What did you do in the garden today?

[Minanora]

Now you can smell like your garden all year!View attachment 3922887

Does that mean it smells like tomato plant?

 

[Sueby]

Does anyone here freeze onions?

I have several that have some rotten/rotting layers, but most of the bulb is good. I want to save what I can, because the onion harvest was less than spectacular.

My plan is to cut off the bad stuff, then chop the rest. I plan to freeze 1/4-1/3 cup amounts on a cookie sheet, then put the blobs in a ziploc bag.

Any other suggestions?

I freeze them all the time. Sometimes when my stored ones are about out of time, I chop & freeze or if I just need a half an onion for a recipe - chop & freeze the other half.

Morning all. Got the rest of the lettuce/spinach greenstalk amended & planted. Now I just need to get some carrots out. Will do that between raindrops.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Toxic plant guide. Check out our website to see if there are any Gardening Exchange Stands near you. Or thi k about starting one.
Freeplantngardenstands.org

Made me laugh...Mother In Law Tongue is toxic

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I have begun a winter gardening experiment in a newly developed garden spot. We were able to expand our property last year with the neighboring plot that has a nice southern exposure, but had an impenetrable bramble to deal with. Craig, helped by the grandkids, nieces and nephews chopped it down in one afternoon. I was amazed! Since then I have been grubbing out planting areas little by little.
Last week I made seed tape using toilet paper and gluing the seeds on with maple syrup glue. It was a fun project and motivated me to dig, hoe and rake out some more planting spaces for the winter garden. I'll let you know how it goes. Hoping for some great early spring veggies!

Cool, toilet paper & maple syrup...wow, makes me want to try that. What types of seed work best?

 

[cj2024]

Some of my hens stopped laying in this heat and one of my breeders died a few days ago in the nest box. I thought she was broody, so I left her alone for a few days and when I checked up on her she was dead. This is one of the problems with Cornish x/Breese crosses. The obese ones tend to die early.

I had 2 hens and a rooster in my breeding pen, but did not hatch any eggs for about two years and decided to hatch some after one of the hens died. It's been about seven days, and I only manage to get 3 eggs so far, so I put some vinegar and charcoal in their water to stimulate more production. I'll wait for 4 eggs before I put them in the incubator and do another batch after I get 4 more eggs in another incubator.

I have 5 related same breed hens in my back yard in an open pen, but I can't use their eggs because I let a wild feral rooster protect them. The hens look raggy and they are molting, so I decided to cull him.

I'll wait a month before I let my main breeding rooster loose in my back yard. The only problem with this rooster is I can't trust him with kids. He is very protective of his hens. I have to isolate or tie him up before I catch any of them. However, he is kind of cool, I can walk past him and gather eggs without any issues. I use a low God voice and say excuse me and increase the tone to make him move out of my way.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Does anyone here freeze onions?

I have several that have some rotten/rotting layers, but most of the bulb is good. I want to save what I can, because the onion harvest was less than spectacular.

My plan is to cut off the bad stuff, then chop the rest. I plan to freeze 1/4-1/3 cup amounts on a cookie sheet, then put the blobs in a ziploc bag.

Any other suggestions?

I freeze onions & garlic, freezer bags make it ez. I usually blanch fresh produce before freezing, get all air out of the bag before sealing.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Summer is flying by so fast. I'm at the hip doctor ofc at the moment so I have time to sit still, while waiting. My squash & zucchini plants, they did awesome but I guess those darn squash bugs & leaf eaters got a foot hold while I was busy working. Sad to see them go, but the chickens loved the bugs. There's a tomato worm doing damage to my 1 tomato plant, I have not found the little bugger yet. Seems I get home from work near dusk & by the time I'm done flock chores it's too dark to see in the garden. Cell phone flashlight doesn't cut it.
Well, I pulled out a few squash plants, sad as they were full of blooms, but the base stem leading to them was mush, the inevitable was going to happen so bye bye. I will probably not be able to save the remaining squash plants either. Anyway...it's still hot as can be here. I want to plant something...any suggestions for winter crop? We have mild Autumn's here, sometimes still in the 60's up to Thanksgiving.

Chickens had a squash bug & bloom feast.

 

[chickengr]

I'm thinking of planting beets for greens for us and chickens. Might try planting another row of green beans for fall as the grasshoppers are eating my blossoms off of my spring planted beans! as they come on. I'll leave carrots in till freeze and next year will plant in fall. They're kind of bitter to me. Squashes are dying off, not sure they're worth the real estate. It's too easy to get them from friends esp the zucchini.
I confess the garden has not been a priority this summer with DH having knee surgery,cataract x 2 , me with carpal tunnel surgery x2 ,flip house and in the middle of that we adopted a rescue 8 month old puppy.! Was supposed to be a mini poodle. Well that's half correct! He's a 35 # sheepadoodle. No shedding big goofball and prances with a BIG FLUFFY TAIL. You can see his prance in top photo. ( I just realized how messy my counter is in photo sorry, oh well it's canning season. ).View attachment 3921719His mamma put his one eye out while carrying him as a pup. So he's been there 3 months. Prolly cuz he's not a 1.5 year old miniature poodle like they advertised . DUHView attachment 3921718 View attachment 3921716

what a beauty!

 

[chickengr]

Toxic plant guide. Check out our website to see if there are any Gardening Exchange Stands near you. Or thi k about starting one.
Freeplantngardenstands.org

aloe toxic?

 

[chickengr]

I've thought about doing that. Where do you run the dehydrator so that your house doesn't smell like onion?

sun dried outside?