What did you do in the garden today?

[3xhhheather]

Do you let the bedding compost first or just use it fresh?

I use it fresh and last year it worked great in the bags. I do think it's because I use my own compost on top that is full of worms and like 75% finished.

 

[Sueby]

I've been having dirt delivered the last few years - my local garden store will mix 1/2 topsoil & 1/2 compost & dump it in my driveway. It looks pretty good but I keep meaning to send it off to be tested.

My strawberry bare roots ship soon, a little late to get them in but since they're June bearing I don't think it matters too much.

I'm going to up pot the cukes today. The peppers should be fine till they can go in the garden I think. I might plant the dill out in it's pot. I'm hoping we're done with snow. & I can cover it if I need.

ETA: I ordered a cabinet to hold my canned goods, been wanting/needing one for years!

 

[Sueby]

I’m going to drake for the girls tomorrow. A Blue Swedish/Black Runner mix

Yay!!! Can't wait for pics!

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Not much going on the garden today. I have a lot I want to get done but a friend asked to come go turkey hunting and it’s the only time they’ve asked this year. And unfortunately the best field is the one the garden is in so I won’t be doing anything out there this morning unless they get one in the next hour or so. The turkeys scare the crap out of me at least once or twice a week when I’m in the garden. Thursday one was in the trees next the garden and I scared it, it flew smack into a tree and then took off again. Nearly gave me a heart attack!

 

[BullChick]

Well, I asked.
The chickens are in the garden today. If I didn’t have plastic down, it would be better. Maybe they are eating icky things. I don’t want to know.

 

[Sueby]

We have turkeys that wander through the yard every day too, they don't look like the brightest birds ever. & it cracks me up when they fly into the tall trees, I never think they're going to make it cuz they're so goofy. But I do love when the toms get all puffed up!

 

[WthrLady]

@BReeder!
Those augers are great. I couldn't find mine last year, and almost went into a panic.
I use them for super deep tomato holes. LOL.

OH and for those shopping for one, make sure you get one with at least one flat edge at the top. This keeps it from spinning in the drill if you hit something that resists, like a stone, root, dense clay, or the earthworm rebel army.

=======
Still cloudy, dark, and chilly here. So hauling manure and old straw to the compost hill is off the books today. I have an etsy order to ship, the market to visit, and the hardware store to get to.

Our hard freezes Monday and Tuesday night are coming with the bonus of snowfall. Not a lot, just enough to make you say UGH. AND it's better than the 8 inches we managed this time last Spring. So there is that.

I have three more apple trees to replace the dead ones from Stark. And I still need to start up the Mother's Day pots for sale. So lots to do.

Have a great day everyone.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. We got a total of 4.5 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday. The precipitation total was 1.5 inches which we desperately needed. The really good news, it only got to 32F for less than 30 minutes and hovered between 34 to 36F until now, currently at 37F. The tallest of the asparagus tips were broken or severely bent but at least not frozen. Other than a possibility of frost either Wednesday or Thursday morning we are back to Spring like weather. Thank you for your input on the coco coir @igorsMistress. Yes, I realize that there is a boatload of "social" costs with the coco coir, at least it doesn't take over 200 years to replace like the Canadian peat bogs. Concerning news regarding a rabbit hemorrhagic disease that is showing up in Oregon now. Apparently it is affecting both feral and domestic rabbits. Scary stuff. I love wild turkeys also @Sueby. They are in the woods behind my house and I love listening to them in the morning. They have never shown any interest in the chickens and are not aggressive. On a recent morning walk with her dog DD encountered a mated pair of turkeys with their 4 little babies. I was so jealous. I likely won't do much in the garden today, it's really wet out there. I may pot up the dill. All of my peppers are coming up now, thank goodness. It will still be at least two weeks or more before I can plant outside.

 

[WthrLady]

We have turkeys that wander through the yard every day too, they don't look like the brightest birds ever. & it cracks me up when they fly into the tall trees, I never think they're going to make it cuz they're so goofy. But I do love when the toms get all puffed up!

Our funniest bird interactions have been with Turkeys.
Back when cavemen roamed the earth, DH(then BF) and I were on a walk and I showed him all the Turkeys at roost up in the trees. He, city boy, argued with me that they were Turkeys, turkeys don't fly. I, hunting-country girl, shot back that they can only manage enough flight to get to a safe roost in the trees and then up to a limb of their choice, and being the rocket scientists that they are, if you startle them, they will fly down and make a run for it. He again said, those aren't Turkeys. I told him, fine, the rocket scientist that you are, run over to that tree, flailing your arms and bark like a mad dog. Einstein was immediately put in place by about 2 dozen freaked out butterballs falling from the trees. He came back and said,"OMG those were turkeys."

THEN I was taking DS for one of his very first driving lessons. We were on a minimally maintained, newly, cut dirt road. (For those of you that don't know, that means NO gravel, no leveling, no compaction, literally someone went through with a chainsaw and a grader and made a path, which cars can use, but you really better be in a truck, or better yet a tractor.) So this road is a large hill, barely over one lane, and the valley at the bottom is very muddy. I told DS that once we hit the muddy spot to keep going, no matter WHAT!. You can slow to maintain control, but DON"T stop in the mud, or we'd be walking home. So down the hill he starts. About halfway down, a whole flock of turkey hens and older poults pops out of the woods, and on to the road about 100 yards ahead of us and about 20 feet from the start of the mud. They're taking their time, marveling at the newly open space in their woods, pecking at the road grit, finding the odd new bug to snatch, looking up blankly at the blue sky, and the poults are even slower.
DS says, MOM?!
I see them. Keep going.
But MOM.
Keep going.
But MOM, I don't want to squish them.
Keep going.
MOM!
They'll move. Turkeys can fly.
NO SOONER was "WAIT WHAT?" out of his mouth than the first bird took off across the road, then the second, the third left footprints across the hood as it reached a safe altitude.
The look on his face at the top of the next hill was priceless as he said 'huh, turkeys can fly."

(OC I didn't tell him that if they didn't make it we were having turkey soup for dinner.)

 

[Elyrian1]

I put some chicken manure in a bucket, fill it with water and use it in my garden. no harm. pure chicken manure would burn plants.

That works too, but I've seen gardeners use chickens to prep the garden plot, and within a week of removing the chickens they're already planting into those beds. There's not a ton of poop on it, it's not caked by any means, but there is some. And yet, their plants never look burned.

It's an experiment I intend to try firsthand.