What did you do in the garden today?

[dirkandlorie]

Not getting anything done in the garden with all this rain! Everything is in the garden so at least mother nature is watering them instead of me. The bright side is weeding is so much easier with the ground so wet.

 

[Ponypoor]

How hot does it get up there in the summer? I know you guys have longer days in the summer, and the a sun angle is much more east to west, right? Is it humid?

If it isn't humid you could set up an evaporative cooler out there. We use one in the house and one in the garage. A few years ago it got up past 35° in the house and it was 45° outside every day for almost a week. When we lost power I was able to run the coolers on mobile jumper kits for several hours. I Keep our detached garage cool to make it so my freezers don't have to work as hard in the summer, and to store my pumpkins and winter squash.

Going home today. We walked almost 11 miles yesterday. DS did amazing. I was shocked. He never asked to get carried or complained at all. What a trooper.

It gets very humid here, I bought an evaporative cooler last year but it was so humid I just used the fans mostly. Summers here are hot and humid (30C and 80%humidity).

Yes our daylight hours are long - right now it gets light around 6am and dark at around 9pm, in the height of summer daylight is around 4:30am and dark around 10pm. I have worked in the far north we’re the sun is up still at midnight! Hard sleeping when it’s light.

My Hen House is inside my barn, I repurposed the shavings room which i had on the north west corner of the barn. The sun beats down on the west side of the barn from about 11am till 9pm when the sun will drop behind trees - but the sun is very strong.

Having the pole beans growing up the walls will help keep the sun off the concrete bricks.

I cleaned up the one side-garden on the north west corner - my project managers assisted and made sure I kept the pavers (somewhat) straight.

In the past I had tomato, flowers and beans growing up the wall all the time. The chickens though put the breaks on flowers and such.

That vine is a goose berry, it has yet to produce any berries….

 

[chicken opey]

I am so late getting my garden started between the rain and my schedule I just have the cucumbers in.
But I’m trying to start soap berry trees. Anyone else use these as a substitute for detergent? I think it takes 10 years to produce.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Not getting anything done in the garden with all this rain! Everything is in the garden so at least mother nature is watering them instead of me. The bright side is weeding is so much easier with the ground so wet.

We desperately need rain, it rained last night. But the ground under the trees and bushes is still dry

 

[MotherofOrpies]

I am so late getting my garden started between the rain and my schedule I just have the cucumbers in.
But I’m trying to start soap berry trees. Anyone else use these as a substitute for detergent? I think it takes 10 years to produce.

Try ivy leaves, they can be used as a detergent too

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Had to laugh at this. One of our gardens is "hidden" from our chickens. We call it the garden that must not be known .

Sorry to hear they got your tomato plants luckily our flock doesn't seem to bother tomatoes....so far!

Don’t be too sure, my chickens waited for a certain time, and then razed all the tomato plants to sticks in one go

 

[Ponypoor]

Don’t be too sure, my chickens waited for a certain time, and then razed all the tomato plants to sticks in one go

Yep I know that feeling. Brats that’s what they are!

 

[Ponypoor]

I am so late getting my garden started between the rain and my schedule I just have the cucumbers in.
But I’m trying to start soap berry trees. Anyone else use these as a substitute for detergent? I think it takes 10 years to produce.

We generally don’t plant gardens until after our ‘May 2 4’ weekend which is May 17th this year. It’s generally accepted that we can expect frost until then. Oh we still get frost after than and I have seen good hard freezes and snow also. But mostly no frost. So I would say you’re not too late at all!

 

[Rick589]

Weeded the garden today, mulched the berry bushes, and watered everything. Also got my comeuppance from my best buddy hen. I’d been playing with her a bit, apparently a little too rough for her. She tolerated me for a couple of days then finally clearly informed me that she had had enough by nipping me ( drew blood actually).I made amends now were back to being best buds.

As a follow up, my best buddy apparently learned to peck me if I’m not providing enough attention to her. Current desire is for me to stroke under her chin with my index finger. She’ll stand still as long as I’m willing to stroke her chin AND if I stop too soon I’ll get the peck, the ORDER, to resume. Gotta love chickens.

 

[Smokerbill]

I planted some tomato seeds directly in the garden a week or two ago and they're popping out of the ground today. Just another experiment, to see how well direct-seeded tomato plants grow and produce compared to the same variety of tomato plants that I started indoors.