What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

San Marzano survivors. Three look good maybe a fourth.

 

[patirosaj]

Picked the first two sugar snap peas of the year. Yes, they are winter crops, but in CA anything grows. That, and my ladies decided to peck through the bird netting and devour my first 3 sets of seedlings.
Shout out to any OC Master Gardners who juggle chickens and backyard urban gardens in the same space!

 

[littledog]

I received a wonderful package today, from a lovely person here - a bunch of beautiful Dahlia tubers of different varieties! I planted them right away - I had 9 tire beds empty, so I weeded, added fertilizer, topped off with compost, planted the tubers, watered. I can't wait to see how they grow! Dahlias are my favorites, I'm so thrilled to receive this beautiful gift.
My small beds next to the trellis, I weeded and added compost to get them ready for my beans and luffa seedlings...But once in a while I do a smart thing - I got out my soil tester and oh boy, how wrong I was! I had lime all ready to go, thinking the soil would be acid, but it was actually 8.5, and short on nitrogen! So I added more compost and fertilizer, then luckily, last night we had a crazy lightning storm and a brief but huge downpour.
The soil was better today (7.5 and somewhat survivable for nitrogen) but I figure the fertilizer will take a while to mix in, so I planted some pole bean seeds on one side of the trellis.
The other side will be for luffa, which, amazingly, 4 out of 5 seedling pots have sprouted after almost a month.
Learned my lesson, I need to take more advantage of the free fertilizer available just down the road from the water treatment plant. I should have had a clue, every year I collect some my garden does great. So after work tonight (2 am) I grabbed some buckets and ran down to the water treatment parking lot to fill them with fertilizer - only one sketchy truck in the parking lot, two across the river doing a possible drug-deal meetup, but I was in and out of there in 15 minutes and nobody bothered me.

 

[Sueby]

I'm just glad they didn't have to go in the compost bin! & OMG do I need a soil tester! Didn't know that was a thing!


LOL, my poor house. We now have jacks inside holding up the house.

That was a lot of well needed rain!

& my cucumbers have emerged! Now if only my lettuce would grow.

 

[Sally PB]

What about buying some of those food-grade plastic barrels? Not sure how available they are in your area, but around here I see them on craigslist for $25-$30. Cut them in half, drill some holes in the bottom, place them up on a 2-high cinder block setup, to get waist-high beds.

Before you spend that kind of money, check your local donut shop or deli! I can get food grade, 5 gallon plastic buckets with lids for $1.50 each at a donut shop. They get their fillings/icings in them, so they have to be food grade.

 

[WthrLady]

My local grocery store bakery gives them to me for free.

 

[Nomadicus]

Yup. I put in a 30-tree orchard over the last two years. All the trees that blossomed were complete floral losses. I will have to remember that when I don't feel like preserving fruit in a productive year...

I did the same in Cumberland County, TN. First year of fruiting I had a bumper crop. Then none ever since. We packed up and moved to Southern AL in hopes to have peaches here and chickens to boot. Cold snaps don't kill our chickens!

 

[WthrLady]

Every year I see the big box stores carrying peach trees. People snapping them up. There is a reason this is NOT called the 'peach tree state'. Clever big box store.

Stopped and looked at the tomato seedlings at the big boxes while I was out on Friday. OMG. $5 ish for a 6 pack of yellow and brown 3 inch STUBS. They've been frozen or chilled at every store.
I have tasty treat tomato plants for $2 each that are almost 2.5 feet tall! LOL. (vine tomato)

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

I did the same in Cumberland County, TN. First year of fruiting I had a bumper crop. Then none ever since. We packed up and moved to Southern AL in hopes to have peaches here and chickens to boot. Cold snaps don't kill our chickens!

Yup. I love TN in so many ways, but the weather here is right in the 'tween spot. It can get you coming and going. LOL

 

[Acre4Me]

First poppy opened this morning!