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I couldn't find this topic so I started one. If I missed it please delete.

Today it looked like spring i.e. no snow. So I didn't spend long out there but I cleared the debrie from two of the mums clusters that would trying to take over the walkway. Then I emptied them in the compost pile and began raking it all back together because the wind has spread it all over the back yard again.

I hope we have a long temperate spring because I need everyday I can get to clean up the debrie from last year and do all the prep work for this year.

What did you do today?


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I haven't really gotten to the yard at all yet this year; everything has been more house improvement...

We got the solar panels installed last month and we're waiting on the letter from the power company saying we can turn them on (which should be here any time).

I've been spring cleaning like crazy, I need to put up a shelving unit in the garage for food storage, then try to finish organizing my closet so I can put the upstairs back together.

We're planning on having the back yard leveled this summer, and a new fence put up; but I'm not sure when... When it does happen I'll need to re-pipe our sump pumps (since the piping runs the span of the current fence).

I'm thinking about putting a small raised garden bed around a seating area that I'm going to have once the yard is leveled, but I haven't really thought it out too much since I'm just waiting to get it done lol... We have a pretty huge slope to the back yard that makes it a pain to do much of anything out there.


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I look forward to hearing more about your solar panels.

I've been doing some spring cleaning too. It's nice to get such an early start on it.

I tried keeping food storage in the shed. It didn't work for me. There is no heat in there and the glass jars made me afraid. So I moved everything inside. Now it's hard to find thing.

How do you plan to organize your closet?

A seating area around your raised garden beds sounds lovely.

I understand about slopes I've good one doozy of one myself.


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Our garage rarely gets below 40 or so, so it's not much of a bother; the new shelving units are a must though since the old one is quite literally falling apart and I'm surprised that it has stayed in one piece for so long...

I have an "ok" sized walk in closet, I'm throwing a lot of stuff out and I moved a dresser in there to help boost space in the rather small sized room lol... I also plugged up the laundry chute as it's not in use and the hamper where it empties to has been converted into storage as well.

I plan to get some boxes and box up older stuff that I still want to keep (some of Trey's baby things, some of my old Boy Scout stuff, etc) and put it at the top and out of the way, and try to condense what I have down (if it doesn't fit and I can't find a home for it then it's got to go).

I actually got rid of quite a lot of stuff from my old apartment several months ago too... This is just like phase 4 lol...


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Is this the thread you were looking for, TK ??

//www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/358947/What_did_you_do_in_the_garden_.html#Post358947

This is in: Landscape Trials & Triumphs"

and is titled:

"What did you do in the Garden Today" # 10....
I believe it is at post 91.


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Your so good JunieGirl. Yes that is the one I was looking for. I guess if it had 91 posts we can let it go. What do you think?

Do you have those space bags Gremelin?

With this house I've made a rule. If I don't have a place for it then I can't have it. At this point that means that if I want a picture I have to get rid of one because all of the walls are pretty much covered. And it means if I get a piece of clothing I have to give one away. Which works because I'm trying to lose weight and get rid of the diabetes.

Now for the garden:

Dug up one 5 gallon pail of compost for the flower beds.
Cleaned up two more mum clusters. I really should have done a better job with that last fall but I wasn't up to it.
Cleaned the weeds out of the birdbath flower bed.


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Well, if that wasn't a workout I'm not sure what is lol... Just spent the last 4 hours in the garage trying to straighten it up just so I could make a total mess of it again...

Busting down an old shelving unit to cannibalize the "good pieces" to repair another unit, then I'm replacing the one area (that'll now be missing a unit) with a new solid steel frame one for food storage (versus the one that's being cannibalized which is falling apart).

Figured it'd be a several day job, which it will be, but after finishing what I just did it doesn't look like I did much more than make a larger mess lol...

And no, no space bags; then again the only things in my closet are "storage" (much of which I am parting with) and clothes (and sheets, mysteriously half of which disappeared when my ex left).


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Sounds like a work out to me. I have to do that too, I have to clean up a space before I can work in it which messes it all up again.

I have a steel shelving unit in my shed. The metal bent. I don't know what the previous owners had on it. To make it sturdy I have 1 inch thick boards across it.

I don't have any space bags either. With me I'd forget they were there and replace the things that I had stored. I'm forgetful that way.

