What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

So the cabbage worms have decimated my rutabaga this week. I didn't really want to pull them before the first frost, do you think I should? There isn't a bit of leaf left. Will they be ok? I had no idea how big they'd get so they outgrew my netting & the bugs got in & now I'm not sure what to do.

they might grow new leaves.

 

[WthrLady]

Two green wigglies this morning and one red tomato. All of which were given to the hens.

103 yesterday, MIGHT make it get to 67 today

 

[Elyrian1]

Low 90s/high 80s in the forecast. No rain. Lol. It's going to be that way for a while.

Hubby sent me a picture this morning. The office attached to the warehouse he works out of is full of striped hornworms this morning for some dang reason. I ID'd them as White lined sphynx moth caterpillars from the picture. He's not enjoying the hilarity though because as people come and go they are stepping on the things and... well we all know how meaty those hornworms are. Bug guts freak him out for some reason, poor guy.

I need to get out in a minute here and do my chores. Feed the chickens, collect the okra, inspect tomatoes. Now *both* cherry tomatoes have little fruit on them! They grew slowly allllll summer, and didn't set fruit until we were consistently under 95F. When we were in the triple digits for two weeks solid even the okra took a break.

 

[WthrLady]

Odd, as they don't usually lay eggs or swam in mass in numbers to be stepped on. They lay eggs on their food/
Are you sure they aren't a tent catepillar hatch out??

 

[gtaus]

Has anybody here ever attempted to remove a pepper plant from outside in the garden and have it over winter inside the house so it can be planted next spring? I have heard that this is possible, and that the plants grow faster and stronger the second year. If anyone has info on this, I would love to hear about it. Most of my money for the garden is buying new pepper plants every year. I would love to cut down on that cost if possible while at the same time getting stronger pepper plants and peppers ready to eat earlier in the summer. Thanks for any help.

 

[WthrLady]

It's easy. The hard part is remembering to water them on occasion and keeping them from freezing while overwintering. I failed last winter on both counts. Otherwise the plants come back bigger and stronger the year before, and have a head start.

 

[Acre4Me]

I dug up one sweet potato plant. It has been having yellowing leaves for a couple of weeks, so I figured I’d start there. Now I feel more confident with the impending cold weather. Some were close to the surface, but some were pretty low down in the dirt. Bc it was in a raised bed, it was hard to not damage some of the roots. The pic is just from one plant.

However, it looks like a couple if them split. This is a bed covered with plastic, so it’s not getting overwatered that I can tell. No tunneling, so I don’t think a rodent or bug either. Anyone have any experience with this kind of damage?

yes, the middle of the larger one was likely damaged by my shovel.

 

[Ascholten]

Has anybody here ever attempted to remove a pepper plant from outside in the garden and have it over winter inside the house so it can be planted next spring? I have heard that this is possible, and that the plants grow faster and stronger the second year. If anyone has info on this, I would love to hear about it. Most of my money for the garden is buying new pepper plants every year. I would love to cut down on that cost if possible while at the same time getting stronger pepper plants and peppers ready to eat earlier in the summer. Thanks for any help.

Yes it is very possible. It depends on the plant how well it will do. Some don't care and will keep growing inside, outside etc. Others like a Habanero for example will tantrum if you just look at wrong. Do know that on the second year, it's been my experience they don't often produce as many peppers, their pulp gets more woody, the peppers may get stronger as well, and their texture can get more 'fibrous'. Usually about year 4, most peppers tend to just fizzle out on their own, they get very stringy, not the healthiest anymore and you'd be better off just growing a new one from one of the seeds of the peppers you got from them in years past.

Aaron

 

[Fishychix]

Makes the soul feel good.
People have NO idea how 'good' that 'good' feeling really is.
Working your butt off all day on a project, even something fairly simple. (like this stupid Tilapia pond I am drowning in :/ )
But at the end of the day, when your 'work' has something to show for it, and it's something useful. It really makes you feel good. It's VERY motivational to go out and do more, and if you are on a diet or something that involves getting exercise, or do stuff to 'improve' your health. This kind of stuff is a HUGE motivator too !!

No you don't have to mindlessly lift weights for 90 minutes straight to make your arms stronger.
No you don't have to jog 4 miles to get your stamina up, (thus wrecking your knees ankles etc in the process bang bang banging on the hard pavement)

Load the back of your truck up with dirt. Shovel that one shovel at a time, one wheel barrow at a time, and wheel it 100 feet over to where you are putting your new coop / garden etc at. At the end of the day you are TIRED, your muscles are aching because you gave them one HELL of a workout. (umm yes shoveling 4000 lbs of dirt into and then back out of a truck, then moving it throwing it down, raking it etc IS a lot of work !!

At the end of the day, your garden is standing tall
At the end of the day, your chickens are happy because they have new dirt to rumble in
At the end of the day, you have a NEW tote or three of 'compost material' to work on
At the end of the day, you burned a LOT of calories, and have a LOT of GOOD stuff to show for it, you didn't have to deal with any NOT GOOD creatures of the 2 legged variety, and the most important
YOU FEEL GOOD

Now if could ONLY get the rottentoo to see the benefits of this and STOP trying to eat his harness when I try to bring him out, life would be perfect...

Aaron

I took on a second job at a garden center and this is one of the many reasons . Theres no way id get this amount and variety of exercise going to a gym. And, I get paid to do it. Now, if i Could just save this money (the whole point) and buy my "dream" property i would be all set. More animals, more garden, more expenses (bleh!), but more fun AND more rewarding.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Two green wigglies this morning and one red tomato. All of which were given to the hens.

103 yesterday, MIGHT make it get to 67 today

Omg... I bet you will be outside the entire day! I am so jealous... We do have a bit of a cool down coming but still no rain. The rain predicted for this weekend is only .04 inches and 30% chance. Doesn't inspire confidence. Let's hope the weather people are wrong. Grass and weeds are dying again. Ground is crunchy and dusty. Going on almost 3 weeks now without rain.