Just got my shipment of 1,000 peat starter pellets in today. It's basically what I've been waiting for to start my indoor setup. I'll be kicking that off tonight to get things going. 1,000 for just under $80 delivered was a pretty good deal I thought... way cheaper than anything else I've found by far.
That is a good deal! What are you going to start with? I had a setback over here.....propagated more than 50 Hawaiian air plants and some coleus and got tricked by the weather. It froze and all my shit is dead. And the plumeria, and the Chaya. Fuck. I have more coleus seeds and enough Hawaiian air plant to get some more going, but it'll be awhile. Lots of wasted time and effort, but you better believe that won't happen again, so lesson learned I suppose. So...happy gardening to all of you.
Just look at this pathetic shit. On the weird side, the lemongrass survived and wasn't even slapped by the cold. It's such a heat lover that I would have assumed it would be the first to go. Nope, it was the most tenacious.
Yeah, it took a few weeks to be delivered but I figured it was worth the wait. And I have no idea yet. Tomatoes and peppers for sure, otherwise just a bit of everything to see what sticks. Plan on going through the available seeds tonight and just going to town... have lots of space and options, so "everything" might be a legit answer.
Man that is rough, sorry bewildered! It definitely has happened to every gardener ever, though, don't be too hard on yourself. I have such a short window of spring like weather here, it goes from too cold to too hot in a blink. Last year, I planted half of my cucumber starts on time, hoping to get a nice jump on production before the real heat arrived. Those plants all froze. The next round, planted late, did just fine. Even so, I will probably do the same thing this year, because if I get some in on time and they LIVE, I am way ahead on what they can produce. It's a bit of a gamble, but the stakes are actually fairly low, so meh. It's the same story with tomatoes, a thin window where it is warm enough to live, but quickly too hot to set fruit. Always a bit of a balancing act.
Thanks. Feels good to vent about it a little. I was so pissed at myself when I discovered what happened. Yea, I remember your cucumber pics from last season! They were awesome. So sorry they froze.... I really do know the feeling. I may jump right into summer planting like you and Nett with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers. I had starts for winter veggies going but we just got dumped on with the snow starting in February and it's just now nearly melted away. Maybe I just need to take a breather and then get started on the summer crops. I'll plan better next year. Not used to having options for cold weather crops and I'll admit, it's a little overwhelming. I need to focus on a smaller variety and not get to ahead of myself. They're just seeds after all. And effort isn't wasted if I enjoyed doing it.
Planted a shit-ton of seedlings today... lots of big trays of lettuce, swiss chard, spinach. Lots of other smaller trays of a few different types of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, broccoli, snow peas. Also lots of herbs: catnip, basil, thyme, cilantro, etc. I've also just placed the order for the pieces/parts I need to make a second raised wicking garden bed... pool liner, etc. I'll pick up the big roughcut pine boards from the mill next weekend. The one thing I've learned is that I'm hiring some labour to do the actual hauling/shoveling of the sand, gravel, and topsoil... I'm too old for that shit any more. Did it last year, but no more.
The most useful and cool thing I've found on facebook is a large, private seed trading group. I've traded with 11 people so far and have a huge variety of new seeds to try. I was looking for a couple specific things, which I was able to trade for, but also got a lot of new things to try. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys starting their own plants from seeds and loves having a great variety or collection. As well as posting PSAs people publish lists there so you can browse around for things that interest you. I'd be willing to trade with anyone on here as well, so if you're looking for something specific let me know. A small sampling of some of my new seeds... Today is pick through and plant day. Decisions, decisions.... New garden buddies! We haven't had them even a week yet and they are warming up to us really well. Food=love I guess. It'll be several weeks before they are out of the brooder and in the coop with access to the run, but my garden is currently empty so it'll be okay.
Talk about burying the lead... you have ducks?!? What are the plans? Planting an orange tree as well? Natural bug/slug control?
