What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

Sunshine! Gotta get out and do stuff!

 

[WthrLady]

Oh cumshaw makes excellent pie .

BEST pies!

 

[gtaus]

Finished building 2 new pallet compost bins - up to 5 bins now. Trimmed up a pine tree and raked up the leaves under it. Chopped them up with a lawn mower and dumped the bag(s) into the new compost bin. Got the first new bin about 1/3 full of old dead leaves from over winter that I raked up and mowed down for faster composting in the bins.

Instead of turning over the compost bins, I just fill them up and let them sit for a year or so. Let nature do the work. It might be slow, but I would rather add more compost bins than break my old back trying to turn the compost bins. Will start to layer grass clippings in the bins when the grass starts to grow in a few weeks.

Most of my "active" composting is done in the chicken run. I let the chickens do the work out there and turn the litter into compost. Like black gold out there this spring and hope to harvest some of that compost when things dry out.

Plan on making some raised beds with galvanized steel panels. Got the steel panels cut, but we are going through some rainy days so project is on hold. Because the price of lumber is so high right now, am trying to use lumber leftover from other projects. Still digging through my wood pile looking for useable boards. Found enough wood for one raised bed, but still looking for more wood for the second bed.

Bought a new Ryobi 18v brushless attachment capable power head with trimmer kit. It was on clearance at our local Home Depot. Don't need the trimmer attachment, but wanted to try out the power head with my mini cultivator attachment. Took it out to the garden to turn over compost I put in the beds last fall. Works better than I expected so I think I'll keep the new 18v power head kit. BTW, got the trimmer kit on clearance saving $50.00 from the start. Then I applied for a new HD credit card and got another $25.00 off the purchase. Essentially, I got a power head, trimmer attachment, 4 Ah battery, and battery charger in that kit for about the same price as the battery sells for by itself.

 

[jerryse]

Someone said the front tine did, but not the rear tine. I agree. You pay for it, though. A good rear tine is $$$. But it should last a long time.

Yes the old Troy Built is about 40 years old . Before that I could get 5 tears out of a front tine .

 

[NewBoots]

Got somewhere between 1.5 to 2 inches of rain so far and hoping for more. I just went out to see to the critters and water and feed the greenhouse. Transplanted the 2 trays of lettuce I couldn't resist from a nursery run the other day. It's supposed to rain more so while I'll probably go out to the greenhouse and up-pot more tomato starts, I'll spend most of my time inside today. Got to make more oatcakes and I need to find out if the local butcher will cut some beef super thin so I can make more jerky since we ate all I made last time.

 

[oldhen2345]

BEST pies!

Yes and my mother made goulash with it too

 

[gtaus]

Someone said the front tine did [rattle your brains and eyeballs], but not the rear tine. I agree. You pay for it, though. A good rear tine is $$$. But it should last a long time.

I bought my big gas walk behind rear tine tiller about 30 years ago. I used to till up the garden every spring. Somewhere along the line I switched over to raised beds and square foot gardening. So now I just use a small battery operated cultivator or mini tiller attachment on a battery power head trimmer in the raised beds to fluff up the soil or mix in compost. But I have not really used the rear tine tiller for breaking up sod in many years.

My tiller still works, but being a gas engine, the main thing is to use the expensive treated fuel in the tank or risk clogging up the carburetor. Still have to start up the gas tiller and maintain it even if I don't use it. I have switched over most of my outdoor tools to battery, but the bigger gas engines still have their place. So, yes, a good rear tine tiller is $$$, but if you want it to last a long time, you have to put even more $$$ into it for maintenance.

For breaking sod or tilling tough ground, a rear tine tiller is much easier on the body than the front tine tillers, which, as noted, will rattle your brains and eyeballs.

 

[WthrLady]

More plants may, or may not, have followed me home. LOL.

 

[jerryse]

Mowed enough for greens for chickens . Busy day outdoors . Still need to spray thistles . Purple coneflower seeds are sprouting .

 

[Sally PB]

I turned the compost and did the "weeding crawl" for a couple of hours this beautiful afternoon. Another cart full of grass roots bites the dust!

My back may be a bit sore tomorrow. Oh well.