What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

34' The bugs live on.

 

[Dadanga]

Today was spent moving the main stockpile of jungle mulch up to my little grove where the chooks don't go (maybe one day.) This talk about wicking beds had me thinking about the IBC we had laying around so thought stuff it, threw on the forks, chucked on the jib and craned it in there. I'll chop it down a bit but the idea is to fill the bottom with slotted ag pipe. I'm just not sold on what kind of material to use for the wicking media.

Torn between blue metal or river sand. I personally like blue metal as I think it'll be cleaner and then test fit the 380L grobag over the top and fill it full of good organic soil. Might use some of my own compost/jungle mulch and some bagged stuff from bunnings maybe. My dad likes Silverbeet so I might grow that in the smaller 200L half beds and something fruiting in the big IBC maybe.

Tomorrow will be spent planting out in that bed you can see already but there's some sort of sage/mint thing growing in the corner my brother must have put in before he left. Would of been nice groundcover but it's slow going. Smells like mint but it's kinda fuzzy.

Oh almost forgot. Bought some worms off a nice guy local so was able to reinstate two worm bins. I'm sort of on the fence about trying a subterranean worm farm because I have this big hard slotted crate that I could bury to the lid and then put the worms in there, put scraps in and have them distribute it in the garden; that would be the plan anyway!

I should have some pics of these new seeds I planted. Looks like the mesclun mix from fothergils is first cab off the rank. Kinda not surprised since it had 3 packets and one was labeled rocket. It really rockets along that's for sure. Tomorrow with the transplanting of seedlings I'll also use some worm wee I bought off the bloke and hopefully something survives!

 

[jerryse]

I have 4 pumpkins baking in the oven. Mowed some while they bake. I had an oddity when gutting pumpkins. One had no viable seed, Just paper thin blanks. I will explain how this happens. It in the Moschata group and likely pollinated by the C. pepo summer squash. Not compatible for making seed but will set fruit.

 

[gtaus]

Oh almost forgot. Bought some worms off a nice guy local so was able to reinstate two worm bins. I'm sort of on the fence about trying a subterranean worm farm because I have this big hard slotted crate that I could bury to the lid and then put the worms in there, put scraps in and have them distribute it in the garden; that would be the plan anyway!

Years ago, I tried to have a worm bin in a plastic tote. I killed all the worms. Pretty sure I overfed them and the box got too moist. Smelled really bad as the worms died. Totally my fault.

I now do all my composting with the chickens in the chicken run. They do a much better job than I ever did.

Someday I would like to try vermicomposting again, but I think I would build one of those stacking bin systems where the worms migrate into the top bin, and you harvest the worm castings from the bottom bins. That might work for me.

But it's not high on my list of things to do because I am really happy with all the chicken run compost I harvest every year from the chickens.

 

[fuzzi]

When I hear double-digging, I'm thinking some hard work. But I can see your method of double-digging in a raised bed would be much easier than an in-ground garden.

Since I got into building and using pallet wood raised garden beds, all my new raised beds are also 4X4 feet and 16 inches high. Not much bending over or reaching to maintain those raised beds.

As mentioned before, I sift all my compost, add it to the top of the existing soil in the raised bed, and sometimes I will use my small Ryobi 18v cultivator to mix it into the top ~4 inches. Hardly any work at all.

I probably could have dug a ditch with my trowel/garden knife, the soil is that loose.

I opened up my compost barrel yesterday, added dry leaves and partly decomposed yard clippings to the coffee grounds that were getting aromatic (my son just dumps the grounds in one side of the double barrel, I add the dry ingredients). I used WD-40 on all the gears and moving parts of the barrel, including the crank, and it turns easily now. Then I opened up the other side of the barrel, and gazed upon beautiful compost!

Isn't it pretty?

I scooped it out using my knife and a Folgers coffee container. Then I decided to save most of it for later use.

I used the trash can that used to hold wildbird seed (until fire ants decided to make a nest in a bag of seed ). I placed the can up on broken fire bricks so it's not directly on the ground, sprinkled a little ant poison in the bottom of the can, lined it with a black trash bag, then added the finished compost. Hopefully that will keep the ants from invading again!

I then added both dry (carb) yard waste and some green (protein) waste into the empty compost barrel compartment. If I remember to turn the barrel regularly I could have compost in a couple weeks, but I'll forget, I usually do!

