What did you do in the garden today?

[Jenbirdee]

I discovered these among the more regular yellow-skinned pumpkin yesterday. I thought it was all the one vine so I was keeping it pruned, then I found these! I threw a lot of different seeds in this bed, mostly old stuff that I figued wouldn't sprout.
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I'm not familiar with this colour pumpkin / squash. Anyone know ?
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I also picked a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes that the eagle-eyed Araucana couldn't reach (my bantams would never pick from the vine!), pruned the pineapple guava and treated some powdery mildew with cream and water. Yesterday I had a big burn-off in the fire pit, hoping to do another burn today but the wind has really picked up.

maybe its a gourd

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

The 4 wheeled carts and even a wheelbarrow is of little use to me. My property is almost all on a slope and pushing a loaded wheelbarrow up hill is too much for my over 72 year old muscles. The dolly enables me to pull a 40 to 50 pound load up the slope. It takes a few more trips but I get it done.

 

[Nym]

maybe its a gourd

I discovered it is a Tromboncino squash Tromboncino also sounds sexier than gourd lol

 

[cj2024]

Mice are one thing...rats are another. This is 1st year I've ever had rats & a neighbor has them bad. Chicken feed on the ground is a major no no. She stopped doing that but says she still sees rats. So now what...any advice for rats? They're running around between our yards & 4 chicken coops now. What do ya do when rats have decided to hang around? My level of stress & anger over these nasty critters is at an all time high right now.

It's an easy fix, I used to have rats, but I got rid of them after watching this video.

 

[fuzzi]

Well, we had monsoon type rain & wind all last week, so it is taking time to get re-absorbed back into the ground. Around the big barn & garage was literally a moat. It was deep enough for some wild ducks & a pair of Canadian geese to swim...deep enough for their little feet to paddle!

One night it's cold enough for frost, then we get a ton of rain, with one of those nights having thunder & lightening, then a few days of 50s & 60s temperatures, then back to frosty mornings...very weird indeed!

My daffodils are blooming now. Trees are budding & pollen fills the air. The soil is still a sopping mess so DH & I took advantage of the dry spell to haul old carpet & padding from a job we are doing, to the dump. So let me ask ya...have you ever have a bad spell, where things just don't go right? Like suddenly your usual agility & balance just decide to take a vacation?

Last week my right knee, and especially above the knee itself, decided to swell up, huge. I've been rubbing Traumeel cream, arnica gel, castor oil & using ice packs every morning before work & every night before bed.

Then the left elbow swelled up. Why? Who knows! So now rubbing & icing that, too, along with the knee.

So, the 1st day we finally see sunshine, I decided to shake out & then clean some area rugs. As I'm shaking a big rug, I get a shooting pain in my hand, I guess it's the palm but between the ring & pinky finger. I look at it, and I'm amazed to see it swell up & a purple bruise-like spot appear...like what the heck, did I hurt a vein? I hurt that spot before moving cinderblocks, a few years ago, soon after a carpal surgery. The surgeon said it was probably dupuytren's contracture & it was like a big thick cord was sticking up, inside my palm. Personally, I think the surgeon accidentally nicked something during the carpal surgery. Whatever. Anyway, now that darn thing is killing me, so I got ice on that & wearing a carpal brace just to keep me from accidentally moving it & getting more sharp pains in the hand & wrist.

So then yesterday, we take a load from the jobsite to the dump. I always need to do something, usually I'm handling this stuff alone, but DH is unloading it. So I have to help, right? I have basically 1 good arm. I use that 1 good arm & hand to hold up the heavy folded tonneau cover, as he is yanking on the rolled carpet. Yeah, bright idea. When he yanked the carpet roll out, the tonneau sort of bounced upward, then came down hard...right on my hand, and part of the apparatus put a puncture wound into my palm. It hurt bad! He drove me home. I cleaned off the blood & washed both of my sore hands & grabbed the ice packs. So now, both hands are messed up! Knee & elbow are still swollen, too!

Anyway...I hope that's the end of this stupid injury streak, bad luck week. I'm running out of places on my body that don't hurt! Lol

Last night before dusk, after flock was all tended to & nestled down, I was able to tend to my little mealworm farm, so fresh potatoes slices & chicken feed along with warmer temperatures make the mealworms active. Live mealworms are great treats for the flock & also I add some to the compost area & they break it down faster.

Some pics of the moat...which is shrinking daily. Maybe once it is gone I will be ok & functional enough by then, to get something accomplished. Pigeon loft needs spring cleaning & I need to build a new stall trap & landing board & the chicken coops need some attention.View attachment 3771668View attachment 3771669View attachment 3771670View attachment 3771671View attachment 3771672View attachment 3771673

Sorry to read about your physical issues.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In my garden today I cut a wad of these, to enjoy in case the expected storm flattens them:

 

[fuzzi]

Which is why I am begging our southern friends for PICS PLEASE

Bugleweed

Unidentified "volunteer"

Vetch

Violet

Henbit

Japanese Mazus

Camellia

Sugar snap peas

Does that help?

 

[fuzzi]

Today I watered my seedlings, put the seeds that are germinating out in the raised bed "hoop house", looked at all of my garlic scallions, looked at all the onion tops, peered over at the sugar snap peas, looked at the heads beginning to form on the broccoli plants (this was pretty exciting since last year got really hot early and they bolted quickly), picked some kale for the chickens, picked some swiss chard for the chickens, ate some of the swiss chard before I got to the chickens, watered my poultry forage patch, watered my sprouting dutch white clover ground cover (yeah it may not be native but it will keep the weeds down. I've been hand scraping weeds with a hula hoe to bare dirt for the last 10 years while I eradicated the gopher population with gopher hawk traps, time for a change!), and I also walked down the fruit trees and observed the peach leaf curl that I didn't spray for in time last season. Got a bee tangled in my hair as I walked past the apricot tree, but I was able to get her out without getting stung or hurting her. Huzzah!

On Tuesday I had my overgrown mulberry trees pruned and decided to keep the chippings since there were such large branches to make mulch with. It generated far more mulch than I anticipated.... I had about 6 cubic yards of mulch. I live in town, so I had to make it go away as quickly as possible to avoid the city bothering me. I spent many hours yesterday moving all of the mulch to my landscape garden, grape vines, and around my fruit trees. Little did I know, my son's cold, I had caught already. So today I'm posted up on the couch with a fever and cough. Good and sore from shoveling mulch yesterday, so that makes me feel a little redeemed for 'sitting around' all day today. Though I'd rather be outside working!

I need to take way more pictures of my garden/yard. Too much of the camera roll is dedicated to chickens and tropical fish.

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Tropical fish...?

 

[fuzzi]

Haha! I love it. Hmm, maybe I could consolidate all of my bungie cords this summer.

Yeah I wouldn't mix up any concrete in my 4 wheel cart; that's a metal wheelbarrow task when it's called for. My gorilla cart was a gift that I thought I'd never use; turns out it's been heavily used; especially since I got the goat heads under control.

I saw a PVC pipe hack in which bungees were hooked on the ends of the pipe, and through notches for the shorter cords. I thought it was clever.

 

[fuzzi]

Tomorrow I am off from work, have an appointment at my chiropractor's at 9, so I think I will head out early and check out the local nursery for tomatoes, other stuff. We've got about 3 weeks til last frost date, so if I buy any they'll be fine on the porch.