What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

let's face it the plywood today even the better grade is not as good as the ones 25 to 35 years ago

 

[Beer can]

let's face it the plywood today even the better grade is not as good as the ones 25 to 35 years ago

Maybe that's what's up with why I have a piece still looking good it's old
Maybe it's like metal roofing? Old stuff you have a hard time pounding a nail through. Today's stuff you have to be careful not to poke a hole in it.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Exactly. Like hardware cloth used to be much heavier. Now it bends so easily and sometimes comes apart. Americas motto seems to be build it cheap.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

It has a lot to do with market forces. Americans are thrifty probably because America's been pretty consistently unstable with it's economy for the last 100 years with depressions and recessions etc.
So when you get the option to buy something cheaper, like something from overseas, most people take it because they feel like they have to, even if it's not a wise investment. Being cheap is almost a virtue in this country. So then local companies have to make cheaper products to compensate or they can't compete. Then the cheaper-worse version becomes the new standard and the good version becomes a very expensive specialty product.
That's actually part of how chickens became our dominant small white meat source instead of rabbits. Chickens could be raised cheaper under worse conditions, so even though rabbit is better in a lot of ways, all our market force went into developing chickens not rabbits. Now rabbit is super expensive and chicken is so dirt cheap farmers can barely afford to pay feed costs.
It's a really interesting subject. Free markets do some crazy things, especially in combination with unstable economic settings.

 

[CapricornFarm]

What i hate is you often can't even find a better product even if you are willing to pay more.
Still no word from Jen. Hope she is ok and just busy.
Zero chance of rain today, and the hummingbirds are out. So no rain to mess up my paint. Yay!

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Garden is really blooming this year, coneflower and black-eyed-susan have really taken off in the back garden and chicken coop garden, and the babies make tunnels through them to hide in, and the lavender is getting bigger, the chickens haven't damaged too much of it this year. My favorite annual, nasturtium has taken some bad hits by the birds, so it isn't as prolific in the places I have put it this year, last year was better. Well, I need more chicken wire I guess, I make cones and put it over the plants. Other tips I use are to take sticks, preferably sharp ones, and hedge in the plants so the chickens go around them and not trample them, it really works! I found if you create paths through the flowers to where they want to go, ( my chickens are lazy and take short cuts through my plants, not going around them to get into the coop) they will take them and leave your plants alone.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Not real great pics, and the flowers aren't in full show as they are right now but still I am proud of how it turned out, with much effort on my part! Seems I can never get enough flowers for this space, though its so small. I currently have Echinacea, Black-eyed-susan, lavender, nasturtium, pink and blue salvia, a mum, zinnia, Oriental Lily, hollyhocks, a rose bush and some cosmos.

 

[CapricornFarm]

View attachment 1095309 View attachment 1095308Not real great pics, and the flowers aren't in full show as they are right now but still I am proud of how it turned out, with much effort on my part! Seems I can never get enough flowers for this space, though its so small. I currently have Echinacea, Black-eyed-susan, lavender, nasturtium, pink and blue salvia, a mum, zinnia, Oriental Lily, hollyhocks, a rose bush and some cosmos.

Love it, good work!

 

[chickmom3941]

View attachment 1095309 View attachment 1095308Not real great pics, and the flowers aren't in full show as they are right now but still I am proud of how it turned out, with much effort on my part! Seems I can never get enough flowers for this space, though its so small. I currently have Echinacea, Black-eyed-susan, lavender, nasturtium, pink and blue salvia, a mum, zinnia, Oriental Lily, hollyhocks, a rose bush and some cosmos.

Really looks cute! You have a lot better luck putting flowers around your coop than I have had. Our girls (and roo) can't seem to leave anything alone. I planted a bunch of petunias in two whiskey barrel halves outside the coop and they totally destroyed them. The only thing that made it are the flowers in the window box under their hex window, and that's only because they can't reach those! Maybe next year I should try some of the perennials that you have around your coop.

 

[chickmom3941]

This morning I checked on the pumpkins & squash that we planted into our "pumpkin patch" yesterday (the ones that have been growing on the porch for weeks). They looked a little better than they did last night. Last night, most of them were looking kind of sorry. They were watered well yesterday, and this morning I watered them again. Several of them had perked up a bit, and some look really good. Many had flowers open this morning, also. I think most, if not all of them are going to make it. Luckily, we're having a somewhat hazy day today so they don't have really strong sun to contend with. It will give them a little time to get more settled in before having really strong sunlight.

I mentioned to Hubs that it would be cute to have a garden stake for the pumpkin patch area, so he is talking about taking a piece of wood, cutting it into the shape of a pumpkin, painting it, and then writing "Pumpkin Patch" on it, and attaching it to a stake so we can stick it out there. I think that would be so cute!

Other than that, I spent the morning watering several areas, and doing a little weeding, as well. My knees are acting up today, so I'm not really doing a whole lot of gardening. My recliner (and the AC) feels so much better!