What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

I heap it on and haven't had problems with critters, but we don't have suburban scavengers.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We have never in memory had rodents in the compost.

 

[Sueby]

Welcome to the thread! There a lot of cool season crops you can grow. Lettuce, broccoli/cauliflower, spinach and carrots to name a few. FYI we love pics on this thread!

Gosh I'm glad you're back! I've missed you pushing for pics with me. LOL.

I spent the morning cleaning out a hall closet.
I will be meeting up with a friend soonish to start planning a garden we are going to do at her parents place. We are talking about doing raised beds with a hoop top for at least part of it and growing all the vining things on it. She found a cool site that showed someone that did that and had all kinds of gourds, cucumbers, pumpkins and things hanging down over head. It looked really cool!

I just put a hoop up in the garden for next year, I can't wait to have my green beans growing on it! If I like it I'm going to do another for cukes. Problem is the bugs so I don't always do cukes. I'd love to see what you end up with.

My fellow cold weather people...
We keep adding kitchen scraps to the compost bin we are filling. We have an open 3-bin system so there's always a bin to fill. Anyway, I noticed that it's cool enough to prevent the compost from heating up and rapidly breaking down the scraps. I don't smell anything funky, but I an beginning to wonder about the risks of attracting rodents, opossums and racoons. Normally it's not a big concern as things break down quickly and there's plenty of brown matter. With the cold weather though, should I stop adding to the compost since it's not going to break down much?

I haven't had a big issue with with critters in the compost. When I dump the kitchen bin I cover it with a layer of leaves. My 3rd bin is all leaves I've collected just for this purpose. I will say I've seen an egg shell a couple feet out, so something may have gotten in there a couple times, but they don't bother much. My compost freezes pretty good so that probably helps too.

Hi all! Cold out there. I had an indoor propane chiminea at my old house, I sure do miss it. I'm horrible at keeping notes. I never do & then kick myself later on. I am still mad I deleted my garden plan for next year by accident, so mad I refuse to do it again. LOL I'm my own worst enemy.

 

[Elyrian1]

Speaking of pics

I forgot to share my garden cover with you guys. You can just barely see the plants growing in there, but they're doing great. We've gotten down as low as 27f and I haven't noticed any damage. Since I took this picture, I've added three pvc green house clamps to each hoop. I left the chunks of pallets on the edge though, because of our high winds I figured the extra weight couldn't hurt. I also figure I need another bag of clamps.

 

[WthrLady]

Gosh I'm glad you're back! I've missed you pushing for pics with me. LOL.

I just put a hoop up in the garden for next year, I can't wait to have my green beans growing on it! If I like it I'm going to do another for cukes. Problem is the bugs so I don't always do cukes. I'd love to see what you end up with.

I haven't had a big issue with with critters in the compost. When I dump the kitchen bin I cover it with a layer of leaves. My 3rd bin is all leaves I've collected just for this purpose. I will say I've seen an egg shell a couple feet out, so something may have gotten in there a couple times, but they don't bother much. My compost freezes pretty good so that probably helps too.

Hi all! Cold out there. I had an indoor propane chiminea at my old house, I sure do miss it. I'm horrible at keeping notes. I never do & then kick myself later on. I am still mad I deleted my garden plan for next year by accident, so mad I refuse to do it again. LOL I'm my own worst enemy.

I feel you. I deleted 14 years of google mail. ALL OF IT. UGH. I'm such a moron.

 

[Ascholten]

If you have a lot of fresh kitchen scraps etc in the compost, throw a layer of leaves or already composted dirt on them to cover them up. This can help keep critters out, including YOURS !!, and also add microbes to help kick the process of getting them going, and helps keep any odors down too. Another thing you can do is, throw em on, give THAT pile a bit of a turn over, burying the brand new fresh stuff, then sprinkling leaves on them.

One thing I do that helps very well is I sell coffee online so have a LOT of burlap bags, which compost very nicely. Lay a few of the burlap bags over them. This also helps with keeping critters out as they'd have to figure out / chew / claw through the burlap bags too. The bags themselves last only maybe 3 or 4 months before they are disintegrating pretty badly, (which is good !!) but thats nuff to get you through the winter and ready to use what you had there.

Aaron

PS. if you ever find yourselves in the Jax area, give me a holler, we could meet up and I'd always be happy to give away a few bags to my fellow chicken dad's

 

[Sueby]

OMG my plucked bird is growing her feathers back! I was so sure I'd have to keep them separated till next falls molt. I'm guessing she's been growing them back all along, but Green kept plucking them as they were growing in. There is an end in sight & soon I won't have to keep 3 separate pens, 3 waterers, 3 feeders, 3 oyster shells, blah blah blah. Best news I've had in weeks.

 

[BReeder!]

If you have a lot of fresh kitchen scraps etc in the compost, throw a layer of leaves or already composted dirt on them to cover them up. This can help keep critters out, including YOURS !!, and also add microbes to help kick the process of getting them going, and helps keep any odors down too. Another thing you can do is, throw em on, give THAT pile a bit of a turn over, burying the brand new fresh stuff, then sprinkling leaves on them.

One thing I do that helps very well is I sell coffee online so have a LOT of burlap bags, which compost very nicely. Lay a few of the burlap bags over them. This also helps with keeping critters out as they'd have to figure out / chew / claw through the burlap bags too. The bags themselves last only maybe 3 or 4 months before they are disintegrating pretty badly, (which is good !!) but thats nuff to get you through the winter and ready to use what you had there.

Aaron

PS. if you ever find yourselves in the Jax area, give me a holler, we could meet up and I'd always be happy to give away a few bags to my fellow chicken dad's

I drove right through there back in March when we road tripped to the Florida Keys, Everglades and Miami. Might have to repeat that trip one day since I absolutely loved the Keys! I would move to Florida if DW wouldn't object so much. She claims it's too hot. What nonsense in my book!

 

[BReeder!]

Anybody successfully keep their own seed potatoes until Spring? I have some potatoes that are starting to sprout. I'm interested in trying to keep them until Spring and see how they grow. I'll get some fresh seed potatoes still to play it safe with blight, scab and other diseases that may potentially be in my soil. It would be fun (and financially rewarding) to grow from my own seed stock though. The question is how do I keep them until Spring without rotting? I don't trust keeping them in the attic (only really cold place in my house) because mice might in or even be attracted in by them. Even the garage is heated and the basement stays warm all winter because the central heat and a/c unit is located down there. Right now they hang in the pantry in mesh bags. I've heard of keeping them in a box of soil in a cool dark cellar. Can I keep them in soil in the spare fridge? I also have a 3 seasons room, but they may freeze in there.

 

[Wolfie2]

I, too am in zone 9, Only in TX. Lots'a stuff I grow here that won't grow in the summer due to bolting when it barely gets started. Anything in the cabbage family! Peas. ONIONS! I put up about 50- 75 lbs of onions every spring. Can buy the starts from the local feed store but if all else fails I can order them from Dixon farms, a Tx company who grows them for sale. Anyway, Parsley, corriander, carrots, radishes, lettuce (I do my lettuce in a big pot with a "lettuce blend" and grow enough where We can make a decent salad every day and never run out by picking off leaves from each plant, combined other leafy stuff in the garden). Anything which cannot take hot weather. Experiment! You might lose some but chalk it up to a lesson learned.