What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

Velociraptors, period.

That's what I call mine every time they run after me when they see me carrying something outside...

 

[karenerwin]

Look at how huge these spinach leaves are! I harvested them from my garden today.

I also got a zucchini, this time from my home garden.

This is a picture of 8 or 9 out of the 10 chicks that hatched on the 10th of May. They decided to roost on the branch pile I have in the chicken run.

Today was my daughter’s baby shower.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I didn't go out to the garden this morning like usual because I was running late for church. Ended up going out there late this evening to discover my main spaghetti squash is completely wilted and dying. It's like the entire plant collapsed. No idea what happened... I've been watching it closely for squash bugs. And it's inside the hoop house so not affected by SVB. I'm thinking something caused it from underground.... It had 2 nice sized fruits on it too!

On a more positive note, I had the best strawberry I've ever tasted in my life today. It was a small Honeoye from the new strawberry barrels... Omg, it was incredible. Sweet and a little tart all at the same time. If more of them taste that good, I'll definitely make up another barrel! Amazing...

I also got to taste a small handful of the pink lemonade blueberries this evening. Not as good as my Honeoye strawberry but still pretty yummy! I think I'll plant another one of those too!

Lastly, I had to put a sickly stray cat to sleep that my mom had been caring for before she died, along with her 2 elderly dogs. I was heartbroken to do it but had no choice. Sobbed the entire time. The dogs are being cremated. I will put their ashes with my mom's cremains. Anyway, I buried the stray, named OC (stands for orange cat), near my garden and planted a pink mimosa tree over her.

 

[littledog]

I now have a little "Squirrel Town" set up for them and dare I say...I'm actually enjoying the little buggers now. I may have even named a few ...and set up a trail cam to squirrel watch, LOL!

Have you ever seen Mark Rober's "U-toob" squirrel videos? He's an engineer who's built different obstacle courses for them - very creative and SO funny!

 

[littledog]

My first raised beds, about 15 years ago, were just landscaping timbers stacked two high - about 7 inches. That was great back then. But I can tell you, as I get older, my16-inch-high pallet wood raised beds require less bending over and is easier on me.

Agree - mine are fine for at least a few more years (and so is my back, at least most of the time) but as they start needing to be replaced I will definitely go higher, like yours. I've kept them low up to now because I'm cheap as well as lazy, so getting enough material to to fill them with, and then filling them - ugh.

 

[littledog]

OH! I took pictures of the possible grape yesterday. What do you all think: grape or not grape?

Definitely grape! Prepare for tons of them!

 

[gtaus]

Agree - mine are fine for at least a few more years (and so is my back, at least most of the time) but as they start needing to be replaced I will definitely go higher, like yours. I've kept them low up to now because I'm cheap as well as lazy, so getting enough material to to fill them with, and then filling them - ugh.

No matter how high I make my raised beds, I only use 6-8 inches of topsoil in each bed's top layer. Everything underneath that top layer is hügelkultur wood, branches, wood chips, and organics. Honestly, when I put in the tree trunks in the bottom layer, that fills up a lot of room and is not that hard for me. Then the smaller branches are really easy. I like to use old wood chips to fill in the gaps and cover all those tree trunks. Then a layer of organics of leaves, grass clippings, unfinished compost, etc... Finally, I only have to shovel in maybe 6-8 inches of topsoil/chicken run compost mixed 1:1 on top.

I expect the soil level in the hügelkultur raised beds to drop maybe an inch or two every year due to the organic layer and some of the wood below decomposing. I just top off the bed with fresh compost from the chicken run to bring it back up to the top. So, the raised bed is actually fed from below with the decomposing materials and from the top with the fresh chicken run compost.

A few weeks ago I went to a pallet pickup spot to get some more wood. I met a couple (older than me) and they were loading up lots of pallets in a nice trailer about twice the size of my small utility trailer. So, I asked them what they were going to do with all those pallets. They said they were going to make raised beds, full pallet height using the full pallets, because the wife had hip surgery and could not bend over even for something like a 16-inch-high raised bed. In their case, they had a tractor with front bucket and were going to just dump in loads of dirt into the full pallet raised beds. I think it's great that people are able to make accommodations to their gardening needs so they can continue to enjoy the hobby.

 

[Paz]

View attachment 3537540

my first ever grapes ( red) I love grapes ! But I fear, the birds will harvest them before I can
we haven’t had any rain for the last 5 weeks or so ( driest May in recorded history, and June hasn’t brought any rain at all) and now we’ve had a week of temperatures around 30 C, can’t wait for some rain! The ground is baked, so when I start watering, it just runs off, I should hoe it, but can’t cos I waiting to get both hips replaced …

Cover the grapes in paper bags, or nets.

 

[Paz]

Anybody know of a good brand of outdoor sandles? I absolutely destroy them every year. Haven't been able to find a pair that lasts more then 1 season for 5-6 yrs. Getting tired of the flip flop effect of a broken one.

View attachment 3538357

Yes, it’s called Sandalei Shoresh.
That’s the thing

I much prefer shoes though. Have fun .

 

[Paz]

Picked the garlics, watered everything. Threw some chicken shit over it. I’m going to have to say goodbye to the tomatoes, they have earned the respectful “curling leaf blight”. I also need to plant corn.