What did you do in the garden today?

[lazy gardener]

One spring, when the mountains of snow melted away, I found a mouse nest that had been buried in a snow bank, completely made of cigarette butts. No accounting for some critter's decorating skills.

SearsMom, I may sound like a broken record, but I don't think that double digging is the answer to your problem. My recommendation, for any soil type is to apply a heavy mulch as soon as possible, then you can fork the areas where you will be putting seeds or transplants to loosen the soil, but not turn it. You can throw it right over existing dead weed cover, live weed cover, or even sod with some modifications. If I had some nasty perennial weeds, I'd make a bit of an effort to manually remove them (never till them), but otherwise, mulch right over what ever happens to be there. I've seen deep mulch work in heavy wet clay soil, and in sandy soil. In both situations, it improves the soil over time, and without work. I can get into my garden a full month before any of my neighbors can, simply because I keep it mulched. It does not get water logged in the spring, the frost does not go as deep in the winter, does not dry out in the summer. I can prepare to plant just by sticking my garden fork in the soil along the marked row, rocking it forward and back, then moving down an other 12" and repeating. I can prepare a whole row for planting in about 5 minutes, or an entire bed in about 15 minutes. The worms will move in and transform the soil from the top down, the mulch will break down and provide a fertile tea every time it rains, the soil will remain nice and soft under the mulch.

 

[lazy gardener]

One spring, when the mountains of snow melted away, I found a mouse nest that had been buried in a snow bank, completely made of cigarette butts. No accounting for some critter's decorating skills.

SearsMom, I may sound like a broken record, but I don't think that double digging is the answer to your problem. My recommendation, for any soil type is to apply a heavy mulch as soon as possible, then you can fork the areas where you will be putting seeds or transplants to loosen the soil, but not turn it. You can throw it right over existing dead weed cover, live weed cover, or even sod with some modifications. If I had some nasty perennial weeds, I'd make a bit of an effort to manually remove them (never till them), but otherwise, mulch right over what ever happens to be there. I've seen deep mulch work in heavy wet clay soil, and in sandy soil. In both situations, it improves the soil over time, and without work. I can get into my garden a full month before any of my neighbors can, simply because I keep it mulched. It does not get water logged in the spring, the frost does not go as deep in the winter, does not dry out in the summer. I can prepare to plant just by sticking my garden fork in the soil along the marked row, rocking it forward and back, then moving down an other 12" and repeating. I can prepare a whole row for planting in about 5 minutes, or an entire bed in about 15 minutes. The worms will move in and transform the soil from the top down, the mulch will break down and provide a fertile tea every time it rains, the soil will remain nice and soft under the mulch.

Thanks for the pics Gallo. Yet an other foot of snow falling here tonight! Oh joy... not! On a positive note, I'll be setting eggs on Friday!

 

[Sill]

it's funny. In the past I never thought about little bits of stuff on the ground. Now with poultry, if I drop a staple I spend all sorts of time searching and sporting that I won't find it but one of them will.

Oh that's funny. I'd been trying for years to get DH to stop throwing his cigarette butts on the ground. All it took was his ducks to start nibbling them, and I don't have to worry about them littering the ground anymore!

Yes, I know what you mean, I walk around with my eyes peeled for anything that might get eaten

Ain't that the truth? I'm always picking up stuff the family leaves in the yard so no critter eats it.

Today I had to tear out basil plants from a large pot and upended the soil from the pot. The basils were not getting enough drainage and were suffering from the water logged roots. Added a lot of sand and mixed in then replanted the basil.

 

[StupidBird]

Good morning fellow gardeners!
I am sooo procrastinating getting out of this warm nest. Got down to 30 or below yesterday with very high winds. Hope the covers stayed on my newly transplanted lettuce.

Hosspack, on the germination of your herbs- I have had trouble with the high peat content of potting soil crusting up and not wetting, resulting in bad germination and other problems. Now I mix in perlite heavily, a quarter to a third, and cover the seeds with straight perlite. This year the light table was set in the warmer bedroom not the garage, and I had much better germination.

