What did you do in the garden today?

[Melky]

Well the garden is growing it’s just keeping the squirrels chickens and cardinals out of it. I keep my girls in a run but they love to see if they can hop out a door when I open it to beat it to the garden. The cover crops are up for chickens, arugula, radish tops, chives, lettuces starting to peek out, and hope the rest grows. My sage came back well again this year and planted another one in between my rosemary and thyme. My husband has old wood from old deck so trying to think what to do with it. I think I will make some planter boxes and paint black maybe for decoration around patios in back.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning all. Yes, it's raining here too @Sueby. We really need it as well. I got my corn planted yesterday. Just three 10 foot rows. Not hoping for a bumper crop, LOL, just for fun and I will be planting pole beans after the corn starts growing. I'm also putting the butternut squash in that same bed. I've never done the "three sisters planting" before so I thought I would try it. The arugula, radishes and chard are all doing well enough so I removed the tunnel and set it up where the Roma tomatoes are being planted. DD mixed my tiny harvest of asparagus into the quiche this morning. Although it was a small bite it was so fresh and tasty. I only planted 10 crowns last year so I was just happy to get a small sample this year. The plastic on the garden bed didn't do any damage to the weeds so I'll need to clean them out before planting. I'll stick with the cardboard cover over winter. There's only one dandelion in one of the beds that apparently found an open spot between the sheets of cardboard. Easy to remove that one. The weather is warming up on Tuesday so I'll likely get some more into the ground. Can't wait.

 

[chickengr]

weeding and feeding, lol. my chickens and turkeys are happy.

what distance should I keep between 2 bean varieties?

 

[jerryse]

weeding and feeding, lol. my chickens and turkeys are happy.

what distance should I keep between 2 bean varieties?

For what purpose ? If saving seed, beans are self pollinating and rarely cross since they pollinate before the flower is fully open .

 

[BReeder!]

When my nice, old neighbor here saw me first take a shovel to virgin Prairie sod to turn my garden the first time. He came over with his massive John Deere 6 foot tiller made 4 passes and was done. Came back a week later to till the clumps, and then the disc and rake to finish it. It was amazing. Then two years later we put the barn on top of it.

Now we deep mulch, row garden, no till.

Doesn't working behind those walk behinds rattle your brains and eyeballs?

Working behind my smaller front tine tyler does rattle me quite a bit, and I'm not the smallest guy at 250lb and broad shoulders. My neighbor's rear tine didn't rattle me though. It pretty much did all the work and I just had to guide it. It its wheel driven and has a shifter rod with 3 speeds, neutral and reverse plus the option to engage the tines in while in 1st and 2nd gear. It was walking behind a mini tractor.

 

[BReeder!]

The plan today is to continue regrading an area I tilled yesterday. I also need to make a few trips down the block to a neighbor with my wheel narrow because they are giving away firewood from a tree that was cut down last year. I just ran out of my supply for the fitepit and smoker, so perfect opportunity from another awesome neighbor. Speaking of the smoker, I need to get that going and smoke a turkey breast I thawed yesterday. We are supposed to have my sister and her family over later. And at some point I need to get to the store to pick up grass seed and weed and feed and get that all spread in the appropriate areas. Oh, and I need to plant my Jerusalem artichokes that arrived yesterday. The Hinnomaki red gooseberry came too, but I planted that right away in the new mini orchard (a row of fruit trees along the fence). I'd like to think that's it for today, but there's still more digging to remove the rest of a flower bed we've been working to take out and level that ground as it its behind the kids' swingset and poses a hazard while they are running and playing since it's a big mound. There's tree and shrub stumps to dig up there too. And I still need to build the new flower boarder along the garden fence. I'm trying to figure out how to kill the grass in that 1.5-2 ft wide strip though and not kill any other plants nor the flowers we will be planting. Chemical killers are out. I'm leaning towards cardboard, but I don't have that much of it. I'll need to see if I can get used boxes from the store - Aldi is usually good at letting boxes go. Oh, and I need to take down part of the fence in the duck run and then rebuild it with a new gate so e can access from the front not just the back. And then there's the pond filter build that I haven't gotten around to finishing.

There's no way I'm getting all this done today. But that would catch us up on the yard and garden work. I definitely see a few more weekends of work ahead.

 

[WthrLady]

Question . Anyone grow cowpeas ? I have not in a long time . Thinking maybe the rabbits might like them . I am going to try surrounding my green beans with cowpeas to protect them from rabbits . Fencing has failed in the past .

I grew cowpeas just for soil amendments, not for eating. It's one of those thing that takes up too much real estate in the garden when I can get a bag for 58 cents.

They grow easily though.

 

[WthrLady]

Walked 15 pots of cushaw squash down to the greenhouse.

Transplanted 45 Marriage Marzano Tomatoes from the sprouting tray to the bottom of solo cups, and 6 to a 6 cell tray for a neighbor. The germination rate for these was 54%. I'm not impressed. But we shall see how they grow.

did a flat of autumn sunflowers - 60 cells
two flats of double french marigolds 120 cells
a flat of firecracker marigolds 60 cells

Three of my last 1020 trays have had manufacturing holes in them. So that has put me at a standstill until I get to town today. The solo cups I put in aluminum roasters. But I can't plant more cells until I get more trays. Grumble.

OK quick snack and off to town to get a load of dorm stuff, hit the hardware store, and grocery. Happy dirt under the nails all

 

[jerryse]

Walked 15 pots of cushaw squash down to the greenhouse.

Transplanted 45 Marriage Marzano Tomatoes from the sprouting tray to the bottom of solo cups, and 6 to a 6 cell tray for a neighbor. The germination rate for these was 54%. I'm not impressed. But we shall see how they grow.

did a flat of autumn sunflowers - 60 cells
two flats of double french marigolds 120 cells
a flat of firecracker marigolds 60 cells

Three of my last 1020 trays have had manufacturing holes in them. So that has put me at a standstill until I get to town today. The solo cups I put in aluminum roasters. But I can't plant more cells until I get more trays. Grumble.

OK quick snack and off to town to get a load of dorm stuff, hit the hardware store, and grocery. Happy dirt under the nails all

Oh cumshaw makes excellent pie .

 

[Sally PB]

Doesn't working behind those walk behinds rattle your brains and eyeballs?

Someone said the front tine did, but not the rear tine. I agree. You pay for it, though. A good rear tine is $$$. But it should last a long time.