What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

Oh... BTW, Melnor is honoring the warranty on the water timer. They are shipping me a new one.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I made a dumb mistake today... I was sowing a bunch of seed packets in various beds and just sort of in my own little world. After I was finished, I belated realized I had sown some Hollyhock seeds in the raised memorial bed where the dahlias and gladiolus didn't really grow back. This bed is already 30" off the ground. Hollyhocks can be 6 ft - 8 ft tall...

So not only are these flowers going to tower to great (unintended) heights, but they will also probably crowd out any other flowers (such as the remaining dahlias and gladiolus) that might actually sprout in that bed.

How dumb I feel right about now...

 

[akroberts1085]

I tried it once, just for grins and giggles. Yes, you can certainly start a seed in an eggshell, but I found that I had to up pot that seedling in only days. For the tomato and pepper plants that I start indoors, I find the 3-inch net pots about the right size for 8 weeks before transplanting. I want to avoid up potting whenever possible.

Another problem I had with eggshells is that you cannot bottom water them. I overwatered my starter plants and lots of them died on me. I had to go to a bottom watering system and then I had more success. Sure, overwatering was my fault, but we all need to find methods that we can do successfully. I learned I have a bad habit of overwatering plants and killing them. It's much better for me to bottom water my trays and let the plants/potting soil wick up the water they need.

Are you expecting some kind of benefit from the calcium in an eggshell to be transferred to the seedling? I don't think that will happen, due to the chemical breakdown of the eggshell which can take years for the calcium uptake process. But I would be interested to hear your results in your experiment. Good luck.

I'm going to make a ledger for the experiment. I'm going to try to use soil and egg shells. Then I am going to try using used coffee grounds, ground up egg shells and soil. The only reason for me doing this is because the new seed starting soil is generic. I will also just add the ground shells and coffee grounds to the soil to see what works best.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Yes, I saw that after someone on here mentioned the sale. You all are a bad influence, lol.
I bought 5 dwarf trees. 2 Anna apples because they are ready in June/July and they were what I was looking for, 2 Candy Crisp apples because they were a pollinator and they sounded good, and 1 Redhaven Peach.
I also ordered a Blueberry to put in a pot just to see if it grows better in a more controlled area.

I may be the guilty party. I’ve bought from Stark Brothers in the past. I like them. I only ordered a pear tree this time. The sale is still on. $2.08 shipping.

 

[igorsMistress]

I cannot find sunchokes this year. It's crazy.

I ordered from Etsy, they aren’t popular here

 

[Nym]

Our soil is naturally very acidic... I have it tested by the extension office very other year. The bush is very healthy and lush....just no flowers. This is it below....
View attachment 4083546

Incidentally, mucking with the pH was how I killed the other 6 bushes I bought with this one. They were all showing signs of chlorosis and I thought the soil wasn't acidic enough so I kept adding more acidifier. After everything died, I got the soil tested... It had a pH of 2.9! I had to dig out all the soil and put in new just so I could plant other stuff. Dumb mistake but I was learning.

This is my other blueberry (Pink Lemonade) which is about 5 ft away. I fertilize them both the same...

View attachment 4083547

Self-sufficient Me

all the best with them!

 

[Acre4Me]

It’s official! The garden is started.

Peas in. Earliest I’ve planted, but everyone here (West central Ohio) and on other related Ohio garden sites say St. Patrick’s day. We will see. I’ve planted on the early side before and didn’t have the best of luck.

Onion starts planted.

Potatoes planted and I have a little more space for a few more.

Fruit tree fertilizer stakes put in the ground.

Cool day, mostly sunny. Rain expected this evening.

 

[akroberts1085]

Experiment is with habanero peppers. I added some more types of ways to experiment. I have plain soil, soil w/egg shells, soil w/coffee grounds, soil w/egg shells and coffee grounds, soil in egg shells w/coffee grounds and soil in egg shells. I'm going to run this to May 8th and see how it goes. This is the first time I have ever done an experiment with anything.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

No gardening yet. Fingers crossed nothing blooms soon. We still have night time temperatures dipping in the mid 20’s. Did some shopping today. Picked up more lids and rings and canning salt. Tomorrow I plan on working on the slope weed whacking brush and small trees that fell down over this winter.

 

[Nym]

No gardening for me today, finally getting some decent rain, which seems to be exciting the cockies quite a bit. I ruined this photo by auto correcting the lighting. Beware of standing under trees cockatoos are in or you risk being hit by their prunings.