What did you do in the garden today?

[Smokerbill]

I finally got around to start planting the onions. Got about 50 planted 300 to go

I have around 250 yellow onions and shallots combined planted from seeds I started. They're still all about 1/8" in diameter at ground level. I hope they take off growing when it warms up. My 60 garlic are looking good.

 

[igorsMistress]

I just ordered two different types of Armenian cucumbers from amazon, the stripe type and the pale green type. I decided to try them, since they can survive in hot climates. I had to put up a shade cloth to keep my Japanese cucumbers alive. I lost one out of three due to sun stroke.

I am looking forward to tasting them. I wonder why they aren't being sold in the supermarket.
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The pale green do really well for me here in the Phoenix, AZ area. They taste very faintly of melon without the sweetness. I’ve never tried the striped variety, let me know what you think!

 

[igorsMistress]

I’ve been looking at new varieties of greens and roots to grow. I’m going to try lambs quarters, it grows well here, and maybe parsnips and salsify.

 

[chickengr]

That is interesting. What difference is there between your method and direct sowing seeds in the soil? Do you remove some of the seed sprouts for transplanting into other pots, and then leave some in the paper towels to grow through in the original pot?

you can afford to forget to water (I forget it all the time) if seeds are sowed in the towel. I let them grow like a jungle and transplant them when they are big enough to be transplanted in the garden. I am always short of time so this method suits me.

 

[cj2024]

I planted once pale armenian cucmbers. I didn't like them but my neighbors and my chickens loved them.

Did you pickle any?

 

[chickengr]

Did you pickle any?

I didn't get a chance to pickle armenian cucumbers. neighbors and chickens got them all. I believe they would taste great pickled. now I am tempted to grow them again and to pickle them.

 

[cj2024]

My Red Marconi sweet pepper seeds from Burbee finally sprouted. I gave up after a month and took the cover off and left the seed tray under a full spectrum grow light. Three of them spouted the other day.

I put a sheet of toilet paper on the potting mix and placed one seed in each cell and covered it 1/8 inch with fine vermiculite and kept them in the dark. This was my first time doing it this way, so I had my doubts. The benefit of covering the seed tray and dome with a black cloth was there were no green algae growth and the benefit of using fine vermiculite was there were no twigs, and clumps to prevent the seed from sprouting.

They sprouted right after I filled the bottom of the tray with 1/2 inch of water.

I just got my 2025 Marconi seeds from another amazon vendor and decided to try something different to speed up the germination time. I put a tsp of hydrogen peroxide in 1/4 cup of water, cut the nose tips off the seeds, and soaked the seeds for 3 days before planting them in Jiffy peat pots about an 1/8 inch deep. I am going to leave these uncovered in my grow room.

 

[Minanora]

As promised. The pollinator garden

 

[WthrLady]

Lower winds today, so even though the humidity is too low for my own comfort to burn, guys are burning all around me and there are air quality warning up for tonight and tomorrow. BLEH.

The generator is now wired for the house, which makes me happy.

The beast that was terrorizing the barn has been caught. He's been a terror of making a mess, breaking into feed vaults and scaring the alpacas to the point they wouldn't come inside. It was indeed a raccoon, A VERY VERY LARGE raccoon. Plan was to dispatch him this morning. But dammit, I made eye contact. He was in the cage, curled up like a puppy and he looked up at me like a baby, said his name was Mitch, had 8,000 babies, and a wife and he was sorry - he'd never come back again........ sigh. So my neighbor is coming over to take care of him after work.
I put the cage on our hay sled and put him out dark quiet shop for the day (climate controlled and still) so he could sleep his day away without panic.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Lower winds today, so even though the humidity is too low for my own comfort to burn, guys are burning all around me and there are air quality warning up for tonight and tomorrow. BLEH.

The generator is now wired for the house, which makes me happy.

The beast that was terrorizing the barn has been caught. He's been a terror of making a mess, breaking into feed vaults and scaring the alpacas to the point they wouldn't come inside. It was indeed a raccoon, A VERY VERY LARGE raccoon. Plan was to dispatch him this morning. But dammit, I made eye contact. He was in the cage, curled up like a puppy and he looked up at me like a baby, said his name was Mitch, had 8,000 babies, and a wife and he was sorry - he'd never come back again........ sigh. So my neighbor is coming over to take care of him after work.
I put the cage on our hay sled and put him out dark quiet shop for the day (climate controlled and still) so he could sleep his day away without panic.

He must be related to Bob who came visiting my barn the night before last... Going to try to trap him this week and somehow NOT capture the 3 stray cats that help keep the rodent population somewhat contained.