What did you do in the garden today?

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

I think we're down almost 19 inches of rain over the past 12 months. It's bad. Really bad.

Oh, dear. Those storms that came over the west coast did not make it to you...

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Last year I laid used carpet over almost half of the slope in the front yard down to the ditch, and it smothered/killed a lot of the weeds, but the ditch needed cleaning, to allow rainwater to travel down the street without impedance/resistance. We get about 48" of rainfall annually, so the ditch is important.

I've used carpet sample squares along my arbor walls for years to eliminate the weeds. They've worked great! Usually free or really cheap.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Got a lot done before breakfast again. Got the plants outside, then prepped the second tomato bed. Good news: the other end of my asparagus bed has come back to life and there are more fingerling potato plants popping out of the dirt. One of the blueberry plants is actually developing new leaves and the butterfly bush and hydrangea I planted last week are doing well and look perky. I gave them all a drink of compost tea. My next chore for the garden is to "plant" the trellises for the grapes, then plant the grapes. I'm hoping to get that accomplished today. Fingers crossed. I also really need to do some weed whacking in the big garden and the backyard. Sad news of sorts, apparently a new bunny mother decided one of my herb gardens was a great place to have babies. Did she not noticed the dog aromas? Chloe found the babies and needless to say, I don't think any of them survived her removal actions. At least she didn't eat any of them. She found one last night, the others were discovered this morning. Perhaps that new momma will learn from this.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Good morning gardeners. Got a lot done before breakfast again. Got the plants outside, then prepped the second tomato bed. Good news: the other end of my asparagus bed has come back to life and there are more fingerling potato plants popping out of the dirt. One of the blueberry plants is actually developing new leaves and the butterfly bush and hydrangea I planted last week are doing well and look perky. I gave them all a drink of compost tea. My next chore for the garden is to "plant" the trellises for the grapes, then plant the grapes. I'm hoping to get that accomplished today. Fingers crossed. I also really need to do some weed whacking in the big garden and the backyard. Sad news of sorts, apparently a new bunny mother decided one of my herb gardens was a great place to have babies. Did she not noticed the dog aromas? Chloe found the babies and needless to say, I don't think any of them survived her removal actions. At least she didn't eat any of them. She found one last night, the others were discovered this morning. Perhaps that new momma will learn from this.

Aw. Poor doe. <3

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

We always have wind, but the winds lately have just been horrible bad.

 

[fuzzi]

I wish I could say I've been keeping up on the thread but, like you all, I suspect, I'm buried in trying to get all my stuff done.

On top of everything, my fridge died and that has put a huge dent in my available time and available funds. (poor me, sniff, sniff)

And it's raining. I took off 5 days from work to get it all done HAHAHAHA - its raining and my fridge fiasco. Best-laid plans...

This morning I am scrambling to be ready for the delivery of a replacement and I have no idea when they are coming. No way I am unloading all my steadily-increased-temperature items before they get here with the replacement.

Meanwhile, my chicken run and coop project is languishing in the drippy, muddy outdoors.
I did get my cover on my outdoor A-frame swing yesterday. Woohoow! It didn't turn out as I had hoped, but it's up and I hope to be able to make it better as soon as time permits.

As for the garden, I've got to move all my plants from the steps in front so they can bring the appliances in and out, and I hope to plant my hardy kiwis today.

My not-that-old refrigerator died a couple months ago. When the new one arrived I was putting the food in coolers but the delivery guy stopped me. He said just to put it in the new fridge once it was rolled into place.

It made things so much easier, and nothing went bad.

 

[fuzzi]

In our area, we had top medical facilities. Really great doctors, hospitals - it was well-known for our little town!

Then, the powers that be allowed a mega company, Ballad, to come in and buy up all the hospitals. There is nothing that they don't own here now. They made so many promises about our care being just as good and they wouldn't close anything down.

We now have some of the worst care you can imagine. They fired half the staff and a bunch more quit. They closed half the facilities. The EMTs will pick you up and recommend that you let them drive you out of the area so you don't languish in the hallway for days and then be misdiagnosed.

They send a lot of people to collections without even sending a bill. I went in, paid my bills, they said it was all covered, then I found out when I ran a credit report that I'd been sent to collections. It's happening to about half of the patients. We had protests here for months on end, but it was in vain.

