nw baltimore wx

I’ve had the nhl games on as background noise the past couple of days and my girlfriend said that it reminds her of the olympics. I don’t disagree but so glad that it’s not one and done!

I’m sure David Icke has some thoughts.

My over / under for being rain satisfied is 2” by Wednesday morning. I don’t think that’s too much to hope for.

Day 1 of the new me. 3.25 mile “run.” Tomorrow is hopefully a bike ride. Call me names if I don’t keep at it.

I’ve been hoping for something like this too. Awesome new feature. I had been feeling like I got rain shafted for July with just over two inches, and then I searched and see areas just to my wnw had half of that.

CoCoRaHS has a new interactive map! Haven’t played with it too much, but looks cool.

1.92” in July, and I’m ok with another six weeks of seasonable summer, as long as it rains.

Lol. @CAPE, For the record, I liked your pre-edited version with the assessment of Goodel. Unrelated, but for August 1st and the weather offseason, there’s a a lot of good reading on the board this morning!

I wish I could weenie and like a post.

Pumpkins remind me of that scene in a Christmas Story when Ralphie’s dad says, “Careful, now. They run all over.”

The reddest one is Better Boy and the off colored is Mr. Stripey. The Mr. Stripey is like candy. So sweet and juicy. I pick them on the early side because if they are on the vine too long, they can crack and bugs go at them.

Oh, summer...

Long story, and not very interesting, but it does illustrate that I would not be a very good farmer. I've mentioned that I have a mystery squash plant, and actually, I think there may be two. It came up between my cucumber and crook neck squash so I figured I'd just let it grow and hope that it was pumpkins that I need for brewing (I think one of them is a pumpkin judging by the fruit, but the other one is the same size and shape of the pie pumpkin, but it's warted pretty good, and I think yellower, but that's not the point). Not surprisingly, all the squash is doing really well, and when any of the vines went into the other areas of the garden or tried to escape into the lawn, I just cut them back. They're so prolific that it really doesn't matter. Anyway, I've been wondering why my cucumber plant hasn't been producing. It's marked well with a cage, and though it's jungle mix of vines and leave, i knew where I planted it. Each day I'd brave the prickly squash vines and dig through trying to find some fruit for pickling ending up with nothing but a rash up and down my forearms. We've had a couple, but there should be more. Well, this morning I went out and the cucumber plant looks spent. The leaves are wilting and there's stunted fruit on the longer vines, and then near the ground, I saw a bunch giant orange fruit that didn't look right. They were six or seven giant cucumbers that I never saw and they must have been robbing the plant. So, we'll still be buying pickles but hopefully there will be six or seven pumpkins for brewing.

@WxWatcher007 Too bad that it will last less than 24 hours.

I am at Lowe’s in Owings Mills getting a couple things and walked through the flowers to see if they have anything that attracts butterflies. I think I can safely say Lantana does. @MN Transplant That sucks.

I just read that they only take 9 - 14 days to become butterflies. Will he cocoon in your yard this summer? It would be pretty cool if you could document it. Now I want a butterfly garden. Just what I need. Another hobby!

I haven’t seen any hookworms, and the green tomatoes look great. The one with a bite out of it was a ripened red and on the ground so I think it’s a groundhog. Also, I talked to another neighbor while getting a haircut in the front yard and she said she’s seen two “very cute” groundhogs. I guess one man’s pest is another man’s pet, but I’ll soak a couple rags with ammonia In a few frisbees and see if that keeps them away. They haven’t done any real damage yet, but I don’t want them getting comfortable.

Good to hear! I haven’t seen that many here but hopefully they are on the rebound. While out watering this morning, the most prominent pollinator that I saw was a big bumble bee. Overall, our garden is doing really well this year. We’ve had a few of the Mr. Stripey’s (I like to pick them a little early so they don’t crack), and the crook neck squash, beans, and various peppers are supplying us with a veggie medley whenever we want, but the most encouraging thing is the number of large green tomatoes on the plants. It should be a really good harvest. Hopefully the pumpkins are also ready for an early September brew day. There are a couple of concerns (always the case) including a night time varmint visiting. I’ve seen some scat (I’ll spare you the pictures) and one of the early tomatoes that was perfectly ripe had a singular bite out of it. I can’t imagine it being a groundhog in this hood, but my neighbor across the street says one is living under his garage. The distance between my garden and his garage is indirectly about 200 yards. Does anyone know if they roam that far? And if so, any good deterrents? The other concern is pictured. I haven’t had a lot of insect damage but there are a lot of pumpkin and squash vines, so I’ve got to stay on top of the eggs. But, so far, very pleased with how things are unfolding this year.

Nice video!

First, I don’t till (though I suspect most don’t), and I also pile all the fall leaves in the yard on the garden, and I mean it’s piled. It’s about two to three feet of dry leaves that compacts to about a soggy inch by spring. Then, even before I plant, I bag my lawn clippings as mulch. I usually get to August before the lawn clippings are too scarce to keep down any weeds, but by then everything is so overgrown that it’s pretty shaded. Thanks for noticing!

It’s going to be a good week for the gardens around here. Ours is looking good. This is the main garden but all the other stuff is doing well also.

Minimizing the grass area is right in line with my thinking. He’s got some large trees on the property that shade a pretty much a large dirt area. I was going to suggest mulching a pretty large area and putting it in some azaleas and other plants that tolerate shade, and maybe a swing set or something for his two young daughters. There is a smaller lower area that gets plenty of sun and does seem to have better soil because what is there does at least grow. He will definitely put in some type of fire pit. As we get closer to September I’ll post a few pictures and ask for more suggestions. By the way, when I lived in Arizona for a short time, I loved the look of the hardscapes. You should go all NPZ and plant cactus.

Moving this over here, but a friend of mine is moving back from England after a three year placement and bought a house in Severna Park. He’s been delayed because of the virus so I’ve been cutting his “lawn” the past couple of months, and it’s a wreck. The soil there seems really sandy and dry. I’d have no idea what grass to recommend when we aerate and seed this fall.

Knocking on wood as I type this, but the garden is looking really good so far. A lot of green tomatoes already set, and several varieties of peppers too. The mystery squash plant is going crazy (by how much it’s running, I’m assuming it’s a decorative gourd that rotted last year), but the pumpkins haven’t taken off yet. Hoping to have about six sugar pumpkins by mid September for brewing. If not, I may have to go steal some from @frd one night.

Got severed. Lots of thunder, lightning, and rain, but nothing too heavy.