Corn Secured

After breakfast, I checked the chickens.  There is one hen on the outside of the chicken run.  I quickly cot her and put her back in the chicken run.  I also started some water running into a black water container.  It was a just a tiny drip, but it will supply fresh water until the fall.

I had twine on both sides of the row.  I drove in conduit stakes.  The twine is attached to the stakes and the ends were tied to a large nail which I pounded into the ground.  I then let the water run down the row for a couple of hours.   

I planted the black zucchini and yellow crook neck squash.  Four hills of the crook neck squash and three hills of the black zucchini squash.

It has been too hot to work outside for very long.

Testing Ideas

We didn't eat at the temple, and left earlier than usual.  We were home by 12:30.  During the night a couple of ideas came to me to spray the weeds and protecting the tomato and eggplants.

One idea was to cover the eggplants with a quart bottle.  I soon discovered that most of the plants were two large for the quart bottles.  Years ago I bought some tall narrow nursery pots.  The were perfect for the eggplants.  They worked equally well for most of the tomato plants in house six.

The eggplants above are on the right side and is not too clear.

Above right is the large weeds.  the gray at the bottom of is of weeds that were sprayed about a month ago.  

A closer look at the dead weeds.

The cucumbers in house six are beginning to grow.  A nice one on the above plant.

I built a shield to protect the tomato plants that were two big to be covered.  It is in the shape of a semi-circle.  I hold it with one hand and use the small sprayer with the other hand.

I also sprayed the weeds between house one and two and between house two and three.

I planted the vine crops in the north garden.

Comments and Questions are welcome.

Robert Came Alone -- Work

First project this morning was to make a vegetable juice, using tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, and parsley.  Everything was cooked.  We had breakfast while it was cooking and then juiced it.

After breakfast, Carol put it in the bottles and processed it.  Eleven quarts and one pint.

Most of the time Robert and I worked in house one pruning tomato plant branches.  That is a constant job.  We prune at one end of the row.  When we come back we see a lot of branches that were skipped.  Then in a week they may grow twelve inches.

We drove to Meadow, Utah, and visited the Pahvant Valley Trading Post.  We had hoped to sell tomatoes and peppers.  There were several venders there and no customers.  The owners said that they might have to close down.

I have made a lot of TOMAHOOKS to hang tomato plants to a support wire.  Today, we made a video.   TOMAHOOK

After lunch we again worked in house one.  We were pruning and hanging.

This evening we, Carol and I went to Delta for a family reunion.  Many brought prizes to give away in the following game board called PLINKO.  Board is made of a peg board.  There are many versions of it on YouTube.

Everyone that played got a prize.  The last drawing was for the winner of the quilt.  Mary Anne is announcing the winner.

There is the quilt.

 My brother Paul and his family winning the golf tournament.

After I got home, I tied up the squash and pumpkin plants.  They have really grown the last couple of days.

I asked Rod who mows the ball park to dump his clipping at our place.  I won't be able to move them to the garden until Monday.  I hope they don't begin to stink.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

Ben and I Make a Great Team

Ben was here right at eight and I hadn't finished my breakfast.  Yesterday, I showed him how to water. He finished and I met him coming in as I was going out.  I had him water the corn and squash.  Before doing this he helped me cut over 90 feet of 9 gage wire.  We cut them into twelve inch pieces.   He held the wire over the wood vise which was twelve inches wide.   I cut them with heavy duty wire cutters.  As he was watering I was bending them into the shape which I wanted.  The picture below shows the twelve inch piece and one that is bent into the proper shape.

The twine holding the plant up is wrapped around the bow and is hooked onto the wire.  Tomato clips hold the tomato plant to the twine.  The picture shows the sky and one of the greenhouse bows.

Ben dumped the soil out of the tubes.   Later we worked in house one untangling the tomato plants.  Some of them had branches over five feet long.  I would cut the those lower branches of the main plant.  I handed them to Ben and he would pull them out.  In the picture below you can see how they are tangled.   We have about five feet to go to be able to walk from one end to the other.   Be went home about eleven and I continued until lunch time.

This afternoon I worked in several of our gardens.  Below is summer squash plants which are beginning to produce crook neck and zucchini.  I have been pruning of the lower leaves and tying the main stem to the post.  Everyday they grow two or three inches.

I planted four gourd plants.  One of them died due to squash bugs, I think.  Pictured below is what I call the pumpkin gourd.  It is shaped like a pumpkin, but about the same size of softball. Today I removed all the male blossoms from the other gourd plants hoping to get some pure seeds of this gourd.   It is over six feet tall  and is loaded with the female bud.

 The watermelons are really doing well.  There are two different watermelon plants that I am training up a small post.  The one below was a late plant and it has grown up about eighteen inches.

 The watermelon plant shown below is about three feet tall and has a small female bud on it.  It is about the size of the point of your little finger

Below is a picture of the watermelon and Topaz melons.  They were planted late in the year but are doing well now.  There are as some call them baby watermelons and baby topaz melons.

Comments and Question are welcomed.

Work From AM to PM

First thing after chores was to brace  the pea vines so the wind would not blow them over.   I tied three strings a month ago when they were about eight inches tall.  You see the blue and orange strings on the left.  The third one eight inches above the ground does not show.  This morning I added another string on the right side.  It is the blue string on the bottom right.  The wind was cold and blowing hard today.  It is about the fourth day of hard wind.

Pulling all of the pea vines out of house six and selecting the pods.  Most are to old and their tenderness has gone.  Photo shows some that have been pulled up and near the top of the photo shows those that haven't been pulled up.  The plants next to the bows are weeds.

 Here Carol is removing the pods.

 After we had removed the more tender pods we took them to the where they were washed.  We spent nearly three hours shelling them.  This bowl was nearly full.  Carol puts the peas on a cookie sheet and then puts the sheets in the freezer.

A couple of months ago I planted State Fair zinnias.  They are 6 to 7 inches tall.
 I pinched them, cut the top of each plant, to get them to branch.  They should be very pretty.

I began weeding in house six.  I started with a small dandelion digger.  That was really slow.  I then used the shovel.  That was faster, but a little messy.  I then used a small stirrup hoe which worked better than all the others.  I had be close to the ground and kneeling on the rocks was not much fun.  I tried sitting on a #5 nursery can.  It was too short and my knees were up under my chin.  I then got the sitting thing that had a swivel seat and rolled on four tires.  

 The row I weeded is on the right side of the sitting device.  Each how has two rows of tomato plants.  The plants were laying down in the rows.  I had to move them a little to get at the weeds. This show much of what I did.

 Saturday I planted five of Robert's plants.  I used tomato clip to hold the plant to the arch.

 Last of all I planted Crookneck summer squash and black zucchini squash. I run water down the row.  A week from now there should be some growth.

Comments and questions are welcomed.