What did you do in the garden today?

[Lazy Gardener]

Marshmallow root is mucilagenous, and if I'm correct in my memory, it is useful for respiratory ills. It might be worth researching. It would be a shame to destroy something that just might be a useful home grown pharmaceutical!

 

[Daisy]

Marshmallow root is mucilagenous, and if I'm correct in my memory, it is useful for respiratory ills. It might be worth researching. It would be a shame to destroy something that just might be a useful home grown pharmaceutical!

Oh trust me, its not going out of fashion here any time soon haha. I have heard it has medicinal uses before, for ulcers I think, I had used it in a tea, but I am truly not sure how to prepare it. I might look it up now as I do have some big enough to use in that capacity.

I thought I read it was also a good indicator of soil health. There was a LOT of it on a farm I used to manage, which was deficient in copper, but perhaps not in the spot where it flourished. It does get far too big to manage if not controlled to some degree. I do dump what I pull up into the compost bin or compost pile, sometimes just under the trees along the fences, so it all goes back into the garden. (They have not gone to seed yet) I know you can eat the little seed things as well. I am disappointed the ducks dont eat more of it. They are a bit too spoiled really, my neighbour says they are too well fed.

Today I have poured some boiling water from the kettle on to the driveway weeds, then fed the ducks seed on top to try and smother those ones out. I live right near a stock route highway so I get all sorts of weeds and seeds pop up and weed control is a constant in my life. Its a good thing I like weeding and finding new ways to manage things!

I threw some orange peel into the garden near the kitchen because slater bugs are going berserk on my seedlings there, although a quarter of that bed is going really well despite the pests.

I have SO many bulbs and flowers right now. Despite the cold nights it is starting to feel like spring. There are bees everywhere and colour everywhere. I got a new phone and took some photos the other night so if I can figure out how I might put some up in my journal. I took the photos a dusk and I am not a great photographer, but the camera seems to be forgiving of my wobbly hands and uneducated eye haha.

The goal for the rest of the day house work. Washing (the laundry flooded and I had a pile of washing on the floor, now I have a pile of washing starting to smell moudly) and to clean out the rabbits pen. Its quite dusty and covered in fur. I like to do that on windy days so I can hang the rugs in the yard to air out.

 

[Mini Horses]

A couple of weeks ago I declared the garden lost/done and decided to let the goats into the area, hoping they'd eat the grass & weeds! Well after eating every leaf on a bean, potato, pepper or tomato -- they ate grass. Did not apparently like my Butternut squash vines -- thank you!! -- because I have some squash formed on those vines. I sold all those little boys yesterday and walked through the garden area this morning, to see how bad my work would be.....what they didn't eat.

We've had horrific rains, so no disc or till for several days...more coming about Thurs. Haven't started the Fall plants yet, so I'm ok right now. Gotta work on those!

But I found these radishes that I had not pulled -- & they only wanted the tops. I didn't even know a radish could get this big!! there were 3 of them. I'm amazed - bigger than most turnips.

 

[baymule]

Today I picked 29 tomatoes, a few cucumbers and a crap load of green beans.

 

[flowerbug]

A couple of weeks ago I declared the garden lost/done and decided to let the goats into the area, hoping they'd eat the grass & weeds! Well after eating every leaf on a bean, potato, pepper or tomato -- they ate grass. Did not apparently like my Butternut squash vines -- thank you!! -- because I have some squash formed on those vines. I sold all those little boys yesterday and walked through the garden area this morning, to see how bad my work would be.....what they didn't eat.

We've had horrific rains, so no disc or till for several days...more coming about Thurs. Haven't started the Fall plants yet, so I'm ok right now. Gotta work on those!

But I found these radishes that I had not pulled -- & they only wanted the tops. I didn't even know a radish could get this big!! there were 3 of them. I'm amazed - bigger than most turnips.

View attachment 14473

oh yeah, some radishes can get pretty big. i don't usually grow them for eating other than a few people who might eat a few here or there, but i do like the sprouts here or there, but not enough to make a huge crop of them. having left them to flower i find some that will get quite large. and then there are certain varieties which will get as big as my arm (and as long too). they are very useful for drilling holes through clay to improve drainage and to give the worms something to eat. ends up the deer will eventually eat them in the winter if there is nothing else to find. like turnips they can have some interesting smells when decomposing in the spring when the thaws come along at last. turnips smell like beer, i can't quite figure out what the radishes smell like but they're ok as long as i'm not accidentally stepping on them and getting mush in my crocs...

 

[Mini Horses]

I know daicon (sp?) get big but, these were just some regular that I threw in ground to mark a row of other things. They were too spicy for me, pulled and tossed.

Just happy butternut survived!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My favorite is French Breakfast aka. D'Avignon. Super mild. I use them as row markers, but love them, they are sweet, never biting. I slice them vertically, and spread peanut butter between 2 slices to make a radish "sandwich". SO YUMMY.

 

[BarredBuff]

I dug a hill of potatoes last night. Not too shabby!

 

[Mini Horses]

My goats ate all the potato leaves. I got nothing. Not a big potato eater anyway. Let them in thinking they'd leave those alone. Wrong!

Ready to re-till & re-rake roots. Never ending. Covering all with the old hay I got for that...hope it helps for Spring. I'm also ready to "cover crop" to see if THAT works better. Here it's warm enough for some of the seed/grain crops to mature before frost....maybe some chicken feed will come of it. Then Fall crops can go in very soon. Starting plants this weekend, I hope.

Realizing things were pretty strange this year -- especially eventful for gardening & canning supplies -- so I found myself looking at some of my seed sites. Yeah, already. I'm sure I will buy up lids/ring in Jan. Birthday gift to me! I can say, just tooooo many tomato types. Looking at what I want to use, I'm buying a paste, a large canner type (determinate), a slicer and trying a little, dryish, type to dehydrate this year. Then, I will keep only one short row, after the canners come in I'll pick and cut down.

The info from @Chic Rustler on the bender & elec conduit has me finding that to be a goal for making the top support for a small greenhouse....Yep, found & priced. Cost effective. So, some spare wood gathered up for that to happen before winter. Still looking at "goat proofing" or changing site.

 

[flowerbug]

picked tomatoes, some melons, onions, beans.