What have you done today in the Garden?

@Willowisp0801 - look at your white stuff Willow. Good timing for you. I've used left over alfalfa pellets for years on our lawns. We raised rabbits for many years, and any left overs were spread. It made a huge difference. I've only started purchasing it for the garden this year. Do you use feed alfalfa Willow? I buy a bag of alfalfa rabbit pellets and use that instead of the garden store alfalfa - where I live it is way more affordable and accessable. And you get lots.

 

Did a bit today.
Stripped this wisteria and collected a lot of leaves off the patios and lawn.





That's four done, just one to go.



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I'll leave this for a bit and let a lot fall, naturally. They'll be contained on the patio and the prevailing wind will keep them up this end of the garden. So will be easy to clear every couple of days.

Cleaned my golf shoes, clubs, trolley and bag ready for tomorrow.
Just checked the weather forecast. Not good. If it's raining at 7.15 am tomorrow, I won't be going.

 

Yes, it is feed. This is the bag of pellets. The cubes are in the galvanized garbage can, that these sit on. I was going to buy a can for each of them, but when I went to Ace they had two bottoms but only one lid! Then I forgot to go back and get another. So it just sits on top of the cube's garbage can. I paid maybe 12 dollars for each of the bags. They have lasted 2 gardening seasons with no mold/spoilage issues. But I store them off the floor of the garage, close them tightly then put a cheap plastic container over the closed opening. I will probably need to buy a couple more bags next year. And I'll have a second garbage can for the pellets. I also don't dump them in, I put the whole bags inside and scoop out what I need. I just have two raised beds and a small compost that I use them in.
Sorry I never noticed I opened the bottom until I took this picture. I did make sure I got pure alfalfa, with nothing else. The rose photo bombed the alfalfa's picture!

 

When we lived in Texas we had chickens. We moved into a house that had an in-ground pool. My granddaughter was maybe 3. She had on of those blue plastic wading pools. We moved in, in the fall and all the leaves were falling. Her little pool quickly filled up. When I would open the gate in the mornings, the chickens would race over to the pool! They loved it.

 

Hahahahaha!! Thanks for the alfalfa explanation. I saw alfalfa meal at the hardware store this summer and could not believe the price. I shake my head at our prices here Willow - a bag of alfalfa pellets is $34 for me now at our little feed store. There's no big retailers, and they pay for their own shipping costs, so it gets passed on. Maybe I will put that on the City Trip list

 

Wow! That's crazy! Hopefully around here it hasn't gone up that much. I bought mine at either Fleet Farm or Farm and Fleet.I never remember which is which. I'm also in dairy farm country. So maybe that makes a difference.

 

Broken record here . Refreshed more tree leaves mulch.

 

Don't worry Daniel I'm the same at the moment, nothing today it's raining so I'm doing other things.

 

Nothing today as it rained.

 

@Willowisp0801 , here, rabbit pellets are cheaper at another feed store than at Tractor Store. We have both stores here. I feed them to my horse for a treat or to supplement when hay is scarce. She loves them. And the chunks of alfalfa are more expensive than the pellets. I may try the pellets a bit later.

I like to watch Robbie and Gary Gardening Easy channel on you tube. She gardens in mostly totes because at her place, their yard used to be a parking lot, and there are loads of tree roots and varmints, so in ground gardening doesn't work very well for them. She does her composting directly in her totes and containers. She also makes water fountains for hummingbirds and other birds. She does not use piles.

I am also trying to make compost tea (David's Fetid Swamp water is what Scott Head calls it on his gardening channel)

My garden is a mix of containers, totes, raised beds and in ground garden beds.

 

Thankfully, rabbit pellets here are about $12 at the local feed store. They are or were over $20 at the Tractor Store. I have not bought the chunks for several years, but they were closer to $20 at the time. Drought raises the prices, and we had a severe drought that year.

 

Dry or sunny days are my gardening days. Bad weather days are for working indoors and cleaning my house, or sewing or other projects.

 

More leaves.

For variety, I hauled some arborist chips to start covering an area that's too difficult to get to, to mow, and was quite weedy this year. I put down some second hand black plastic, which needs covering with wood chips. That will keep weeds out. Next year, I might grow a squash there, or might just leave it be.

 

We didn't have rain but it was sooo cold. And it isn't even as cold as it can be. I did go to Migardener, he has a 20% off of seeds sale....so I, of course, ordered some. Now I'm going to go to bed. We get up early and leave earlier when it's cold just in case the roads are slick.

I have worm boxes in my basement (3) which I put my kitchen scraps in and my compost out back is just yard waste. I don't want critters coming for a feast, so I keep worm boxes in the basement.

I will check out the rabbit pellets next time I need more. Thanks

 

The excitement never ends in rural coastal Oregon in the PNW. Slurping my first cup of coffee, yawning, looking out the sliding glass doors to the front garden. Suddenly the cats are on Red Alert. My youngest girl cat, Tweety Pie comes running out of the front garden, ears flat, and jumps up on the front porch under the bench. Wha...? There's a huge black cow admiring my driveway flower, perennial and tree boarders sliding along sampling the leaves as she moves leaving deep pivot holes .

By the time I was out of my jammies and into my workies, she was gone. I watched her trotting across the pasture up the hill, made a left and down at the bottom of the curve toward the canyon. I grabbed my phone to let my neighbor know one of his prize Black Angus was on the loose, but he was already sprinting across his fields in her general direction. God speed, Bob . God speed and good luck.

The last time I tried to rescue a Black Angus, it was a huge bull next to the horse corral… well… let’s just say a bucket of oats didn’t exactly work. The bull let out a huge bellow and scared the horses half to death and one horse went flying out the corral gate broke down the fence post. That’s another story for another day.

Since I was wide awake and dressed for it, I decided there was no point dilly dallying. So decided even though a bit stiff from the fall the other day I hardly thought of it while dealing with the cow raiding the garden and loosened up my whole core area, joints and all, without even noticing. Grabbed my boots, coat and gloves and off to feed the horses.

The outside water faucet is now turned off and drained. All the hoses are drained, coiled, and stored. The water is turned off from the pump inside the pump house. The garden water is run directly from the well no filters, the minerals in the water help the plants but not the house appliances . A separate water system set up for the house.

All is winterized and the gaps under the doors are fixed in the shed. Foamed up the holes at the bottom so mice couldn’t get inside. It was a mess after looking for stuff all summer, so I got the whole thing cleaned out and organized.

Removed all the annuals from my pots. Set the perennials all packed up next to the house on the porch. I'm not ready to lift the cannas, calla lilies, colocasias, and dahlias . We had temps into the 45’s for a couple of nights but now it's back up into the normal low 60’s so the soil is still warm.

By the way the best investment ever for garden tools is my new battery op clippers . I used them to cut out a massive holly tree that decided to take over the Rosa Rugosa that has grown to the size of a small tree on its own. The clippers made mince meat out of the project. Imagine cutting a holly tree 6’ X 8’ out of a 7-8’ rose tree. Sneaky little holly grew so fast almost 7’ before I noticed how thick it was and not fun trimming out prickly holly trees from a prickly Rosa Rugosa.

The birds plant holly’s everywhere. The Rosa Rugosa like’s the hot and sunny side of the garden. Now that it is freed from the clutches of the holly literally, it will rejuvenate by next season. The spikes on 3-6’ holly clippings will have to wait til tomorrow. …or the next day…or the next day after that… I already feel like I’m poked full of holes. I placed holly trees and shrubs around the garden in certain areas to discourage the deer from entering areas. Works really well in many areas around the garden . The deer don’t like to get poked either.