What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Hey all.

I had to cancel my chick order. I won’t be able to bend to care for them yet. My little integration coop is like 2.5 feet off the ground & we all know babies require lots of bending the first few weeks. So I ordered some POL pullets locally. A lot less care required. I do worry about bringing in disease, but the other 3 times I’ve gotten birds from there they’ve been healthy.

This winter is redic! We have had 2 inches of snow. I’ve never seen such a warm winter. The bugs & ticks ought to be out of control this summer. I still have lettuce growing outside, that is unheard of in Jan.

 

[Ascholten]

It's been colder this year than I remember seeing in times past. My apple trees are covered in blooms. Not a leaf to be seen anywhere just flowers. WIth that being said there is NO reason for my peach, apples, pears, etc, those who need cold hours. to NOT product this coming season, we got plenty of CA's on them this season. I think im going to start with the fertilizing about early feb, to get them hot shotted and all healthy and fed to hopefully produce a ton for me!

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

Don't know if this will help, but I just posted an idea on my Show Me Your Pallet Projects! thread. Here it is...

Scrap Wood Idea - Making Square Paper Seedling Pots - Quick, Easy, and Biodegradable

I'm currently making seedling pots out of all kinds of materials, like empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls. I have some plastic containers that I might be drilling holes in to see if I can make some air-pruning seedling pots out of them. Just experimenting with anything I have around the house and shop that might be good for planting seeds.

Tangentially connected to Pallet Wood Projects, this following video uses a couple scraps of wood to make a form/jig used to fold the paper pots. It's kind of a two-fer in that it's another pallet/scrap wood project plus you can make square paper pots for early planting of seeds. Since this thread originally spun off the gardening thread, I hope someone here might find this video useful. Here it is...

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate your willingness to help out a fellow gardener!

I did the toilet paper pots last year (below). These started out well but after a few weeks they started getting moldy or just simply fell apart. I'm hoping that using soil-less plugs will help dissuade the mold problem as well as make it easier to tell when it is time to move them to a bigger pot or the ground. I also ordered some Cowpots to try those this year as well!

 

[TJAnonymous]

It's been colder this year than I remember seeing in times past. My apple trees are covered in blooms. Not a leaf to be seen anywhere just flowers. WIth that being said there is NO reason for my peach, apples, pears, etc, those who need cold hours. to NOT product this coming season, we got plenty of CA's on them this season. I think im going to start with the fertilizing about early feb, to get them hot shotted and all healthy and fed to hopefully produce a ton for me!

Aaron

Our weather is being extremely bipolar. It was 26 degrees this morning. Tomorrow it will be near 70. I'm sure it will swing the other way again in a week or so. I'm hoping my fruits don't get suckered by the mild weather and start budding out....

 

[Iluveggers]

Hey all.

I had to cancel my chick order. I won’t be able to bend to care for them yet. My little integration coop is like 2.5 feet off the ground & we all know babies require lots of bending the first few weeks. So I ordered some POL pullets locally. A lot less care required. I do worry about bringing in disease, but the other 3 times I’ve gotten birds from there they’ve been healthy.

This winter is redic! We have had 2 inches of snow. I’ve never seen such a warm winter. The bugs & ticks ought to be out of control this summer. I still have lettuce growing outside, that is unheard of in Jan.

I’m sorry @Sueby but glad you found some new pullets. What breed are you getting? If you still want a few chicks later in the year, maybe put a small brooder like a large rubbermaid tote, on a tabletop? I hope you heal quickly!

 

[Sueby]

I’m sorry @Sueby but glad you found some new pullets. What breed are you getting? If you still want a few chicks later in the year, maybe put a small brooder like a large rubbermaid tote, on a tabletop? I hope you heal quickly!

