What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Hay season. I loathe it, but it's a chore that has to be done. Always the hottest days of summer, which is what you need, and always threatened by rain as you're loading bales, so it's a HOT race to put them up dry, then you worry about the weeks of curing them - keeping them ventilated and dry.
About 6 weeks to go until cutting here, I'm resting half the field this year, I THINK, so only about 60 bales this year to put up.
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Big storms missed us last night. All remaining tomatoes from the sale are heading for the bin today so I can clean up the trays and cups.

I'll close the fleece bags from their airing and store them until the mill is ready for them.

I still need to do the irrigation in the orchard, but I need parts first. With enough rain, I'm not worried about it yet.

Tomato plants in the hoop have tiny tomatoes on them. The ones in the garden are only 12 -18 inches tall, but hearty looking.

The grape vine is loaded.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. I haven’t managed to get anything done outside and it’s getting too late so housework today. I fell asleep last night right after dinner and slept for ten hours! I didn’t get anything sprayed, tonight will have to do. I have the hose running for the aloes right now and will have to do a few other things in that area before I’m done. Will hopefully get the shade garden done during the week so I can start on the shed. I need to find my other soaker hose so I can water multiple things at once and that shed is still a disaster. I can’t believe how sensitive I am to heat right now, it really bites; about the only time I can stand to be out there is before or right at sunrise. Anyway, enjoy your day all!

 

[Elyrian1]

Ewwww. And today is 101 in case you're curious.

So yesterday I went by Lowe's and saw how big and happy their plants were and decided to grab a few. So I got a banana pepper, a cherry tomato, a single pot with five big okra in it that I carefully split out, and a pot with two very happy sweet basil. I've been missing having the basil on hand. It makes watering a delight because you hit it and the air just fills with happy basil goodness. I planted them last night after we cooled to about 85 around... I want to say 9?

I've been analyzing the raised beds and I think part of what's happened with my direct sowing fails has been that the dirt is too crusty, and then there's mulch on that because cats are a pain. So I'm thinking about planting out more corn because the four plants I do have are pretty pathetic right now and corn doesn't usually seem to care too much about the heat. I'll try an experiment of breaking up the dirt and mixing the top layer with a line of friable compost, then leaving the planted spots mulch free until the seedlings pop up. I think the plants have been burning themselves out trying to push up and not sending roots deep enough to support robust growth. I may also grab a bag of potting soil and see about starting some corn in some two inch pots and transplanting.

I think at this point I'm just desperate to harvest more than green mustard and kale. On that note, this green mustard variety - here's the link to it at Baker Creek - does not seem care about the heat. I don't care for how spicy it is! But, if you like a spicy salad give it a try. Also my kale, red I think???, is doing fantastic. I just pinch off the flowers as they appear and it keeps putting on leaves. I took enough for a salad the other day and it put on new growth double-time.

 

[TJAnonymous]

OK, I did something I SWORE I'd never do again.... I bought a DeGroot plant from TSC. They play on your hope, I swear....

 

[TJAnonymous]

OK, I know some of you are sweltering in MUCH higher Temps but it's already 85 degrees here today. I have to leave to go pick up hay bales shortly. We've collectively decided to wait until the sun goes down to unload them into the barn.

DD went on a school trip to Disney World and Universal this past week. She came home on Thursday. On Friday she came down with a fever and broke out in hives all over her body. To our knowledge she is not allergic to anything. DH took her to the doctor. They did a test to determine if it's viral or an allergic reaction to something. Won't have results until Monday so she is quarantined until then... Feel bad for the poor kid. She is miserable itchy... And several people from her trip have come down with Covid. We've had it twice already but DD hasn't gotten it yet. What a mess....

