown at all for weeks and i'm sure its planning to bolt, but when i pick it i think i will sow some buckwheat there and in the fall after first frost i will plant some garlic.  So i can't wait to have baby fennel, roasted in EVOO.

I picked another pound or so of green beans and probably another 3-4 pounds of summer squashes. We've been eating and sharing it out.
I can pick the squash daily, the green beans get picked every other day and are still producing  nicely.

One of the oval watermelons is about the size of a Nerf football and the round watermelons are approaching croquet ball size.  I picked one of the slicing cucumbers the other day, it was over a foot long but not over ripe and the pickling cukes are averaging one good sized cuke a day.  I need to plant a lot more of these next summer if i want to use them for more than a daily snack.

I haven't felt up to doing any work in the flower beds and where hubby has seeded the bare half of the yard i can't really get in to put the edging around my grape and berry row.  It also seems like the corner brackets i wanted to get from Lowe's are unavailable. What a shock. >8o(

So not much going on but weeding, woodchucks and trying to decide what to do next if at all....