What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

@igorsMistress man do I love artichokes! Those are absolutely beautiful.

@NewBoots I almost tagged you last night wondering where you were! I thought you deserted us!

Not much happening today, a chilly 35 degrees but at least it's not raining. The birds are so happy to be free, man I hope that wasn't a mistake.

Who here sprouts seeds? I have a huge bag of scratch my neighbor left me when she moved & I don't really feed it to my birds, wondering if it would sprout. Any ideas? It looks like regular bird seed - mostly millet, some BOSS & some cracked corn (I know that would be useless).

I hope they’re as good as they look, they’re a fave here too!

 

[igorsMistress]

I am INSANELY jealous. You can already have tomatoes out!!!! That's incredible!!

Oh yeah, it has already been in the mid 90s here this Spring.

 

[NewBoots]

Good morning gardeners. I harvested artichokes this morning. Dinner! There are still a few small flowers on the plants that I’m waiting for but these overfilled the biggest bowl I have right now.

I am so envious! We love artichokes and just about everyone out here grows them, ours aren't doing much yet and I think the mostly sand soil we have is too poor for them to do much. The plants are so handsome, they seem like good ornamentals if nothing else.

@NewBoots I almost tagged you last night wondering where you were! I thought you deserted us!

Never! I just got busy here with non-garden stuff and oh my gosh this thread grows so fast, it felt like jumping onto a fast moving conveyer belt. Penny (our rescue pupper) is really coming along. She is so much calmer on our walks, she actually ignores most non-us humans now. She's still pretty nuts when she's in the house though, still convinced it's her job to repel all boarders. We both love her so much anyway, I swear I didn't think I'd love another dog this much.

What's the magic of 42? It's "the answer." If you get that, great. If not, doesn't matter.

Hitchhiker's Guide for the win!

 

[WthrLady]

Looks just like mine
They dont seem to have bothered my walking onions though.

That's because the walking onions can get out of their way.
::ba-da-dum::
Kidding

Been that kind of day.
Just made a fresh batch of coir for the next round of seed tomatoes.
Replant 2 DOES have some starting to come up, but not in the numbers they should be.

This new coir is my regular burpee bricks. Smell like nothing and clean.
The stuff I used at the start of the season that IS high in salt, turns out, smelled odd too. I think it smelled like iodine/betadine and made me have to open the garage door to hydrate it. So there you have it.

Now we'll see how well the new stuff germinates.

OH and when I ran into one of those snooty garden centers (the ones that up price everything to insane amounts) to grab seeds (I wanted more seed exchange to compare to the failed batch), they're SELLING TOMATO STARTS!! I couldn't believe it. May 15th is the EARLIEST you could get them in the ground here and you still have to watch them. June 1 is fairly solid.

AND they're selling a 5 inch tall SINGLE plant for $4.99, and a 10 inch plant for 8.99! And there were some missing, so SOMEONE is buying them!

 

[SheaLoner]

Has anyone ever used greensand to lighten up heavy soil?

Compost and organic matter. Sand if you can get it. My garden is almost straight clay. I dig down 6" or so then build up in terrace raised beds. Have plenty of chicken and rabbit bedding to build on top with.

 

[salshep20]

That's because the walking onions can get out of their way.
::ba-da-dum::
Kidding

Been that kind of day.
Just made a fresh batch of coir for the next round of seed tomatoes.
Replant 2 DOES have some starting to come up, but not in the numbers they should be.

This new coir is my regular burpee bricks. Smell like nothing and clean.
The stuff I used at the start of the season that IS high in salt, turns out, smelled odd too. I think it smelled like iodine/betadine and made me have to open the garage door to hydrate it. So there you have it.

Now we'll see how well the new stuff germinates.

Im trying to grow some yams

 

[WthrLady]

I am so envious! We love artichokes and just about everyone out here grows them, ours aren't doing much yet and I think the mostly sand soil we have is too poor for them to do much. The plants are so handsome, they seem like good ornamentals if nothing else.

Never! I just got busy here with non-garden stuff and oh my gosh this thread grows so fast, it felt like jumping onto a fast moving conveyer belt. Penny (our rescue pupper) is really coming along. She is so much calmer on our walks, she actually ignores most non-us humans now. She's still pretty nuts when she's in the house though, still convinced it's her job to repel all boarders. We both love her so much anyway, I swear I didn't think I'd love another dog this much.

Hitchhiker's Guide for the win!

But do you know where your towel is?

 

[WthrLady]

Im trying to grow some yams

I need to get my starts going, come to think of it.
What variety are you planting?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners I woke to first peep hatched others zipped .. two out let it dry a bit another full zip.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I managed to get the pasture sprayed with 2-4D yesterday. I didn't really notice any major weeds except for 2 specific areas... The main one being a depression between a storm drain runoff and our pond. This area collects a lot of water and is always very wet. We've had it bulldozed a few years back to level it out but there's a lot of big rocks and old tree roots that make the area very uneven. It's impossible to mow that area... Anyway, I sprayed it for weeds. I will disperse some Bermuda seed through there. We tried that last year but I think most of it washed away.

I've also decided I may hold onto the Alfalfa Hay and pasture mix seed until the fall and seed it then. Over half of the seed blend are cool weather grasses. I wouldn't be able to seed until early May and feel the grass wouldn't have time to get established before it gets too hot.

On the flip side, I feel like the pasture is in dire need of soil improvement. I'm going to start steeping some compost tea. May even bite the bullet and buy some fertilizer.... I gotta do something to improve it though