What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Need to venture out & try a new slicing tomato. The only one I eat is Brandywine, but I want to try something new. Anyone see anything I should try on the list?

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For a slicer? Early Girl or Rutgers or Bettery Boy

 

[TJAnonymous]

I hate privets.... Ugh. My neighbors must think I'm the worst, I have privets... I randomly hit them with the chainsaw every few years... Eventually I'll pull them out.

Omg... We are in an all out war with privet. It spreads like crazy. Smells amazing when it flowers though...

 

[WthrLady]

Thanks to the Russian Sage, which I am allergic to, and the gross 'lord knows what' that was living in the soil between the weed barrier and the mud, I spent the whole day in a allergy sinus' headache haze. I'm glad to have that project done and that darn invasive crap out of my firebreak.

 

[chickengr]

Dame's rocket is blooming here earlier than I've ever seen it. Everything is about 3 weeks ahead of normal.

At the bee meeting, people were talking about ticks, how they're out (early) and BAD this year. Someone said when there isn't much snow cover, the next season is bad. If the ticks lay eggs on bare ground, even if it's frozen, the eggs can hatch. If there's snow, the eggs die.

Gonna be a long tick season...

muscovy ducks are a tick remedy.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

It finally really rained during the night, but thunder and lightning came along with it , did I mention my dog is afraid of thunder?! Anyway, I stayed up with the dog half of the night, but it is ok, since I don’t need to water the garden today and hopefully tomorrow too

 

[chickengr]

My dog brings home a lot of ticks too I dose her with a pill every now and then, but they are so poisonous I always feel bad when giving her one, and the ticks need to suck blood to die, so not a perfect solution either this year the ticks were TINY!!! I didn’t even see them, my daughter saw them, now that I know what to look for, I found plenty of them too. Even though the dog has been treated against ticks, it is always better to find and kill them if you can .

I give a pill for ticks to my dogs 2x a year. I hate that pill too but I hate ticks and the other parasites more. this pill is against internal parasites as well.

we had some rain but not enough. now we had mud and have to water I hate mud.

 

[chickengr]

Need to venture out & try a new slicing tomato. The only one I eat is Brandywine, but I want to try something new. Anyone see anything I should try on the list?

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I am not familiar with all those tomatoes but oxheart is a must in my garden. I also have some orangy-yellow tomato that might be yellow brandywine. it is tastier than other yellow tomatoes. red and yellow pear tiny tomatoes are tasty too. I didn't like chocolate and green pear tomatoes at all. I prefer somewhat sweeter tomatoes.

 

[Sally PB]

I think several of the tomatoes on the list were cherry tomatoes...?

To me, cherry tomatoes and "regular" tomatoes are almost two different things. I like the cherries as a snack (a lot don't make it to the house!) and in salads. The big tomatoes are for tomato-y things, like sauces and salsa. And salads too. And sliced on sandwiches.

I've tried dehydrating cherry toms; I plan to do a lot more this year.

 

[chickengr]

The garlic I planted last year is rotted. This is the second year in a row; it grows fine when I plant it, then when everything thaws it dies. Might have to try it indoors this year…Some of the onions look like they survived. Maybe I’ll get seeds off of those.

Beyond that I put together some new garden planters and planted my peas, hopefully I will get the potatoes in tomorrow. I also went to a farm and garden thing and brought home a little hazelnut sapling I have no place to put. Is plant math a thing? Usually I just have the herbs multiplying exponentially out of control, not a tree. Oh well I guess before I can get the problem that it’s too big for a pot I have to manage to not kill it.

maybe in your climate you should plant garlic in spring?

 

[a64armt]

Expansion and drip irrigation have been the focus for the past few weeks. Garden was 30’x80’ and is now 30’x120’. We expanded to run fence around the pineapples (deer like pineapple it seems…LOL) and add blueberries, blackberries and raspberry). Also slightly adjusted the beds so we can get the tractor down the center.

We were wasting a lot of water with sprinklers and not getting the irrigation we needed in FL, especially during dry spells. Bought 300 drippers, 1000ft of 1/4 and 1/2 line, couplers, T’s, etc. now have 6 zones in the garden on timers. Thankfully we have a well and I’ve burried a 200’ line (pre filter) and hose bibs, so watering isn’t a big price driver. Next is a dedicated line and hose bibs into the garden, and continue to try and get a dump truck load of wood chips (for free) or spend $700 on a truck load (to cover the underlayment fabric).

The projects never end…..