What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

Hi all I’m about a hundred pages behind

I can't keep up with this thread and I come here almost every day. I am sure I am missing lots of good knowledge and things I would love to know by missing lots of postings.

 

[Sueby]

I would just scramble the broken eggs and feed them back to the chickens - if the eggs are not fit for my consumption. And yes, I've broken a few eggs over the years. My egg collection basket is nothing more than an empty ice cream pail. However, if I break any eggs, all the stuff stays in the pail, so I have the option of frying up those scrambled eggs for the chickens. Then I just wash out the pail for the next day.

Funny how when you raise chickens and collect eggs yourself that each and every egg seems to have more value to me.

The basket, of course, flipped over on the way down & unfortunately I can't bend (spine surgery) so they went to waste. Washed em away with the hose. I'd have let the dog eat them normally, but he's not been feeling well.

 

[Smokerbill]

I like to think I'm the better for having fixed something myself. Replacing the solenoid on a lawn mower is not considered a major repair that requires lots of experience. I had no problem understanding what and how to replace the solenoid. My only problem was with where the solenoid was located and how I could get to the mounting bolts. Maybe you need special tools for that particular mower?

In the end, it took me 3 hours messing around with it before I got it done. The minimum repair shop bill is now over $100. So, I'm OK with having done it myself. Also, the shop was backed up for 3 weeks, so I"m real happy to have my rider back in action, now, and not sometime in mid to late July.

Congrats on replacing the solenoid! Next time you'll be able to replace it in no time at all.

And I know you seem to do Hugelkultur with all your beds, at least the ones you've been showing here. I'm not sure where I read it, but it seemed like valid information.

Collected eggs & put them on the garden bench to take a quick walk thru the garden & fill the critter water - called the dog over for a drink & his chain knocked over the whole basket of eggs & smashed them to bits.

Wrapped some bean runners on the trellis. Cukes tiny fruits are flowering but no males yet. Saw a few bees on the wildflowers. Still need to get DH to pick some rhubarb.

Still nasty humid out, hear the smoke is coming back this way. Joy.

Can you stick a plant in the ground where the eggs got dumped? Sounds like a well fertilized little piece of ground.

I guided a few bean runners to their trellis a couple days ago and man, those things grow fast when they have something to climb. One looks like it's wrapped its way up the trellis 6 inches or so in just two days.

 

[Smokerbill]

I'm going to be doing a little experiment tomorrow or Friday. I'm getting a bottle of rooting hormone from Amazon, which I've wanted to have for years. Just been too cheap to buy it.

But I found a native red huckleberry plant at the edge of my woods and decided to try to root some cuttings from the plant. I read that this is the time of year to do that, so the timing is right.

I asked my daughter in law if she wanted some of the red huckleberry starts and she seemed pretty excited about getting some. If they root, I'll plant several more along the lawn/woods border. Maybe they'll start producing in 10 years. LOL

The berries are pretty small, about half the size of a pea. But they have a nice sweet-tart flavor. And the wild birds like them too, so I doubt there will be many for me to eat. And that's ok!

Pics of the red huckleberry....

 

[gtaus]

The basket, of course, flipped over on the way down & unfortunately I can't bend (spine surgery) so they went to waste. Washed em away with the hose. I'd have let the dog eat them normally, but he's not been feeling well.

That's too bad about the eggs. Worm food, I guess.

A number of weeks ago I met a couple while picking up some pallets. The wife was recovering from surgery, and she was unable to bend over at all. They were going to make pallet wood raised beds using the full pallets so she could continue to garden but not have to bend over. That would be a lot of soil to fill in a full pallet sized raised bed, but they had a tractor with a front loader bucket.

A few years ago, I built 3 sub-irrigated elevated planters that are 3 feet high. The bottom 3 inches of the planter holds about 15 gallons of water. A person does not need to bend over to maintain that garden, and the water reservoir only needs to be refilled maybe once a month in a normal summer with average rainfall. It's a very low maintenance planter that I grow beans in out on our deck. We love beans.

Picture of my sub-irrigated elevated planter full of beans last fall....

 

[Smokerbill]

That's too bad about the eggs. Worm food, I guess.

