What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

Makes me think of cocoDTW but since tomatoes maybe the other version where it goes back into a tank. I feel like hoocho did a two shelf version for tomatoes either using the painting style buckets and/or bato buckets.

Well. Today was a busy and emotional day. Got the freebie drums for my IBC wicking container. Some are a bit smaller and nicer looking and will be used for the quail drinkers you'll probably see in another thread.

Got Anna vaccinated/chipped and ready for rehoming and after that was the painful goodbye of my shih tzu boy Albis. I cried a bit but whatever, I know he's in a way better place as he now doesn't have to deal with so much competition and the teenager was wrapped with him. Meanwhile comfort food was had.

So to use the nipple drinkers in pvc I figured I need a tap drill bit but all I could find was a 3/8 which worked really well in tandem with my 9mm drill bit. I've bought all the bits needed to automate the watering for the quail and one little bonus of the piping I'll use is that it's white on the outside, black on the inside which is good for heat I think.

Today was going to be the hottest day for a while so I took the dress off the tomato kratky outside and put a stake in her. I'm trying to decide if I should kill off the sibling that's growing strong alongside it but I'm pretty damn sure these were cherry varieties so I might just leave it and see what happens.

I don't know about you Americans but I gotta ask. Do you think neighbors become more nosy the further rural you go/bigger blocksize? Far out I miss Spearwood. I've been bombing the green house lately with that rosemary oil based pesticide freebie I got from the grow shop and while the webbing remains on the strawberry plants I actually see them kinda flourishing. I gotta start picking them to prolong the flowering or it's back to bunnings to buy more.

I think once the quail projects are over I'm going to devote time to to running my old 90mm rail with the cherry varieties after seeing that earlier video and just have them cascade over the side. I think it could be done with the right spacing. And it might be a way I can try out the Sungolds/brads atomic grape (still gotta buy that!)

I'm thinking a online shop is coming up at a seed store just to stock up on unique/small tomatoes. I'm praying that some of these babies survive the pests and weather to produce something. I'll be trying tomato toasties, tomato omelettes, maybe other things but I've gotta space it out because it gets my gout going big time.

One of the big reasons I'm doing so many tomatoes is that it's for my father as he is a big lover of them. As a kid I wasn't fond of them but lately despite even gout, I've been indulging in them with balsamic vinegar/italian herbs and other things.

With a weak of mild avg weather starting tomorrow I'm thinking I might try to fix the bare spaces in the garden by seeding it out. Just not sure what to use. I'll probably go rainbow chard, big leafy type things and stuff that can get up and going. Maybe more of the dwarf purple beans, they sound like adorable. Part of me wants to get the borlotti ones. Anywho, I gotta stop talking so much.

Sorry about Albis.... I always get sad when rehoming chickens. I'd definitely be bawling if it were a pup I loved.

BTW, I had far nosier neighbors when I lived in a Subdivision than living in a more rural location

I wouldn't live under the thumb of a HOA if you gave me the house for free. Just saying....

 

[WthrLady]

Our county declared an emergency due to drought. I would love a little of your rain.

We are on year two of Extreme drought. I feel your pain. Those tropical systems (not necessarily the hurricanes, just the wet patterns) of summer are important.
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Not much going on here today. Sunny and 55, arthritis wins kind of day.

 

[TJAnonymous]

It's such a beautiful day today... And I've spent most of it inside cleaning the house. It started with the fireplace. The glass was so crusted with creosote that I couldn't even see the fire at all. So with rubber gloves, a bowl of vinegar, tons of newspaper, ashes, and a LOT of elbow grease, I managed to get it completely clean after several hours of working on it. That left a huge mess on the hearth and hardwood floors so the cleaning just escalated from there... If you know, you know.

I have work to do in the garden to clear out space for the new raised bed but I don't feel like doing it today so maybe tomorrow.

Still no nibbles on my squirrel feeders or any of my bird feeders, except one. It's a little bird feeder I've got hanging under the Wisteria canopy. It's been visited by some sparrows and chickadees but only lightly.

