What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

What do you use to haul your compost? For years and years I only had a wheel barrow, which worked OK, but you got a hard workout with heavy loads. The tire finally rotted out on that wheelbarrow and I needed to replace it. I took that opportunity to replace the wheelbarrow with a 4 wheeled gorilla-type cart. It holds much more compost, dirt, etc... and it is so much easier to move around even when fully loaded. My cart handle also converts to a hitch so I can hook it up to my riding mower. Even better!

I actually got a YardWorks Poly Dump Cart from on sale from Menards,. It holds 1,100 lbs., but I don't think I've ever had anything that heavy in the cart. Even full of dirt, I don't think it comes close to the weight limit.

View attachment 2801656

I think this particular 6 cu. ft. cart has been discontinued from Menards. I bought it a couple of years ago for about $120.00, which was a lot more than a 6 cu. ft. $60.00 wheelbarrow, but it was worth the extra cost to me. I can get so much more work done with less fatigue with the poly dump cart. Now that I am 60+ years old, those considerations are more important to me. Also, Dear Wife is a small woman at 5 foot nothing and has no problem loading up this dump cart with 5 bags of her colored wood chip mulch and hauling it to her flower gardens. I don't think she could handle 1 bag of mulch in the old wheelbarrow.

Having said that, earlier this year I did buy a hardware replacement kit with wheel at Menards for my old wheelbarrow for less than $20.00. So my old wheelbarrow is now back in service but I so far have only used it with my compost sifter to catch the unfinished/large pieces of compost that get sifted out. I don't use the wheelbarrow to transfer heavy loads anymore. My poly dump cart is used for almost everything.

I have a gorilla cart that looks almost identical to yours. I bought mine for $100 from Atwoods last summer. I love it and use it all the time.... Mine has a flip down handle so I can pin it to a hitch but we haven't needed to do that. I just loop the handle over the ball hitch on the 4 wheeler and it stays on just fine.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm really mad at myself. I let some broodies sit on some eggs and I really shouldn't have... I've had a continuing problem for the past 5 months where chicks are getting killed at hatch time by some egg eating hens. I lost at least 10 chicks in the spring because of this... I got diligent about clearing out eggs to stop this from happening. This month I've been swamped with work and slipped up. I candled eggs I collected and found 10 that were at least 2 weeks along. I put them back under the broodies because I didn't want to kill them or incubate them.

But I SHOULD have known better.... Dang it! Three have since been killed by egg eaters.

If I can get by until tomorrow night, I need to make a nesting box cover to keep the broodies in and the egg eaters out. It's the only way to give the eggs a chance, outside of incubating them myself.

 

[WthrLady]

Mad at the egg eaters not at you.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus ah yes stinging nettle. Same compound as a bee sting, is my understanding. Excellent for arthritis and inflammation in the joints, valuable as a tea, and wicked painful! Crush some fresh basil and rub on there, should help within moments if it's going to at all.

Thanks for the info. The pain has passed, but I will try to remember the fresh basil remedy if I ever again make that mistake and pull out Stinging Nettles by hand. I don't know how good Stinging Nettle is for arthritis, but it sure takes your mind off all your other everyday aches and pains.

 

[gtaus]

I just loop the handle over the ball hitch on the 4 wheeler and it stays on just fine.

I don't have a 4 wheeler, yet, but have been thinking of getting one with a snow blade for winter use. I have been using a snow blower for many years, but I'm getting to the point (age) where I am seriously considering getting an ATV with snow blade. The only problem with the ATV and snow blade combo is that years ago I used one on the driveway and it was only good for light snowfall (less than 6 inches). Any more snow, and the ATV was unable to push the snow around. If we got 12 inches of snow overnight, I'd still have to use the snow blower to clear the driveway.

I guess you would have to go out during the snow storm with the ATV and start clearing the driveway while it was still snowing.

As to the garden cart, I only have riding mowers with hitches, no trailer ball to throw the handle over. But I really like using the gorilla carts because I can use the riding mower to pull the load wherever I need it, and then unhitch the cart if I need to get into smaller spaces, like the pathways in the garden. Four wheels on the gorilla cart are much better for me than one wheel on the wheel barrow.

 

[Elyrian1]

Thanks for the info. The pain has passed, but I will try to remember the fresh basil remedy if I ever again make that mistake and pull out Stinging Nettles by hand. I don't know how good Stinging Nettle is for arthritis, but it sure takes your mind off all your other everyday aches and pains.

They'll go straight through lesser gloves too, so thick leather palm is a must. I have a love/hate relationship with that plant, as I'm sure you can imagine.

 

[Swiss]

it's almost spring here but being sub-tropical area I already have lots already in the ground.
Today though I have sown some beetroot, radish and turnip, also started a bunch of other stuff in seed trays. I have a ton of cherry tomatoes ripening now but I think I may start some bigger ones for preserving

It is so strange to think about harvesting cherry tomatoes in the winter! I'm so used to winter being a time of basically no gardening, unless you have indoor grow lights for herbs or something. Are you able to grow tomatoes year-round?

