What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

Good afternoon gardeners. We were up and out early this morning. Took the pups to the park, went to get some groceries, then did some house work before I went out to plant the garlic. I got some lettuce and carrots in also, but I’ve decided that I need put more soil in before I plant much else. I’m also fairly certain I would do well to have a dedicated bed for the artichokes outside of the main garden. I may run another row of blocks down the west side outside the wall and have a raised bed for them. I could easily keep three to four in that space and not have to worry about the leaves covering other stuff. That’ll be a project for Winter I suppose. In the mean time I think I’ll start some seeds in pots inside the shade garden where they’ll get full sun so the grackles don’t dig them up. It sprinkled on me while I was out there and it’s a little bit breezy, but the doors and windows are open and it’s comfortable enough for a tshirt and light pants. Have a great day everyone!

 

[WthrLady]

Idiotically windy today. Took the hound down the park to track rabbit, squirrel and mink. She had a ball and is out cold now.

Still knitting, knitting, knitting.

Thinking about tomato varieties for the Spring.

 

[karenerwin]

this is my first year with asparagus. The fronds have not completely died down yet. Should I cover them with leaves over the winter? I'm really looking forward to having a little asaragus next Spring.

I'm wondering too. I started mine from a couple of roots and a bagillion seedlings I started in the greenhouse last spring. I read somewhere that you had to give it at least two years! I dunno, mine did so well this first year I'll probably pick at least a few in the spring.
That is so exciting! I'd love to have just a few runner ducks.

Some years I pile the leaves on top of my asparagus and some years I don't. I do think it helps keep the roots and crowns warmer so they don't have as much of a chance to freeze and die.
So if you have the leaves, then I say, "pile them on!"

 

[karenerwin]

Good morning gardeners. Almost done cleaning the garden up for the winter. A friend of mine came over and gave me a hand. Only one more bed to finish up, then the asparagus. He's been growing asparagus for years and told me to trim back all the fronds, pull any weeds then mulch over it for the winter. It's a small bed so that won't take much time.

I usually leave the fronds alone because they grow the green little round seed pounds and then they turn red/orange and fall off ( what the birds don't eat) and I feel like that helps start new asparagus plants. But if you aren't worried about getting seeds to drop, then he may be correct and it won't harm the plants any to cut the fronds off.

 

[karenerwin]

Morning gardeners need to cut my remaining brussle sprouts

Were you able to get any point of lay pullets at the poultry auction?

I have not touched the gravel since the first day. So that is on my to do list for Tuesday.
I did dig up 3 decent sized carrots on Thursday and cooked them up and put them in my lunch for Friday! I have more growing in the raised bed, but they need to get bigger first. Also saw that some of the onion sets are growing but they are only about golf ball sized at the moment, I have pulled everything else out of the garden.

A friend dropped off a deer for me Saturday while I was at work, so I had to skin it and get it quartered up and in the refrigerator before I could go to bed. I ended up in bed around 9:45 instead of 8 (wake up is at 2:57 AM). Fortunately the deer was a lot smaller than the one they gave me last year so it didn't take as long.
I gave the hide to a coworker and her Native American boyfriend. He hasn't tried his hand at tanning a deer hide yet and I knew I wouldn't have time to do it myself.
Does anyone have any tips I can pass along to him? He wants it to turn out soft.
I tried tanning the hide last year but it ended up getting ruined when I listened to the suggestion my husband insisted was what everyone on the internet was doing!
I ended up burying it in the garden so it could breakdown and hopefully fertilize the soil some.
The puppies managed to get a hold of my muck boots on Friday when I was at work.
They are no longer water proof. They chewed a huge hole in the toe area of one boot and chewed down both side of each boot. Well, at least I had already put new muck boots on my Christmas wish list.
Good night all, I'm headed off to bed.

 

[NewBoots]

A friend dropped off a deer for me Saturday while I was at work, so I had to skin it and get it quartered up and in the refrigerator before I could go to bed. I

That is a good friend! How long did it take? DP and I have been discussing getting a deer.

