What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

and then went to the studio to finish a painting I am working on. I’m Iiking how it’s coming along , it’s almost there, just needs a little more work to be done in the foreground. Here it is so far. I love painting Bison. View attachment 2650120

Beautiful painting.

 

[gtaus]

I really want to get an attachment for the mower that will sweep them up, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I have one of those leaf sweeper attachments for the riding mower. I rarely use it. I prefer to just use the grass collection bags on my riding mower. The mower chops up the leaves a little bit, maybe 2:1 or 3:1, and that is good. The problem I have with my leaf sweeper is that it fills up fast, does not chop up the leaves at all, and I still have to dump those leaves into a container and then move them to where I want. So, I just use my grass collection bins on my mower, vac up a load of leaves, and then drive the mower to the chicken run and dump the leaves.

If I really want to chop up the leaves, then I run them over with my old riding mower with the mulching kit. That chops them up into pretty small pieces. Then I go back over that area with my other riding mower and vac up the pieces into the grass collection bins. That process takes twice as long, of course, but the leaves are really shredded up into tiny pieces, like maybe 20:1. If your goal is faster leaf composting, that is a better way to do it.

However, since I dump the leaves in my chicken run, I usually just mow them once and dump the bins in the run. The chickens love playing in the leaves and over time, they break down the leaves by themselves.

I am looking into building a much larger tow behind the mower holding bin for leaves this year. That would require a large hose to attach to the grass collection chute and shoot all the leaves into a dump cart with extended sides. The advantage of that would be that I could mow up maybe 5X as many leaves before I had to empty the cart.

Cub Cadet sells the complete system, but I have everything I need other than the hose itself. So if I can buy just the hose, I think I could make my own leaf collection system.

Anyway, I would recommend other options over the leaf sweeper that I have.

After thought edit: I have 3 acres of property with lots of trees, and leaves. To maintain the property, I have 3 riding mowers, 3 push mowers, and a number of grass trimmers. All my mowers are set up for different functions, so I have one mower for mulching, one for grass collection, and one for pulling my dump carts. The push mowers are setup up for mulching, regular mowing with grass collector, and one for dethatching. And my trimmers have different attachments for tilling, trimming, or brush cutting. Point is, I don't expect many people living in a residential area may need that much equipment and my recommendation on not using the leaf sweeper is just based on the amount of leaves I have each fall. If I had a smaller property with less leaves, then the leaf sweeper might be a more viable option.

 

[littledog]

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)

Since it's Florida, I thought you were going to say it was a gator!

 

[Sally PB]

I love that stuff so I guess I'm officially an old lady.

I love three bean salad too! I love how the wax beans squeak in my teeth.

Since they're still my teeth, I figure I'm only "later middle aged." Most of my family who were this age had dentures, so I'm bucking the trend. Thanks mom, for insisting I brush my teeth!

@chickinlittles, your painting is beautiful. Wow.

 

[Sally PB]

@gtaus, a while ago, you had a post describing how you made your cement mixer compost screener. Do you by chance know where that was? I should have bookmarked it, but I didn't. I might wish to make one of those some day.

 

[littledog]

Also plan on making a gate big enough that I can drive my riding mower with dump cart into the run.

Why Oh Why did I not think of this when I was building my chicken run? My gate is just wide enough for a wheelbarrow. This, combined with your cement-mixer compost screener, makes you a genius in my book.

The last of my Gurneys order showed up today. A meyer lemon and dwarf pomegranate. Both are smaller than expected. Apparently 4" pot means 4" deep, not 4" round.

Mine did, too, the last two trees, which are butternuts. I was surprised at how small the box was since all the other trees came in long boxes, but sure enough, they were "trees" that resemble dead sticks. Here they are:

Not a bit of green at all, but at least the roots were still moist, packed in mulch-like fiber in plastic bags. I had to leave for work, so I immediately put the roots to soak in water, and will plant them within the next couple days. If they and the other trees actually grow (only two out of seven are showing signs of life so far) I MIGHT order from them again.

 

[jerryse]

Lilacs are in full bloom . Fragrant . Also the invasive Autum or Russian olive in the woods are blooming and fragrant ,

Those tree roots are packed in tow . Wood . It was once a common packing material for many things . That is before Styrofoam ,bubble wrap and bags of air . You never hear the term tow head anymore for blonde kids .

 

[littledog]

Oh, that's interesting - I had to go inspect the material more closely, I'd thought it was strips of shredded cardboard, but you are right, it is thin shreds of wood!

Our lilacs are blooming now too, I love the scent so much.

 

[WthrLady]

Since it's Florida, I thought you were going to say it was a gator!

that happened too, then he put up the screen room, and the snakes still got in.
The screens do nothing for the bears though.

 

[WthrLady]

Oh, that's interesting - I had to go inspect the material more closely, I'd thought it was strips of shredded cardboard, but you are right, it is thin shreds of wood!

Our lilacs are blooming now too, I love the scent so much.

We called that sisal packing.
Now we use that for chicken bedding mats.

Tow huh? Never heard that one.

getting the gumption up to go out and transplant.
Managed to get the giant belt back on the mower last night with dh's long arms leading the way. I couldn't reach nor see well enough to do it. Glasses wouldn't focus on the right places. GRR.

Going to try to get the beans in the ground before the rain today too.