What do you use to haul your compost? For years and years I only had a wheel barrow, which worked OK, but you got a hard workout with heavy loads. The tire finally rotted out on that wheelbarrow and I needed to replace it. I took that opportunity to replace the wheelbarrow with a 4 wheeled gorilla-type cart. It holds much more compost, dirt, etc... and it is so much easier to move around even when fully loaded. My cart handle also converts to a hitch so I can hook it up to my riding mower. Even better!

I actually got a YardWorks Poly Dump Cart from on sale from Menards,. It holds 1,100 lbs., but I don't think I've ever had anything that heavy in the cart. Even full of dirt, I don't think it comes close to the weight limit.

View attachment 2801656

I think this particular 6 cu. ft. cart has been discontinued from Menards. I bought it a couple of years ago for about $120.00, which was a lot more than a 6 cu. ft. $60.00 wheelbarrow, but it was worth the extra cost to me. I can get so much more work done with less fatigue with the poly dump cart. Now that I am 60+ years old, those considerations are more important to me. Also, Dear Wife is a small woman at 5 foot nothing and has no problem loading up this dump cart with 5 bags of her colored wood chip mulch and hauling it to her flower gardens. I don't think she could handle 1 bag of mulch in the old wheelbarrow.

Having said that, earlier this year I did buy a hardware replacement kit with wheel at Menards for my old wheelbarrow for less than $20.00. So my old wheelbarrow is now back in service but I so far have only used it with my compost sifter to catch the unfinished/large pieces of compost that get sifted out. I don't use the wheelbarrow to transfer heavy loads anymore. My poly dump cart is used for almost everything.

This is really funny because I just decided which garden cart I will be getting in the spring!

I don't have a picture of my cart. It's like a two wheeled wheelbarrow. I can pull it behind or push it ahead of me. I counted the shovelfulls of compost and put in 9 or 10 heaping. Ok, I'm a wimp.

I wanted to get this done while the pile is relatively dry. I had 4 cartloads.

We have a cart like the one you show, but since I'm doing the pulling, I like having the wide handle on my smaller cart.

In other news... I got another quote on getting 4 trees taken down. I told the guy I wanted all the chips. He thinks it'll be 8-10 yards.



Cover the heavy soil garden. Cover the squash bed. Do the walkways between the raised beds. Let some dry and put them in the chicken run. I have a use for them all.

Good idea! I'll have to tell the people this when we get 2 trees taken down. It would come in handy for the garden beds along the sides of the house. Wait... is that the entirety of the trees being made into wood chips, or just the small stuff?

We have a massive beech tree that is absolutely loaded with nuts, and I check it almost every day to see if they're falling. I know they don't ripen until late-August, but it's hard to wait because I'm so excited to try them.
I'm still trying to figure out where to buy the straw because I don't even know how much to get... My garden is laid out at 7'x17', do those of you with straw experience know how much I should get to get it to 12" deep (I think @WthrLady is who gave me the original advice of cardboard, compost, and straw?)?

 

[Swiss]

At least the seeds were free... I have 2 packets (both from Baker Creek), and only one is open. Should I throw them both out or just the one? I'd really hate to waste the seeds, even if they were free.

I just did some research, and read that you can treat the seeds with hot water, or a chlorine rinse and then vinegar rinse. Has anyone tried this with any success?

I think the problem was in the soil I bought because I gave 3 plants to my sister, and she sent me this today:

It's so pretty!

 

[chickengr]

Learned about Stinging Nettles today - the hard way!

I always wear gloves when I am outside working on/in the garden. However, today, I was just going to water the raised beds and the sprayer end of the hose was leaking water. So I decided not to wear my gloves and get them soaking wet. As I was watering the strawberry plants, I noticed a big weed that was growing up in the bed that needed to be removed. So, without much concern, I decided to pull the weed with my bare hand because, after all, it was only one weed and not worth the time to go get my gloves.

Turns out it would have been worth the effort to go back to the garage and get my gloves. What I grabbed ahold of was a Stinging Nettle and I immediately regretted trying to pull it out. Two of my fingers got pricked pretty bad and are still stinging after 3 hours. I have never seen this plant before, but I doubt if I will every forget it now.

So, hand still stinging, I had to retrieve my gloves from the garage, but decided to take out some Teflon tape, some pliers, and fix the leaky hose end sprayer at the same time. I pulled the Stinging Nettle and fixed the leaky sprayer. I imagine the stinging will stop sometime today. Some lessons are just learned the hard way. It's not like me not to wear gloves, but I guess I was overdue for a real life lesson and why I need to wear gloves when pulling weeds I don't recognize.

I don't pull stinging nettle. I cut it and give it to chickens or dry it for herb tea. it is very healthy for both people and animals.

for the young chicks I chop some nettles and mix it with yogurt or soft cheese and chick feed. it is very beneficial.

 

[chickengr]

It is so strange to think about harvesting cherry tomatoes in the winter!

I have had tomatoe survivers in the winter. they need triple time to ripen as days are short.