What did you do in the garden today?

[BigBlueHen53]

I missed a few pages, but ...

G’morning all. We had some rain last night and again this morning with thunderstorms possible this afternoon. All I’ve done is give the broody and her babies some food and cleaned out their waterer. I’ll tell you, having a bum foot is really boring! I can deal with the chicks and some watering but that’s about the extent of it and then my heel is screaming Today I’m watching Jurassic World movies until hubs get home, then maybe some grocery shopping later. Have a great day!

IM, what's up with your foot?

 

[TJAnonymous]

That is one thing I'm so glad we don't have here - fire ants! Yikes, they sound like big, painful jerks.

I HATE fire ants with a passion and they are all over here. I disturbed several nests around the garden and pasture today. Ended up with a couple of stings. I need to take some Borax or something out to treat them tomorrow.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I am SO POOPED. I've been working around the garden for about 10 hours today. According to my fitness watch, I've walked 8.5 miles and burned 4,000 calories.

I helped DH build 2 raised beds today. These will be the really nice self watering beds. They are 10 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft high. We've still got one more to build... Then I've got to figure out a place to get some bulk river rock that isn't jagged. So I probably won't have the new beds actually filled until next week.

I seeded some flowers today - yarrow, bee balm, lavender, poppies, and garlic chives. I noticed some of my mom's really old seeds I chucked in the garden are germinating... At least the kale and a few carrots, anyway.

And the big project I tackled today was clearing out the jungle that had grown up behind my thornless blackberries. It's only about 90% done. I easily spent 4 or 5 hours on it... Lots of privet, wild raspberry cane's, and some incredibly invasive vine that not only climbs everywhere but also has a vast network of roots all over the ground. Whatever it is, it's impossible to pull up. I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow and get it identified. It was causing me so much grief that I SERIOUSLY debated just spraying the area with Round-up.... (But I didn't, so don’t tar & feather me...)

 

[WthrLady]

I feel your pain.
Cedar tree day here.

 

[fuzzi]

That is one thing I'm so glad we don't have here - fire ants! Yikes, they sound like big, painful jerks.

They're little, painful jerks, but I agree.

 

[fuzzi]

No gardening today, it was the annual "clean out and organize the shed" day. I was outside for almost 8 hours, including a run to the local thrift store with a load of donations.

It's not done, but we made a dent.

 

[Nym]

I HATE fire ants with a passion and they are all over here. I disturbed several nests around the garden and pasture today. Ended up with a couple of stings. I need to take some Borax or something out to treat them tomorrow.

To tackle those pesky fire ants, I start by boiling water. Once it’s heated up, I take those fiery cayenne peppers, slice them up, and put them in a glass jar. I pour the boiling water over the peppers and let the mixture sit for a whole day. This gives it time to really steep and get all the spicy goodness out of the peppers.

Now, this is where it gets fun. I take the powdered form of cayenne and scatter it around the ant hill like a spicy barrier, which, by the way, ants hate. Finally, I pour my homemade cayenne pepper concoction straight into the belly of the beast—the ant hill. If those ants don’t take the hint the first time, I just do it again. Trust me, this method not only works wonders but is easy on the wallet, too! Madison Kerr, a seasoned authority on pest control, suggests, “I always recommend starting with the least toxic options before moving on to chemicals.”

Fire ants are not something you want to have around your home or garden. While there are several different insecticides that you can use to eliminate fire ant colonies, not everybody wants to use harsh chemicals to treat an infestation.

If you have small children or even pets in the home, you might want to look into homemade fire ant killer. Fire ant queens can lay up to 1,600 eggs per day and live so deep inside the mound that they can be tough to reach.

More here!

 

[Nym]

During a break in the rain I sprayed a neem oil / soap / warm water concoction on the caterpillar-ravaged Clivia. It may save them. Now I'm watching a cheesy B-grade flick called Snow Beast

 

[Minanora]

I kept a small 3ft tank from the '90s until last year when I decided I could no longer find any joy in the maintenance. Like all living things, the smaller the habitat the more the work.

Over the years I had an Angel fish that killed off all the competition and lived for more than 10yrs! I also had a pink shark who lived about as long. My last reno on the tank was a planted river theme and no fish, but I had planned on trying Guppies. There's nothing so good as tank water for the garden .. things just seem to jump with joy. I threw all the reamining plants, gravel etc into buckets so I could continue harvensting the fertiliser.... if I get to it before the dogs! The plants are growing strongly in the bucket in the full sun.

Yeah I have a 1.5G cube tank on my desk.... I had a special group of breeding shrimp in it, and well, I accidently added mineral junkie instead of soybean husk pellets when we were leaving for a few days.... The tank parameters shifted so quickly that every shrimp and the chili rasboras all died. I felt so bad. Now the tank is plants only, I love it as it is. I'll never put any fish or shrimp in tanks under 5G again. Even the 5G is cutting it close. It's just shrimp though and I don't feed it often. Duckweed keeps it under 10ppm nitrates, and the KH and GH stay good; I only change water every few months. The 75G only gets a water change every 9 months or so, the 45G about the same, but it's more acidic so I have to be careful with the KH. I empty alllll of the mulm from my canister filters into a bucket for the garden. Same with the wonderful tank water from water changes, like you said. I have a "python" and I fill 5G buckets out in the yard and carry them out to feed the garden. I have a wine barrel I store water in if I have too much. I love the aquarium hobby so much. Covid really brought my love back to life. I'm always open to plant swapping! I have also shipped fish and shrimp all across the country.

Garden activities today!

All but one of my raised beds are ready to plant! Soil temp isn't there yet, and we're still getting nights into the high 30s so the time hasn't come yet; but the soil is ready!

My trees are blooming, broccoli is crowning up, peas are getting there. Seeds are sprouting, dog is basking.

 

[igorsMistress]

I missed a few pages, but ...


IM, what's up with your foot?

I did some damage to my Achilles, a partial tear. Was on crutches for a while, now off them but my heel hurts pretty good when I walk too much.

My backyard shoes are comfortable because they’re thick, squishy foam but the giant holes in the yard from the chickens make it a challenge back there