What did you do in the garden today?

[oldwynooche]

What's a BTE garden?

 

[henless]

What's a BTE garden?

Back to Eden gardening, or no till gardening. It's a way to garden without having to till the soil. You can go here and see the film. It's almost 2 hours long, but you can pause it and restart it as you need to.

 

[appps]

A few days ago I put a clear sterilite container over a few of our grow bags in an attempt to make a mini-greenhouse. I will be checking on it today, since the temps are actually above 50 degrees, and see if the daikon (yes, I know I shouldnt plant it in the winter but I am experimenting) is trying to sprout. I am also going to go trim off horrible looking flowers off of my blueberries since the weather here has confused it so. The whole bush was covered in blooms and then we have had really cold nights killing the blossoms. Hope everyone is doing well with this weird winter.

I'm interested to see how it goes. I want to experiment with putting plastic over a garden bed this year or over plants in black pots and see if I can make a mini greenhouse and grow capsicums and tomatoes over winter. Thinking pollination will be tricky though.

 

[MIRanger]

I'm interested to see how it goes. I want to experiment with putting plastic over a garden bed this year or over plants in black pots and see if I can make a mini greenhouse and grow capsicums and tomatoes over winter. Thinking pollination will be tricky though.

We actually started out with putting agribon over our beds, if you are interested then you can poke over to my website in my profile, and that worked half decent but I do not think we will do it again next year. We will hopefully, says small prayer, be in a house next year and will have actual raised beds. Agribon worked well for everything minus the one thing we got it for.......our peppers. Our peppers have died and we will have to start fresh again with them next year, I swear we will have perennial peppers at some point. It seemed to do a neat job of creating a small mirco-climate within the agribon. I will stop rambling now and get back to tending the garden......and children.

 

[politicalcenter]

Time, materials, and energy are coinciding this weekend. Super rare event for all 3 entities to appear in the same place at the same time. I've taken measurements, and plan to start making the end panels for the green house. They're not exactly appropriate to the purpose, but... they're what's available. It's a silicone coated, weather proof rip stop type of material, so will be light blocking. But each end has an almost full length glass door that takes up 1/3 of each end, and the top and sides are covered with green house tarp, so it will make a huge difference. No soil to speak of in there. And all soil in the yard is frozen tight. I may be able to get some soil from a local landscape center. Don't want to buy bagged mix, b/c of all the pearlite in those mixes (as well as some of them containing vermiculite, fertilizer, and water retention additives. The chickens will be using the green house, and eating whatever soil I put in there.

When I make dirt from scratch I buy a bale of Canadian peat and mix it with sand in a wheelbarrow. I also add a little lime and manure (usually goat). To mix the peat I get some cheap dishwater liquid to add to the water as a wetting agent for the peat. I mix them like mortar in a wheelbarrow. The sand helps it to drain and the lime helps raise the PH. It seems to work well for me and it doesn't cost as much as a pre-mix.
I have also found that very little energy is gained on the north side of the greenhouse. It is better if the north side is not clear because it loses more energy than it gains. My next green house will face east to west with the south side clear and the north side dark. If I can afford insulation the north side will be insulated. I will have water tanks on the north side for water storage and shelves.

 

[Beekissed]

Didn't do it in the garden but did do it FOR the garden today....got my 1200 red wigglers installed into their new home and hope they get busy making more of themselves. Gave them cow manure, chicken compost, leaves, potting soil, pieces of a rotten pumpkin, crushed eggs, kitchen scraps and topped them off with more leaves. They have moved out into the mass in the tote and are busy feeding on the various treats within the soil. Eat, little wigglers! Mate! Have babies! Poop!

 

[lazy gardener]

When I make dirt from scratch I buy a bale of Canadian peat and mix it with sand in a wheelbarrow. I also add a little lime and manure (usually goat). To mix the peat I get some cheap dishwater liquid to add to the water as a wetting agent for the peat. I mix them like mortar in a wheelbarrow. The sand helps it to drain and the lime helps raise the PH. It seems to work well for me and it doesn't cost as much as a pre-mix.
I have also found that very little energy is gained on the north side of the greenhouse. It is better if the north side is not clear because it loses more energy than it gains. My next green house will face east to west with the south side clear and the north side dark. If I can afford insulation the north side will be insulated. I will have water tanks on the north side for water storage and shelves.

I set a black trash can inside, which will be my winter compost pile, and will position that at the north end. Today, while I was out measuring, in spite of both ends being wide open except for the glass in the doors, the sun felt nice and warm. Day time high today was 25* Can't wait till I get it closed in!

 

[henless]

Eat, little wigglers! Mate! Have babies! Poop!

The things we get excited for on here. Chicken poo & worms! LOL Only on BYC!!

 

[politicalcenter]

I set a black trash can inside, which will be my winter compost pile, and will position that at the north end. Today, while I was out measuring, in spite of both ends being wide open except for the glass in the doors, the sun felt nice and warm. Day time high today was 25* Can't wait till I get it closed in!

It should heat up very well during the day but nighttime will be different. It will cool as soon as the sun goes down and will be the same temperature as the outside by morning unless the compost heats it some. My experience has shown me that kerosene heat is the least expensive if you decide to heat. Our nighttime temps. have been moving into the teens and I have had to use some outside heat. My small greenhouse can be heated with two small kerosene lanterns. I made a propane heater for my bigger house out of an old turkey fryer. I took out the timer and set it very low. I also took an old stock pot and put holes in it to sit on top of the burner. A very low flame can make it toasty warm in there.

I tried making candles to burn out of pig fat (lard) but it didn't turn out very well. When I can afford it I will buy a small kerosene heater for the big greenhouse.

I have noticed that water storage for heat is fine if...you have enough water ....it has enough time to store up heat.

Good luck!

 

[Arielle]

Got Salmonberry seed , Formosa raspberry and thimble berry plants recently . I have orders in for rootstocks for pear , apple and plum . Grafting scion wood ordered .

Jerry. My plan is to order rootstock, and apple scions this year. ANd use the peach and cherry trees I already have for scionwood. Oh and pear as well. I am struggling with what rootstock to buy, as there are so many companies, and they seem to offer different stock. I know my peaches and pears were grafted on roostock and they have all done well here... just don't know what was used.

Apple scions, about 40 min north of me. Minimum of 4 at $3.50 each totalling $14. Includes shipping. Limited time to order, as these need to collected during the dormant season of winter. http://www.towerhillbg.org/files/3213/6501/4578/th_scionwood_ord08-09.pdf

Hit upon a site via a google search. Might be just the info I need. Maybe others can use it too , if interested. Will add more info on this post as I find good sites, and as long as the edit feature will let me.

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/apple-rootstocks-and-tree-spacing

Others
http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/rhode-island-greening