Dear Wife told me that my Buttercup Squash plants needed a good soaking, so I got that done yesterday. Left a garden hose on low in the old tire for about 30 minutes. That should be a nice soak.
While soaking the Buttercup Squash, Dear Wife asked me to look at the dryer because it was not drying as well as it should. So I got out my ladder and checked out the exhaust vent on the outside of the house. Turns out that some small bird built a nest in the ducting and there was maybe 80% blockage. So I cleaned all that out with my long reach tool that has a grabber on the end. The dryer is blowing out air good now, but we will have to wait a day or so to see if that fixed the problem. She had already finished her laundry yesterday. I think that blockage was the problem.
This morning I checked my pole beans I had planted along the outside fencing of my chicken run. I am attempting to build a "Green Zone" in part of the chicken run. I have the pole beans planted along the back fencing, I have grazing frames laid down on the ground, and for the past 4 weeks have blocked off that section of the chicken run to let things grow out. Anyway, with very little rain this year, the beans have not been growing very fast but today I saw that they are starting to attach to the chicken run fence and climbing up. I hit that section of the chicken run with the sprinkler for about 30 minutes again today.
We have had very little rain this year and everything green is suffering. This week we expect temps in the mid to high 80F's, and maybe into the 90F's. For us, that is hot and without any rain to go along with it, it has been no fun this year.
My main garden is really suffering because I don't have access to running water out there. No garden sprinkler. But, my hügelkultur raised beds in that same main garden are really working well which I think is a testament to their ability to store water in the rotten wood at the base of the beds.
I built some new hügelkultur raised beds in my backyard by the chicken coop and run, and they are exploding with greens - but there I have access to running water and have been using the sprinkler for at least 30 minutes per day. My pepper plants in the new raised beds are maybe 2 feet tall and full of peppers, my pepper plants in the raised beds in my main garden without any rain this year are only about 6-8 inches tall and no peppers at all. I think that watering has been the biggest factor, but the new raised beds were topped off with a high quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. So the soil in the new beds is also better.
Finally, an update to my soil block maker experience. a couple days ago I sent an email to the company stating that their product was not working as it should and I gave them the option to either fix it or send a replacement that works before I submitted a negative review on Amazon. They answered back yesterday that they would send me another unit that they said should work. This morning I got a notice that the replacement unit had shipped. I don't think you could ask more from a company than that, but I suspect that the build quality of the replacement unit will be the same as the one I got. The first unit I received was not "broken" in the traditional sense, it was just poorly crafted. However, I have heard that sometimes a company will send out an inspected and tested unit for a replacement item because they already know that the customer is not happy with the off the shelf unit. So maybe the replacement unit will be much better. We will see.
Speaking of companies sending out special units, I recently watched a YouTube video where some guy was sent a product for review. The product he received worked very well, but he decided to go to the big box store and buy that same product off the shelf. Guess what, he found out that the product he received for his YouTube review was not the same as the unit sold in the stores. The company had sent him a "special upgraded" product that was not the same as what was actually being sold. The same unit off the store shelf did not perform nearly as well. So he blasted the company for trying to fool him into giving a positive review for a product that on the store shelf was not very good. So keep that in mind if you watch a sponsored YouTube video review.
While soaking the Buttercup Squash, Dear Wife asked me to look at the dryer because it was not drying as well as it should. So I got out my ladder and checked out the exhaust vent on the outside of the house. Turns out that some small bird built a nest in the ducting and there was maybe 80% blockage. So I cleaned all that out with my long reach tool that has a grabber on the end. The dryer is blowing out air good now, but we will have to wait a day or so to see if that fixed the problem. She had already finished her laundry yesterday. I think that blockage was the problem.
This morning I checked my pole beans I had planted along the outside fencing of my chicken run. I am attempting to build a "Green Zone" in part of the chicken run. I have the pole beans planted along the back fencing, I have grazing frames laid down on the ground, and for the past 4 weeks have blocked off that section of the chicken run to let things grow out. Anyway, with very little rain this year, the beans have not been growing very fast but today I saw that they are starting to attach to the chicken run fence and climbing up. I hit that section of the chicken run with the sprinkler for about 30 minutes again today.
We have had very little rain this year and everything green is suffering. This week we expect temps in the mid to high 80F's, and maybe into the 90F's. For us, that is hot and without any rain to go along with it, it has been no fun this year.
My main garden is really suffering because I don't have access to running water out there. No garden sprinkler. But, my hügelkultur raised beds in that same main garden are really working well which I think is a testament to their ability to store water in the rotten wood at the base of the beds.
I built some new hügelkultur raised beds in my backyard by the chicken coop and run, and they are exploding with greens - but there I have access to running water and have been using the sprinkler for at least 30 minutes per day. My pepper plants in the new raised beds are maybe 2 feet tall and full of peppers, my pepper plants in the raised beds in my main garden without any rain this year are only about 6-8 inches tall and no peppers at all. I think that watering has been the biggest factor, but the new raised beds were topped off with a high quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. So the soil in the new beds is also better.
Finally, an update to my soil block maker experience. a couple days ago I sent an email to the company stating that their product was not working as it should and I gave them the option to either fix it or send a replacement that works before I submitted a negative review on Amazon. They answered back yesterday that they would send me another unit that they said should work. This morning I got a notice that the replacement unit had shipped. I don't think you could ask more from a company than that, but I suspect that the build quality of the replacement unit will be the same as the one I got. The first unit I received was not "broken" in the traditional sense, it was just poorly crafted. However, I have heard that sometimes a company will send out an inspected and tested unit for a replacement item because they already know that the customer is not happy with the off the shelf unit. So maybe the replacement unit will be much better. We will see.
Speaking of companies sending out special units, I recently watched a YouTube video where some guy was sent a product for review. The product he received worked very well, but he decided to go to the big box store and buy that same product off the shelf. Guess what, he found out that the product he received for his YouTube review was not the same as the unit sold in the stores. The company had sent him a "special upgraded" product that was not the same as what was actually being sold. The same unit off the store shelf did not perform nearly as well. So he blasted the company for trying to fool him into giving a positive review for a product that on the store shelf was not very good. So keep that in mind if you watch a sponsored YouTube video review.
You might not believe this, but I found the exact same Orbit model number selling on 
Hoping it doesn't spread to the others. Also battling mildew on top of squash bugs. About the only thing NOT attacking my squash are the vine borers who have found my pumpkins, I think. I'll be lucky to get 1 pumpkin, I think.... 
