What did you do in the garden today?

[Birdsonghill]

They'll 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.

Jewel weed is used here in the backwoods, for soothing poison ivy/oak, stinging nettles and other plants that cause irritation/itching.

 

[Birdsonghill]

Oh the Beast!

Just a thief, not a beast. I handled him as he deserved and embarrassed him as a cheat and a coward! I still lost money but he never would look me in the eye again and will run the other direction, to this day when he sees me! That is amusing, as I now, can't fight my way out of a paper bag! It seems thieves and cowards do not like being exposed and never forget a good correction. Ha ha!

 

[gtaus]

I'm thinking it may not be a bad idea to look into hydroponic gardening. LOL!

Sounds like you are getting more rain than you can handle. This year, I have suffered through the worst drought I have seen in the 33+ years I have lived here. So I have been looking at hydroponic gardening because this year has taught me well that plants don't thrive growing in dust. My main garden does not have running water, so it was almost a complete loss this year.

I do have other raised beds where I have access to running water and I have been using a lawn sprinkler just about every day on those plants. They are doing well. My hügelkultur beds have done well, despite the drought, but they are now getting dry too. I also have some elevated sub irrigated planters which have water reservoirs that hold ~15 gallons of water. In a normal summer, I fill those planters up maybe twice month. This year, I am refilling the reservoir 2-3 times per week because of the extreme heat (for us) and no rainfall.

Fortunately for me, having different methods of growing plants has shown me the vast difference in performance and production during a drought. I don't have the money to build all sub irrigated planters, but they are by far the easiest and best way for me to grow food. All I have to do is to check the water level in the reservoir and the water will soak up to the plants on it's own. The hügelkultur raised beds that get daily water from my sprinkler are doing great this year. The hügelkultur raised beds out in the main garden without daily watering did OK, but now they are starting to dry up. My "normal" raised beds out in the main garden, without access to running water, were almost a total loss this year. I don't plant food directly in ground anymore, but our lawns here are a light brown and mostly dead due to lack of rain this summer. So I doubt if an in ground garden would have been successful this year where I live.

I like the idea of hydroponics because it appears that you can control the environment of the growing plants better than relying on Mother Nature. Just don't know how to use all my chicken run compost in a hydroponics system.....?

 

[BReeder!]

Sounds like you are getting more rain than you can handle. This year, I have suffered through the worst drought I have seen in the 33+ years I have lived here. So I have been looking at hydroponic gardening because this year has taught me well that plants don't thrive growing in dust. My main garden does not have running water, so it was almost a complete loss this year.

I do have other raised beds where I have access to running water and I have been using a lawn sprinkler just about every day on those plants. They are doing well. My hügelkultur beds have done well, despite the drought, but they are now getting dry too. I also have some elevated sub irrigated planters which have water reservoirs that hold ~15 gallons of water. In a normal summer, I fill those planters up maybe twice month. This year, I am refilling the reservoir 2-3 times per week because of the extreme heat (for us) and no rainfall.

Fortunately for me, having different methods of growing plants has shown me the vast difference in performance and production during a drought. I don't have the money to build all sub irrigated planters, but they are by far the easiest and best way for me to grow food. All I have to do is to check the water level in the reservoir and the water will soak up to the plants on it's own. The hügelkultur raised beds that get daily water from my sprinkler are doing great this year. The hügelkultur raised beds out in the main garden without daily watering did OK, but now they are starting to dry up. My "normal" raised beds out in the main garden, without access to running water, were almost a total loss this year. I don't plant food directly in ground anymore, but our lawns here are a light brown and mostly dead due to lack of rain this summer. So I doubt if an in ground garden would have been successful this year where I live.

I like the idea of hydroponics because it appears that you can control the environment of the growing plants better than relying on Mother Nature. Just don't know how to use all my chicken run compost in a hydroponics system.....?

With control, comes constant maintenance. Hydroponics need to be checked for nutrient levels regularly and amended as needed for plants to thrive. Also, consider the cost of water and electricity (if you have a well, just the cost of electricity). And if you put it outside, you risk the water getting too hot in the summer sun. Inside, you have to run high power lights (even my LED setup for my indoor starters pulls around 400 watts).

 

[Birdsonghill]

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.