 

[TJAnonymous]

We are on year two of Extreme drought. I feel your pain. Those tropical systems (not necessarily the hurricanes, just the wet patterns) of summer are important.
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Not much going on here today. Sunny and 55, arthritis wins kind of day.

Maybe with El Nino you'll get a really wet winter....

 

[fuzzi]

I gave my chickens two totes full of leaves today. The industrious ladies and gentleman leveled them in 10 minutes. We'll have lots more leaves to rake up when we get back.

When I used to get big sheets of cardboard from work, I used piles of leaves as the mulch to hold them down. That worked VERY well. The leaves got wet in the rain and plastered themselves down. I learned quickly that the cardboard would catch the wind and become a sail if it had any kind of curl. Yeah, all of the cardboard up against the fence in the wind. So it took something heavy -- like a 6" deep layer of wet leaves -- to hold it down.

Plus side of that: NO weeds came up. Minus: the ground didn't warm up very fast.

Gonna miss my birdies while I'm gone! I'll ask my chicken sitter to send me pictures.

The firefighters left me the leftover bales of straw from the house burn. I have one in the garden I need to spread out when we get back, and one in the chicken run for them to work on. There are 7-8 still up in the garage (that they didn't even singe while burning the house 15 feet away to the ground!), so the birdies will get more straw over the course of the winter. I might put one in the coop and cut the strings on it. They've always had shavings. Since it's wheat straw, they might enjoy the wheat kernels.

We dumped another bag of lawnmower clippings in the run, mostly leaves.

Happy chick(en)s!

Not technically in the garden, but I put a second coat of stain on the steps.

 

[igorsMistress]

We dumped another bag of lawnmower clippings in the run, mostly leaves.

Happy chick(en)s!

Not technically in the garden, but I put a second coat of stain on the steps.
View attachment 3676533

Looks good!

 

[karenerwin]

I pulled up all the dead veggie plants out of the garden and put them in the burn barrel. We had beautiful weather today!

 

[TJAnonymous]

So I decided to try to germinate some seeds... All are soaking in warm water overnight.

1. Plumeria - I meant to do these in the spring but forgot. Since I'll have to keep them in containers anyway, I'll just keep them in the living room for the winter if they end up germinating.

2. Honey Mesquite - I had a nice start on one last spring. It got nearly 2 1/2 ft tall but then we had a drought and no one watered it while I was dealing with my mom's stuff. It ended up dying... So if I can get one growing decently through the winter in the sun room, maybe I can transplant it in the spring.

3. Canna Lilies - I used to have some incredible, beautiful red canna lilies at our old house. I had given my mom a bunch of seed pods from them. She never planted them... I found them when I was cleaning out her house. I would be absolutely THRILLED if I can get these to grow!

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Have not done much but did find 2 Animal Repellers Solar powered for $8.00 each. I am jazzed to try them out. The instructions indicate it repels Rats/Mice, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Dogs, Foxes, Skunks, Cats, Racoons, Badgers, Deer, Birds, Squirrels, Cattle, Fruit Bats, and Bears. Range is 30 feet. So once we have them pre charged, I will put them in a fallow garden bed with a delicious tempting yummy something the chickens might like and see how it deters them or not, I will do the same with our dogs. Figure out the best mode. Once other stuff is charged I will get them charging. But if I can let my veggie garden free range free of chicken attacks or use these to circle 30 feet out around the chicken areas as an extra predator deterrent that would be cool. I am also wondering how they would preform camping, squirrels have done serious damage to my tents on last trips.

 

[fuzzi]

3. Canna Lilies - I used to have some incredible, beautiful red canna lilies at our old house. I had given my mom a bunch of seed pods from them. She never planted them... I found them when I was cleaning out her house. I would be absolutely THRILLED if I can get these to grow!

I have yellow with orange splotches/spots. Lots of them, happy to share!