What did you do in the garden today?

[APK1]

Welp, despite my valiant attempt to cover everything I thought was vulnerable for our "freeze" here in San Antonio at the beginning of the week....only my small herbs survived. I lost my squash, tomato, ALL of my basil, and a purple bell pepper plant that I had been nursing along for quite a while.

I just got done pulling out the dead stuff (I left it all in there for a couple days on the off chance it survived) so I'm pretty bummed. I think my hibiscus tree will be ok, she is pretty close to the house and I think the ambient warmth kept her alive. Hopefully.

I've got some seeds started, and those are popping up pretty quickly, and I got a bunch of seed packets I keep organizing and re-organizing hoping spring gets here quickly. It is supposed to be rainy and balmy through next Tuesday or so, which is a good, I don't have to water. LOL.

Oh well, just another opportunity for me to dig more in the dirt I guess.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[Bugseye]

You've had some crazy weather there. At least here in northern Idaho we expect frigid conditions and snow, and we've got plenty. Everything's under a blanket of fluffy white.

 

[dan26552]

I got books!!!!! e

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Gonna post this vid that @lazy gardener posted on my own forum the other day to give you all some ideas for winter composting with your chickens. If you can't do it in your coop or run, there are other ways to do it effectively. This is sort of what Joel Salatin does with his beef barn and utilizing pigs to aerate it in early spring as they search for the fermented/sprouted grains.

I'm going to utilize some of this guy's idea but modify it to suit my own physical capabilities and needs for a winter space of foraging for the chickens by placing the leaf pile in a large bin area formed by pallet wood and build a frame on top of it to fasten some cattle panel hoops to so I can open or close a hoop topper on this pile at will...this will allow me to cover it with plastic in the winter so that the chickens can still forage through it without the worry of deep snows covering the leaves. It will also contain the pile better so I can keep it at a certain depth....my chickens can scatter a pile like he has in short order and I don't want to have to chase my compost all over the place.

By spring I ought to have some really nicely composted leaves I can then plant something into right there in the leaf bin, while the CP topper will allow me to be able to keep the chickens out of that space during the warmer months....thinking of planting taters in that space.

 

[dan26552]

The tomato cuttings I took either late october or early November are looking good! It was over 80 yesterday.

 

[lazy gardener]

OOOOOHHHHHH!!! I like it, Bee. If you cover those CP hoops with a green house tarp... just think of the possibilities. I am thinking of doing a similar thing in my bird's sunroom. This is not yet closed in on the north, though shielded somewhat with a single pallet. I want to get 2 pallets in place, and some plastic, then can put leaves and such in the sunroom "footprint" (~ 8' x 10') The frame of the sunroom is made up of a swing set frame for stability with 2 x 4's attached to make it into a sort of lean to with a salt box shaped roof. Green house tarp on the east, south, and the roof gives a fair amount of protection on the west. The girls can fly from their pop door to the 2 x 4 framing that is about 12" off the ground. Funny how they will work so hard to not touch the ground before they get to the "sun room". Kind of like me as a kid. I'd dive across my bedroom to avoid touching the floor, so I could land on the bed. Monsters under the bed, don't you know???!!!

 

[dan26552]

These will years sweet potato slips, from this years potatoes that were too small to eat. (Sorry about the lighting. :/)

 

[dan26552]

I think I'm really going to love this book.

The table of contents

Different tomatoe varieties.

 

[GardenNut]

You're going to enjoy your new books Dan! My daughter gave me Peter Hatch's book "A Rich Spot of Earth" about Jefferson's gardens at Monticello.

 

[dan26552]

You're going to enjoy your new books Dan! My daughter gave me Peter Hatch's book "A Rich Spot of Earth" about Jefferson's gardens at Monticello.

I think so, I mean it's 300 pages about tomatoes!

Nice!