What did you do in the garden today?

[akroberts1085]

I got the pomegranates picked and now I'm going to weigh them to see how crazy my canning is going to be

 

[WthrLady]

We're up to 43 over the course of 4 trapping nights. This is the worse I've ever seen it, but we're coming off years of drought, and we're still green and the fertility rate of these monsters is insane.

Sadly, they've out smarted the bucket tip traps, and the snap traps, and you obviously can't poison in the chicken houses.

I've had to resort to large, rat sized glue traps, which I loathe and are terrible, but with the cold nights, they expire from hypothermia.
I lock the hens up at dark and screw the traps to boards so they can't drag or tip them, then go out in the morning and get them out of the run before the hens get up.

By watching the cameras, I can see about a dozen more, out there. So I'll keep going.

I also have single mouse tip trap tunnels, but the older mice are too smart for them. The young ones, not so much.

The chickens don't even want to EAT mice anymore, they've had so many. It's like the end of tomato season here!

I was so tired when I posted last night that I couldn't finish my post. Was falling asleep while trying. I had to give up and just submit without explaining the photos. Lol

 

[Rick589]

Please tell me your methods for such success

We just used bait. Of course that had me in search mode for all of the dispatched mice. Eventually I was, believe it or not, able to catch them and with tail in hand smack them against a wall or something else hard.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Ooh fun! Can't wait to read what you got.

Coneflower seeds! Not a lot of new-to-me seeds this year.

 

[akroberts1085]

We just used bait. Of course that had me in search mode for all of the dispatched mice. Eventually I was, believe it or not, able to catch them and with tail in hand smack them against a wall or something else hard.

I had caught mice in a wooden box my mom and dad made for me and I used a really big spatula to bash them in the head. Problem solved

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

No gardening today, but lots of chicken doings. My oldest hen Louise had diarrhea, treated her with safeguard for five days. It fixed it immediately. I did the follow up dose ten days later and it's like water. She also started a heavy molt. Since ten day dose and molt it's been a week with no change. She looks like she feels awful. Not wanting to eat, not even keeping the younger gals in line which is a job she takes seriously, she lays and closes her eyes. I finally got her to eat bread tonight soaked in egg. The only thing she will eat, none of her other favorites except yogurt. We just finished treating her for bumble foot and was so glad to be done with that. I decided tonight to give her enfloraxin even though Im not sure it's needed. She stopped laying when the daylight shortened and has never had any egg issues. She has never reacted this way to molting before. Any ideas of what could be happening? I'm at a loss. Just reacting to molting? Oh, I did give her a dose of nutri drench couple days ago also.

 

[Smokerbill]

Eventually I was, believe it or not, able to catch them and with tail in hand smack them against a wall or something else hard.

To believe that I would need a video as proof. LOL

And just curious, did your onions have rot problems again this year? I agree that it must be some kind of disease organisms in your soil, and maybe the wind blows them around.

 

[Smokerbill]

I just looked at my garden today trying to figure out how I'm going to eat all the baby bok choi plants. I'm considering using them to make kimchi, which would be a first for me.

The Brunswick cabbages are forming heads. They're supposed to be freeze tolerant and the cool weather hasn't slowed their growth so far. Lots of kale and collards that need harvested too. Need to check on the size of the daikon roots too.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus

Using Batteries With Adapters For Different Brand Tools

Given the high cost of power tool batteries, in many cases exceeding the value of the tool itself, it sure is tempting to buy an adapter to use your batteries on other brand tools. I have seen YouTube videos on the pros and cons of using those adapters. It's probably a good option for most people. However, these adapters sometimes bypass the battery and/or tool's safety features which, in theory, could damage the tool and/or the battery...

In my case, I have the Ryobi 18v One+ battery format with the stem sticking up. I have not seen an adapter for the old stem style batteries...

The advantage to Ryobi keeping that older stem style battery is that their newest batteries will work in my ~20-year-old Ryobi tools. It has saved me many $$$ over the years with that battery format locked into place.

But if I had another tool brand with the newer slide in battery format, I would certainly consider an adapter if I had different brand tools in my garage.

I am pretty much locked into Ryobi at this point. I have over 45 18v batteries that I have acquired over the past ~20 years. Seems like every time I buy a new Ryobi tool or kit, it comes with new batteries. It would cost me a small fortune to switch to a different platform. I have no complaints. Ryobi tools have more than delivered for my DIY needs. I'm still using the tools from my first kit I bought ~20 years ago. The old Ni-Cad batteries died long ago, but the tools work better and longer with the new Li-Ion batteries using the same stem style format.

 

[chickengr]

I pickled sweet peppers, hot peppers and cucumbers. made 1 jar of mixed sweet/hot peppers, cukes and garlic. chopped some sweet and hot peppers and white eggplants and slightly baked them. going to freeze them. I prefer to bake them instead of blanching. to me peppers and eggplant taste better if baked before freezing.