Sally's GF3 thread

[pertnear09]

Several years ago, I tried to grow tomatoes inside my green house with the idea of having tomatoes late into fall, because the plants would be protected from freezing. I wanted to grow them in a big tote, so they'd have plenty of root room.

I didn't want to drill holes in the totes, so that I wouldn't ruin them. But... drainage... Hmmm. I put a couple inches of rocks in the bottom, then filled it with (homemade) potting soil. The tomato plants did diddly squat (probably because it got REALLY hot in there), so the experiment didn't work. But I had two totes full of nice potting soil. With lots of rocks in the bottom.

I've used the soil for starting tomatoes and other tender plants in the spring. Yesterday, I planted 5 pots each of kale and spinach. Today, I planted 6 pots of mixed lettuces. I am getting to the bottom of the tote, and getting lots of rocks. That slows the planting process down.

I didn't have much soil in the tote, so I dumped it into a bucket. I shook the bucket, banging it on the ground.

Some rocks came up to the surface. Picked them out. Banged it on the ground, more rocks came up.

OMG!!!! ROCKS FLOAT!!!

Finally, I was scooping out less than half a trowel's worth of dirt, picking rocks out of each scoop. But there is still some nice potting soil in there. I'm going to find something to sift out the rest of the pebbles. I am hard core about not throwing out something that I worked hard to make.

Ok, you want to know how hard core, ie, cheap I am? This is what I do with shampoo.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...tips-and-tricks.1559066/page-83#post-27275631

I do that with my dish soap bottles also. Usually once will finish it off.

 

[fuzzi]

Several years ago, I tried to grow tomatoes inside my green house with the idea of having tomatoes late into fall, because the plants would be protected from freezing. I wanted to grow them in a big tote, so they'd have plenty of root room.

I didn't want to drill holes in the totes, so that I wouldn't ruin them. But... drainage... Hmmm. I put a couple inches of rocks in the bottom, then filled it with (homemade) potting soil. The tomato plants did diddly squat (probably because it got REALLY hot in there), so the experiment didn't work. But I had two totes full of nice potting soil. With lots of rocks in the bottom.

I've used the soil for starting tomatoes and other tender plants in the spring. Yesterday, I planted 5 pots each of kale and spinach. Today, I planted 6 pots of mixed lettuces. I am getting to the bottom of the tote, and getting lots of rocks. That slows the planting process down.

I didn't have much soil in the tote, so I dumped it into a bucket. I shook the bucket, banging it on the ground.

Some rocks came up to the surface. Picked them out. Banged it on the ground, more rocks came up.

OMG!!!! ROCKS FLOAT!!!

Finally, I was scooping out less than half a trowel's worth of dirt, picking rocks out of each scoop. But there is still some nice potting soil in there. I'm going to find something to sift out the rest of the pebbles. I am hard core about not throwing out something that I worked hard to make.

Ok, you want to know how hard core, ie, cheap I am? This is what I do with shampoo.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...tips-and-tricks.1559066/page-83#post-27275631

Are you sure we weren't twins separated at birth?


I sometimes dump soil on a tarp as it's easier to pick out the rocks that way.

I have stopped putting drainage rocks in the bottom of pots, and they seem to drain better!

 

[Sally PB]

Yesterday was a great day: sunny, mild, got a lot done. The temperature is still mild, so I could get at least two out of three.

Oh. Sunshine is not in the forecast. Now it's up to me.

 

[Sally PB]

Well, we did get some sunshine, after all. Not as much as yesterday, but it warmed up the green house to 57 degrees. Under the totes, it was 69 degrees.

The black weed block fabric on the tables sure helps. It's the only good thing weed block fabric has done!

The totes also keep the mice from digging up and eating the seeds in the pots. Although two mice won't be bothering me again. I have a trap set up there, and will be checking it every day.

 

[Sally PB]

My egg drought is over!

I wish I hadn't bought a dozen eggs last week at the store. I had 19 store eggs in the fridge. I used 3 in a batch of grownies. Someone suggested I scramble them and feed them back to the chickens, but they might rebel.

Plans for the substandard eggs:

3 for hubby's Christmas lemon meringue pie
3 for a loaf of GF bread for me
Maybe hardboil the rest?

Maybe I'll make some fried rice in a couple days. With enough onion and garlic, the eggs will fade into the background.

 

[Sally PB]

I just ordered some New England Aster seeds. Why? Because in the late summer/early fall, they have EXCELLENT nectar and pollen for honey bees!

And they're pretty.

And they're perennials.

The seeds need to be planted in the fall, so ooops, too late for this year. But they can be cold stratified by putting them in moist sand and storing them in the fridge for 8 weeks. I can do that. Then I'll start them in the green house, along with the other tender things.

I read conflciting reports of whether they'd bloom much/well their first year. If I can find some plants at a nursery next spring, I might buy some of those too. The entire east side of my downhill garden is going to be for the bees.

I grew bee balm, and saw a lot of bumble bees on it, but no honey bees. I asked about that at the last bee meeting of the year, and it seems the flowers have too long of a throat for honey bees to access the nectar. Ok, sorry, bumble bees. Out with the bee balm, and in with something else for my bees.

Which is too bad, because the bee balm was easy to start from seed and grew well. The bumbles can visit the borage.

 

[Sally PB]

I had to copy this and post it over here.

 

[Sally PB]

I have to be corn free, so for me pretzels work. But are they gluten free?

I forgot to post this! The GF pretzels are Snyder's of Hanover. They are crispy, and have a good pretzel flavor.

 

[Sally PB]

Wood splitting day! Hubby runs the splitter, I stack. I figure it's my job as the stacker to stay out of the way of the split logs as he tosses them to the side. It's his job to run the heavy, potentially dangerous equipment.

One nice benefit to wood splitting day is there is a LOT of wood on the porch now. All the "does not stack well with others" is waiting. No trips to the wood pile for 2-3 days.

 

[Sally PB]

I copied this from another thread because I like it a lot.