What did you do in the garden today?

[MACCanadianCoop]

I needed to put some more soil in the potato bags, and while I was out there I noticed something had eaten my biggest sunflower sprout (leaving me with only 4 growing ) and all the new blueberries that were starting to grow on one of my bushes. This means war!!
Any ideas on how to protect my plants from rabbits? Shooting them is not an option where I am.

 

[Sally PB]

Ditto. Order most of my seeds from Baker Creek and Seed Savers. If you plant more than one variety of a vegetable, it will cross, right? This year I’m testing out a bunch and would like to limit to one or two types…but I grow cherry, paste and slicer tomatoes and I don’t know if they would cross with each other. Any suggestions?

I love Baker Creek and Seed Savers Exchange.

Regarding the crossing... it depends on the vegetable. Tomatoes pollinate their own flowers by the way they're built, for the most part. Flies and bees and the wind can mix in some pollen from another plant, so the "isolation distance" isn't very much, 50 feet or so should be enough. So, yes, they can cross pollinate, but they don't, very much. Usually.

Corn, however, is wind pollinated, so it will cross very readily with any other corn. To keep pure seed, the isolation distance is measured in miles, and is impractical for most gardeners if there is ANY kind of corn grown in the area. Hand pollination and bagging are necessary.

It's hard to save seed in the cruciferous family. For instance collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi and kale will all cross with each other, and isolation distance is about a mile, as they're insect pollinated.

So this can get complicated. Or be easy. I've saved my own tomato seed to great effect. Potatoes are even easier, as just save some to plant the next year. The challenge is to keep them from rotting in storage. Mine have sprouted, but I just plant them deeply enough that the sprouts are underground.

There are several books on saving seeds of various vegetables with good descriptions of what you need to do.

 

[Mystikal]

I needed to put some more soil in the potato bags, and while I was out there I noticed something had eaten my biggest sunflower sprout (leaving me with only 4 growing ) and all the new blueberries that were starting to grow on one of my bushes. This means war!!
Any ideas on how to protect my plants from rabbits? Shooting them is not an option where I am.

The last time I had a garden was probably 20 years ago but I used dried blood and dried cayenne pepper to keep them uninterested.

 

[Mystikal]

Finally got my poor tomatoes planted. I really hope they will survive. I weeded the area and put cardboard down, wetted the cardboard and then covered it with mulch. Made three circles for the plants and cut the cardboard with a box cutter. Then my husband dug some big holes and I filled them with potting soil and tomato plants. Then we added more dirt put the cardboard back around the stems as well as the mulch and gave them a good soaking.

We also grabbed some zip ties and pallets to make a compost bin. We will saw off the tops another day so they're all the same height. Hopefully this will help me get my compost figured out.

 

[jerryse]

Went to chiropractor , trailer lights working , butchered 4 roosters and now flash flood warnings . I am high enough so no flood worries . Those roosters were the last chickens I had . I made good use of the rain free part of the day .

 

[CNJ]

I needed to put some more soil in the potato bags, and while I was out there I noticed something had eaten my biggest sunflower sprout (leaving me with only 4 growing ) and all the new blueberries that were starting to grow on one of my bushes. This means war!!
Any ideas on how to protect my plants from rabbits? Shooting them is not an option where I am.

I made a tight round ring out of chicken wire for each of my 5 gallon wicking buckets, so my chickens couldn't eat my starter plants. The chicken wire is resting on top of the buckets. This worked for chickens..............They sell premade chicken wire covers for vegetables online, but they are expensive.

You could also find some live traps on Amazon, I bought one for mongoose and I caught all of them, so I got rid of them.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Went to chiropractor , trailer lights working , butchered 4 roosters and now flash flood warnings . I am high enough so no flood worries . Those roosters were the last chickens I had . I made good use of the rain free part of the day .

You need chickens for some eggs. I heard eggs could be a dollar an egg!

 

[Iluveggers]

I love Baker Creek and Seed Savers Exchange.

Regarding the crossing... it depends on the vegetable. Tomatoes pollinate their own flowers by the way they're built, for the most part. Flies and bees and the wind can mix in some pollen from another plant, so the "isolation distance" isn't very much, 50 feet or so should be enough. So, yes, they can cross pollinate, but they don't, very much. Usually.

Corn, however, is wind pollinated, so it will cross very readily with any other corn. To keep pure seed, the isolation distance is measured in miles, and is impractical for most gardeners if there is ANY kind of corn grown in the area. Hand pollination and bagging are necessary.

It's hard to save seed in the cruciferous family. For instance collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi and kale will all cross with each other, and isolation distance is about a mile, as they're insect pollinated.

So this can get complicated. Or be easy. I've saved my own tomato seed to great effect. Potatoes are even easier, as just save some to plant the next year. The challenge is to keep them from rotting in storage. Mine have sprouted, but I just plant them deeply enough that the sprouts are underground.

There are several books on saving seeds of various vegetables with good descriptions of what you need to do.

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! Looks like a trip to the library is in order…maybe this weekend!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Anyone familiar enough with mushrooms to identify these? I found these mushrooms in my horse pasture. I do have some large oak trees in my pasture. A couple were found within 20 - 30 ft of the oak tree but most were far from any trees and in the open. They are white cap & stem mushrooms with pink gills. I think they are edible field/meadow mushrooms but my DH is worried they could be toxic Angel of Death (or something close to that name) mushrooms.... What's your vote?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

You need chickens for some eggs. I heard eggs could be a dollar an egg!

https://theconservativetreehouse.co...d-inflation-will-dwarf-prior-price-increases/