What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I planted a few chard in the garlic bed, in the spaces that ended up bigger-ish. I don't lay out my rows with string, I eyeball it with my 62 year old eyes.

I then started digging brome grass out of the blueberry bed. I found some of the flower buds are starting to break open. This makes me very nervous. We can get frost/freeze for another 6 weeks.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I have a patch of nettles. I'll try some tea or something with them when they grow. If anyone has any other nettle recipes or uses, I'd love to hear them!

I saved the links too. Thanks.

Before the nettle seeds I clip the top of each stem to include 3 sets of leaves and dry on a window screen. There is lots of info out there on nettles, said to be the most nutritious plant on earth.

 

[fuzzi]

Plants that hate me -

Chives
Bee balm
Wildflower seeds (Echinecea, daisies, etc)
Sage
Swiss Chard
Pineapple Sage
Pansies

Despite years of trying, this stuff never grows for me. I am FINALLY taking Lavender off this list since I have ONE plant (bought as an established plant) that has finally taken root and become robust.

I can get Bee balm, chard, and pansies to grow. I can't get beets to grow, ever. And I love them.

 

[fuzzi]

Put out some more wildflower seeds... I also fertilized my apple and hazelnut trees since we are in for a good soaking over the next few days.

BTW, I also captured a picture of the really weird shadows from the trees due to the eclipse. This is called the pinhole effect.
View attachment 3795895View attachment 3795896

Looks familiar!

 

[Sally PB]

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=795715889277814&set=a.449961563853250&type=3

That is one of the coolest pictures I've ever seen.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I live in northern Minnesota. I did not think 6 mil plastic sheeting would survive our winters without cracking. I checked out the cost of heavy duty pond liner, and it was rather expensive. That's how I ended up going the hügelkultur raised bed method.



Yep, I mainly use them for shallow root veggies as well. Works great for me.

Recently I saw someone post a great idea on building a small frame above the soil in a raised bed for planting long root vegetables in the hügelkultur raised bed. Makes a lot of sense to me to increase the height of just a section of the raised bed instead of making an entire deep raised bed.

Well, I have to buy my topsoil, so it makes economic sense to add an extender frame on a raised bed just for any plants that might need more soil depth than my standard topsoil 8 inches in the hügelkultur raised beds.



I think a water reservoir underneath the heavy drinkers like tomatoes would be a great setup.

Thanks for posting your pictures and walking through your build. Much appreciated.

Billboard companies around here throw away tons of thick vinyl. I thought about asking for some as a way to recycle and/or have a free option on the liner. The only question or concern I'd have is whether that vinyl is food safe or would cause any leaching concerns. I think the billboard company could answer that question but I've never gotten around to asking.

 

[fuzzi]

Watered after work.

Peas not yet blooming:

Carrots slowly growing:

Plum tomatoes on left, planted tomato seeds directly on the right, leaf lettuce in the middle:

Summer squash!

I still need to finish preparing another raised bed (#4) for beans, and adding more soil to another bed (#1) so I can plant melons.

 

[Acre4Me]

I can get Bee balm, chard, and pansies to grow. I can't get beets to grow, ever. And I love them.

We grow beets pretty well. We plant in spring and for fall. We’ve tried a variety of them, and I’ve had better luck with seeds not sold in the general stores. So, try a few from your favorite seed supplier- look for ones that come a variety of ways (tape, pelleted, organic, small to large quantities) - usually a good sign they do well for many people. Also, read reviews to see if anyone from your area commented on their experience. We often grow ours along the edge of the raised bed with carrots in the middle. We thin them out and then “thin” them as they are a good (yet small) size to eat, and leave some behind to get larger.

 

[Witchychickens]

We aren’t totally ready for outdoor planting yet but this is what I did today…. Mural!!!!

I put my potatoes out in their bags, carrot seeds in their grow bags, I direct sowed peas, lettuce, spring onions, broccoli, and broccoli raab seeds a little over a week ago but we got a fluke snow storm right after and it just melted. I’m waiting to see some germination (hopefully) I separated some of my broccoli starts and reduced some of my celery starts (those don’t look overly promising and I’m bummed), also separated my red pepper starts. I started marigolds, moss roses, and nasturtium and have some that germinated. I will be getting out more and doing more this and next week since it’s about that time. I also added dirt in the cloth planters left over from when we added the first round. I have more potatoes to plant. I did store bought that sprouted but also have some seed potatoes that just arrived.

 

[gtaus]

The only question or concern I'd have is whether that vinyl is food safe or would cause any leaching concerns.

I was assuming that if pond liner was safe for fish, it would be food safe. Pond liner is not cheap. I don't know about billboard vinyl being food safe or not. But that would be my concern with any materials I put into a raised bed for growing food.