What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

I transferred my baby chestnut tree into the ground, hopefully it grows well.
Also, I think I’m going to have litchi this year, yay View attachment 3443075

I'm jealous. I love litchi. Its rather expensive to buy here. Would be awesome to grow it.

 

[igorsMistress]

There are little apricots on the tree, about as big around as a dime, and the plums are beginning to set fruit. The lemon tree is blooming

 

[BReeder!]

View attachment 3442890

We actually had Internet problems that the Internet company couldn’t explain because of this.

Anyway, I figured I’d chime in. I’m starting to get my garden built for 2023 season. I’m building raised bed tomorrow.

Welcome to the group! I have raised beds here and continue to add more. We are up to 11 now and working on 3 more still. It's my preferred way to garden.

 

[BReeder!]

Not much gardening today other than checking if watering is need for the starts. It's wet out and chilly.

It is chaotic here...
Right now DW is at the doctor with DD - had a fever that broke yesterday and has been vomiting and having pain. She's just 3 so fully understanding what's going is challenging. Hope the doctor can figure it out - I'm thinking flu.
I'm trying to book dog boarding for our vacation. Crazy expensive...
Need to go to the store to stock up for our road trip.
Need to get the kids Water baskets put together - DS is 6 and said ge wants the Easter Bunny to bring him a tv for his room! Still not sure about that... DD will likely be happy with a Barbie and some slime.
And my old truck is STILL sitting in the garage waiting to be finished.

 

[gtaus]

This past week I built a pallet wood/reclaimed lumber 4-tier seed starting shelf to start growing some tomato and pepper plants. Just finished installing some LED shop lights to use as grow lights. From what I have learned, the shop lights might not be as good as "Grow Lights", but the lumens and K value of the LED shop lights are still within the range for grow lights. They should be OK for seed starts. Also, instead of paying $60 per grow light, I got these $20 LED shop lights on sale at Menards for only $10 each!

Been learning that I should sterilize the potting mix before planting the seeds. Watched a number of YouTube videos on fungus gnats that could hatch out in the potting soil if you don't sterilize it first. I think I will use the boiling water method to sterilize the potting mix.

However, one video mentioned that freezing the potting mix should kill any fungus gnat eggs. Is that true? I had my potting soil sitting out in the old Explorer for a few days in about 3F temps. When I brought the potting soil bag inside the house, it was frozen solid.

As for the seed trays, I still have not found anything other than my one 10X20 tray that has holes in the corners. I looked at our local stores and all they have is the really cheap plastic 10X20 trays which I cannot imagine will last very long before they are broken, ripped, or get holes in them too.

However, I dug out my "mini greenhouse" bins and think I will just use the cover of the storage bins instead of the 10X20 trays. I use the Hefty Hi-Rise 72 qt storage bins. For the greenhouse, you just flip the bin over and use the lid as the seed starting tray, and the clear bin becomes the mini greenhouse.

I bought these bins about 3 years ago for $10.00 each, but I see they are now $14.00 each at Target. Anyway, the lid on this storage bin is made of much heavier plastic than the 10X20 trays. Also, I did a mock up of how many of my 3-inch net pots I could get in a 10X20 tray compared to the lid of this Hefty Hi-Rise 72 qt storage bin. The 10X20 tray can hold 18 3-inch nets pots. The lid of the Hefty storage bin holds 35 3-inch net pots.

Bonus: I can get 2 of these lids on each of my seed starting shelf. Almost like it was custom made for the job.

If you are interested in making a "mini greenhouse" out of storage bins, I would highly recommend using these Hefty Hi-Rise 72 qt bins. There is an excellent 30-minute video on YouTube on what to look for if you want to make a mini greenhouse out of storage bins, and this guy walks you through a number of reasons why the Hefty Hi-Rise bins are his best choice. If the idea sounds interesting to you, I highly recommending watching the entire video before you go out and buy just any old storage bin. There are specific reasons why the Hefty Hi-Rise bins are better for the gardener.

I have 3 of these "mini greenhouses" made from Hefty Hi-Rise bins. What I have used them for in the past was for hardening off my store-bought plants before I took them outside for transplanting. I love the way that the lid locks on to the bin, so when you use it upside down as a greenhouse, the lid (now the bottom) is still locked on tight. It makes it really easy to transport my plants out to the deck and then bringing them back into the house and stacking them one on top of the other reducing the space required to keep them in the house.

Like I said, I think this year they will double up as my seed starting trays instead of using 10X20 trays.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning Gardeners, Jared welcome.
There is mud here bean boots mud.
Only gardening is in the spare room so are the horrible 3 I hatched.

 

[jerryse]

Saw 2 vultures. They are back. Planted tomato seeds. Just could not resist any longer.

 

[TJAnonymous]

So jealous of that view @WthrLady! One of these days you may find me sleeping in your chicken coop.

@TJAnonymous cute babies! Hows the rest of the hatch going?

I would love a greenhouse with bug netting, I did the 2 hoops last year covered in netting & it helped so much, no svb but the cucumber beetles did eventually find their way in. It was a bit of a pain, but well worth it.

@igorsMistress do you peel the ginger first?

DH is home.

I think I've gotten somewhere around 15 or 16 babies. I need to check them when I get home... I'm supposed to be selling all of them but I want to keep them SO BADLY!

 

[jnicholes]

Just finished building one of my 12x6 raised beds. I’m pretty exhausted. We’re building another one soon.

 

[igorsMistress]

@BReeder! I hope your DD is ok, poor kiddo!

Good morning Gardeners, Jared welcome.
There is mud here bean boots mud.
Only gardening is in the spare room so are the horrible 3 I hatched.

The horrible 3? What makes them horrible?