What did you do in the garden today?

[GardenNut]

If the garden is truly 2 X the space you will need, what about doing an alternate garden/chicken run?  Let the chickens work the fallow side, and then switch them to the other side after you harvest.  That would be a fantastic set up.  

I hope to do exactly that.

 

[politicalcenter]

I have a raised bed built and filled with composted manure for carrots and another one started for cabbage. The compost in the carrot bed is 8 inches thick on top of my old garden. The next bed will be about 4 inches of compost. I am doing away with tilling and as soon as the plants come up they will be mulched with wood chip horse bedding that has also been composting. As long as can continue to get free horse bedding this will continue. I would like to eventually cover the whole garden with wood chips and sawdust pathways. On top of compost... on top of my old garden. I hate rocks!!!!

 

[country girl44]

My watermelon since yesterday! just beautiful.

 

[henless]

I think I may try a 3 sisters version next year: using sunflowers as a bean trellis. To give just a bit more support, I may give them a support so the beans don't pull them over sideways.

I did a modified version this year. My squash & pumpkins ended up growing all around my corn even though they weren't planted together.

Thought I'd share the ever growing sea of volunteer impatiens and the giant ferns on our front porch.

So pretty!

Lovely!

Thanks! This was my first year with sunflowers. I will be planting more next year.

Well I'm all moved (but far from unpacked) to my little homestead. I turned the BO chickens out this morning for their first taste of free ranging, and they followed me back to the house! All that grass, and they're waiting for me to come out! The previous owners left a massive garden that needs major tending, but I've found tomatoes, corn, peppers, and cucumbers. I pulled up a bunch of onions and have them drying a bit. I also found kohlrabi. The melons are sprawled all over too, but they're not ready for picking. Some of the weeds are almost as tall as me. I think I need a torch! I may have to harvest what I can and leave the weeds, but I'd really like to clean it up.

This is my first year to really garden. I have had a raised bed for a couple of years, but I planted lots more this time. I'm finding gardening is like raising chickens. You need more. More chickens & more garden space!

Not much going on the last couple of days. We've finally been getting some of the rain that is flooding Louisiana. Still getting okra & I have new asparagus coming up.

 

[Beekissed]

I love all these pics!!!!

Wish my impatiens looked that good! And my watermelons are just small right now, what ones I actually have....lots of vines out there but not much fruit happening.

 

[Beekissed]

Picked more tomatoes, cukes, yellow squash and half runner beans and did a little pulling of weeds.

 

[lazy gardener]

I take back what I said about 3 sisters with sunflowers and pole beans. I have some sunflowers growing in my pole beans this year, and sure enough, those beans climb the sunflowers just fine. Makes a wonderful combination. However, I had a hard time staying on task to pick those beans. The ants were dropping off the sunflowers, down my shirt, in my hair, in my shoes, in my pants. I was doing quite the dance that would stop any traffic. Thankfully, I live on a dead end road, and was spared the humiliation of stopping traffic or causing any serious accidents.

Perhaps I'll do Sisters with milo, and sunflowers

 

[henless]

I have a raised bed built and filled with composted manure for carrots and another one started for cabbage. The compost in the carrot bed is 8 inches thick on top of my old garden. The next bed will be about 4 inches of compost. I am doing away with tilling and as soon as the plants come up they will be mulched with wood chip horse bedding that has also been composting. As long as can continue to get free horse bedding this will continue. I would like to eventually cover the whole garden with wood chips and sawdust pathways. On top of compost... on top of my old garden. I hate rocks!!!!

Before we moved to where we are now, we lived on 2 acres. Every inch of that place was a rock mine. When you dug, you dug up rocks. When it rained, rocks just popped up out of the ground. I feel your pain. Where we're at now, I have to hunt & hunt to find some rocks. I want rocks to build up some flower beds. So far I have one small bed around my trumpet vine. I did get DH to to about a mile down the road in his tractor to bring me home a big rock. I would like to have a few more of these to make a rock garden out front.

I love all these pics!!!!

Wish my impatiens looked that good! And my watermelons are just small right now, what ones I actually have....lots of vines out there but not much fruit happening.

I never did get any watermelons out of my BTE garden. I do have a couple of plants that have revived once I cleaned out most of the pumpkin plants that had taken over my garden.


@lazy gardener ~ I didn't have any ants on my sunflowers, but they were all over my corn and my okra.


I ended up going back outside yesterday after the rain and weeded my whole garden. I had 2 1/2 five gallon buckets full of grass which I gave to the chickens.

I weeded my strawberry & asparagus beds this morning and my one lone blueberry bush. I had 2, but my daughter's dog decided he wanted to dig up my best one. I'll have to replace it this fall.

I cut some more sunflower heads to dry. Checked on some cantaloupe I have growing in my spare run. They are doing good since nothing but small flying bugs can get to them. I have some that are hanging on the fence. I watching to see if they will break off or hang on until ripe. If they stay on, I want to put up a cattle panel arch in my garden next year and grow them on it.

 

[lazy gardener]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cattle panels. Put a CP fence around my whole garden this spring. Keeps hubby and his mower out, and keeps my veggies in. Hope to get an other CP or two next season for tomato trellising. The world's easiest tomato trellis consists of 2 CP placed // to each other, with some horizontal laths, or ties as necessary to support the tomatoes as they grow up the middle. The spacing of the CP wires allow for easy access to harvest and tend the plants. Also provides good support to provide cold weather protection.

 

[henless]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cattle panels. Put a CP fence around my whole garden this spring. Keeps hubby and his mower out, and keeps my veggies in. Hope to get an other CP or two next season for tomato trellising. The world's easiest tomato trellis consists of 2 CP placed // to each other, with some horizontal laths, or ties as necessary to support the tomatoes as they grow up the middle. The spacing of the CP wires allow for easy access to harvest and tend the plants. Also provides good support to provide cold weather protection.

So you put 2 panels parallel to each other and grow the tomatoes in the middle. How close together, about a foot or 2? Not enough for you to get between them but you can reach through and plant your tomatoes I'm assuming? Those tomato cages are a joke. They aren't very sturdy and not nearly tall enough. My tomatoes always end up hanging over and cutting itself off. That's when they grow. This year blight got all but one of mine.