What Did You Do In The Garden?

ducks4you

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DH used the tractor yesterday to push the post holding the stainless steel 13ft gate straight. He suggested that we use a HD ratchet tie down strap the hold it against the post just south of it.
NOW, the gate, with it's wheel, is sitting 8 inches above the ground Next to the gate, on the ground where I hook it to the garden fence post (there ONLY for securing the gate.)
We Crept with the tractor and managed to move the post straight without snapping off any brackets OR snapping the actual post (8 ft tall, 3 ft buried.)
DH said he could feel the pressure with the tractor, BUT it still moved. I am leaving the strap ON the fencepost. DD's had volunteered to cement it in place, but I told them where are out of time for this year, will revisit next year.
We have 4 more posts and gates to deal with. We Learned that I need to dig a lot more on the other side of the posts to make it easier next time.
Pictures to follow...
 

heirloomgal

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I was able to turn over with a fork 1/2 the front yard garden. I didn't think I'd be able to mix in all the small animal bedding, it was sitting on top and I thought I had run out of time to get that done. Feeling pretty great that the soil micro organisms and worms can start breaking all the straw and wood shavings down now instead of spring. Much happiness, since that garden needs some fertility action. 😊
 

Dahlia

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I was able to turn over with a fork 1/2 the front yard garden. I didn't think I'd be able to mix in all the small animal bedding, it was sitting on top and I thought I had run out of time to get that done. Feeling pretty great that the soil micro organisms and worms can start breaking all the straw and wood shavings down now instead of spring. Much happiness, since that garden needs some fertility action. 😊
That's funny you rototilled your front yard garden with just a fork! I used to use a scissors to "weed whack" the grassy areas by my front yard fence and anywhere the mower couldn't reach. I have operated a weed whacker before and I didn't like it - I ended up chopping and trimming things I didn't mean to! Lol!
 

flowerbug

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That's funny you rototilled your front yard garden with just a fork! I used to use a scissors to "weed whack" the grassy areas by my front yard fence and anywhere the mower couldn't reach. I have operated a weed whacker before and I didn't like it - I ended up chopping and trimming things I didn't mean to! Lol!

i like quiet times. i also like not finding bits of plastic string from trimmers all over the place. i told my brother that if he could find an electric trimmer that has a metal blade that i could use that we might use something like that. i went and tried to find one myself but ran out of patience for that kind of shopping within a few minutes. i suppose i could go rent one maybe but also don't have much care for that at the moment either.

the season is winding down. the frosts are doing their thing. once this (or a) big plant gets knocked back far enough i can take it down with some pruning clippers in a few minutes. i prefer to wait until the leaves have all fallen and become mulch.

i'm not sure Mom will tolerate my tardyness, but she has been pretty busy herself so perhaps she'll say something next week, by then it may be denuded enough for it to be easier and lighter for me to take a tiny bundle (it took me eight times to get that word spelled right, oomph!) of sticks to a garden to bury them. or something... :)
 

heirloomgal

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That's funny you rototilled your front yard garden with just a fork! I used to use a scissors to "weed whack" the grassy areas by my front yard fence and anywhere the mower couldn't reach. I have operated a weed whacker before and I didn't like it - I ended up chopping and trimming things I didn't mean to! Lol!
And those 5,000 rpm plastic strings are scary!
 

SPedigrees

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I always found gas powered string trimmers to have too much power to easily control, but I love my battery powered string trimmers, and rely on them heavily.

Yesterday I brought in all the windchimes and other hanging gee-gaws from the front porch, and hung them in my enclosed back porch for the winter. (I call that back porch my "new age room" when it is housing the chimes.)

Then I brought in all the solar lights for winter except for 2 in the picnic area that I will get later. Today I have to clean up all the lights I brought in and remove their batteries, and also empty out 3 remaining flower pots and bring 3 garden cat statues currently residing on front porch indoors for winter. Changed out the late summer porch flags for Halloween themed flags.

Tomorrow I have to drive to town for groceries and stop at a vegie stand en route to buy a pumpkin. How can Halloween be only days away?
 
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Shades-of-Oregon

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I dislike gas trimmers. I switched to battery op hand tools a few years ago. They are cheap, recharge and replace just about any garden tool. Including hand pruners , leaf blowers and chainsaws.
They are light weight and dependable. No more throwing a neck out with string starters.
 

digitS'

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Okay, I finished the olde bed started before frost killed what was in the new ones. There was just too much for the compost bins, mostly marigolds and cabbage went in. And, we were able to save some secondary heads on the Tiara cabbage. It's the first time we have had to wait so long for those little heads to grow after the primary was harvested – better not use that shady location in the future ;).

Carried tree leaves to cover some perennials and this morning, everything is covered with frost even with a thick blanket of fog. Surprising that there could be this much moisture in the air. It must be from the river.
i may look at a map i made of a distant garden that was fully in beds and incorporated my 3 beds in 1, composting-in-place scheme
The map couldn't be found. It's been nearly 2 decades since the property owner sold the home and our distant garden migrated across the road. This is a recent aerial view. I had it all in beds and would dig out 1/3rd of them each year to incorporate frost-killed plants annually.

