What did you do in the garden today?

[CNJ]

The good news is I found my vacuum cleaner's brush and nozzle attachment, and the bad news is I found it while looking for my camera and I haven't found my camera yet. I was going to upload some pictures and it disappeared.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

The good news is I found my vacuum cleaner's brush and nozzle attachment, and the bad news is I found it while looking for my camera and I haven't found my camera yet. I was going to upload some pictures and it disappeared.

Oh no! I hope you find it! Maybe the camera is where your vacuum parts should have been? Lol

 

[TJAnonymous]

Vermiculite and perlite are both very expensive to get in quantities needed for gardening. I have resorted to resulting in compost mostly for soil structure and moisture retention because it's something I get for free with a little effort and time. I simply cannot get on board with spending hundreds of dollars to fill a raised bed.

I was lucky with this last round of raised beds because we found miracle grow garden soil on sale at a clearance price. Otherwise those beds would have sat empty until I filled with compost, native soil and other bio matter such as leaves, straw, etc. And honestly, there's plenty of old leaves, straw and native soil in these new beds I filed recently anyway. They'll settle a bit for sure, but typing off with compost each year will help with that. I'll have plenty of compost this fall for topping the raised beds and more next Spring.

Same. I gave up trying to incorporate vermiculite and perlite for most of my gardening years ago. I still have some bags left but I am very stingy about when and where I will use it. Most of the time I find other methods such as compost, wood chips, etc.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Today we spread some compost around the fruit trees, started to spread a fresh layer of wood chips through the food forest, started a batch of fermented honey garlic, and I kicked out my frost sensitive plants hopefully for the last time this season! We're both exhausted but I'm excited to finally be catching up.

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Looks like my amaryllis is finally going to bloom again too!
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Would love to know your recipe for fermented honey garlic! Looks interesting!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Thank you. I'm no stranger to the scourge that is pollen, the great yellow snow. LOL
It's just hard to handle this early.
OC I'm about to torment it more by crawling into seeding materials.

We call it plant sperm at my house...

FWIW, my DH has inflammation in his nose due to allergies like we've never seen before. He's been on 2 different kinds of antibiotics and steroids, on top of daily allergy medication. Prior to this year, he never took allergy meds. Maybe a Claritin once in a while but that's it. This year is just BAD for allergies. I take Claritin-D almost daily for the past several weeks. It's especially bad right before and during rain...which is a lot this spring.

 

[WthrLady]

We call it plant sperm at my house...

FWIW, my DH has inflammation in his nose due to allergies like we've never seen before. He's been on 2 different kinds of antibiotics and steroids, on top of daily allergy medication. Prior to this year, he never took allergy meds. Maybe a Claritin once in a while but that's it. This year is just BAD for allergies. I take Claritin-D almost daily for the past several weeks. It's especially bad right before and during rain...which is a lot this spring.

Ya. I'm not congested due to goop, my poor sinus are swollen.
I can't take the allergy meds. I just have to suffer, which is just awful.

 

[gtaus]

I gave up trying to incorporate vermiculite and perlite for most of my gardening years ago. I still have some bags left but I am very stingy about when and where I will use it. Most of the time I find other methods such as compost, wood chips, etc.

I wish someone would tell me why vermiculite and perlite are so expensive now? The last big 2 cubic foot bag of vermiculite I was able to buy was about 2 years ago. I used to mix it in my raised beds - using the Square Foot Gardening method mix. I have about half a bag left of that vermiculite but, I too, am very stingy about using it. Maybe only for seed starting pots.

As for my raised beds, I talked to the owner of one of our nurseries (he has a degree in this field) and told him what I was trying to do. He suggested I just use a good quality topsoil mixed 1:1 with my sifted chicken run compost to fluff up the topsoil. So far, the topsoil/chicken run compost mix has worked great for me. I add more chicken run compost to the beds every year and use my small cultivator or rake to mix it in before planting.

I have used wood chips as top mulch in the gardens. But I don't mix wood chips into the growing medium.

This year I think I will be using un-sifted compost as top mulch in my food gardens for the summer. Then, I will just mix it into the soil next spring if the compost mulch looks finished. I am thinking that the compost as top mulch for the food gardens will still feed the soil when it rains. And it should provide a nice blanket for the topsoil much like wood chips.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Ya. I'm not congested due to goop, my poor sinus are swollen.
I can't take the allergy meds. I just have to suffer, which is just awful.

That's exactly what he's suffering too. He's not congested really. His snot is clear, what little there is. But the inside of his nose is mega red, swollen, and inflamed. It's just weird....

 

[TJAnonymous]

I wish someone would tell me why vermiculite and perlite are so expensive now? The last big 2 cubic foot bag of vermiculite I was able to buy was about 2 years ago. I used to mix it in my raised beds - using the Square Foot Gardening method mix. I have about half a bag left of that vermiculite but, I too, am very stingy about using it. Maybe only for seed starting pots.

As for my raised beds, I talked to the owner of one of our nurseries (he has a degree in this field) and told him what I was trying to do. He suggested I just use a good quality topsoil mixed 1:1 with my sifted chicken run compost to fluff up the topsoil. So far, the topsoil/chicken run compost mix has worked great for me. I add more chicken run compost to the beds every year and use my small cultivator or rake to mix it in before planting.

I have used wood chips as top mulch in the gardens. But I don't mix wood chips into the growing medium.

This year I think I will be using un-sifted compost as top mulch in my food gardens for the summer. Then, I will just mix it into the soil next spring if the compost mulch looks finished. I am thinking that the compost as top mulch for the food gardens will still feed the soil when it rains. And it should provide a nice blanket for the topsoil much like wood chips.

I put a thick layer of wood chips in the bottom of the raised bed, then add the soil/compost mix on top. Then wood chips act like a sponge to hold water for the soil. I don't mix them in the soil layer.

 

[member 655102]

That's exactly what he's suffering too. He's not congested really. His snot is clear, what little there is. But the inside of his nose is mega red, swollen, and inflamed. It's just weird....

I think it’s just seasonal allergies picking up.