Does anyone have any tips I can pass along to him? He wants it to turn out soft.

My brother had a deer hide cured and he gave me what he thought was scraps, but being a kid (and loving the smell of leather) I played with it, and bent it and rubbed it against the edge of our old cement porch. It turned it into this lovely soft leather. He took it all back and had something made from it (don't remember what). So I guess he should give it to a 6 year old who loves leather. Once it is tanned, you want to work the hide, the more you work it the softer it'll get. I know nothing about the curing process.

 

[Acre4Me]

Great weather this past weekend! We made a fire in the fire pit and grilled our dinner over the fire last night!

the 14 week old males and female chickens are getting integrated behind a fence. Maybe I’ll let them into the run today...I’m sure it will be a pecking order event. No head rooster to control the girls either, since he died. But, we do have some high ranking females, so the boys will be “tamed” and taught some manners, I hope.

How do you like it so far? And I'm sorry about the loss of your rooster.

Thanks. Wish the rooster hadn’t died. Hopefully one of the males we picked will turn out to be a good choice. The air fryer is pretty nice! I haven’t used it to its full ability yet. It has a rotating basket (looks like a bingo cage!) for French fries including the homemade kind and other things that would benefit from rotating. It comes with the rotisserie part, and one can buy skewers for it also (they will rotate too). It can be used to make meat Jerkey, bake, and has two trays that can be used in addition to the other things. And...one nice feature is the door can be removed for cleaning!! Because I’ve never had one, I have to remember to incorporate it into the cooking Plans.

I did change out the regular mattress pad for the heated mattress pad- THE best thing I ever bought myself.

These mattress pads are great! Our first home was 100 years old. Now it is about 20 years older. Who knew old homes didn’t have insulation in the walls? Just air space, so it got pretty cold in deep winter (and the furnace was 40 years old), so I would sleep with gloves and a hat during winter. We bought a heated mattress pad...it was great!! I have a new one now (and no longer live in the old home), but it doesn’t have the extra heat in the foot area like the last one, but it heats up faster than the last one!

I cut bacon into strips (about 1/2" or so) and put in into the pan to render a little,

Bacon is a great flavor enhancer. When I make a pack of bacon for breakfast, I cut off the fattier ends in strips to freeze for later flavor enhancement. Then the ones I cook for breakfast are shorter and fit in the pan better once cut!

 

[Sueby]

Morning all!

The puppies managed to get a hold of my muck boots on Friday when I was at work.

Ooooh, bad puppies! When I got Patrick the only thing he would chew was my slippers. Always the slippers.

We sleep with an electric blanket, I couldn't live without it! It's the greatest invention ever. Maybe when this one dies I'll try a mattress pad.

Back to work today so nothing happening around here. Enjoy the day all.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning all. My asparagus plants are all Martha Washington /female so no chance of fertile seed production. Apparently they need a male plant or two to develop viable seeds. Plan for today is to finish up putting the gardens to bed for the winter. The new generator I ordered from Lowes is a no show. Why did I fall for them again? The only way to cancel is to spend an hour on hold to speak to several different people. Like that's all I have time for. Although the temps were in the 70's yesterday, it got down to the high 30's overnight. More warmth today and tomorrow then rain coming Wednesday afternoon or evening. I just throw an extra blanket on my bed in the colder months. I like to keep my bedroom on the cool side around 56 to 58F. The pellet stove generally keeps the temperature up there but my furnace is set to come on if it gets colder than that. The idea of sleeping on something that is connected to electricity scares me a bit. Sorry, that's just me. Have a great day everyone.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. I noticed a few puddles when I peeked outside this morning but haven’t been out to look at the rain gauge yet. I decided against planting the last two oleanders out with the rest, the example down the street I looked at has a lot of dead shrubs and I think they were crowded so not going to do that. Not much else happening out there, today I have work blah! Enjoy your day all!