Jen Fulkerson

They are doing well, I thinned them to other day. I will definitely plant a lot more carrots all year round from now on.

The moringa in the survivors pot didn't survive, maybe to much competition? Everything else in the planter looks great.

The 2 moringa in the large pot look pretty good, there's a few yellow leaves. They didn't grow very big. They are about 12" tall. maybe because there's 2 close together?  They are the only 2 to survive, so I didn't want to do anything to compromise them further.  I will over winter them in the greenhouse.
I hope to plant a lot more next year. I will direct sow if possible. If I'm very careful not to disturb the roots at all they will transplant, but at least for me are very sensitive.
I look forward to trying again next year.

The garden is a giant mess, and I need to get it cleaned up so I can plant my fall/winter garden. I was wandering around trying to decide what should be removed now, and what should wait. I thought that zucchini isn't producing very well, and takes up a lot of space, it goes. Then I see soooo many juvenile to lady bugs in a few different stages. Well the zucchini stays for now. The beans have aphids again, and I've just ignored them, because they are definitely going to be removed asap. I guess the lady bugs heard about the feast and showed up in droves.

Flowers yeah

I was in the garden today, and thought it would be fun to get this post going. The funny thing is though I always intend to save seeds, I usually don't manage it.  I've been a little better this year.

You know your a seed saver when you walk around the garden with a pocket full of dead flowers

you know your a seed saver when you look at the dried beans hanging on the vine instead of seeding the end of bean season, you think of the ton of seeds you can plant and share next year.

I look forward to hearing you finish the sentence.

Even though the seedlings are pretty small, so are the terracotta pots, so I decided to pot up some of them. One of my new favorite seed tools is a paint brush. The end makes a great dibbler, and the brush  gently pushes the delicate roots down the hole. Luckily it's also the perfect size to fit in the drainage hole and pop the soil & seedlings out of the pot. It was as easy as any other pot. I'm pretty happy with the terracotta pots. my only complaint is they want to fall over. If I continue to use them I have an idea to hold them into place. For now it's not enough of a problem to worry about.

I have gone from thinking I may have to buy all my veggies this fall, to wondering what the heck I'm going to do with all these seedlings. When things weren't germinating I kept starting new seeds. I have lost track of how many broccoli seedlings I have, but it's way more than I need. If they survive and grow into healthy plants I'm going to be giving some away. I enjoy sharing, but not a lot of people grow winter garden's. It baffles me, because in my opinion it's the best veggies, and so much more enjoyable to be outside.

Thank for all your kind words and support. Happy gardening

I wanted to add The chickens use the roosting bars, and I love them in the back so much more, it makes the coop seem so much bigger, and way more functional. Also the ton of poop under the bars will be very useful when I make compost.
They are finally using the nesting boxes. They have pulled out all the nesting pads, and continue to use the boxes. I still get a pecked egg now and then, I think the rubber meant to protect the eggs isn't long enough. It doesn't happen often, and the barn cat loves getting the pecked egg, so am not going to fix it.
The door is my favorite fix because it makes it so much easier to let the hens in and out of the coop. The reason for wiring the wood on the bottom is so I can remove it easily if I need to. It's very tight and can't be moved without cutting the wire. The picture doesn't show it, but the board is lined up with the bottom wood so there's on gap mice or rats can get through. There's probably places critters may be able to get through, but I have tried to eliminate all I can find. I will say the chicken feed in the gravity feeder is lasting a lot longer.
What's next? I'm not sure if I'm being honest. Pretty soon I will attach the corrugated steel. on the South side by the roosting bars, so when it rains the chickens have a dry place to be, but that's just something I do each winter. I need to do something with all the chunks of brick and cement that was shoved in the rodent holes. I want to add living things to the chicken yard. No easy task, but it's definitely a future project. My son asked me if I was going to paint the corrugated steel panels that are always on the coop. I have thought about it, but I'm haven't decided. My to-do list never gets shorter.

Door redo.  My coop was built when my daughter was in Kindergarten, and she is 28. The coop has either settled, or the many years of wood chips have raised the soil level, probably both. Every night in order to close the door I have to dig out the space in front of the door. It's not hard, but a pain in the rear. The door is old, one we found in our barn left by the previous owner. The frame is solid, but the wood in the center of the bottom is very questionable.
When racoons were killing my chickens my son bought and cut a piece of wood to go over the bottom. To close the door we ran a piece of wire around the frame, and through a hole in the door and twisted it. Again it worked, but not ideal.
I wanted to continue to use the same door, but make it functional. With help from my son we wired a piece of wood to the bottom frame. We wired and screwed a 2x4 to the vertical frame pipe, so the door and frame will line up. Then we removed the board, and cut the bottom of the door to match the wood. We put the wood back on the bottom. We removed the tin,  and piece of wood from above the door, and replaced it with wood. I painted the door, and it was so much easier to use. It looked like crap, but so much better. I decided to paint flowers on the door. I built a fake garden gate, and added that, finished it by making it look like some of the flowers came through the gate. I also added a new latch to lock the hens up for the night.
Does it look like a new door? Absolutely not. But I used wood I had, it's very functional, and I'm happy with it.

Chickens can be odd creatures, you never know what is in their heads. I'm glad you finally found a solution.
I have been changing things in my coop, and chicken yard,  Everything new or different is not to be trusted. So far with time they do adjust.

We are still getting highs in the low 90's, but the nights are a lot cooler. Thank goodness the forecast is calling for high 80's, woohoo. The lower temperature, shade cloth, and maybe better watering has made a huge difference. I'm so happy. All the trays I started, or replanted are looking great. So far I like the terracotta pots. They charge color when they dry, so it's quite easy to know when to water. I may change my mind about them when it's time to pot up. I hope if I wait until it's a bit dry, and maybe it will pop out ok, fingers crosse, all goes well.
Things are growing well enough I need to start potting up. Not my favorite garden chore, but a must for fall gardening for me. A lot of the summer veggies are still growing strong. I want to keep those little seedlings growing strong while waiting for a space in the garden
I feel better. It's frustrating, and a bit depressing to epically fail at something I felt I was pretty good at. I think the use of row cover was a bad idea in the heat. My thought was it would keep the Harlequin bugs out. It never occurred to me it would keep the heat in, which is pretty dumb because well duh that's what it is for. I guess I can give myself a break because I never really need to use row cover. Anyway it's shade cloth from now on. I really wanted to get a lot of the plants started in August. I guess if I want to start seeds in August I need to start them in the house.
Thanks for sharing my sad seed starting journey with me, I  will let you know how the terracotta pots do. I hope if you are starting seeds your results are positive. Good luck, thanks