What did you do in the garden today?

[Elyrian1]

Showers to my north, and hail to my south, and here I am. Stuck in the middle with no rain....

Watered the garden under gray, rainy skies. Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink....

Been at least two months since substantial rainfall.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I talked to DD this evening. At least 2 chicks have drowned in the water tubs. I made sure to put a bunch of small waterers all around the runs so the chicks would drink out of those instead of our big water tubs that the goats use. Apparently it didn't matter. One chick drowned in the goats water. The other drowned in a kiddie pool the ducks use. I don't have rocks in the bottom because it makes the water all slimy with algae and makes it difficult to dump and refill through the fence.

I'm also worried about the plants and how they are surviving the heat. I had DD water the ones in pots up by the house but she doesn't know how to water the garden since it is so far from the house so I can only pray it makes it to the weekend...

 

[chickengr]

Cleaned up all fallen fruit under orange trees this morning and tried to pick some that were over ripe (couldn't find picker) so just got the low ones.

Trimmed the potted Moringa tree plants and will try to start new ones from the sticks I trimmed. I only have about 20 already started from seeds (trying to have enough to supplement chickens feed). I dry the leaves or flowers in a paper bag and powder or just put in a jar for vitamin/supplement use right now.

how do you start moringa from seeds? do you put them in hot water first?

 

[chickengr]

I can understand none in the pasture because we spray 2-4D for the buttercups but I can't seem to get them to grow even in places where we don't spray.... Who would have ever thought I'd work so hard for a weed to grow?

same here. I managed to plant dandelion roots but they lasted 2 years only with this heat.

 

[chickengr]

The older I get, the less time I want to spend doing stupid stuff, like changing out inner tubes every year. Is it OK just to want the stuff to work when I need it? I think I'm entitled to that much.

Anyway, I'm into replacing my tubed tires with solid filled no-flat tires - as I can afford them. This is the first time that I have had 5 flat tires to deal with over the winter. I could have bought the inner tubes locally, but got a set of 4 on Amazon for half the price. I just hope they are not half the quality!

the quality today sucks where ever you buy. the price is that makes a difference.

 

[chickengr]

Showers to my north, and hail to my south, and here I am. Stuck in the middle with no rain....

Watered the garden under gray, rainy skies. Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink....

Been at least two months since substantial rainfall.

I have to water even when it rans in summer. a few drops of rain do nothing.

 

[gtaus]

I'm also worried about the plants and how they are surviving the heat. I had DD water the ones in pots up by the house but she doesn't know how to water the garden since it is so far from the house so I can only pray it makes it to the weekend...

We had a terrible drought last summer with no rain from May till sometime in October. My main garden has no running water, and just about everything out there dried up and died. Very disappointing.

I did have some moderate success with my hügelkultur raised beds out in the main garden. I think it was the first time I could clearly see the difference between the hügelkultur method of storing water in the wood and a normal raised bed where there is nothing to trap and hold the water. Although even the hügelkultur beds in the main garden suffered, I was able to harvest some food from them. Nada from the rest of the garden.

I built some new hügelkultur raised beds in the backyard where I was able to run out a garden hose and water them regularly. Those plants exploded with produce.

My best success was with my sub-irrigated elevated planters which have a built in water reservoir of about 15 gallons that supplies water to the plants as needed via wicking action. In a normal summer, with regular rainfall, I only have to refill the sub-irrigated elevated planters maybe 3-4 times for the summer. Last summer, with the terrible drought, I had to refill that planter about 2 times per week! What a difference, but the plants thrived in the heat with the steady source of water underneath their roots.

I have a fill tube with a slice of water noodle in the tube to indicate the water level. When the indicator is level with the fill tube, then I refill it with the garden hose. Here is a pic of what that looked like before the bean plants block your view.

 

[Sally PB]

I have a fill tube with a slice of water noodle in the tube to indicate the water level. When the indicator is level with the fill tube, then I refill it with the garden hose. Here is a pic of what that looked like before the bean plants block your view.

Another one of your many, many clever ideas!

 

[Sueby]

I may have to order some. None of the plant stores I've checked online have it listed as in stock. I will ask my neighbor for a division from hers too.

I'll be running errands tomorrow, so I'll hit all the plant/garden places I can on my way.

It's a good companion for strawberry plants. I have a couple of beds of those that look really sparse. I think I'll put a couple of rhubarb in with them.

& they go so well together - to eat! They are generally ready at the same time so you can put up everything fresh & not have to freeze. I make sugar free strawberry rhubarb jam every year. Or a compote over ice cream is delish. Of course a pie, but coffee cake with it is so good. Or a crumble...oh my gosh I can't wait! I absolutely adore rhubarb.

 

[Sally PB]

I have a chiropractor appointment today, so I have an excuse to stop at Flowerland, etc. to look for rhubarb crowns. When I looked online, they said "delivery only," meaning they're probably not in the stores or else sold out. But I'll look because it's on my way. If I don't find any, I'll order some online.

What variety of rhubarb does anyone like, in particular?

My strawberries may not make ANY berries this year. The deer pawed them up something terrible. The deer even ate Egyptian Walking Onion tops that were above the snow, that's how hungry they were! Also, a friend told me that strawberries don't like raised beds, and that's what they're in. So I am rethinking my strawberry bed location.

I have a large flat area where I plant butternut squash (so it can run) and potatoes. I might make the far end of that area the "strawberry and rhubarb" bed.