What did you do in the garden today?

[vall]

The landscapers knocked off one of my fig grafts I did last year that was growing well so I regrafted it.. the scion is still alive so it may take.

 

[Arelwood]

I live in the city and have 4 neighbors that share my property line. First year with chickens so I am deep in the process of getting my yard ready for them. 2 of my neighbors have dogs. 2 Goldens on one side, and a pit and border collie along the back. I planned to put up a privacy fence along the back to keep the pit and border collie out of my yard. But last week another neighbor got a big dog. Neighbor on the other side is watching his son's husky for an indeterminate amount of time. Last time this happened it was 2 years. Son is in the military. There is a large gap iron fence along that side, but easily big enough for chickens to get through....so now I have to replace the fence on that side. Basically surrounded by dogs. I don't hate dogs (have one myself) I just know they can't always help their prey drives.

All that to say, I started closing the gaps in my fence and getting posts installed for the fence. Only done 2 small sections, but they look great! I have never built a fence before, but I am surprised at how easy this is.

Also, I decided to build my chickens a large run. I was going to just let them free range, but my 6 week old chicks just started taking ENORMOUS dumps. Which made me rethink that. I have a small backyard. It is about 1/4 each pool, patio, lawn, and veggie garden. So poop would be everywhere. Especially in places with bare feet. So, now I am moving my pool (8 ft stock tank) to the lawn. The old pool section will be enclosed for their run. Its probably 15x20 feet. Plus, less lawn to mow! So I measured out where I will move the pool to, and marked it. Later this week I will dig it level and drain the winter snowmelt from the pool. Hopefully I can move it myself, cause there ain't nobody to help!

 

[TJAnonymous]

One of the Marans chicks that the game hen hatched out has been injured somehow. It looks like it has an injured leg and is unwilling to walk. After much fighting with mama hen, I managed to get the injured chick and a friend out of the brooder pen. I brought them inside and have them in my infirmary tub with a MHP. The injured baby isn't chirping at all but the "friend" wont' shut up.

 

[Acre4Me]

After several hours, the 10 (yes, only 10) asparagus roots were planted!

1. Uncover warmed bed, in the wind, the plastic needs to be weighted down.

2. Fork the weeds out. One was so deep and huge tap root had to find the shovel. Lots of weeds that were really happy under the clear plastic!

3. Oh yeah. Bindweed. The positive is that it was beginning to sprout and the roots are white, so I can easily see them. But, there were many, many roots. Sone were very deep.

4. Compost. Hmm…my finished compost isn’t so finished. Decent, but had to go through it a bit to remove any unwanted chunks.

5. Mix in compost .

6. Read directions for planting asparagus.

7. dig trenches 6-8” deep.

8. Ignore huge spacing requirements in instructions bc I’m using an 8’x4’ raised bed.

9. Lay in the asparagus roots, cover with 3-4” of dirt.

10. Water asparagus.

11, drain water hose for the night, put tools away.

12. Complain about aching back.

13. Hope the asparagus sprouts.

14. Wait 1-2 years for any kind of harvest.

 

[DParker75089]

And so it begins...

 

[Sally PB]

It was nice and warm (comparatively!) today. I got home from Costco, put away the groceries, and was going to go dig some more on my projects, after a quick lunch. During said quick lunch, it began to pour. Sigh. Ok, if Mother Nature is going to play like that, I'm going back to bed! At least I can enjoy the sound of the rain.

Will my projects ever get done so that I can start the next ones?!?

 

[Iluveggers]

And so it begins...

View attachment 3043820

Ahh the snow is finally almost gone here…I hope it stays away this time! This will be the first year of thr asparagus here too!

 

[DParker75089]

Ahh the snow is finally almost gone here…I hope it stays away this time! This will be the first year of thr asparagus here too!

This was a nice little surprise since we planted the crowns just 10 days ago, and the wind has been so strong and non-stop this week that I haven't been able to put my seed starts outside for hardening off for the past 3 days, which is throwing my planting schedule off a bit.

 

[TJAnonymous]

GRRRRRRR... These (bleep) baby chickens are just spiteful and stubborn. They REFUSE to go roost in the main coop with the adults. Let it be clear that the adults mostly ignore them so I'm certain they are NOT being bullied. They have 3 levels of a ladder roost all to themselves so they don't even have to worry about adults... Yet after nearly 4-5 weeks they still refuse to go in at night. I have to go collect them and manually put them to bed. I've tried to remove or block their roosting spaces outside the coop but they simply go find another spot. Outside. Gah!!!!

 

[Acre4Me]

GRRRRRRR... These (bleep) baby chickens are just spiteful and stubborn. They REFUSE to go roost in the main coop with the adults. Let it be clear that the adults mostly ignore them so I'm certain they are NOT being bullied. They have 3 levels of a ladder roost all to themselves so they don't even have to worry about adults... Yet after nearly 4-5 weeks they still refuse to go in at night. I have to go collect them and manually put them to bed. I've tried to remove or block their roosting spaces outside the coop but they simply go find another spot. Outside. Gah!!!!

Some batches are harder than others. We had one batch where 2 of them started roosting in the coop within days of intermingling (after see-no touch phase) - they were only 6 weeks old I think. Last batch took weeks and weeks to get the idea. So, this is a good reminder for me to go buy a new net.

Today was the first day that I propped up the brooder fence for the chicks to explore the run with the other chickens. Seems to be ok, but just day 1…any bullies will become apparent the next few days. They are 5 weeks old today and have had look-no touch with the flock for 2 weeks.