What did you do in the garden today?

[littledog]

What is a luffa?

A type of squash I apparently can't grow.

 

[littledog]

Morning Gardeners I thinks loofah in my dreams our growing season is not long enough.

I guess I should just face that fact.

 

[fuzzi]

I'm really happy with how much water they hold and since there's some hot days coming I'm excited to see how they stand up to the heat. I'm not sure how I'll tackle the bigger IBC because you're right, the draincoils are expensive, like 42 bucks for 8 meters. Vinidex is $138 for 20m. Could do some sort of crate setup instead to create the voids.

Sadly I don't have much garden pics as most of the day was devoted to reconditioning a free coop. Mostly putting a floor in, adding angle legs and latches. This section was part of another bigger section I think and it must of sat on top. Was perfect for the mesh bottom. One thing I don't understand is the little square doors in the mesh where I have patched over with bigger mesh. Part of me laughed and wanted to make some sort of tunnel and call it the conjugal visit.

After it was complete I've moved out to the other 2 quail coops and since there's a door in the middle I've separated the gentle boys from the bad boys (funnily enough they are pharaohs) I've got one known boy in amongst all the girls in the main coop and he is living the life of luxury.

Tomorrow I do want to finish off the other wicking bed and maybe this weekend or sooner start work on another two. I have two more blue drums so should be able to get another 4 out of them. I at least want to fill one with a blueberry type mix and just cut it with the riversand/coco. Another would be strawberries and some chillies. My dad is big into silverbeet so I may try that but I've ran out of the rainbow seeds!

Oh! Almost forgot I went out and got the brushless grinder from ozito. It's kinda weird. I push the button and there's a slight delay as opposed to the dewalt. It certainly rips through some thick angle with the 2mm blade. Now I can set the dewalt up with a grinding disc maybe.

You should post this in the coop construction section!

Here's a thread that has been very helpful:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/helpful-hints-for-building-coops.1191089/

 

[gtaus]

I have an [tiller] attachment like that for my Echo power head, but I've hardly used it since I installed raised beds.
This [cultivator] looks more useful!

Agree on both counts. I really only use the mini tiller when I first set up a raised bed. It's good for mixing soil down to about 8 inches. Once the raised bed is established, I just use the cultivator to work in fresh compost in that upper 2-3 inches of the bed. Dear Wife also uses the cultivator out in her flower garden to loosen the soil before pulling weeds. Makes that job just a bit easier as well.

Sometimes I might use the mini tiller attachment to mix up the compost before I shovel it out. Works good for that, but I take off the top plate above the tines if I am working in the compost. If not, larger pieces of unfinished litter can jam between the tines and that top plate and then it stops everything until I dislodge the stuff.

I personally don't feel that removing the top plate poses any safety hazard for mixing compost as the tines do not rotate all that fast. Still, you might want to wear safety glasses just in case. My tiller attachment just has 4 bolts that I take off and the top plate is free. Just as easy to put back on. If I leave that top plate on, it jams up all the time.

 

[akroberts1085]

Had a little bit of rain yesterday. Still waiting for the rest of the garden to get done. I'm going to be starting a fall garden but I am going to use pots instead of the ground because of how bad it floods my yard when we get too much rain.

 

[gtaus]

I thinks loofah in my dreams our growing season is not long enough.

Well, don't give up all hope. I live in northern Minnesota and was able to grow tropical bitter melon this summer by staring the plants inside the house a few months before our average last frost date. That extends the growing season for us. I'm not saying that the bitter melon grew as well as they would in the tropics, but we did manage to get quite a bit of nice fruit before it got cold this fall.

Also, I think it's best to plant any tropical plants maybe 2 weeks after your last frost date, just to make sure you don't chill the plant.

Next year we plan on starting some more of those tropical plants in the house, transplant them outside 2 weeks after our average last frost date, and just hope for the best.

Picture of some of the tropical bitter melon grown in my northern Minnesota (Zone 3b) garden...

 

[TJAnonymous]

Dahlias and Zinnias looking spectacularly pretty today.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

It’s the middle of October, and we had 77f today, good for my chilis and tomatoes, but I really worry about global warming, the summers here are quite hot and long, and we have so little rain, but in all, it was a nice day, picked all the ripe chilis ( 3 bushes are still bearing a lot of chilis) and 1 tomato, now that the days are getting short, the tomatoes take longer to ripen..the children's former piano teacher gifted me with 20 LARGE quinces, I cooked a soup with 3 of them ( the recipe calls for 4 large ones, but they were so large 3 were enough) and I think I will bake a few as cookies or cake, I’ve got so much jam jellies in the basement, I’m not making any new ones

I could make some fruit leather, but it is a lot of work , and I am still recovering from major surgery, and don’t have a lot of energy right now

 

[chickengr]

@Paz are you ok? I hope you are safe.

 

[TJAnonymous]

@Paz are you ok? I hope you are safe.

I thought @Paz was located in Spain?