What did you do in the garden today?

[Happy hen lover]

I am so sorry to hear about the main garden doing so poorly. I agree about putting a well out there can't justify the costs. I'm glad the hugelkultur raised beds are doing great. Doesn't the metal get too hot?
My tomatoes are bleak also. Everyone's are I talk to. Some plants don't have any fruit on them, and my peppers are so small will be shocked if they make anything substantial.
I've almost decided next year to concentrate on the food I love to eat and food that is ridiculously high to buy. I'm thinking of going to the farmers markets for local produce as their water is free out here. At least I'd rather give them the money than stores.

 

[gtaus]

I'm glad the hugelkultur raised beds are doing great. Doesn't the metal get too hot?

In theory, the hügelkultur beds should store more water in the spongy wood base than a "normal" raised bed with just soil mix. In this drought year, I have seen a very big difference in performance and the hügelkultur beds are just doing a lot better. Having said that, you still need to water, or have rainfall, every once in a while to keep the beds hydrated.

I know a lot of people wonder if the galvanized metal panel raised beds would get too hot. Well, not as far as I can tell. My new galvanized metal panel hügelkultur beds are outperforming all my other beds, but it's not a fair comparison as I am able to turn on the water faucet for at least 30 minutes per day to water my galvanized beds in my backyard, whereas the beds in the main garden only get manual watering a couple times a week. But I don't think the soil in the metal panel beds is any hotter than the wooden raised beds.

Some plants don't have any fruit on them, and my peppers are so small will be shocked if they make anything substantial.

My pepper plants in the main garden (with no running water) are only about 1 foot tall, and have maybe only 1 pepper on a plant. My pepper plants in the galvanized metal panel hügelkultur raised beds (with sprinkler running 30 minutes per day) are almost 3 feet tall and I have picked maybe a dozen or more of peppers off each plant. If the soil was too hot from the galvanized metal panels, then I would think the plants might suffer from the heat even if they are watered every day. I don't see any signs of heat stress in my plants in the metal panel raised beds.

 

[NewBoots]

Sitting in my garage I already have the leftover/recycled wood cut to make another 2 frames for raised beds. I picked up a couple galvanized metal panels from Home Depot last week and those need to be cut to size.

I've been wondering what to ask for when I hope to buy the supplies for new beds. What are the metal panels called? I hate fumbling with descriptions for things I'm not familiar with. Thanks!

 

[Sueby]

I feel like my regular (non hügelkultur) galvanized beds are a little warmer/drier than the wooden beds, but I've never actually tested the theory.

Sorry to hear about the drought & what a problem it's been for you @gtaus. That's such a bummer.

Too hot to do anything out there. I'll get the chickens a block of ice & pick some beans. They haven't been bothered much by the heat, not even holding wings out yesterday. Tough ole biddies, unlike me who keeps melting.

I've decided it's time to move all the wood chips into the chicken run. The pile sits in a very wet part of the woods so I know they are moldy/wet, but I'm going to fence off an area to dump them & keep the birds out & slowly move them as the top layer dries. It'll take me till winter to get it all done, but it needs it. It requires removing the bird netting to dump with the tractor over the fence, the Case is too big to get in the chicken run. A big pain in the butt project. Gotta love those.

Stay cool all!

 

[Sally PB]

I have a bunch of cherry tomatoes to pick. Some of the determinate varieties are starting to show some color. I might be canning by this time next week.

@gtaus, I am so sorry to hear about your water troubles.

We had a couple inches of rain last night with storms that came through. No wind like the night before, but the power is still off, and will be until Friday or Saturday, probably. Thank goodness for the generator.

It is so humid right now that the phrase, "shrouded in fog" applies. The weather is supposed to break tonight/tomorrow. Can't wait. Cooler, drier air. AHHHHH!

 

[Sueby]

@Sally PB Was it the storms that killed your power the other night? (sorry, I'm way behind here!)

 

[Sally PB]

Was it the storms that killed your power the other night? (sorry, I'm way behind here!)

Yes. We had some big winds blow through. DH had to detour on his way to work yesterday; trees were down across a road. By the time I left, stuff had been cleared, but I could see where a lot, and a lot of big stuff, had been on the road.

 

[Sally PB]

Just checked the restoration estimate... Sunday morning at 8:15. It gets later every time I look. So I'm not going to look anymore!

 

[Sueby]

Wow, that stinks - even with a genny! I hope it comes back sooner than that.

 

[Elyrian1]

Okay @Sally PB you are making me seriously contemplate whether or not a backup generator is in our future. We're not likely to have outages here from hurricanes, and we're in the wrong part of the country for derechos, but we can get some nasty squall lines and straight line winds nonetheless. Couple that bad weather with any sort of extreme temperature, either cold or hot, and we'd be a bit up the creek.