What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. We got about 1/2 inch of rain overnight and still drizzling. It's also a bit chilly at 45F, but no complaints because I don't have to shovel it. Here's my report on the weed mower / trimmer @NewBoots. It is awesome. I "mowed" my 45 degree slope yesterday in record time. I'm so glad I bought this little machine. It was nice not stressing over getting dragged down the slope by the push mower. I also got the back yard trimmed up then mowed with the push mower. The mini mower will be handy trimming up the grass in the main garden area. I needed to clean the chicken coop so I didn't have time to do any planting but I did position three of the four planters for more tomato plants. I should have time to finish that up today. I know there are some mice in my chicken coop, but the first mouse I saw in there was being used as a tug of war "rope" between three chickens. I did see one lone terrified looking mouse in the rooster coop last winter during a nasty nor'easter and just the other day one in the big coop, looking equally frightened. Once I finish fencing the chicken yard I plan on setting a couple of bait stations outside of where the chickens can't find it. I use MouseX, which is very effective and there is no risk of secondary poisoning. I wouldn't direct feed a dead mouse to my chickens in case it is one that dragged themselves over to my place from one of the neighbors who uses actual poison. The chickens are always stalking the chipmunks in the yard, so far not quick enough to catch them. But they really seem to prefer bigger "game" over the ordinary run of the mill bugs. While seeing what chickens really eat I laugh at the "vegetarian raised chickens" commercials. If they're vegetarians, they have not set foot outside their sanitary cage.

 

[BReeder!]

Lovely ! Any news on your plague du'jour?

In over whatever it was now thankfully. Doc didn't give a definitive diagnosis though. I'm just happy I am back in good health.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Storming today i don’t think I’ll get much done. The first line of storms was forecast to go about 50 miles NE but it’s storming now lol. Had just enough time to run and water the chickens and secure the greenhouse.

 

[GingerAndHerChicks]

Today I will be doing some landscaping with rocks and mulch. Then the plan is to rototill the old grass to make room for veggie garden

 

[Acre4Me]

Beautiful, I have had zero luck with carrots. Got any tips and tricks for me?

Carrots seem to take forever to grow. I can’t stand it! So, I plant with other things (usually with tomatoes or beans) so i don’t pay attention to them. At a certain point I check them to thin them, but then ignore. Water the other items, and they get water. Then, like magic, you pull one up and it’s a carrot (after having essentially ignored them while the other companion plants have visibly grown).

my soil is a lot of clay. I use raised beds, but still battle clay. I’ve added sand and other amendments, which help. My carrots are mostly straight.

 

[Acre4Me]

Today I will be doing some landscaping with rocks and mulch. Then the plan is to rototill the old grass to make room for veggie garden

Welcome to the garden thread!

we *Have to * know where you are/or garden zone info. So, that way we can be jealous of your awesome weather, or commiserate with you, or celebrate your successes!

 

[Swiss]

Our florida neighbor went for a nighttime swim with his wife, when something kept banging his leg. He thought it was the hose for the pool sweep. Need I elaborate?

(Saltwater pool)

No! This turns my stomach, and is one reason why I live where it gets cold enough to make breathing painful in the winter!

HA! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA! The whole series is adorable, but this one.....gardening.

That was super cute!

 

[Swiss]

I started seeds for my sister-in-law on Sunday, but didn't double-check that they were good with the garden plan I sent them weeks ago... well, they don't want that "big" of a garden. So... I will offer the extras to my sister (unless they change their mind about the stuff that will be planted in late summer/early fall), and if she doesn't want them, I'll stick them in the space I gardened in last year. If we move out anytime this year, my mom and dad will have to take care of them, I guess?

I think I need to up pot my tomatoes, though. If so, I'm going to have to use plastic cups.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, you have an embarrassment of (black gold) riches!

I'm with you on leaves not leaving. We have several acres of woods, and the soil there is amazing! I have so many uses for leaves here that they don't go to waste....

When I was a young kid, we would rake up all the leaves and burn them in big piles. Back then, that is what you did. Burning leaves got banned in town at some point. Then we used to rake them up into bags, and throw them in the landfill. Until I started gardening, I never thought of using leaves for anything. Now that I have chickens, I am making more compost than I can use myself.

I have been watching YouTube videos on how to shred up leaves and make them compost faster. For some reason, that always seems to me a great option. I use my riding mower to "vac" up all the leaves in the yard, and that process does break them down somewhat. I have thought about getting a dedicated leaf shredder, but don't know if I will. At the moment, I have so much unused compost in the chicken run that I don't need the leaves to compost any faster.

But, like I have said, I am now considering getting a front end scoop for my riding mower to move all that compost around. I cannot keep up with the work using just me and my pitchfork.

BTW, I made a cement mixer compost sifter to help me screen my compost. I can now make a 2 cubic foot bag of screened compost in about 20 minutes whereas I used to spend hours on the same job manually sifting compost with my 2x4 wired sifting frame. That cement mixer compost sifter project cost me about $200, but it paid for itself in just a few days use. I kept track of how many bags of compost I made from the chicken run. Instead of buying bags of compost at the big box stores, I figured the cement mixer compost sifter paid for itself on about the third day of use. So now, all the compost I sift with the cement mixer is basically "free" at this point. It is one of the few projects that paid for itself in hours.

 

[gtaus]

I’ve read about them eating mice and rats. Frogs too lol.

Yeah, chickens are omnivores and can eat just about anything they can catch and kill. If I had a pickup, I'd probably stop and pick up road kill and feed it to the chickens. Good for the chickens, and good to clean up the roadside at the same time. Fortunately, we have lots of hawks and Bald Eagles that clean up roadside kills.