I'm sorry that your marriage didn't work out.


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I've had the panels live since Friday Night and I've generated 60.63 kWh from the sun! Pretty good start lol; I wasn't sure if I'd get the credit for the weekend since my monitoring was only up since this morning, but it shows all the way since Friday.

Looks like ~26 kWh/day is what it's generating right now; I'm sure as summer swings into full force it'll get better. It's been cloudy all day, so it's only at ~9.66 kWh with the average timeframe of power generation ending at 7, I've got 4:15 hours left to get back up to my average from the weekend lol.

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Can't get in the big garden because of the rain, but hubby planted two rows of sweet peas in the small garden behind the house. We're afraid it will be too late for them since it's warming up here, (fingers crossed).
The cabbage and onions are doing good. Got to get the potato's in soon!
Nothing but rain, rain, rain for the past 2 months.

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That's exciting. That would almost manage my daily usage. Congrats on the solar panels.

It's great that you have started on your veggie garden. I've got some kolrabi but that is all and it's in a planter on the deck. My wildlife is way to greedy around here to have a veggie garden in the yard. You should see what they do to the fruits.

I'm keeping count of the compost that I'm using this year. So far I have 7.02 cuft dug out and spread into the garden and there is still more to unearth. I'm very pleased with that. Since I moved in I've never really gotten enough compost to make me feel that it was useful. But this year is making up for it. It is year 5 at this house.

Today I weeded the blueberry patch, amended the soil with compost and sulphur, and added a light layer of mulch to help with water retention.

It's not a great deal but it is a beginning.


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On a sunny day I can be assured it'll generate ~25-28kWh per day, on a cloudy day (read: Oregon) it'll generate anywhere from 7-17kWh per day.


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your system would almost generate enough energy to allow me to be comfortable all year round without an electric bill. That would be nice.

I got back out in the garden and dug up another bucket of compost. This one will be scratched into the soil around the peonies. They are starting to come up. They always look so wierd when they first break ground.


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Well today I spread one 5 gallon bucket of compost on the peonies along with bone meal. And the rest of the bucket went on an azalea that I don't think made it. I'll give it another month and see if it comes up with any leaves.

Then I dug up another 5 gallons of compost to use tomorrow.

Then I raked up more of the unfinished compost and put it on the lower end of the pile. So far the pile is 3x5x4 and that is just with the unfinished compost piled up and what was along the side of the house. I still have the entire yard to mow and rake. So I should have the entire area for the pile filled by mid spring. Then it will just be turning and adding grass for the rest of the growing season.



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I've got to restart my compost pile.

Today I planted parsley and put fertilizer in the straw bales where I'll be growing squash this season.

The radishes are coming up nicely and the lettuce is holding it's own. No sign of the carrots but it's only been since the 29th. Same as the radishes but I know it takes carrots a while to show up.



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Are you going to use yeast or beer to restart the compost pile. Or do you use something else?


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Let me rephrase that. I need to totally start a new pile. When we got the 2 mastiff puppies the first thing they worked on was pushing down the wire fence that was around my compost pile. Once that was done they had many fun days digging in, wallowing in, rolling in, spreading all over the place and just generally having fun in the compost. The lovely, black compost is still out there, I'm sure, under the grass that has now grown over it. There's still somewhat of a pile but it's covered in grass. So, we're going to get a 10 foot wire dog pen and start from the bottom up.



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Are gardens and dogs mutually exclusive?


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Depends on the dog and these were puppies at the time.



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Originally Posted by tkhooper
Are you going to use yeast or beer to restart the compost pile. Or do you use something else?


After I sift my compost,, the largest pieces not yet ready to go thru the sifter I put back into the bin and those pieces restart my compost again,, I didn't know of any other way and it always works,,,, Beer and Yeast huh??? Might add that next time to see if it starts even faster thumbup
Today on my lunch break I bought two more clematis (white) and peatmoss,, But we are expecting thunderstorms and hail, and dropping in to the 30's at night so I will wait for the weekend to plant them.


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Wow hard to believe we'd see 30's this late in the year but then it's been doing strange things the last few years.

Yeast and beer are just another way to get microbes into the compost. Using some of the unfinished compost from last year is pretty much what I depend on most of the time.


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