What did you do in the garden today?

[1cock2hens]

when you're down 27 inches of rain/precip over 18 months, you can't water enough or catch it in time, no such thing.

Eh maybe. hugelkulture beds are designed to work extremely well in drought conditions so I have that on my side. All I can do is take every precautions that I already plan on taking and hope for the best.

 

[Dadanga]

I've been pretty slack in updates. But some things are going well. Some things are not. All the big kratky tomatoes ran out of nutrient and died. Was tempted to refill but at this point I'd rather just focus on going again with something else. I think maybe if it was just one tomato. I may have gotten somewhere.

Meanwhile the tomatoes in the soil bed are going pretty well. Not massive bushes or anything but if I can get at least one of those heirloom varieties I'll be happy. Okra seems to be going well both in kratky and out. The soil ones are probably looking better at this stage but that's because of the sunlight I believe as the patio just doesn't get enough hours.

The one pot with all the kankong and basil in it petered out along with the blue kratky. I think it was placed too close to the others and got shaded out. I will try to plan things a bit better next time in regards to space and having too many plants in one pot.

Probably the biggest success story is the half drum wicking beds. The silverbeet really thrive on them so I'll be making more of those perhaps if funds allow. The eggplant seedlings I bought from bunnings are doing great. Well. The long purp and lebanese are doing okay but the bonicas are really slow. The squash are getting massive and I have to remember how to cook them.

Oh right. The Rosella in the kratky system has thrived once I got rid of all the cucumbers that got powdery mildew. But. The one in soil is flowering and it does look kinda weird so I'm looking forward to the hydroponic variety going into flower.

 

[chickengr]

Have not seen the sun in 4 days. Should see some sun today. Ordered a firepit Qzark trail for my Christmas present. A Solo stove knockoff.

we didn't have much sun either. I felt down. it was the very first day I needed to fire my generator for 30-40 minutes to charge batteries (I am off grid).

 

[NanaK]

Worked in the garden most of the day yesterday. Ran the stirup hoe though to weed and loosen up the soil. Picked a bucket of greens for the chickens. Pulled out some more stuff from summer so I can compost in place in those areas.
Was so proud of getting it done and was getting sore and tired.

Loaded up the tools and buckets of produce on the golf cart. Hopped on and nothing. It would not move.
I looked it over and I think I may have a broken excelerator cable.

Here I go long walk down the path with 2 buckets of produce.

Then I found out I have a dead car battery.
I never did like Mondays.

I did find these on my Camelias near the garden.

Lots of buds!

 

[jerryse]

No sun yesterday and none today. Day 6 of no sun. Sun in the forecast and then poof gone. Looking through seed catalogs and garden videos. Planning on trying new to me winter squash in 2024. Hoping to find a new favorite.

 

[1cock2hens]

Its been pretty nice out my way considering it's December. It's been 60s and mid 50s and we have another 3 pretty days here before it rains again for a day. Going to be 54 degrees and sunny today.

I'm on the search for wild plums

 

[chickengr]

I know what you mean! The white ones are pretty good! But, I'm partial to the orange ones. We have also grown purple ones....white ones with purple skin and all purple ones. And when I say purple, they are super saturated deep purple. I didn't care for them as much, but the purple variety was a drier sweet potato and that is partially why I didn't like them.

I generally prefer green vegetables (broccoli, lettuce, etc.) as purple/dark brown ones are drier. are purple potatoes drier as well than the usual varieties? I have never managed to find purple potatoe seeds and if they are not suitable for my taste I will stop searching for them.

 

[Smokerbill]

Eh maybe. hugelkulture beds are designed to work extremely well in drought conditions so I have that on my side. All I can do is take every precautions that I already plan on taking and hope for the best.

I think you mentioned you were planning to plant hazelnut trees on hugelkulture beds. Seems I read somewhere that perennial plants don't do well with hugelkulture because as the bed settles over the years the movement damages the root system.

 

[1cock2hens]

I think you mentioned you were planning to plant hazelnut trees on hugelkulture beds. Seems I read somewhere that perennial plants don't do well with hugelkulture because as the bed settles over the years the movement damages the root system.

I've been doing hugelkultur beds for 10 years. Im assuming you read that in the incorrectly titled thread that is spreading misinformation and confusing the subject.
If you properly build your hugelkultur bed by filling in every single last gap with compost, soil, leaves etc and then let it rest the proper amount(about 2 years) there is very little settling. If you go back and read the literature from the 60s when the term hugelkultur was coined you will see that it's common practice to put perennials in hugelkultur garden beds. Most of the early graphics actually show bushes/trees on most hugelkultur beds.

I've grown blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, and sage in hugelkulture beds for years with great success.

 

[Smokerbill]

I've been doing hugelkultur beds for 10 years. Im assuming you read that in the incorrectly titled thread that is spreading misinformation and confusing the subject.
If you properly build your hugelkultur bed by filling in every single last gap with compost, soil, leaves etc and then let it rest the proper amount(about 2 years) there is very little settling. If you go back and read the literature from the 60s when the term hugelkultur was coined you will see that it's common practice to put perennials in hugelkultur garden beds. Most of the early graphics actually show bushes/trees on most hugelkultur beds.

I've grown blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, and sage in hugelkulture beds for years with great success.

Thanks for clearing that up for me! Makes a lot of sense.