Change In The Air

[GoDawgs]

Hallelujah! It's cloudy. It's breezy. It's 75 out there where yesterday at this time it was already 90. All of the windows and doors are open. YES! Time to take a leisurely garden stroll and drink in the cool air.

First stop is checking the dead zinnia flower where Ms. Green Lynx spider has been guarding her egg cocoon. Today there are tiny ones emerging! She's also added some cottony webbing to the nursery that hasn't been there. And she herself isn't totally bright green anymore.





Last night Pickles and I removed all shade cloth from beds since cooler weather is here. We're hoping for real rain to make the plants really jump. The hoops will stay deployed "just in case".

Cabbages... they need some bT for whatever's munching the leaves:



I think the peas have a touch of nematodes making skips in the rows but the uncovered kale, collards and brussels are looking good.



The bush beans have fared well without shade. These are Contenders next to the new turnip row. Big Red Ripper peas in the background; three regular rows and one trellised. More on that later.



It's Football Saturday which means Total Relax Day! We're off in a short while to eat at the local hole in the wall Chinese buffet and then come home for a full day/evening of hopefully good games. Some good ranked vs ranked today and then tonight the Georgia Dawgs play at Tennessee.Go Dawgs!


Y'all enjoy your day!

[Nan_PA_6b]

Yay, GoDawgs, you survived the summer and have your second growing season in place! And spiders are always a welcome addition.

[GrowingCoastal]

Great photos of the spider family.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks, Coastal! I decided to make a separate post about the spider from the beginning until today.

Nan, I was beginning to wonder if the heat would *ever* end! Whew!

Today was field pea picking #5 and it seems to be winding down. Just a half a Walmart bag full, not a full bag. It will soon be time to just let them go and make seed for collection.

However it seems others are starting to discover the pea patch as I found the first few signs of deer munching this morning. I was wondering when that would happen.



There’s no rain in sight through this coming week so the deer browse out in the pastures and woods is disappearing fast. “Oh wow, Myrtle! Look at that nice green stuff in the hooman’s garden. Let’s take a taste…”

This morning I also spied the first few flowers on the Contender bush beans and the deer haven’t touched them yet so Pickles and I will get the netting over those two beds this evening.



I’ve been growing some lettuce in window boxes indoors under the lights. Last week the “Farmer’s Market Blend” (blend of 6 varieties) went out on the porch in the shade. Yesterday the “Oak Leaf Blend” went out and both are on the top of the table now that it’s cloudy and cooler. The market blend will be thinned for salads tonight.



I had left the newspaper on the turnip seeds too long and they had gotten way too leggy. Ruined. So I removed them all, sowed new seed and put the wet newspapers back down. Two days later the seeds were just starting to pop. Since it was still hot I folded the news sections in half and laid them along the sides of the furrow to keep the soil cool. Seems to work just fine until the plants are tall enough to withstand a mulch of leaves. Perhaps I will try this method with carrots in a few weeks.