What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Sterling plans on eating all the snow I shoveled.

 

[TJAnonymous]

As someone just said, this is very like chicken math. It's plant math, and some of us get it BAD in the spring!

Plant it where you want it. Sounds obvious, but once it's there, it. is. there.

I have had a spot where it didn't get enough of a start, and didn't grow. I had another that I dug up for a friend, and last I saw, one teeny-tiny little leaf was trying to make a comeback. And that was when I really was trying to get the entire root.

I have two other comfrey "areas." One is near the driving path up the hill, and I think the roots get disturbed enough that it's not ever going to grow as well as the other area. The other one has tripled in size.

I've been told it can become quite invasive... That's why I'm trying to figure out where I want to put it. I have a corner right next to the road which technically belongs to the medical clinic next door but is overgrown with weeds and scrub. It butts up against the corner of my lot. I've thought about clearing out those weeds and tossing some wildflower seeds and comfrey over there.... So that's one spot...

There's a few other places around my property where I might toss some seeds... Just gotta make sure the horses and goats can't get to it. That's the hardest part that limits a lot of options.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I went up to the green house today. The kale sprouts are all dead. The single spinach sprout is a little bigger.

We had some sunshine today, and it was 54 degrees in there. Under the tote, it was 75.

I looked at my plants in the hoop house a few days ago. The single, giant cauliflower I had planted last spring finally kicked the bucket in the polar vortex. Quite sad because it had somewhere around 8 - 10 mini-heads it was growing.

My lettuce sprouts all looked dead too...

Parsley looked wilted but may bounce back when we warm up this week. It was covered, as was my oregano and thyme. I didn't check those though...

Lastly I had some onions and carrots that I forgot to check too. I covered the carrots with straw. Wasn't sure if that would smother them or not since the green tops couldn't see sunlight. The onion tops looked wilted, brown, and slimy but I didn't dig down to check the bulbs.

 

[CNJ]

I was thinking about this but what about plastic leaching into the soil?

I've been eating tomatoes grown in those totes and it doesn't taste like plastic.
My tomatoes are drinking a little more than a gallon of water a day, so I have been filling it with 4 gallons of water every 3 days.

My totes are double stacked with a 2 x 4 wood spacer screwed onto two sides. It's important to follow the earth box design when drilling out the wicking holes for your net cups. The earth box has two wicking holes on the same back side and the two tomato plants are planted right above the wicking holes with the 1.50lbs top fertilizer line spread in the front.

I really can't explain how the plants find the 1.50lbs of fertilizer on the top front, but it does. Also, the earth box uses an inert peat base/perlite potting mix in which a cup of lime is added to it. Promix is the ideal mix for the earth box in my opinion. The Miracle Grow potting mix has 3 month's supply of synthetic fertilizer, so it will be too hot to follow the earth box fertilization plan.

The plant on the right has Miracle Grow potting mix in it and it did not set fruit on the bottom. It set fruit on the top when it has already reached its determinate height.

In comparison, the plant with the insect net and Promix set tomatoes from the bottom up. https://earthbox.com/learning-center/recommended-growing-media

 

[gtaus]

I've been eating tomatoes grown in those totes and it doesn't taste like plastic.
My tomatoes are drinking a little more than a gallon of water a day, so I have been filling it with 4 gallons of water every 3 days.

Tomatoes are heavy drinkers. Have you ever made a watering system using float valves and a large reservoir bucket?

I keep trying to put an automatic watering system together that uses float valves and a 55 gallon water barrel. It would be great to have a setup up where I just filled the 55-gallon rain barrel maybe only once or twice a month but keeps all my containers properly watered.

 

[CNJ]

Tomatoes are heavy drinkers. Have you ever made a watering system using float valves and a large reservoir bucket?

I keep trying to put an automatic watering system together that uses float valves and a 55 gallon water barrel. It would be great to have a setup up where I just filled the 55-gallon rain barrel maybe only once or twice a month but keeps all my containers properly watered.

I have two such set ups, but I am using a 5-gallon reservoir and a 5 gal for the float valve. They are easy to make, I just bought a 55-gal rubber made reservoir that I will be using indoors with my 4 x 2 and 4 x 4 rated grow lights that I just ordered. I will be using three 27gallon tote for my Kratky set up.

The stacked 5-gallon buckets in this picture feeds three 20-gallon pots, so I never water these pots from the top, but I have to fill the 5-gallon bucket reservoir up daily.

 

[karenerwin]

Nothing in the garden way too cold for that. Last night we had a water pipe break in our yard. Had to call the water department around 12:30am to come shut the water off.

That is all ice on the ground from the water break. I’m not even sure how it got over there. The leak I saw was up by the foundation of our house.

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to get a hold of a plumber yet and we are getting ice starting around midnight tonight . Not sure how much of the chicken yard will have to be dug up. From what I can tell all the repairs will be on our dime because the leak is between the meter and the house. Also not sure when the ground will thaw out enough to allow for any digging. I have been filling gallon jugs at friends houses and stock piling them to hopefully get through the next day or so. Also the school just announced an AMI day ( snow day but the kids have to do their work on computers from home). So all 3 grandkids will be home all day.

 

[Cammo77]

I'm waiting for the temperature to drop and then go out and give it a good water. Good rain coming at the end of the week but it needs a drink now.

 

[jerryse]

Ice storm today. Already bust your butt slick. Staying in today no need to fall. Rain all week so no sunshine.

 

[Molpet]

I've been eating tomatoes grown in those totes and it doesn't taste like plastic.

It's not the taste I was thinking about. It's the long term endocrine disruption.