What did you do in the garden today?

[karenerwin]

Do tell? How do I make violet jelly?

Collect 4 cups ( or more) of the violet blossoms. Try to pinch off the stems. Boil 4 cups of water and pour that over the blossoms. The water will turn anywhere from a vivid blue to almost black. Let it steep for 24 hours. (Can do less time if you want). I covered mine and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Strain the liquid. I also squeeze all the water I can out of the petals. Throw the spent blossoms out. ( I toss mine into the chicken yard). Take 4 cups of the "violet tea" and add 2 or 3 Tablespoons of lime juice ( or you can use lemon juice). The color will change to purple!!
Pour this into a deep pot. Bring to a roiling boil. Add 1 package pectin ( I use the low sugar/no sugar type). Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Add 3 cups sugar (all at once). Stir to dissolve and then bring back to a roiling boil. Boil 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Skim off foam. Fill prepared jars, wipe rims, place on lids and rings and place into a water bath. Bring to a boil ( slow boil). Process 10 minutes. Remove from heat and take out of the water bath ( I place mine on a towel) left set 24 hours. Check lids to see if they sealed. Any that didn't seal need to go into the refrigerator. The rest are good on the shelf until opened, then they go in the refrigerator. Good on shelf for 18 months.

 

[karenerwin]

Worked today. Then cut a bit of the lawn when I got home. Still only 4 chicks hatched in the incubator.
Lots on the to do list for tomorrow! I have to add chain link fencing around the cattle panels so the puppies won't just walk through! Then I need to butcher the spare rooster and then clean out his bachelor pad coop. The 6 meat birds ( 3 weeks old) are moving in there. The 4 just hatched chick are going to move out with the 1 chick that had been hanging out with the meaties. On Tuesday, we drive up to Cackle Hatchery to pick up 15 more Cornish Cross. They will go in with the 5 incubator chicks for the first couple of weeks and then will move in with the other meat birds.
Tomorrow we have a window company coming out to give us a bid on replacing windows in our house. ( Current offer buy 2, get 2 free. No payments for 24 months). Sounds like the time to buy some! Should have them paid off in 24 months. Cost will determine how many we do.

Then I have to start puppy proofing the house. Also on my to do list is work on my garden expansion.
I think I have a busy week ahead of me!
Decided on names for the puppies. Rhea and Lucky. Either she is lucky we decided to get 2 of them or we are lucky that we decided to get 2 of them. Time will tell!
The vetting bills, food bills, and kenneling 3 dogs when we go out of town for my nephew's wedding (Palm Springs in November) and my niece's wedding (postponed due to Corona virus until August 2021 in New Jersey) are the items that make me nervous. At least only the food bill will be frequently recurring! Vetting will be a pain but (hopefully) will just be yearly.

Oh, I harvested some asparagus from the garden this evening!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Yesterday morning was productive. Cleaned the chicken coop, covered the newly planted potatoes and leeks with plastic so they won't drown. Then I planted the endive, cabbage and lettuce seedlings in my little hoop bed. The type of endive I planted is the stuff sold in the grocery store as "Frisee." I love it. I also thinned the radishes, they are growing very well. It didn't get as cold overnight as predicted, which is a good thing. No sign of snow, just rain and of course it's windy. With the impending warm up that's coming I plan on getting more things planted very soon. I love cherry tomatoes. Last year I planted Burpees Super Sweet 100 hybrid. They were very prolific. I made a lot of salsa with them which I still have several jars left. I also gave a lot away as well. I grow Romas mostly for sauce, however I will make a pot or two of sauce with a variety of tomatoes. Good stuff. I'm planting those same cherry tomatoes again this year. I'm also planting the same variety of what I refer to as slicing tomatoes of Burpees Longkeeper tomatoes. Despite having a rough growing season last year, they did pretty good anyway. And I had enough to give away some of them as well. Since it's supposed to rain all day today I'll be doing laundry and getting the brooder set up for the incoming chicks, Love all the pictures. It looks like you should be able to keep your produce all to yourself this year @TropicalBabies. Good job! Have a great day everyone and get those hands in the dirt! And PS to @karenerwin: How about some pictures of those cute puppies. You know we love pictures.

 

[Pasha838]

Today i rest, because before i worked 2 or 3 days widh a concrete. I want to rest one day Next time i will continue. I want to build there one summer kitchen width smokehouse, pizza oven, oven for cakes )

Today i begin to prepare the place for my potato (here in our clima we plant it in 9-10 may), but today i worked very slowly and lazy (because i am tired after the concrete). After some time i sent there my goats, they eated there all grass. I begin to dig, after that i will take the manure from shed and in 9 may begin to plant my potato.

Here I have a fence, I need it so that the goats, walking there in the spring, do not go into the garden and eat my apple trees.
Of course next time we will begin to walk in any another places, now my goats walk in this area, because i am a little busy to walk.

This house is not mine, there a fence too, this is a house of my neigbour. And one scary shed is mine, it was hastily built by visiting workers to spend the night there while construction is underway. I don’t know, maybe in the future I will remove it. It all depends on the situation with the coronavirus - if the workers come, I will leave this barn (they spend the night there in the summer), and if no one comes, I will break this barn and plant some plants there. The workers who built this barn absolutely do not know how to build, so the barn is crooked and scary. I hire these guys for simple earthworks. This year, because of the coronavirus, they did not come and I do not hire them, i work alone. In other matters, I am quite in time, I do not have a very large garden, and I will have to plant potatoes no earlier than May 9.

 

[jerryse]

Summer kitchen . Have not heard that in along time . I have Glorisosa daisy and corn poppies sprouting outside .

 

[pennyJo1960]

We have rainy wet today probably not doing much outside little as possible

 

[jerryse]

Half free morel mushrooms . Yes they are edible . I seldom find these because they are ealier than the other morels . I no longer get around very well and eyesight is poor . So I wait for the big yellow ones . Our season is behind this year so I got the desire to go look .

 

[BullChick]

I tried clearing some grass, and picked up a board that had blown over the fence. I started when I saw something moving, then realized it was a mole. After appreciating how cute it was, I beat it to death.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good for you Bull moles are a gardeners enemy .. I even had one come up inside one of tires
we have stacked to garden in

 

[FortCluck]

Half free morel mushrooms . Yes they are edible . I seldom find these because they are ealier than the other morels . I no longer get around very well and eyesight is poor . So I wait for the big yellow ones . Our season is behind this year so I got the desire to go look .View attachment 2110604

My friends love morels!