All About Pocket Knives

The vegetation (including the weeds) is enjoying all the rain we’ve been getting. I took these pictures Sunday afternoon - before it started raining again.

Ken

Ken, you have a great looking yard.

Thank you Floyd. I just plant and tend it - God makes it grow and look pretty.

A few more.

Ken

Nice, Ken, great pictures.


My brother is thinking he's going to need to plow some more on the garden plot in my middle picture above, his wife wants to plant sunflowers.

Ken, your terrain is looking positively lush. Well done.

Thanks. It oughta be lush with all the rain we’ve had. You should see the boat I was in when I took the pictures!

Ken

Thank goodness, it's starting to rain again. My mud was getting dehydrated and the potholes were drying up.

We've only had a little under 9 inches in May 2021 - about 25% of our normal annual rainfall.

Nice pictures everyone!

I got this..., ( maybe a Columbine? I don't know. ) blooming next to the wood shed. It just showed up uninvited but it's pretty and . I think they have been around for some years now but I always thought they were weeds and I always pulled them before they started blooming. This spring was so cold and wet that I didn't do any weeding untill last Sat. so they had enough time to form flowers before I did any weed pulling. Guess the "bad weather" turned out to be good in at least one way because I now know that these "weeds" are actually beautiful flowers. Might have to plant a few more of these.

Pretty flowers, Tom.

Nice flowers Tom. They do look similar to columbine.

Ken

Thanks Ken & John!

John if that sweet corn & those watermelons start to get ripe let me know. Takes a couple of weeks to get a plane ticket now days.

I spent the whole day out in front of my house planting stuff. Tomatos, Red peppers, Spearmint and a few other herbs and some flowers. Most of the seeds came to me from our knifer friend in Bulgaria. There were also some small Lucky figures with the seeds that have to do with a Tradition in Bulgaria. Finally got them hung up on my rear view.

And then a visitor showed up. A stag beetle! Wow! Pretty cool! About 2 1/2 - 3" long! Never seen one up close before.

My Sea Rose opened up on Sat. June 19th. Which was my daughter Jazlin's 18th Birthday.

Pretty wild looking beetle, Tom.

Spent the 3 day weekend at the farm, more work to do than I could finish in a week. The sprouted corn we planted a month ago did take root and grow (2 rows on the right), but it's not much if any taller than the corn we planted at the same time from seed. Also pictured is my brother's attempt to string up the tomato plants. Some of the tomatoes are around tennis ball size, empty can for scale.

Everything is growing well but they could use some rain. Luckily the Spring is running pretty good so he can use it to water somewhat. I call that tiller "Bouncing Betty." My hands are still hurting from it.

1967redrider wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:11 pm Pretty wild looking beetle, Tom.

Spent the 3 day weekend at the farm, more work to do than I could finish in a week. The sprouted corn we planted a month ago did take root and grow (2 rows on the right), but it's not much if any taller than the corn we planted at the same time from seed. Also pictured is my brother's attempt to string up the tomato plants. Some of the tomatoes are around tennis ball size, empty can for scale.

Everything is growing well but they could use some rain. Luckily the Spring is running pretty good so he can use it to water somewhat. I call that tiller "Bouncing Betty." My hands are still hurting from it.

Cool pictures John! Good looking garden but I know they make a lot of work. I like that white fence! Cool looking Traktor! I'll ask what kind jt is? Not that I know my butt from a hole in the ground about them but I am always interested.

Red hot poker plants in bloom. Catalpa trees in bloom.

Michigan cactus in bloom at a neighbors front yard. Opunita, Prickly Pear Cactus, they grow wild here.

TPK wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:31 pm

Cool pictures John! Good looking garden but I know they make a lot of work. I like that white fence! Cool looking Traktor! I'll ask what kind jt is? Not that I know my butt from a hole in the ground about them but I am always interested.

That one happens to be a Mahindra, Tom, it belongs to my sister's boyfriend. They were using it to off-load round bails from a flatbed trailer.

mrwatch wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:59 pm Michigan cactus in bloom at a neighbors front yard. I do not know the species but grow wild here.

Looks like the same kind that grows down here.

I may come back & edit this one or add to it but this is a first draft. Hope you enjoy!


"Sensing Seasons"

White of Winter, Songs of Spring,
Warmth the Summer Sun does bring,
Sublime Beauty, Painted Fall,
Exalted is the Lord of Awe.

Fragrant Flowers, Berries Sweet,
Summer is, a Special Treat!
A Million things, that I hold Dear,
Thankful for, just being here!

©By: Thomas DeVore
June 26th 2021
08:40 A.M.

Thought I made an entry on this Tom but apparently left the thread to quickly and it didn't post. So, again, really enjoyed both the poem and the photos. My favorite line: "Exalted is the Lord of Awe."

Thanks QS! Glad you enjoyed it my friend!

My sister-in-law just sent these pictures, let the harvesting begin.

Great pictures both of you, Tom and John. Looks like you both have a “green thumb”.

Been a strange year for growing stuff here. First we get the historic deep freeze in February - coldest temperatures in over 120 years, and they lasted several days. Lots of plants were killed, many more damaged. The older references from the late 1900s have us listed here as climate zone 7. More recently the“experts” have been saying the temperature zones have changed, and hence for the past 10-15 years they have sold plants here that were previously classified as hardy to zone 8. Lots of those plants were planted and most of them were killed by the February freeze - so much for that!

Then we get a cool, wet spring. Grass here needs three things to grow - moisture, sunlight, and temperature. We got plenty of rain, and adequate sunshine. But until about three weeks ago the nighttime temperatures were well below 70 degrees F, which is the minimum temp at which our forage grasses will grow well. So the hay crop is dismal at best - first cutting yields are down significantly. But the weeds are doing great! So it’s not going to be a good year here for hay. If the rest of the summer improves maybe we can recover some from the second cutting.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:20 am Great pictures both of you, Tom and John. Looks like you both have a “green thumb”.

Been a strange year for growing stuff here...

Ken

Sounds just like the weather we have been having around here Ken. My tomato plants are about 3" tall. May not have many tomatos this year unless we have a nice warm fall.