What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Gardening with Rabbits]

If we ever have another winter it might get some use for that too, but honestly last "winter" we had only 1 day that it got to 34 so I never covered anything & I had tomatoes, eggplant & peppers & all my herbs from the summer before that produced all through winter & all of those plants with the exception of the tomatoes are actually still in the garden still producing.... Like I said haha we don't have seasons

I need to move.

 

[ninnymary]

coco, that looks like a hugh greenhouse! Looking good.

Mary

 

[so lucky]

This clay soil here is too wet to weed. It fluctuates between too dry to weed and too wet to weed.

Yes, I normally put down paper and straw, but haven't got but about half the garden covered.

 

[seedcorn]

We had so much rain last year I did not cover with straw as I normally do as I wanted the water to get away and not cause molds.

 

[ducks4you]

I finished tilling at my DD's place. We almost finished planting the following in the southern bed of the back yard. Here is the grand total, so far, PLANTED in the south bed of the back yard:
60 salvia
40 impatiens
52 polka dot plants
8 potatoes (they were filler, in case we ran out of annuals)
6 columbine (2 nice ones from @Carol Dee!)
2 hosta (2 beautiful hosta from @Carol Dee!)
24 blue lobelia
2 bleeding hearts
We still have 12 impatiens and 12 blue lobelia to put in there, plus one begonia and one large, leggy impatiens that I overwintered in my basement from 2015.
The lobelia were 1/2 priced clearance at WM, as well as the small fern, and...4 geraniums and 2 foxglove, still potted.
I have gived my DD's a few nice ceramic pots and some nice plastic ones. DD transplanted a (again, clearance) lavender and a red mini rose (clearance, as well) to pots and put them on the front ledge by the the cement steps. Those will go into a bed by this fall, but have all summer to grow and get good roots.
We had to hand pull a whole garbage bag (we reuse 50 pound, plastic horse or chicken grain bags for this) of poison ivy growing around a tree in the west bed, and there is still a patch left to pull in the east bed. YOU KNOW how it is, "leaves of three, let it be" and I didn't want to take any chances.
GOOD NEWS!!! DD's have a large patch of wild strawberry! I'm leaving it to prosper, and I intend to surgically weed around it, and maybe plant some more vinca to live alongside.
I tilled around the almost completely shady area to the west, under an established tree and planted 40 cotton candy pink vinca, 2 cinnamin ferns (from a package, so we'll see) and a clearance tiny fern.
I also tilled a bed patch in front of their south facing fence and their east facing fence.
Oh, yeah, at home I planted my okra friday and watered it saturday morning with a 2 1/2 inch soaking rain. =b

 

[ducks4you]

This clay soil here is too wet to weed. It fluctuates between too dry to weed and too wet to weed.

Yes, I normally put down paper and straw, but haven't got but about half the garden covered.

I have clay soil under compacted topsoil, living on what used to be a farm. I tilled up under my DD's 100 yo property, where nobody had done anything with the leaves for YEARS and it was full of nutrients and very easy to dig. Darwin wrote a book about observing soil formation from worms consuming dead leaves and other material. My beds keep getting better and better because I have been working in compost for over 5 years now.
You can till it in, or muscle through and mix your clay with any kind of compost, but compost is definitely the key.
If you have a stable nearby, they have a steady supply of compost. If you were near me, I would give you the used 50 pound grainbags and let you dig up from the used bedding pile of your choice. You pile it up and if it's fresh it takes only 4 months to break down for use. Grass clippings take less time than that. Sprinkle in Preen and the seeds won't germinate.

 

[ducks4you]

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/strawberry/growing-wild-strawberries.htm
I may dig up some and replant them elsewhere as more ground cover. THIS will save lots of $.

 

[digitS']

It was 95ºf officially yesterday and a record set in 1882 fell! It was 96º a little while ago so I'm sure another record day.

The temperature was 64º this morning and we headed off for a weeding expedition. After several hours, it became obvious that the choice was at even odds between kill the weed or kill the weeder ... and so, DW and I escaped back to an air condition indoors!

One more day of this and the early June hot air mass is supposed to move east, over the Rocky Mountains.

Steve
yes, you read that right: the temperature is dropping 30º, overnight

 

[seedcorn]

@digitS' no t having ever visited Idaho, shocked at your weather.

 

[coco25]

@digitS' no t having ever visited Idaho, shocked at your weather.

Me too!!