I like how the new owners have allowed some pine trees to grow in this triangle of level ground while mowing around them. If it wasn't so far from the house, it would be a nice place for a picnic gazebo, there above the river (obviously at low-water stage when the picture was taken).
Screenshot_20241025_182002_Chrome.jpg

digitS'
 

Shades-of-Oregon

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Yesterday mulched leaves with the rider mower which literally chops leaves smaller to blow over to mulch the gardens.
Then out checking the pastures and didn’t find any moles, gophers, ground squirrels or deer activity or scat. Alleluia…But I did notice that there were scads of mushrooms growing everywhere almost in circles or over long tunnels left by the moles. Many different types of mushrooms growing on top of the tunnels like little flags noting exactly where the mloes had tunnels.

I was curious about this phenomenon since it was the first time so many mushrooms were lining the tunnels around the entire pasture areas. And I spent a great deal of time all year eliminating the moles and other ground pests . Including the deer,

This is what google described as the reason for this explosion of mushrooms thruout the pastures.
Why mushrooms grow over mole tunnels ???
Hyphae are the feathery filaments that make up multicellular fungi. They release enzymes and absorb nutrients from a food source. These mushrooms specifically colonize mole latrines near nests, forming ectomycorrhizas with the roots of their host tree. (This explains why moles are constantly crowded around the cherry trees along the
pastures) . The hyphae and roots absorb, transform, and translocate the nutrients from mole excretions, cleaning the mole's habitat.

Mm-mmm who wudda thought! Now all the mushrooms are squished by the mower back to the earth . I’m hoping this is the last I see of moles for awhile. 🤞

@digitS' your pizza pie land division pic has made me hungry for …yeap you guessed it..Pizza. 🍕 Hawaiian style.
For dinner.
 
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SPedigrees

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Yesterday mulched leaves with the rider mower which literally chops leaves smaller to blow over to mulch the gardens.
Then out checking the pastures and didn’t find any moles, gophers, ground squirrels or deer activity or scat. Alleluia…But I did notice that there were scads of mushrooms growing everywhere almost in circles or over long tunnels left by the moles. Many different types of mushrooms growing on top of the tunnels like little flags noting exactly where the mloes had tunnels.

I was curious about this phenomenon since it was the first time so many mushrooms were lining the tunnels around the entire pasture areas. And I spent a great deal of time all year eliminating the moles and other ground pests . Including the deer,

This is what google described as the reason for this explosion of mushrooms thruout the pastures.
Why mushrooms grow over mole tunnels ???
Hyphae are the feathery filaments that make up multicellular fungi. They release enzymes and absorb nutrients from a food source. These mushrooms specifically colonize mole latrines near nests, forming ectomycorrhizas with the roots of their host tree. (This explains why moles are constantly crowded around the cherry trees along the
pastures) . The hyphae and roots absorb, transform, and translocate the nutrients from mole excretions, cleaning the mole's habitat.

Mm-mmm who wudda thought! Now all the mushrooms are squished by the mower back to the earth . I’m hoping this is the last I see of moles for awhile. 🤞

@digitS' your pizza pie land division pic has made me hungry for …yeap you guessed it..Pizza. 🍕 Hawaiian style.
For dinner.
Yesterday mulched leaves with the rider mower which literally chops leaves smaller to blow over to mulch the gardens.
Then out checking the pastures and didn’t find any moles, gophers, ground squirrels or deer activity or scat. Alleluia…But I did notice that there were scads of mushrooms growing everywhere almost in circles or over long tunnels left by the moles. Many different types of mushrooms growing on top of the tunnels like little flags noting exactly where the mloes had tunnels.

I was curious about this phenomenon since it was the first time so many mushrooms were lining the tunnels around the entire pasture areas. And I spent a great deal of time all year eliminating the moles and other ground pests . Including the deer,

This is what google described as the reason for this explosion of mushrooms thruout the pastures.
Why mushrooms grow over mole tunnels ???
Hyphae are the feathery filaments that make up multicellular fungi. They release enzymes and absorb nutrients from a food source. These mushrooms specifically colonize mole latrines near nests, forming ectomycorrhizas with the roots of their host tree. (This explains why moles are constantly crowded around the cherry trees along the
pastures) . The hyphae and roots absorb, transform, and translocate the nutrients from mole excretions, cleaning the mole's habitat.

Mm-mmm who wudda thought! Now all the mushrooms are squished by the mower back to the earth . I’m hoping this is the last I see of moles for awhile. 🤞

@digitS' your pizza pie land division pic has made me hungry for …yeap you guessed it..Pizza. 🍕 Hawaiian style.
For dinner.
Glad to know you seem to have won the war with the ground squirrels.

Pizza sounds wonderful. That great new wood fired pizza place near me is unfortunately located in the town 30 minutes to my south, and in winter I usually shop at a town 30 min to my north. I may have to make a special trip southward before the snow flies.
 

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