What did you do in the garden today?

Another new thing learned!

See this bit of mud in the middle of one of our garden paths? That is a sign of a crayfish! I'm in Ohio, so not exactly thought of as a haven of these "mudbugs" - but, an article in a local magazine this month tells all about Crayfish in Ohio, and there are 22 native species (and 2 introduced species) of crayfish. We discovered we had crayfish a few years ago...my husband was in the barn and kept hearing random scratching on the metal barn door at night, so he investigated and found a rather large (for Ohio) crayfish scratching at the door! So, throughout the summer these mud towers will show up - nearly always in this pathway bc it is where we dug out a ditch and put in drainpipes, and it is a slightly lower area, so wetter. Sometimes we see evidence that a raccoon has tried to dig for one.
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Garden is waking up.


Raspberry canes putting out leaves
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Rhubarb "Victoria" beginning to grow.
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Rhubarb "Crimson" really beginning to grow - many new areas of growth.
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Asparagus is slowly waking up. See the yellow bit, just in front of the old stalks? Yes, it is a new asparagus stalk, that has been chomped by something. :(
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Two garlic beds. Planted in the fall. 3 varieties (two in one bed, and one variety in the other).
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It's been above normal temperatures this week. I am keeping the chickens penned because I put down clover seed in the pasture. Well the girls are retaliating by digging extra deep dust baths in their pen. I stepped in one in the dark and rolled my ankle. Nasty sprain that is putting me even further behind in my gardening work. 🙄

My house needs a major spring cleaning too. Ugh... I need several days off work in some good weather to get caught up! Storms coming in for the next several days. Given the warm temps, we are at the high probability for another nasty weather event.
 
Good morning all. Laundry day today. I'll likely give my wee beasties their baths today as well. Hoping to do some more garden prep later on. I noticed my tulips are starting to emerge. Warm today, cool tomorrow then up to 70F on Thursday. That's okay with me. Getting fewer low temperatures below 32F overnight. The plastic cover I put over the bed I prepped yesterday held on despite the wind. It collected some rain water from the early morning shower. The tomato seedlings made it through their first night in the bigger pots. Still waiting for the other seeds to germinate. I do have 3 tarragon seedlings now. I'm happy with that. I suspect my garlic did not survive the -15 below freeze. Perhaps they will grow eventually.
 
and possible severs storms on Wed.
Same here. We have been SO LUCKY thus far! We have been spared the nasty stuff.

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First daffodil. Also heard the spring peepers yesterday.

I'm going to dig the compost out of the chicken run later this week, probably Thursday or Friday. Then I can clean out the old shavings in the coop and put new shavings in.
 
See this bit of mud in the middle of one of our garden paths? That is a sign of a crayfish!

:eek: Crayfish invading the land! Sounds like a bad B rated horror film.

The only crayfish I am familiar with live in fresh water. I have never seen them on land, let alone burrowing into the soil. Are we talking about the same creatures? Here is what I know as crayfish....

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:eek: Crayfish invading the land! Sounds like a bad B rated horror film.

The only crayfish I am familiar with live in fresh water. I have never seen them on land, let alone burrowing into the soil. Are we talking about the same creatures? Here is what I know as crayfish....

R.09c4899c02b992d82582aacbd80193ce
Yes, definitely the same!

There is an entire book for Crayfish in Ohio: noted in the local magazine article.

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And the first page of the article!
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It surprised us too, when we first discovered crayfish in our yard. My spouse lived in SC as a kid and was familiar with them.
 

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