What did you do in the garden today?

[Daisy]

Goodluck with the seeds @frustratedearthmother !
I planted a few more dill seeds in pots and moved a few pots around ready to fill tomorrow. The rest of the dill seeds are nearly ready to pick. I have a couple of seed heads sitting next to the computer that I cannot forget about or an opportunistic house bunny might snatch them.

I extended the hatchlings pen by just a little bit. There is one that is much smaller than the rest but they all survived a very hot day so I don't want to mess with them and stress them out more than needed. Hopefully with a bit more secure room they feel they can venture a bit further from mumma. I want to move them out to the back "paddock" by the weekend. There is just so much to do! Praying for the tiny one to figure life out. Its definitely eating and drinking but it also seems a bit dumb, picking up little sticks and dropping them. Others are already bug hunters, jumping up and biting them off their mum and the fencing. Have you ever seen a duckling yawn? Just the cutest thing

I watered the orchard tonight but really need new nets for next year. The wild birds have dropped a fair amount of fruit, but the feral rabbits are loving it.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Don't be so sure your hawk can't kill one of your Isas. Here, one of my greatest killers is a Northern Goshawk. This bird does not weigh as much as my chickens, but it is a killing machine with a huge wing span. He will swoop down on a chicken, flip her over and start eating her at the crop/breast before she is even dead. And the smaller red tail hawks will kill a full grown chicken. They will gorge themselves on the meat until the carcass is light enough for them to carry away.

 

[Daisy]

Don't be so sure your hawk can't kill one of your Isas. Here, one of my greatest killers is a Northern Goshawk. This bird does not weigh as much as my chickens, but it is a killing machine with a huge wing span. He will swoop down on a chicken, flip her over and start eating her at the crop/breast before she is even dead. And the smaller red tail hawks will kill a full grown chicken. They will gorge themselves on the meat until the carcass is light enough for them to carry away.

I wouldn't be too upset if a hawk did get the chickens... I still haven't forgiven them for the damage they have done to my garden hahah. I started with 4 and now have 2. My 2 favourites died first and I am left with the demon half of the flock. There are a lot of easy targets where I live - a town where chickens literally cross the road.

The ducklings are growing well, even the little one I was worried about has had a growth spurt. I have half finished their new run. It is finally cooler today. I am amazed they all survived such extreme heat at such a young age. I hope the switch to a cool day doesnt mess with them now. I just have to cover the top of the run and then move them in. I know I will have to extend it again as they grow but I haven't decided where I want everything to be. They'd slip though the chicken wire wall in the woodshed at this size but just a little bit bigger and they can go in there. Its quite fun to be able to construct and deconstruct at will.

Not much needed to do with the plants today. We got some rain so I don't need to water. I raked over the hay pile and layed some mulch out last night before the rain came. Hopefully the soil holds some of the rainfall before the heat returns.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Picked and ate some juicy rhubarb, scuffed up some weed seedlings out of the wood chips, fashioned a new garden gate out of an old section of picket fence.

It frosted heavy here last night and supposed to do it all again tonight, but nothing looks the worse for wear out there. The lettuce and other greens seem to love this cold weather, of course.

added home hanging plants for my garden today.. about three santan flowers in addition to our flower collection.. checked on the tomatoes, some of them are developing worms so we need to buy sone repellant so we can save the fruits.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Picked and ate some juicy rhubarb, scuffed up some weed seedlings out of the wood chips, fashioned a new garden gate out of an old section of picket fence.

It frosted heavy here last night and supposed to do it all again tonight, but nothing looks the worse for wear out there. The lettuce and other greens seem to love this cold weather, of course.

Didn't do anything in the garden today. I just sta on my favourite side of the house, 2 pieces of buttered toast, and a hot mug of coffee while enjoying the sight of all my gardening accomplishments.

 

[Hinotori]

Pruned my grapes and several of the fruit trees today. Also cleaned up half the mint pots. There are a lot of those.

 

[Daisy]

Watering, watering and more watering today. Sunflowers are popping up where the ducklings hatched, must be some good fertiliser there! I had put sunflower seeds in there for mumma duck before she even hatched her eggs, I guess she didn't eat them all.

I have a question about watering in very hot weather, would it be best to start a thread? I can't always get it all done in the morning and wonder if its such a bad thing to water in the late afternoon. The soil is usually dry by midday the next day but I do worry about root rot on hot nights. I just figured watering was better than not watering, regardless of the time with this next heatwave coming through.

 

[Hinotori]

I grew up in an area that gets an average of 9 inches of rain a year. We always watered in the evening so that the plants have a chance to absorb the water. Watering in the morning could cause sunburn on plants from water droplets magnifying it. Root rot wasn't a problem in the loose sandy soil.

I don't even care what time of day I water here where we get an average 66 inches a year. It rains so much anyway that plants just deal.

Late blight is an issue here some rainy years. It takes out tomatoes fast. Have to make sure that the soil doesn't splash onto the stems or leaves. So careful watering and keeping the rain off is a problem, but I've never had root rot.

Actually, I personally have never seen root rot in outdoor plants in well drained containers or the ground. I've only seen in friends poorly drained indoor pots that they have overwatered. I suppose it could be an issue in poorly drained soils. Add lots of organic material so that the garden drains better.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've always read: "Water in the morning, so the foliage is dry by evening." But, I recently read, "Water in the afternoon, when the plants need it the most. That way, the water soaks into the ground, and is not as likely to evaporate as it would if you watered in the morning. So... There may be merit to watering later in the day. Either way, I don't have good water supply (very deep well with only 1.5 GPM refill) so... I spot water, and try to get all the water into the soil, and not on the leaves. Then... there's the common sense approach: water if needed, and when you have the time to do it. But... frequent shallow watering actually does more harm than good, over the long term. B/C the plants don't send their roots deep to SEEK water.

Whether your climate and soil are dry OR wet: Lots of mulch is the perfect solution. In a wet climate, the mulch soaks up the excess moisture, like a sponge. This keeps the soil from becoming waterlogged. Then, when weather dries out a bit, the mulch sponge will release the moisture to be wicked into the soil. In a dry climate, the mulch helps hold moisture in the soil. The mulch also keeps water/soil from splashing up on the foliage, helping to prevent a lot of disease issues.

 

[Daisy]

Thanks so much There is so much conflicting info on google, I always feel its better to listen to people with experience.

The soil is sandy and I have only ever seen rot in a pot as well. I thought there would be less evaporation at night also. I checked the soil that I watered last night and it was dry and hot by 10am. I use the rabbit litter as mulch but even they cant poop enough to keep up with this place, so there are still spaces with hot black sand. I might spread the next bucket of litter out just around specific plants, I had been trying to mulch starting from one side of the property to get it all covered, but with this heat I might need to skip ahead to a few of the plants that are struggling. Its never been this hot here since I moved here. The shire have been cutting down trees around town at an alarming rate and the difference in temperature is obvious and noticeable. I quite enjoy watering in the arvo because town is so quiet and the sunsets are phenomenal. It feels like a good time to do it, cools everything down after a blistering day.

The yearly average here is around 16 inches of rain, with the majority of summer seeing none.

We did have some overnight thunderstorms night before last, and the mulch I have already put down did a great job, those plants are even flowering! The flowers tend to shrivel and fall off from the air temp alone, so it was nice to see some colour despite the dry. I am trying to integrate nitrogen fixing plants and improving the soil has been a big job. I will be stoked if these sunflowers get to size, I just want enough so I dont have to buy more seed in! My first goal.