What did you do in the garden today?

[Clucknut]

Planted a row of banana plants along the south side of the new run and coop I'm building. After a couple of hurricanes there's too much sky and not enough shade.
I also planted marigolds at Beagle Sadie's grave. She is missed.

 

[BReeder!]

I also planted marigolds at Beagle Sadie's grave. She is missed.

We have irises over my olde english bulldog's grave. They are twice as special to me as they are transplants from me deceased grandmother's yard.

 

[gtaus]

Water wick set should be simple: a bottle of water with wicks coming out the top and down into the soil near a plant. Each cell/pot will need a dedicated wick though, which is way I am hoping the DIY grow tent is enough in itself.

I only know about the capillary mat (aka plant watering mat) from what I have seen on YouTube. However, it looks like a person could set up a huge water reservoir and have the capillary mat soak up the water and keep the seedlings watered for many days.

I built some elevated sub-irrigated planters a few years ago, and I can fill them up and leave them for 2-3 weeks without any need to water them. That is a system I know works for me. I understand the concept of using a capillary mat to achieve the same type of watering system. I have not personally used it for seed starting, but it seems to work for those who use that method on YouTube. I don't think any of my starter trays, filled with some water, would last 10 days, unless you put so much water in the tray that you would probably risk drowning the plants. If your grow tent holds humidity well, it might work. But 10 days seems a long time to expect the seedlings to go without checking on them in trays, even in a grow tent.

 

[gtaus]

I've had some fungus gnats flying around so I've been spraying the soil every few days with Mosquito Bits.

I think you mentioned that you purchased sterile seed starter mix. This is my first year attempting to grow seeds in the house for transplanting later, but I have been reading lots of articles and watching a number of YouTube videos on the need to sterilize any and all seed starting and potting soil mixes to kill fungus gnat eggs.

The 3 methods I have seen are cooking the soil in the oven, microwaving the medium, or dumping boiling hot water over the soil. Most of the people I have seen on YouTube use the boiling water method, which is what I plan on doing with my starter medium. I have my seed starter shelf in our second bathroom, so the last thing I want is fungus gnats flying around in the house.

 

[BReeder!]

I have a small rose garden on the side of the house. Is really just a row of rose bushes. It's planted because my grandmother loved roses. I decided to dedicate the garden with a sign. I find this on Amazon and created this (pic below, I blurred the name) customized 10"x10" sign. It will have post holes (a hole at the top center and another at bottom center) so I can attach it to a stake or post.

I thought I would share in case anybody else has a memorial garden/tree/flower bed.

 

[jerryse]

65 yesterday with some sun. Got outside and enjoyed the nice weather. Ribs are no longer sore, heel pain is less and no balance or dizziness problems. Not even sore after doing stuff yesterday.

 

[Acre4Me]

Learn something new everyday.

Looking up info on starting cotton seeds. I came across the fact that growing cotton is actually restricted in some places. Sometimes only commercial places can grow it, others, you need to apply for a permit to grow on your own land. This is due to the Boll Weevil, which can possibly come back to create much problems for the commercial industry through cotton grown in backyards or not grown "properly" to prevent boll weevil problems. Ohio does not seem to be one of these states, so I'm fine to grow it...but here's the list I found.

So, I guess check it out in your state as internet info not always reliable (and this link has SC misspelled), but your Dept of Ag will have any info you need on this. If its restricted, I'm sure the Dept of Ag will have that on their website.

 

[Sally PB]

The thing I like about gardening is that you are always learning something new. The thing I don't like about gardening is finding out everything I have learned is probably wrong!

I love learning new things through gardening. My pet peeve is it can take months/years to figure out what you're doing wrong.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. The cotton growing prohibition is really interesting @Acre4Me. No worries here, apparently it won't grow in zone 5B. I just finished tweaking my garden plan. Not knowing when these loggers are coming back to clean up their mess is making me a little nervous. I moved things around so all the "must plant early" crops can go into the existing garden beds. The must get into the ground as soon as the soil is warm enough are the grapes and blueberry plants. If I have to, I'll clear enough myself to get them going. Worst case scenario if the cleanup doesn't happen early enough then the only "seeds" that will be a total loss are the potatoes. That's why I didn't want to spend much on those. I have space in existing beds for the fingerling potatoes so there's that. I know I can also carve out enough space for the eggplants and leeks so I'll be starting the eggplant seeds soon. I'm hoping to pick up the new gutters for the potting shed today. I just need to get moving. At least the temps are warming up here. Interestingly @Paz, the news of the rioting in your country is just now showing up in the news here. Scary stuff. Be safe.

 

[Sueby]

Yes, I saw it on the news today too. We have a friend who is crew chief on a medivac helicopter that just got deployed somewhere in that area. He couldn’t say exactly where & I’m not that great a geography anyway. I hate to see turmoil.

I got the bloodmeal out for the peach tree (had a soil test done at planting, it said that was the only thing it needed). We should be getting rain tonight to wash it in. Before the dog eats it all. Was going to spray with neem too but seems I’m out! I’ll get it done tomorrow or the next day.

I think I may be the only one ever to have killed horseradish. We planted a little in a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom to try & contain it a bit - I think it’s dead. No sign of life at all. Its been out there for a few years, we harvested some last year.