Corn

 The corn is getting tall.

But then I see this one.  Why?  Why would the corn do this?  Time for some research.  

I do love the internet.  Thought the question was asked two years ago, I think the answer from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln explains it.  Our temps have been up there.  We went from well below average to well above average lately.

Despite the one ear, the rest of the corn is doing pretty well despite being an aphid magnate.  I'll be breaking out the soap next...

In and Out

In:

We've been processing.

That's right.  We already had a pumpkin.  I cooked it on the grill.

We're saving part of it for later, and using some for a carrot/pumpkin soup tonight.

Zucchini and cucumber pickles.

Out:
I realized there's been a lot we've done here and there that I haven't written about.  The potato plants sagged over, so we dismantled the plateau.  We got a few potatoes out of it, and they were yummy!  The bulk of our summer squashes were decimated by aphids.  There were just so many that we pulled them up and sent them to the trash.  We still have the two on the end, one of which was producing the best zucchinis, and we always have the orchard to the northwest that we can stop by to supplement our needs.  Since our pumpkin was so early, we decided to put a couple more seed down to see if we can get another one before Halloween.  And since there was room, we put in a couple of more summer squash seeds, just in case...

Sunflower from the County Fair.

Carrots aplenty in our yard.

I was thinking about how we need to watch for the leaf-footed stink bugs...

...when I pulled the camera away from my face and noticed this little bugger.

 We squish them when we can.  Powder or spray them when we can't.  These little buggers fly away if you don't get them the first time, but we did notice a herd of newborns and we got out the powder and gave them a big puff.  Hopefully that wipes most of them out.  I hate when they dig into the blossom end of the pomegranates.  Yuk.

Here and There

Grapes.

The tomatoes are being cruel.  Our new planters are unbalanced.  They are light on calcium.  So we've had quite a bit of blossom end rot.  The plants themselves are lush, just not heavy on the fruit.  We're very anxious to start seeing red.  Red tomatoes, that is.  Not the red I see behind my eyelids as I pluck the blackened waste off of the plants.

Picking the end rotted ones off to keep the plant from wasting energy.

It's hard not to just call then pickles even when they're still on the vine.

We support do it yourself pollinating.  Probably why we ended up
with so much summer squash last year.

Last year we planted just bush beans, this year we have some vine beans, too.

Anaheim Peppers.

Dragon's Tongue beans

The yard.

And, of course...

Chickens!

High alert.  For what, I wasn't sure.

Our older birds recently developed strange patches.  They're not quite molting,  but look at Red's neck.
I keep wondering if there will be a morning I go out and find them bald.

Chickens in the dustbath.  Even my favorite pink one.

No Holiday in the Yard Today.

I can't really call it a holiday, when it always feels like a mini-staycation every time we're out there.  Even when there's work to do.

The fruit trees live!  All of them have buds and or blooms.

The Chinese Cabbage has broken out.

The aphids are attacking the romaine.

 We had looked for Ladybugs last week at the nursery, but didn't see any.  So yesterday we ordered some online.  Of course, we stopped by the nursery today for some irrigation supplies and they had some.  So, not wanting the aphids to have any more time in our yard, we got one bin.  They've got some work to do tonight.

Potato.  

The lone asparagus is alone no more.  He has one friend.

Peas.

The double high tire planter awaits the melons or pumpkins.

Starting far left- part of the strawberry patch; the long planter with peas,
corn(still underground), romaine, and a few cabbage on the far end; the smaller planters
with carrots, fennel, leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, head lettuce, celery and spinach.

Up by the chickens we have the two single tire planters for melons or pumpkins.

We put the sand box in the run to give the girls a place for dustbaths.

Cucumber planter on the patio.

Cucumbers just came up in the last two days.

I finally replanted my overgrown aloe.  I wish I had taken a "before" shot.
All of this aloe...

...came out of this one pot.  All from two little pieces my mom
gave us a few years ago.  I really hope they make it.

Ivory Soap to the Rescue

Our problem with the eggs on the underside of our squash leaves has been quashed.  We took some leaves over to the Master Gardeners Orchard and the lovely lady suggested spraying a mix of Ivory soap and water on them.  Each one.  Tedious, but worth it as the leaves are recovering.  Farmer Mike was dousing the cucumber leaves this morning.  Hopefully we can keep it better controlled now.

Garden Under Siege

Photos of our recent issues in the garden.  We don't know what they all are caused by, but we intend to find out.  There are Master Gardeners who go to local farmers markets and we plan to take samples to them to see if they know what's going on.