What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Currently looking at a wet week. Over the next 5-6 days, looks like 4+ inches of rain predicted. Possible strong storms and hail tomorrow. Lots of rain on Wednesday.

Went out and trimmed up all the raspberry canes. Thought about another spray if dormant oil on the trees (copper added for the peaches and nectarines), but it kept threatening to rain, so I didn’t.

 

[cj2024]

I'm a big fan of wood chips. I have a larger, gas woodchipper that will chip branches up to 3 inches round, and a smaller, electric chipper that will process branches up to about 1-1//2 inches. I used to chip up wood all the time in the past. It was a great way to clean up the yard and have something (wood chips) that was useful in so many ways.

I would use cardboard on the ground, as well, and cover it with wood chips. Very nice.

The only thing that I did not like so much was that it took quite a long time to chip wood at home with my chippers. Not a really big deal because I would just put on my headphones and listen to the radio or maybe listen to an audiobook.

But I'm getting older now and looking for more and more ways to reduce my manual labor. I discovered that I could get free wood chips at our county landfill. It takes me about 20 minutes to fork in a full load of wood chips into my 4X8 foot utility trailer. If I had to chip that much wood at home, it would probably take me about 16 hours over 2 or 3 days.

Since I found out that I can get as many free wood chips as I want at the landfill, my chippers rarely get used these days. Instead of chipping my yard waste wood, I just build a new hügelkultur raised bed and dump the wood in there. So, I am still using all that yard waste wood, just in a different way.

My little electric chipper does a great job in chipping up small branches, almost like pine shavings quality, and I will still occasionally make wood chips with that for my nest beds. For small branches, my little electric SunJoe chipper works well...

View attachment 4084975

You just have to be aware of its limitations and not expect to chip up a trailer full of wood in minutes. That will not happen. But for small branches and yard cleanup, the electric chipper is my go-to machine.

I have a gas-powered chipper from 30 years ago, but I stop using it, because it's too loud. I feel like I am breaking the noise law whenever I used it. I was wondering if the sound of your small electric chipper hits a nerve like my gas powered one does.

 

[Molpet]

Side note, I divided and repotted one of my aloe Vera plants. I love aloe plants but omg they put off a TON of pups! My one plant is now like 10 plants... And I still have 2 other big plants that also need divided and replanted.

Supposed to make aloe juice with those pups
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/aloe-vera-juice-benefits#The-bottom-line

 

[akroberts1085]

The puppies have arrived. Bella is surprisingly she's really calm. She has allowed my husband and I to pick up the pups. She had 6 but lost one. I think we have 3 males and 2 females.

 

[akroberts1085]

 

[Sally PB]

We have our first daffodil in bloom today.

 

[Sally PB]

Puppies... oh, my....

Congratulations to you, hubby, and the momma!

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I had a couple seed swaps on the calendar for this weekend but the weather decided a nasty rain-snow mix was in the cards. Not driving through that when I don’t have to. (And I really don’t need more seeds that I don’t have space for right now anyway. Best to keep away from temptation.) Also glad I didn’t plant anything outside yet!

I gave my onions another haircut instead. The ones in the repurposed cardboard egg cartons are doing well but the ones in the actual seed starting tray keep dying off (I suspect root rot). Must remember that for next year.

 

[akroberts1085]

Puppies... oh, my....

Congratulations to you, hubby, and the momma!

Thank you. Our male dog Wally is the daddy. 4 of the puppies are black and white and one is a multi color that looks like Bella's sister

 

[gtaus]

I have a gas-powered chipper from 30 years ago, but I stop using it, because it's too loud. I feel like I am breaking the noise law whenever I used it. I was wondering if the sound of your small electric chipper hits a nerve like my gas powered one does.

The smaller, electric woodchippers are quieter. They are rated at around 85-95 db, which is about the noise of an urban street with heavy traffic, or a lawn mower. For prolonged use, you would still want to wear hearing protection. I don't think the noise from my electric chipper bothers any of my neighbors.

A gas chipper, on the other hand, is rated for 100-110 dB, like a loud rock concert. You would want to wear hearing protection all the time when running the gas chipper. Well, I do anyways. I would not run my gas chipper early in the morning or late in the evening, just to be more respectful to my neighbors.

I always wear hearing protection when I'm working outside. My working headphones have Bluetooth so I usually load up a recorded radio program, some music, or an audiobook on my smart phone.

My favorite working headphones are my 3M Work Tunes...

But I also have other headphones with built in FM radio.

Like you, my gas chipper is about 30 years old. It's a pain in the butt to get started sometimes. The electric just needs to be plugged in. If I am just chipping small wood, I'll use the electric chipper even though it's a bit slower. I only ever use my gas chipper for large jobs, and that does not happen very often. Maybe after a big storm.

But, like I said previously, I found a free source of wood chips at the county landfill, and it only takes me about 20 minutes to fill my utility trailer full. If I chipped all that wood at home, it would take me about 16 hours over 2 or 3 days' work.