What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I finally ordered raspberry and grape plants. Some sun today. Next sunny day is Wednesday.

Where did you order your grapes from? I want to order a red and a green table grape, seedless if possible. I'm going to get some vines from my neighbor in a couple months.

I asked her what kind of grapes she has and she thought for a moment and said, "...purple...?"

 

[Iluveggers]

OMG just walked out my front door, and there was a CARDINAL trying to roost on my wind chimes! I quickly shut the door as not to startle him. He quickly flew to the small tree directly next to the porch. When I opened the door, he flew away. Wow. He was gorgeous. Cold and late for Cardinals not to be hunkered down. 6pm here.

 

[BReeder!]

Well it was cold and windy last night. Not a fun combo. Im seeing where I may need to have insulation re done on the house in some spots. Maybe get one of those places that blow it in and go do the attic or down the walls or however they do it for a few inches or however it works. The windows are fairly new so they are not leaking, but something is I can feel the chill and on my aching carcass, NOT fun.

i told paco i want to turn him into a talking pillow, big and fwuffy, he balked, so I grabbed a chicken and sat there with her snuggled in my lap. She calmed down and liked being pet real well, I was giving her some snacks too. Paco got all bent on that, so decided he could sit on my shoulder and be snuggly a little bit after all !!

one way or another I WILL have my feathered pillow !!

Aaron

Have a quality home inspector come in and do heat imaging - they can literally see all the hot/cold spots and show you right w where the problem is. A home inspector usually runs just a few hundred dollars, and could save you thousands in chasing the problem with a contractor doing insulation work.

 

[BReeder!]

DW and I cleaned up outside a bit. There's so some work to do, but we took down a10'x6' trellis and began extending our tunnel trellis. We pulled a bunch of dead weeds and dried up stems and burned them along with old wooden posts I cut up.
I'm debating on adding more raised beds. I still dream of a greenhouse too though and don't want to put beds in the only spot left where a greenhouse would make sense. I'll need to really think that through....

 

[Ascholten]

Have a quality home inspector come in and do heat imaging - they can literally see all the hot/cold spots and show you right w where the problem is. A home inspector usually runs just a few hundred dollars, and could save you thousands in chasing the problem with a contractor doing insulation work.

Thank you for that Idea. I happen to have the IR gun that they would use, we use them for checking transformers HV switches and stuff for hot spots. Just didn't dawn on me to look at the side of the house for hot / cold spots.

The insulation is original install and over 15 years old so, having more put in is not going to really hurt anything and the stuff does lose some of it's gusto after a while so I might do that anyways.

aaron

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

why distilled water when the soils you use have so many bacteria's etc in them. If they have been treated / heated to the point of being sterile then you pretty much killed them anyways. Is the water you are DRINKING... so toxic that you can't even get plants to grow in it? if so, then might want to find a different water supply.

Just curious
Aaron

I live in southern Iowa. We have some of the highest levels of runoff in our waters and the cancer rates are extremely high.

So yeah maybe.

I've noticed that in the garden it does fine with the water hose hooked to municipal water but does amazing with the well water or rainwater.
I was just trying to address the mold issue people are having. I used distilled water, and I didn't have any mold in my starts.

 

[Ascholten]

I live in southern Iowa. We have some of the highest levels of runoff in our waters and the cancer rates are extremely high.

So yeah maybe.

I've noticed that in the garden it does fine with the water hose hooked to municipal water but does amazing with the well water or rainwater.
I was just trying to address the mold issue people are having. I used distilled water, and I didn't have any mold in my starts.

municipal water may have residual chlorine, which is eeehhh. rain is clean except for the toxins in your air and well might have iron / sulphur or other trace minerals they love and why they are doing crazy.. The mold spores would be in the dirt already, or in the air really. If your water is causing mold to grow,you got a big problem there ! Now mold grows on damp surfaces that's a thing, but thats just cause of the water presence in general, not the type of water.

aaron

 

[Ascholten]

Funny...
I cut down the dead asparagus jungle, flattened that stuff out, pulled out all the stupid rose weeds, and mulched it in for the winter and next springs grow thru. The little hidey hole cove that little miss prissy was sleeping in, is no more. Suddenly she finds the coop 'acceptable' to sleep in again, with the rest of the flock. I do a butt count every night. I open the door reach my arm in and swing from left to right and I better get 5 grumbles, giggles or moans from 5 slapped butts or we are looking for stragglers

Aaron

 

[Swiss]

We were just laughing about this at RK the other day. They are fully stocked on seeds in January

I'm ok with it because I needed a few more seeds for my seed plan (and it really helps improve my mood just looking at the seeds and gardening stuff)! Menards has Burpee seeds, but for much cheaper than what is written on the packet; And some seed starting mix on really good clearance. They also had their "Whatever you can fit in one paper bag is an extra 15% off" sale. One of the bags of seed starting mix fits in a paper bag, with room for seed packets, so I got a decent amount of stuff for a decent price (especially since my hubby grabbed a paper bag and loaded another seed starting mix in it, then checked out separately)!

 

[pennyJo1960]

My go to for garden is Sunbird here and plants here won't be out till March. My tomato will be close to twice as big as theirs by then. Same with the pumpkin and zucchini.