What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Is anyone growing mushrooms close by to you? Normally many of the local mushroom farms give the spent compost away for free but they normally want to give it out in larger 2+ cubic yard amounts. Every now and then, someone on craigslist or facebook marketplace will post up about free manure as well.

I decided to search for mushroom farms in Illinois just now. Not seeing much nearby. Great idea though.

 

[igorsMistress]

I do have three raised beds. We built them with 2x4 framing and corrugated galvanized steel walls. They measure 8'x4'x2'. I plan to actually move them this year. I plan plan to build a fourth bed. I may decide to knock the height of one of the existing beds down to 1' when moving them (I'll have to dismantle it anyway) and use the cut-off materials to build the fourth bed at 1' too. A lot of our garden gets sowed directly into the ground though. After moving the fence this year to expand the garden, the whole garden will measure ~55'x20'.
My biggest problem is clay heavy soil. It's hard to amend such a large garden. I have let the chickens pick through and break down leaves and then till them into the soil. I also picked up a load of free composted manure and straw (barn clean up) that was enough to fill a small u haul trailer (5'x8' I think) about 1/2 way up last Spring and tilled that in too. Lastly I have my own compost bins (check out my article on my composting adventure), and I have been adding the homemade compost to the garden - I have about 1 cubic yard of unsifted finished compost to add to the garden this year. It's still not enough though. I'm not a fan of paying for loads of amendments like sand, compost, vermiculite, etc. so I'm trying to find ways to fluff up the soil on the cheap. Besides, laboring away in the garden is what it's all about. Anybody have ideas?

Wood chips and/or hay or straw would help. A very thick layer that the chickens can scratch through as it breaks down. Some gypsum will help loosen it over time if it's hard packed.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I know @Acre4Me has been amending the soil in her beds to deal with the heavy clay in her beds. My biggest problem is rocks. All my garden beds are raised.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to the gardeners thread here my garden is tires.. Being old with allot of damage
limits bending the tire idea came fenced for a large garden.... Chickens have a big part to scratch now.. We have just 3/4 of an acre they have 1/4 of that now... real nice fence

 

[TropicalBabies]

Good morning all!!!
Wow! What a busy tread this is today with lots of fun catch up reading and the things that happen while I sleep
Welcome @BReeder! So glad you joined in the garden conversation. I will look for your compost tread adventure. I do remember us having some communications on compost tumblers or horse poop... or both... can't quite remember among other things, again so glad you joined in this thread!! Looking forward to seeing what you do now. Love that you are bringing the groms into your adventures too. I remember my stepdad showing me many awesome small farm tricks and trade and I will always love and appreciate him for that. He surely nurtured my love for more out of the box animals. Keep up the good work!

@penny1960 I did have one hen laying... actually hogging one of the popular boxes and leaving me an egg for a few weeks. (the little golden hen, top right in run photo of #2 roo) I thought she was going to go broody too but I scared her pretty good dealing with my own chickens and she has not made it back yet. Most likely she found a new and safer place for sure.
She had brought me her chick when it was sick a few months back (little white w/ stand up tail (compliments of my hens) top R 1st photo w/ Sancho). It was her first hatch and she was struggling so, I warmed it, gave it vitamins and electrolytes and then returned it to her after it perked up of course- so glad she took it back for all the reason you all know- cute little white pullet.. I'm glad she thinks I am a safe place but wish she wouldn't tell all of her friends unless they lay in our boxes too. A few young and upcoming pullets look like they may use our boxes so I think I am going to make some more in hopes of catching some more layers. I used to shoot them... couldn't handle the karma, plus I like their eggs, tiny little tasty buggers. I can easily sell the domestic eggs and keep wild eggs for me and friends.

@WthrLady have you tried apple seeds? I never have but my daughter does. I've always thought it wonderful but we are too warm sorry about your violet... and your gnarly temps. But it is fabulous baking weather!!!

I have sandy loam where the nematodes thrive and raised beds save me lots of grief. Plus slugs and snails are slower to get into and easier to get out. I'm pretty sure I will never grow veggies any other way. I am soooooo looking forward to seeing what you all are cooking up and will unleash when the weather becomes fair.

