What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Dug up the potatoes and prepped the bed for more planting. Not completely decided on what goes into it though.

Tied up squash. Fertilized the blooms that are under big netting. Fertilized a few melon flowers.

Lining up the new raised beds that are going between the fruit trees. We will plant raspberries in those beds.

 

[WIchickMama]

dug up potatoes and grabbed some green beans-too hot for anything else.

 

[Acre4Me]

Oh my... Compost "water" smells bad.

With al the rain the past few days, water from the compost pile was pooled up, so we took buckets and diluted it in half and gave some to many plants. Mostly to any that looked like they would like some fertilizer, so melons, squash, some tomatoes. Nothing got a whole lot of it, so not likely to burn anything. Too bad the smell wont deter the stupid squash bugs or cucumber beetles!.


Eggs: Yay! many of the young ones are now laying - I dont think they all are laying though. We have 18 from a Feb hatch, and I think maybe 4 (or 6) of the EE are laying, and maybe 3 (of 6) of the BA are laying. It is likely that all six or nearly all of the hybrid brown layer are laying - really nice darker brown eggs. The other 6 older hens are mostly laying.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm going to water the garden this evening since the "rain" last night didn't do any favors...

I should probably pull out the rest of the potatoes so the ants don't get them. Or the heat may make them rot... I did leave a couple walnut sized ones in the last bed I harvested, just to see if I get any volunteers next year.

I also transplanted 2 tomato starts from my 5 gallon bucket into a smaller container. I had at least 7 sprouts in the bucket. Pared it down to the best 3. They have all 3 been doing really well so I carefully dug up 2 and transplanted them. Now I have just 1 in the 5 gallon bucket. If the other 2 recover from their transplant shock and get a little bigger, I might move them out to the garden.

Yet ANOTHER snake was trying to raid mama duck's nest. I just gave her 4 eggs a few days ago! When I chased off the snake (tried to kill it but it went under my Silkie coop! ), I saw she only had 1 egg left! That's the last straw. I took her remaining egg inside and put it in the incubator. Then I destroyed her nest and disassembled the little playhouse where she had built her nest to begin with. Hoping that breaks her broodiness. She's been at this for 2 months now! The snakes have been so bad this summer. We usually have 1 or 2 show up each year but I've dealt with at least 6 myself in the past 30 days... Not sure how many DH has seen. I need an effective deterrent...

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I’ve not seen honey bees around here for a long time, but we do have a lot of wonderful bumble bees working hard pollinating everything. They love my lavender but I do find them in the gardens working on pollinating. So far the rain has been disappointing. Off and on sprinkle’s barely enough to keep the dust down. I found some leftover summer squash seeds I’m going to plant in with the okra and peppers tomorrow morning. I have some peas to plant after the white potatoes are finished which should be within the next few weeks.

 

[Sally PB]

I picked my first green beans today! I was weeding those rows and saw them. I ate 3 on the spot; I love green beans raw. I need to go out and pick anything that is ready.

Today I took all the pine shavings out of the coop and put them in the run. Some time this fall, I'll dig some nice compost out of the run for the garden. I put two bales of fresh shavings in the coop. It looks so clean and smells so nice and piney.

 

[Elyrian1]

About the bees... Over the last decade something like 70-90% of the wild European Honey Bee colonies in the US died for various reasons. Varoa mites, colony collapse disorder, fast/hard/unseasonable freezes, etc. I tried to get into beekeeping and couldn't get a hive to overwinter. Now I've got an empty hive that I'm hanging onto until I have property and can establish a large enough wildflower patch and garden/permaculture garden to sustain them. Even then, I might try something else.

A hybrid of what this dude is doing perhaps. Bottle-to-Bottle Honey Production | Contactless Beekeeping

I also wouldn't mind putting in a number of native bee houses when we get situated.

 

[high5]

This just hit me! I don't think or remember, seeing any honeybees in the garden so far this year. Maybe I've missed/overlooked but.... I have had an abundance of carpenter bees . Not in a forested area and the folk down the road who raised HB's sold out a few yrs ago. CBs seem to be doing a good job but I miss the HBs.

I know a beekeeper here in France who says that many bee colonies died during the winter. They're importing bee colonies from Romania, but there are so many orders that the Romanians can't keep up with the demand!

That's what I hear.

Could be similar to where you are?

It's devastating, if the bees are in decline, because we are dependant on them!

 

[TJAnonymous]

About the bees... Over the last decade something like 70-90% of the wild European Honey Bee colonies in the US died for various reasons. Varoa mites, colony collapse disorder, fast/hard/unseasonable freezes, etc. I tried to get into beekeeping and couldn't get a hive to overwinter. Now I've got an empty hive that I'm hanging onto until I have property and can establish a large enough wildflower patch and garden/permaculture garden to sustain them. Even then, I might try something else.

A hybrid of what this dude is doing perhaps. Bottle-to-Bottle Honey Production | Contactless Beekeeping

I also wouldn't mind putting in a number of native bee houses when we get situated.

Love that guy's idea about contactless beekeeping! I would LOVE to have bees but I don't have time to take on more right now. One can dream though! Maybe someday...

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I wanted to install bee hives when I moved onto this property but you need to have reliable electric fencing 24/7 to keep the bears out. I really prefer not to attract the bears. I do buy locally produced honey to support the local beekeepers.