What did you do in the garden today?

[AmeliaBedelia]

Yesterday I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but the forsythia cuttings are almost all rooting, and we have at least a handful of baby blueberries growing!

I also continued my war on the neighbor's privet...I can't cut down their "trees," so I have to just keep killing the shoots that come up on my side of the fence and trim back branches on my property.

Question about blueberries: what is the cheapest method to keep the chickens, squirrels, etc from stealing my berries? I don't want to spend $100 this year protecting $15 of blueberries on my 3 baby bushes...
We have some leftover 3ft tall chicken wire, but otherwise we'd have to buy materials.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I thought they needed the cooler late summer temps to ripen. However, I'm only a consumer and have not tried growing these myself. It's really difficult to find farmers who grow them around here.

Yes, Concords can grow down here. I moved to the south in 2003 to take care of my 86 yr old handicapped grandmother who was running the family farm by herself. Tough, old bird! I miss her.... Anyway, the family farm was started as a fruit farm by her parents back in the early 1900s. We lived in a little trailer next to her house that used to belong to her sister back in the day. (Side note - living in old trailers in the south....not ideal!) There was a big dogwood tree next to the trailer and a concord which I assume during the days of the fruit farm had been on some trellis that was long gone had since grown up into the tree. I used to put a ladder in the truck bed and access the grapes at the way top. Made wonderful jelly, of course!

That being said....I don't think Concords grow nearly as well as muscadines which is the native grape for this area. I do have a Catawba that is growing along the field fence in the garden. I was hoping to add a Concord just down the way from it. Besides making jelly (DH's favorite is grape jelly), I think DH wants to make some wine with them.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I have this flowering bush next to my house.... No idea what it is. This picture was taken yesterday. Pretty white blooms. We got a little bit of rain this morning and now ALL the blooms are open... So pretty.

Irises are up too but haven't opened yet. Whomever had this house previously planted a gazillion irises in random places.

I have a line of azaleas along the front of the house. They are blooming too...

 

[TJAnonymous]

Yesterday I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but the forsythia cuttings are almost all rooting, and we have at least a handful of baby blueberries growing!

I also continued my war on the neighbor's privet...I can't cut down their "trees," so I have to just keep killing the shoots that come up on my side of the fence and trim back branches on my property.

Question about blueberries: what is the cheapest method to keep the chickens, squirrels, etc from stealing my berries? I don't want to spend $100 this year protecting $15 of blueberries on my 3 baby bushes...
We have some leftover 3ft tall chicken wire, but otherwise we'd have to buy materials.

I have 7 baby blueberry bushes. 2 were planted last spring. 3 were planted last fall and the last 2 were planted about a month ago. Broke my heart to pull off the blooms but it is necessary for the tree to put its energy into growing out bigger instead of producing fruit.

Chicken wire should be sufficient to cover them to keep them from being decimated by the local (and loved) animal life.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I have this flowering bush next to my house.... No idea what it is. This picture was taken yesterday. Pretty white blooms. We got a little bit of rain this morning and now ALL the blooms are open... So pretty.

View attachment 2614082

Irises are up too but haven't opened yet. Whomever had this house previously planted a gazillion irises in random places.

I have a line of azaleas along the front of the house. They are blooming too...

View attachment 2614087

Those look like white azaleas to me?

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I have 7 baby blueberry bushes. 2 were planted last spring. 3 were planted last fall and the last 2 were planted about a month ago. Broke my heart to pull off the blooms but it is necessary for the tree to put its energy into growing out bigger instead of producing fruit.

Chicken wire should be sufficient to cover them to keep them from being decimated by the local (and loved) animal life.

I did pull off the flowers that were left when we bought them, but a some had already dropped...I don't know if I have the heart to kill a developing blueberry. Especially if it's just a small "sample" amount per plant, haha.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Yesterday I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but the forsythia cuttings are almost all rooting, and we have at least a handful of baby blueberries growing!

I also continued my war on the neighbor's privet...I can't cut down their "trees," so I have to just keep killing the shoots that come up on my side of the fence and trim back branches on my property.

Question about blueberries: what is the cheapest method to keep the chickens, squirrels, etc from stealing my berries? I don't want to spend $100 this year protecting $15 of blueberries on my 3 baby bushes...
We have some leftover 3ft tall chicken wire, but otherwise we'd have to buy materials.

I’d make a chicken wire cage.

I have this flowering bush next to my house.... No idea what it is. This picture was taken yesterday. Pretty white blooms. We got a little bit of rain this morning and now ALL the blooms are open... So pretty.

View attachment 2614082

Irises are up too but haven't opened yet. Whomever had this house previously planted a gazillion irises in random places.

I have a line of azaleas along the front of the house. They are blooming too...

View attachment 2614087

It’s a white azalea.

 

[WthrLady]

Berry prices at our grocery store up here are usually in that ballpark too, but sometimes there are wild fluctuations that make no sense - like a couple weeks ago they had 16oz. packs of organic blueberries for less than the regular 6oz. packs of regular blueberries! Displayed right next to each other! And the organics were no more old/soft/rotten than the others.
There's nothing logical about prices at the grocery store any more, just a general trend of everything getting more expensive.

Does "cushing" mean the way they spit regurgitated food when they get upset? I keep hearing that term, but I don't know if it means what I think it means.

Haha, my chore deadline is a bit different, but sounds a lot like yours - a list of tasks that would realistically need a hired crew to get done on time. Of course, for me, the highlighted part is probably what will not get done...

Wow, thanks, that's good information. I didn't know Gurney's got bought out by a conglomerate - explains why they have deteriorated. The trees I bought from them were the ones that spent several weeks in their box traveling back and forth several times between Ohio and Kentucky before they finally made it here. Those trees are still dormant (if not dead? still not sure) while the ones I bought locally are budding already. I'm still waiting for two nut trees from them, too.

Periodically my workplace puts out random free things they want to get rid of, for people to take home, and tonight I scored some very useful finds: a large plastic tray thing that's perfect for holding seedling pots, a metal bin with a fitted lid that's just the right size for a bag of chicken feed (still need to remove the encouraging workplace messages glued to it) and a mini space heater with different settings that you can put on "auto" and set the temperature, then when the room reaches that temp it becomes a fan, or you can put it on "manual" to either crank out heat or be a fan. It's not "workplace compliant" because there's no automatic shutoff if it tips over, but all the settings still work perfectly! Wish I'd had this before I bought my heat mat and mini fan!

To cush is when they sit down and fold their legs under them, making them look like they are standing in a deep hole. They can lock up their legs under there and you cannot move them, or roll them over. Petulant childlike tantrums some times.

 

[WthrLady]

We're headed to below freezing the next two nights. Greenhouse sensors come today, so I can see what she does after the sun sets. While it was 38 degrees at 9am, the inside was 100', so all the vents opened and door too. I can't put plants in there until I find out what is going on at night. Although the horseradish is in there, it doesn't care.

 

[Acre4Me]

It is about 4 weeks before last typical frost date (approx Mother's Day). Not counting last year when it got to 25F around during late May! The 10-day forecast doesn't show any temps lower than 39F - of course, this could change. I think I will go ahead and plant the potatoes over the next few days!


Onion seeds have done a good job of sprouting! Now, I just need to determine where they should go. Not sure how long I need to wait to plant the onion seedlings.