I had planted about a hundred radishes (both 'Early Scarlet Globe' and 'Champion'), and now I'm down to sixty or seventy. Why, you ask? My cat, Honey, decided my radish pots were awesome play areas. She dug in them twice. The first time wasn't so bad; she only killed maybe four or five. Did I learn my lesson? Of course not. I made myself believe she wouldn't do it again (I was just too lazy to put up fencing). The second time around, she killed all but three in my pots. She hasn't gotten to the raised beds yet (where most of my radishes are), so I still have those ones. But the ones in the ground-pots (pots with empty bottoms so that the roots can extend into the earth) are pretty much all killed.
So I instead planted leeks—just came in from doing that—in the ground-pots. And now I have tomato cages around them. Try to get into those, Honey. Yeah, no more digging in my pots for her.
Eight of my 'Crenshaw' cantaloupes have also sprouted, and I got those into small containers. I'm going to be growing them in 15 gallon pots, because containers actually work for Cantaloupe cultivars. Bigger melons won't survive in pots.
One of the nine 'Sugar Baby' watermelon seeds I started has also sprouted. That one is a smaller melon, so they can be done in containers as well, but I'm going to try this one in the ground; 15 gal pots can get expensive. It's just fencing that's one big problem right now. We're working on it.
I'm hoping to get some big melons this year, but it's not likely with all the grasshoppers we have (another big problem). The property is overrun with the worst species of grasshoppers in the US (yes, Minnesota and SD have the worst hoppers in the country).
Anyway, the deer and rabbits don't bother the radishes, so I didn't think that I'd have to set up cages for them. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't even the wild animals who I had to watch out for, but my own cat. 
Until next time,
I picked the dandelions, rinsed them, and now they're drying out. I pulled two plants, but unfortunately their roots snapped off and I was too lazy to go and get a trowel. Besides, most dandelion tea is made from the roots, so I want to see how it will taste from the dried leaves and flowers. All parts of the plant are edible, so it might taste bad, but at least I won't die.
We'll see how this goes.
Yes, it's that time of the year; dandelions are sprouting all over the place. But this year, I've got something new for them: I'm going to use them for tea. Quite frankly, I've never even had store-bought dandelion tea, but I figured it's worth a try to do it myself. All parts of the plant are edible, so I'm first going dry out all the parts, but I'll first use the roots since most dandelion tea is made from the dried roots. I'll also try the leaves and flowers, though. We'll see how this goes.
Last year, the rabbits ate all of the dandelions almost as soon as they started blooming, so I want to beat them to it. I haven't seen a single rabbit all year, though. In fact, the last time I saw a rabbit was fall of 2021. They went into hibernation and they haven't come out yet, even though last year they were out by now. We have been having some pretty cold weather even for spring, so they might be fooled into thinking it's still not time. That's totally fine with me. In fact, I'd like it if they were to stay in hibernation for a couple months more. They chowed down so many of my crops last year, you might understand why we're not exactly rubbing elbows (or paws and elbows) with each other.
Anyway, I'm going to see about getting some dandelions today. I'll make sure to post the results here when I do get around to doing it.
Happy Easter! Let us all remember this day Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who lowered himself to the level of wretched sinners, coming down to earth to save every single human being who would otherwise be helpless and lost without Him.
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1Pet. 4:13
We had some warmer weather yesterday (60F) so me and @KFredenburg decided it was the right time to start our one of our worm farms. We're planning on having two farms, one for gardening (red wrigglers or regular earthworms), and one for fishing (night crawlers). This one was for fishing:
First, I gathered enough dirt for the bin we used (a ten gallon, I think):
Then poured out the dirt so I could drill holes on the bottom:
Next, I drilled aeration holes around the top:
I put the night crawlers in (bought from Fleet Farm):
Then, we gave them some food; composted goods, paper towel strips, and bread, all put into a blender and blended. I didn't take a picture of that, for who wants to see the atrocity that came out of the blender?
Finished:
And by the way, apologies for the bad-quality photos. The sky had a weird gray color going on that wasn't shaking hands with the camera lens.
Until next time,
