What did you do in the garden today?

[lazy gardener]

I also enlarge my garden about 2'/year. Hubby calls it "garden creep". He loves his lawn... I love my garden... so our irreconcileable difference results in garden creep. Kind of like evening up the borders on the brownies in reverse. Gotta keep those borders even... so if things get a bit crooked, the answer is to enlarge the edges to square things up again! This year's garden creep occurred in the form of a hay bale border.

 

[3goodeggs]

I think that should be official vocabulary. I do garden creep.... although, that sounds kinda shady... or a bad back.

 

[aggiemae]

aggiemae-- thank you for the reminder to use CARDBOARD. I have been struggling with the idea of using a non-biodegradeable type of mulch. Have access to more cardboard than you can image.
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Weeded the peppers. Hard to find among the weeds. Seem to be not as hardy as the weeds. Mint is taking off. Even in areas the peppers are now gone. No ripe tomatos. Very disapointing. hmm maybe more watering is necessary.

Corrugated cardboard is best for composting worms, They like to crawl in the crinkles to lay eggs.And it keeps the weeds down for a long time. Take off labels and tape and wet it down well before covering.

Peppers need heat and prefer sandy soil. And the sand makes weeding easier and actually heats put the soils some. We live in zone 7 they stay in the green house and pick off all the flowers till July first. I am just getting my first fruiting flowers.

 

[lazy gardener]

I think that worms also like the glue in cardboard boxes. I'm just guessing on that... Either way, cardboard is wonderful in the garden. But, I won't use cardboard with a shiny surface, and am super diligent to get every shred of fiberglass reinforcement strands (found in the tape) off before putting it out.

 

[A-K-A]

I have been using cardboard and empty feed bags the paper type woth soy ink. Wish i'd started sooner with it.

 

[Stuffedcritter]

Which company still uses paper bags?

 

[hennible]

I think that worms also like the glue in cardboard boxes.  I'm just guessing on that... Either way, cardboard is wonderful in the garden.  But, I won't use cardboard with a shiny surface, and am super diligent to get every shred of fiberglass reinforcement strands (found in the tape) off before putting it out.

They love the glue... I read it increases their rate of reproduction.... Why no shiny boxes? I love boxes that are coated in wax ( paraffin wax ) those boxes take almost 3 years to break down...

 

[hennible]

So I dug a pond, counts as gardening to me...

So still more to do there, but I took a break from the pond to clean the run, and used all the deep litter I pulled out to start and apple Gail.

The second layer is hay, next wood mulch, then I will cover with clear plastic to sprout the weeds... And cook them! Bwa ha ha ha! Hopefully... I'll plant it next spring.

 

[hennible]

The second 2 pond photos are in the wrongs spots they should be the last two... The hay is to prevent erosion until the plants come it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Old mind set that boxes with shiny or bright colored surfaces have toxic chemicals in them... years ago, lead based paint was a concern, I'm sure it's no longer the case, but... that's still my mindset.