Nevadans?

[StevieNay]

I found this about starting rosemary from cuttings.

http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/Rosemary.htm

I'm not sure my gardening sense is reliable enough to try it yet, but I really would love to have rosemary bushes someday.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Well, we finally have squashes budding on all of our plants, tomatoes are setting and getting bigger, and the cucumber plant has several little cucs growing! I had to put up bird netting to protect my smallest and most delicate tomatoes. The finches were going crazy eating all of the leaves! I also realized they've been maiming my poor little pepper plants, too. I hope they'll be able to recover before the season ends.

Missy, do you put the coffee grounds directly on top of the soil? My roommate makes coffee everyday, so I was thinking I'd steal her grounds. I've been watering my container tomatoes with a mix of water and the leftover coffee, and they seem to be doing really well! Also, do you compost your bedding with the chicken manure and all? Do you just throw it in your compost heap? I turned my pile over and it is actually composting!!! I guess I can just credit the summer heat! I haven't added any bedding to it, though. I'm not quite sure about what ratio of things I need to let it compost well. Who knew I could acquire urban homesteading skills?

Elizabeth, I'm looking for nearly any kind of employment. I am getting nervous that I soon won't have an income. I've been applying to biology and lab jobs, but I also have experience as a receptionist and in sales, so I think I could pick most types of entry level work up quickly, too. I'm technically employed through this month, but after that the lab won't have the money left in the grant for me to do very much. Any leads would be great!

I'll either sprinkle them directly on the soil under the plant, or I'll put a handful or two in a 5-gallon bucket, fill the bucket with water, and put that on the ground. If I just sprinkle them on, I always water right afterwards to disperse them into the soil. And I make it a rule to feed my plants about every other week... whether it's coffee grounds, rabbit manure, or whey. And if you see that you have a lot of growth but few flowers, hold off on the coffee. I don't think it's high enough in nitrogen to stop flowering, since it's not comparable at all to chemical fertilizers in strength (which is a good thing, because I can put them directly on seedlings.) But if you do end up getting to much nitrogen, you'll just get greenery but no fruit.

I throw bedding and manure right in the compost. If you have an area that you don't plan to garden until spring, you can throw it right into the dirt, up until about January. Past that, make sure it composts down before putting it on any plants. Using straw really helps in the composting. Pine bedding will eventually break down, but it can leach out some nutrients from the rest of the compost until it's fully broken down, then it will put the nutrients back, but it takes a lot more time than just using straw. BTW, putting coffee grounds or cold coffee in your compost will not only add the "green" component that it needs, but will help deal with odors that you might have!!! It works great.

In the fall/winter, I compost in my garden space, but in the summer I use black plastic barrels that my husband made. All the garden space is full in the summer! When we dig up our potatoes this August or September, we're going to dump chicken bedding or material that's not quite composted in the empty spot, then cover it with dirt. That will save a lot of time next year.

Congrats on the cucumbers! I should have zucchini within a couple of days, and I've been eating cherry tomatoes and one brandywine, but my cucumbers are just flowering now.

Oh, and today I found two squash beetles in Garden #2! That's ok for now. I see no evidence of any damage, and I really doubt they'll infest enough to do any damage this year. But I can always bring over a chicken or two, herd them away from the chard, and just replace mulch when they're done digging around.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

I've had half of a watermelon in my fridge for a week, and it wasn't getting eaten very fast, so I took it outside today (1pm.) I knew the chickens would like it, but didn't know the ducks would love it so much. They're all 4 gathered around the watermelon bowl, dipping their bills in. Their white chests are all dripping with red juice. The chickens are looking on in jealousy. Oh well... they get my apple cores and tomatoes, and the ducks could care less about those.

 

[sherylreno]

Yep, the ducks love melons and almost everything else too. I toss the melons with their peels and all in there. The ducks will take the peels into the pond and eat them up there. They love the whole thing.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Went out to check on mama millie and when i reached my head into her box she got incredibly defensive and i noticed a neat little pile of eggshell set off to the side....WE HAVE A BABY! its gorgeous! little white fluff ball with fuzzy feet. Its not being active or cheeping so I hope its okay :/ We will see if that green egg makes it too, it was sooooo watery last time i candled. Woo hoo! Hope this lil one makes it! cant wait to show pics!

 

[aubreynoramarie]

She has her Dad's puffy cheeks <3

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Awwwww, so sweet!!! Mine wasn't very active either on the first day, especially in the heat. If the other hatches, it'll be in cooler temps.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I hope the other does hatch. Im trying not to get my hopes up though because it seemed like there was a lot of weirdness splashing around inside of it when I candled. I would love if it hatched though, If only so Banana could have a friend (yes, we have named her Banana in honor of Nanner Bananners!)

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Also I have been going through my options trying to figure out who Mom might be and so far the most likely candidate is this one


LOL! poor little eternally bald Ruby. Per the genetics calculator if the chick is white then this is Mom (this is all made easy by the fact that mister pants is white which is recessive). However Banana seems to be a little red around the face so her mom could be our red frizzle, Frizz.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Also I have been going through my options trying to figure out who Mom might be and so far the most likely candidate is this one


LOL! poor little eternally bald Ruby. Per the genetics calculator if the chick is white then this is Mom (this is all made easy by the fact that mister pants is white which is recessive). However Banana seems to be a little red around the face so her mom could be our red frizzle, Frizz.

Lol poor Ruby! Is that the result of 2 frizzled parents?