What did you do in the garden today?

[dirkandlorie]

Happy day! My peppers are emerging, just the Anaheim and poblanos, no sign of the jalapenos yet, but they'll be along soon. Planted the seed trays on the 25th, so pretty good germination time.
Finished amending the soil in all 50 of my 5 gallon buckets. Vegetable garden has been ready for awhile, just need to lay cardboard down in the walkways to keep weeds down. Ready for saint pattys day to plant that kale, mustard, etc. Growing season, yay!
Getting the row cover fabric stapled to the 1x2s, repairing and replacing. Bought more of the insect netting. It worked so well keeping the bugs off my brassicas, I want to use it over more of my beds. I better go get more 1x2s for them.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Not necessarily in the garden but it’s about all I can do right now. First time tapping maple trees and I think I’m in over my head with over 15 gallons in just 24hrs…. I should have only tapped the 4 trees in the yard but no I had to go all out and tap another 15ish others along the woods

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Not necessarily in the garden but it’s about all I can do right now. First time tapping maple trees and I think I’m in over my head with over 15 gallons in just 24hrs…. I should have only tapped the 4 trees in the yard but no I had to go all out and tap another 15ish others along the woods
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Sounds like you’re going to be doing well as far as syrup! Do you need to do anything about the holes in the trees when you’re done or do they just seal up on their own?

 

[DemeterAD9]

Sounds like you’re going to be doing well as far as syrup! Do you need to do anything about the holes in the trees when you’re done or do they just seal up on their own?

First time doing it but I guess they heal up on their own or so the general consensus says from the web.

 

[Molpet]

Not necessarily in the garden but it’s about all I can do right now. First time tapping maple trees and I think I’m in over my head with over 15 gallons in just 24hrs…. I should have only tapped the 4 trees in the yard but no I had to go all out and tap another 15ish others along the woods
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Start boiling it down . You probably get a quart out of what you have
40 to 60 gallons to get a gallon of syrup.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Start boiling it down . You probably get a quart out of what you have
40 to 60 gallons to get a gallon of syrup.

I know and if I had time I’d be boiling it now. Gotta work all weekend and will have no time to do it till Monday morning. By then I’ll have probably around 60ish gallons? If I continue collecting till next weekend as is my temporary plan I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up without running out of containers to hold it in. I’m aiming for 2 gallons of finished product. My game plan forgot to take my work schedule into account, plus it looks like rain for the next few days

 

[Smokerbill]

I'm the opposite this year haha I almost always direct seed and this year I'm trying starting inside and I think next year I may go back to direct seed unless I notice an incredible difference in harvest yields this season, as I am remembering now why i liked direct sowing so much while I do have a short growing season, I have always been very successful with direct seeding as well!

It's nice not obsessing over a bunch of seedlings this year. If I get a smaller and/or later harvest it'll be a fair exchange for the time and effort saved by not starting seedlings in the house.

I've been focused on my chickens anyway, having 24 now spread out in four age groups. Trying to decide on which to freeze, which to keep for egg production and which to use for breeding larger meat birds.

 

[FernwoodHollow]

It's nice not obsessing over a bunch of seedlings this year. If I get a smaller and/or later harvest it'll be a fair exchange for the time and effort saved by not starting seedlings in the house.

I've been focused on my chickens anyway, having 24 now spread out in four age groups. Trying to decide on which to freeze, which to keep for egg production and which to use for breeding larger meat birds.

That totally makes sense! Thats alot on your plate! And also more fun than seedlings in my opinion haha! Which breeds do you usually pick for meaties?

For me I picked the wrong year to do seedlings, I'm reflooring my garage once its above freezing, building new chicken runs, rebuilding the farmstand etc. Haha too many projects

 

[Smokerbill]

That totally makes sense! Thats alot on your plate! And also more fun than seedlings in my opinion haha! Which breeds do you usually pick for meaties?

For me I picked the wrong year to do seedlings, I'm reflooring my garage once its above freezing, building new chicken runs, rebuilding the farmstand etc. Haha too many projects

I have feed-store New Hampshires and had a pair of RIRs, but the RIR cockerel was processed after he fathered a batch of RIRxNH chicks. Still have the hen for the time being. I have a younger batch of chicks that are straight NH.

For meaties my plan is to breed for size by pairing the largest, fastest growing cockerel with the largest hens, whether or not they have some RIR in the mix. I also plan to develop a line of straight NH birds.

 

[cj2024]

I am trying my luck again with standard white Cornish hatching eggs from eBay. I have tried with a few other suppliers in the past and failed. Based on my experiences with other types of eggs, I found that the eggs that ship by priority mail have double the chance of hatching, so I may get lucky this time around. In addition, the seller mentioned that he has local orders to fill first, so the eggs he sends will be fresh and there may be a waiting time before its shipped.