What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

I did nothing to our garden but did get my son to go.water it. Lol. Builds character. (Now I have to go check his work. 7 year old attn to detail isn't always the best. )

It isn’t any better when they are teens either, but the eye rolls are impressive.

 

[Swiss]

Oh, man, you are tempting me! I only have room for 3, max, and they'd have to be pullets. I told DH we "need more chicks next spring, so that we keep getting eggs." This fall might be a very hard sell.

But I soooo want blue eggs.....

I highly doubt we will get any this year. I could probably easily talk my husband into getting 12..... I think I was planning on 6, but chicken math, right?
ETA: 13. Because 12+3 does not equal 16...

OMG just had a lawn/pest care company knock on the door.
1: they had to pass TWO large, NO SOLICITORS signs to get down my LONG LONG LONG driveway, and there is another large one by the doorbell.
2: Long spiel about how they do so and so's yard and house, and so and so's neighborhood and treat 3 acres for blah blah blah, and fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, voles, wasps etc. They are pet and bee friendly blah blah blah. BULL cookies.

UM it's the friggen open prairie! If you cannot live out here without weeds and bugs, move back to your sanitary condo in the city.

We have TWO neighbors with 8 acres of weed free, bright green, manicured laws, drives ME NUTS. What they do with their money is their business, but $2400 a year to literally wash down into the creek and into the wells. And I promise these companies cannot keep up with the bugs out here. We are surrounded by parkland and cattle fields.

Kind me said nope, but gave him a gatorade and sent him on his way. Good grief.

We once had someone leave their business card TUCKED BEHIND the corner of our no soliciting sign. The NERVE had me laughing and I had to take a picture.

Also, I noticed one of my tomato plants seems to be turning yellow, but in a way I've never seen before. My guess is some nutrient deficiency. Has anyone else had this happen (you might need to zoom in to see it better):

 

[TJAnonymous]

Do you use it that much or should you be looking at a different brand? I'm no fan of appliances that need replacing every year!

Sorry about the Covid Gamma, we got it about a month ago. Wasn't terrible and I credit the 3 vaccines I had. DW had 4 since she has had RA for something over 20 years and has been on immune suppressing drugs almost that long. I hope you have a mild case and are back up and kicking soon!

If you read the reviews online, you'll see that people frequently have problems with Instant Pots that just suddenly stop working. This is what happened with our first one. Basically the circuit board gets fried really easily because it doesn't have any protection on it. This is a known problem. We used our Instant Pot about once a month.

After the first one stopped working about 12 months after we purchased it, I wanted to try another brand so we bought a Mueller from Amazon. From the very beginning, we had trouble with this piece of crap. It would burn food on the bottom of the pot every single time. No way to adjust the heat element to turn it down. Then the pressure gasket disappeared rendering it completely inoperable and no way to buy a replacement. Not that I would ever want one anyway... After 11 months, we chucked it in the garbage. Again, used maybe once every OTHER month, due to the hassle with it.

Went back to the Instant Pot brand. We've had this one since Black Friday last year and haven't had any problems with it. Hopefully this one will last...

 

[chickengr]

So far the egg genetics is not working for me... My roosters are all blue gene carriers - either Ameracaunas, Easter Egger, CCLB, or Isbar. The cross offspring with my Marans are producing pretty birds but no olive eggs. Instead their eggs are like Marans eggs. I also have several offspring who were crossed from a Blue Andalusian hen (white eggs). You'd think their eggs would be a light blue but they are white like their mama instead.

olive egger breeders say that we should cross marans roo with blue egg layers. I have never tried it.

 

[chickengr]

Compost and garden gypsum would help with that.

I am thinking about sort of sunken bed filled with aged sheep manure (looks like dirt) for root vegetables. I have been adding different staff for 8 years and when we have no rain in summer it gets as hard as concrete. so cartoon/geotextile and loads of aged manure for my future garden at my new place seems to be the only solution.

 

[chickengr]

Radishes and carrots are pretty easy. I need to replant some of both.

radishes are ok. I get short carrots with 2-3 tiny roots. potatoes were small as well.

 

[TJAnonymous]

olive egger breeders say that we should cross marans roo with blue egg layers. I have never tried it.

Then there's my problem. I don't have a Marans roo... However I picked up a couple of Welsummer chicks back in May and I think one of them is actually a Roo instead of a pullet. Maybe that will work?

 

[TJAnonymous]

Just looking at the radar. It looks like there are some storms just west of Amarillo, TX. If they move straight east, it might just barely skim us....

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Then there's my problem. I don't have a Marans roo... However I picked up a couple of Welsummer chicks back in May and I think one of them is actually a Roo instead of a pullet. Maybe that will work?

Yes, welsummers work too.

 

[Sueby]

I think I'm the only person under 60 who doesn't have and has never had a social media account with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al.

Nope, you're not!

I need to use my pressure cooker (not an instapot, but same idea) more! What do y'all cook in it? I need ideas. I've only ever canned in it, made broth & a cheesecake once.

I have to finish watering today, my soaker hoses should be here so that'll get done. Hoping for rain tonight.

I didn't realize how big the rutabaga greens would get, I think I need to make the hoops on the bug netting bigger! I would like to plant some more but it might be too late by the time the onions come out.