What have you done today in the Garden?

Well...I just figured out what green manure is. Here, green manure is fresh cow or horse poop. Like really fresh.

I like this idea

 

It's probably too late now, but what if you planted the garlic amongst your strawberries?

I would, but then I'm kind of an oddball anyway.

 

Quite jealous that you have these handsome fellas. My oldest daughter found one in the Southern Interior of BC this summer and sent me photos. We've named him Hank He was hanging out in the plum tree eating bugs.

 

TOTALLY thought of this! And..put my extra little bulbils in there this morning Two odds make a right?? or an even?? hahaha Thanks Daniel. Always appreciate your input. I feel better that you thought of it too.

 

I plant garlic in with my hostas. The experiment was to keep the gophers and mice from eating the hosta roots.
As spring approached the first year all the hostas come up fuller that ever before as did all the garlic.

 

I read your posting here with great interest. When I see that bed, I can see some similarities with my own in appearance. That bed of yours is chock-full of goodness for the coming ear. You have done so much good work there. I threw our marigolds through our mulch layers as well.

I am a bit confused— is that a raised bed then or is it one of your compost bins? All of a sudden I could not be sure.
If it is a raised bed that had onions in it last year, are you planning to place garlic in this same bed next year? That would mean you will have Alliums in there two years running. I can’t do that here because our club insists that we rotate our crops. I would do it anyway, but they want to keep disease down. They are especially stringent with the Solanaceae family plants.

I really liked how you ended your piece with green beast. I guess that he is praying for a place to stay over the winter…or giving thanks that you are the resident gardener there.

 

@Sjoerd, it's a raised bed. I mixed the marigold choppings into the soil, along with some biochar and bone ashes.

I agree with your garden club in principal, but I don't have room to follow the rules 100%. Most of the annual crops in this fenced area are Solanaceae or alliums, with beans filling in when early crops are done. The rotation for 2023 will be -

Last year tomato - > next year garlic
Last year onion - > next year peppers
Last year tomato -> next year onions
Last year peppers -> next year tomatoes
Last year garlic, then beans -> next year tomatoes

A sixth bed would help, but I don't have room. I wanted to use the container bed for peppers, but they didn't do well (peppers, shallots, tomato didn't. Potatoes and beans did great), I think it's the soil mix, so I will experiment with that next year. If I can work that out, the rotation will be better.

Outside the fence, I rotate sweet corn, then squash, then potato, then start again with sweetcorn.

It's not a perfect rotation. Since I don't bring in plants from elsewhere, raising most (except garlic and potatoes) from seeds, I think that helps. I also don't use compost from my vegetable garden, for vegetables.

Edit: I might have it figured out. If I replace the soil mix in the container beds, maybe I can grow the peppers in those. Then, this year's onion bed can have tomatoes next year, and this year's pepper bed (which also had a couple of tomato plants) can have 1/2 beans and 1/2 of a small growing bush squash. No repeats for allium or for Solanaceae. Your garden club will accept me! I've grown lots of peppers in containers before. I think it's the soil.

 

Thank you Daniel

 

@Logan - Love the new avitar! What handsome gents.

 

A bit of garden tool maintenance.
I've a Barnel telescopic pruner for small branches and a Fiskars lopper for bigger ones.

I extended this lopper once, using some aluminium tubing, strengthened with an outer sleeve of Polypipe.
But I recently have been finding difficulty reaching next door's silver birches which keep growing, where they hang over our garden, without using a ladder propped up against the party fence.

I've been getting a lot of earache from my wife lately about "using a ladder at your age." So I've added another four feet to the handle using some spare bits of aluminium tubing and Polypipe I had in the garage. So this lopper is now all of fifteen feet in length, still quite rigid and not too heavy.
I took the opportunity of sharpening the blade and oiling the mechanism.

 

@Doghouse Riley that sounds like a good plan to avoid ladders. I avoid them too.

 

@Melody Mc. thank you, they were Moss on the left and Willow.

 

Yes great idea not to use ladders, hubby doesn't feel safe up them anymore.

 

Worked on the west deck stairs, leveling for planters on the side and making the rain water go where I want it for now. This early in the game who knows what I will do later.

 

Today we finished cleaning the greenhouse.







We finished the beds off yesterday. Today they are looking good, but as more refuse comes, we will add that as well.


Today was perhaps the last lovely day for awhile, so we made the most of it. We have an extended period of rain coming our way for the coming five or six days, so we will be stuck at home.

Well there are things to do at home.

That is a good rotation, Daniel. I find it a luxury that you have five beds you can rotate…annnnnnd, plus room outside the fence. I would lurve to have such a sea of room.

Glad to hear that you have your situation sorted.
Mate, our garden club would find itself lucky to have you as a member. That’s for certain.