What did you do in the garden today?

[jerryse]

Honestly, I like Roundup. Black plastic works but you have to weight it down and it tends to blow around when you are putting it down. And then it can disintegrate partially and be a real bugger to clean up. And ...also...if you live in the south you are building fire ant havens. They love to get under anything.

Dirt tends to pack under plastic. If you buy concentrated roundup...like 40% it isn't very expensive if you buy off brands. Just don't spray once you plant.

I am not an organic gardener...

X2 I got old enough that I had to quit some of the hard stuff . Roundup and preen are good tools . To each his own .

 

[jenn-]

We had mass casualties in the cucumber patch so I had to replant some today. The soil has finally gotten to the temperature that I felt safe putting in the okra. It will rot at the base instead of growing if the soil isn't warm enough.

 

[lazy gardener]

Get rid of grass: If making a new bed, and the soil is decent, I'd just heavily mulch with newspaper or cardboard, then a thick layer of grass clippings, hay, leaves. It all depends on what I intend to do with the area, and how soon.

Today, I planted 5 fruit trees in heavy compacted clay, and the stuff that wasn't clay was lots and lots of rocks. My arms and shoulders are screaming. Then, we went to a friends house to see what they've done. Several acres planted to multiple raised beds, lots of fruit trees, a beautiful pond, ducks, several hens, and I got to see the 10 chicks from my first spring hatch this year. So far, it looks like they have a lot of pullets. There are 4 males for sure (Barred, BSL), but, the other 6 may be pullets. Add these to the 2 males (BSL), 5 female BSL, and I think 2 female EE x RCBL that I kept. If we're calling these chicks correctly, that would be 6/19 males. If so, my gender selection experiment was a resounding success. Will post final results in that thread at a later date.

 

[nickdlny]

How do you guys remove grass to make beds? Manually with a shovel or do you use some kind of tiller?

on my raised beds i dont, the foot and a half of dirt i fill in is too much for it to come up through, otherwise i mow it short as possible and just till it and rake out the clumps while i'm raking out the rocks and such

I like to layer organic components in the box, and if it's a foot or so (or deeper) thick, you really don't have to do anything. If you are concerned about it still, you might lay a couple of layers of brown uncoated cardboard (some paint is okay, but stay away from too much paint. I've used ALOT of Uhaul boxes) down, build or place the box on top of them, and then cut excess cardboard around the edges of the box. When I use organic layers, cardboard is always my first layer.

 

[nickdlny]

I got the season's first barrel of compost tea brewing. I'll spend some hours tomorrow night spraying it all over the place.

 

[hennible]

I got the season's first barrel of compost tea brewing.  I'll spend some hours tomorrow night spraying it all over the place. 

I need to get going on that here. Love compost tea...

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Need a little help knowing how much manure to how much water to brew compost tea. I have a large trash barrel available and 4 gal buckets. . . .

 

[jerryse]

Got my tomatoes , squash and another row of pole beans planted yesterday . Snap peas are blooming . Pulled some radishes . Tilled some more . Rained overnight . Chance of rain everyday this week . Very humid and near 80 for this week .

 

[3goodeggs]

I weeded and planted some peppers and tomatoes.

 

[darina]

Need a little help knowing how much manure to how much water to brew compost tea. I have a large trash barrel available and 4 gal buckets. . . .

Yes, hennible! Could you please give us a compost tea refresher course/recipe?