What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

My local HD has a battery recycle bin. Our local recycling plant has bins just for batteries. I just don't have much confidence that any of those batteries go anywhere but to a landfill. So, I agree battery disposal is an issue I hope we solve.

I wish we had a battery recycling location.

I think most of us are for cleaner environments. It's easy to see how much we pay for electricity on our monthly bills, but it's harder to see how much we "pay" for living in a dirty environment. As I said, my lungs were damaged in my military service, so I can feel the cost of living in an area with air pollution as I will be hacking up my lungs as a reminder.

It's our children/grandchildren who will be footing the bill. I might not live to see it get really bad, or a lot better.

Lol, and she had an eyeopening when she planted a garden in the US. It needed to be watered!?! She had gardens when she lived in DRC. She said, you just plant seeds, wait, and harvest. Maybe weed a little. There was no need to think about water or temperatures or anything else.

 

[saysfaa]

The Duluth News Tribune article was blanked out unless you pay for a subscription. The AP News article was free to read. From what I see, the mining of those minerals has been halted under court order because of the impact on the environment. Seems like an issue that both parties look at differently.

Political administrations come and go, but sometimes those industries that pollute the environment can last longer than a lifetime to clean up. I guess I'm more on the side of a clean and safe environment than temporary jobs provide by extracting toxic materials and polluting the environment for years.

Where I live, we used to have lumber mills that used heavy metals in their process. Those companies and all those jobs are long gone, but we are still paying for cleanup of their mess. There are a number of lakes around where I live that the fish are toxic and you cannot eat them. Even after 50+ years when the lumber mill packed up and moved elsewhere.

My grandfather was a great outdoorsman and hunter. He believed in a clean, safe, and healthy environment for the fish, birds, and game for hunting. I think the most popular "charity" in our area is still "Ducks Unlimited." But every hunter I grew up with was always concerned about the health of our planet and the ability to pass on a hunting tradition to their kids and grandkids. You never left garbage out in the field when you hunted with my grandfather. In fact, you might end up with a small bagful of trash someone else left behind because it was expected you would clean it up if you saw it.

Even in my gardening today, I don't use chemical fertilizers. I use natural chicken run compost and that seems to work great for me. I'm not against others using process fertilizers, I just chose not to. But I know everything that is natural and healthy that goes into my chicken run compost. I can't say I'm organic certified, but probably pretty close in most respects using only natural stuff for my gardens.

Do you see the conversation I started? I pasted the text there.

I agree with all this (in your quote, I mean). I don't want the mining polluting the Congo either - I edited my last post to add that I've been paying a lot more attention to that country since my son met his fiancée who is Conglese.

 

[saysfaa]

...

Yep. An advantage living nearly on top of the equator. And, probably, having other factors there. But really does rain often enough but not too much. It took me a while to understand - it is such a paradigm shift from here.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I actually got to spend a few hours in the garden today... It's practically a swamp because of all the rain we've had but that makes pulling weeds easier. I got last season's tomatoes, asparagus, lemon balm, etc all cleared out. I also started working on clearing out the corner of the property next door (belonging to the medical clinic) that's full of scrub and weeds. It always comes across the fence and I end up fighting to keep it out of my beds along the fence. So my goal this year is to clear it out and try to sow a wildflower plot over there. Anyway, I got about 80-90% of it cleared out. Now there's a huge pile of brush. I would LOVE it if the landscaping crew that mows would take care of it for me but unlikely. I'll probably have to burn it or figure out how to get rid of it. There's TONS of vining weeds over there so I'm a bit concerned that it'll just come back tenfold over the summer.

 

[WthrLady]

We made it to 46'F here! That's ABOVE zero ! LOL
A lot of melting and swampy goodness going on out there. I swept and vacuumed our massive workshop and tossed a whole lot of bleach water on the floor and turned the fans on.
What I forgot to do was check the drain sump for a mouse nest. ARGH.
When it finally, slowly, drains I'll scoop it clean and blast it out.
Good grief.

It was outside though...so that was a nice day of "fresh" air.
Garden is still under 3 foot high massive drifts. Hoping they'll be gone by this time next week.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Our weather for the next week... Hoping this doesn't fool my trees to come out of dormancy... But at least it'll be nice enough that I can spray horticulture oil on my fruit trees and maybe figure out how to get my grapes tamed so they stop overtaking everything along the fence...

 

[chickengr]

I’m guessing it is a disease of some kind. Probably wilt and maybe others. So, I definitely find that the hybrids with disease resistance provide better success. Still, not great though. I try really hard to avoid spraying pesticide, and the cucumber beetles may be part of the problem bc they do spread disease. However, I hesitate to spray for them as the pesticides would kill bees or other beneficials. So, this year I may try beneficial nematodes in the ground. I can buy and liquify them to add into the ground, keep the ground wet/moist while they attack the larvae of various bugs in the soil, including cucumber beetles. It’s just an expensive option, but maybe worth a try to minimize the beetles or other problem pests, and avoid pesticides. It is really nice to grow cucumbers and eat them from the garden, so we keep trying!

you can try to plant a few cucumbers in containers away from your garden. 4-5 plants would e plenty for your family. maybe on the porch or some other sitting area? they would provide shade as well.

 

[gtaus]

It’s just an expensive option, but maybe worth a try to minimize the beetles or other problem pests, and avoid pesticides. It is really nice to grow cucumbers and eat them from the garden, so we keep trying!

you can try to plant a few cucumbers in containers away from your garden. 4-5 plants would e plenty for your family. maybe on the porch or some other sitting area? they would provide shade as well.

Cucumbers need a lot of water. Have you considered a sub-irrigated setup like an EarthBox or similar that has a large reservoir in the bottom of the container? You can make your own EarthBox setup with an inexpensive tote...

I have had great success with my elevated sub-irrigated planter on my deck. With normal rainfall in the summer, I only have to refill my planter with water about once per month. Since the plants are sub-irrigated, I never overwater or underwater them. I just keep an eye on my water level indicator and refill it when it starts to run low.

I built my elevated sub-irrigated planter myself and all the wood, drain pipes, and liner probably cost me around $50 about 4 years ago. You can build the same type of setup with a plastic tote much easier, and cheaper.

 

[chickengr]

rain, rain, rain. expecting snow tonight. I slipped and laid down in the mud not used to walking in the rain, lol.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

So far we have 6 inches plus of snow. It’s still snowing a bit. The temperatures above freezing now so hopefully there will be less of it in a couple of hours. No garden work now. I do need to re-pot my new poinsettia soon. I did order a new pair of garden boots. The ground is so saturated I expect to have to wade through mud to get to the gardens.