What did you do in the garden today?

[littledog]

I wanted to take IA ("Industrial Arts"), asked, but wasn't allowed because I was a girl. I discovered that I knew more than the Home Ec teacher, in sewing, cooking, cleaning. She endeavored to make my class time as miserable as possible, probably because I didn't want to take her class. I learned nothing from that experience except that some teachers are bullies.

But look at what I can do!

Love your hoop house build!!
Here's my 18'x 25' run that I designed and built myself, with only a little help from Mr. Dog to hold boards in place:

I bet you're the same as me, when you were told you're "not capable" or "not allowed" to do something, you just go ahead and do it, and make it better than things built by the prescribed formula.

 

[littledog]

Haha, it's kinda funny. Things are starting to heat up down here.

Perth, Australia?

 

[jerryse]

Beautiful fall weather 50s for low and 70 to 80 highs. Fall colors started and some leaves falling, Rain coming tonight through Monday. We will have a 4 year and 18 month old visit today. I have been working on the shed we started last trip.

 

[Dadanga]

Perth, Australia?

Yep! Today was a nice warm day. I have to get a hold of some mulch badly.

 

[littledog]

how does everyone water their gardens? What works best for you? Gotta come up with a new system for watering and sure wouldn't mind suggestions.

We usually get a lot of rain here in the PNW, so I've been relying an uncomplicated system of a sprinkler at the top a 6' pipe, placed so it can cover the whole 75' x 35' garden, watering for 2 hours at night 2 or 3 times per week. But the past two summers we've had drier weather than usual, so I'm looking to come us with a better system as well.

 

[littledog]

I pick them up from TSC and the Dollar store just last weekend. Sometimes they have them at the farmers co-op (feed store) too.

Edited to add - TSC had a bunch of garden stuff (planters, fertilizer, tools, etc) on clearance this weekend along with seeds.

Today we went to our local Wilco farm store, to get feed for the horses and chickens and for Mr. Dog to find winter work boots. They still had several racks of seeds for sale, even for plants that would be useless to plant now. But they were half price, and some people do indoor hydroponics, so OK.
They also still had many tanks of baby chicks of different breeds, mostly on sale for half-price, but the original prices were $5-$6.99, so I can't imagine so many baby chicks finding flock homes at this time of year.

 

[fuzzi]

Love your hoop house build!!
Here's my 18'x 25' run that I designed and built myself, with only a little help from Mr. Dog to hold boards in place:
View attachment 3641997
I bet you're the same as me, when you were told you're "not capable" or "not allowed" to do something, you just go ahead and do it, and make it better than things built by the prescribed formula.

Thanks!

I'm a "jury-rigger" for sure. I examine a situation and figure out how to fix it.

And I learned a lot building the hoop coop.

 

[fuzzi]

I wish that happened here! My borage never made it. Maybe I’ll toss seed out this fall and let it start when it decides it’s time.

My borage was huge but then the tomatoes smothered it.

 

[fuzzi]

Strawberry patch failure...

3 years ago, I bought about 16 strawberry plants to plant in a raised bed. The first year, I got maybe a dozen or two of strawberries, and no more that year. The next year, all my strawberries were eaten up by bees. I asked around, and the problem was that there was not enough rain that year so the insects were eating the berries. This year, I did not even bother to cover the strawberry patch with bird netting. I don't think I ever saw a full strawberry on any of the plants. But it could be that the squirrels and birds just ate the small berries on the plant before they had a chance to grow. All in all, I estimate it cost me about $3.00 per strawberry I actually harvested and ate.

So, that was a big disappointment. I have read that strawberry plants are not productive after the second or third year, so I will be digging them out and be done with them. I don't plan on getting any more.

Another lesson learned on this failure is that I will never again grow multi-year plants in one of my hügelkultur raised beds. Each year, as the wood in the hügelkultur raised bed composts, the level of the soil in the raised bed drops maybe an inch or two. Well, how do you top off the strawberry bed without actually covering the plants in the raised bed? Never thought of that before I planted strawberries. Now, that bed is down about 5 inches from top level. I'll dig out the strawberry plants and backfill everything with fresh compost for the garden next year. But I will only plant one season crops in those raised beds from now on.

I don't blame anyone but myself. Fortunately, my other crops did very well this year and we were very happy with all our other successes. So, that strawberry bed will be turned into something else next year, like maybe kale, onions, and Swiss chard which I did not plant this year. Love those greens but did not grow any this year. Really missed them.

Why don't you just leave the strawberry plants in the bed and cover them with compost?

 

[littledog]

Nature will keep you in the loop, if you watch & listen to her. It's in you already to feel nature.

We learned to enjoy all the little things that turned out well, & believe me they do outnumber the sad times we have from time to time. Growing food is not new, & we can learn so much from other growers if we listen with our hearts.

Love this !
Plant lots of different things and experiment for your area, every year some will fail, many will be OK, and a few will be productive beyond your expectations.
This is one of the many reasons why I dislike the "Big Ag" industry. Giant industry contracts pay farmers for a good crop, but the weather means other farmers also got a good crop, so the price goes down.