What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

Broodies... Ti's that time of the year. I've got 6 of them right now. All the more reason why I need to be diligent about picking up eggs every day, although I MIGHT let a couple of the girls hatch a chick or two.

 

[Rick589]

Broodies... Ti's that time of the year. I've got 6 of them right now. All the more reason why I need to be diligent about picking up eggs every day, although I MIGHT let a couple of the girls hatch a chick or two.

Now that brings up another tidbit of information. I wasn’t aware that the time of the year had any effect on broodiness. These BO pullets are will not turn 1 Y.O. until July 2nd and this will be their first full summer with us. I was always of the understanding that broodiness was present and displayed roughly around the same time as egg laying began. These gals have been laying consistently for about 5 months.

 

[Rick589]

How successful are you fellow gardeners with sweet corn? Seems like we always have a lackluster pollination rate, even with manual manipulation to assist. We plant close and in blocks.

 

[Sylvester017]

How successful are you fellow gardeners with sweet corn? Seems like we always have a lackluster pollination rate, even with manual manipulation to assist. We plant close and in blocks.

I planted Corn from a seed packet once for fun about 60 yrs ago in a back yard along w/ boysenberry vines ~ no fertilizer, no soil conditioner, just planted each seed per packet spacing directions. I got anywhere from 1 to 2 ears off each Corn stalk. Corn was sweet to shuck & eat right off the stalk...no cooking, no butter...just shuck & eat right off the cob. Because it's eaten immediately at picking there was no starch texture in the sweet kernels.

I never planted Corn or Berries again. The Berry vines have too many thorns & the Corn stalks never decomposes. I cut up the corn stalks to bury as compost but they were just as thick & hard a year later as when they were chopped up so I threw them out in the city trash bin! The space that Corn & Berries take up is not worth the small yields. Delicious but not worth the watering for the space the plants took up. Bell Peppers are fun but again small yield per plant but they live well for 2 to 3 years in a potted container.

Sunflower Seed plants take little room & give great yields per plant flower stalk

Our current two 4'x8' raised garden beds ~ tomatoes, cukes, chili peppers ~ in the far back against the block wall we have Pomegranate trees, Red Rio Grapefruit, & Meyer Dwarf Lemon trees.

DH potted a couple of his favorite chili peppers

In the front yard against the garage wall we planted zucchini this year.

Last year we had tomatoes but they get too wild against the garage wall so we'll see this year how wild the zucchini grows
Last year garage wall tomatoes:

 

[WthrLady]

In our climate (similar to yours, I think), our growing season isn't long enough for tomatoes and peppers to bear unless I start them inside about 6-8 weeks ahead of our "safe to plant" date.

I start my frost-sensitive plants around April 1 in the green house. This year, I started hubby's hot peppers on a heat mat mid-March. The plants are about 6" tall. The peppers I planted in the green house are about 1" tall.

The green house is only passive solar heat.

Plus, here out water issues and summer heat/dry season, direct sown plants don't have a hearty enough root system to survive. My 12-18 inch seedlings get planted into 6-12 inch deep holes June 1st so they grow an extensive network of roots to make the most of any moisture they can get

 

[WthrLady]

I left some of my seeds outside and it rained
On a brighter note, I think I figured out why I couldn’t get motived - lavender hand soap.
I’m very sensitive to lavender, make me super sleepy, groggy. Now that I’m using something else my energy is returning

Lavender makes me nuts, mean, agitated, angry, and the sinus' headache it causes - exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to do to people.

 

[WthrLady]

Broodies... Ti's that time of the year. I've got 6 of them right now. All the more reason why I need to be diligent about picking up eggs every day, although I MIGHT let a couple of the girls hatch a chick or two.

Every since I installed the roll-away nest box, no more broodies. (Installed because I had Bernadette - the egg destroyer.)

 

[WthrLady]

How successful are you fellow gardeners with sweet corn? Seems like we always have a lackluster pollination rate, even with manual manipulation to assist. We plant close and in blocks.

I love planting sweet corn. This is dent country, but I've never had a problem with pollination. I get two or three, sometimes four, ears of corn per stalk. I do irrigate, weed, and fertilize.

I cut the stalks near the ground and in the spring pull the stubble, shake off the dirt and toss the stubs to the cattle. An option most don't have.

 

[Rick589]

but not worth the watering for the space the plants took up.

I feel you on this. The amount of space for the amount of yield just doesn’t seem to equate. Everything I grow is with an eye toward canning or freezing everything harvested. Did this once or twice with corn and between the space, versus yield, versus processing just wasn’t worth it.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Now that brings up another tidbit of information. I wasn’t aware that the time of the year had any effect on broodiness. These BO pullets are will not turn 1 Y.O. until July 2nd and this will be their first full summer with us. I was always of the understanding that broodiness was present and displayed roughly around the same time as egg laying began. These gals have been laying consistently for about 5 months.

My BO went broody rather young too, I believe. I always have at least one BO who is consistently broody every spring. They do make very good mothers.