What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

Good afternoon gardeners. I haven’t done anything in the garden today, but we are home from our 300 mile road trip to get a duck. I got a Swedish Blue/black Indian Runner drake today. There is such a huge difference in how chickens react to newbies compared to ducks. Chickens get all mad and chase the newbies off. Ducks are not as brutal. I have everyone in the small yard together and will keep them there for the rest of today and maybe tomorrow as well. The drake is 2 years old with the Swedish Blue shape but he’s all black. Here’s a couple pics but I haven’t seen him out in the sun yet so these are with him in the shade

 

[Elyrian1]

Yes, the hemorrhagic rabbit fever. I've heard of it. Another fun one is Tularemia. I've heard best thing for it is to keep breeding stock from having any contact with wild natives and keep them healthy and happy. As with most preventatives, essentially. When we do have rabbits I intend to keep them up at a comfortable height for myself to reach, but way too high for them to interact with wild ones.

 

[Sally PB]

Alfalfa can go down 10 feet. It's a persistent bugger.
And yes, it is a legume family, so it is a nitrogen fixer, but it is also a water hog, so you have to determine if you want it in your way or not. Totally up to you, obviously. It takes about 3 years of beating at the roots and sprouts for it to give up. It does get small each year with each beating.

I can't till that soil now, as it's a raised bed. I knew I'd be battling this for a while; I've done something similar before. I need to get as many of the roots out of there as I can by the end of May, as that is when I'll be planting tomato plants in those beds. When the 'maters go in, I won't be hacking at the roots anymore, I'll just be cutting them off sub soil level. Over and over and over again.

 

[Acre4Me]

It was a manure kind of day. More aged goat poop. 3 trips, 8 bags/bins each trip, so 24 bags (33gallon size) of goat manure.

 

[igorsMistress]

Yes, the hemorrhagic rabbit fever. I've heard of it. Another fun one is Tularemia. I've heard best thing for it is to keep breeding stock from having any contact with wild natives and keep them healthy and happy. As with most preventatives, essentially. When we do have rabbits I intend to keep them up at a comfortable height for myself to reach, but way too high for them to interact with wild ones.

The hemorrhagic rabbit disease is here in AZ. It terrifies me enough to keep my buns inside for now.

 

[igorsMistress]

It was a manure kind of day. More aged goat poop. 3 trips, 8 bags/bins each trip, so 24 bags (33gallon size) of goat manure.

That’s a LOT of goat poop

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Well I got one row of strawberries covered in chicken wire. No weeding got done today I remembered the main reason I had to go to TSC was to get DE because it looks like our flock has mites. So I cleaned and dusted t he whole coop, run, and every single chicken tonight.

First we had overbreeding problems and as soon as we solved that they molted and lost the feathers they had left. And then 3/4 of the way through the molt everyone got mites

It makes me feel like a horrible chicken owner to see them all half naked for so long. I’m hoping the DE will solve the problem and I won’t have use to anything stronger.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Today we picked up some plants from an acquaintance who was getting rid of them. Got most in the soil, but still deciding where to put the bamboo iris. Watered plants again since it didn't rain this week like it was supposed to.

Tomorrow I plan to plant the irises, fertilize the acid-loving plants, and mow at least the path to the chicken coop. And admire the irises!

 

[BReeder!]

DW and I built two new raised beds for herbs and strawberries. These were in the plan this year, but I'm just getting to them a few weeks before we need to plant in them. They are 10'x2'x15" each. I don't want to talk about the cost of lumber... but I save by using 1x boards and just reinforcing the structure a bit with center stakes and a cross member brace over the center. We filled them with a mix of dirt from an old flower bed I'm removing and or own compost. At least I was able to save money on the soil.

Indoors some of our sunflowers are already sprouting. We just planted them a few days ago.

Also, my tomatoes are getting huge! They are ready to go outside but will be staying inside for at least another week or two. Here's just some of them:

While checking in things I also noticed the larger pepper plants are seeing flower buds indoors under the grow lights. They are 8 weeks old I think. They are pretty big though already. I have began fertilizing, they get watered regularly and they still have room in their pots so I don't think this is an attempt to go to seed due to stress. I think they are just maturing already. That said, I am not too interested in hand pollinating them and I need to transplant them outside in a few weeks which may kill any flowers anyway from any minor transplant shock. Any thoughts an whether or not to pinch off the buds?

 

[Artichoke Lover]

DW and I built two new raised beds for herbs and strawberries. These were in the plan this year, but I'm just getting to them a few weeks before we need to plant in them. They are 10'x2'x15" each. I don't want to talk about the cost of lumber... but I save by using 1x boards and just reinforcing the structure a bit with center stakes and a cross member brace over the center. We filled them with a mix of dirt from an old flower bed I'm removing and or own compost. At least I was able to save money on the soil.

View attachment 2622388View attachment 2622389

Indoors some of our sunflowers are already sprouting. We just planted them a few days ago.

View attachment 2622390View attachment 2622392

Also, my tomatoes are getting huge! They are ready to go outside but will be staying inside for at least another week or two. Here's just some of them:

View attachment 2622397

While checking in things I also noticed the larger pepper plants are seeing flower buds indoors under the grow lights. They are 8 weeks old I think. They are pretty big though already. I have began fertilizing, they get watered regularly and they still have room in their pots so I don't think this is an attempt to go to seed due to stress. I think they are just maturing already. That said, I am not too interested in hand pollinating them and I need to transplant them outside in a few weeks which may kill any flowers anyway from any minor transplant shock. Any thoughts an whether or not to pinch off the buds?

View attachment 2622409

Most places say to pinch them off so the transplants focus on putting leaves and roots out when planted instead making peppers. Personally if mine are going in good potting soil I don’t pinch them since there isn’t nearly as much transplant shock. If they are going in the ground I do pinch them off.