What did you do in the garden today?

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

I watered my garden and cut part of the grass and weed eated another part of the yard and then stopped because the battery for the mower was dead and the battery for the weed eater was dead.
I did disturb a medium sized black snake while weed eating. It was probably 3 or 4 feet long. We’ve had them here that were 6 feet long before. Then went to the hospital to see my son and then drove out to his house to check his mail and check on his house then drove back to the hospital to see him again. Then went home after dark.

I was spraying along the house night before last and walked right into a 5' black snake. I said hello and kept working around it. They are so pretty and good to get those mice that keep finding my house!

 

[jerryse]

Packing for a trip to the cabin. Concerned about the lack of rain in my absence. I may come back to a dead garden. I will find time to go fishing.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

I did a crazy thing, kind of on the spur of the moment - ordered a DR brush cutter and put it on my credit card
We have an old brush cutter that's a pretty heavy-duty push-type, but still a string trimmer, that uses the largest size of string. Mr. Dog was pushing it around yesterday, he got a lot done, then it pooped out on him - broken belt. And of course, this machine is discontinued so it will take some time to figure out what other belt will work.
We were googling belts and discussing how frustrating the blackberries are. Four years ago we paid a guy to come with a bobcat and chop down a large area, it looked great and we started planting native shrubs and trees in all the space we gained, but the blackberries are slowly infiltrating everywhere again and we just can't keep up. This time of year when they're growing so fast, we spend so much time cutting, then by the time it's done we have to start back at the beginning again. We thought about maybe getting bobcat guy back again, but he's expensive...so we finally decided spending so much time on the "Blackberry Wars" is wasting our time and slowing down all our plans, and we need to escalate the arms-race...

So I went ahead and ordered the DR from the company. Might take a while to get here, but it was $1000 less from the manufacturer than buying it from a dealer here, plus they offered free shipping. I can't wait for it to get here - I think it will help us finally get a handle on getting this property the way we want it. And it would pay for itself in 4 years, if we were to keep paying the bobcat guy.

The old cutter we will still keep, for doing slopes, long grass and less invaded areas - I think I will take to our local independent repair guy and let him figure out the right belt to put on it.

Wow. I know what you mean about the blackberries!

Here, where the pastures were overgrazed by a prior tenant's cattle, the blackberries took over and were solid canes over 3 acres. I have no idea how you'd get rid of them, other than spraying the whole lot and killing everything.

They brushhogged the place and put cattle (fewer) in again. I haven't been back for a walk since then. I hope they reclaimed it.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

I'm on my 3rd of 4 days off from my full-time job. Last month's PTO, I took time off to work in the garden and, instead, spent half my time dealing with replacing a refrigerator. This month's PTO I spent half my time dealing with a busted water line. I'm a little afraid to ask for PTO next month.

I fertilized my fruit trees with Jobe's spikes. They came with a rubber cap instead of those plastic ones. I would give a report on how they compare to the brittle plastic, but I just buried all of the spikes with a shovel because the ground was dry and I have no water supply to them right now.

I finished the door to the chicken run with latches. Sat outside with them last night to guard against hawks while they explored for an hour. I picked peas after putting them to bed while a thunderstorm raged about 10 miles away and put on a show for me. I baited that trap before bed, again too. Someday I'll get that booger.

 

[littledog]

Wow, I never knew blackberries are a problem in Tennessee?! Here in the PNW, they quickly take over anyplace that's not actively keeping them away.

But I guess it might make sense, our weather is not that different - we tend to be wetter and you tend to be hotter and more humid in the summer, but the basic temps are pretty similar.

 

[littledog]

Last month's PTO, I took time off to work in the garden and, instead, spent half my time dealing with replacing a refrigerator. This month's PTO I spent half my time dealing with a busted water line. I'm a little afraid to ask for PTO next month.

LOL, I just had a 3-day weekend and had a whole list of horse and garden things to get done, and got exactly none of them done - ancient toilet flapper broke and the one I ordered to replace it was the wrong size, oven decided to quit working, brush cutter pooped out, and to top it off, a flock of geese crapped on my car, covering the driver's-side door handle!
I did get my butternut seedlings planted out, another bed planted with beets in the middle and basil around the edges. Thought watering would be another drama of broken or mysteriously-not-working components, but amazingly, all I did was turn on the water it worked perfectly and hit everything.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

Wow, I never knew blackberries are a problem in Tennessee?! Here in the PNW, they quickly take over anyplace that's not actively keeping them away.

But I guess it might make sense, our weather is not that different - we tend to be wetter and you tend to be hotter and more humid in the summer, but the basic temps are pretty similar.

Yup. Took me about 3 years after moving from California to go from the first pic to the second.

 

[LifeSimpleAndSweet]

On another blackberry note. I don't like the bitter quality that plagues so many blackberries, and I find that the wild ones tend to be more bitter. But a couple of years ago I decided to tend to some of the wild ones as a test. So many friends said that they get sweet berries from the wild ones. So I fertilized them, watered them, and gave them the same treatment as my Doyle Thornless.

They were still bitter.
On the other hand, I've been struggling with bitter domesticated berries also.
I planted two new varieties this year in the hope of getting something sweeter, Columbia Giant and Prime Ark Freedom Thornless.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

On another blackberry note. I don't like the bitter quality that plagues so many blackberries, and I find that the wild ones tend to be more bitter. But a couple of years ago I decided to tend to some of the wild ones as a test. So many friends said that they get sweet berries from the wild ones. So I fertilized them, watered them, and gave them the same treatment as my Doyle Thornless.

They were still bitter.
On the other hand, I've been struggling with bitter domesticated berries also.
I planted two new varieties this year in the hope of getting something sweeter, Columbia Giant and Prime Ark Freedom Thornless.

Even our wild dewberries are slightly tart/sweet but not bitter. I wonder if it's something in your soil there? I was just discussing this with my friend because she said all of her cucumbers are bitter.

 

[littledog]

I'll never forget, many years ago a friend was visiting from California, and she mentioned BUYING a flat of blackberries from the store - I just about choked on my coffee!
Here, we have a few varieties of blackberries that grow wild - the ones that take over everything that I hate, are actually an invasive species that some English "remittance man" introduced here.
The other common variety, we call "mountain blackberries" they grow in higher altitudes, and are much more sweet and tasty. They have thorns as well, but smaller and softer ones that don't try to kill you.
Even the evil ones taste really good, but they have huge seeds that get stuck in my fillings if I try to eat them raw. They make great jam - If I don't mind the effort of 50% volume being seeds that I have to get rid of by burning, putting in the trash collection, or anything to make sure they don't end up in the garden, compost, or anywhere nearby.