What did you do in the garden today?

[WIchickMama]

Yesterday, I was able to get out and take about half of the straw off the tops of the garden boxes-still can't find the ground plot under all that snow I also started cold sowing yesterday, got some cabbage seeds out. I hope to have 20-30 containers started by end of March! Excited to finally have some warm sun

 

[Acre4Me]

Today these chicks MUST leave my house. Blech!! I can tolerate chicks for 3, maybe 4 days inside - after that it’s awful!! But, it’s was very cold and very icy until yesterday. So, inside was best choice. Bc of spouse being out of commission for a bit, haven’t had extra time to set up brooder. But teen set up brooder yesterday-if everything is in order they will go out today. If everything is not in order…I’ll fix and they will go out today!!


I started tomato seeds!! Went through pepper seeds and hopefully get those started today/tomorrow.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. I gotta tell ya, there is NOTHING Express about Federal Express. It has taken them two weeks to deliver the lilac from Gurneys. SMH. No places to go or things to do after work today so I’ll be back to shredding yard waste this afternoon. Have a great day everyone!

 

[Sally PB]

I have to exercise my patience. I want to dig up the compost and haul it to the greenhouse to start making potting soil. Compost is frozen solid, so not happening.

It's still too early to start seeds in the (unheated) greenhouse. I'm aiming for April 1. I might just take over the table and start them in the house a week early.

So ready for spring.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I have to exercise my patience. I want to dig up the compost and haul it to the greenhouse to start making potting soil. Compost is frozen solid, so not happening.

It's still too early to start seeds in the (unheated) greenhouse. I'm aiming for April 1. I might just take over the table and start them in the house a week early.

So ready for spring.

Have you tried digging under the compost? I’m in New England and I can dig into the bottom of my compost piles in the winter when the top of the pile is frozen. The bottom is always warm.

 

[jerryse]

My tomato seeds have sprouted .

 

[WthrLady]

No, I had on jeans and a T-shirt. I started out with a jacket too since I was in the woods but got warm enough to take that off.

Tank and a T and I'd give a lobster a run for its money.
Out again all day today too.
Dry as a bone out.

 

[WthrLady]

Not I.
There was some weird seed thing going on with the mail last year, invasive things being sent out on purpose.
Maybe it's a neighbor, or your postman?


=====
My Flax seeds are up.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Were they inside without a heat source? I think they will be fine. If they were without a heat source inside then I’d definitely say they should be fine outside too.
If they had a heat source inside did they spend much time right under it? If they did not spend much time under it I would say that is another indicator that they will be fine.

Yes, they were inside without a heat source. I checked on them this morning to let them out of the brooder into the dog pen and they all seemed ok so I think they did well.

I used a MHP with them from the time they hatched. They pretty much abandoned the MHP altogether by the time they were 2 weeks old. Thought that was a little weird, but what can you do? They've been roosting together inside the the brooder ever since they abandoned the MHP. It's been so nice this week outside (over 70 degrees) that I wanted to introduce them outside and hopefully integrate them into the bigger flock. The brooder is 2' x 4' so it's a pain to move around and due to the ladder roost inside the main coop, it won't fit inside the coop. So I decided to just leave them inside the brooder at night in the dog pen. The dog pen gives them safe separation from the adults while they are being introduced.

 

[TJAnonymous]

@TJAnonymous We had grown luffa in 2020. Long season. So in 2021 decided to start indoors. They started well. Then, aphids attacked, and only attacked my luffa and other gourds. I didn’t notice right away (they blend in and I wasn’t expecting them). So, the life was sucked out of many. A few survived. Once it was warm, we transplanted outside, and planted some seeds too. The direct seeds outperformed the started plants.

Also. Luffa take a long time, compared to other gourds we have grown, to even begin to produce fruit. That is partly why it is such a long season. And, gourds of any kind do not tolerate low temps at all. Must be warm to hot for them.

But, they grow fast, have large leaves, and make great shade for the south and SE corner of our chicken yard. The chickens do enjoy eating the leaves and any fruit they can reach, so we put up some fencing (plastic or HWC) that has smaller holes so that they can’t reach through and destroy the plant.

I planted two small starts last August that I picked up at the farmers market. They grew pretty well between August - November here in the Deep South. I only got a couple small luffa though during that time. I arched a cow panel from the ground to the top of my Silkie pen as a trellis for them to grow on. I hoped it would give the Silkie pen some shade. They never got quite that big due to only growing a few months. Hopefully they will this year if they have an entire season to grow.

I think I will go ahead and start a couple indoors with the hopes of planting them outside in mid-to-late April.