What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

Question: Anyone use a grow tent to start your transplants? Is it worth the money?

I bought one of those indoor greenhouse shelf units from Menards a few years ago.

I thought it worked just fine but Dear Wife was not so happy that it took up a lot of room in her kitchen/dining room area in front of the sliding glass window for our deck. So, that was the end of that. But it did work.

I then bought some Hefty Hi Rise 72 quart clear totes to use as mini greenhouses. They worked better for us as I was able to move the totes outside during the daytime and bring them back in the evening, and stack them up vertically out of the way.

 

[Sally PB]

I bought some New England Aster and Purple Coneflower seeds to plant for the honeybees. Both, but especially the NEA, bloom later in the season, when there often isn't much in bloom that honeybees like. They LOVE the NEA. I'm thinking of planting some seeds of both in the green house this week.

The bee club is having a sale on honeybee helpful plants. We'll buy a couple of the trees, and some of the potted plants as well. Like NEA, which can be trickier to start from seed, but I'll give it a go.

Informational bit: Basswood, aka, American Linden, is one of the best trees for honeybees. They LOVE the pollen. We are blessed to have two mature Basswood trees, right near the hive. I won't be buying any of those; they can take up to 12 years to begin flowering, so by then, eh, who knows where we'll be in our bee journey?

They also do not flower every year, unfortunately. They did last year!

 

[jerryse]

I bought some New England Aster and Purple Coneflower seeds to plant for the honeybees. Both, but especially the NEA, bloom later in the season, when there often isn't much in bloom that honeybees like. They LOVE the NEA. I'm thinking of planting some seeds of both in the green house this week.

The bee club is having a sale on honeybee helpful plants. We'll buy a couple of the trees, and some of the potted plants as well. Like NEA, which can be trickier to start from seed, but I'll give it a go.

Informational bit: Basswood, aka, American Linden, is one of the best trees for honeybees. They LOVE the pollen. We are blessed to have two mature Basswood trees, right near the hive. I won't be buying any of those; they can take up to 12 years to begin flowering, so by then, eh, who knows where we'll be in our bee journey?

They also do not flower every year, unfortunately. They did last year!

I have 2 colors of wild Asters here. Not sure what species they are. A light blue and white. Thinking about managing some as flowers . Cutting back to make them bushier and shorter.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Well new pen shifted into what we think will be its permanent spot. We can start outfitting it now, and making it Fort Knox. Second broken coop broken up, we may recycle some sections as trellises and yard art on the fences.

The third baby coop along with scavenged poultry/bird wire stacked neatly, we will assess how best to salvage it. New medium coop moved out to area in prep for building. Pen has feeder set up in and two temporary nesting spots, as well as temporary roosts set up, fake eggs put in nests. Auto watering system will be set up latter. Right now I just want them exploring the pen because their stomachs compels them.

The girls because they are curious laid four eggs near the pen so, finally fresh eggs again…

Taking a break, gots to get ready for a family event in a bit. We will move the panels of the big pen into the coop area latter this week. After I haul out the old fence netting we are tearing down and have the new area ready for the build.

Progress is being made. I think I maybe able to get a couple boxes started towards being fixed this week as well.

 

[cj2024]

Update on my Cider vinegar verses spider war. The spiders won........................they don't die from being sprayed with cider vinegar.

 

[Smokerbill]

Update on my Cider vinegar verses spider war. The spiders won........................they don't die from being sprayed with cider vinegar.

I'm curious as to why you're fighting the spiders. They won't harm anything and it's likely they're helpful, eating other pests that could cause problems.

 

[Molpet]

I'm curious as to why you're fighting the spiders. They won't harm anything and it's likely they're helpful, eating other pests that could cause problems.

same here, unless they are venomous

 

[WthrLady]

A lot of outdoor chores done today on the day of one less hour. Grumble
The air is so dry that it pulls it from your eyes and lungs. Fire weather warnings are again posted for today through Wednesday.
When I went out it was smokey, so someone is on fire. THen it stopped so I guess the village got it put out.
I watered the stuff popping up in the garden and put some water in the birdbath.
Hosed down a shelf from the studio mouse episode.
Tormented the hens with some mealworms.
Took all the winter windows off their run (they go back up in 5 minutes if (HA!) we have more snow coming. We'll be at 70-75 all week this week though.
Hauled some of the trash to the curb.
Picked up the shop and repacked grass seed.
And swapped out DHs car tags.
Now I want fizzy water to drink and chocolate, lots of chocolate.

OH I found some honey hybrid burpee cherry tomatoes at the market (seeds). DH loves them, so this ONE hybrid can stay in the garden.

 

[Molpet]

The air is so dry that it pulls it from your eyes and lungs. Fire weather warnings are again posted for today through Wednesday.
When I went out it was smokey, so someone is on fire. THen it stopped so I guess the village got it put out.

And I tried to get my burn pile to lite. But after 6 days worth of newspapers and some brown paper packing material, I decided it was just too wet. The part of the pile I was trying to start was 2 yrs old, so not green wood.

 

[cj2024]

I'm curious as to why you're fighting the spiders. They won't harm anything and it's likely they're helpful, eating other pests that could cause problems.

I don't like walking into their web, and they leave a residual build up around the edges of my wooden/ lined fish tank. They also clog up my Dyna mosquito trap and makes it hard to clean.