What did you do in your garden today?

[Oliver Buckle]

My garden soil is about 70 percent heavy clay,

When I hoe the clay compacts into small balls which I push together in one place and let dry out, then when I have a fire I tip them in. The clay fires to a sort of terracotta that breaks up easily and really improves the soil. Other people tell me they add organic stuff like compost, wood chips or charcoal, I reckon I am not just adding stuff, I am actually taking clay out as well.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Informed Mom in law that this pretty, bee-supporting, patch of wildflowers will die if she uses weed- &- feed anyplace near it, so it's better for the Earth and our bees/pollinators to only use those chemicals on the front lawn, if at all.

Brave man.

 

[redback]

Planted a Self-composting Container, inspired by Hugelkultur:
Rainstorm knocked a rotten branch out of a mature pine. The wood was rotten enough to crumble easily by hand, so I picked up the rotten wood, crumbled it into a big pot. Then filled the top half of the pot with high organic matter potting mix and a couple handfuls compost. Then planted a 5" tall volunteer Capsicum seedling in the pot.

As you do when confronted with rotting wood and a 5" capsicum. I will follow progress of this very individual plant with interest.

 

[Sean Regan]

Did a bit this morning. Gave the roses a spray of Sulphur Rose. I must remember to do this every two weeks to prevent the recurrence of the black spot that several got last year.

This acer always pleases. Like the huge one in the front garden it starts off this pink colour, progressing through the months through pale yellow then green, I'll keep removing wayward growth to keep it this shape. It will quickly "fill out" now.

I bought this lilac in Bents Garden Centre around this time last year. It was the best they had. I had to train it by attaching strong wires in a triangle to get a better separation of the branches, as they were too close together. But I've removed them now. It disappointed last year, as although, it produced some foliage, there was no blossom. However, it is doing well this year and there's lots of flower buds on it, so it wasn't a waste of thirty-five quid.

We feed the birds and the squirrels, my wife can see them from her chair in the lounge. The bigger birds have a feeder under the azaleas. The surrounding fence keeps out anything bigger than a blackbird. We try to feed the blue tits with peanut butter but starlings kept them away and hogged the feeder. I've tried to keep them away by making a tunnel out of a part of a container, but the tits didn't like it. So I gave up. I noticed I had several jars of peanut butter in the shed so I had another go at it. I found an old hanging tubular bird feeder in the shed, with a bit of fettling I made a guard of part of it.

The starlings could still get in if I left it like that, so I added the lid of a Cadbury's hot chocolate pack, in which I cut a blue-tit size aperture. The "theory," is any bird can see the peanut butter, but only blue tits access it.

 

[Sean Regan]

We tried to order this bird feeder from my wife's shopping channel. But it sold out very quickly. But I found the firm that makes it. "The Grumpy Gardener."
So I was able today to order it direct. It takes two slabs of suet cake mix.
It wasn't cheap, £27 including postage. But I think it's the best we've seen.
I'll hang it from the pergola outside the French windows.

 

[Donatello]

Put down a landscape timbers border around my garden. not the Donald Trump kind. More like the Joe Biden kind. you know, wont keep anything out . Just a political boundary that lets all kinds of pests, killers, vermin and insects cross at will.
After I got the border laid down, I tilled it all up one more time and made a row for red onions, then planted some of those. not a lot done but progress.

 

[Sean Regan]

The bird feeder I ordered yesterday afternoon, was delivered at 2.00pm today.
I already had some suet cakes for it, so it's now up and available. It's very well made.

 

[big rockpile]

I watered some. Repotted a Geranium that I fell on and broke the Pot.

Broke up and Repotted Lavender, Oregano and Spearmint. Brought starts into the house.

Moved plants around for more room. My wife said after the first I should be able to move a bunch outside give me more room.

big rockpile

 

[NewLeafTX]

Yesterday in the garden: mainly watering.
First harvest of 2024:
Harvested about 1 oz. {small handful} red stem Swiss chard microgreens, & served them as a colorful, contrasting garnish on top of green asparagus, chicken, & cream soup I made for supper.

Today in the garden:
Over an hour of weeding & transplanting, followed by sowing 14 ft. Pollinator blend Wildflower Mix in the Cottage garden. A 9 foot row next to mixed Brassicas in rear of garden. Then a 5 foot row on the formerly wild left side of the garden.

Mom in law doesn't like it looking wild, so anything not identified as a beneficial native plant had to be yanked, or transplanted further out into the un-maintained areas of the property, & replaced with a row of my Pollinator attracting flower seed mix.

Also sowed 20 Arugula seeds 3/27- a germination test. Seeds leftover from a 2023 seed packet, 1/4" deep, in moist compost. Pink ceramic seedling sized pot. Set in indirect light on covered rear patio table, next to an Amaryllis pot. An internet search says they need light to germinate, so I may move them to a brighter location tomorrow.

The oak trees produced a MEGA crop of acorns last Fall. Folk wisdom has it that when this happens, it is typically followed by an Extremely Wet Summer here in TX. Because of this, I am probably not going to sow heat loving crops that dislike wet, overcast, boggy Summer conditions, until Fall. Such as eggplant and okra.
The other factor in this decision is most if not all of my local stores sold out of eggplant and okra seeds. By the time I could get some by ordering off the Net, I would be later in the year than recommended to sow them.

Did a pantry inventory today and removed everything expired, then cooked up a batch of succotash for dinner using various organic canned goods like shoepeg corn, black beans, tomato sauce, etc. that were close to expiration. Family enjoyed it, and said it was yummy.

I'm pretty tired from all my activity today and already starting to get sleepy. I think I will have to do my seed inventory tomorrow!

 

[Donatello]

No need to water here. Raining !
Rockpile, you got to keep from falling !

 

[Meadowlark]

...The oak trees produced a MEGA crop of acorns last Fall. Folk wisdom has it that when this happens, it is typically followed by an Extremely Wet Summer here in TX. Because of this, I am probably not going to sow heat loving crops that dislike wet, overcast, boggy Summer conditions, until Fall. Such as eggplant and okra.

Never heard that one before...and been in Texas a very long time. I hope that is right but betting that it is not especially since the last two summers have been hot and dry. I'll be planting okra soon and also planting pink eye peas both of which love it hot. Let's see if that folk wisdom prevails.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Never heard that one before...and been in Texas a very long time. I hope that is right but betting that it is not especially since the last two summers have been hot and dry. I'll be planting okra soon and also planting pink eye peas both of which love it hot. Let's see if that folk wisdom prevails.

It is called a mast year. Apparently it happens every 2-5 years.

I am surrounded by oak trees. One year they were everywhere. Had to do research and find out what happened. It is a normal cycle for oak trees. I have only experienced this once. I have been here 12 years. One should be coming up soon.

MOD

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Pine trees did the same 2 summers ago. They had so many pine cones the branches were breaking off. Took out the power wires to the house.

I had to start picking them up since it was hard to walk on them in the wood chip area. To this day I still pick them up. First time in 12 years.

MOD

 

[Meadowlark]

My pecans do something like that...only more frequent. Every other year is a bumper crop and off years very few pecans.

 

[Chava]

I transplanted some great smelling catmint from one area to front of Shop.. the little bushes didn't make it.. today I'm transplanting muscari.. planting a climbing rose..