What did you do in the garden today?

[Imse]

It's still winter here in eastern Norway. But I have plants and seedlings waiting for summer.

In my kitchen window I have ;
-Tiny Tim tomato plants, micro plants
- Two kinds of strawberries. First time ever I have tried to sow strawberries, they grow really slow. I hope for berries next year.
- There are some sweet pepper and chili.
- lamb's lettuce.
- I also have a test for growing haricots verts beans , just to see if one can grow the during winter, in our kitchen.

 

[Sueby]

So I ordered some Brunswick strawberries. I went by what was rated excellent for taste & there was only so much to chose from that wasn't sold out so that was the winner. I only bought 1 bundle thinking I could get another variety if I see it in the store, or maybe next year. They didn't have any left of any of the ones y'all recommended.

Raining out now but supposed to be in the 70s today. I will check on the hoop tunnel & see how my lettuce is looking, hopefully it pops up soon.

My little EE laid her first egg yesterday, it's my first blue/green egg ever. It even has speckles! That poor girl needs some confidence tho, they go out of their way to pick on her. Maybe laying will help her.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

It’s woke up to heavy rain this morning no gardening today. Not much left to do before the summer planting at this point. I need to divide some daffodils and move the gladiolus i also need to mulch the flower beds all of which I’ll finish next week. And then I need to build the trellises that the only big project in the next 3 weeks or so. After that it will get really crazy.

 

[chickengr]

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 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.

thank you. I would love ti see pics of your barrels. I can get used barrels really cheap so it looks like a good idea to make this system.

 

[Sueby]

I know you didn't ask me but here's my rain barrel, lol. It collects the rain from the big coop & enclosed run. It also has a screened top & a spigot on the bottom & sits on a tree stump. I use the water to wet the compost pile near by or to water plants down by the shop. I don't water the chickens with it though.

I got the barrel for $25 on FB marketplace. DH modified the screw top to be screen & added the spigot.

 

[Sueby]

I also have a rain chain on the gutters on the house that I water flowers with. It just collects into a galvanized waterer. Did you know in some states it's illegal to collect water? Just surprised me when I read that.

 

[Acre4Me]

Picking up 6 chicks, 6 poults today. I hear poults look for ways to die...so I’m hoping we can successfully end up with at least 1 male, 1 female - for a 4-H entry for breeding pair, and then dinner sometime later down the road. First time with turkeys, it will be a learning experience! We will keep them inside for this coming 4-5 days, then move them outside or at least into the barn.

Strawberries: we bought Ozark and another kind from same source. First year is just establishing, so cut off all runners, so they focus on roots. They will produce a few berries. It should be year 2-3 that produce great, sometime year 4 is less ..and at this point it is recommended to buy new plants and move to a new bed. Of course, can just let them do their thing, and they will spread and babies will continually establish and provide berries. But, apparently can be impacted by certain diseases, so that is why it is recommended to periodically change their location. But, if it ain’t broke, no need to fix..if they produce well year after year, then great!

last year I over fertilized the plants and actually killed several...never ever did that before, and they looked amazing before I over fertilized them! But about 1/2 - 2/3 of each type survived, and I’ll let some of the babies establish this year. Hoping for some nice berries this year. I think I’ll move the bed, though. So, next year I’ll look for more bare root plants to establish in another bed, so that I can use the current bed for other things.

high winds, thunderstorms on tap tonight/tomorrow morning. High gusts, possible power outages.

 

[Sally PB]

Did you know in some states it's illegal to collect water? Just surprised me when I read that.

First time I read that, I thought it was a joke.

 

[Acre4Me]

First time I read that, I thought it was a joke.

Nope. I’ve read that too. Certain drier states bc you are removing water from the natural cycle where rain enters aquifers, and creeks and rivers to provide water to ranchers etc. I think pretty old laws, but certainly not an expert here.

 

[Sueby]

Yea it made a little bit of sense when I read why but I figured I wouldn't be collecting enough to make much of difference anyway so I'm not sure it'd stop me, lol. But it's not illegal here so it doesn't matter.