What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Funny you say that, my local FB page has been talking about the lack of birds, squirrels & chipmunks this year & they've been saying it's not a local thing - it's all over the country. I have noticed a lack of chipmunks, but I attributed that to the pair of gray fox that moved in. Some have mentioned wildfires, climate change, etc. Weird.

They're all here. I'm up to my eyeballs. Well, not with squirrels, we didn't have those to start with.

 

[WthrLady]

Vinegar? Bleach? Maybe put one of those scented dryer sheets in it, and close it up for a few weeks.

Odoban or Oxine

 

[chickengr]

Pine and spruce are our main trees where I live. Maybe I was lucky in that I was successfully using pine and spruce wood for a few years in hügelkultur raised beds before I read that article not to use it!

Based on my personal experience, I have not seen any negative effects of using pine or spruce wood in my hügelkultur raised beds. Maybe it's the plants I grow in the raised beds don't care? Maybe the plants roots are in the top 6-8 inches of soil and don't go much deeper down to the base where the hügelkultur wood is located?

they say we should not use pine shavings either. that's the only wood shaving we have here so we all use it in the garden without any problem. maybe we should read less and work more, lol.

 

[chickengr]

It's even better that we were successful in growing that tropical food in Zone 3b!



Well, I was born and raised in Minnesota. I have lived in southern states and even in the tropics during my time in the military. The tropics were far too hot for me, and even the southern states were uncomfortable for me in the summertime. So, when I left the military, I chose to go back to Minnesota. Maybe we all have a preference for where we were raised?

As to fruit trees, I planted a number of fruit trees about 20 years ago, but the deer ate them in the wintertime and killed them. I never replanted them because I did not want to build a high fence in my yard to keep the deer out to protect the trees. That would have cost me a lot more money than the fruit we would ever use. Plus, it would have been a real pain for me to mow around.

Anyways, I am OK sharing the land with the wild deer and it gives me something small to complain about from time to time. They just ate the tops off my pepper plants this year. They took a few bites into the eggplants but did not like them. They love kale if it is still growing this time of year. I don't mind the occasional deer walking through the back yard. Kind of why I chose to live here.

I was born in zone 7b and don't like the cold weather. I now live in zone 9a and I am really happy here. winters here are like spring with just about up to 2 weeks of snow if the winter is hard. I can grow many fruit trees and keep my garden alive year round.

 

[chickengr]

As an RN, I have had many patients with bad backs. I did not want to end up like them. I started moving all my in-ground gardening to raised beds, at first only 6 inches high, but now all my raised beds are 16 inches high.

I don't have a bad back, but I don't want to end up with a bad back either, so I do lots of things to proactively protect myself knowing that I am not getting any younger. If I find a way to reduce the stress on my back or make a job easier by doing it at waist level instead of bending over, then I go for that option.

Lots of people with back pain issues don't get much relief. Many doctors are afraid of prescribing medication for back pain. There are too many people hooked on pain meds seeking more prescriptions. Also, doctors have to worry about someone getting hooked on their pain meds. Nobody wants to lose their license, so it's much easier for the doctor not to prescribe heavy potentially addictive pain meds and risk losing their license.

I know of a guy who had a history of drug abuse but also had a bad back. He wanted pain management but not addictive drugs. He got no help from his doctor. I found out, at the end, he was literally crawling to the bathroom because it was too painful for him to stand up and walk. He could not handle the pain and took his own life. I am sure his family would have preferred to deal with an addiction over death, if that was the only choice. My hope is that someone out there is successfully treating pain without getting patients addicted to the meds.


I hope you are in a better place and are managing your back pain so you can have a good life. But I truly understand the problems people face with back pain and how many people don't get the care they need.

a cup of warm milk, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of honey help with pain. I wonder if that would help back pain as well.

 

[ChickenLoverTrin]

In my garden, I weeded and picked some fresh strawberries for school tomorrow!

 

[MotherofOrpies]

I just cleaned out a shed. One of the plastic storage bins had a mouse nest in it, with dead mice all squished out and slimy in the bottom of the bin. Boy, did that smell! I washed the storage bin out with soap and water and let it air out overnight. But it still smells terrible. I was going to store it back in the shed, but ended up taking it outside, turning it upside down, and will let it sit there over the winter. The plastic bin itself is clean, but the smell did not go away with the washing.

If anyone knows if it is possible to de-odorize a plastic bin, please let me know. Thanks

I also found one dead mouse in a glas, she didn’t smell at all( I must admit, I didn’t stick my nose into the jar) she was desiccated, did I mention it almost never rains here?!

 

[chickengr]

Climate makes a big difference. I am building all my raised beds out of pallet wood. If they last 5 years, that will be great. If not, it only takes me less than an hour to build another one. It's all free pallet wood for me, so I'm OK with having to build a new raised bed if\when needed.

I'm surprised that cedar wood rots out so fast for you. For the price you pay for cedar lumber, I would expect them to last 10-15 years.

with today's prices in greece wood should last forever!

 

[chickengr]

I also found one dead mouse in a glas, she didn’t smell at all( I must admit, I didn’t stick my nose into the jar) she was desiccated, did I mention it almost never rains here?!

I have always thought germany is a rainy country, lol.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Depends on where you live, I used to live in Hamburg, they had (!) a lot of rain when we moved from Hamburg to Berlin I was surprised how sunny it was Hamburg back then had maybe 7 days of sunshine in the summer, so if one of those rare days came, you met for bbq, in Berlin, you can pick a date 6 weeks ahead, 95% of the time, it will be sunny but the weather has changed, as it has elsewhere, so Hamburg now also has more problem with drought , heatwaves and even a windhose