What did you do in the garden today?

[politicalcenter]

These are some pictures of creeping phlox I rooted earlier this year and some Iris I separated from my flower beds in August. All the phlox came from one small plant I found growing on the property a few years back. I have probably gotten over a thousand clones from that one plant. It is a misnomer, but they call creeping phlox thrift down here.

I also have some strawberries in 4 inch pots, some butterfly weed seed started, and some perennial hibiscus as I have mentioned before. I also have some Cosmos I dug up in a vacant lot and they are just about to flower and I will start seeds from them hopefully.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Here are a couple of pictures from inside my new greenhouse. I know it doesn't look like much but they are cuttings I have rooted and some in the process of rooting. They have been moved from a house that was a little too dark and they should come around before spring.

I also have about 200 creeping phlox rooted and in pots outside and they are doing well. I am showing some brugsmania trees (rooted) and 2 kinds of ice plant (rooted) and some roses not quite there yet. I also have some fig trees started and other things going on.

nice if I showed you a pic of my greenhouse you'd see nothing. ..it is frozen..

 

[MIRanger]

Today I decided to go ahead and mass harvest my peas since we are going to have a good freeze tonight. I got about 12 pods, most of which are pretty much ready to eat. I also decided to harvest some kale and spinach leaves as well as some carrots. Not a huge haul but it is definitely something that helps. Yay for backyard gardening.

 

[politicalcenter]

nice if I showed you a pic of my greenhouse you'd see nothing. ..it is frozen..

It's going down to 27 degrees tonight and that is about as cold as it's been so far this year.

I had a greenhouse in northern Indiana once and I started it up in March. The deep winter I used it to keep wind damage away from dormant plants.

 

[politicalcenter]

Today I decided to go ahead and mass harvest my pease since we are going to have a good freeze tonight.I got about 12 pods, most of which are pretty much ready to eat. I also decided to harvest some kale and spinach leaves as well as some carrots. Not a huge haul but it is definitely something that helps. Yay for backyard gardening.

You still have peas? We picked the last of our butter beans a couple of weeks ago.

Still have kale, collards, and carrots though.

 

[MIRanger]

You still have peas? We picked the last of our butter beans a couple of weeks ago.

Still have kale, collards, and carrots though.

I am in Georgia. Yes we still have peas, Little Marvel and Melting Sugar.
The full list of what we have is:
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce
Cabbage
Bell Peppers
Jalapenos
Carrots
Onions
Strawberries
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Kale
Beets
Lemon Tree
Blueberry bushes
Garlic

We are trying to over winter our peppers and garlic in a makeshift greenhouse tunnel using agribon. We Do a weird mix of container gardening mixed with square foot gardening using 5 gallon grow bags. No the lemon and blueberries are not in 5 gallon bags.......just thought I would clarify. This is our first attempt at a larger garden, we are renters. Next year we should be home owners, again....finally, and are looking forward to actually planting a serious garden and possibly starting up some chickens, have to get the wife on board with that one. it is a really impressive garden since our "backyard" is about 11x30. That includes our A/C unit, the drip line because the owners are too lazy to put on gutters, and the patio. We are trying to do the whole homesteading thing but space is out limiting factor. Debating if I want to add our website to my profile, it is small and has almost nothing on it. Really glad there is a gardening section in BYC, combines two things I really love.

 

[politicalcenter]

I am in Georgia. Yes we still have peas, Little Marvel and Melting Sugar.
The full list of what we have is:
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce
Cabbage
Bell Peppers
Jalapenos
Carrots
Onions
Strawberries
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Kale
Beets
Lemon Tree
Blueberry bushes
Garlic

We are trying to over winter our peppers and garlic in a makeshift greenhouse tunnel using agribon. We Do a weird mix of container gardening mixed with square foot gardening using 5 gallon grow bags. No the lemon and blueberries are not in 5 gallon bags.......just thought I would clarify. This is our first attempt at a larger garden, we are renters. Next year we should be home owners, again....finally, and are looking forward to actually planting a serious garden and possibly starting up some chickens, have to get the wife on board with that one. it is a really impressive garden since our "backyard" is about 11x30. That includes our A/C unit, the drip line because the owners are too lazy to put on gutters, and the patio. We are trying to do the whole homesteading thing but space is out limiting factor. Debating if I want to add our website to my profile, it is small and has almost nothing on it. Really glad there is a gardening section in BYC, combines two things I really love.

