What did you do in the garden today?

[AusHen]

It is so strange to think about harvesting cherry tomatoes in the winter! I'm so used to winter being a time of basically no gardening, unless you have indoor grow lights for herbs or something. Are you able to grow tomatoes year-round?

I can grow them all year round as frost is rare here in winter but summer is a killer, what the humidity and heat doesn't kill, the pests and diseases will

 

[Sally PB]

Wait... is that the entirety of the trees being made into wood chips, or just the small stuff?

That's the stuff 4" and smaller. These are 60-80-100 year old trees. The big pieces they buck (cut to wood stove length) and we'll stack, split, and burn them in a couple years when they're dry.

DH is very competent with a chainsaw, but these are too close to the house, and he said he won't touch them. And I'm glad of that!

8-10 yards of chips from the small stuff. You don't realize how BIG trees are when they're standing. Then when they're on the ground, wow, that thing is huge.

 

[Swiss]

8-10 yards of chips from the small stuff. You don't realize how BIG trees are when they're standing. Then when they're on the ground, wow, that thing is huge.

This is so true! When we lived in TN, the city had a tree service go around trimming branches and taking down trees. We had a giant oak tree in the front yard that we wanted gone because if it ever fell, it was going to take out part of someone's house. My husband went out and talked with them, and with the proximity to the road, they cut it down for FREE (for us, at least). It was at LEAST 80 years old, going by the rings, and was MASSIVE! I think the circumference was something like 8 feet.

I'll definitely have to tell them to leave me the wood chips for when we get these 2 taken down. I didn't even think of that as being an option.

 

[Sally PB]

I'll definitely have to tell them to leave me the wood chips for when we get these 2 taken down. I didn't even think of that as being an option.

I think they will appreciate that. They have to pay to dump them. And even if someone else wants them, they have to haul them away.

 

[BullChick]

The apples are all lost to the bugs, and the first Roma harvested had blight. The potatoes are rotten from improper drainage.
My pumpkins… is the discoloration of that area from too much rain?

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. This our last day of comfortable temps. The storm that was Fred will be dousing us with some rain all day tomorrow. I got nearly all the mowing finished yesterday. I still need to do the south side of the house and the chicken yard. Yesterday was productive. I made 3 loaves of bread in between mowing. Today I really need to clean the chicken coop in addition to finishing the mowing. The garden is doing ok. Yesterday I tried hand pollinating a yellow squash. Maybe it will work, but otherwise the summer squash is done. That and the cucumbers have definitely had better years. The pole beans in the three sisters patch are starting to bloom profusely so I hope to salvage something from that experiment. The okra and all the pepper plants are doing well, although a bit on the small side, they are producing. This morning I picked another 2 pounds of tomatoes, mostly SM. I'll be canning them soon. Still waiting on the peaches. They have the blush on them, just waiting for the pale green to turn yellow and the flesh to soften up. I battled blight for a few years @BullChick. I thought I was still dealing with it after the heavy rain we had. I just assumed it was blight when the leaves started turning yellow, but it dawned on me one day that the leaves didn't have the same markings on them as blight. I added magnesium to all the garden beds and that rescued not only the tomatoes, but the pepper plants and the surviving lima bean plants as well. The upside of this, is that everything I've done to get rid of the tomato blight seems to have finally worked. This year's harvest has not been all that great but not a total loss either. I'm developing some strategies as to how to cope with the curve balls Mother Nature throws at you. Garden carts? I don't really have one. Since my backyard is divided into 3 levels a cart doesn't really work unless I put in an elevator, LOL! I use a homer bucket and a dolly. A full bucket of dirt weighs between 40 to 50 pounds. That's my limit for lifting a full bucket from the lower level to the next higher level. I use the dolly to haul the 50 pound bags of chicken feed into the chicken coop. It works for me and I'm hoping I continue to keep lifting this much until I'm 75. Have a great day everyone.

 

[BReeder!]

That's the stuff 4" and smaller. These are 60-80-100 year old trees. The big pieces they buck (cut to wood stove length) and we'll stack, split, and burn them in a couple years when they're dry.

DH is very competent with a chainsaw, but these are too close to the house, and he said he won't touch them. And I'm glad of that!

8-10 yards of chips from the small stuff. You don't realize how BIG trees are when they're standing. Then when they're on the ground, wow, that thing is huge.

Truth about how big trees are on the ground. We are still working on removing a huge maple tree right behind our house. It's only 8-10 feet from the sunroom and extends over the sunroom and house as well as the swingset to the side and we have to worry about the garden fence and property fences when dropping limbs. We are doing it ourselves though. An 18 inch thick log hanging in the air is some scary stuff...

 

[Sueby]

Morning all! I have a regular wheelbarrow I use for cleaning the coops & moving small stuff - but we also have a Kabota tractor & a large (super old) Case backhoe loader. I do just about everything with the Kabota - it's a life saver for my back.

I started moving out some of the wood chips, the wheelbarrow is buried & the tractor doesn't fit thru the run gate so I used my large garden bucket. I forgot gloves & now I pay with blisters.

The beans are kicking it into high gear for sure. I need to pick some tomatoes before we get dumped on from Fred & they split. Happy to have the rain coming tho!

 

[gtaus]

They'll [Stinging Nettle spines] go straight through lesser gloves too, so thick leather palm is a must. I have a love/hate relationship with that plant, as I'm sure you can imagine.

My work gloves are heavy leather gloves. Dear Wife wears the thin gloves to protect her fingernails, but I put on the heavy leather gloves to actually do some work and to protect my hands.

 

[TJAnonymous]

It's raining! Like a good SOAKING rain.... Supposed to get 2+ inches over the next 3 days. Hallelujah! I was beginning to think we would be the next dust bowl. I'm sure my pasture is soaking it up like a sponge.... Garden too.

I started more pickling cucumbers this week because the squash bugs simply raided the hoop house. The new plants are up near my house and very much NOT squash bug territory thanks to the chickens. As long as I can keep the chickens from scratching up the plants I should be good. I hope to have at least 60 days of good weather before the plants would be impacted by cold. Maybe enough to get a few pickles?