What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

Would be fun....

Have you looked into how flax is processed?

 

[TJAnonymous]

I think its going to work out very well for you @TJAnonymous, I think its a good design. I can’t wait till its up & running & you’ve worked out the kinks. So much easier to harvest too. What will you do about birds eating the berries?

I have a couple of large squares of bug netting that I never used for the hoop house. I'll just cut a piece off of those to throw over the top of the barrel so it drapes over the sides to cover the berries but still allow sunlight & air through.

I'm currently on the lookout for a drain pan similar to what you see under a water heater. I'm going to use it to create a moat at the bottom of the barrel. That will deter ants and slugs.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Have you looked into how flax is processed?

I've looked into it a little bit. Not enough to be feel confident of the process yet... I just know that the source I looked at mentioned you have to choose between growing for fiber or growing for seed.

 

[TJAnonymous]

That's so cool! Many years ago when I lived in a New England state, we tapped a few maple trees and it was amazing how many gallons of sap it took to make even a couple cups of syrup. Boiling, boiling for many hours, days, weeks...but if you use a wood stove for other things and keep a sap container going, it's worth it for the deliciousness.

Let me guess - the dog is intact, never been vaccinated for anything, full of fleas and worms. Stealing it and finding it a better home would be the best thing for this dog, as well as for the local livestock and your chickens. I bet these people would barely notice if it disappeared. Hopefully, they don't have other unneutered dogs they're ignoring, who can make more.

LOL, this is my 17th year gardening, and though each year gets more productive as I learn more, I still have never managed to grow luffa to scrubworthy size. Maybe this year will be the year, I'll keep trying.

I'm so behind keeping up here, and in my garden as well. No seeds started yet, even though that was the plan for this weekend. I did collect and disinfect all my containers, buy some seedling mix, and dig out my heat mat and grow lights. If I plant some seeds next weekend, it might not be too late - last year, my seedlings had to wait too long since we were still getting windstorms and hail after the supposed "last-frost" date.
I have done a lot of prep though - got a deal on a small shed on sale from Costco, and built a level platform behind the greenhouse then built the shed on top - so nice to have a place to store long-handled garden tools that were shoved in the greenhouse, as well as other random supplies. Cleaned out and organized the greenhouse, so now it can actually grow plants like it's supposed to, instead of being a catch-all.
The final 8 raised beds have their first coat of linseed oil, but it's been too rainy to give them their final stain. These are things I got for free from my workplace, how do I describe them - a bunch of industrial equipment was delivered in crates that were made of a pallet with wooden frames that fit on to them, that can be stacked up to any height because at the corners they have metal hinges that fit onto each other, and when taken apart they fold flat - I need to take a picture to really describe how they work.
Anyway, 8 of these will complete the raised beds in my garden, and the other 5 I have will stack back on their pallet and become a brooder.

I think you are partially right. The first time we ever caught the dog, he had on a collar with rabies tags so they cared enough to get him vaccinated. They have since removed his collar completely. My gut intuition says it's because they were tired of people calling the vet to find out who he belongs to... I have no idea whether he is neutered or not. He's got a thick coat so hard to tell if he's cut or not. He's actually a beautiful and friendly dog. Just has a high prey drive.

His owners called us on Friday to tell us he jumped the fence again and they were on the lookout for him. I haven't let the chickens out because I had put down some clover seed. Chappo (the dog) showed up on Saturday afternoon. Before I could even do anything, my DH called the owner to come get him. They showed up (with a leash this time...) about an hour later and took him home again.

They swear they are trying to fix the fence to keep him in. We'll see what happens. I'm all prepared to rehome him if he continues to escape.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

The wind put a little damper on outside work today. I did get more dirt to the 8 foot bed in the backyard. Raked it and covered with plastic. Hopefully it won’t blow away. I stacked the remaining bags of dirt behind my house on the concrete pad. The bale of straw is in the big garden but that’s all for now. I up potted all the tomatoes but I forgot the label on the Brandywines so they’re mixed in with the San Marzano tomatoes. I’m sure they won’t mind mingling. I may have time to work some more on the 16 foot garden tomorrow. Right now they’re saying scattered showers and no steady rain. The temps are supposed to be in the low 60’s. That sounds almost steamy to me. Lol!

 

[WthrLady]

I'm actually growing flax for the seeds. Flax seed is so expensive to buy in any quantity. You can't grow both seeds AND fiber for linen. Gotta choose one over the other so just for seed this year. I'd love to try for fiber someday though. Would be fun....

INteresting. we get food quality flax seed here cheap in bulk.

 

[Sally PB]

I potted up the grape vines I bought at Costco. Two Niagara and two Einset. When my neighbor's vines start leafing, I'll plant them where they're going at the north end of one of the gardens. I'm putting up some chain link fence for them to climb.

I'm going to plant the luffa on either the east or west side of that garden, and hope the piece of chain link is long enough to go around the corner for the luffas to climb.

 

[WthrLady]

spent the day doing errands and allergy shots.
I came home and built a large 4x4 tree guard and planted a large Aspen tree in the pasture. Funny thing is that the noodle necks watched me from their locked corral build and plant, and when I finally set them free, they acted like an alien ship dumped ET in the field and it was going to chase them down and eat them.
They crack me up. Winds howling to 50 today, so I didn't get the low tunnel plastic done. I'm hoping to get it done first thing in the morning before the winds pick up tomorrow again. Fire warnings and 80 tomorrow, blizzards just to my west. 51 will be the max on Wednesday.Fa-la-la-la laaaaaa
I also picked up 2,000 sq feet worth of butterfly garden seed. Perennials, so I hope I'll be able to get those started in the old hoop house/pollinator area.

 

[riss]

Anyone else got rain?

 

[Acre4Me]

Anyone else got rain?

tonight (maybe), tomorrow, and possible severs storms on Wed.