What did you do in the garden today?

[akroberts1085]

I had a bunch of failures one year in my first batch. I looked at the rings, and they were pitted and rusty. I bought a box of lids with rings (for the rings; the lids were a bonus) and didn't have any FTS with those rings. So now I buy new rings every year or two. I don't leave the rings on, so all I really need is a few.

We love them grilled. Olive oil in a cast iron skillet, put it on the grill when cooking brats. DH never like green beans until he had them like that. Now he loves them!

Urine (from a healthy human) makes great fertilizer! Yup, I save mine sometimes. Makes me wish I were a guy, so I could water more easily.

Right. I absolutely agree.

 

[akroberts1085]

Makes me wish I was a younger guy, when watering the plants was easier! The personal plumbing still works, but the water pressure in the old pipes is not the same as it was when I was a younger man. Getting older has challenges for both sexes.

LOL

 

[akroberts1085]

I managed to water the strawberries and planted carrots and peas as well put in more onion seeds. I also planted some cilantro and basil. It's too hot for much more. We're supposed to have rain Friday and Saturday but we'll see. We did get a nice little steady drizzle from the tropical storm that hit Los Angeles.

 

[chickengr]

I enjoy my tomatoes, cucumbers peppers and eggplants! mung and azuki beans are still sitting and waiting to be cleaned and cooked. no time for that at the moment.

I bought lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower seedlings as well as pea seeds. I will plant them next week as we have (I hope the last) heat wave these days.

 

[gtaus]

I am thinking I need a better way to organize and store my seeds. Right now I just have them in a small 4X6 inch cardboard box...

All my current seeds fit in that little box. However, I am starting to save seeds from plants we are growing. So, I can imagine needing more room for the seeds. Also, I have been reading and watching that it would be better to keep them dark and airtight if possible. Another consideration is making the seed box mouse proof. Last year Dear Wife saved some seeds, left them on a plate to dry out, and one night a mouse must have found them and ate them all. She was devastated. So any storage system will have to be mouse proof as well.

I looked on Amazon and their "Seed Boxes" are pretty darned expensive. I mean, some of them are nothing more than a metal can with "Seeds" painted on it...

Well, heck, I know that Harbor Freight has waterproof and airtight ammo boxes on sale all the time. I found this 11.6 X 4.25 X 6 inch ammo box on sale this month for $3.99...

That's the smallest ammo box they have at the store. They have larger sizes, too. But this small ammo box would be double what I currently have for storage.

My goal is to stop buying new seeds every year. If possible, I will save seeds from our plants when we can, but I would also like to buy seed packs at the end of the season at great discounts and save them for the next year.

I also checked YouTube to see if anyone was using these water resistant ammo boxes for seed storage and found this video short...

The small ammo box (with twice the capacity I am using right now) looks like it might be good enough for my current and immediate future needs. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. I am open to all suggestions. Thanks.

 

[saysfaa]

This is working better than the other things I've tried....

I printed an envelope pattern on scrap paper, cut it out, and glued it. Now all the pepper varieties fit neatly into a half pint mason jar. All the pumpkin and squash varieties into another. Broccoli and brussels sprouts. And so on. I'm still adjusting how many and which varieties I want to plant.

Some (Peas, beans, four o clocks) take a jar for each variety or color.

I like that the seeds take up much less space. They fit well with the food stored in canning jars - fewer different sizes of boxes, they stack well, they all like dark and dry.

I kept the backs of seed envelopes because this is the first year so I don't know what info I will want. I think I will just look that info up online or keep one sheet of paper or a spreadsheet with the details of all the varieties instead of keeping any of the original envelopes.

Making the envelopes would be a little time consuming if it were done for itself. It made a nice alternative to knitting or mending as something to keep my hands busy in the evening.

 

[Farmer13]

The ammo can & double bag system has worked very well for us.


The 50 cal metal box has a rubber seal so you can store your seeds on a cool place.

I dry our seeds on a paper plate on top of our commercial Bunn Coffee maker
for 2 days.

We found that like the old Parks seeds packets that were sealed, the plastic bag inside of the paper envelope works best for us to keep seeds dry.

One fun thing every seed saver gets to do is a germination test. Take 10 seeds place them in a moist inside Snack baggie in a warm place, & count the number of seeds that germinated.
If 6 seeds sprout you have 60 percent germination. Do this every winter before you start you garden seed & don't sweat it. You can still get plants for more new seeds by planting more seeds in the pellet or pot. Some seeds last a long time if you store them properly.


https://www.amazon.com/Envelopes-Self-Adhesive-Storage-Packets-Wedding/dp/B07V9KK1YW/ref=sr_1_5_pp?crid=2T8VPETGX91G2&keywords=seed+packets+envelopes&qid=1693306919&sprefix=seed+packets,aps,396&sr=8-5&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M9T1RY...s=hpc&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Military-Outdoor-Clothing-Previously-50-Caliber/dp/B00C2YELAC/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=surplus+ammo+can&qid=1693308326&sr=8-5

 

[Sueby]

Wow @Acre4Me - beautiful work, as usual!

Urine (from a healthy human) makes great fertilizer! Yup, I save mine sometimes. Makes me wish I were a guy, so I could water more easily.

I keep trying to get DH to go in the compost pile but it's too far for him to bother, lol.

My DH works for the health dept in our state. He said that the EPA would be all over your pumping company, even in MN. Human waste takes many years to remediate (according to him). He's seen lots of companies get major fined for dumping raw sewage like you are describing.

I remember lots of years back my girls & I went to a Phish show in the middle of cow country in Coventry, VT. It had rained tons before (& during) the show, tons of people without tickets showed up so all the camping & parking planned wasn't going to work. So they, on the fly, had to adjust for parking & housing 65,000 people in the middle of hay fields & cow pastures. I came home with an ear infection & my friend came home with pink eye that took her a month to get rid of (she works in a hospital & was not allowed back till it was gone). A local newspaper covering the show heard so many were weirdly sick so they investigated & turns out that some ended up camping in fields where they were not supposed to be camping, only parking - the fields were fertilized with human waste. Uh, ick!

 

[jerryse]

Canning tomatoes today. I have not seen the groundhog again. I hope the presence of my dog discouraged it. I bought one of those totes for an earth box. Under $10.00 at Menards. Heat returning this weekend.

 

[Sally PB]

If you are serious about that you might look up what thru hikers on the AT or PCT do. It is easy enough with a bit of practice.

Yeah, I've seen what you're talking aboutRight now, I just squat over a funnel that drains into a gallon jug. Then I can dilute it as necessary.

My goal is to stop buying new seeds every year. If possible, I will save seeds from our plants when we can, but I would also like to buy seed packs at the end of the season at great discounts and save them for the next year.

Me too. I save tomato seeds, will do beans this year and some of my bee-happy flowers. I plan to order some seeds this fall, after I see how my various tomatoes, etc. do.

I keep trying to get DH to go in the compost pile but it's too far for him to bother, lol.

I tried to talk my DH into going around the perimeter of the garden. Nope, too far.