We are in Alabama and all we have left are carrots, kale, onions, chard,and collards. We plant everything except the carrots and onions for our pigs. Of course we eat some or it also.

 

[Arielle]

Bugseye: Is your ground frozen? If not, this is what I'd do. I'd take a shovel, dig a hole in the garden, and just dump those garlic cloves in the hole, then cover them up. You could dig about 4" down, and even spread them out about 4" apart, then cover the whole mess back up. Then... cover it with what ever you can get your hands on for mulch. That will at least get them in the ground. They should be able to set some roots, even at this late date as long as they are mulched.

I need to get my garlic cloves in today. A week of 60's weather coming up--very unusual but will take full advantage of the sitation to plant the garlic and then cover with a TON of leaves for insulation. I learned if I stuff a huge plastic bag with leaves and lay them on the compost, the ground did not freeze. . . so opting for laying these filled bags over the planted garlic in hopes of wintering them over. Of course the moles might think this is heaven . . .. lol will see if it works come spring.

Made homemade seed tapes the other day for my onions and will try to continue that with my lettuces and such. It was easy to do, just took some time and cheap toilet paper.

Checked the soil being built under the chips and leaves, it's moist and black but interspersed with wood chips still so not sure how long it will take to turn to mostly soil in that layer. Under that is my usual clay soil, hard as nails as per usual, though softer than it normally would be with the covering of chips on it to hold in moisture. Saw a few worms but not as many as I'd like.

This warm weather has my rhubarb thinking it's spring, though, so nice new leaves coming out on stalks 4-6 in. Just covered those up with leaves to keep them warm when the temps drop and hope they don't die completely under there when they get frozen later on.

Scavenged more leaves for my orchard and for my son's BTE setup we started in his front yard. He lives in town in a cookie cutter neighborhood, so I can practically feel the outrage going on in the neighboring houses. Dirty looks abound. Mostly elderly folks, so their idea of gardening is still stuck back in the till and hoe days of agriculture, I'm thinking. No one even has flowers in that neighborhood due to all the deer running rampant....which is why we are placing electric fence around Joel's space, a single strand and barely noticeable, but the deer will notice it greatly when they come to eat the only tender things around.

I love the home made seed tapes. Great for the kids to do in my house. We use paper towels as the material is a bit more durable given the kids. ( I always have paper towels because we don't use them. lol Prefer cloth towels for most clean ups.)

We had a 4 day hunting season at a big state part because the deer population is getting out of hand. A few protesters. A few arrests. It was by lottery for 200 hunters and 2 deer each was the limit. Heard of only 1 hunter getting the 2 limit and most not getting any. 60-70 head removed. I cant imagine how many starved to death last winter-- don't want to think about it---the culling this year will help but the 60-70 was lower than hoped for.

I'm glad you are of sturdy character and can ignore those dirty looks. I'm with you on the method and it will solve MANY of the problems I'm dealing with. Well worth the effort of trying. ANd think of all the good eating of fresh, unpolluted food. Far better than any grocery vege.

Quote: I cant imagine not having chickens just for the reasons you stated. We waste NOTHING now. Bones are composted, and all scraps are fed to the chickens or the compost. Note the chickens often visit the compost.

 

[politicalcenter]

My other greenhouse (I call the lab) faces east and west. The north side is covered in chip board and painted black with top vents on that side. The south side is covered in chip board 4 feet high. there are shelves inside but as mentioned before trees block a lot of the light.

It has a 110 gallon livestock tank in the bottom filled with water. The tank is under a shelf with part of it sticking out. Some of the shelves are painted black and the part sticking out has a couple of boards on it and the tomato plant is on it.

It got down to 25 degrees f. last night and the tomato looks fine. So...considering it doesn't get much colder than than that... this solar thing may work. I plan to put some second hand mirrors on the inside (on the north side) to increase the light.

When I get a chance I will post some pictures of the outside of my lab. I need to do some more painting on the inside.


Thanks for listening and I hope it gives someone some ideas.

I use fence post paint to paint things and I have my choice of colors....as long as its black.

 

[appps]

Quote: Yes the chickens enjoyed them, I threw them out to them.

Quote:
I probably should have been clearer but maybe it got lost in translation. I dont like to eat tomatoes riddled with fruit fly maggots which is what the marks are the outside show is in the inside. If you dont mind the odd maggot then all the more power to you lol I gave them to my chickens but they werent consumed by us so they were thrown away.