What did you do today?

[challenger]

What did you do with the bees?

I made a special vacuum so I can suck them into a hive body with drawn comb. I do a lot of jobs like this.

[challenger]

[QUOTE=Dave C;n1877112]

Today I removed another bee hive from a house.

What a mess. I hope you got it all cleaned up. I could imagine ants replacing the bees.

Indeed. All the comb and any trace of honey, within reason, gets gone.

[Dan Dubeau]

Finally got all my garden in. It's going to be a lot of extra work to keep up with weeds as we let it grow in last year because we never had time for it. But with kids ball cancelled, and mine still undecided I'll have lots of time to weed and tend to it this year. Looking forward to beans and fresh tomatoes again. Only made it 1/4 the size it used to be, but am going to tarp another bit to expand into next year. Probably wont ever get as big as we used to have it pre kids, unless they start pulling their weight.....lol

Also dried out some new play sand to make some more green sand for casting (way better than back yard sand). Pretty beat after doing the garden, so that can wait till tomorrow to mix up.

[Dave C]

[QUOTE=challenger;n1877182]

Indeed. All the comb and any trace of honey, within reason, gets gone.

That had to be a heck of a lot of work. Good job!😄

[The Metal Butcher]

Mostly took the day off after studying my butt off for the past three weeks. I helped a friend while he was in town, he wanted to convert a rim brake bike onto a disc brake bike. I would have assembled it, clamped the disc and then tack welded the new bracket on with it held tight. He didn't have any of the parts so he just lined it up however and I tig'ed it on. Surprisingly though we've had the 330A/BP for like almost a year now, I've done almost zero steel to steel (I mostly do thicker metal and thus mig or stick), so it was good to get some practice in. I get nervous doing tig welding and my hands shake so bad until I calm a little, so by about the time I finished I started to get some OK welds. Ah well. It won't fall off. Didn't burn through, so I'll take it. Hopefully it works with such a questionable fitup.



I also got to try the new lagun 14x40. Found more problems with it. On the bright side, the Rockwell was all but maxed out on an 0.08" cut, and this lathe doesn't even notice it's doing anything.

[Tungsten dipper]

I made a special vacuum so I can suck them into a hive body with drawn comb. I do a lot of jobs like this.

Just like Jeff Horchoff (Mr Ed) on Youtube! Watch him everyday!! I'm glad there's folk like you to save them bees.

[RMinMN]

Finally got all my garden in. It's going to be a lot of extra work to keep up with weeds as we let it grow in last year because we never had time for it. But with kids ball cancelled, and mine still undecided I'll have lots of time to weed and tend to it this year. Looking forward to beans and fresh tomatoes again. Only made it 1/4 the size it used to be, but am going to tarp another bit to expand into next year. Probably wont ever get as big as we used to have it pre kids, unless they start pulling their weight.....lol

Also dried out some new play sand to make some more green sand for casting (way better than back yard sand). Pretty beat after doing the garden, so that can wait till tomorrow to mix up.

Weed seeds don't sprout unless they have good soil contact. Tilling the soil usually keeps the soil so loose the seeds don't sprout until watering or rain packs the soil so a few days (3 or 4) after a watering or rain another tilling is in order and any seeds sprouted will die when disturbed.

[J Tiers]

Weed seeds don't sprout unless they have good soil contact. Tilling the soil usually keeps the soil so loose the seeds don't sprout until watering or rain packs the soil so a few days (3 or 4) after a watering or rain another tilling is in order and any seeds sprouted will die when disturbed.

The downside of tilling is that some seeds are light activated, and can be in the soil for years, dormant. They may sprout when brought up where light gets to them. So each tilling may bring up a new batch.

