What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Funny, I was reading all about rodents & then this:

Yes and then into the blender.

I did a double take.

Grrr, I hate the mice too. & the chipmunks. I had a mouse chew a hole in the gas tank of my car! So every time I filled it up it smelled horrible, had to roll the windows down. Then on top of it the chipmunks had filled the car with acorns so they would burn on the exhaust - burning acorns & smelling of gas....I was scared, lol. DH had to pull the back seat out to find the mouse nest & epoxy the hole in the tank.

Not much happening in the garden. I did put the support on my greenstalk in prep for the frost cover. Which should be coming soon, I think our average is Oct 20.

Look how well my spinach is doing! Happy about that! Wondering when I should start picking some - if it's one of those the more you pick the more it makes kind of things.

 

[Sally PB]

What is your secret to big garlic cloves?

I have always "eaten the small cloves and planted the big cloves." I'm going on my 6th? 8th? year with garlic, so some of it is selecting for the biggest over the years. Also, it's Music (variety name) and it's a hardneck variety that grows 4-6 cloves per head.

Last year, I planted it in a new spot. It was over a hugelkultur bed, and it got some NICE chicken run mulch. I think that helped too.

 

[member 655102]

Funny, I was reading all about rodents & then this:

I did a double take.

Grrr, I hate the mice too. & the chipmunks. I had a mouse chew a hole in the gas tank of my car! So every time I filled it up it smelled horrible, had to roll the windows down. Then on top of it the chipmunks had filled the car with acorns so they would burn on the exhaust - burning acorns & smelling of gas....I was scared, lol. DH had to pull the back seat out to find the mouse nest & epoxy the hole in the tank.

Not much happening in the garden. I did put the support on my greenstalk in prep for the frost cover. Which should be coming soon, I think our average is Oct 20.
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Look how well my spinach is doing! Happy about that! Wondering when I should start picking some - if it's one of those the more you pick the more it makes kind of things.
View attachment 3659321

Lol…Sorry about that. I started going off and had to do a double take too.

 

[Dadanga]

Thanks for the link.

Interesting. I'm not quite sure what he is talking about. If the soil needs a rest to dry out from water, then I guess my wicking beds/planters get a good 7 months of rest in the late fall and winter. As far as top watering, well my wicking planters are all outside and get natural rain. I think he mentioned somewhere that he grows food in his wicking beds year-round. That is possible in some places. But I live in northern Minnesota and we have one pretty short growing season. I don't see any benefit to letting my wicking beds/planters drying out during our summer months.

If letting the soil dry out is a good idea, then I really don't understand why anyone would spend extra money to build a wicking bed.

I'm still looking for someone who has tried using free hügelkultur wood in the bottom of a wicking bed instead of using expensive drainpipes. Would that work, I ask myself? I have seen people make hügelkultur pots but there the water drains through holes in the bottom, so there is no water reservoir in those pots.

Another concern I would have, is how long would a hügelkultur wicking bed last? As the wood decomposes, the soil level in the wicking bed would drop, eventually the bed would be all soil with no air gap to prevent flooding of the plants. I don't think I would want to build an IBC hügelkultur wicking bed only to have to dig everything out in a couple of years. Those IBC's would be darn heavy and it seems like it would be a lot of work to rebuild one every 2-3 yeas(?) whereas the drainpipes would last a lifetime.

I'll be honest, in another system, the idea of coco drying out terrifies me as it's always supposed to be kinda moist otherwise the EC spikes. I'm pretty much doing hugelkultur in all my beds but probably not using the right wood oh...and I decided to bury a bunch of square pavers in there as well for fill.

One of the blokes I watch 'Rob Bob's Aquaponics' does a few IBC wicking beds and he has decided to try bread crates in an IBC linked together. I'm also wondering if I could use milk crates with some of that strong concreting mesh plus a geodesic layer over that. Would be a massive res!

Today I decided to visit some garden centers and grab some seedlings/seeds. I can't help but love the chard and while I don't eat it a lot myself, the feathered friends seem to love it. My dad has childhood history with the plant as well and he was pleasantly surprised to see the rainbow variety. I'll probably try to carefully separate the silverbeet seedling and plant it out in my yet to be completed 100L wicking bed (I just need to get around mixing up the soil.)

I'm really interested in the chillies especially the cute little red cherry type. I've already put Aji's Pineapple on kratky. The other two will be put on tomorrow. I also decided to raid my Tioga strawberry and feed the two little lovebirds I have isolated. I'm a big fan of the Kankong and how it appears with its odd little leaves. Also in love with the red seedlings coming up in the mesclun mix.

I've actually spread a lot of the mix over the base of the tomatoes in the kratkies to be used as a groundcover. I think lettuce uses 8L over its lifetime so shouldn't worry the 200L res too much and even if the tomato drinks quicker than the lettuce can reach down there, the roots from the tomato will wick nutrient up. It's pretty interesting how it works. Basically the top looks all dry and then you lightly dust it back and it's moist underneath.

