What did you do in the garden today?

[ChicksnMore]

Is your name Mindy??? One hundred brownie points if you understand this reference....

Buttons! Silly puppy!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

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...

Peafowl eat snakes. Maybe you need a mongoose.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I dropped my feed bucket and my jaw when I looked over the garden fence and saw the sprayer nozzle on the end of the hose spraying a nice plentiful arc over my freshly planted potatoes (I know, very very late and they probably won't make it anyway). There was a nice new pond 12' wide and 6" deep in the potato patch, and a little river running off through the fence and weeds, carrying a truckload of topsoil (and compost) with it.
And I recently participated in a thread about water conservation. Ha.
I'm not having a good day.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I am blown away at the volume of cucumbers I am getting from just 3 plants!!!
I'm gonna need to make pickles again  before i ever even get to try the ones i just made (Granny's recipe calls for em to sit 3 weeks before eating!)
Tomatoes are s l o w l y ripening....so rather than risk critter attack I'm twisting them once they are showing red and bringing inside!
I really regret not planting more beefsteak! I scared myself with that jungle of em last year so only did 6 and only 2 are producing or existing...idk where the others went lolol!

 

[Wolfie2]

We didn't do squat in the garden today! We (Me & Mrs Wolfie2) decided to go fishing instead. Caught a few fish but not much we really wanted to put on the grill. 1 sand trout and 6 blue crabs. At least we have dinner for tonight!
Happy gardening and tight lines! Wolfie

 

[esturtz27]

On the subject of contactless beekeeping...if you are inside the United States and have hives they must be able to be inspected, which means getting into the hive itself and taking samples for things like foulbrood, mite population and a honey sample. I have 5 hives, by state law they must be marked and registered, by federal law they must be able to be physically inspected.

This is just an fyi...I'm not trying to be snarky, just don't want anyone to get fined. Also there are alot of aspects contactless beekeeping leaves wanting.

 

[WthrLady]

@BarnyardChaos When I forgot to turn the hosepipe off one night, I came up with a solution. (THe spigot is not on the path between the house and garden.) I got one of those spiral, plastic keyrings and hung it on the spigot. WHen the water is on, the band in on my wrist. When I turn it off, I place it back on the spigot. If I make it in the house still wearing it, I know I have to turn around.

 

[589205]

Black Swallowtail caterpillar:

 

[WthrLady]

I had a beautiful swallowtail fly by the window today. It was promptly snatched by a barn swallow. SIGH.

 

[Swiss]

Yourbhelper looks like a dog I had years and years ago named Silly Puppy

She certainly is a silly puppy!

@BarnyardChaos When I forgot to turn the hosepipe off one night, I came up with a solution. (THe spigot is not on the path between the house and garden.) I got one of those spiral, plastic keyrings and hung it on the spigot. WHen the water is on, the band in on my wrist. When I turn it off, I place it back on the spigot. If I make it in the house still wearing it, I know I have to turn around.

I bought one of those citronella coiled wristband things for $0.55 at Menards a few weeks ago because of you suggesting this last year. It is definitely helpful!