What did you do in the garden today?

[Artichoke Lover]

Not much happening today. I actually went out to do some more weeding in the rain. I’m going out to plant some cilantro. And maybe the gladiolus.

 

[NewBoots]

I haven't decided how I'll support my tomatoes this year. I want to use the stock fencing method but 16 foot panels are just impossible. I might take my bolt cutters to the store and just cut them there and then I should be able to either get the 8' sections tied to the top of the rav4 or cut them to 4' then I know I can. But, I also plan to do the string method for some of them too. And then there's the determinant tomatoes that require just support of the really heavy trusses of fruit.

 

[Davethebirdman]

Preparing my
Planting boxes.

 

[WthrLady]

I haven't decided how I'll support my tomatoes this year. I want to use the stock fencing method but 16 foot panels are just impossible. I might take my bolt cutters to the store and just cut them there and then I should be able to either get the 8' sections tied to the top of the rav4 or cut them to 4' then I know I can. But, I also plan to do the string method for some of them too. And then there's the determinant tomatoes that require just support of the really heavy trusses of fruit.

I took my bolt cutters with me and cut the 16 footers down to 8 for my trailer. Some places even sell them as 8

 

[TJAnonymous]

I didn't do much tonight.... Mostly because I'm exhausted from all the work this weekend and last night. A storm came through last night and pulled up quite a few landscaping pins that were holding down my recycled feed bags (aka poor man's weed barrier). I think it is because the ground is really soft from the tilling. Either way, I had to put it all back into place and added more pins.

I also planted the dwarf peach tree I bought. I wanted it on the north side of the garden. The west side has a lot of rock and is basically all hard red clay. The east side has good topsoil but often has a little bit of standing water in the spring because the city is dumping storm drain runoff right onto my property.... Grrrrr.... So I opted to recycle a painted tire as a raised bed for the peach tree. It is a low profile tile so it easily has 15 - 18 inch diameter on the inside, maybe more.... I doubt the trunk will ever get big enough to be impacted by the tire which helps it avoid overly wet feet during the spring and fall. Quite proud of my ingenuity....

 

[karenerwin]

Repotted the seeds that had sprouted and were rooting out the sides and bottom of their peat pots. Thought about planting the onion starts outside but it was chilly and rainy most of the day so it didn’t get done.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hay @karenerwin How is the pup ?

 

[Sally PB]

Yes, what is the pup-date?

 

[Sueby]

Nope. My cattle panels aren't bent. I train my as they get higher than 4 feet to run along the top of the panels like a grapevine.

Ohhh, my bad! I thought I remembered you saying that last year, but I'm old so what I remember isn't usually what happened.

I busted out the hoses yesterday & watered the garlic, shallots, onions & lettuce. I had hoped to have my watering system in this year but it's just not happening. There's always next year!

One last attempt to find someone to put in a mini-split system today. I have spoken to 6 people/companies about it. Out of 6, 2 have actually shown up but I have 0 quotes at this point. It's so frustrating, I can't get these people to take my money!

Not much happening out there today.

 

[littledog]

did you make your filtered rain barrel system? I am looking for the information how to make it.

I did - I actually bought a finished rain barrel from a guy who makes them, who had a booth at our local plant sale last year. It's I think 33 gal? The kind that's white with a red lid that can screw on and off. The lid has a hole cut in it with a piece of regular window screen attached to filter out debris, and towards the bottom is a spigot you can attach a hose to. It also has a clear tube on the outside that fills from the bottom, so you can see the water level without removing the lid. It has an overflow tube, so when the barrel is full the you can direct the excess water into another barrel, an animal water trough, etc. I have two large trash cans they were giving away at work to hold the excess water.

When I built the roof on my chicken coop, I put a gutter on it and made the downspout exit the chickens' yard and empty into the rain barrel, and set the barrel on concrete blocks so it's about 2' off the ground. The two overflow trash cans aren't covered, so I get the chickens' water out of the spigot on the first barrel, use the second barrel for watering plants, and the third barrel for cleaning/rinsing things - I keep a scrub brush on a cord attached to the barrel's handle, which is really convenient for cleaning the chickens' waterer, plant pots, etc.

The rain barrel I bought for $60, which was a bargain - probably not much more than it would cost to buy all the materials to make one, not to mention the time spent and learning curve to make it not leak. But it wouldn't be that hard to make one, especially now that I have one to copy. You could also make a simpler one, with just the screened lid and bottom spigot, which would work great. All my pictures just show it in the background, but I can get better pictures with close-ups of all the parts if you're interested.

I do need to reinforce my cages with some strong stakes to hold up the tomato plants. I'd do the cattle panel thing, but yeah, the cost.

I often see free/cheap used cattle or hog panels on Craigslist, but more often, people who have partial rolls of used or leftover field fencing they just want to get rid of. Those do a good job, attached to T-posts.