What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

Hello all. Hope you're all well; I'm sitting here waiting for the power to come back on so I can continue my project. No way am I opening the curtains to let the light in, too hot! I got my garden plan finalized and started deconstructing the old garden a little bit while it's still cool in the mornings. Our rain chances are supposed to increase as the week goes on and I saw double digits in the forecast for next weekend!! It's already getting warm in here, think I'm going to take the dogs to the pet store of something. Take care all!

 

[Smokerbill]

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?

I picked it a couple days ago. Thanks for reminding me. I need to pull it out of the fridge and cook it today. After I figure out how.

This is the last pic I took of it, Aug. 10

I watered the garden a little this morning. It'll probably hit 100 degrees again today, actual temperature.

 

[igorsMistress]

I picked it a couple days ago. Thanks for reminding me. I need to pull it out of the fridge and cook it today. After I figure out how.

This is the last pic I took of it, Aug. 10

I watered the garden a little this morning. It'll probably hit 100 degrees again today, actual temperature.

View attachment 3609997

That’s about right. You can cut off the stem about a half
Inch from the top and put in a saucepan. Add about and inch of water, cover, and simmer until the bottom is tender. 20 minutes or so, give or take.

 

[gtaus]

Good morning Garden friends DH has a cement mixer worth it's weight in gold.
View attachment 3609945

What do you use your cement mixer for?

I modified my cement mixer into a compost sifter to sift out black gold compost. So, my cement mixer is worth a lot to me. I also made my modifications so they could be reversed, and I would still have a fully functional cement mixer.

If you use your cement mixer for something other than cement mixing, I'd like to know what other things I could be doing with mine. I only sift compost a couple times a year, so I'm looking for addtional uses of my cement mixer. Thanks.

 

[WthrLady]

6qts of tomato puree simmering down to 4 on the stove.
6 pints of spicy dill pickle spears out of the canner and cooling
7 half pints of sweet dill relish in the canner

22 pounds of tomatoes picked from the garden this morning
Another nice day today, but heading for over 90 and 100 the next 7 days with no rain in sight.
===========

 

[Smokerbill]

What do you use your cement mixer for?

I modified my cement mixer into a compost sifter to sift out black gold compost. So, my cement mixer is worth a lot to me. I also made my modifications so they could be reversed, and I would still have a fully functional cement mixer.

If you use your cement mixer for something other than cement mixing, I'd like to know what other things I could be doing with mine. I only sift compost a couple times a year, so I'm looking for addtional uses of my cement mixer. Thanks.

Many, many years ago... back around 1970, I reckon, I worked in a greenhouse and we used a cement mixer to combine seed starting / potting soil ingredients, a certain number of shovels full of each. I think we used Perlite, peat moss and native river bottoms soil.
I guess if you have a magic raised bed soil formula, it would work well.

But you probably already do that.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good afternoon gardeners. We got a nice beneficial rain today. Nearly an inch. Nice cool temps around 69F. It was pouring all morning so I skipped the garden today. Looking at it all from inside the fence I will be picking more cherry tomatoes and a couple of SM tomorrow. The other day I spotted a medium sized bell pepper growing at the bottom of one of the plants. The corn is looking fantastic and the summer squash is blooming. However they seem to be all male flowers. I have tiny jalapeños developing on both the little plants. My cucumber plants are growing and it looks like they are developing buds. I pulled all the bush green beans and will be planting salad greens in their place as soon as possible. Things have been a little busy around here lately. DD is in the process of adopting two siblings so I guess I’ll finally get some grandkids. Sunday was move in day so I made Sunday chicken dinner including a peach pie and took it to her house. I may need to get a few point of lay pullets to keep us all in eggs this winter. Lol!

 

[Sueby]

DD is in the process of adopting two siblings so I guess I’ll finally get some grandkids.

That is huge news! & I do assume you mean actual humans, not dogs, lol, right?

Hey all. Super busy at work, no time for anything. I haven't stepped foot in the garden since Sat. I can only imagine the size of the green beans & cukes! We have gotten rain, from the house it looks like about 2 inches in the rain gauge.

The bluebarb jam is very tasty! I will def make that again.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

That is huge news! & I do assume you mean actual humans, not dogs, lol, right?

Hey all. Super busy at work, no time for anything. I haven't stepped foot in the garden since Sat. I can only imagine the size of the green beans & cukes! We have gotten rain, from the house it looks like about 2 inches in the rain gauge.

The bluebarb jam is very tasty! I will def make that again.

Definitely the two legged version. After they got all of their stuff moved in she realized she needed a bigger car. She went to the dealership today and upgraded to a bigger SUV. Two kids, two dogs and all their stuff. Yeah, she needed to do this.

 

[gtaus]

Many, many years ago... back around 1970, I reckon, I worked in a greenhouse and we used a cement mixer to combine seed starting / potting soil ingredients, a certain number of shovels full of each. I think we used Perlite, peat moss and native river bottoms soil.
I guess if you have a magic raised bed soil formula, it would work well.

But you probably already do that.

I can easily mix up any ingredients in my cement mixer compost sifter. I can't get inexpensive vermiculite in the large 3 cubic foot bags anymore, so the head guy at our local nursery suggested I just mix a good quality topsoil with my chicken run compost 1:1. All I do is toss in a couple shovels full of topsoil, then a couple shovels full of chicken run compost. The sifted material drops down into my Gorilla cart in thin layers, essentially mixed. That is my "magic mix" for my raised garden beds.

I also have different sized screens I can put in the compost sifter barrel. I have a 1/4 inch mesh for making potting soil mixes, a 1/2 inch mesh for topping off the raised garden beds, and without a screen insert, the 1/2 X 1 inch mesh on the barrel itself is good enough for top mulch. I suppose I would not have to sift the top mulch, but it's so easy for me to sift compost with my cement mixer compost sifter that I prefer to sift out the material and toss the rejected bigger material that is not yet composted back into the chicken run for some more time to break down.

I tried sifting out some chicken run compost with the 1/4 inch screen for potting soil with my seed starts in the house. That was a mistake. The chicken run compost is full of life and I had all kinds of little flies and bugs in no time with those seed starts. Probably not a problem if you started seeds in that chicken run compost potting mix outside in a greenhouse, but it was not good for inside the house due to all the bugs.

Lesson learned. This year I purchased sterile potting soil from the store and did not have any bug problems with my seed starts. I hear you can bake compost to kill all the bugs and eggs in the compost, but I don't know if all that work is worth the time and effort for me.

Also, and I don't know anything about this, but I wonder if killing all the life in the compost to use it as potting soil really defeats the purpose of using compost in the first place?