I wish I could grow citrus here! Maybe a dwarf cherry tree. I really love cherries. I am definitely planting some raspberry canes this spring. Yep, it's all about their foraging abilities and egg laying. These are Indian Runner ducks. I've got all females, and they max out around 4lbs each. Very light footed. @Revengeofthenerds planted that seed in my brain a couple years back and the more I read the more obsessed I became. I knew I had to have some runners. They lay almost as much as a chicken (300-350/year) and duck eggs are superb for baking. The details are hazy but I may or may not have cried over the slugs eating all my seedlings that one spring. Wave after wave of them. It won't be as bad here but there is always some sort of bug or slug to handle, and these gals will take care of it. Plus their waste isn't "hot" like a chicken's, so I can directly water my garden with their pool which cuts down on wasting water. They'll be in a netted run for the majority of the time due to hawks but can come out and garden with me while I am out there working. I've been spending a lot of time converting the kid's playhouse by the garden into a coop. Digging a ditch for a hardware cloth apron is a real bitch but I've got to get that done before they can live out there. But they have to live inside for awhile due to temp and due to training my dogs not to eat them. I could go on for awhile about these ducks. They are so adorable. They are starting to look up at me when I come to the brooder and rush towards me when I put my hand down. Gah. I can't take it. Spoiler
Yep, your orange joke went wayyy over my head. Spoiler The easiest one to identify is the crested duck who is the ringleader and very feisty. We are calling her Beyonce. She makes a ton of racket when separated from her flock. They are always covered in food. I've been feeding them fermented feed which is wet. They gobble it up but it gets everywhere.
Congrats!!! Runners are awesome, and super friendly. They're gonna imprint on you (if they haven't already) and think you're their mother. Unfortunately they are very messy when they're little, but when they get bigger just get them a kiddie pool from walmart to play in and they'll clean themselves off. Once you make brownies with duck eggs you'll never want to bake with chicken eggs ever again. Absolutely beautiful little guys, makes me miss mine. I'm down to two now after hawks and owls took the other ones and a hawk attack recently killed my goose.
Yeah they are supremely messy. I am giving them new water (because they splash around in it and the waterer is empty) 3-4x daily. I just got the design down for the food area fixed up so they aren't in standing water constantly. I have their food, water, and grit on top of a kitty litter pan covered in hardware cloth, with the corners taped down and protected with duct tape. It's been a little easier since I made that. Get mooooore. I think you said you got yours from Metzer, right? I looked into them and they are hella expensive and charge crazytown prices for shipping. I got mine from Ideal Poultry and feel that I got a reasonable deal. They only charged me $9 to ship them to me from TX. You might even be close enough to go pick up some from the hatchery!
My wife would murder me if I got more. She hated them at the beginning and still hates them now (because they hiss at her; I told her it's because they can sense evil). However, we may have no choice in the matter, as one of them is nesting what I think is a fertile clutch.
Aww. Sorry to hear that. I mean sorry that your wife is evil. Do you have wild ducks that come into your yard?
Well we live on a ranch so there’s certainly wild ducks around, and it’s a possibility that one of them got knocked up that way. But I think what happened is, of the two remaining we aren’t sure if one a male or female (it was a warmer with a shipment of the other ones). So if it is a male, then maybe having the male goose around prevented it from mating because of some kinda alpha male thing? Either way this girl is nesting non stop and she’s plucking her feathers for the best which she hasn’t done before. It’s a good sign (they pluck their feathers to make the nest warmer but also so their skin is closer to the eggs). I’m now guarding the yard from predators like a roaming sentry.
I've heard Male ducks are super saucy and they need like 5 females per male or they'll be oversexed. I bet you have 2 females. I think you would have witnessed some activity. You'll have to see what hatches to know for sure!
I almost feel like we should have a livestock thread. I may have missed your mentioning it, but if any part of the enclosure or coop sits on bare ground, make sure you secure against predators digging in and under. What I do is dig down about 4-6" and then run hardware cloth from the bottom of that to whatever height you end up with. Chicken wire won't stop a weasel or a determined coon. (Whoops, I see now you already mentioned doing this. )