What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Oh my gosh groceries are insane! I'm so glad we have the room to buy in bulk & get our meat (half cows) local - other than that I don't know how people do it.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We shop at Costco so meat is sold in bulk for the most part but of the highest quality ..
We had these storms forcasted .. Went out a lul in the rain.
Had finished cleaning the tables started to pour then came the thunder. I parked on the edge of one of the tables .. Thunder it did couple real good ones ..
Now I am back in dented one egg in my pocket but had 9
in there .. Sun came out of all things now

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I’m heading to the feed store tomorrow. Gee, can’t wait. I remembered I still have a Nutrena coupon so that should take a tiny bit of the sting out of it. I did manage to get the extra window installed in the chicken coop. There wasn’t time to seal it but it should be fine. With the sun shining it was seriously bright inside. Food prices and paper products are insane right now. I checked and discovered BJ’s had turkeys in stock so after the leaf peeping trip to a nearby mountain we stopped and picked up a turkey. My freezer is packed now. I can see my Social Security COLA dwindling away before I even see it.

 

[Happy hen lover]

WOW okay HEFTY DRILL THEN

 

[Katiegeez]

Cleared out the squash bed since the vines are all dying off, then weeded, then dug in a bit of slow-release fertilizer, planted some soft-neck garlic, and then deep-mulched. First time trying a soft-neck variety, very excited for next spring to see how it does! Waiting on my tomatoes to slow down before planting hard-neck garlic. I usually have better luck planting that a bit later in the season, anyway, but man, my tomatoes are still going bonkers.

Non-gardening-related -- my brother and I have been designing a 3D-printed coop vent to assist with keeping moisture out without sacrificing ventilation.

 

[chickengr]

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I ordered 25 persimmon seedlings . Should arrive tomorrow . Wildlife planting and some human consumption . I will grow them in the garden until they get larger . Found out the hard way they are too small to plant in the woods yet . Persimmon is not common here but will grow here .

I had bad luck with persimmons. it seems it was too hot for them.

 

[chickengr]

temperature dropped and more rain expected. I plan to give some ducklings to a friend next weekend so no gardening this week. I hope rain will somewhat soften soil so that I can work it. I will start with some onion, garlic (store bought leftover) and lettuce.

 

[littledog]

Getting ready to plant more daffodils and tulips for the spring - I dislike this chore, but it certainly pays off

A couple weeks ago I had stuff for our projects to buy at our local Hardware/Garden store, and couldn't resist buying this :

I planted the bulbs in a couple large containers, then added a lot of mulch on top, assuming we would get frost soon and they would stay dormant and come up in spring. But, look what is happening: the bulbs are sprouting! What should I do? Let them grow and hope they survive, put a thicker layer of mulch over them for winter, bring them inside?

All of us need to grow sweet potato and everything else we can, that we and our animals like to eat, and buy from local, non-corporate farmer neighbors more and shop less at the corporate grocery and corporate feed store criminals stores !!!

Added a bit of my own rant in green here to go with yours...
At our local feed store the other day, 40# bags of layer pellets were $14.99 each, 50# rice bran was 15.99, 50# bag of alfalfa pellets was 13.99 (even though an actual bale of alfalfa hay weighing 75-80# was $23, go figure - I'm guessing the crazy increases are due to fuel costs.) A compressed 50# bale of alfalfa wrapped in plastic was $20! I think I'll stick with 50# alfalfa pellets for 13.99, even thought that's still a huge increase from recent years.
Bales of pine shavings were up to 8.99 from 7.99 (did not buy, I'll stick with free "chip drop" and sift through it.) I didn't look at how much straw cost, I'm sure it would have been equal to actual hay, since current prices seem to reflect transportation costs more than the nutritional value of whatever the commodity is. Which makes me feel really bad for our farmers and producers who can only make a decent livelihood by shipping their produce overseas, and they still barely break even.
I try to grow what I can, buy from local people.

I still have a metric ton of green tomatoes, I need to pick some more for relish at the least.

Same here! I keep telling myself to strip every tomato and pull up the plants, because frost is overdue, but even with all the rain we're having, it hasn't frosted and every day there are enough tomatoes with a bit of red on them to fill a paper bag and ripen them inside. At some point very soon I'll be sorry, but for now I keep getting ripe tomatoes.

The laundry/mud room renovation is coming along, got the floor leveled and new plywood installed.

Our formerly-feral kitty (Pumpkin is her new name) got stuffed against her will into a carrier, shoved into the car and driven to the vet, yowling all the way in protest, to get her final vaccinations. She hates us right now (for her first vaccinations, she got to stay with her friend Lily the dog so she didn't mind) but she puts up with wearing her collar with rabies tag and our number on it, and she's starting to get over it.

Here's our "golden girls" Pumpkin 1 year-old cat, and Lily, 13-year-old Golden Retriever.

 

[Elyrian1]

Oh yes, they are looking good! Watering daily and vastly enjoying watching them grow. I forgot how good it felt to see a seed you planted yourself start growing. Best kind of therapy right there.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I had bad luck with persimmons. it seems it was too hot for them.

I have seen native persimmons all the way down to almost the gulf coast. They grow wild on my property and up and down the road side. Some seem to never fruit (male/females perhaps?) others fruit prolifically at a fairly small size (only 12 to 15 feet tall). The insects love them on the tree and the deer and raccoons love them on the ground! I have seen persimmons all across the state of Tennessee. And it gets pretty hot and humid in west Tennessee. Likely too little water at a crucial time after a new planting or too much! The wood is nice looking in a wood project. I have never tried to grow any. May I suggest a square yard of weed fabric around each young tree, as I saw that work well for a reforestation/enhancement project here. It keeps the competition down around the young plant, without constant weeding or chemicals and keeps the mower or weed eater away from them for a few years. I also see some nurseries use a lighter shade cloth (maybe 30 % shade) over young tree seedlings to help them in the hot summer sun. Also planting them where they can receive some afternoon shade will help reduce stress on new plantings. Good luck with your efforts! I have been wanting to do some similar plantings with Black Walnut, Catalpa and Tupelo trees. All are declining in this area from over harvesting and little to no replanting efforts.