What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

Thank you for the reply. I think i'll pass on the meat composter. Sounds like too much of a mess to deal with. Not sure id want to throw fish guts to the birds though, iggghhhh.

Well, my in-ground composters worked very well, but when I got my chickens I just started throwing all our kitchen scraps, meat, etc... to the birds. So I dug out the in-ground composters as I no longer was using them. But let me add that it was not too much of a mess to deal with. I composted all our kitchen scraps, not just meat, in those in-ground garbage can composters. Covering up rotting meat with a layer of wood chips, or leaves, or grass clippings really knocks down the smell and the tight fitting garbage can lid sealed the deal to prevent any offensive smells.

There is nothing wrong, IMHO, in feeding fish guts to the chickens. Our feed store here carries a commercial high protein fish based commercial feed. I would think that fish based high protein commercial feed is probably fish guts dried out, ground up, and pressed into pellets. I just give my chickens some fresh product every once in a while.

Fresh fish guts don't smell bad. But in the evening, I bury any remaining fish guts down into the chicken run litter. If the chickens don't want to eat it it all, then it's time for the worms to feast on the remains. In the end, it all gets broken down and mixed up into the chicken run compost. Fish fertilizer is fantastic for the garden.

 

[WthrLady]

More rain and storms last night. But we got lucky. An hour to my southeast, they had 10.5 inches of rain. Feast or famine here.
DS and DH were in the city to work yesterday, so I took the opportunity to get all my chaotic house work done without worrying about noise, motion and zoom meetings. LOL.
I love having them around, but it sure puts a wedge in my work and chore days. I feel throttled and things pile up that need doing and then I have days like yesterday, where I have too much to cram into an 8 hour day.
My poor wrist and bad ankle are puffy and complaining today. Grr.
I pulled 3 strawberries, one tomato, and a blackberry from the garden yesterday after a quick beheading of weeds walk through. Strawberries were extra juicy and drippy, so I licked my fingers clean. OMG SO amazingly good, OC spent the rest of the day paying for that lick. SO itchy. DH said the berries were equally yummy.
The orchard has cedar rust. It's been too windy, or too wet to spray. This orchard is $$$$ and has become a pain in the butt. The pears have grown really well over the past 7 years, but have NEVER produced one pear. The apples try hard, but the trees seem stunted, probably a soil condition as I KNOW it is not for lack of water, care, or feedings.
If I were 10 years younger, I'd take them all out and replace them with a huge cutting flower garden.

I had another Tartan design accepted by Scotland. This on is for a listed historic property, so that feels good. An UK heritage thing, ya, nice.

Trip to town the city today. I'd like a couple things from the hardware store, and OC the weekly market trip. DS is tagging along for the ride to town for a couple hours of work, then the ride home.

(BTW I feel I should explain the odd additions to my postings, I use the BYC post in here as my digital diary. It's searchable, so I can remember what I did year to year and why and when. LOL. So if I'm too detailed, boring, or off topic for anyone, skip me or block me. I get it.)

I actually love reading about other people's day. Shows me I'm not the only nutter

Go out and commune with the bugs today everyone.
OH fun youtube shows I found this past week, You Can't Eat the Grass gardening/flower market show and Restoration Home, which is OLD and amazing historic homes in the UK that are redone. It's kind of history meets fix-it-up show.

 

[WthrLady]

The protein composters work differently in different soils and climates. We had one in Florida, thinking the sandy soil would be amazing for draining off the effluence that you get, leaving behind the black gold solids to be used or disposed of like we had used it in ohio soil for dog manure and protein scraps, where it acted as a mini septic tank in the yard.

NOPE. the bio-organism in florida 'soil' are not the same. Dig down and you don't find a system of critters, you find sand, more sand, and oh, sand. the critters only live in the top MAYBE inch of topsoil, if you even have that.

 

[Mutchi]

today i saw my parents pulling out the roosters in our hens and chicks suckulents, so i secretly grabed one and put it in a pot, i really want to see the bloom!!

 

[Elyrian1]

The protein composters work differently in different soils and climates. We had one in Florida, thinking the sandy soil would be amazing for draining off the effluence that you get, leaving behind the black gold solids to be used or disposed of like we had used it in ohio soil for dog manure and protein scraps, where it acted as a mini septic tank in the yard.

NOPE. the bio-organism in florida 'soil' are not the same. Dig down and you don't find a system of critters, you find sand, more sand, and oh, sand. the critters only live in the top MAYBE inch of topsoil, if you even have that.

