What did you do in the garden today?

[Happy hen lover]

I do the math when I see them in the thrift shops; most of my jars are from thrift shops except when I get them by pallet split between my MIL, SIL, and myself.

I have gotten jars as cheap as $9 for 12. for full pints, standard mouth. The problem is that when I make jam I use half pints. Those are hard to find here; I generally pay between $14 and $17 per 12. including rings/lids. I have come up on some estate sales and gotten them cheaper but not by much sadly.

Eta: I live in california.... in a place thats off of the beaten path; so people aren't like "Oh jars, whatever"... people charge a higher price for them here. Problem is, we pay it because it's still better than new.... >.> When I visited my family back in OK a while ago... we went garage sale shopping.. I was so upset with the deals... people are much more giving back home. I miss that.

Eta again: Dudes, used long sleeve shirts at our local goodwill are $12 or more... That's what it's like here.

We're 1 dollar here at our local thrift store, in SW Nebraska

 

[Happy hen lover]

We aren’t totally ready for outdoor planting yet but this is what I did today…. Mural!!!!

I put my potatoes out in their bags, carrot seeds in their grow bags, I direct sowed peas, lettuce, spring onions, broccoli, and broccoli raab seeds a little over a week ago but we got a fluke snow storm right after and it just melted. I’m waiting to see some germination (hopefully) I separated some of my broccoli starts and reduced some of my celery starts (those don’t look overly promising and I’m bummed), also separated my red pepper starts. I started marigolds, moss roses, and nasturtium and have some that germinated. I will be getting out more and doing more this and next week since it’s about that time. I also added dirt in the cloth planters left over from when we added the first round. I have more potatoes to plant. I did store bought that sprouted but also have some seed potatoes that just arrived.

That is gorgeous!

 

[NewBoots]

Lucky you guys!! I believe it about the craziness, people have been planning for this for years.

We were in the path of totality for the eclipse last year but the cloud cover was so heavy you almost couldn't tell at all. We were so disappointed.

I just tasted my second batch of kombucha after a couple of days. Still a wee bit sweet but starting to sour. Been looking at tons of flavoring options, thinking of ginger or black and blue berries for our first 2F.

Our last 2 batches were made with chai tea, we normally use earl grey. We only do 1 ferment though.

Next weekend we’ll run the shredder and work on the pile of trimmings from earlier in the year.

I used that shredder you recommended a couple years back, still working good, as long as I stay with dry materials.

No one goes for my blueberries either. Weird, but makes me glad.

I just figured I was lucky, nothing has bothered any of our berries so far. Blueberries, currants, gooseberries, crabapples, and raspberries but all are in pretty small numbers. We have strawberries too but we have to beat the snails to them.

The black currant cuttings are all leafing out, so I assume there's some root formation going on too.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Full eclipse here. My chickens were so confused. They were out free ranging. As soon as we were at full blackout, suddenly you see a huge mass of birds (I have 65 chickens) RUNNING across the pasture towards their coop...

I wish I could have seen that, it sounds really funny.

BTW, I also captured a picture of the really weird shadows from the trees due to the eclipse. This is called the pinhole effect.

One of the last years we were in Portland we had a partial eclipse and we saw this under one of the trees. It was so strange, it felt unreal, almost spooky.

I shredded the dried trimmings, dumped the last of the finished compost into the beds, put down more slug bait, and picked up the dog doots for the guys that mow the lawn are coming by tomorrow.

Oh and I think the ladies caught their first mouse or little rat today, there was a real scrum going on with lots of yelling and shoving and then it was over. I didn't get close enough to see what it was. Little dinosaurs.

 

[Minanora]

There was frost this morning but... It was 81 today! I planted cucumbers! I covered them with black pots too protect them tonight, it's only supposed to get down to 43. Soil temp was 66 this morning so I figured, why not! I may regret it but usually my gut is right.

I sprayed for nematodes today as well as finished the plumbing! Need to connect the solenoids still.

 

[Happy hen lover]

I am looking for either a paper form or free software to help me track seed starting dates, germination period, transplanting dates, and harvest dates. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so if anyone has a link and/or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.

Background: I used to just buy plants at the big box stores and put them in the garden. Last year, I started some seeds in the house 8 weeks before transplanting them outside. That worked better than I expected. This year, I am increasing both the number and variety of seeds that I am starting in the house.

But now I am looking at trying to track all these different dates. For example, I started some seeds but will have to restart new seeds if they don't germinate. I would like to have some kind of organized system that I can enter my initial data and have those tasks scheduled so I don't drop the ball on anything. Something that tells me to restart any tomato seeds that don't germinate at day 14, for example.

Just trying to up my game. Thanks for any help.

I bought one called Clyde's. Inexpensive, slides out for your exact location and dates. I got mine direct they are on Amazon too.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I want to buy and plant some Ozark Witch Hazel.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Bought a few more seeds on Amazon tonight.

 

[jerryse]

I found my first tick of the year or it found me. Sowed spinach seed. Started tearing out black raspberries. Going to replace them with thornless. UPS delivered 2 trees I ordered. Arrived late in the day. I was already wore out. Need to plant those today.

 

[Sally PB]

I have some trees coming, probably next week. I told hubby I wanted input on where to put them, as they will probably arrive while he's gone to NC to visit his dad. They're very pretty; Seven Sons, not commonly found. Honey bees LOVE the flowers, which is why we ordered them. Then in the fall, it produces bracts that are gorgeous (to the human eye, anyway) too.

When I looked them up, I found the main picture of them was in the bract stage. The flowers are less showy.

 

[NanaK]

Has anyone ever started purple coneflower from seed? I have yet to see anything, and I planted them nearly a month ago.

Ditto with New England Aster, but that packet said 21-45 days. The packet said they were "Pre-stratified," so I didn't put them in the fridge for 6 weeks. I hope they were right about that.

I have always winter sown purple coneflowers. I also have a few reseed around my plants in the garden.
I winter sowed these from my own saved seed in late Feb. They sat outside since and sprouted recently. They will grow slowly until the weather heats up. Most perennials bloom 2nd year from seed.

Still tiny.