Thank you for the well wishes. The pullets are ‘Our Brown Egg Layers area healthy cross between a White Rock egg-layer type female and a Rhode Island Red male.’ so they are a production/RSL type. They are friendly & good producers, though they don’t live too long. I have 1 of these left & she is 4. But they live a good life here & they suit my chicken goals so it’s all good. Quite honestly I was born with no mothering gene, lol, so not raising chicks isn’t a heartbreaker!

 

[Sueby]

& I said it’s been warm but I just got a text from DH saying ’don’t even think about setting foot outside, the deck is a sheet of ice’. But it was 60 yesterday. Maybe Mother Nature is going thru the change, she seems a bit erratic for everyone!

 

[Ascholten]

Let's be honest.
Mother Nature is on the Rag and we ALL are paying for it !!

It's barely above freezing and the wind is about 15 mph or so and COLD. Took the cop cover off my tilapia tank, ok point noted, need to anchor it down better, so fixed that. Getting LOTS of power when the sun is out, due to the cold. I think what I may end up trying to see how well it works, when the batterys get cold, ill just crank the heat up to max, get the entire house all warm and cozy, that way come night time it's got a bit of a buffer before it really needs to start kicking in Honestly, Ive proven already that I can get by on a 1500 watt heater. Just heat the main bedroom, move the birds in if needed, the chickens in the shower, the too on his perch and we can survive the nuclear winter apocalypse.
One other thing I used to do, but sadly it don't work well anymore is, I do the cryptocurrency thing, when you turn a mining computer up, it can put out some heat !!

Back in the days, Id move all my CC miners up in my bedroom, they'd keep it nice and toasty, but instead of just burning your electric thru a wire and paying for it, I was getting the same heat wise for it, but it was mining coins, so i'd get PAID to heat the house. Hell even if it broke even I'd be happy. Hell, even when it only cost half as much as just electric heat, I was happy. Not worth it anymore, as it's so hard to mine anymore cause everyone is doing it now. I can still make about 50 cents a day mining coins but it's to the point where it's almost not worth the hassles anymore, then uncle same wants to stretch you out on taxes and crap now...

Maybe I need to do a new coin, call it the CHIcKen coin. Proceeds get split across the miners to help upkeep their chickens. You mine it for heat for your coops, and get tractor supply or one of the big chains to offer, say a 5 percent discount to shop there with the coin, (which brings business to them so makes it have value) (which SAVES you money, which makes it have value). skim a slight percentage off the top and open up a big 'chicken rescue farm' where unwanted birds can come. From there they are taken care of, in whichever way that needs to be

Aaron

Don't give a buck, give a cluck.

 

[Sally PB]

Mother Nature is on the Rag and we ALL are paying for it !!

Yup. (snicker)

Oh. My. Goodness. It. Is. Sunny.

Honestly, truly, really SUNNY!

First time this year.

To celebrate, I'm going to order the rest of my garden seeds.

 

[gtaus]

I had to cancel my chick order. I won’t be able to bend to care for them yet. My little integration coop is like 2.5 feet off the ground & we all know babies require lots of bending the first few weeks.

Well, it sounds like you worked out a solution for you. Just wanted to express my sympathies for your situation and understand how one's body can prevent them from doing even simple things at times. My aging body reminds me of that fact daily. Yet, we all strive to find workarounds so we can enjoy those things in life that bring us pleasure.

My whole chicken set up, from the start, was designed so that I would not have to bend over. Even my brooder, which is a tow behind garden cart for the lawn mower, is high enough that I don't have to bend over to tend to the chicks. I don't know what your integration coop is like but was wondering if it was possible to put it higher up on concrete blocks, or something, so you don't have to bend over.

I'm also a RN, in my previous work life. When I know I will be doing something that is going to bring on the aches and pains later, I might take an aspirin, or two, about 15-20 minutes before I go to work. It seems to ease the pain and aches that otherwise would result from the effort. In nursing, we call it staying ahead of the pain. I never did that when I was younger, but I am at an age where I need to think about myself first in order to make sure I can take care of my animals.