What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

I have not. I seed save, however this is my first year giving seeds away. My fingers are actually raw from collecting and packaging "Red Rubin" basil seeds today.

I live too far away for any of these big events. I'm not going up to Palo Alto for any reason, ever. Lol.

I wouldn't either... I have family in the area and I tell them that they have to come visit me instead...

 

[TJAnonymous]

Used the Kei mini dump to partially clean the chicken coop today. I LOVE it! It works sooooooo much better than having to lug/tow multiple wagon dumps to the compost pile!

I would have cleaned the ENTIRE coop but it started raining sooner than it was supposed to AND that stupid, broody Leghorn was being too psycho about me being in the coop. I finally allowed her and the chicks out of the broody pen. I figured she would take them outside but she chose to keep them in a back corner of the coop instead. Oh well, I'll finish cleaning out the coop next weekend if it doesn't rain.

I also took some time to do a little bit of weeding in the garden. Transplanted some spring bulbs into a bigger container. Covered them with some cardboard and dead brush for insulation... Still need to bring some straw out there and insulate the garlic. I saw lots of carrot sprouts coming up in the area that I let the spring carrots go to seed.

Felt good to get my hands dirty and not worry about fire ants constantly.

 

[Sueby]

Got my little Kei truck insured and plated today. I only got liability coverage since it's almost 30 years old and I didn't pay much for it to begin with... Cost me $4/month for insurance...

That's hilarious. & I thought the $250 a year for the Corvette was redic!

Seed catalogs have arrived and stacked by my reading chair. Its the time for winter dreaming!

I have a very large stack of catalogs to go thru...

Not much happening here. Unplugged & uncovered the lettuce/spinach Greenstalk, it didn't survive the 8 degree cold last night. That's sad, but I'm happy to have had greens into the middle of Dec. I will pull the carrots once the soil thaws - if it thaws - & uncover the last of the garden/greenstalks.

But we have a delay at work tomorrow because of the ice coming tonight - I'll take that!

 

[akroberts1085]

For mice control I have heard that they don't like peppermint or cayenne pepper. I'm thinking about putting some in warm oil and spraying it around the house just to see if it works.

 

[WthrLady]

For mice control I have heard that they don't like peppermint or cayenne pepper. I'm thinking about putting some in warm oil and spraying it around the house just to see if it works.

It doesn't even slow them down.
Case in point - the alpacas have peppermint horse cookie treats, made with real peppermint. They chewed through the bag to get to them. They chewed though the Tupperware to get to them. They chewed through the gammo feed vault plastic to get to them. They are now in metal.

 

[chickengr]

Let us know how it goes. I need to put a trap in our kitchen.

I have 2 best mouse traps in my house, working 100%. they are my 2 cats.

 

[chickengr]

For mice control I have heard that they don't like peppermint or cayenne pepper. I'm thinking about putting some in warm oil and spraying it around the house just to see if it works.

a few years ago I hanged some cayenne peppers to dry. mice ate a few of them. also I had peppermint all over the place. mice as well.

 

[jerryse]

Caught a mouse with the tootsie roll bait. I get 1 a day in various traps. I quit baiting the repeating traps. Tom cat trap has never caught anything. Still baited. They just will not go in that trap.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Can't say for all mice, but those in my garage definitely like hot peppers.

 

[Acre4Me]

Very behind on this thread!

Just ordered potatoes for the spring. The prices at some places are crazy (Territorial seeds, I’m looking at you -to be fair they have always arrived in great condition and produced well, but I’m priced out this year). So, I looked up one variety we really wanted (Purple Viking) and went from there.

Just wrote out my sweet potato order to mail in. We honed in on 2 varieties that have performed well, another we’ve had good success with and a 4th to try bc variety is the spice of life. All orange varieties this next year.

Next up, some seed shopping, but not too much needed. We decided to not grow Cole crops next year - a lot of work to manage the cabbage looper moth/caterpillars, so will probably only plant mustard for fall harvest as it is easier as it grows fast and does well in chilly weather when the moths and their eggs/caterpillars don’t.

Neighbor is -again-letting pumpkins rot in his garden to grow an awesomely hefty crop of squash bugs and squash vine borer(SVB).
He will literally say “oh yeah, so many bugs on the plants”… “and the plants seem to be dying off kinda early”. Yes, neighbor, yes they are dying bc I can see bug movement from edge of my yard bc so many squash bugs! Oh well, his garden, his choice! I’ll just put in my usual pest measures. For the record, I’ve told him (when he asked) what the bugs were, and a few ways to deal with them, but he seems to just enjoy the plant growth rather than production, so the bugs aren’t worth the trouble to deal with for him.

Rainy here, above freezing. Looks like tomorrow I can finally spray the fruit trees with copper and horticulture oil as a pest preventative. Took forever for leaves to drop, then it was rainy or windy or very cold, so couldn’t spray. Then, temps drop again, so tomorrow looks like only good opportunity for the foreseeable future.