Duck's New Ragtag garden, Version 2020

[ducks4you]

I should mention that Colorado has 4 wildfires out of control right now. 2 nights running you could smell the smoke, like your neighbor was having a cookout, but not.
Yesterday, this smoke cloud blew in from the East in Georgetown, and this is what the sun looked like.

 

[ducks4you]

Here is the ash on the ragtop this morning. You can make out tiny, ashen pine needles.
We had the last of the trout for dinner. I managed to set off the fire detector. Didn't know that they TALK to you now.
Note our "sippy cups", that I found $1/each at WM. The lids screw on and I didn't have to bring my more expensive travel mugs.

 

[ducks4you]

Sadly, we leave on Wednesday. This has been our view for the past 2 weeks. ALSO, sadly, the owners intend on building on a 30 ft addition which would take away our lovely view. I can't seem to be able to post the video we took. Maybe DD's will show me how...in about 60 seconds!

 

[digitS']

Pine trees on hillsides, spruce and aspens along the creeks ... Except that part of Colorado has spruce right on up the hillsides.

Venturing down to near Alamosa would put you in forests more similar to here. Probably put the cedars back on the northside of the mountains.

Our sunset last night was a gorgeous display of yellows, oranges and red. Too hot, too dry ~ please ~ not too windy. A little break from the "above room temperature" mornings, coming tomorrow.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

How interesting, bc you are further north. Thanks for sharing that. I wouldn't know bc I have lived east of the Mississippi my whole life. Do you get a lot of rain in ID? I know that Standee Hay Co, (Eden, ID) harvests/processes exclusively hay, and that needs both a good amount of rain and enough time to dry it out.

 

[digitS']

We have had less than 1/4" of rain in 6 weeks. In fact, that 1/4" may have been over 6 weeks ago by now.

No, this is the arid Wild West, just a little into the Rocky Mountains.

Alamosa Colorado is southwest of where you are now. The environment is similar because it's at such a high elevation. And, I guess, the Southwest Monsoons occur as yet, still further south.

Just back from the garden. Oh Heavens, it's cookin' in this neck of the woods.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Let's talk cardboard. I have used it as mulching for several years now. As you know I have 5 acres, 1 of which I Have to mow and Want to garden. It is very useful, but be aware that cardboard can attract vermin, and one article suggests it attracts termites. Before you run away from cardboard, your Neighbor would have to have a termite problem, and the cardboard is probably Not the reason that your house gets them.
First, how long does it take for cardboard to break down.

How to Use Corrugated Cardboard As Mulch

Mulch has a great deal of benefits when used in a garden setting. One material that works...

homeguides.sfgate.com

In my experience it takes longer than 3 months. If you cover it with grass clippings/other mulch, that would hasten the break down.
IF there is Anything toxic in your soil, you can lay down cardboard first, build a raised bed frame, and control the soil that your vegetables/flowers grow in.
Unless you cross one sheet of cardboard over another, weeds will find their way through the cracks, so be brutal and use as many Amazon boxes as you can find.
Be careful when walking on wet cardboard if you have it in between your beds! It can be slippery when wet.
Weeding is our bane, but I don't always pull out purslane or white clover.
Out to mow. Today, I am taking my old camera, bc I don't think I've given you enough pictures on this thread. I has a distortion on the RH side, but I can crop.
Speaking of Crops, I have 5 ears of sweet corn from the patch waiting to be eaten today by DH and myself.

 

[Zeedman]

I wish I could use corrugated fiberboard in the garden - especially when I could get so much from my former job. Unfortunately, anything impenetrable enough to kill weeds will quickly become rodent habitat.

In my battle against the weeds in my rural garden, I laid strips of tar paper on both sides of the gherkins, thinking that would kill the weeds there. It was successful in killing that swath of weeds... but a mama vole decided to nest under the protection of the tar paper to raise her brood. I'm surprised it could tolerate the heat under there with the sun shining. I only noticed when the vole - as voles do - chewed off several of the gherkin vines at the ground. Flipping up the tar paper, mama vole ran for cover, and I dispatched the young so she would not return. Haven't seen any sign of the mama vole; the semi-feral cats that patrol that garden will quickly catch anything which moves into the open.

Voles prevent me from using weed barrier to the extent I would like to, in the spaces between rows & under trailing vines like squash. I lay a lot of hay as mulch instead. The mice can tunnel under the hay as well, but they are not protected from the cats there, so their numbers are usually low enough to be tolerable... and traps protect the most vulnerable crops like soybeans & tomatoes.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm not sure what keeps the voles from doing more damage around here. we do have them from time to time, but not often in large numbers. perhaps the snake population is helping because we do have a lot of snakes. what we lack in voles we make up for in both mice and chipmunk populations. i don't trap the mice unless there are signs of them around the foundation of the house. i will trap and hunt chipmunks otherwise i'd not have certain crops at all. they've been under control here this summer as i don't hear or see very many at all. there were a bunch running around this spring and into the early part of the summer but i did get them hunted and i rarely see them at all now. they can rapidly reproduce though to fill any gaps. one year i did trap over 50 of them within a few weeks and it was crazy with how many were around here.

i haven't seen any of the semi-feral kitties around since i've trapped a few and they've hissed at me while i've let them go again. we were trying to catch the groundhog or raccoon or something that was eating the tomatoes and/or brocolli and cauliflower. no luck with any of that. put out two rat traps and caught mice with those. have not reset them.

 

[ducks4you]

Until you get pictures, you can think of beer.

Turning Toilet Water into Beer

Brewing beer uses a lot of water: from the irrigation needed to grow barley and hops to the aqua that ends up in the bottle. American brewers use an average of seven gallons of water to make one gallon of beer. This has pushed craft breweries to think about how they can reduce their water...

modernfarmer.com