It's awful.

Similar situation here. I was sent to collections for a bill I'd paid. I called the collections company, they said they had to hear it from the hospital. I called hospital billing, finally got a live person on the line, who sounded half asleep. He said it's all done AUTOMATED now and it takes time to remove you from collections. I was furious.

I let my credit union know. They made a note of it.

And then I found out one of the reasons people aren't being scheduled for appointments at the out patient clinics in a timely fashion is the scheduling is AUTOMATED, too. There are slots available but are not being filled by the system.

Unbelievable.

 

[Sueby]

Oh! I’m sorry I thought that was your first surgery for some reason.

The added stress about the job doesn’t help, I do know! You can’t let that bother you for now, but I know that’s easier said than done. When do they decide the surgery didn’t work and try something else? Is there something else?

They say it can take a year to know if the nerve will regenerate & another 6 months after that to do what it will. If only I didn't have to work, lol.

Yes’m, trying to find the silver linings!

Ya gotta or life can suck! The more we tell ourselves things are good, the more they actually are. Or at least I tell myself that.

I love surprise plants. LOL

Same! I'm depending on volunteers for tomatoes this year, lol. I haven't had to buy sungolds in a couple years, volunteers tend to grow better for me anyway.

 

[TJAnonymous]

We moved our two roosters back with the hens, since they've done their job tilling and fertilizing the asparagus bed. We're going to move the boy's pen to a different place where we want them to till and fertilize, but in the meantime we'll give them a couple more weeks with the hens and then start collecting eggs to put in our new incubator.
The poor hens were so peaceful without the boys, and now there's way too much drama - the big rooster Loki seems more intent on chasing Charles away from the hens than he does breeding them himself. Charles acts very submissive to Loki, but he seems to sneakily breed just as many hens. The hens roll their eyes and sigh at the drama, but they're still laying just as many eggs, so can't be too stressed.
The weather here has been so changeable I don't know what to do about my plants. My leeks and tomato seedlings were looking good, then wilted and probably are dead after sudden hot temps. At least it's not too late to start more...
My melons and butternut seedlings are almost ready to be planted out, but the weather is supposed to be normal 60 degrees for the next few days and then up to 90s this coming weekend! I almost gave up on some seedling pots that weren't germinating, then all of a sudden Yamato Silver Melon and watermelons sprouted up, so maybe I shouldn't give up on my Luffa.
Is there anybody here who lives in the westside Pacific Northwest who is a mushroom expert?View attachment 3497252View attachment 3497253View attachment 3497256These are growing all over my raised beds! (Don't judge me because my beds are not at all ready, need to weed them and weed-whack in between, waiting for a few dry days in a row.)
What kind of mushrooms are these? Are they edible??
Saturday we planted a bunch of Quaking Aspen seedlings in a couple places we want to grow into groves, and interspersed some hazelnut seedlings.

You can't judge if mushrooms are edible by photos alone. If you don't know what kind of mushroom it is, you need to physically take it to an expert. It's determined by sight, smell, and spore identification. I learned that the (almost) hard way last spring. By all sights and description, I thought I had meadow mushrooms growing in my pasture. Even people knowledgeable in mycology said they were probably meadow mushrooms. Thankfully I didn't eat them because an expert later confirmed they were not and were actually poisonous. Do not simply look up pictures and descriptions online. It is not worth your family's life.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Well ALLEGEDLY we are getting rain tonight. I'm hoping to get the peanuts and dill sown in later today but that's all going to depend on work and my son's moving process.

We got his house on Base about 95% loaded up but now it's all got to be unloaded to this THIRD STORY apartment! In 90+ degree heat with humidity at 67%.

And here's another mystery. My son has 3 cats. All were moved in individual carriers. He took them into the EMPTY apartment and let them out. Then he went to use the bathroom. In the 2 minutes he was gone, one of the cats has completely disappeared. We have looked everywhere. In every cabinet, closet, even behind the refrigerator, stove, etc... The cat is very big & fat. It's not like he could fit in small places even though we've checked all of them. No windows or doors were open at the time. It's like he was swallowed up in a wormhole. We've even banged on the inside of every cabinet to see if it had a loose side that opened to dead space or something... Nada. The cat has simply vanished.