What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

We bought a mower from old guy old sears yard king runs like a top.
New tires a trailer it can pull easy.

Good running mowers are great. I have two old riding mowers that run like a top, but my newest, and most expensive, riding lawn mower surges so bad I almost get seasick on it. It has been a big disappointment. I use my riding mowers to pull a trailer around the yard more than mowing. Makes life easy.

 

[gtaus]

I still have some good topsoil that I have not yet used from this spring. I had about 6 cubic feet of black topsoil left in one of my tow behind carts for the riding mowers. So, today I took off the tarp of my cement mixer compost sifter and mixed topsoil and aged wood chips 1:1 and made a Gorilla cart full of potting soil/top mulch soil for the raised beds. That Gorilla cart holds 6 cubic feet of mix, or about 3 large bags of compost from the big box stores.

When I used a 2X4 frame compost sifter over a wheelbarrow, it would have taken me hours to sift this much compost. With the modified cement mixer setup above, it takes me about 15 minutes. If I was younger and could work faster, I could probably fill up that Gorilla cart with sifted compost in 10 minutes.

Normally I use my chicken run compost to mix with the topsoil, but today I was cleaning up a 3-year-old pile of wood chips and just needed to do something with them. The wood chips were broken down pretty good and mixed in well with the topsoil. I still have half the wood chip pile to clean up, but I'll probably toss those wood chips into the chicken run and let them mix and compost with the run litter.

I have also decided to clean up an 8X8 foot bin of leaves that are now 2 years old. They were about 3 feet high at one time, but just over 12 inches deep at this point. I imagine they have composted a lot under the top layer. I was going to use the dry leaves as chicken coop litter, but I switched over to using paper shreds I make at home instead. Leaves work fine, but they are very dusty. I prefer using the paper shreds which are practically dust free compared to dry leaves. Those leaves will get tossed into the chicken run and the girls can rip them apart some more.

Still harvesting lots of cherry tomatoes, beans, eggplants and peppers. Even got a nice zucchini from my late start plant. Bitter melons are growing on the vine as are the squash. It's been a good year for gardening for me.

Also bagged up another baggie full of frozen cherry tomatoes for use this winter. Love those cherry tomatoes.

 

[Sally PB]

Not to complain about WalMart all the time, but the last 2 times I went there to buy something, it was only available online. They don't even stock the items I wanted in the store anymore.

I hear ya! I MUCH prefer to buy in person, versus ordering/having it shipped. That, sadly, is going away.

Back to gardening... DH has fallen in love with grilled green beans! He used to think beans weren't to be classified as food. He did some in a cast iron skillet on the grill when we had brats the other night. Next time, he wants to do the same thing, but finish them on the grill itself. Lunch today, perhaps.

 

[Sequel]

After I retired I worked as a cashier at Walmart. They purposely pulled the fastest cashiers off the registers, made us put up stock, handle returns, anything to force long lines so people would use self check. Self check attendees were directed to pull people from lines and help them check out, so that customers would become used to the DIY checkouts. Why any business would want to pay a cashier 12-15 dollars an hour when they can bamboozle the customers into doing it themselves is beyond me. Smart business practices! And any customer who chose to do self check contributed to the demise of cashier positions, perhaps unknowingly, perhaps uncaring, who knows. But the days of lots of cashiers who took pride in taking care of the customers is over.

So far I’m able to have cashiers here and I always thank them for coming to work. I have my favorites though. There was one guy who was always nice to me but was really rude to DH when he was there alone so NOPE I stay out of his lane.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Our local WalMart has eliminated almost all the lanes where they have someone to check out your items. Out of 20 lanes, they might have 2 staffed by a checkout person. Usually, those lines are backed up with people who have one or more full shopping carts to check out. No such thing as an express lane anymore - it's self-checkout now.

Same here

 

[NanaK]

I refuse to use self check outs. I feel like they cause people to be out of a job. Thankfully I still havagitating.

I don't like to order online either. Delivery acts like they can't find us. If it doesn't fit in my mail box I end up having to track it down. So annoying!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning Garden friends DH has a cement mixer worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Smokerbill]

I wouldn't be surprised that in the not so distant future, everything will be delivered. Stores can hardly afford to keep operating as usual with all the theft going on.

That might be part of the reason so many places are pushing delivery; Walmart, grocery stores, etc. It is probably cheaper to deliver than to suffer all the in-store theft.

 

[igorsMistress]

I refuse to use self check outs. I feel like they cause people to be out of a job. Thankfully I still havagitating.

I don't like to order online either. Delivery acts like they can't find us. If it doesn't fit in my mail box I end up having to track it down. So annoying!

Us too unless it's just a couple of things and the lines are long. I feel the same way, plus with the prices we pay I'm not using the self check, they can pay someone to take my money and bag my groceries.

 

[igorsMistress]

I wouldn't be surprised that in the not so distant future, everything will be delivered. Stores can hardly afford to keep operating as usual with all the theft going on.

That might be part of the reason so many places are pushing delivery; Walmart, grocery stores, etc. It is probably cheaper to deliver than to suffer all the in-store theft.

Sadly, I would have to agree. As it is there are a lot of items under lock and key and it's a hassle to get someone to come unlock the doors.

How's that artichoke coming along?