What did you do in the garden today?

[Elyrian1]

I planted some yellow carrots in the ground back in mid April. I figured they would be done by now.... The greens are tall and lush. I pulled one just to check them and was very disappointed that the carrot was less than an inch long.

To be fair, I had some Parisian carrot seeds too but I didn't think I had planted those.... I might have mixed the seeds up in planting.

Guess it's going to be carrots from the store this summer. I might try again in the fall.

They'll still get there, it's just nearly double the growth time.

Eta: it seems like all the "fancy" carrot varieties take their sweet time.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Oh, I am right there with you- I hate ants. Always have a ring of bites around my ankles and a couple on my hands that itch something fierce. Don’t know which I hate worse- fire ants or those little piss ants.

I have several batches of fire ants in my raised blueberry beds. I destroy the nests every chance I get with perverse glee but they just rebuild them. I do have some fire ant killer and some DE but I keep forgetting to trek it out to the garden. Plus its done nothing but rain for a month.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Oh, I am right there with you- I hate ants. Always have a ring of bites around my ankles and a couple on my hands that itch something fierce. Don’t know which I hate worse- fire ants or those little piss ants.

Definitely fire ants here. I got my foot caught under a rock that had a fire ant bed under it a few years ago. I eventually got my foot out but both feet swelled so bad I couldn’t get my shoes on for several days.
Raining here. Might string the trellises if it dries out enough. The corn is pitiful compared to last year and I’m really disappointed.

 

[WthrLady]

I've never had any issues before but that's interesting about the heat! I never thought of that! Thanks

I mean it's too strong still. It only takes one mistake on their part to have it not be suitable for germination.
====
as for ants, you can put out little piles of 20 mule team borax and theyll take it back to the nest, like candy, eat it, share it and die. Keep it a bit away from the plants and I use a little dish I can remove when watering and when rain comes.

 

[WthrLady]

Definitely fire ants here. I got my foot caught under a rock that had a fire ant bed under it a few years ago. I eventually got my foot out but both feet swelled so bad I couldn’t get my shoes on for several days.
Raining here. Might string the trellises if it dries out enough. The corn is pitiful compared to last year and I’m really disappointed.

I delighted in mixing fire ant nest. BWAHAHAHAHA

 

[Sueby]

Makes me so glad that we don't have fire ants here. Phew.

I sent in a soil sample to the UConn lab. Can't wait to hear what comes up. Been meaning to do it for a couple years & my pitiful pepper plants gave me the push I needed.

I watered everything but the peppers last night so I had to do it by hand. It was sprinkling out but we didn't get much from it, doesn't even show on the rain gage.

It's still too hot out for me, I hate this weather. Bring back the snow!

 

[gtaus]

Beans in my sub irrigated planter on the deck outside our kitchen are coming in good.

Question for anyone more experienced than me... This is a sub irrigated planter, meaning that there is about a 3 inch reservoir of water in the bottom of the box, and the theory is that the soil will soak up the water for the plants as needed. You can see in this following picture that I have a water level float cut from a swimming noodle to indicate the level of the water in the reservoir below. Currently, there is at least 2 inches of water in the box.

In theory, you don't need to top water your plants. However, it is my understanding that when you plant the seeds, you need to keep the top soil moist for the seeds to germinate. So, during the period of germination, I top water the planter every other day. You can see that the plants are shooting up.

I just replanted bean seeds in the spaces where the previous planting of seeds did not take. I use the square foot gardening spacing of 9 bean plants per square foot. My plan has been to plant the seeds, see what grows in 2 weeks, and then replant new seeds where nothing came up. I'll check again in another 2 weeks and replant again, if needed, in any empty space. My theory is that having different bean plants growing at different stages will extend the harvest season. Is that right? Or will the older plants just prevent the younger plants from growing?

FWIW, this sub irrigated planter (SIP) has become my favorite way to grow beans. Once the plants are established, I stop top watering the plants and they just send their roots down towards the bottom where the water reservoir is. I think last summer I only had to refill the planter 3 times. Very low maintenance.

 

[NewBoots]

I'm so sorry for your loss @TJAnonymous

I managed to get a couple of pictures of the littles from the chicken coop camera. The one where they are asleep on top of the brooder plate was cute. They were fighting sleep and kept bobbing theirs head up but they finally all zonked out.

That is so cute! I've forgotten what breed they are, could you remind me? My littles had their first night with an open door to the sectioned off run and three of them hadn't gotten back inside when I'd checked on them at dusk. I wanted them to figure it out on their own rather than carrying them back inside, so I waited till dark and listened for distressed peeps. They were quiet so I assumed they'd gotten back inside, so I went to bed and woke up worrying that they'd died in the night from the cold (fully feathered but 48 degrees at night here). They're fine and going in and out on their own this morning (I got up early and checked ).

I planted some yellow carrots in the ground back in mid April. I figured they would be done by now.... The greens are tall and lush. I pulled one just to check them and was very disappointed that the carrot was less than an inch long.

The carrots I planted last spring took till fall to get any size to them. I planted more this spring and I'm just going to assume they'll do the same. In fact I still plan to plant more as my beds are shifting to tomatoes. I wonder if tomatoes like beets like they are supposed to like carrots?

Pulled more weeds and grass out of the beds to the great delight of both the chickens and rabbits. Supposed to be rain during this week and weekend so cross your fingers for me. Oh, and I went fishing yesterday and the biggest trout I caught had wounds on it from having been grabbed by an osprey, a very disappointed osprey I'm sure too.

 

[gtaus]

I added another sub irrigated planter (SIP) for beans this year. This one is placed just outside my chicken coop and run. I filled it with top soil and chicken run compost in a 1:1 ratio. The beans just started poking up and are looking good. Notice that the fill tube on this planter is a 3 inch PVC pipe and the water level indicator is a section cut from a swimming noodle. The 3 inch PVC filler pipe is an improvement because I can easily stick the garden hose down the tube when refilling. Also, I like the looks of using a complete cut off section of the swimming noodle in the PVC pipe because it does not stick to the sides of the pipe. So, I get a better reading.

 

[Sxftiechicken]

Recently got these pre-grown corn that you could just plant, seems really good and the corn is coming

the part that’s growing ^