Off to town in a few. Picking up odds and ends TSP, pellets for gun, groceries... Have a great day all!!!!!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Welcome to the gardeners thread here my garden is tires.. Being old with allot of damage
limits bending the tire idea came fenced for a large garden.... Chickens have a big part to scratch now.. We have just 3/4 of an acre they have 1/4 of that now... real nice fence View attachment 2007218View attachment 2007219

Beautiful country!!! looks like you are on your way!!! Keep us updated with words and photos, please.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Ahhh heck will pick up a few more tires once the old green house is gone..
We love fresh veggies

 

[Acre4Me]

@BReeder!, As @Wee Farmer Sarah indicated, I’ve been amending our beds since we bought the house a couple of years ago. This will be the third summer here in west central Ohio. There were some 1’ x 16’ raised beds, but for some reason they were filled with clay soil....and some were in a slight depression, so heavy rains created short term, shallow ponds around a couple of them. For 2 seasons I did typical things: turn over all the soil at least 2x with shovel and pitchfork, add some bagged soil to planting holes, add peat moss and turn more times, added gypsum, and perlite and vermiculite. The farm store near me can get very large bags of vermiculite and perlite (approx 4cuyards?) for a decent cost. Added liquid fish glop (stuff for gardens, so deodorized but still gross looking even when diluted), bone meal, blood meal, egg shells, shredded leaves...you get the idea. Lots of work and mediocre results. However, some of that was the soil, some were garden pests, some were the water logged root bottoms in a couple of beds, and conversely half of one bed dried out quickly, where I had to be in top of that area all the time despite amending.

what’s a gardener to do?

so, we picked up all the raised beds, and moved the amended garden dirt to the side. Brought in 102 tons of dirt to level the garden area (And had skilled bobcat operator spread it for us). Btw, 102 tons is 4 truckloads, and leveled an approx area of 30x50’ and an adjacent 30x50’ area. Then we got another truckload of decent quality garden soil for a large garden area20’x30’. We had another ongoing ditch project which netted up good topsoil (although clay containing). We built even more garden beds!! Some are 16’, some 12’, some 10’, and one is 8’, and all are 4’ wide. We have been moving all that dirt back into the beds. We’ve added sand to all the beds. We will buy more large bags of perlite and maybe some vermiculite (I have a few bags, may not need more). We may need to buy some garden soil to top off the raised beds. I should get the soil tested too. Might need some more amendments for specific nutrients. I plan to do some green manure, such as mustard or other that can be turned under to rot before maturing. I’ve been trying to source manure, but I may get some rabbits instead-their poop is quite high in nutrients. Spouse is not convinced yet, might be another season before rabbits make their appearance in our setup.

We have a compost bin on the ground that we manually turn with a pitchfork. We will likely re-vamp the bin to be 3-bay with a lid or three. Compost is primarily chicken poopy shavings, coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, and various greens/veg cast offs, and grass during summer. It will decay, but not as efficient as a tumbler.


we also bought around 3loads (approx 15 yards each) of chipped wood. One load went into the chicken run. Two loads have been spread around and between all the garden beds. no grass back there now, except for around two 2 of the raised beds at the corner of our property, bc they are a bit isolated due to their location in relation to the rest of the beds.

you can look at past posts from late September/October on this thread for pics I posted of dirt and the leveled area, then pictures around Christmas of the new and old raised beds. We only just got the last couple of beds placed this past week as we had to move dirt in order to place raised beds.

the structure is a lot of work, but once done, it should be good for years to come!!

 

[BReeder!]

