What did you do in the garden today?

I sprayed raised beds with a mixture of neem, cayenne powder, dish soap, and water. The neem oil I have is very thick and needs to be shaken well in a sprayer with water. Do you have a similar experience? Do you mix it with anything to spray trees?
I mix mine with warm water. Neem oil solidifies below 85 degrees. Wondering if this might be why yours might seem thick? I usually run the bottle under hot water for a few minutes before adding it to the water. Shake up and use immediately. If I let it sit for a while, especially if it is cooler outside, it solidifies in the water. I've always been worried about it clogging up the sprayer so I just use it immediately and then wash the sprayer out.

ETA - I do mix up Neem with Peppermint Castile soap from time to time and use it in the garden. Works great on aphids.

When using it for myself, I pour a tablespoon or whatever into a small container and mix with almond oil or coconut oil.....depending on use. But same concept applies, I warm the bottle up under hot water for a few minutes which allows it to thin the oil.
 
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Gurneys used to be great but a few years ago they were bought out by another company that also owns Spring Hill and a lot of other companies.
Yup, I remember Gurney's being one of big names and being a good place. After I get my onions, I may send them an email telling them why I won't buy from them again.

The "other companies" include Bits and Pieces, which sells puzzles, or did. I'm getting So. Much. Junk. Mail!!
 
pears in the orchard are in full bloom, and we're going to freeze tonight and then tuesday and wednesday morning. Of course.

Well, the blooms are pretty anyway.

I'd like to spray weekly as well. The trick is the darn wind. There's always wind.

Worked yesterday, and then decided to mow the 'lawn'. I'm still recovering today. Bleh.
All I've managed is a small batch of pretzels, and a load of laundry and shipped an etsy order.

Guess a day off is OK every now and again.

Waiting on a remote sensor thermometer for the greenhouse to see what it does during outdoor freezing temps before moving everything down there and getting more started in the seed shed.
 
I got the other plum tree planted today. I potted up about 10 pots of tomatoes all of which had 2-3 plants in them that had to be separated into their own pots. The extras will be given away. I planted some seeds for chives and garlic chives today. I thought about buying plants but the ones at the store weren’t even an inch tall. Not worth the $4 they wanted for them. I did pick up a gardenia to replace one I lost this winter and some transplants of sweet potatoes, a hot banana pepper, rosemary and a marquis grape. And finally I cut more poles for the garden.
 
Btw, I'm convinced Neem oil is a treasure from heaven.... :) I use this stuff for everything. Not only in the garden, but also on myself. It has pretty amazing anti-aging, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, I want to make sure I have Neem oil in my bugout bag. ha ha....
Thanks for the reminder!
 
Aaaaaand the basil I got at the store keeled over on me this morning. Yay me... So I tried a different store and this time got a little pot that has four plants in it! Guess I'll see if I can keep them all alive, get them separated soon. Maybe tomorrow. It's supposed to be, well, blegh tomorrow. Chilly, following a bit of snow possibly tonight. I wish it would just get done with the white fluffy stuff. I can't plant certain things out until it does, and I'm worried about the ones that ARE trying to come up early.

Garlic is looking absolutely fantastic though! But, hey, you more experienced gardeners I have a quick question. Is it normal to get more than one shoot from a single clove? I swear some of them have three...
 
I planted my onions and potatoes the other day. I also transplanted some tomato starts, cucumber, squash, watermelon, luffa and purple green beans. I'm pretty sure it is a bit too early but they needed to be out from under the grow lights and were starting to look a bit sickly. I still have 2 small pots of some kind of pepper (I think, but I forgot to label them) that I need to transplant into separate containers. I think they are getting root bound.
I also cut part of the grass and picked a lot of violet blossoms to make wild violet jelly.
 
I just realized I could clean the poop stains off my duck eggs by using a little bit of baking soda.... Hallelujah! I wish I had learned this nugget a couple mo

Gurneys used to be great but a few years ago they were bought out by another company that also owns Spring Hill and a lot of other companies. I think every company they’ve bought has gone severely down hill as soon as they were bought out. Particularly their shipping. People one the West Coast can still get stuff from Spring Hill somewhat reliably but if you want something shipped to the East Coast? It will take a month to ship and will be dead as a door nail. There are some exceptions but this is generally what happens. I was lucky with Gurneys this year since most of my stuff shipped early the only thing I haven’t gotten are the mulberries. Those I expect to be DOA as it’s already consistently in the 70s-80s here during the day. I think they are still okay with seeds but I won’t be ordering live plants again. I will order from Starks or Burpee next year for any live plants.



that's why I buy locally. I choose the best I can find and I know what I paid for. I don't buy on line. a lot of money go wasted by buying on line + dissapointment.
 

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