What did you do in the garden today?

[BreezyBre]

I put some med size cedar picket fencing around my strawberry patch . My patch is on an elevated part of my yard ( about five feet ) so it's safe from low level critters i.e my dogs ..well until a few days ago anyway . I knew my gsd could jump up there but I didn't know he knew because I've never seen him jump that high lolol Well he can so I had to decoratively deter him lol COME ONE STRAWBERRIES!

 

[deepbluesea]

I would love to find a group to play board games with. As it is, when my BF and his kids come over we have six people, so I get my fix that way.

You're right ChocolateMouse--it sounds like it was an unwelcoming place for you. Bummer.

Our office has a cadre of 20-somethings along with us--ahem--mature folks (I'm 49, btw). They're great--funny, lively, and very, very enthusiastic! I also totally pick their brains about weird stuff I hear my kid and his friend saying. It wasn't that long ago for them, so sometimes I don't look that lame...

My local friends range in age from 20 to 86--readers, gardeners, chicken people, divers, kayakers. Kindred spirits come in a range of ages.

I need to get off my butt and saw the lumber for the shed renovation! It's supposed to rain here for the rest of the week and I have the plywood all measured and clamped. I'm intimidated and need to get over it already.

 

[BreezyBre]

Not really sure how I managed to post of my baby Ruby red grapefruits but hey I watered those yesterday too lol

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Yeah, the combination of the atmosphere and how poorly thought out it was made for a very frustrating experience. I could try to join and change it but why bother? I mean, the people there were very happy with their annuals sales lady and seemed to be enjoying themselves, it just wasn't the open group it seemed to advertise. I am pondering the possibility of starting a 16+ regional gardening club at the local library.

Deepbluesea, have you looked into finding a local game and card shop? There's no big chain I can suggest to you because game stores are all a highly localized affair, but many game shops have play space and tables for board games. It's usually almost exclusively eurogames, so if Hasbro is your typical go-to you might have a learning curve but it's a great place to meet all sorts of people. Our LGS has people playing in all age groups at all sorts of events. I've taught boardgames to all sorts of people there of all ages from little kids to folks in their 70s.

 

[deepbluesea]

Dan, those squash look great! I especially like the last green/yellow one. Is it a C. pepo varietal?

CM, I live in a very small town on the NC coast, so no game stores of any sort. There's a Game Stop, but it's strictly video games, which don't interest me at all. I might poke around and see if there's a meetup in one of the neighboring towns. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[lazy gardener]

I put some med size cedar picket fencing around my strawberry patch . My patch is on an elevated part of my yard ( about five feet ) so it's safe from low level critters i.e my dogs ..well until a few days ago anyway . I knew my gsd could jump up there but I didn't know he knew because I've never seen him jump that high lolol Well he can so I had to decoratively deter him lol COME ONE STRAWBERRIES!

Um... those are funny looking strawberries.

Yeah, the combination of the atmosphere and how poorly thought out it was made for a very frustrating experience. I could try to join and change it but why bother? I mean, the people there were very happy with their annuals sales lady and seemed to be enjoying themselves, it just wasn't the open group it seemed to advertise. I am pondering the possibility of starting a 16+ regional gardening club at the local library.

As you say, they seem happy with their agenda. If you have the time, energy, and inclination, you SHOULD start your own group which focuses on a more well rounded and energetic gardening approach. I bet you'd find some of the old biddies joining you! Perhaps some of them are there simply b/c that's the only show in town. Often, the agenda and "flavor" of the group is dictated by the strongest personalities, and the rest just ride along, whether they like it or now. 6th grade peer pressure gone adult.

Thanks for setting me straight on "my stereotype" about what young folks do to socialize!

 

[jerryse]

FYI on the gourds and crosses . Even pure gourds are edible when small . Like summer squash . I eat volunteer crosses . Actually the ornamental gourds are mostly immune to squash boers as are many of the crosses . I even cross on purpose for this reason .

 

[ChocolateMouse]

LG, that would be exciting if they did! I would welcome their experience and enthusiasm. Some of them were coming in from other cities on the other side of town even which surprised me, so them being the only game in town seems like a fair assessment.

And I am sorry for being snappy. I'm always sending out feelers for people in my area who share my interests in both gardening and literally anything else and this was a pretty typical result. It gets so old being treated as a child by older folks no matter how "adult" you seem to get. Probably a poor excuse in the end, so I am sorry for hurting feelings.

I'll look into making my own group with a little more spice. I'll see what resources my library has. It's a brand new building that was recently built so they have lots of meeting space and not many people filling them. I bet I could find a space to meet up even if it's just a big table. Plus they host a little free seed library in the library which is cool.

For now, I have my own gardens to attend to today, though. I am WAY behind on planting out and hardening off!

Yesterday in preparation for the plant exchange we dug up some vigorously growing wild black raspberry cane suckers that spread into the strawberry patch, but didn't end up giving any away. So instead I will be planting them out along my shady fenceline (because they are very vigorous) and working on training them up soon so they stop spreading and I can manage their thorns easier. I also repotted my smallest peppers and tomatoes for trade because they were my spares but only ended up setting out about 5 plants because that with the few kale and cauliflower I had extra tripled the number of plants there. I ended up leaving with some purple irises for my rain garden which will hopefully be useful to me. I have a LOT of irises of my own already around my beehive that I need to dig up very badly but they're not purple.

In any case, all of those need to get in the ground soon, the rain garden must be dug soon, and I need to get my robust plants out to harden off and my tiny plants in under the lights.

 

[BreezyBre]

Right !! I blame my phone lolol

Um... those are funny looking strawberries.


As you say, they seem happy with their agenda. If you have the time, energy, and inclination, you SHOULD start your own group which focuses on a more well rounded and energetic gardening approach. I bet you'd find some of the old biddies joining you! Perhaps some of them are there simply b/c that's the only show in town. Often, the agenda and "flavor" of the group is dictated by the strongest personalities, and the rest just ride along, whether they like it or now. 6th grade peer pressure gone adult.

Thanks for setting me straight on "my stereotype" about what young folks do to socialize!

 

[igorsMistress]

I layed 5 more pieces of sod to finish off the yard. I put the leftover piece outside the fence for the chickens. This is their favorite morning hangout area.

Watered the tree in the coop yard, we haven't had much rain so far this year.

Put in the first two bricks for the walkway next to the sod, then took the dog to the groomer. I'm waiting for some shade so I can go back out and work some more, way too hot for labor in the sun! Supposed to be 100* today
I'm using dirt from the compost pile under the bricks to level the area. The soil there is sandy and hard clay both so I hope good dirt will improve the area's ability to absorb water so we don't have huge puddles. We have to regrade a bit outside the gate too to push the water flow away from the corner of the house. We tend to have a small pond back there when monsoons come through.

There's a bit of an amonia build up in my compost tmbler thing so I'm working on tearing up more feed bags to put in there. I left the lid open so it can air out a bit.

I still need to reassemble the compost pile, rake the yard and sweep the patio. Maybe tomorrow.

Time to feed the puppy, have a great day everyone