What did you do in the garden today?

[NewBoots]

Still haven't had time to bring in the wood chips on top of the cardboard. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow or Thursday... But I did get the straw mulch around the corn.

The garden looks great!

Today I noticed one of the Ameracaunas hiding from the roosters under the tarp. Too funny...

That is so cute!

The lawn is mowed and I got a little work done on the beds. It's supposed to rain tomorrow but I'll try to get more weeding and spent greens pulled to make way for the tomatoes. The seedlings are doing well in the greenhouse, they really seemed to have liked the little bit of fertilizer they've had.

Here's the first few beds:

 

[chickengr]

Have yall ever heard of this or tried it?
I don't have anything over the soil of my garden and wondering if I should?
I'm not gonna do straw again cuz I'm still picking out the pieces that seeded and grew lol...chicks luv it but me not so much. But it did hold the kale and spinach seeds in place through heavy rains and they r growin!

I mixed pine shaving and manure to create soil in my garden. it took about 3 years. I don't use it now as it is hot and dry here. it would be suitable for the wet gardens.

 

[chickengr]

I use the baked straw so there are no weeds, well, almost none. It's expensive, especially now, but my back can't handle weeding so it's not even an option to not buy it here. It lasts 2 seasons though. But that sounds interesting!

I put out the slug beer baits & of course we got big storms that came through within a half hour & washed all the beer out.

in your climate put the pine shaving in your garden and sit down and drink beer

 

[karenerwin]

Hi everybody! I've missed you all. I stopped getting notifications even though this thread is still listed as following and receiving notifications.
@igorsMistress I got to go check out the Arizona Worm Farm last Wednesday! It was very interesting. The lady that was working the cash register said she is a member of BYC too! But I didn't get her name My garden is doing great. I've started harvesting radishes, asparagus, spinach, leaf lettuce, bok choy and a couple of pea pods since we got home last Friday. The bok choy bolted while we were gone but it is still edible. I used some in a stir fry tonight along with onion greens and asparagus. The rest of the veggies in it came from the store. The sauce called for honey. I was able to use some honey that I received while we were in Palm Springs for my nephew's wedding. Apparently on the bride's side of the family there is a guy that started as a hobby bee keeper and now makes a really good living from it! He gave the bride and groom small {4 oz} jars of honey to put in goodie bags for the 200 guests.
My bee hive is doing great {as long as the queen is still there }.
I had just hived them 2 days before we left town and had given them almost 10 frames of already drawn comb. I was able to check on the for the first time the day after we got home {11 days after they went in}.
They were busting at the seems! I only looked at 5 frames but thought I saw a queen cell on one frame. I added another deep and moved a frame of brood and bees up top. So today {2 days later} I was able to get back in the hive and look through all 20 frames. It took me almost 2 hours.
I never did find the queen but that didn't worry me because I'm still very new at this { had bees 2 summers ago, but they didn't make it through the first winter}. I found a total of 6 swarm cells {at least that's what I think they were}. I think some were capped and some were uncapped. I got rid of all of them. There is a lot of capped brood as well as capped and uncapped honey. Not a lot of pollen. I did see larva at different stages. My eyes aren't good enough to see the eggs. Two years ago I took pictures of "open cells" and then came in and blew them up on my computer to be able to see the eggs. I didn't take any pictures like that today because I didn't want to take off my gloves.
Anyway, now I'm a bit worried that I may have gotten rid of a queen in the making and that my queen swarmed already because I have read on a different bee site about other people in a similar situation and the other readers are telling them that if the swarm cells/queen cells are capped and there are 6 or more then the queen probably already swarmed. There sure seemed to be a LOT of bees still in the hive, especially considering that it was the middle of the day and it was gorgeous out. So, I'm hopping and praying I didn't just mess everything up.
Sorry, I didn't mean to make this post so long.

 

[CNJ]

They are gorgeous!!!

My son-in-law has been growing a Mango tree here in Tennessee the past 3 years! He has babied that thing from a mere seed!!!
I'll have to share this with him whenever gets ready to start producing!

I think it takes about 5 years to fruit from seed. I have some seedlings growing in 1 gallon pots, I plan on grafting them latter with fruiting trees.

I only use bags on my Carrie mango tree because its hard to tell when they are ripe. When they turn ripe, and fall off the tree it still looks green. They don't sell them in super markets because they get mushy when they bruise.

 

[CNJ]

I found some plastic colanders that fit in a 5 gallon bucket and it only cost $2. I turned them upside down with the round side up and tucked a 15 inch micro fiber cloth across it to wick water up. I connected 5 buckets together with a 3/8 inch tube and fittings to a 5 gallon reservoir that is stacked on another 5 gallon bucket with a float valve. I set the water level at 1 1/2 inches and made a hole 2 1/2 inches for rain water to drain. I wrapped a piece of shade cloth around the 2 1/2 inch drain and bottom hole, so dirt doesn't clog the hole. I covered the side of the colander with small size lava rock, so only the wick is touching the potting soil.

