What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Today I found a swarm of bees in one of my compost bins. I propped open the lid so they'd find it less hospitable, and it looks like they are gone. Too bad I don't want to start a hive right now!

I had a bunch of either mason or carpenter bees in my tumbler last year. I stopped using it and just stuck with the 3-bin piles. I need to dump the tumblers out. I decided to disassemble them since I prefer the capacity of the 3-bin system.

 

[BReeder!]

Planted lettuces to go with some starts we bought all in the wading pool will stke out the chicken coop and garden with the BB gun they don't want traps I will take them out 1 by 1

Go get 'em!

 

[BReeder!]

Hi fellow gardeners, everyone sounds like everyone is keeping busy! I was all day in the garden again myself! Weeding, planting another greenhouse with veggies I have only one half of my large green house to go . Harvested last of red cabbage.I have to wait for June To get my outdoor beds planted. Divided other cymbidium and got 8 this time for a total of 15 plants out of 2 . Will put them in my Japanese garden tomorrow. Had lunch in the gazebo, goaties snoozed near by and olive, my olive Egger killed and ate my friend the fence lizzard that Iived in my compost bins. Wasn’t too smart of him to go into the chicken yard. Also I put up a fence trellis for my black berries to grow on. Whew pooped again! I always think I deserve ice cream after a day like today, so tonight is gonna be cookies and cream! View attachment 2666194View attachment 2666197View attachment 2666195View attachment 2666196

Your yard between the house and gazebo looks lovely. A nice flower garden to walk through.

 

[BReeder!]

I replanted some potatoes. The row that seems rotted was planted half with purple majesty and half with mountain rose. The rose potatoes are actually growing I fond after digging two of them up gently. The purple majesty potatoes all rotted but one it looks like, do I replanted that half of the row with superior potatoes. I ran into a problem though. I bought 5 pounds of superior and was only replanted an area that took 3 pounds of purple majesty before. I had leftovers, so they went into some three feed bags with soil and compost. We will see how they do compared to the raised rows.

It's getting cool again here tonight. Everything survived 34F last night. Tonight is getting down to 36F. I convered the young zucchini plants because they are the only things looking a bit light in coloration and one of them actually got some leaves but there is a new leaf forming that looks healthy still. This is the last night under 40F inn the forecast. We should actually start seeing 50F again for the low soon.

Lastly, while buying seed potatoes today I picked up a pair of power loppers (added leverage thanks to a clever design). They made quick work of some small trees that self added last year and got 3-4 ft tall. I also lopped some low hanging branches off a tree that hands over the fence from a neighbor. They were over a garden path I have along the fence and I keep walking into them so they had to get cut. I can't wait to trim the shrubs in front with these now.

 

[vall]

I had a bunch of either mason or carpenter bees in my tumbler last year. I stopped using it and just stuck with the 3-bin piles. I need to dump the tumblers out. I decided to disassemble them since I prefer the capacity of the 3-bin system.

I set up a couple trap wire bins last year for extra capacity but it's just too dry here (single digit humidity on and off half the year) and I don't want to water the pile. The tumblers work well but they do fill up fast. The bees chose the only one that has space left in it, of course.

 

[gtaus]

I bought a load of Red River Valley black topsoil today.

Going to mix that half/half with my chicken run compost and fill up my two new raised beds I just built. The bottom 8 inches is hügelkultur method using rotting logs and wood chips. The top 8 inches will be the soil/compost mix.

Just want to add a picture of my elevated sub irrigated planter I built a few years ago. I had to empty it to move it to a new place in the yard, but here it is almost ready to go. Just need to mix up a little soil/compost for the top 3 inches in the planter.

In case anyone is wondering what a sub irrigated planter (SIP) is, I can tell you the bottom 4 inches is a water reservoir filled with sections of 4 inch drain pipe. Notice the small overflow pipe on the bottom right corner of the planter. That is placed at 3.5 inches and fits into one of the 4 inch drain pipes that line the bottom of the planter. The idea is that there is always an air gap between the soil and the 4 inch drain pipe because the overflow pipe is at 3.5 inches. That allows the planter to wick up the water in the reservoir but prevents the roots from drowning because there is always an air gap for oxygen.

Since I had to empty the planter to move it, I upgraded my fill tube which you see in the top of the planter. I found some old 3.5 inch black pipe behind the garage, and decided to use some of it to make a better fill tube. The old fill tub was only 1 inch, and I could not get my garden hose to fit inside it. Plus, notice that I was able to put a section of swimming noodle inside the fill pipe so I can see the water level in the planter. As the plants drink up the water, the yellow noodle will go down the fill pipe. When the noodle is level with the top of the fill pipe - time to refill the planter.

The angle of the shot makes the fill tube look like it sticks way above the soil level of the planter. But I have yet to completely fill the planter. When top is filled with some new soil/chicken run compost mix, the fill tube will be 2 inches above the soil level. This planter is sitting way out in my backyard, and the larger yellow swimming noodle make it easy to see from my back deck on the house.

These sub irrigated planters are my favorite. I only have to fill them up about 2-3 times per summer. The plants love them and I get more beans in one planter than I ever get in my garden even when I plant 4-5 times more out there. I think having water always available in the reservoir is the big advantage.

