What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

cinnamon rolls rising first time here now off to clean the coop then plant the 12 things I picked up over the monsoons season

 

[lazy gardener]

Have to work again tomorrow. It was going to be my one day off this week (not counting Monday's storm). I've been letting the flock out to free range. Risky b/c of hawk predation, but the girls and roo are loving it. They have completely destroyed the sod over large sections of the lawn. I've no doubt that the area is infested with grubs. Thankfully, hubby has not yet noticed the damage. He's the lawn guy and I'm the everything else gal. So... he takes great pride in his lawn. Now, to convince him that the birds are doing the lawn a favor by digging out all of the sod that is infested with grubs. Their diligence this season will pay off with a healthier lawn next year.

 

[dunnmom]

I am letting melons all co exist in the wading pool cucumbers, pumpkins and crookneck all together

Hmm... i happen to have a couple of wading pools. I did not ever think to do that. Wouldn't hurt to try. Do you drill drainage holes in the bottom?

 

[pennyJo1960]

we sure did about 2 dozen

 

[igorsMistress]

We have been offered a compost turner bucket thing. It's electric? I dunno if it'll be free or possibly not full price. Also not sure if I want it, I'm kinda getting the hang of doing it the old fashioned way. Might come in handy though. Anyone ever use one?

 

[pennyJo1960]

No but I would be willing to try one here also so go for it

 

[Birdsong 82]

I don’t know how my husband would feel about me pole dancing in the yard. Even though everything I’ve read says she need to make your melon trellises hi I do not like to make any of my more than 6 foot. I found 6 foot is actually nice with an A-frame because I can get what has grown in the middle without crawling underneath. I don’t like to make my trellis is too short now. I

Rachel. You don't need to make your trellis any taller than you can reach. The plants will grow as high as YOU DECIDE YOU WILL LET THEM! I use an old metal swing set, which has lasted for years. This gives me 18 l.f. of trellis row. I have found that if I lean a 2 x 4 or piece of conduit up against the top horizontal bar of the A, I can then use that pole to stabilize myself as I lean into the middle to harvest. I can move that pole up and down both sides of the row as I go. Gives a new definition to pole dancing!

made one that was just under 4 foot for my cucumbers one year and they ended up growing up it then down the other side and onto the ground. It ended up being a tangled mess. So I built one with bamboo this year with 3 , 4 foot wide panels about 5 1/2 foot tall. I’ve seen a lot of people use old swingset frames. Always wish I can get a hold of one. But after using my imagination I believe I came up with A sturdy trellis idea with stuff I already have. A lot of it was me doing yard cleanup in finding a lot of old branches that came down after last weeks storm

 

[Birdsong 82]

We have been offered a compost turner bucket thing. It's electric? I dunno if it'll be free or possibly not full price. Also not sure if I want it, I'm kinda getting the hang of doing it the old fashioned way. Might come in handy though. Anyone ever use one?

And how nice. I’ve always wanted a compost turner. Since my garden is in my front yard so is my compost pile. It would look nicer in my front yard to have it in the Turner instead of in a pile between pallets are. No one sees it because I only have one neighbor but it would look nice to me when I pull up . I’ve always heard that turning composters are supposed to break things down faster. Don’t know if it’s true but it sounds like it would save a lot of time and energy of turning the pile. Never heard of an electric one though

 

[lazy gardener]

Use what you have! I make a similar A frame using 2 x 3 or 4's as the legs of the A and conduit which passes through 1" holes at the top of the legs to make the horizontal bar of the frame. These can be easily knocked down and stored at the end of each season.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I did make a 6 foot A-frame out of one by fours and 2 x 2‘s with fencing with 2 x 4“ holes. And added hinges so I can fold it up and store it away. But I have no extra wood right now. We’ve been using all that on the new chicken coop. I try to use what I have around for that I can find at Goodwill Or a place we can have call bargain Village. But we already have a 7 foot chain-link fence I am growing luffa on. And involved in this makeshift trellis I will also be using a chain-link gate that broke years ago. There’s a couple of different things involved in this wacky trellis idea I’ve got. But it will be free and sturdy. I always have long pieces of rebar I find in the scrap pile at work and bring home. They are nice because they are very thick and it’s pretty easy to drive them really deep into the ground with hammer. I’ve used them on other trellises and they survived some good winds