And as far as parsley is concerned, I let some go to seed. I now have parsley in random places sprouting now, and just tuck the seedlings wherever I'd rather have them this year. Or remember to shake the seed heads over the desired spot when the seed heads are ripe. They come up all by themselves February through March.

So, random stuff: I read a while back of a study that mice use butts to line their nests to repel some sort of fleas or mites. Learned behavior. It might have been a type of bird though. I just remember the butt nest benefits.

On double digging and mulching: I live in the red clay area of Georgia, and the developer dirt wouldn't even grow weeds for the first few years. Twenty years later, I finally learned that about five years of heavy hay mulch AND double digging to break the brick layer and remove every last trace of Bermuda grass, Johnson grass, trumpet vine, Japanese honeysuckle, etcetera is the only way to get a decent harvest. But the mulches hid slugs, rodents, stink bugs. Can't win.

Basil cuttings root in a glass of water for me. Not all varieties, but enough.
Sorry for the novel

 

[Searsmom]

Hi Lazy - thanks for the advice. The ground has been tilled, so it's got a compact underside. Anyplace I want to plant, I double dig to get down below that. Growing vegetables is more to feed us than a real hobby, so while I would like to take the year or so that it would take to kill off the weeds and improve the soil, I don't have that time so I do it as I go. I figure another 5 years doing it this way will keep us in fresh veggies and improve the soil to where I can just mulch in the fall and plant in the spring. Experience has shown me that heavy mulch not only provides breeding ground for stink bugs (which destroyed all my squash last year - I'm getting guineas in a couple of weeks), but doesn't really slow down the weeds at all. If I put 2-3' of it on the bed maybe, but I don't have that kind of mulch laying around and I'm not buying it until I've got a surplus on my egg money.

Oh the things I would do with unlimited funds!!!

On a side note, all progress in the garden has come to a complete stop as it is now covered with 1.5" of snow.

I did see snow peas poking their heads up in the small area I've already "done". I'm hoping they're not called snow peas for nothing. It's in the nature of an experiment.

 

[lazy gardener]

Searsmom, I'm so glad that there is no one right way to garden! Obviously, you have a very different situation than I do, and I'm glad that it's working well for you. The final outcome is what really matters! My garden is now buried under 3' of snow, the last 16" arrived between yesterday noon and tonight. Headed back into yet an other deep freeze. Experimenting is what keeps gardening and poultry keeping exciting for me. I bet your snow peas will do just fine with a bit of snow over them!

S Bird: I have volunteer parsley too. Saves a lot of work! I also have LOTS of volunteer garlic and dill, and for flowers calendula and nasturtiums. Nice to depend on that stuff. An other nice option is to let your lettuce go to seed, then yank the plants in the fall, and lay them where you want next year's lettuce crop to grow. It will sprout at the optimum time, and give a lovely crop before the stuff you plant is ready.

 

[jerryse]

Spent most of the day outdoors today. Put up the plastic greenhouse. Scattered some of the remaining snow to speed up melting. I so want the snow gone. Checked the fruit trees for winter damage. Got to 58 here today. Filled a flat with 3 inch pots and potting mix. Got to make more potting mix. High of 56 tomorrow. I need to get some seeds started.

 

[Searsmom]

Looked at my garlic sprouting in the kitchen and realized I'm really late getting it in the ground.

 

[newfoundland]

I potted on my baby tomatoes. On a more poignant note, I planted Flanders poppy seeds. This year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War. We are all encouraged to plant red poppies as a symbol of sacrifice and remembrance, for the fallen.

 

[MEMama3]

I potted on my baby tomatoes. On a more poignant note, I planted Flanders poppy seeds. This year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War. We are all encouraged to plant red poppies as a symbol of sacrifice and remembrance, for the fallen.

funny note: did you know that despite being legal to buy in all states, many states make it illegal (as in felony) to grow them. I saw an article awhile back where this woman was busted by the dea for growing poppies in her heirloom gardens.