 

[Wolfie2]

What did I do in the garden today? I've been waterin since about 7 AM. And that's despite the2" layer of leaves I put down early in the season and the 2-3" layer of tree trimmings I just got put down. Just not gettin enough rain!
Another topic I want to touch on is composting.
I know there are composting threads but this thread gets a lot more air time and I'm betting the same people who post on the compost threads also visit this one so here goes!
As I have posted before, I have been trying to compost for a few years but can't seem to get it right. I turned my bin today and I know I should have turned it long ago but it "seemed to be going OK", until I dug into it. Notice I said Compost bin. I've tried the piles on the ground and the fire ants have infested every darned one of them. Tried the "tumbler" and that did keep the ants out but did not successfullly make cmpost. Now I have one of the industrial type trash cans, about 50 gallons @ about 4' tall. Been with it for about 3 yrs and have made some "almost compost" in it. Ended up with about 40% compost and 60% fibrous material. and that took a whole year. Made for a good mulch on my raised beds though.
Now to today. It has been about a month, maybe more since I had last turned it. This whole time I had been adding layers, Dry leaves, grass clippings (dry and green, depending when I raked 'em up), weeds from the garden and hay bedding/poop from the chicken coop, followed by some water. I'd put a layer in and by the time I was ready to add another layer, the level in the bin had gone down considerably so I didn't turn it often.
Today the top was barely damp but got wetter as I went down, and @ the bottom was a soggy mess, No real composting happening. It was brown as if it wanted to but nada. Also there was no sour smell as I have heard would happen if it went anerobic.
OK, so I got it all out, broke up the clumps and put it all back together adding in a layer of leaves along with a little dried goat poop outta the barn, every once in a while to soak up some of the excess moisture
This is the first time I've had this high moisture happen so I took a look @ what I was working with. The trash bin I was working with. When I first started I drilled holes for air. They were 1/4" holes, one vertical row on each side (4 rows all together) for air. I drilled all of the holes out to 1/2 inch and quadrupled the amount of holes thinkin I was not getting enough air into the mixture.
I do not have a drain hole(s) in the bottom as that would be where the ants would come in and I can't have that happening.
My only other thought is that I coule cut a hole in the top and add a perforated (drain)pipe into the middle of the pile for more air.
Anyone want critique what I did today? Pose some solutions that I may not have thought of?

PS, I know I probably need to turn it more often.

 

[Mystikal]

We started building our pallet wood fence! We now have a gate.

 

[589205]

We started building our pallet wood fence! We now have a gate.
View attachment 3137354

It looks good!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Someone earlier asked me about my hoop house build. Forgot who asked but here are the details. It was super simple.

We took (4) 4x4x8 posts and cut them in half so each was 4 ft long. Buried 2 ft in the ground (no concrete) which left 2 ft above ground. Then we built (5) square frames of varying sizes. My hoop house is 10 ft x 20 ft. So one frame is 10 ft x 3 ft at the back. Two frames on each side break up the remaining 17 ft (20 ft minus 3 ft) length in half and are 3 ft wide. So the frames are laid out in a U-shape and secured to the 4x4 posts. Three sides of the frame are 2x4 but the outside facing piece is a 2x6. More on that shortly. Here's a close up.

I used 10 ft 2x4s as a top plate across the 4x4 posts. Then used U-shaped conduit fasteners to secure the cattle panels to the top plate.

We framed up the door with 2x4s and then used a 2x4 cross beam tied into the 4x4 posts.

To seal around the door and keep it bug proof, I used 1" thick foam weatherstripping that is used around window air conditioners. Across the top of the door, I used a flap of extra netting.

As for the netting, I used a 20 ft by 20 ft piece along the center. This was pulled taught and stapled to the 2x6 outside-facing part of the frame. Then we layered 10 ft x 15 ft pieces of netting on each end. Lastly I followed up with another 20 ft x 20 ft piece that was layered on top end-to-end. The layering has worked very well because the bugs will squeeze under your overlapped netting but can't seem to "zigzag" through multiple overlaps. All netting was stapled into the 2x6 frame and wrapped around the door frame before the door itself was installed. Then I used an additional 2x4 over the 2x6 frame. This "sealed" the netting along the bottom. This was an important change from last year because the squash bugs could squeeze under the stapled netting. They CAN'T get through the 2x4 "seal" along the bottom. Then I mounded soil and mulch all around the bottom on the outside of the hoop house to bury the bottom of the frame. Again, keeps the bugs out.

 

[TJAnonymous]

We stopped by Goodwill after church today. DH and I buy all our yard work/gardening clothes from there. Don't care if they get stained, dirty, torn, etc.... Anyway, I scored a large hamster cage that will perfect as a brooder or infirmary crate for $5.