What did you do in your garden today?

[flowerbug]

...
At what time is best to water the garden for you? Should I get a sprinkler?

i water either early in the day or early in the afternoon but try to not water during the hottest part of the day. i do not water in the evening or at night. i want things to dry out before evening or night.

i use a hose, once a garden is planted i soak it down well and from then on it only needs a little water to keep it moist enough. once the seeds have sprouted and are established then i can water once every two or three days.

when i've planted starts instead of starting from seeds then i water every day during hot weather to make sure there is enough moisture getting down to the roots as the heavy soil here percolates slowly. after the plants are established and growing i'll back off watering lightly and switch to watering every other day or every third day depending upon the temperature and winds. if it gets really really hot i'll drench the tomatoes in the morning to help cool them off and also it helps them set fruits if they've not been rattled too much from the winds or storms or whatever.

with all our gardens it can take me some time to water but that is ok as i prefer only using a much water is needed instead of running a sprinkler. not every part of a garden needs to be watered (just where the plants are at) and i don't want to pull more from the well than is needed.

rains always appreciated.

 

[CLSranch]

I weed eated it down to dirt and replanted what didn't come up. I also replanted some salad stuff for the camper. Spinach and tomatoes on the go.

 

[flowerbug]

mowed, including the large patch of thistles that are taking over the southern farm field. i did not talk to the landowner yet, but i think he'll understand that i did not want to let them go to flower and they were just starting to set flower heads. i also mowed some of the tall grass over there too. i'd been mowing it the past few years but this early season it was too hot for me to do all that so i let it go for a month. there were tons of grass seeds there so i left some patches for birdie food.

i can normally finish what is left to mow on less than a refill of gas, but today i had to refill yet another time. the thistle and grass were all much higher than normal and even the previously mowed areas were long (even without rains it had grown plenty the past few weeks). so we're not going to let it go as long again if we can help it. depends upon what the heat and rains choose to do.

the raccoon(s) raided the strawberry patch last night. it's a good thing that i had a handful of them yesterday. Mom still wants to put out the live trap to catch and move the varmint but as it turns out she's not going to be around tomorrow and so there would be no way for me to transport it and she would not want to do it (and i don't either so i'd just let what happens happen and try to discourage it other ways).

a hundred rat traps would be fun to set, but i've seen some pretty funny comedy skits like that and i know how it would go for me...

 

[flowerbug]

watering and then planting beans, almost finished one garden and will get that done this morning before moving on to the next one. hope to finish that one too today.

nice days, perfect weather, need rains. now the forecast is for Saturday night and Sunday. hope it happens. grass is going brown already in spots (which doesn't bother me since then it means it isn't growing and doesn't need mowing, but what it means for everything else is that i have to water and hope it rains before stuff dies off again)...

 

[flowerbug]

got a few pictures taken this morning of the creeping thyme in bloom around the North Garden. it is coming along nicely. a lot of other clutter and debris in the way but that is ok with me. not any time to edit and post until we get some rainy days in a row.

 

[Dreamz]

Very sad since yesterday. Called and left message about biopsy but not a call back yet.
Did some weeding and began preparing for the beans. Have some white beans, red beans and black beans.
Lypita took the peeps fine, all 8 of them and she hatched her mom's egg too. The other 4 tossed on trash. I don't think they were fertile. But left the young roo out and he ran after the girls like it was the Armageddon. My poor Lil'Mama couldn't no more and maybe she hit a block running away from him. Well, found her dead under the coop. It has devastated me a lot. Yes, I am joyful of the new peeps but I miss my Lil'Mama so much. She was spoiled rotten every inch of her feathers.
This is my Lil'Mama

And this is her nugget

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So sorry!

 

[Mini Horses]

@Dreamz I'm sorry. She was beautiful

 

[Dreamz]

Thank you. She was amazing. I have a 3 sec video of her crowing. She scathe jeepers out of me because at that time I was told only 10 hens no roosters. So she was my 11th but 2 sebrights make a naked neck,lol.
She became broody about 11 times before she was a year old. Then, the next year, I got her a Cubalaya Rooster. He could mount the big girls but not crush the sebrights. So by mid June, I let her sit on 4 eggs. I enjoyed every minute of it with her. Until July 2nd when 2 pullets and 2 cockerels were born. One cockwent to the guy that sold me the Cubalaya and I kept the other one. He was gentle with all of them until he became insatiable. So this time her ran them all day. I don't know if she hit herself as running away from him but she was laying with one leg and one wing spread as if she was sunbathing. I checked her and she had no ants on her nor bitten. So right now I have him tied up by a leg outside while working on a more suitable house, a smaller coop. The guy that took his brother might take him. He breeds cubalayas and gets babies with good lines.

So not much work on the garden, even though I need to get the beans on the ground and make trellises. I think will do the net rope. They are not that heavy. The Asparagus seeds, only one seems to be coming up. Bought some culantro plants via Etsy and they arrived ok. Hope they spread for the summer. Got tired of buying seeds,lol
A second batch of potatoes began to show leaves over the ground, yeah!

 

[Mini Horses]

I hope she left you a chick that will grow up as lovely as she was