What Did You Do In The Garden?

[flowerbug]

oh how i recall the days of frying tillers in this clay too... we had two small ones which broke fairly quickly so we gave them to someone who liked to fix small engines.

i just don't like noise in general. so it was very easy for me to switch away from tilling. i had one large area out back that needed leveling that i borrowed the neighbor's tiller for back almost ten years ago. haven't needed one since.

for small weeds the strap hoe works well enough. for larger areas with deeper rooted things, if i don't need that space right away i can put down a few layers of cardboard and top it off with wood chips. by the time the cardboard rots almost all weeds are dead - and even if it takes a second round of smothering i'm ok with that. luckily i do have the space.

if i do need the space i use a shovel and dig out the weeds that have the worst tap roots or are spreaders like the sow thistle, globe thistle or horsetail.

 

[ducks4you]

Renting first is ALWAYS a great idea!
Just FYI. The instructions for my tiller say to mow first before you till. I probably use my tiller 10x to 12x/year, some years maybe more. I am going to till a year old pile of stall debris this weekend with it. It has held up even with finding bricks that I forgot were there in my garden bed.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Anyway, it is completely useless to kill weeds in the paths. The amount of rock in the soil means the little thing just skips along! And, it needs to follow the tractor tiller or my walk-behind or the spading fork. I'd hate to have to rely on little tiller from the get-go.

Steve

I do not have the rocks you have but I do have them and my dirt is soft but on the path, you just walk a couple of times and it is hard. I keep saying I am going to cut down the size of my garden, but I already know when I start seeds I will have a million tomato plants, so it is not going to happen, but I hope to space things better and I was thinking of what the neighbor said but I think a Mantis tiller going in between plants might not be good. It could tear up roots.

 

[Nyboy]

We used to raise rabbits back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Mostly for show, actually went to a show in Huston Texas that Bay had something to do with. We tried our hand in raising quite a few breeds, Checkered Giants, Tans, Belgium Hares, Satins, Champagnes, Californians, Netherland Dwarfs and Holland Lops. We did pretty good on the show circuit winning our fair share of BOB's and even a few BIS's. We gave this up when we found ourselves wanting to do other things but we had a great time while we doing it. If I got one rabbit I know that would get me going and I'd have to have more soooo I just look around for someone raising rabbits and beg or buy a sack or two of black gold.

Annette

I know the addiction all to well as I wait for my new puppy to arrive today

 

[aftermidnight]

I used to have a Green Machine for cultivating in the veggie garden
https://www.google.ca/search?q=gree...AUICigB&biw=1213&bih=786#imgrc=kLw9RYeVBPcvmM:

You have to deal with a cord but it worked pretty good, don't know if they still sell them, just stand there and let it do the work.

Annette

 

[aftermidnight]

I know the addiction all to well as I wait for my new puppy to arrive today

We want pictures!!!

Annette

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Lucky you, rabbit manure the best of the best. I was lucky enough to find some last year dug it into the raised bed where I grew the cucumbers this year. We picked 100 or more Diva Cucs off 6 plants. Now we have to buy, $4 for an English cucumber, imported from Holland so the label said.

Annette

I like the manure, but I NEVER wanted rabbits. The neighbors turned their rabbits loose and moved away. Some have died over the years and I think one is about 7 years old now. I have a feeling I will never be without rabbits. DS and I talked about it. What happens when only 2 left and 1 dies and there is 1 lonely rabbit left? The neighbor had chickens with the rabbits all running around his big yard, which was fun to watch, but if he had not moved away and continued, there would have been 100 of those rabbits running all over the neighborhood. They did not stay in his yard. They came over and ate my flowers and all the leaves off of broccoli and new plants, dug a giant tunnel under a rose bush. They knew where they lived. They would come over in the winter, chase each other around the yard in the snow, eat some old herbs like thyme sticking out of the snow, and run back home through the fence. I have one raised bed and I am going to put some rabbit manure and get it ready for spring for greens.

 

[journey11]

I like the manure, but I NEVER wanted rabbits. The neighbors turned their rabbits loose and moved away. Some have died over the years and I think one is about 7 years old now. I have a feeling I will never be without rabbits. DS and I talked about it. What happens when only 2 left and 1 dies and there is 1 lonely rabbit left? The neighbor had chickens with the rabbits all running around his big yard, which was fun to watch, but if he had not moved away and continued, there would have been 100 of those rabbits running all over the neighborhood. They did not stay in his yard. They came over and ate my flowers and all the leaves off of broccoli and new plants, dug a giant tunnel under a rose bush. They knew where they lived. They would come over in the winter, chase each other around the yard in the snow, eat some old herbs like thyme sticking out of the snow, and run back home through the fence. I have one raised bed and I am going to put some rabbit manure and get it ready for spring for greens.

That is funny. I would not have imagined. I just assumed you kept them and bred them. I have two bucks we got for free and they drive me nuts. My sister knew someone giving them away and I was still sad over losing our sweet little American Lop that my soft head got the best of me. I am glad for the manure, but they are so gross the kids can't even pick them up. They've run with the chickens in their fenced yard all summer and now it's time to put them back in the hutch where they pee all over each other. I fear they will live forever! Couldn't pass them off on someone else in good conscience....

 

[Nyboy]

I thought rabbits liked living alone. Does mine need a friend to be happy ?

 

[journey11]

I thought rabbits liked living alone. Does mine need a friend to be happy ?

They are more sociable with their human, easier to handle if you only have one, but prefer the company of their own kind.