What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

I don't bother to shred any of the leaves I rake up. The chickens will take care of theirs. The ones I put in the garden pack down and make a fantastic mulch.

I just went out to the garden to bury some bones from the bone broth I made. (They're too big for the chickens, don't want them in the compost, don't give them to the dog, and they've been brothed about 6 times already.) I dug into the leaf layer that's been there for 2-3 years, and just underneath is some NICE soil. The leaves really help keep the weeds down in that bed. It's the "I didn't get ANY butternut squash this year" bed*, a big flat area that would be full of weeds, so the leaves really help keep that area clean until the squash vines take over.

*I'm going to try to embarrass that area into producing better next year. The squash bed is bigger than some people's entire garden, and it gave me nada. (Grrrr.)

don't leave anything cooked outside. that attracts rats.

 

[BReeder!]

Did final review of what I planted this year for next year's plan.
Cloudy day are definitely IN. They aren't huge, but are hearty, didn't get BER, and are heavy producers.
Marriage San Marzano are OUT. They have a HUGE BER problem and it's even getting bad reviews for that reason on https://territorialseed.com/product...ariant=12786154602595#shopify-product-reviews The fruit was small, and it was prone to fungus and blight.
Regular SanMarz are always welcom.
Beefsteak is welcome back for one or two plants.
I also have two other san Marz sauce varieties I'll be trying next year.
No beans. Zinnias and sunflowers are to be planted elsewhere on the property.
Dill is fine for the butterflies in the garden.
French dwarf marigold are back for in between plants.
No onions.
Luffa gets its own row.
No squash or cukes.

I need to extend the grape arbor.
I need to replace all the sprinkler drip heads.
I need to add a climbing rail for the luffa.
I need to add a shade and order one for the greenhouse.

No squash or cukes?!
These are staple of our garden here. Is it a pest or disease problem driving these crops out of your garden? Something else?

 

[BReeder!]

don't leave anything cooked outside. that attracts rats.

I think the cooked items were being buried.
I add cooked bones to my compost even sometimes, but bury it in the center of the pile. Often they get added with a mess of cooked vegetable scraps from making stock. The bones don't break down very fast but after being cooked and then composting they become brittle enough to crush by hand, which is what I do when I'm spreading that compost later.

 

[Sally PB]

don't leave anything cooked outside. that attracts rats.

Not sure how many rats we have around, but we do have possums and raccoons, so yeah, I bury it about 2 feet deep.

I add cooked bones to my compost even sometimes, but bury it in the center of the pile. Often they get added with a mess of cooked vegetable scraps from making stock. The bones don't break down very fast but after being cooked and then composting they become brittle enough to crush by hand, which is what I do when I'm spreading that compost later.

I use the same bones in bone broth until I can mush them with my fingers. (Except for the really big beef ones.) I mash them up with the veg mush and give it back to the chickens, in small doses, so that it all gets eaten. I store the bones to be reused in the freezer, and collect more veg scraps to make the next batch. I have small globs of the mush for the chickens in bags duly marked "For Chickens" in the freezer, and pull them out about 1x a month for chickie snack.

When we have a Thanksgiving turkey, not much goes to waste.

 

[Sueby]

Questions for the bone re-users!!
How many times would you say you reuse the bones?
I how many times does it take till the broth is no longer gets jiggly? Does it start to lose flavor?
How long do you cook a batch for? ( I do 24 hrs)

I make bone broth all the time because we get half cows yearly & I let nothing go to waste. But I've never used them more than once! I never knew it was a thing. I usually make the broth to begin with when I need room in the freezer so making broth & needing to put that somewhere & then still having the bones may not work. But now I feel like I have to, lol.

It's only 7 am & I already learned something new today.

 

[Sally PB]

Questions for the bone re-users!!
How many times would you say you reuse the bones?
I how many times does it take till the broth is no longer gets jiggly? Does it start to lose flavor?
How long do you cook a batch for? ( I do 24 hrs)

I make bone broth all the time because we get half cows yearly & I let nothing go to waste. But I've never used them more than once! I never knew it was a thing. I usually make the broth to begin with when I need room in the freezer so making broth & needing to put that somewhere & then still having the bones may not work. But now I feel like I have to, lol.

It's only 7 am & I already learned something new today.

I use bones until I can mash them with my fingers. For the small chicken or turkey bones, that's usually twice. Bigger poultry bones can go 3x. I mostly have chicken and turkey bones, but occasionally have ham or beef. A ham bone lasts at least 3x.

I cook mine in my Instant Pot for 2 hours. This post taught me everything I know.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-bone-broth/

I know what you mean about space! I thought, oh goody, I got all this stuff out of the freezer... well, now I have to put the jars of broth in the freezer. I suppose I could pressure can them...

 

[Sueby]

I use bones until I can mash them with my fingers. For the small chicken or turkey bones, that's usually twice. Bigger poultry bones can go 3x. I mostly have chicken and turkey bones, but occasionally have ham or beef. A ham bone lasts at least 3x.

I cook mine in my Instant Pot for 2 hours. This post taught me everything I know.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-bone-broth/

I know what you mean about space! I thought, oh goody, I got all this stuff out of the freezer... well, now I have to put the jars of broth in the freezer. I suppose I could pressure can them...

Exactly! Thanks for the info. Next time I'm going to save the bones & reuse them for sure. I've been talking about getting a pressure canner too, I should start looking into that. I love my home made broth, it's a million times better than store bought so it would be nice to be broth self sufficient!

I decided to take next week off so I should be able to get all garden & chicken things done. The chicks should be here so that'll be good to be off for too.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning all. Happy Autumn! Starting to get caught up on stuff. Yesterday I put 1 1/2 pounds of green beans in the freezer. I managed to get the front and back yard mowed. I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish off the chicken yard and the side with the next 4 days of showers coming at us. Also got my chimney cleaned yesterday. Today I'm finishing my second batch of parsley and putting sage in right after. My rosemary plants are inside now. I plan on sweeping the garage today and taking the AC units out of the window. Broth. I save the chicken carcasses after roasting. These go into the freezer until I have time to work on broth. I also save any trimmings from chicken cuts such as the excess fat, skin and the wing tips of the chicken wings. I usually make soup or stew out of the carcasses as there is usually enough meat left. Sometimes I just make stock and freeze it. I'm leaning toward pressure canning some stock since my freezer is running low on space with all the green beans and peaches. LOL! But I honestly only use the bones once because they are pretty much done with after I cook them down. I toss the bones into the garbage because we have too many hungry critters around here that are better at digging than I am. Enjoy the week off @Sueby. Hopefully it won't be like the vacations I took before I retired. I was happy to go back to work so I could get some rest. Have a great day everyone.

 

[jerryse]

Got 14 pints of squash canned yesterday . Doing tomatoes today .

 

[Smashlee83]

Super excited to try my hand at a fall veggie garden this year. I've always been successful with my spring gardens until this year. We bought a new home and my husband built my some large planter boxes that I filled with a few trucks full of vegetable garden soil from the local soil place. Was a total bust and everything I put in barely grew. Now that the soil has had time to mellow out and I've added in some bagged soil I trust, I've got everything going again. Lots of kale, arugula, spinach, carrots, radish, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts. Wish me luck!