What Did You Do In The Garden?

Trish Stretton

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lol, I had a cuppa tea out in the garden with my own dried tea leaves.
I was really surprised that they had dried so quickly, they didnt need to be hung up anywhere and the taste.....was a little on the bitter side, so I may need to practise my toasting technique, but definitely drinkable.
I do tea the chinese way, put the leaves in the pot and drink, then keep topping up the teapot with hot water. This is my summer fluid intake for the next few days, then its back to bought stuff til next year.
 

flowerbug

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lol, I had a cuppa tea out in the garden with my own dried tea leaves.
I was really surprised that they had dried so quickly, they didnt need to be hung up anywhere and the taste.....was a little on the bitter side, so I may need to practise my toasting technique, but definitely drinkable.
I do tea the chinese way, put the leaves in the pot and drink, then keep topping up the teapot with hot water. This is my summer fluid intake for the next few days, then its back to bought stuff til next year.

i'm definitely jealous! :)
 

Beekissed

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Do the ducks stay in the garden year around? Even when its planted?

They come and go there, as I let them in and out, especially when planted. Any small sprouts they can trample are lightly fenced off with push in stakes and deer netting so they can't trample or consume them, but the rest are left as is.

Last year I had many horn worms, this year I didn't have a single one! Last year I had a full on million squash beetles, this year I could actually count how many I had.

LOVE the ducks!
 

Cosmo spring garden

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They come and go there, as I let them in and out, especially when planted. Any small sprouts they can trample are lightly fenced off with push in stakes and deer netting so they can't trample or consume them, but the rest are left as is.

Last year I had many horn worms, this year I didn't have a single one! Last year I had a full on million squash beetles, this year I could actually count how many I had.

LOVE the ducks!
That is awesome! I need ducks! Squash bugs destroyed my winter squash this year. Do the ducks eat bean beetles?
 

ducks4you

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I broke off the tops of the gladiolas that I planted in my bed on the north side of the garage, next to the big cement thing that I unearthed a few years ago and moved. It had had a previous fence post in it, and had a broken metal piece sticking out of it. I had had a cinder block on top of it, but finally moved it and planted it upside down in my garage flower bed so that the metal would rust and not hurt anybody, OR any of my horses. DD reminded me that I have more cement pieces to move and that the tractor would be a perfect vehicle to do this. TOTALLY bonus!!
I accidentally pulled one out of the ground and found that it had grown a small corm. I dumped an entire wheelbarrow of used stall bedding on top of this to help insulate. We will see what grows back next year.
These experiments are always worth. Even without mulch I have had a few gladiolas make it to the next year over the winter.
 

Beekissed

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That is awesome! I need ducks! Squash bugs destroyed my winter squash this year. Do the ducks eat bean beetles?

Yep! They eat any bug or worm they encounter in there. They CAN destroy some leaves in doing so~they can shred squash leaves when eating the squash bug eggs~ or with their wide, flat feet, but if you keep the stocking numbers down and rotate them in and out of the area, you'll avoid most damage.

Try to get Indian Runner ducks...they are lighter wt. than larger, heavier breeds so they do less damage in trampling, and they are also taller so can reach higher on the plants for pests.
 

Prairie Rose

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We are getting a hard freeze tonight, so I went out and lifted my dahlias this morning, and have them flipped upside down in the sink, draining. I have one night sky petunia left in a hanging basket that has escaped all frost damage so far because it is hanging in a tree, I will bring that it when I walk the dog this evening.
 

Prairie Rose

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I broke off the tops of the gladiolas that I planted in my bed on the north side of the garage, next to the big cement thing that I unearthed a few years ago and moved. It had had a previous fence post in it, and had a broken metal piece sticking out of it. I had had a cinder block on top of it, but finally moved it and planted it upside down in my garage flower bed so that the metal would rust and not hurt anybody, OR any of my horses. DD reminded me that I have more cement pieces to move and that the tractor would be a perfect vehicle to do this. TOTALLY bonus!!l
I accidentally pulled one out of the ground and found that it had grown a small corm. I dumped an entire wheelbarrow of used stall bedding on top of this to help insulate. We will see what grows back next year.
These experiments are always worth. Even without mulch I have had a few gladiolas make it to the next year over the winter.

Ducks my gladiolas always come back year after year, and I am out in the open with no wind protection on any side. I do have some losses, but they are in the low-maintenance bed that I plunk everything that doesn't have a place or a color or a label into and let it live or die. I don't even mulch them heavy for winter, let alone dig them up and bring them inside.

So glad you are enjoying your new tractor! I have a beauty berry bush planted right on top of the old satellite dish pole that sticks out of the ground to catch unwary lawnmowers and stray feet. There's a rosebush on top of the remains of what used to be a clothesline pole. I don't have any way to dig the old metal up, except by hand, so my motto is to plant a shrub on it, lol.
 
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