One reason why I'm never living in Florida again. Get a big enough storm and all that sand will just go away...

Well we've ALL got the toddler's summer cold. Def not the covid though. Already did that song and dance and with this whatever this bug is I still can taste and smell stuff.

Anybody do the pvc pipe worm farms directly in the garden bed? If so, how did you like it? Got a bunch of 3 inch pipe sections lying around from my dad's various projects and I was considering asking him to let me have them for worm farms.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey gardeners about 10 tonight will water suppose to see like 101 or so next three days at least

 

[Ascholten]

NOPE. the bio-organism in florida 'soil' are not the same. Dig down and you don't find a system of critters, you find sand, more sand, and oh, sand. the critters only live in the top MAYBE inch of topsoil, if you even have that.

WRONG !! You forgot the shells, silt, possibly the water table at 3 feet, oh and lets not forget, the crap the builders buried so they didn't have to pay for a dumpster when they built your house! for you for the cheap sob builder who buried concrete rocks all over.

If you got a whole inch of good soil and you didn't adjunct it yourself, you are doing pretty good in most places. A big problem in Fla is washout, as you said, sand / silt don't drain well, so when we get a good gully whumper, the good stuff floats off into the storm drains. Weeds now, will grow well, usable stuff... not so well.

TY for your reply

Aaron

 

[Acre4Me]

Overcast all day. Supposed to get rain, but so far just a bit. @WthrLady - I hope to never see 10.5" in Ohio EVER, or even half that - I have seen 5" in a short time, however, and I'm good, don't need to see that again either.

Chicken problem #1: Lazy girls...only 2 eggs yesterday and only 5 today. Normally 9-10.

Chicken Problem #2: Sick chicken, only 4.5 months old, is breathing with mouth open a lot, but no wheezing, no discharge. Isn't eating. I'm picking her up several times a day to drink water from the waterer....She is more frightful of me today (which is a good thing bc she's a bit more aware than yesterday when she let me walk up to her up). Nothing looks amiss other than her behavior (not really moving, in a corner). I have her in a covered pen with another hen for company. They can see and hear the flock as it is only about 5-6' away.


We had a rainbow, and could see the whole thing!

One bed: Turnips, Cucumbers, Beets, Carrots, Soybeans (for Edamame), and 2 bare spots for more turnips to be planted soon.

Cabbage: looking good (under insect netting), this variety is "Stonhead" and it is very pretty. The other 3 types are much larger and not forming heads yet.

Bush Beans are beginning to flower.

First eggplant is growing well.

 

[gtaus]

The protein composters work differently in different soils and climates. We had one in Florida, thinking the sandy soil would be amazing for draining off the effluence that you get, leaving behind the black gold solids to be used or disposed of like we had used it in ohio soil for dog manure and protein scraps, where it acted as a mini septic tank in the yard.

NOPE. the bio-organism in florida 'soil' are not the same. Dig down and you don't find a system of critters, you find sand, more sand, and oh, sand. the critters only live in the top MAYBE inch of topsoil, if you even have that.

I imagine what you say is very true. However, I think that if you made an in-ground composter out of an old garbage can in your sandy soil, you could probably put a good inch or two of topsoil with bio-organisms in the bottom of the can before you started adding all your other compostable material. You might not have worms crawling in and out of the in-ground composter like I did where I live, but you could create a hospitable environment within the garbage can composter for the worms and other bio-life. I think there could be a very successful composting environment within the in-ground garbage can even if the surrounding soil was sand, sand, and more sand like you mentioned.

Now that you have mentioned bio-life in the topsoil, I do remember adding some good rich topsoil when I first started filling up my empty in-ground garbage can composters because they don't actually have contact with the surrounding soil. Eventually, as you fill up the composter, you would hope that worms would find their way in and out of the holes in the composter. I did not think to mention it because I always throw some topsoil on all my composting bins to help activate the process.

 

[gtaus]

WRONG !! You forgot the shells, silt, possibly the water table at 3 feet, oh and lets not forget, the crap the builders buried so they didn't have to pay for a dumpster when they built your house! for you for the cheap sob builder who buried concrete rocks all over.

Are you guys trying to make me feel good about living in northern Minnesota? I really feel for sorry for all the stuff you guys have to put up with, especially in Jan, Feb, and Mar of most years!