Here's what I did with some of the compost:

It was cool, breezy, and overcast this morning. DH finished mowing the lawn while I attacked unwanted growth in the backyard. I should have taken before as well as after pictures, oh well. Use your imagination:

The area by the green trash can was full of tree saplings, 6' to 8' tall. They're now on the burn pile, to the left. What's left is mostly just tall weeds that I can hack down anytime.

Cleared out the wisteria, honeysuckle, and other vines that were trying to take over this area beside the shed.

I used my Milwaukee cordless hedge clippers and a pair of long handled pruning shears ("loppers"). I also used safety glasses and leather gloves, a necessity with the clippers. The clippers are tied with my cordless drill for favorite power tool.

And just as it started to drizzle I removed the netting from the turnip bed, as the leaves were pushing up against it! I put the little fence sections back, as a slight deterrent against nibblers

I'm tarred...

 

[pennyJo1960]

I just bought the fairy tail pumpkin seeds less than 5.00 look
forward to growing them next year.

 

[jerryse]

7 pints out of the canner and 7 more in. 7 waiting their 21 pints total.

 

[jerryse]

20 jars sealed all 19 one piece lids sealed. I had 2 wide mouth regular lids and one did not seal.

 

[FrannyNZooey]

Today I put house numbers on our garden bed. May be a little much, but it’s a helpful shorthand for the app I use, plus if DH want to know where something is, now I can just tell him the bed number! He’s not the best at distinguishing certain plants .

I also dug up one of our Thai basil and repotted it for the remainder of the season. It’s in the chick area now so they can have fun with it for however much longer it lasts.

 

[Dadanga]

Years ago, I tried to have a worm bin in a plastic tote. I killed all the worms. Pretty sure I overfed them and the box got too moist. Smelled really bad as the worms died. Totally my fault.

I now do all my composting with the chickens in the chicken run. They do a much better job than I ever did.

Someday I would like to try vermicomposting again, but I think I would build one of those stacking bin systems where the worms migrate into the top bin, and you harvest the worm castings from the bottom bins. That might work for me.

But it's not high on my list of things to do because I am really happy with all the chicken run compost I harvest every year from the chickens.

I sorta do that as well. I have a big mesh square that I'll dump stuff in for them to scratch around in. Although a lot of the manure from the quail go in there as well. I too gave up on my worms as one hot spell dried things out and I lost track of it and soon the ants moved in. I'm trying to be more dilligent this time around.

Today was kind of a recovery day from my previous day of loading out all the mulch in the heat and I got a bit of sun burn with it; serves me right for wearing a singlet. I need to order one of those big wide brimmed hats as the ones that bunnings sell are too small for my noggin. It's funny to see how the Tioga is going compared to the other variety because when I bought them, the Tioga wasn't even flowering. I can only imagine the mites excitement at seeing this big juicy fruit ripen. Jokes on them, chooks/quail won't discriminate and will happily eat their little asses along with the sweet sugary goodness.

I went out to bunnings and bibra lake soils to pick up a few supplies for the wicking bed. Oh and a brushless cordless saw for my ozito batteries that I used to cut through a 200L plastic drum that is now in halves. I saw that they have 8AH batteries and part of me wonders how much better it can get since I've only got 4AH batteries. I really want to try out their brushless angle grinder as I have an old cordless dewalt version that is on nicads? it's 1.5ah and it chews through the charge. I get more excited than those bloody mites waiting for their sugar hit at the thought of an angle grinder on a 8AH battery!

My experiment with these wicking beds will be drainage gravel vs river sand as the wicking media. Still kinda torn on what to use in the soil but part of me wants to mix in some of the jungle mulch since it has some cocopeat in it. I've got some egg infused compost that's still kinda smelly I'm hesitant to put in. I'll probably cut it with the mulch and some coco/perlite.

My new seeds are coming along. It's really cool to see Egyptian Spinach coming out of the blocks so fast and the Kankong is starting to break the surface. I know a certain golden laced wyndotte will remember the Kankong as she is pretty much the only chook from the start that is left. She is gorgeous though! I gotta get more pics of the chickens.

It's funny how the chocolate mint is spreading it's aphid army to the sorreno chillies. I gotta do something about them soon. Just going to rip them out of the rail and drown the entire thing in soapy water. I'm trying to think of what to use as airflow for the greenhouse. I'm thinking something mounted in a corner that just swings side to side.