What did you do in the garden today?

[Ascholten]

So is Brat your other type of Fowl can very well be aptly named I know them well.

Yes. I have chickens outside, and a Moluccan Cockatoo inside. I've had him for over 10 years now, he's pretty much my best buddy.

 

[karenerwin]

@Ascholten nice haul on your sweet potatoes and artichokes! I just cooked up my few puny sweet potatoes today. I got a total of 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes from my first try at growing them. Better than nothing.

 

[karenerwin]

It is unseasonably warm here today. High of 67. Did go out and just run my fingers through the dirt in the raised garden bed. I love how crumbly dirt feels .

 

[pennyJo1960]

Our snow went already not cool but cold below freezing here now ...

 

[Ascholten]

@Ascholten nice haul on your sweet potatoes and artichokes! I just cooked up my few puny sweet potatoes today. I got a total of 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes from my first try at growing them. Better than nothing.

I find that they LOVE a lot of water, not standing in them though, and being ignored otherwise!

Throw a little butter and cane syrup in them and you are in heaven!

Aaron

 

[Elyrian1]

My grandfather grew sugar cane every year. We'd sped three days cutting the patch down and then four or five days grinding and boiling it down into syrup. I may have a stash... Lol. I worked my butt off the last time I actually got to visit family and did a huge chunk of the work myself. They sent me home with a dozen or so jars of the stuff. This year was a no go with the new little one.

I watered my garden today and enjoyed the warm weather a bit. We were in the mid 70s. Wild Christmas, lol. My first really warm Christmas in almost a decade.

 

[NewBoots]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and/or any other celebration. It was cold, windy, and rainy today so a good day to stay inside. Santa brought me a Presto electric pressure canner so I can easily can in quarts. Yay!

 

[igorsMistress]

Well. I put it off long enough, I finally got the sweet potato's / yams dug up in the totes. I originally thought I was going to be slick and just pop them with a spade. Boy was I mistaken !! These things were so thick in here I had to resort to using a trowel to dig them out (at an extra few hours work grrrr) because every time Id space, I'd cut one! They grew in huge clumps
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Just like with my garlic, I decided to grow my yamma jammas in IBC totes too. Again, just makes it easier to water them, fertilize them, keep them in one area. They grew super dense and were right on top too. Even as I was cutting down the green leafy parts and pulling them, the taters were right under them even sticking out a tiny bit at times.
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It may not show super good in this photo but, they grew in layers !! I initially planted my taters, a few different types in neat little rows, thinking, ok come harvest time, I know what's where and they'll just poop right out right? NOT right! I think because I also fertilized thru the irrigation as well, that they did not have to fight for nutrients since they were getting spoon fed every watering !! With this in mind, they just competed with each other for cubic footage to grow in. They grew 3 layers deep, it was insane !!

I am also firmly convinced that sweet potatos contain Chicken DNA in them as well !! When I planted them, I TOLD them, YOU GROW RIGHT HERE in these little rows!!
Did they listen to me. No!! Just like chickens they did what they wanted and totally ignored me !! So I found myself trowling out dirt and harvesting taters layer after layer, all mixed up, wherever one could shoot a root, there it was.

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I had to 'convince myself' to actually harvest these. They were still growing pretty well and pretty green, but I finally talked some logic into myself by telling me, Aaron, it's DECEMBER, LATE DECEMBER !! you and I BOTH KNOW, the hard frost is just around the corner, and the extra two weeks growing you may get this late, is NOT going to do much at all for their size, and just put you further behind getting these totes ready for the winter crops / spring preps for spring crops, so just pull the things already.

I have a pile of sweet tater greens. Not sure what to do with them, long stringy viney. The chickens seem to like them somewhat so I may just plop them in the coop and let the girls naturally compost them down, or dry em and hit them with the mower to break down the viney into someting that composts a bit easier.

What are YOUR thoughts on how to be rid of viney sweet tater toppings?

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I ended up with 4 - 5 gallon buckets of sweet potato's and the plastic tote with some taters and artichokes in there too. The white knobby things are Jerusalem Artichokes that I had in a corner of the tote as well. (Iw was just one plant I threw in there to let it do its thing)

Nevermind the hillbilly crocks the gardener is wearing! Hey, at least im not barefoot right???

My biggest sweet potato was 2 lbs 5 oz, a far far cry from the 4 pounder posted here earlier so I won't waste the bandwidth posting that shamefull little snack

I gave my neighbor a pail full of sweet potato's for Christmas (told you I was a redneck! ) and am probably going to cook / freeze dry several of the others after I pick out some for next seasons crop.

So this is what I did on Christmas, Cockatoo outside enjoying the warm weather with me, chickens chasing lizards.

I already KNOW he's going to want some of these taters too but they are not super healthy for birds so he only gets a small portion!

Merry Christmas from Aaron and the Brat !
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And what is wrong with bare feet?! I’m still barefoot here…

 

[Ascholten]

And what is wrong with bare feet?! I’m still barefoot here…

You will teach yourself that answer, hopefully only the first time, you find a fireant mound nustled in the grass you are trolloping through.

Just like you will answer the question, what does stinging nettle look like?? The first time you go picking spearmint bare handed.

Aaron

 

[RooStar Chicken Gang]

Planted a lime an lemon tree.