What did you do in the garden today?

[NanaK]

View attachment 3616354Meet Percy. He arrived around 11:00 this morning. Everyone is doing great. He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces!

What a blessing! He is beautiful!

 

[ShrekDawg]

View attachment 3616354Meet Percy. He arrived around 11:00 this morning. Everyone is doing great. He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces!

Adorable!

 

[Sammster]

View attachment 3616354Meet Percy. He arrived around 11:00 this morning. Everyone is doing great. He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces!

There he is! I had to FF through the posts to find your new baby. He is beautiful! Congratulations!
My 1st baby was 9# 3 oz. They got bigger, after that

 

[Sammster]

It was supposed to be thundershowers today, so I put my chicken coop painting project on hold for another day.

However, I got a little work done out in the yard. A few days ago, I finished burning out a stump from a tree I cut down last year. I had a little fire ring around the stump and burned junk wood in it last summer, then this summer. Finally, I put my burning barrel on top of the remainder of the stump, loaded it up with some trash wood, and was able to finish it off.

Today, I raked out the ashes and used my blower to clean it off. Ran my magnetic pickup tool over the stuff and picked up any stray nails or screws from the junk wood I burned. After all the metal was out of the hole, I took my mini tiller and started to work up the soil around the fire ring edge. Raked that old loose soil back into the hole to start the backfill. Then I got some good compost and soil mix I had in a cart and filled it level. Put down a bunch of grass seed on the top of the soil, then sprinkled a few more shovel fulls of dirt on top of the seeds.

Looked pretty good when I was done. All set for the rain. But it has not rained yet so tomorrow I might have to water everything. I guess I should have finished painting the chicken coop today. Lost opportunity there, but it really looked like it was going to rain hard any minute. Maybe it will rain later tonight when we are in bed.

It's always fun to finish off a stump burning operation and plant some new grass. Nothing left but a fading memory of the tree and stump. Most stumps are burned out in a few days, but this stump was very big and very hard to burn out. It was left over from last summer. But, little by little, I got it burned out.

Of course, now I am down to only one stump left to burn out, so I might take down a really big dead birch tree that is out in the front yard. I have 2 burning rings and like to keep them busy. Plus, the 55-gallon burning barrel if/when the stump is small enough.

But that big dead birch tree puts the fear in me because the trunk is bent, and nobody knows which way it wants to fall. Also, you can see on the base of the trunk that the wood is rotted. It looks like the tree could barber chair if cut down. That's very dangerous. I have cut down many trees over the years, but this one looks like trouble to me, and I don't know if I have the skill to take it down safely. Frankly, it can fall in any direction, and it would not matter, as long as it doesn't fall on me. But I don't like the looks of that rotted wood going into the trunk and have seen too many YouTube videos of the barber chair tree trunk kicking back on the guy with the chainsaw. So, I'm taking my time and studying this one particular dead tree.

Yikes. May be time to call in a professional on this one

 

[Sammster]

I picked a bunch of pears yesterday along with a couple tomatoes and a few cucumbers

Yum. Love pears. Wish we'd had space for fruit trees. Of course, I'm too old now

 

[igorsMistress]

View attachment 3616354Meet Percy. He arrived around 11:00 this morning. Everyone is doing great. He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces!

Congratulations to you all, what a cutie! I love his name.

 

[igorsMistress]

I use 12-inch-high fire rings around my stumps to contain the burning wood. The 55-gallon 3-foot-high burning barrel also works great. We need to have burning permits for open fires, but, as far as I know, small contained fires in a fire pit or fire ring are exempt. I would not use briquettes in an open fire because the wind could possibly blow ashes around. I have used briquettes for stump burning in the past. They work fine. But I have lots of junk wood that I need to use, so using it to burn out stumps is a good use of that wood. Cleans up the yard and I don't have to buy a bag of briquettes.

Very frugal

 

[igorsMistress]

I grow burpless & they actually are burpless! Maybe that's the trick? I grew the sweet success this year & they are great - even if they get way to big they aren't full of seeds. & are parthenocarpic so they can be covered.

I wash, slice on a mandolin, salt & let drain for like an hour & then add spices, a little oil for sure, maybe vinegar, maybe some parm cheese, cayenne, etc & then dehydrate. I refuse to waste anything I grow so it's a great use for them if we're sick of eating them.

It's so weird, we had the wettest July on record & now they're saying we may have an August with NO 90 degree + days - that never happens. It's just insane (not complaining). & then the rest of the country, it seems, is fighting this awful heat.

Awwww!!! Congrats! I love the name Percy - that's great.

I need to pick beans today & water. Maybe tie up a couple dahlias a little better.

I’m trying the cuke chips, haven’t ever thought of that!

 

[Sueby]

I’m trying the cuke chips, haven’t ever thought of that!

Cool. LMK what you think. I like the yellow squash ones the best. But DH stuffs anything he eats, by the fist full, in his mouth so he can't tell the difference.

 

[igorsMistress]

Cool. LMK what you think. I like the yellow squash ones the best. But DH stuffs anything he eats, by the fist full, in his mouth so he can't tell the difference.

I have done the squash before, both yellow annd zucchini, and love those. Have you ever tried tomato chips? OMG, so good! I like to use Roma for that.