[Dan Dubeau]

The problem with tilling in my garden is creeping charlie. Tilling just chops up the rhizomes and amplifies the problem. Back when I started this, I did it all wrong right from the beginning and have been fighting it ever since. I should have tarped for a month it to kill off everything, and help pick out the creeping charlie but instead I just went at it like a meathead and broke it up, sod and everything with the plow, and then busted it up with a tiller. Was fighting weeds and grass for years, and was finally making headway before we decided last year to not plant one at all, because with work, and baseball we had zero time for it. I wasn't planning on planting this year either, until we got word that kids ball was cancelled, so I never tarped it to kill the grass that had grown back. I only tilled about a 1/4 of what it used to be, and will tarp another 1/4 so that next year I can move it there and tarp where we planted this year. I'm going to lay cardboard, compost and mulch between rows this year to help out.

I know a little bit more about gardening now than I did when I started, but am still learning a great deal. You tube and the internet in general has been an invaluable resource, but my gardening knowledge is still firmly at the beginner level. I pretty much made every mistake you could when starting a garden, and have payed the price ever since. My parents always had a garden, but I had zero interest in it, never learned to identify weeds, how to deal with them etc, so basically started at zero when we moved here.

Long term plans are raised beds to help the back, and a small green house about 8x12 to negate a permit (almost impo$$ible due to recent rezoning changes).



The area between the garden and kids playhouse is going to become a patio, and firepit area starting today. With a future outdoor kitchen and maybe gazebo at some point. Wife has deemed it essential....there's about a 3' drop between the 2 (garden higher), so I'm going to build a rock wall surround around the fireplace that will also provide a convenient place to toss all the rocks that "grow" in the garden. The soil here is much better at "growing" rocks than veggies lol.

[flathead4]

Started a second batch of strawberry wine.

[Mcgyver]

The problem with tilling in my garden is .

I grew up on a farm. My parents were both from the city and got into this idea of grow and raise everything you can yourself. Man it was a lot of work. It was a great lifestyle, and wouldn't have traded it for anything.....but it was like the clouds parted and the sun beamed down on me the day I learned you could just buy vegetables

[Dan Dubeau]

I grew up on a farm. My parents were both from the city and got into this idea of grow and raise everything you can yourself. Man it was a lot of work. It was a great lifestyle, and wouldn't have traded it for anything.....but it was like the clouds parted and the sun beamed down on me the day I learned you could just buy vegetables

lol, yeah it's a rewarding lifestyle, just don't calculate your hourly rate....

This year I kept it simple and just planted tomatoes, peppers, watermelons (kids wanted them), spaghetti/acorn squash, beans and snap peas. The wife did plant a row of carrots, radishes, and kohlrabi though 🙄.... along with her lettuce and herb garden in the front. A fresh tomato sandwich from the garden can't be beat and homemade salsa and pasta sauce is actually something I enjoy making and eating. 3 years ago I had 40 tomato plants, and it was a full time job every 3 days to can them all....Only have 8 this year so it should be a bit more manageable

There's a good farmers market in town here and I'll gladly just buy produce and meat from them and do things I enjoy more with my time now. Although I would like to try raising ducks, and pigs at some point for some reason.....Somebody talk me out of it lol.

[mattthemuppet]

this was what our 2 beds looked like a week or so ago


So far we've had a few cucumbers, some tomatoes, some spinach (on the stand) and a handful of peas, plus a whole load of parsley. Nothing that will keep us from starvation, but I enjoy it and the produce tastes fantastic (especially the tomatoes).

Several random tomato and basil plants have popped up from last year as well as a few melon/cucumber/squash looking plants that probably came from the compost. We have another bed but the soil is poorer so things are taking a bit more time in there.

[The Metal Butcher]

lol, yeah it's a rewarding lifestyle, just don't calculate your hourly rate....

Same for heating with wood and rebuilding machinery. You don't want to know!

[Dan Dubeau]

Same for heating with wood and rebuilding machinery. You don't want to know!

2 years ago I put in a propane furnace, prior to that we heated primarily with wood. It's the only fuel that warms you twice lol. Although I actually do love cutting and splitting wood. We still burn wood, but that's more forest and trail maintenance than sustenance. I can say that rebuilding machinery isn't an interest at this stage in my life, so I'm safe there. For now.....

Nice gardens Matt, I want to move to raised beds eventually to make weeding easier, and also grow in better soil. Ours is naturally very sandy.