What did you do in the garden today?

[hennible]

There are different kinds of crayfish. Some eat fish, others filter-feed and only use the claws for fighting other crayfish.

Well cool!
I rember them sifting through the gravel and moving it about, they're wisker like mouths sucking stuff up, sort of shovleing debris in... Defiantly filter feeding...

 

[RichnSteph]

There are different kinds of crayfish. Some eat fish, others filter-feed and only use the claws for fighting other crayfish.

Ours are just run of the mill Texas crawfish. I know they will eat dead plants and fish with the occasional fresh catch if they can get a hold on it. With 850 gallons of water and only 10 crawfish I hope our two dozen minnows and three perch (yup we put the tree river perch in our in-house aquarium in the tank today) can stay out of reach of the claws.

The water will turn brown before it clears so if you have any fish in there make sure they get enough air.

Hmm. Our water went from crystal clear to light green to dark green to brown and back to dark green over the last few months. Right now, with the addition of the water plants and the aerator, it's a bright vibrant green again. We do have a pretty good algae bloom going on though. Our PH, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia levels are dead on perfect for an aquaponics system containing either goldfish, Asian carp or hybrid perch. Wish us luck!

 

[HerbGir1972]

Had to refill the back half, with our weather bouncing. Were back in the 40's this a.m.

 

[HerbGir1972]

Bantam corn, a row of cukes and squash, sunflowers, and billing my row for my hot pepper plants, that are not quite big enough

 

[A-K-A]

Sounds a lot like our garden here. I also planted cherokee popcorn. Have a pack of red ikra and some melon seeds staring at me this morning.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Anyone start their corn inside in seed starter pots?
I have some heirloom blue corn seed that I got from a friend and I don't have much of it. I don't want to just plop it in the ground and risk having it eaten by animals or even just rot in place before it sprouts. My plan is to grow it this year and save it all for seed next year. Then next year I can start to harvest it and try making blue tortillas.

 

[hennible]

I start my corn inside. Sometimes I grab starts from the nursery as well.

 

[hennible]

Oh
One thought on saving seeds from corn. You need about 100 plants (just what I've read) to ensure a good selection of genetic matirial... I can only grow a tiny patch in my greenhouse so I don't save seeds from corn. Not to say you couldn't do it, but some plants suffer from "inbreeding"(cant remember the term as it apples to plants right now) easier than others...

 

[wyoDreamer]

This is corn that my friends family has been growing for "a hundred years" as he says. He has had it in his fridge in a glass jar for 20 years. Last year it had a germination rate of about 70%. They always saved seed from year to year. It is from northern Colorado, grown at about 6,000 feet in the mountains. Not sure how it will do here in WI - we are a little lower at about 600 feet and we get a little more moisture (36 inches/year here, 15 inches/year there). Our growing season is a little longer here also.

 

[Tiller]

I like starting my corn inside also. The crows and grackles eat it as fast as I can plant it if I walk away when it's planted outside, tinned their numbers a bit this year though, but still will start most of mine inside again.