What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Speaking of pressure cookers... I have the kind with a dial, like this:
View attachment 3024839
I haven't had it checked for accuracy in years. I haven't used it in years, either. Where can I get it checked?

Your local county extension can usually check it for you and usually for free.

 

[NewBoots]

How long do all you broth makers pressure can the bones for? I usually shoot for 24-36 hours on the stove top so the birds can have all the mushy bones.

This is how I've always done my broth, most times I try to brown the bones and sometimes the veg as well. This was always a great way to use up roasted veg left over from bbqs.

Try to let your pressure cooker cool naturally if possible, you will get a clearer stock.

This is a great tip and I've never seen it mentioned before.

I do my bone broth for 2 hours in my instant pot. I learned a lot from this site:

Got it, brown the bones (or scraps), dice the veg, and pressure cook for 2 hours. Good web site!

Hello, new here to the thread!

Welcome! I can't answer about your strawberries, I'm in a mild climate and mine never completely die to the ground. Gotta say those don't look good though. I've had ducks and I wouldn't let them spend much time around shallow rooted valuable plants. Same for chickens actually. Love them all but they are little destructors.

 

[WthrLady]

Got up this morning and was sitting here watching the sunrise and wasting time on the tube of you and saw that is was 45 degrees out. DH is working from home this week as it is Spring Break at the Uni, and I then noticed there was no wind yet. But I KNEW there was a cold front coming at lunch with howling winds that would be around until sunday.

I asked if he could spare enough time to help me get the main cover for the hoop house up and over. If he could hold it while I stapled and then put up the security rails over that, then I could do the ends and all the trimmings, hardware, and other security rails on my own. He said SURE. Off we went. I was moving slow this morning and it took us about an hour. I then worked on the front around the door and then moved to the back. About halfway done with the back and the winds started up. But since most of the plastic was down, flapping wasn't an issue.

Even as tight as I could get it, I still wasn't happy with the amount of flapping, so I grabbed lunch and headed into the village for some eye hooks and some climbing rope. DH helped me put a chuck wagon rope up and over to reduce the flapping. I'm MUCH happier with it. Green was my only rope choice, I'm not cool with that, but oh well.

I tossed mulch into the walkway.
Added all the hardware to the doors and windows, and put up a thermometer.
I still need to go to the city and load all my old feedbags with composted soil. But then I can be on my planting way!

The hoops for frost blankets will be quick to cut and I'll store those in the barn. I'll just use sheets and bull clips to hold those on.

Lord, what a project.
I thought the arthritis in my hands hurt this morning. LOL. 50 outside and 90 inside with everything closed

 

[BabyGotQuack]

They look about like your pictures. Look for the little green sprouts in the middle of those mounds. If you don't see any little green, or reddish-green things, then they may have frozen/died/gotten ducked...? (You should probably keep the ducks away.)

And, welcome to the garden thread!

Are these the reddish green things?

 

[Sueby]

@WthrLady that looks FANTASTIC!! What plastic is that covering it, if you don't mind sharing.

So I got the onions in the ground, 160 of em & gave the rest to my neighbor. I also got the new hoop house up & planted lettuce seed in it. The soil was very workable because they are raised beds. Got that all watered too.

DH is home & we got new gutters up for the birds in lockdown, the way it was I always had a rain barrel catching runoff, but it's still freezing here & I can't put the barrel back up just to freeze - so gutter extensions are up. We decided to add another hoop house to their lockup, heading to TSC this weekend, I need 2 for the garden anyway so I'll get 3. Also added a couple more roosts for them too.

When making stock with my instapot I go for 45 min to 1 hr. Chicken bones tend to be just starting to crumble for me then. I would start there with a small batch, add time as needed to your taste, maybe 2 hrs for gooey? Try to let your pressure cooker cool naturally if possible, you will get a clearer stock.

Thank you! I want gooey for sure, I'll start there.

What kind did you get? Stove top or electric?

I do my bone broth for 2 hours in my instant pot. I learned a lot from this site:

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

I got the Nesco electric one. I don't want to try it on my glass top stove so I'll start here. I'm not big on canned veggies anyway so bone broth will big the main purpose so 4 quarts or 5 pints will be the max I can do at a time, I think that's reasonable. For now. LOL. Thanks for the link!

Hello, new here to the thread! I’m out cleaning up the garden today and have a strawberry question. I don’t know what strawberries are supposed to look like through winter and early spring. Late fall my ducks thought they’d be a nice spot to lounge all day everyday and I’m worried they’ve killed them. We also have some big trees above and leaves were totally covering the strawberries going into winter and I just raked them off today. I’ll attach some photos from today, but what do you think? Will they come back ok or are they done for?View attachment 3024893View attachment 3024894View attachment 3024895

Hmmm, I agree with Sally, see if you can see any green shoots, they don't look great to me but you might be surprised! I'd def keep the ducks out if they do make it. But I got my plants as bare roots & the didn't look like much more than what you have there!

 

[Sueby]

Are these the reddish green things?
View attachment 3024956View attachment 3024957

Yes, looks like it from here! You may be in luck!

 

[Swiss]

Boom! 48 cells/cups started! 34 of them are tomatoes, 12 are asparagus, and 2 are hot peppers. The pup woke up after I filled the cells/cups with soil and poured water in the trays. So, it took me longer to get the seeds planted, but at least I wasn't twiddling my thumbs waiting for the soil to moisten!

Thanks for the tip about drilling the holes in the bottom of the plastic cups @WthrLady (I think it was you). I was able to drill the holes in 7 at a time, so it was easy AND quick. I did get off-brand, but they are pretty sturdy (in fact, I'm using some from last year's seed-starting season).

The snow is melting, but my garden is frozen, and the straw hasn't really broken down from what I can see. When it thaws, I'll go out with a rake/shovel to see what it actually looks like. I could always take off a few inches of straw to make planting easier. We shall see.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Yes, looks like it from here! You may be in luck!

Oh good! We finally got a good strawberry patch going last year so I was gonna be bummed if we had to start totally over. And my ducks usually aren't allowed in the garden but my kids broke the gate last fall and a new gate is on the to do list!

 

[igorsMistress]

Speaking of pressure cookers... I have the kind with a dial, like this:
View attachment 3024839
I haven't had it checked for accuracy in years. I haven't used it in years, either. Where can I get it checked?

Sometimes your county extension agent can help with that.

 

[igorsMistress]

Hello, new here to the thread! I’m out cleaning up the garden today and have a strawberry question. I don’t know what strawberries are supposed to look like through winter and early spring. Late fall my ducks thought they’d be a nice spot to lounge all day everyday and I’m worried they’ve killed them. We also have some big trees above and leaves were totally covering the strawberries going into winter and I just raked them off today. I’ll attach some photos from today, but what do you think? Will they come back ok or are they done for?View attachment 3024893View attachment 3024894View attachment 3024895

I can’t help with strawberries but welcome to the thread