What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Have you tried a bucket trap for those mice yet? Had good luck with them.

Ya, it works for the barn and shop mice, but not the run mice. For those we just put out about 20 traps a night and the electric traps when it's not rainy. Winter was mild, and the population is NUTS.
Had room for more plants. SO the grand total is 60 tomatoes in the ground, fed and watered.
I'll see if I have the gumption to work on the irrigation after lunch.
The irrigation still needs checked, switched out, and repaired if needed in the orchard. Eventually, I suppose.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm assuming that's without a battery bank, so you'll only be offsetting some/most/all of your grid usage when the sun is shining, correct?

Yes, sort of. Basically my excess power gets sent to the grid where they keep an accounting of how much power I'm sending them. If it's a cloudy day and I need power from the grid, it pulls from that tally first before I get charged. Essentially that offset needs to be depleted before I am charged for power like my conventional system. However I also have a propane powered generator backup for cases where the panels can't make enough AND the grid is down.

As silly as it may sound, my biggest concern is keeping the freezers working so stockpiled food isn't wasted by rolling blackouts. Second to that is the ability to reduce dependency on the grid.

I will be getting battery backups but not until the next generation batteries are available. They are cheaper, more efficient, and are expected to last 3x as long.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning Gardeners. We may see 70's here today !
Planting daisy seed.

 

[DParker75089]

Yes, sort of. Basically my excess power gets sent to the grid where they keep an accounting of how much power I'm sending them. If it's a cloudy day and I need power from the grid, it pulls from that tally first before I get charged. Essentially that offset needs to be depleted before I am charged for power like my conventional system. However I also have a propane powered generator backup for cases where the panels can't make enough AND the grid is down.

As silly as it may sound, my biggest concern is keeping the freezers working so stockpiled food isn't wasted by rolling blackouts. Second to that is the ability to reduce dependency on the grid.

I will be getting battery backups but not until the next generation batteries are available. They are cheaper, more efficient, and are expected to last 3x as long.

Ah, OK...so you're grid-tied, which is sort of a virtual battery bank (in that your excess electricity generation isn't being wasted). But yeah, batteries are still the weak link in the solar chain in so far as they're still quite expensive and relatively inefficient. The panels and other components have improved dramatically over the past decade or so though.

 

[Sally PB]

Something new for the chickens today: I took my watering can and watered the soil in the run. They were scared of the watering can, but they sure do like the results!

Stinking hot today. I'm stinky, at least.

I planted the cherry tomatoes. Except one I misread the label, so it wasn't a cherry, it was one of the new (to me) varieties, Wisconsin Chief. We'll see how it does. I also planted the basil (by the tomatoes; they play nicely together), and the other two butternut squash.

There are two b-nuts in the sandy soil, and two in the heavy soil. I've never planted them in the heavy soil garden before, so we'll see how they do. It is also hotter up there, and it gets more sun.

I bought two each of habanero and jalapeno starts; hedging my bets because my plants are teeny tiny still.

I hilled up some of my first planting of potatoes. Never hilled taters this early before!

Tonight we're supposed to get a cold front through. Temps drop, winds pick up, and hopefully it rains.

 

[Sueby]

I would love to get solar here but we have too many trees.

I got the beans covered in shade cloth. Got the sungolds planted. Everything is coming up nicely & the beans are climbing now. I still need to get a few pepper plants.

It's hot, was 92 but thankfully the clouds pushed in. I think we're getting rain tomorrow & back to normal temps. I'll hold off on watering till I see what comes of tomorrow.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Ugh it's hot here...90 but feels like 100 and no clouds. It's times like this I wish I had a pool!
The babies are in a covered run but no trees for additional shadin. So I took em some frozen yogurt with blueberries in it...put ice in their waterer.
And gonna give neighbors some spinach and kale before it's all gone. Spinach is starting to try and bolt.
This is how most of our summer is...do I need to put the shade cloth over garden?
I've got tomatoes of all kinds down the center, basil, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions and 2 mystery plants. Once spinach n kale are done the okra and zucchini will go in its places.
Or since those are all warm weather crops they will be fine uncovered?

 

[Fishychix]

Watered. Planted my punk leminade blueberry yesterday alibgvwith my three ither new blueberries - chippewa and i dont remember the ither two. Jersey?
I see my beans are up my corn MAY be peaking through the straw. We'll see. My pease look ok but somethingbisceating avtop or two each day. I enclosed the bed but theyre taller than the fence. Will still putvthe cover on i suppose. I took apart a chicken cage which will give me extra pvc i could use. Keep puttingboff planting cukes. Not sure why. Just tired i guess. Working two jobs and trying to garden is not ideal. I have one row of potatoes coming up. I guess the others will too. Unless they got eaten. I guess i should be working but havent eaten lunch yet and chix just decided to stop bathingbin the front yard.

Sorry about the typos. On my phone. Fat fingers.

 

[Egger4me]

Just enjoying my roses

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Just enjoying my roses
View attachment 3131124

Wow! Gorgeous!!!