Here is a picture of one of my sub irrigated planters last summer out on my back deck.

OK, I feel I have shared enough for today. Still lots of projects on my To-Do list, but getting something done every day.

 

[oldhen2345]

I need to cover the strawberries tonight. Hope it's the last night...

@Auntiejessi3, I LOVE Baker Creek! (rareseeds.com) If you get their print catalog, it has lots of interesting stuff. All that and more is probably on their website, but I still like to page through catalogs. Some time, I want to visit them.

I share your preference for catalogs. A friend once asked me if I had any seed catalogs for her mother to look at while she was recovering from an illness. She was shocked when I asked how many does she want? I gave her a whole armload- now- if she had asked for poultry catalogs...

 

[chickinlittles]

Your yard between the house and gazebo looks lovely. A nice flower garden to walk through.

Oh thank you it’s mostly California natives and very low maintenance. I’m working to get more areas like it through out the 2.5 acres. It’s a lot of work but will pay off if I’m successful.

 

[chickinlittles]

I bought a load of Red River Valley black topsoil today.

View attachment 2666343

Going to mix that half/half with my chicken run compost and fill up my two new raised beds I just built. The bottom 8 inches is hügelkultur method using rotting logs and wood chips. The top 8 inches will be the soil/compost mix.

View attachment 2666345

Just want to add a picture of my elevated sub irrigated planter I built a few years ago. I had to empty it to move it to a new place in the yard, but here it is almost ready to go. Just need to mix up a little soil/compost for the top 3 inches in the planter.

View attachment 2666346

In case anyone is wondering what a sub irrigated planter (SIP) is, I can tell you the bottom 4 inches is a water reservoir filled with sections of 4 inch drain pipe. Notice the small overflow pipe on the bottom right corner of the planter. That is placed at 3.5 inches and fits into one of the 4 inch drain pipes that line the bottom of the planter. The idea is that there is always an air gap between the soil and the 4 inch drain pipe because the overflow pipe is at 3.5 inches. That allows the planter to wick up the water in the reservoir but prevents the roots from drowning because there is always an air gap for oxygen.

Since I had to empty the planter to move it, I upgraded my fill tube which you see in the top of the planter. I found some old 3.5 inch black pipe behind the garage, and decided to use some of it to make a better fill tube. The old fill tub was only 1 inch, and I could not get my garden hose to fit inside it. Plus, notice that I was able to put a section of swimming noodle inside the fill pipe so I can see the water level in the planter. As the plants drink up the water, the yellow noodle will go down the fill pipe. When the noodle is level with the top of the fill pipe - time to refill the planter.

The angle of the shot makes the fill tube look like it sticks way above the soil level of the planter. But I have yet to completely fill the planter. When top is filled with some new soil/chicken run compost mix, the fill tube will be 2 inches above the soil level. This planter is sitting way out in my backyard, and the larger yellow swimming noodle make it easy to see from my back deck on the house.

These sub irrigated planters are my favorite. I only have to fill them up about 2-3 times per summer. The plants love them and I get more beans in one planter than I ever get in my garden even when I plant 4-5 times more out there. I think having water always available in the reservoir is the big advantage.

Here is a picture of one of my sub irrigated planters last summer out on my back deck.

View attachment 2666389

OK, I feel I have shared enough for today. Still lots of projects on my To-Do list, but getting something done every day.

Awesome! I do hugle-gardening too! Love your sub

irrigated beds! Might try to make one . A friend gave me a couple earth boxes which are the same idea and I have strawberries in those( plus a volunteer poppy in one . Can you show how you build these? I’d love to try.

 

[gtaus]

Awesome! I do hugle-gardening too! Love your subView attachment 2666431 irrigated beds! Might try to make one . A friend gave me a couple earth boxes which are the same idea and I have strawberries in those( plus a volunteer poppy in one . Can you show how you build these? I’d love to try.

I got my idea for my elevated sub irrigated planter from a YouTube video by Albo Pepper. Here is the link I watched and learned. It's 30 mins long, but he covers everything you need to know from start to finish on your design and build. It's a great investment in time if you are seriously considering building your own.

When I made my sub irrigated planter, I just made it a bit smaller (2X4 feet) and put it on legs to make it waist high. At the time, I was thinking of how to make planters more accessible to elderly and/or handicapped people who might not be able to bend over to work a traditional garden, or even a raised bed. It's really nice to have a small garden at waist level because everything is just easier to do - planting, weeding if necessary, harvesting, etc...

2 years ago, I made 3 of the elevated sub irrigated planters in my picture. I think my cost for pine wood at that time came out to less than $50 per planter. I already had a rubber liner from a roof removal, so I did not have to buy a liner. I went with the cheap pine wood, instead of cedar, because my build was more or less a proof of concept build and I did not want to spend lots of money on something that I did not know if it would work well, or not. The current cost of all wood is much higher at the moment, but I expect lumber prices will start to fall later this year.

These elevated sub irrigated planters are now my favorite planters, but you cannot move them once filled. They are just too heavy. So make sure you know where you want the planter to stay before you fill it. If you have to move it, like I did, you have to completely empty it before moving.