What did you do in the garden today?

[Dadanga]

Both Ryobi and Milwaukee are under Techtronic Industries, TTi. They are separate tool lines, but I think they share some of the same tech.



I don't know if you have a Harbor Freight in Australia, but they often have electric 4.3 amp grinders that go on sale for only $10 about every other month. I picked one up to have as a spare. My main grinder is a $100 18v brushless unit, but it's nice to have a spare in case you are working a project and your main tool up and dies on you.

View attachment 3655958

I might never need to use it, but for only $10 to have a spare in the tool chest, it's worth it

Sorry, forgot to add this message to the quote! My brother has also lended me a cordered bosch grinder as he was chasing higher and higher specs because unlike me, he is the master craftsman LOL. Basically he wanted a grinder that wouldn't stall when he applied more and more pressure for his grinding jobs. One of these days I'll pick up welding. I once did a 2 week gig at my uncles smash repair place trying to patch up a truck and he kicked me out because I took too long!

 

[gtaus]

Sorry, forgot to add this message to the quote! My brother has also lended me a cordered bosch grinder as he was chasing higher and higher specs because unlike me, he is the master craftsman LOL. Basically he wanted a grinder that wouldn't stall when he applied more and more pressure for his grinding jobs. One of these days I'll pick up welding. I once did a 2 week gig at my uncles smash repair place trying to patch up a truck and he kicked me out because I took too long!

Yeah, welding is like gardening for me. I try, I fail, I try again, make a little progress...

I have a small Flux Core Welder that I have used a few times to try to repair stuff around the garage. I don't do a very good job, the weld looks terrible, but if it holds at all, I'm happy. Good thing I'm not on the clock or someone paying me. I'd be out the door, too!

 

[gtaus]

Thank you! I'm contemplating what to do today but planting is on the agenda. I've got 4 60L barrels that'll get used for some veggies. Then there's the wicking beds to manage! I'm tackling the smaller 100L drums for the project first before doing the ibc. My big problem with the beds is what to use as soil. Not gonna lie. I'm better with hydroponics than soil. Part of me wants to use the compost I dump old eggs into along with veggies and other stuff to break down and then cut it with the jungle mulch I bought. Maybe some coco and then use some dry amendments like b&b, seamungus and slow release fertilizer.

I think the big thing with the wicking beds is to have the soil as absorbent as possible. I can't afford to buy bags of potting soil, so I mix some high-quality topsoil with chicken run compost mixed 1:1. That seems to work OK for me. The limit everyone talks about is that you can only have about 12 inches of soil above the water level for the wicking effect to work. If you have more soil than that, then the wicking does not work as well.

FWIW, my elevated sub-irrigated planters have a water reservoir of 3 inches, a 1-inch air gap, and then 12 inches of light soil mix. I have not used coco coir, but we have access to peat moss. I think both of them lighten up the soil and both draw up water pretty well. I mixed that in all my planters, especially in the bottom portion.

I used to add vermiculite for water absorption and retention, but I can't get the big bulk bags of vermiculite anymore. The small bags of vermiculite in the garden center are just too expensive to use in large wicking beds.

 

[akroberts1085]

This is one of 6 the pomegranates I picked today. I'm guessing it weighs about a pound.

 

[Acre4Me]

Can anyone tell me how to calculate the nutrition value

Thank you for the info. I'm thinking about starting a small business with the vegetables from the garden next year. This year I am going to make homemade pomegranate jelly and syrup.

Go to your state department of Ag, or call the local extension office and ask what requirements you have for home produced products. If selling “from your doorstep” you may not have any requirements or maybe its very simple like it needs to be labeled “home produced” or something like that. Regulations typically step up when you advance to selling at a farmers market, then to a store. Most rigorous is usually selling to a restaurant bc consumer has a middleman (the restaurant using the item in food prep). Anyway, always better to know beforehand vs scrambling afterwards if a problem arises. Good luck!!

 

[Dadanga]

Yeah, welding is like gardening for me. I try, I fail, I try again, make a little progress...

I have a small Flux Core Welder that I have used a few times to try to repair stuff around the garage. I don't do a very good job, the weld looks terrible, but if it holds at all, I'm happy. Good thing I'm not on the clock or someone paying me. I'd be out the door, too!

We have so many old welders around down the back but I think one is destined for the scrap heap as it was left out. One of those big box things on wheels. My dad had a kempi at some stage and my brother got some new unimig gear.

I think the big thing with the wicking beds is to have the soil as absorbent as possible. I can't afford to buy bags of potting soil, so I mix some high-quality topsoil with chicken run compost mixed 1:1. That seems to work OK for me. The limit everyone talks about is that you can only have about 12 inches of soil above the water level for the wicking effect to work. If you have more soil than that, then the wicking does not work as well.

FWIW, my elevated sub-irrigated planters have a water reservoir of 3 inches, a 1-inch air gap, and then 12 inches of light soil mix. I have not used coco coir, but we have access to peat moss. I think both of them lighten up the soil and both draw up water pretty well. I mixed that in all my planters, especially in the bottom portion.

I used to add vermiculite for water absorption and retention, but I can't get the big bulk bags of vermiculite anymore. The small bags of vermiculite in the garden center are just too expensive to use in large wicking beds.

Yep, I decided to go with that and just measured down from the top before punching a hole for the overflow. I was surprised with just how much water it holds. I really do hope it works out. I ended up cutting the first mix with river sand, jungle mulch, coco/perlite, compost and then blood and bone with slow release flower and citrus fertilizer. I only managed to fill up one and just a little bit of the other. The one with the grobag in it is the one with the river sand as the res while the other has drainage gravel. Tomorrow I need to make another half brick of coco and then I'll make up the same mix again but forgo the mulch for just more coco maybe and add more compost.

Oh the radish seedlings are coming up. Still waiting on the beetroot/jerusalem artichokes and I decided to plant some watermelons the other day. See what happens. And to top off the day and celebrate the growing number of males in the Gidge crew I decided to make a golden gaytime apple dumpcake.

 

[CountryCuratesWife]

The ducks got into the garden and ate some of my radishes!! fortunately they didn't get my carrots or lettuce.

 

[jerryse]

 

[gtaus]

Yep, I decided to go with that and just measured down from the top before punching a hole for the overflow.

Those 4-inch drainpipes with the socks are very nice. I just use the perforated 4-inch drainpipes and cover the ends with some landscaping fabric. You don't need to cover the entire pipe with a sock. The soil will not seep into the perforations and clog the drain pipe as long as the ends are covered. For me, it saved a little money.

Anyways, for those who don't know, the 4-inch drainpipe fills with water which acts as your water reservoir. Then you need to drill a hole in the sidewall, so the bottom of that hole is at 3 inches on the side. That gives you a 1-inch air gap so your plants don't drown.

Those wicking beds and planters are my favorite because it's impossible to overwater them and the water reservoir lasts for a long time. On my planters, I only have to refill the planter about once a month if we get average rainfall. One summer we had a terrible drought, and I had to refill the reservoir once a week. But the plants in the wicking beds never suffered as they had a constant supply of water. Very nice.

The only drawback to the wicking beds is that you have to invest in that drainpipe. However, there are a number of people who use empty plastic bottles and containers in their wicking beds and that works good for them. I'm saving up some half-gallon milk jugs to see if I can get them to work as well in the wicking planters as the drainpipe works. That would cut down the cost.

 

[CNJ]

I just bought 50 red wigglers (Worms) from Walmart online store. I wonder if they are different from my local worms. I am going to put some in my earth boxes and try to multiply the rest in a small compost waste bin.