A number of weeks ago I met a couple while picking up some pallets. The wife was recovering from surgery, and she was unable to bend over at all. They were going to make pallet wood raised beds using the full pallets so she could continue to garden but not have to bend over. That would be a lot of soil to fill in a full pallet sized raised bed, but they had a tractor with a front loader bucket.

A few years ago, I built 3 sub-irrigated elevated planters that are 3 feet high. The bottom 3 inches of the planter holds about 15 gallons of water. A person does not need to bend over to maintain that garden, and the water reservoir only needs to be refilled maybe once a month in a normal summer with average rainfall. It's a very low maintenance planter that I grow beans in out on our deck. We love beans.

Picture of my sub-irrigated elevated planter full of beans last fall....

View attachment 3558954

So, I'm not familar with sub irrigated beds. Is there a pan or container in the bottom of the bed to hold water?

 

[gtaus]

Congrats on replacing the solenoid! Next time you'll be able to replace it in no time at all.

Unfortunately, no. That solenoid was just in a place on the machine that was next to impossible for me to access. I understood how to replace the solenoid, but the mechanics of where the solenoid was mounted was just terrible. Sometimes I think these companies decide to put easily fixable items by the owner in places that just discourage anyone from trying to maintain their own stuff. I don't think I would have an easier time in the future unless there is some way to remove the seat and mount - which I considered - but the metal was welded to the frame as far as I could see.

And I know you seem to do Hugelkultur with all your beds, at least the ones you've been showing here. I'm not sure where I read it, but it seemed like valid information.

Yep, good info to consider. I'm already searching for more info about hügelkultur beds and perirenal plants. Thanks.

 

[jerryse]

Unpacked and did a grocery run. Bought some bulk Jade bush bean seed. Seems the best option covering the row with old wire cages with one side removed and faced down. I so wanted to pick pole beans while standing. Watering and moving the sprinkler around.

 

[gtaus]

So, I'm not familar with sub irrigated beds. Is there a pan or container in the bottom of the bed to hold water?

Found some info from older posts that help....

...What I built were some elevated sub-irrigated planters on legs. So, the planter had wooden sides and bottom. I stapled in a pond liner inside the planter to make a water reservoir. ...

The pond liner is one the major expenses in the building of my elevated sub-irrigated planters. ...

You put 4 inch drain pipe inside the bottom of the planter and have an overfill hole drilled into the planter about 3 inches from the bottom. That way, if you get heavy rains, you don't drown the planter. The soil will wick up the water from below while at the same time the plants' roots will grow down to the water reservoir.

You can't see the PVC fill pipe and water level float I have on this planter because it was covered with leaves in this picture. When I need to refill the planter, I just stick the garden hose into the fill pipe and let the water run until I see it coming out the overfill hole that I drilled into the end of the planter about 3 inches off the bottom.

I really like these elevated sub-irrigated planters. They have a water reservoir of 3 inches in the bottom, which amounts to about 15 gallons. In a normal summer with average rainfall, I only have to refill the planter maybe 2-3 times. Not only does that make things easy for me, but the plants never go dry or get overwatered in this system. The roots just take up water when they need it.

I built three of these elevated sub-irrigated planters about 5 years ago. ... What has held me back on building more of these elevated sub-irrigated planters is the cost. They produce the best crops, but they also cost more than any other of my regular raised garden beds. When I built these planters, the cost was about $75.00 per planter which included the wood, drain pipes, PVC filler pipe, and the pond liner (which I already had).

If I were to build new sub-irrigated elevated planters today, I would most likely use pallet wood for the framing and maybe just buy a large plastic storage tote for the planter per se. Then just drill an overflow hole in the tote. Lay down the 4 inch drain pipe and you are mostly done.

It's cheaper to buy a plastic tote than buying a large sheet of pond liner. (Like I said, I already had the pond liner so I did not have to buy any.) The large 40 gallon totes cost about $20.00 each on sale. But they make excellent planters. The manager at Menards tells me that they sold out all their totes to people who use them as planters. Much cheaper option than their plastic planter kits that cost over $100 at the store. Just buy the tote of the same size for a lot less.

I like the look of wood out on my deck, so I would build a pallet wood frame and put the plastic tote inside. I can get the pallet wood for free. I think I paid something like $40-$50 for the wood on my original builds.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Not being able to bend I started my garden in tires.
Each uear we fresh the dirt in the tires, little chicken poop little garden dirt.
When I bend may fall my balance is not great.