dogmom4

They’ve been sold out in my area for a couple of months. I think more people than usual are gardening/trying their hand at composting. I know it’s like that in my area. Live ladybugs were also impossible to find in the spring. I know there is a difference between red wrigglers and earthworms...but in a situation where you’re not able to find the red worms...it could be a think outside of the box situation to use earthworms. I had a fellow gardener tell me the night crawlers I have wouldn’t work to show my students how composting works..he said they were only good for bait and were notorious for escaping. A lot of articles said the same thing. But I found a couple that said they had used them. So I put a lid on the aquarium I had and we ended up with some very dense compost (see the picture). Now I have them in a much larger container so we’ll see how they do.

Midnightmom, I’ve had some issues with my squash as well...they’re just kind of sitting there not doing much. The weather’s been very different this year....hot then cool then hot then cool...the plants that like nice hot days so the know what to do. My tomatoes are doing fairly well though.

Ambergris...I have appreciated all the information you’ve been posting...any new news?

Ok...wow...I just was checking prices for worms online. Prices are crazy. I found one place that has a good rep where you can get 100 worms for 24.99...that’s still a lot. But, they do reproduce and eventually you’ll have more. To be honest, if I was you I would dig worms out of my own yard…and if you don’t have access to a yard ask a friend. Put the word out there that you’re looking for compost worms… Someone might be willing to give you a handful. Goodness gracious… For these prices I should come up with a side hustle and sell worms... Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm

I’ve been definitely seeing more front yard gardens popping up in the past couple of years. And quite a few new faces on my local FB gardening groups.

Here’s a good thread to follow if you’re wanting to grow your own worms. Worms

Happy birthday!

If you’re a gardener you probably know how expensive it to buy fertilizer/compost/ anything for your garden nowadays. We all need to be more frugal in these inflationary times. Having a worm bin is a great way to use up food leftovers to create your own compost and worm tea. You can buy premade bins or make them with things you might have around your home. I’ve added some links with some good ideas. Iowa worm composting Cheap and easy worm bin Worm bins Or you can make them out of things you have at home. I was gifted these bins someone was going to throw out (see photos below). The gray ones have solid bottoms and the pink ones have holes. I dropped a pink bin into a grey one...the fit works so that worm tea can drain into the bottom bin. Add something porous to keep the worms from dropping through bit will allow the ‘tea’ to go through. I had weed block so I used that...some people use screening. I then add some food scraps...torn up paper....the worms...and some cardboard. Don’t forget to wet it down. And keep them in a fairly cool space. It will probably take a couple of months to get some good compost. if you look at the pictures and see that the worms are actually nightcrawlers. Where did I get them? A couple of months ago my boss at the preschool I used to work at dropped containers of worms on each teacher’s desk and suggested that we do something with them as a science project. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that these were actually fishing worms. She was super excited to see compost happening... Mine were the only survivors... I set them up in a fish tank because that’s all I had to work with...we gave them shredded paper, t.p. rolls and some food scraps. If you look in the pictures you can see the very dark soil they created from that. Good science project....and I brought them home because the other teachers didn’t have a clue how to keep them alive. We’ll see how fast and how much more they will create in a bigger space.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy belated birthday Jeepers!

Happy Sunday everyone! Well...it’s official. I barely crawled over that line to make it to the end of the school year...and now I’m officially retired. I will fill out my exit survey then turn in my keys and computer tomorrow. Y’all don’t know how relieved I am... Today I’m going to the shelter to walk dogs then depending on my energy level I might run a couple more errands. Once I get home I’m going to spend some time in my garden. It’s much cooler today. We had a string of very hot days...Friday it was 105 and yesterday was 101. Today the high is only supposed to be 85. What’s everyone else up to today?

On a couple FB groups I’m on people were saying a number of stores in a bunch of different states were cash only today...I haven’t seen anything on the news about it though.

Ugh. My husband had a really bad case several years ago. It was very painful for him. I hope never to get it. I caught chicken pox as a freshman in college in the dorms...they sent me home immediately. I had blisters all over...from scalp to the bottoms of my feet and places that are unmentionable...my hope is to never experience anything like that again. Funny thing is I decided two days ago to order some oil of oregano caps to combat UTI’s...it’s arriving today.

I’m wondering why as well Mother. Everything I’ve read shows it to be a mild disease...beyond the gross out factor (for me at least) of having blisters all over you. Why is it becoming a big concern? Is there an expectation that it might mutate into something worse? I feel like we just don’t need one more thing....

Bummer....have you tried shade cloth?

Happy birthday!🎂🎉🎁

I’m appreciating my strawberry harvest this year. I’m picking a bowl every other day right now. Usually I buy extras from my local farmers market...yesterday 3 baskets of strawberries were selling for $18! Last year you could get a whole flat for $20... The slugs and pill bugs are fighting hard for them though....

Hey girl! Welcome back! Just keep taking one step at a time and you’ll be ok....

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Yes! We are very proud to have our very own author here! I re-read mine every couple years.

Organic beans This is a link to the program where I got the beans from. They’re bred to be disease resistant and to grow well in my area. They pass them out for free to the community to try out.

Welcome Joyfilled Redhead!

Mother, I don’t believe they’re Anasazi even though they look like them. They are partly a variety of from Mexico called a Zuni bean...what’s nice is that they’re heirloom so the plan is to have some to dry for eating and some to save.

One of the nice things about living near an ag university is that grad students are at many of the big events around town giving out goodies…at the whole earth festival yesterday grad students were giving out seeds they were doing research on. I got different kinds of bean seeds developed for my area. Can’t wait to try them out.

Happy Mother’s Day!