I’m trying to toe the line between using environmentally friendly methods and wanting to get the ants out of the yard. We have some bait set out but it worries me a little because I don’t want to hurt the lizards and birds. Except for the g-d hawks, I hate them.
These are bait traps with an ant-sized entry, and - unless they’re very small - I don’t see how a lizard or bird could get to the poison. Or are you worried about a poisoned ant getting eaten?
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I was worried about both, but you’ve reassured me by 50%- thank you
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Yesterday’s pick (along with the daily ration of corn - not shown).
Cabbage and peas are officially done until the fall crop. Green beans in a lull after the first wave (more coming). Blueberries about 75% done. Tomatoes (and cukes - none yesterday) just getting started.
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Send your hawks here. We need more of them to eat rabbits.
Another day of harvest: in total eight 25-gallon containers of shallots, red onions and storage onions (not all are shown in the photos). About 50% shallots, and 25% each of the other. The red onions don’t store well and will get used first, but the others do. This should hold us until spring in the allium department.
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WOW!
Do you use the greens?
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I have fooled around with them, because I think having an understanding of how to use them is a good skill to have, but typically I do not. If we ever had a lean year or were hard-scrabble subsistence living, I certainly would!
I like to grow a lot of scallions, also, and tend to reach for those first as far as greens go.
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Garden porn! I love it. Are the shallots in the pictures? Mine are so small!
I get greedy and probably plant too many in a container.
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The shallots are the long row of pots. They’re “banana” shallots, or so we think. We start them from seed. In the past, they’ve always had a more elongated shape. Not so much this year. Don’t know whether to blame the weather, the site we picked for the pots (too shady), or the seed. They’ll be fine to cook with, in any case.
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The last few stalks of our 2022 corn harvest. 
One of our best years ever, despite the cold temps and late season. It lasted 9 days - the first day was just a hair under-ripe and the final two days, including today, kinda starchy. Everything in between was sheer heaven. Every cob got eaten, with no bits for the freezer.
You can see our pole beans in the background.
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How long did it take your ears to grow after the tassels showed up? The tassels are just emerging on my corn stalks.
This year we had tassels and silk showing on July 1st. The tassels didn’t start shedding pollen until the 8th, and pollination went on through the 13th. The corn was fully ripe on the 29th (16 days later), although we started peeking to check about 14 days after the end of pollination.
I’ve mentioned that we hand pollinate once the tassels start shedding, which happens under suitable conditions (you can read about that process here). With a patch as small as ours (10 x 3 stalks), it has helped enormously to populate the ears fully. Our property can get very windy, and without the assist, I think most of the shed pollen was by-passing the silk.
Some people cut-off or strip the tassels to collect the pollen; we prefer to leave the tassels intact but knock the pollen off into a large container by shaking the tassel over it. Then we use a dry paint-brush to scoop out and sprinkle the collected pollen over the silks.
There … more than you asked for or probably wanted to know. 
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Absolutely happy you told me.
I haven’t tried pollinating in the past. I have around 40 stalks right now.
Oh - sounds good! Enjoy!
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I’m really happy with the way this curry leaf plant has rebounded. Wish I had cut it sooner, rather than having a stick for so long! It is loving the heat and humidity and I will keep it as humid as possible over the winter. Moving into a house with radiators rather than forced air and hope my plants love it as much as I do.
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It’s looking good!
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Poor little bunnies!