@BReeder!, As @Wee Farmer Sarah indicated, I’ve been amending our beds since we bought the house a couple of years ago. This will be the third summer here in west central Ohio. There were some 1’ x 16’ raised beds, but for some reason they were filled with clay soil....and some were in a slight depression, so heavy rains created short term, shallow ponds around a couple of them. For 2 seasons I did typical things: turn over all the soil at least 2x with shovel and pitchfork, add some bagged soil to planting holes, add peat moss and turn more times, added gypsum, and perlite and vermiculite. The farm store near me can get very large bags of vermiculite and perlite (approx 4cuyards?) for a decent cost. Added liquid fish glop (stuff for gardens, so deodorized but still gross looking even when diluted), bone meal, blood meal, egg shells, shredded leaves...you get the idea. Lots of work and mediocre results. However, some of that was the soil, some were garden pests, some were the water logged root bottoms in a couple of beds, and conversely half of one bed dried out quickly, where I had to be in top of that area all the time despite amending.

what’s a gardener to do?

so, we picked up all the raised beds, and moved the amended garden dirt to the side. Brought in 102 tons of dirt to level the garden area (And had skilled bobcat operator spread it for us). Btw, 102 tons is 4 truckloads, and leveled an approx area of 30x50’ and an adjacent 30x50’ area. Then we got another truckload of decent quality garden soil for a large garden area20’x30’. We had another ongoing ditch project which netted up good topsoil (although clay containing). We built even more garden beds!! Some are 16’, some 12’, some 10’, and one is 8’, and all are 4’ wide. We have been moving all that dirt back into the beds. We’ve added sand to all the beds. We will buy more large bags of perlite and maybe some vermiculite (I have a few bags, may not need more). We may need to buy some garden soil to top off the raised beds. I should get the soil tested too. Might need some more amendments for specific nutrients. I plan to do some green manure, such as mustard or other that can be turned under to rot before maturing. I’ve been trying to source manure, but I may get some rabbits instead-their poop is quite high in nutrients. Spouse is not convinced yet, might be another season before rabbits make their appearance in our setup.

We have a compost bin on the ground that we manually turn with a pitchfork. We will likely re-vamp the bin to be 3-bay with a lid or three. Compost is primarily chicken poopy shavings, coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, and various greens/veg cast offs, and grass during summer. It will decay, but not as efficient as a tumbler.


we also bought around 3loads (approx 15 yards each) of chipped wood. One load went into the chicken run. Two loads have been spread around and between all the garden beds. no grass back there now, except for around two 2 of the raised beds at the corner of our property, bc they are a bit isolated due to their location in relation to the rest of the beds.

you can look at past posts from late September/October on this thread for pics I posted of dirt and the leveled area, then pictures around Christmas of the new and old raised beds. We only just got the last couple of beds placed this past week as we had to move dirt in order to place raised beds.

the structure is a lot of work, but once done, it should be good for years to come!!

This sounds impressive! I'm trying to avoid trucking in dirt though. Our topsoil is not purely clay, but there's quite a bit of clay in it. About 12-16 inches down though turns to just clay mixed with sand and gravel. That said, I built the soil up rather than down. I did bring in 5 tons of dirt two years ago and mixed it with some of the native top soil and compost to fill the raised beds we have. Additionally, I've added quite a bit (2-4") of compost to the top of the raised beds as they settled over last winter to bring them back close to the top of the boxes. I do know that the people I got composted barn cleanout from still give it away sometimes. They post an ad on facebook marketplace that I've sen a few times since I picked some up last Spring. I'm thinking I just might have to stick with that route and try to get some compost from them again this Spring to add to the compost I made last year. That would give me about 2-3 cubic yards of compost plus the leaf mulch from our chicken/turkey run (.3 cubic yard maybe) to amend the garden soil this Spring. If I'm lucky I'll find some spent hay or straw for free to add to the mix as well to use a mulch for weeds and to add fibrous material to the soil to help break up the clay that's in it.

 

[karenerwin]

Good afternoon gardeners. I watered some things this morning and checked that the succulents are doing ok, but that's it for today. I have a new Spanish lavender to transplant tomorrow, it smells wonderful! Hubs got the small grass frame done so I'll be planting grass tomorrow too. Still needs a support beam in the middle
View attachment 2004853
I pulled the existing tomato plant and tossed the strawberry plant. I'm going to harvest peas tomorrow and pull those too. Seeds I picked up today include cilantro, zucchini and crookneck squash, basil, dill and jalapeno. I'm going to put the squash and peppers in the ground and the herbs in pots. Have a great night everyone.

What is this a picture of?