What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I didn’t get to till the lower garden yesterday. Uprighting the fence posts that were pushed over in the last storm took longer than expected. I have a medical appointment in the middle of the day so it will be a little challenging to get anything done outside today. I’m hoping the peas I planted on Easter morning will be germinating soon. We’ve had a couple of warm days, low 70’s yesterday and no frost overnight. I’m hoping the forecasted showers happen today to water my early plantings. More rain forecasted tonight into tomorrow.

 

[Sally PB]

I have always winter sown purple coneflowers. I also have a few reseed around my plants in the garden.
I winter sowed these from my own saved seed in late Feb. They sat outside since and sprouted recently. They will grow slowly until the weather heats up. Most perennials bloom 2nd year from seed.

I bought seed for Purple Coneflower and New England Aster. The latter said it was pre-stratified, so I planted both in pots in the greenhouse on March 8th. I'm about to write them all off, as I see nothing at all, and I could use the pots for other things.

I ordered some of each as potted plants; I get them on May 20th.

 

[NanaK]

I bought seed for Purple Coneflower and New England Aster. The latter said it was pre-stratified, so I planted both in pots in the greenhouse on March 8th. I'm about to write them all off, as I see nothing at all, and I could use the pots for other things.

I ordered some of each as potted plants; I get them on May 20th.

I've tried NE asters. Never could get them to germinate by any method.

The cone flowers do take a while.
If you have plants coming you should see blooms this year.
Your bees will love them!

 

[Sammster]

I made mine following a video that someone posted here from a nursery that is actually local to me.

Essentially I make 3 rectangular frames from whatever materials I have. In this case, it was 2x8s. I stack them, then use 2x4s to secure them in the corners and middle. These are laid on top of thick weed barrier. I also laid down thick cardboard inside...

Because next you line the inside of the bed with visqueen or pool liner, whatever you have. I used 6 mil plastic sheeting from Lowe's.

Line the bottom with 8 - 12" of river rock. I used large, smooth 4" rock. Picked up a cubic yard from the local landscaping company for $50 which allowed me to fill nearly (3) 10 ft x 2 ft beds. Add 4"drain tile so you can add water as needed directly below the soil. Added in an overflow pipe in case we get too much water or rain.

Here's a picture at this point -
View attachment 3796498


Then I put down a thin weed barrier, mostly to keep the soil from getting into the pipes below and clogging them. Then, simply add the soil to the top. In my beds, I have 8" of rock to act as the reservoir to 16" of soil above. I left the 2x4s extended above the bed as supports so I can cover with shade cloth or insect netting, as needed.

Here's the final product -

View attachment 3796506

I have thought about adding a layer of wood logs or mulch between the rocks and soil but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet.


FWIW, I have hugelkultur beds too. I really like them too... I use them for my flowers and shallow root veggies. I chose to create the self-watering beds above for my potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes, mostly...

Awesome!

 

[WthrLady]

We're 1 dollar here at our local thrift store, in SW Nebraska

25 cents at my place for quart jars, apparently a better place in SW Nebraska

 

[WthrLady]

I found my first tick of the year or it found me. Sowed spinach seed. Started tearing out black raspberries. Going to replace them with thornless. UPS delivered 2 trees I ordered. Arrived late in the day. I was already wore out. Need to plant those today.

Me too. Easter Sunday, it got to sleep behind my ear under my headphone foam all night. I got a huge knot and ewwww.....it's just now healed.

 

[Sueby]

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.

You should see my garlic this year! It doesn't look like I even tried to get a straight line.

DH & I took out 2 rotted cedar beds & moved the soil to the old strawberry Hugelkultur beds where the level had dropped. Dug down a bit to put stone there as a base for most of the GreenStalks. Can't wait to get them off my deck. Had to take down the fence to use the tractor, neither of us are healthy enough to use a shovel these days.

Speaking of taking down the fence, the new fence won't be going up this year. Everything is coming up & I don't want DH to kill it all. & I can't help. Disappointed, but I'll live.

I cleaned up 2 more beds & DH cleaned up all the leaves so it's looking better in there. Thinking of spreading straw on all the cleaned beds today.

 

[WthrLady]

Moving old stall hay this morning while we have no wind.
I moved mass planted tomatoes to individual yogurt cups yesterday, and put them back in the seed shed on heat and light. Only 80 plants this year, down from 600 last year, and 1000 years before that. I took pre-orders this year. I only need 25 this year. The rest will be for open sale, or neighbors that forgot to opt in.
The flower seed trays have been moved to the greenhouse. If we go to below freezing, I'll just move them to the shop or barn for the night.
Picked up all my plant food yesterday while no one else is thinking of buying it.
I put gypsum, alpaca poo, and fresh compost in the tomato beds.
Maybe I'll put the garden bird fountain out and fill the bath today.
And the hummingbird feeders need a spring cleaning.

 

[Sally PB]

The cone flowers do take a while.
If you have plants coming you should see blooms this year.
Your bees will love them!

They are the entire reason for me to want these.

I now have more reasons to get more plants. Several thousand reasons!

 

[gtaus]

I bought one called Clyde's. Inexpensive, slides out for your exact location and dates. I got mine direct they are on Amazon too.

Thanks. For anyone interested, I found this link for Clyde's Garden Planner. Here is a picture of what it is.