The only thing I'm disappointed with is the Jalapeno Fire Eater I bought. A lot of the bottom leaves are dying off and I wonder if I drenched it too much. Another task of mine as I walk through the garden centers is too try and propagate my philodendrons I have growing out the front. I think they have tapped into the septics and are going pretty well. I'll have to get some pictures for the fern lovers.

Oh and I need to find a low shade tree with non invasive roots that will provide shelter for a couple of cars side by side. A ficus was in its place but I had to tear it out with the bobcat as the roots were lifting the concrete pad. My dad fears the roots while dead are absorbing moisture and continuing to swell. So. I need to clean out the square where the ficus tree was and I plan on planting this oriental plane tree? It was at one of the stores and had a beautiful leaf shape with these odd little furry clusters. 140 bucks and of course my dad would scoff at it.

He's of the mindset that you cut branches off in winter, plant them in pots and watch them come alive in summer. The idea is tempting but somehow I don't think it's that easy.

 

[gtaus]

the idea of coco drying out terrifies me as it's always supposed to be kinda moist

I always heard, from many sources, that you want to keep the coco wet during the growing season. I don't think I will change my mind because one guy on YouTube says to let it dry out. I only have one growing season, 4-5 months, so my wicking planters get plenty of time to dry out before the next spring.

I'm pretty much doing hugelkultur in all my beds but probably not using the right wood oh...and I decided to bury a bunch of square pavers in there as well for fill.

I understand the theory that hügelkultur wood acts like a giant sponge and soaks up water, releasing that water later to the plants as they need it. However, a couple years ago we had a terrible drought summer with no rainfall. My ""normal" gardens dried up and died, except my hügelkultur beds. The plants survived the summer in my hügelkultur raised beds and actually produced some food for me. Not a bumper crop but compared to all the other "normal" garden plants that dried up and died, I was very happy with the hügelkultur beds.

I have so much junk wood on my property that I don't need to use anything else for fill. I don't know if there is a wrong kind of wood for hügelkultur, but the older the wood the better it seems to act like a sponge.

 

[saysfaa]

About the drying out in the wicking beds - some plants don't like wet feet, some of them more so than others. I didn't watch the video but regardless of what he did, this might matter with what someone trying it does.

 

[Dadanga]

I always heard, from many sources, that you want to keep the coco wet during the growing season. I don't think I will change my mind because one guy on YouTube says to let it dry out. I only have one growing season, 4-5 months, so my wicking planters get plenty of time to dry out before the next spring.



I understand the theory that hügelkultur wood acts like a giant sponge and soaks up water, releasing that water later to the plants as they need it. However, a couple years ago we had a terrible drought summer with no rainfall. My ""normal" gardens dried up and died, except my hügelkultur beds. The plants survived the summer in my hügelkultur raised beds and actually produced some food for me. Not a bumper crop but compared to all the other "normal" garden plants that dried up and died, I was very happy with the hügelkultur beds.

I have so much junk wood on my property that I don't need to use anything else for fill. I don't know if there is a wrong kind of wood for hügelkultur, but the older the wood the better it seems to act like a sponge.

I think if I had to move out and do it all over again, I'd just use ibc wicking beds and try to find a more cost efficient way to get the pipe or wait around for some plumbing auction. Sometimes you get good deals on graysonline which is like aussie auctions.

OH! There's one other thing I have to mention. I managed to find the elusive pipe that will link up the NFT system I got off gumtree for 20 bucks. Best thing was, the chick cutting the pipe in half to fit in the wagon was kinda cute as well so it's a double win LOL. Part of me wants to find a reason to go back.

 

[CedarLane]

My neighbors hulled them by spreading them on their gravel driveway and driving over them for week or a few weeks - I don't remember how long and I think it may depend on how often you drive up your driveway and how often it rains.

This is how my grandparents always did it.

 

[jerryse]

Rainy morning here. I have been experimenting with squash seed hulling. Nothing works very well. I have old seed to get rid of but not this way.

 

[gtaus]

I think if I had to move out and do it all over again, I'd just use ibc wicking beds and try to find a more cost efficient way to get the pipe or wait around for some plumbing auction.

No doubt, I consider my elevated sub-irrigated planters my best producing and easiest to maintain system.

However, buying the lumber, liner, and drainpipes cost me about $75 per one 2X4 foot sub-irrigated planter. Compare that to building about 40 4X4 foot hügelkultur pallet wood 16-inch-high raised beds for the same cost.

If I was a younger man, maybe it would be worth it to me to invest a lot of money, one time, for all the materials for wicking beds/planters. An IBC wicking bed like that would last a lifetime, so spread out over 30 or 40 years, it would be a much better deal.

Well, the hügelkultur raised beds are almost as good as the wicking beds because I moved everything to my backyard where I can water the raised beds with a garden hose anytime I want. It's pretty easy to water my raised beds now, and the little effort it takes me to turn on the timer for the sprinkler is not worth complaining about.

The only upgrade to my setup that I have been considering is some kind of gravity drip irrigation system where I could fill up a large rain barrel and just have the drip irrigation automatically turn on per a schedule. That would be nice, but it's not necessary for me. I still enjoy going out to the gardens and working the beds a few times a week.