What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

The temp is in the mid 50s but it's breezy and COLD outside. I took a hot bubble bath and talked DH into starting a fire in the fireplace. Chili for dinner.

Right now, life is good.

 

[WthrLady]

I use sand in the coop on the floor and poop boards. I created a custom scooper to sift the poop out of it but it creates an INSANE amount of dust. Even with a mask (which I admittedly only wear sometimes), when I blow my nose afterwards it's brown sludge every time. Gross... I can imagine what's getting into my lungs. I should probably wear an actual respirator but my husband would never let me live it down....

I truly cannot breathe wearing a mask and go into panic mode.
I did wear one a couple weeks ago blowing out the shop of all the mouse leavings and dust, and saw dust - But I only wore it for 5 minutes and then went outside and ripped it off and gasped for breath like I had just come up from the ocean bottom to the surface.

The coop took me HOURS.

It was all poo dust, feathers, shafts, dander from molt, bits of feed, probably mold/mildew (dry as a bone though) and lord knows what else.

Every one around here is hacking up a lung recently though - drought harvest has really stirred up some nasties. The little bit of rain we've had has turned up the dry creeks and just YUCK - and leaf mold season.

 

[Smokerbill]

I use sand in the coop on the floor and poop boards. I created a custom scooper to sift the poop out of it but it creates an INSANE amount of dust. Even with a mask (which I admittedly only wear sometimes), when I blow my nose afterwards it's brown sludge every time. Gross... I can imagine what's getting into my lungs. I should probably wear an actual respirator but my husband would never let me live it down....

Hopefully there's not a lot of silica dust from the sand being kicked up. That's really hard on the lungs.

I let my chickens out to forage for the first time in a week or so. In the rain. Which they seemed to enjoy.

They were only out for a half hour or so, but I think it was enough to let them know I still appreciate all they do for me. LOL

 

[pennyJo1960]

No secret been putting spent coffee grounds on the coop floors. No Dust.

 

[karenerwin]

@pennyJo1960 ive never heard of someone using spent coffe grounds on their coop floor! If it works, that’s awesome!
Yesterday I worked some more of trying to dig out that huge pear tree. This time I found a salamander !

Today I harvested almost all of the remaining Lima beans.

Started with this and ended up with …

I have come to the conclusion that I am very slow at shelling Lima beans.
My friend will be happy though, she and her daughter love them!

 

[CNJ]

I dug a hole and stuck a 5-gallon bucket with 3/8-inch holes down in it. Then filled the bucket up with banana and tea leaves and covered it with a little dirt to contain the smell. This is my local worm play pen for now. I wonder how many worms will find it and how long it will take to break everything down.

I think, I should have put some shredded paper on the bottom. Oh well, I'll put a roll of toilet paper and dry oatmeal in when the green leaves compost down.

 

[gtaus]

Wow! And you eat them [bitter melons]? It is really bitter... I'm always confused on why people grow them... I am thinking it's extra healthy?

Dear Wife is a Filipina. She grew up eating bitter melons and loves them. They are too bitter for me, in general, but I have found that I like them in small portions in stir fry. They give the stir fry a little extra Bam! I grew the bitter melons for her, of course.

She can eat a dish full of bitter melons served with bitter melons.

We had a pretty good harvest of those bitter melons this year and Dear Wife was able to share some bitter melons with her other Filipina friends in our area. She likes to share what we can, so it's all good to me. Most of us American men don't care much for the bitter melons, so sharing a little means a lot to the girls who really enjoy it.

Dear Wife saved some seeds to start some bitter melon plants in the house next spring when the snow is still out in the yard. That should give us a good 2 months jumpstart on the growing season. Since we are trying to grow tropical plants in our northern Minnesota zone 3b, we need all the early start we can push.

As far as being healthy for you, I'll just link you to 6 Benefits of Bitter Melon (Bitter Gourd) and Its Extract. According to that article, "In addition to its sharp flavor and distinct appearance, bitter melon has been associated with several impressive health benefits." But you can read the full article if you want more information.

 

[gtaus]

Avoid wood from allelopathic trees like black walnut (for its juglone toxicity); high-resin trees like pine, spruce, yew, juniper and cedar; and hard, rot-resistant woods such as black locust, Osage orange and redwood. Any type of wood with sprouting potential (such as willow) should be completely dead before using.

I don't have any black walnut, but I have used both pine and spruce in my hügelkultur beds.

I have had great results in my hügelkultur beds that were filled with pine and spruce logs. I have used both old rotted pine wood and freshly cut pine wood in my beds. My plants have been growing well. Not sure how much better the plants could grow if I had used some other type of wood.

 

[gtaus]

I dug a hole and stuck a 5-gallon bucket with 3/8-inch holes down in it. Then filled the bucket up with banana and tea leaves and covered it with a little dirt to contain the smell. This is my local worm play pen for now. I wonder how many worms will find it and how long it will take to break everything down.

I think, I should have put some shredded paper on the bottom. Oh well, I'll put a roll of toilet paper and dry oatmeal in when the green leaves compost down.

The 3/8-inch holes sounds pretty small to me. I have seen worm towers that are basically large PVC pipes with no bottom. I would be interested in how many worms find their way into your 5-gallon bucket.

FWIW, years ago I buried 2 plastic garbage cans, filled with 1-inch holes all over the sides and bottom, and filled them up with kitchen scraps and other organic materials. They made great compost, but there were not many worms in the garbage cans when I emptied them. But I live on a lake and my soil out in the lakeside garden does not have all that many worms in it.

If you would, please tag me on your 5-gallon bucket composting findings when you post. No way can I keep up reading all the posts in this thread, but a courtesy tag triggers a notification for me, and I will be able to find your post.

 

[Dadanga]

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.

I do love how the raised beds are easy access for folks with bad backs. Mine has kinda come good, the chief neurosurgeon said the herniated disc was all but gone but it may have a chance to return. I dread the day.

Well before the work day started I kinda got depressed and sought out the beach since it was kinda hot and I was hoping for a secluded spot and women in bikinis everywhere so I awkwardly stood in the shallows, got my feet wet and got out!

Then it was onto making up the mix for the remaining wicking bed. Bunnings didn't have mushroom compost so I just bought a bag of super compost and cow manure and mixed it into a heap of coco and river sand. I had enough left over mix to do another two pots. Ended up putting tomatoes in them and a heap of rainbow chard in the big wicking bed. I managed to split the chard up easily enough and spread it around the rim. Totally forgot to take pictures again from the end product.

One thing I noticed was the worms in the big bed my brother constructed so I was happy to see them still thriving under the mulch. I planted out a dying jalapeno fire eater seedling and some more tomatoes and one Lebanese eggplant in the middle. Speaking of eggplants, the ones I transplanted into my bed just really suck in the heat. Think I'm going to start making up a netting system to provide more shade. You can see the Watermelon seedling I planted coming up.

Also more beans are coming up. I'm actually surprised the beans are doing so well in the heat and I love how cute they look when they put their big leaves up like "Reeee, it's too bloody hot!" I'm just really lucky that after a few more hot days there appears to be a week of shady cool weather. I think whatever can survive the next few days should thrive in the better weather.

I'm trying to decide if I should waste all my precious compost on the oriental plane tree if I decide to buy it from Waldecks. From the description on the wikipedia it seems to be a great tree to provide shade and bigger than the ficus that it will be replacing. I have to clear out the hole and see how much real estate I'm working with. It's basically a 1mx1m hole cut into a concrete driveway. One thing I'm sad about today is the fact the dogs ripped up the new hat I bought. Back to the toyota huski hat I guess LOL.