What did you do in the garden today?

[589205]

I saw this dragonfly laying eggs in one of my garden ponds the other day:

 

[igorsMistress]

OK, I know some of you are sweltering in MUCH higher Temps but it's already 85 degrees here today. I have to leave to go pick up hay bales shortly. We've collectively decided to wait until the sun goes down to unload them into the barn.

DD went on a school trip to Disney World and Universal this past week. She came home on Thursday. On Friday she came down with a fever and broke out in hives all over her body. To our knowledge she is not allergic to anything. DH took her to the doctor. They did a test to determine if it's viral or an allergic reaction to something. Won't have results until Monday so she is quarantined until then... Feel bad for the poor kid. She is miserable itchy... And several people from her trip have come down with Covid. We've had it twice already but DD hasn't gotten it yet. What a mess....

Zyrtec will take care of her hives. I take it daily for chronic hives and it helps so much. I hope your DD feels better soon TJ.

 

[igorsMistress]

We started building our pallet wood fence! We now have a gate.
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That looks great!

 

[WthrLady]

Managed my whole punch list except for one row of the orchard getting new drip irrigation heads. It started to thunder, and being on top of a hill in an open field, NOPE.
I'll try to finish it tomorrow or Tuesday and run it and see if there are any splice repairs that need made.
I'll pick up missing supplies for the project, seasonal repairs, while I'm in the city tomorrow.
I'm also going to add a ballcock shutoff to the hoophouse. I don't mind hand water that. I feel it needs more eyes on attention than the outdoor garden, and this gives that opportunity.
I dumped 35 gorgeous tomato plants into the compost bin. You just watch, those will be the nicest tomatoes I harvest all year. (Chicken food only) The more neglected, the better my tomatoes tend to come out. LOL.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

I had no idea how much of an effect working outside has had on my mental health until today. I was just chilling I side having a lazy day (which I haven't done in about 3 months now). By about 3pm I realized I felt pretty blah for no reason, except I hadn't really been outside today. So got my butt outside and started working on the flowerbed. Feeling better already!

 

[jerryse]

Slept a little later . Sore muscles only slightly sore now . I checked my grafting and looks promising on the first ones I did . Not leafed out yet but buds swelling a bit . Have not done a lot today .

 

[ChicksnMore]

What did I do in the garden today? I've been waterin since about 7 AM. And that's despite the2" layer of leaves I put down early in the season and the 2-3" layer of tree trimmings I just got put down. Just not gettin enough rain!
Another topic I want to touch on is composting.
I know there are composting threads but this thread gets a lot more air time and I'm betting the same people who post on the compost threads also visit this one so here goes!
As I have posted before, I have been trying to compost for a few years but can't seem to get it right. I turned my bin today and I know I should have turned it long ago but it "seemed to be going OK", until I dug into it. Notice I said Compost bin. I've tried the piles on the ground and the fire ants have infested every darned one of them. Tried the "tumbler" and that did keep the ants out but did not successfullly make cmpost. Now I have one of the industrial type trash cans, about 50 gallons @ about 4' tall. Been with it for about 3 yrs and have made some "almost compost" in it. Ended up with about 40% compost and 60% fibrous material. and that took a whole year. Made for a good mulch on my raised beds though.
Now to today. It has been about a month, maybe more since I had last turned it. This whole time I had been adding layers, Dry leaves, grass clippings (dry and green, depending when I raked 'em up), weeds from the garden and hay bedding/poop from the chicken coop, followed by some water. I'd put a layer in and by the time I was ready to add another layer, the level in the bin had gone down considerably so I didn't turn it often.
Today the top was barely damp but got wetter as I went down, and @ the bottom was a soggy mess, No real composting happening. It was brown as if it wanted to but nada. Also there was no sour smell as I have heard would happen if it went anerobic.
OK, so I got it all out, broke up the clumps and put it all back together adding in a layer of leaves along with a little dried goat poop outta the barn, every once in a while to soak up some of the excess moisture
This is the first time I've had this high moisture happen so I took a look @ what I was working with. The trash bin I was working with. When I first started I drilled holes for air. They were 1/4" holes, one vertical row on each side (4 rows all together) for air. I drilled all of the holes out to 1/2 inch and quadrupled the amount of holes thinkin I was not getting enough air into the mixture.
I do not have a drain hole(s) in the bottom as that would be where the ants would come in and I can't have that happening.
My only other thought is that I coule cut a hole in the top and add a perforated (drain)pipe into the middle of the pile for more air.
Anyone want critique what I did today? Pose some solutions that I may not have thought of?

PS, I know I probably need to turn it more often.

I'm not a composting expert, but it could be that you need to add some plain old dirt as one of your layers. And of course...the turning. My understanding is that adding dirt kick starts the composting.
But again...I'm not an expert. I've been lucky and have never had a problem getting good dirt from my piles...then again, maybe my idea of good dirt isn't someone else's.
Here's the top of my small compost pile...I'll be using this dirt over the next week to refresh my garden. Then I'll pull more out of the big pile (I rarely turn the big pile) to make a fresh small pile that I turn often for fast results.

There's a lot of chunky bits in there still...but my garden and my potted plants all love it.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Someone earlier asked me about my hoop house build. Forgot who asked but here are the details. It was super simple.

We took (4) 4x4x8 posts and cut them in half so each was 4 ft long. Buried 2 ft in the ground (no concrete) which left 2 ft above ground. Then we built (5) square frames of varying sizes. My hoop house is 10 ft x 20 ft. So one frame is 10 ft x 3 ft at the back. Two frames on each side break up the remaining 17 ft (20 ft minus 3 ft) length in half and are 3 ft wide. So the frames are laid out in a U-shape and secured to the 4x4 posts. Three sides of the frame are 2x4 but the outside facing piece is a 2x6. More on that shortly. Here's a close up.

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I used 10 ft 2x4s as a top plate across the 4x4 posts. Then used U-shaped conduit fasteners to secure the cattle panels to the top plate.

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We framed up the door with 2x4s and then used a 2x4 cross beam tied into the 4x4 posts.

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To seal around the door and keep it bug proof, I used 1" thick foam weatherstripping that is used around window air conditioners. Across the top of the door, I used a flap of extra netting.

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As for the netting, I used a 20 ft by 20 ft piece along the center. This was pulled taught and stapled to the 2x6 outside-facing part of the frame. Then we layered 10 ft x 15 ft pieces of netting on each end. Lastly I followed up with another 20 ft x 20 ft piece that was layered on top end-to-end. The layering has worked very well because the bugs will squeeze under your overlapped netting but can't seem to "zigzag" through multiple overlaps. All netting was stapled into the 2x6 frame and wrapped around the door frame before the door itself was installed. Then I used an additional 2x4 over the 2x6 frame. This "sealed" the netting along the bottom. This was an important change from last year because the squash bugs could squeeze under the stapled netting. They CAN'T get through the 2x4 "seal" along the bottom. Then I mounded soil and mulch all around the bottom on the outside of the hoop house to bury the bottom of the frame. Again, keeps the bugs out.

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So glad you posted this! It looks great and very practical!

 

[knobhillfarm]

I’ve been traveling for a few days and returned home to some squash that was ready for first harvest. One beautiful one and one that looks more like a zucchini from one plant and a bunch of small bumpy ones from another. Plants are flowering again so I went ahead and pulled all these off. Hopefully have some tomatoes soon. They are getting pretty big but still green.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Had to go to town for dog food. Wet day again no gardening. Still have daisy seed to plant it wants the ground at 68 degrees right ? Mother Nature must be drinking again...