I use to have tree trimming crews drop off their loads of chips here, But had to stop them, when they began delivering so much trash from their lunches and from the jobsite mixed in the chips. If you can talk to a crew trimming in your area, you may be able to get plenty of free chips, just be prepared to clean up some trash from the chips, and hope it is not excessive! Be sure and have them dumped were they will not hurt anything, as the fresh chips will kill the grass and sometimes close plantings, when piled up to age. Also, poison oak and other noxious things may be present in the load as they chip whatever is cut, regardless of what it is, or what is clinging to it! I had a neighbor, whose two kids got hospitalized from throwing wood chips on a campfire at their weenie roast that was laced full of poison oak! They were in intensive care, with breathing tubes as all their body orifices swelled shut. They could not defecate, urinate , breathe or swallow without medical intervention. Apparently, the smoke inhalation and hand to body contact had caused critical systemic poisoning!

 

[gtaus]

I had a neighbor, whose two kids got hospitalized from throwing wood chips on a campfire at their weenie roast that was laced full of poison oak! They were in intensive care, with breathing tubes as all their body orifices swelled shut. They could not defecate, urinate , breathe or swallow without medical intervention. Apparently, the smoke inhalation and hand to body contact had caused critical systemic poisoning!

That's just terrible! Hope they recovered without complications. I get my free wood chips at our county landfill, but I always wear gloves when loading/unloading the wood chips. Never thought about burning the wood chips, but I suppose some poison ivy mixed in with the wood chips might not be so good to breath in the lungs. I have never really worried about handling wood chips, but I guess if you don't know what went in with the wood chips, you should take precautions.

I always wear work gloves, well, because that's just me. My father hardly ever wore work gloves. One summer he got his entire body infected by poison ivy. It was so bad that he had to get medical treatment. IIRC, the next year he got some kind of shot from the doctor that was supposed to prevent rashes from poison ivy. The shot worked for him, but I think wearing gloves would have been the better option.

 

[gtaus]

With control, comes constant maintenance. Hydroponics need to be checked for nutrient levels regularly and amended as needed for plants to thrive. Also, consider the cost of water and electricity (if you have a well, just the cost of electricity). And if you put it outside, you risk the water getting too hot in the summer sun. Inside, you have to run high power lights (even my LED setup for my indoor starters pulls around 400 watts).

Yep, sounds more complicated than just watering the plants. I'm having good success using raised beds and filling them with chicken run compost, but just need some natural rainfall out in the main garden where I don't have running water. Did not happed this year. My other beds that get water with a sprinkler are doing quite well. Win some, lose some, learn from all.

 

[Swiss]

I use to have tree trimming crews drop off their loads of chips here, But had to stop them, when they began delivering so much trash from their lunches and from the jobsite mixed in the chips. If you can talk to a crew trimming in your area, you may be able to get plenty of free chips, just be prepared to clean up some trash from the chips, and hope it is not excessive! Be sure and have them dumped were they will not hurt anything, as the fresh chips will kill the grass and sometimes close plantings, when piled up to age. Also, poison oak and other noxious things may be present in the load as they chip whatever is cut, regardless of what it is, or what is clinging to it! I had a neighbor, whose two kids got hospitalized from throwing wood chips on a campfire at their weenie roast that was laced full of poison oak! They were in intensive care, with breathing tubes as all their body orifices swelled shut. They could not defecate, urinate , breathe or swallow without medical intervention. Apparently, the smoke inhalation and hand to body contact had caused critical systemic poisoning!

We are planning on getting 2 oak trees cut down, and they don't have anything climbing on them, so we shouldn't get anything bad out of the wood chips.

It is good information to have about the trash and possible nasties hiding in the chips if I ever decide to do what you were doing!

 

[Sueby]

We got 1.5 inches of rain exactly. We needed it. But if Henri hits us it might be a bit much!

I picked tons of beans, blanched & froze them. DH has been bringing last years dilly beans to work - the guys just love them. I also noticed a few of the the tibetan chilis I picked yesterday are gone - they must be daring each other with those. Boys.

 

[gtaus]

It is good information to have about the trash and possible nasties hiding in the chips if I ever decide to do what you were doing!

I have been getting free wood chips at our local county landfill for the past 2 years. I have never seen any trash in the wood chips. But I suspect that the crews know that if they threw any garbage in the wood chips that the county landfill would either turn them away or charge an extra fee for dumping the wood chips. The tree crews have to pay to dump their wood chips, and I'm sure they don't want to pay any extra fines or to be banned for having trash in the wood chips.

I picked tons of beans, blanched & froze them.

Dear Wife has been freezing some of our beans, but she is new to the process. Is there a reason that you blanch the beans before freezing them? As you can tell, we are still learning this stuff....