What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Remember that mystery pepper plant I got? Here's the first pepper from it.

Any ideas what kind of pepper it is?

View attachment 2799614

Cayenne!!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Cayenne!!

No, I don't think so.... I have some cayenne peppers. They are long and skinny.... This one is short and fatter.

I should have taken a picture of them side by side so you could see the difference. I will do that the next time I pick one.

DH cut it up already and threw it in our frozen hot peppers bag. He tasted it and said it was REALLY hot.

Eta - I'm thinking Serrano peppers?

 

[WthrLady]

No, I don't think so.... I have some cayenne peppers. They are long and skinny.... This one is short and fatter.

I should have taken a picture of them side by side so you could see the difference. I will do that the next time I pick one.

DH cut it up already and threw it in our frozen hot peppers bag. He tasted it and said it was REALLY hot.

Eta - I'm thinking Serrano peppers?

THere is a Long Hot cayenne pepper.

 

[Swiss]

@Swiss hay and straw are two different animals

Hay is cut, green, growing vegetable matter, that is allowed to dry and then is stacked or baled. It contains dried flowers, leaves, seeds etc.
Straw is green matter that has been either allowed to dry naturally on the stem OR more commonly, green matter where the desired product, oats, barely, wheat has been harvested from the tops, and the stems allowed to dry (usually in situ) are harvested, and bundled or baled. Straw is usually a single crop bale, and devoid of 99.9% of seed matter.

Baled straw is almost 100% dry while hay, which is used as a feed or feed addition has a measurable, albeit low moisture content.

And compost and cardboard under the straw. I used hay and didn't have a real problem with weeds, but I know this hay round I used was mostly grass and beyond having a seedy problem.

Hay around here, is usually full of Bermuda and or Dallas grass seeds and likely many other seed heads of forbs and grasses that can turn a garden into a prison camp ,you are forced to work in long hours! I got nut grass in one of my gardens, using less than completely worked compost, containing old hay left from my horses supplies! It appeared to be well broken down compost, but did not get hot enough to destroy the weed sedges from the old hay! Never use hay is my rule for my gardens and garden compost piles. In fact, I am careful to exclude all seed heads from pulled/cut weeds from my gardens composting piles. It is too easy, to not kill all the seeds or sedges and the pain that results is miserable. I use clean wheat straw only (only straw that is readily available here)in my gardens or as litter that will be composted later. Even some of the wheat straw gets rejected due to it containing weeds( wheat grown without herbicides may contain more weeds) possibly from the edges or weak spots in the crops field. I pile up weeds and old hay into their own "compost" piles and use the resulting product on pasture or under/around the trees were I can just mow or weedeat down any weeds that result.

Thank you so much for the responses! Google searches can only be so helpful sometimes. I'll have to drive around to all the different Amish farms and ask if they have any straw for sale.

I kept an eye on the new garden spot today, and I believe it gets enough sunlight. I'm going to move everything over there tomorrow.

 

[WthrLady]

Watch Craigslist too.

 

[Sueby]

Remember that mystery pepper plant I got? Here's the first pepper from it.

Any ideas what kind of pepper it is?

View attachment 2799614

I thought cayenne too, or looks like my tibetan chili too, but if it's really not as big as it seems then it's def not tibetan as mine are pretty large at like 5 inches or so at least.

Morning all. Back to work. I did get to put up about half the onions, the others weren't completely cured yet. I will pick some beans today to blanch & freeze, peppers need picking too.

I turned the compost yesterday - holy cow the worms! They looked as big as snakes. The compost is about done, will certainly be ready to use putting the garden to bed this fall. It's beautiful.

So question for those with raised beds - what do you do when your beds get too full from adding compost every year? I have a couple that are over full now. How do you manage it? I do no till & add a layer of compost every year. @Acre4Me - I know you have lots of raised beds!

 

[littledog]

Are hay and straw the same thing? And should I put the cardboard on top or on bottom, or does it even matter? Right now, it's on the bottom. Amish farms would have compost to sell, right? So many questions...

Hay is a grass or legume crop (e.g. Timothy grass, bluegrass, orchard, bermuda, teff, alfalfa) cut, dried and baled. Hopefully but not always depending on the weather, before developing flowers or seeds. The point is for it to still have all its nutrition in the stems and blades to provide healthy feed for grazing animals during the winter, or whenever they can't get their nutrition from pasture grazing.

Straw is the dry stems leftover after harvesting, from these crops as well as other crops, such as oats, wheat or barley. Straw is usually composed of dead stems that have little to no nutritional value, but it's a good source of bedding for animals' stalls, or mulch for a garden. Straw can still sometimes contain a few odd seed heads, though, that might grow where you don't want them.

Hay should appear green, and straw should be yellowish. If you go to a feed store, straw should be cheaper (not always true though,) You could use hay in your chicken run and it would be good to use in your garden after composting, but you definitely don't want to use newly-bought hay to mulch your garden! You'll get weeds enough to drive you crazy.

Edited to add, put layers of cardboard down first, then straw on top.

 

[WthrLady]

I thought cayenne too, or looks like my tibetan chili too, but if it's really not as big as it seems then it's def not tibetan as mine are pretty large at like 5 inches or so at least.

Morning all. Back to work. I did get to put up about half the onions, the others weren't completely cured yet. I will pick some beans today to blanch & freeze, peppers need picking too.

I turned the compost yesterday - holy cow the worms! They looked as big as snakes. The compost is about done, will certainly be ready to use putting the garden to bed this fall. It's beautiful.

So question for those with raised beds - what do you do when your beds get too full from adding compost every year? I have a couple that are over full now. How do you manage it? I do no till & add a layer of compost every year. @Acre4Me - I know you have lots of raised beds!

Holy Cow Worm Snakes, the best kind to have.
Where are my glasses?!

 

[WthrLady]

Hay is a grass or legume crop (e.g. Timothy grass, bluegrass, orchard, bermuda, teff, alfalfa) cut, dried and baled before it has developed flowers or seeds, so it still has nutrition in the stems and blades to provide healthy feed for grazing animals during the winter, or whenever they can't get their nutrition from pasture grazing.

Straw is the leftover stems from these crops as well as other crops after they've been harvested, such as oats or barley. Straw is usually composed of dead stems that have little to no nutritional value, but it's a good source of bedding for animals' stalls, or mulch for a garden. Straw can still sometimes contain a few odd seed heads, though, that might grow where you don't want them.

Hay should appear green, and straw should be yellowish. If you go to a feed store, straw should be cheaper.

depends on the market. Here, straw has to be trucked in, no one here produces hay. Bales of hay are 5-7$ each
Straw is 8 and UP, usually around 12$ and gets higher as demand increases for those out there that use it for porch rot aka decorations at Halloween

 

[littledog]

Holy moly, WthrLady, that's crazy!

I get that most of the cost of both hay and straw is in raking and baling, rather than the intrinsic nutritional value of the crop itself - which is a pity. But straw at $12 (!?) just due to decorations...

Can't somebody 3-D print fake "straw bales" for suburban peoples' Halloween decorations and countrified weddings?

And let the true cost of both hay and straw be determined by those of us who actually need it...