I just planted 5 heirloom tomato plants in these buckets, the tomatoes look huge in the ad. I bought the seeds online on eBay and it was shipped from Ukraine. I thought they were coming from the USA, it took a while. I didn't think it would grow, but it did. The transplants are about 3 to 4 inches.

I am growing okra using this micro fiber wick idea, I pick more okra then I can eat in a day, so its already proven.

I found that I need to keep a small plastic pill bottle with a small hole on top, filled with boric acid, and sugar water in my buckets to prevent the ants from mining aphids. This is working for me..................my plants are usually infested with bugs.

 

[chickengr]

I found some plastic colanders that fit in a 5 gallon bucket and it only cost $2. I turned them upside down with the round side up and tucked a 15 inch micro fiber cloth across it to wick up water up. I connected 5 buckets together with a 3/8 inch tube and fittings to a 5 gallon reservoir that is stacked on another 5 gallon bucket with a float valve. I set the water level at 1 1/2 inches and made a hole 2 1/2 inches for rain water to drain. I wrapped a piece of shade cloth around the 2 1/2 inch drain and bottom hole, so dirt doesn't clog the hole. I covered the side of the colander with small size lava rock, so only the wick is touching the potting soil.

I just planted 5 heirloom tomato plants in these buckets, the tomatoes look huge in the ad. I bought the seeds online on eBay and it was shipped from Ukraine. I thought they were coming from the USA, it took a while. I didn't think it would grow, but it did. The transplants are about 3 to 4 inches.

can you post pics of your buckets?

 

[CNJ]

can you post pics of your buckets?

I just went out and took a picture, its night time. I have to put a screen on the bucket to prevent my chickens from eating the young tomato plants. When they are ready to hang on a string, I will take away the screen. I will hang the string on the side of my roof. These are indeterminate tomato plants. I keep a black plastic bag over the stacked 5 gallon bucket to prevent algae growth.

The stacked blue 5 gallon bucket reservoir feed 3 large 20 gallon pots, you can see my 5 foot dwarf type cucumber plant growing in the first pot. I have sweet potato and water melon growing in the other 2.

I use filtered water from my koi tank to fill the reservoir buckets, it has a ton of nitrate in the water. I also put regular granule type fertilizer in a small net bag in the water bucket. I keep the EC at 1200. There is also granule fertilizer around the rim of the plant buckets and pots that activate with rain.

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi everybody! I've missed you all. I stopped getting notifications even though this thread is still listed as following and receiving notifications.
@igorsMistress I got to go check out the Arizona Worm Farm last Wednesday! It was very interesting. The lady that was working the cash register said she is a member of BYC too! But I didn't get her name My garden is doing great. I've started harvesting radishes, asparagus, spinach, leaf lettuce, bok choy and a couple of pea pods since we got home last Friday. The bok choy bolted while we were gone but it is still edible. I used some in a stir fry tonight along with onion greens and asparagus. The rest of the veggies in it came from the store. The sauce called for honey. I was able to use some honey that I received while we were in Palm Springs for my nephew's wedding. Apparently on the bride's side of the family there is a guy that started as a hobby bee keeper and now makes a really good living from it! He gave the bride and groom small {4 oz} jars of honey to put in goodie bags for the 200 guests.
My bee hive is doing great {as long as the queen is still there }.
I had just hived them 2 days before we left town and had given them almost 10 frames of already drawn comb. I was able to check on the for the first time the day after we got home {11 days after they went in}.
They were busting at the seems! I only looked at 5 frames but thought I saw a queen cell on one frame. I added another deep and moved a frame of brood and bees up top. So today {2 days later} I was able to get back in the hive and look through all 20 frames. It took me almost 2 hours.
I never did find the queen but that didn't worry me because I'm still very new at this { had bees 2 summers ago, but they didn't make it through the first winter}. I found a total of 6 swarm cells {at least that's what I think they were}. I think some were capped and some were uncapped. I got rid of all of them. There is a lot of capped brood as well as capped and uncapped honey. Not a lot of pollen. I did see larva at different stages. My eyes aren't good enough to see the eggs. Two years ago I took pictures of "open cells" and then came in and blew them up on my computer to be able to see the eggs. I didn't take any pictures like that today because I didn't want to take off my gloves.
Anyway, now I'm a bit worried that I may have gotten rid of a queen in the making and that my queen swarmed already because I have read on a different bee site about other people in a similar situation and the other readers are telling them that if the swarm cells/queen cells are capped and there are 6 or more then the queen probably already swarmed. There sure seemed to be a LOT of bees still in the hive, especially considering that it was the middle of the day and it was gorgeous out. So, I'm hopping and praying I didn't just mess everything up.
Sorry, I didn't mean to make this post so long.

Hi Karen! I’ve been thinking about you. So happy you had a chance to stop by the farm, I love that place! It’s good to know your bees and garden are doing well despite your absence. I wish I could keep bees, but there’s too much risk of Africanization in our climate so I didn’t get into it.

 

[chickengr]

I wish I could keep bees, but there’s too much risk of Africanization in our climate so I didn’t get into it.

sorry I do not get it. can you please explain. my english is not so good. my knowledge of bees either.