What did you do in the garden today?

[Sammster]

Red worms AKA manure worms. Not sure if they like compost but worth a try. Cheap start is get some at the bait shop. Sometimes called trout worms at the bait shop. Gardens are not rich enough for them to stay no matter what the sales hype says. Normally found in or near barnyard manure piles.

Thank you. Maybe I'll try that. Very honestly, my compost pile is more chicken manure than anything. I do try to add as much vegetation as I can. Pretty tough to get manure to compost without vegetation

 

[chickengr]

I've seen some gigantic chickens & roosters at the Poultry show, wow they are huge & gorgeous! I've been tempted to get either a pair of Sebastopol geese, or a pair of Royal Palm turkeys.

Some of my roosters are big, 2 of my Wyandotte Roos are so chunky, need both arms to hold them. My roosters have killed mice & 1 young rat, that I know of.

I have 2 pair of Guineas. They run fast & make alot of noise lol. The only critters they chase is eachother, round & round a 12x24 bldg, pretty hilarious. I'm sure they get over 10,000 steps a day, but never venture very far...not yet anyway.

I don't know much about having geese or turkeys along with chickens...any advice is welcome. I've done house sitting for friends with geese & turkeys & I loved it, they were very affectionate birds. It's quite a hefty load when a full grown Jake sits on your lap, though...he still thought he was a chick I guess. I do not have a pond & only a small, under 2 acre lot here. I'd like to move, get 20 acres, more room, for more critters.

My friends turkeys, Jake & JennyView attachment 3775767View attachment 3775768View attachment 3775765

keeping chickens and waterfowls is not a good idea. you will never have clean water and that can bring any disease to your chickens.

 

[Acre4Me]

My apricot tree is almost done blooming

We have 3 Apricot trees. One planted last year, the other two planted in 2021, I think. One of them has grown leaps and bounds since planted. But all look healthy and happy. They are all different varieties. We’ve got some closed buds on all of them this year, but I doubt we will get fruit.

 

[fuzzi]

I've had a small one in a bin, going strong for years. I initially bought some mealworms at a pet store in the 1990s for Lizards & turtles I was babysitting. They're really easy, just chicken feed pellets & sliced potatoes keeps them thriving. The black beetles resemble water bugs, they lay eggs on the old, dried out potato peels, tiny mealworms emerge & grow up, then pupate into beetles, totally cool cycle. Lay the potato slices on the top of the layer of feed pellets, the worms & beetles find them.

The mealworms that appeared in the pigeon loft must have been from eggs laid on feed that fell through the grated floors. I do clean the loft, lifting grates up, so I moved some of those mealworms to the 5 gallon buckets & started more "farms" & it works well. They're great protein treats but finding out they are hard workers in the compost area was an added bonus. Go for it, they're easy to care for.

Do you keep them in the bucket for their entire life cycle?

 

[Sally PB]

Very honestly, my compost pile is more chicken manure than anything. I do try to add as much vegetation as I can. Pretty tough to get manure to compost without vegetation

Next time I turn the pile, I'm going to add some more dried grass.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Next time I turn the pile, I'm going to add some more dried grass.

Grass is good... What about dead leaves? Pond algae?

I am lucky that I tend to get quite a bit of straw and pine shavings from the horses and goats, on top of many cart loads of manure.... Using sand in my coops is also helpful. Seems to make my compost light and fluffy. Definitely a need with our heavy clay soil.

 

[Minanora]

We have 3 Apricot trees. One planted last year, the other two planted in 2021, I think. One of them has grown leaps and bounds since planted. But all look healthy and happy. They are all different varieties. We’ve got some closed buds on all of them this year, but I doubt we will get fruit.

That's awesome! We planted ours in 2017. Building a good framework with pruning is the most important thing for young trees. It's hard to be patient though! It'll make them strong so they can better support a heavy fruit load later in life.

Pruning for fruit yield looks different between varieties of apricots, they bare fruit on different sections of the wood depending on variety. Ours is a Blenheim, which is a 'Royal' type, meaning it puts fruit on the outer (tips) 1/3 of last year's branches. So I have to be careful pruning, and only prune out what's absolutely necessary, and not head back the previous years growth when possible.

ETA: My issues with fruit yield have been late season rains, frost, last year was snow... Destroying the blossoms or raining so hard that the petals cover the stamens so they don't get pollinated. Apricot flowers are very fragile.

 

[jerryse]

High wind and fire hazard here. High of 60.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners guess today is not gardening have
to have taxes done today.
I use to do them, the rules changed and better go in.

 

[WthrLady]

High wind and fire hazard here. High of 60.

Here as well, except we'll be 67.