GARDEN 2023

[Bacpacker]

Wife picked a quart of blueberries from one bush. Looks like a pie coming up.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Last night I planted okra, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, and squash plants.

The grommets and the water pumps arrived for my vertical growing stations. I need to make 1 more run to HD or Lows, seems the grommets are a little loose in some of the holes and the holes in the bottom are un-even. I am thinking of using a self leveling concrete sealant to fill the bottom of the lowest Mr Stacky container that will be my water reservoir, this will also provide a smooth base for the pump to set on. I am excited, I should be able to assemble the first one by Monday...

 

[UrbanHunter]

Okay, after looking at the first results I went back to KISS. I used electrical tape to close up any holes that needed plugging... Then I cleaned the areas to received the sealant. On the larger containers I glued a 1" PVC cap for the 3/4" PVC support tube to rest in. Then I poured the self leveling concrete sealant into the areas where I didn't want water to run out of... On the container for the bottom I sealed all the holes, on the container for the 1st layer up I only sealed the outside holes. I made a split ring using a small slice of 1" PVC Pipe, it is to slide down the 3/4" PVC Pipe to keep the dirt from getting into the pump.

So now I have made enough components to build 3 large 18" towers, and 3 smaller 13" strawberry towers. My indoor tower will be about 6 1/2' tall. The outdoor towers will only be about 3 or 4' tall. The thinking is the bottom will hold the water, once or twice a day the pump will water the top two layers using drip irrigation emitters... This will let me spend a lot less time watering.....

 

[UrbanHunter]

So I decided to take a scroll around some of my growing areas this moring.

 

[LadyLocust]

Planted more sprouted watermelon seeds this morning... I put 'em in the "empty holes" where other seedlings failed. My new weed seedlings are doing alright, five of 'em are up above ground and I'm looking for the others to pop up soon. I'm keeping the tray of soil moist enough to prevent failure. I'm gonna leave these 'Purple African Magic' seedlings in the tray for a week or two, and let 'em get big enough to withstand heat, aridity, grasshoppers, etc. I'll put the tray out in the sun every day and bring it in at night, that should keep things under control until I put 'em in the ground. The watermelon and squash plants already in the ground are looking good, some of 'em have reached a decent size where growth is now visible on a daily basis. No sign of any fruit yet, but that's to be expected, as they probably need to flower first... I wish those monsoon rains would get here early, it's a PITA to hand water twice daily, which is what I'm doing with the garden. Oh, well, at least that yard time is quality time... I've also taken to watering at dusk and on into darkness, as it's much cooler and more pleasant that way, rather than baking under a blazing high desert sun.

Saw a HUGE grasshopper in the weed pen earlier, maybe it was a locust... thing was at least 4" long, would've made a meal for some Third World family. I didn't kill it, it was just doing its own thing, and there was only one, but I wonder what kinda damage a cloud of these things could do... it was the biggest grasshopper (or locust) I've ever seen in my life.

Who had that cookbook up there? Find a recipe

 

[LadyLocust]

Picked (dug) garlic today. One of the elephant garlics is the size of a softball . They are drying. Got a few more things planted, weeded, added jute for my old mother stoddard beans to climb. Scarlet runners are beginning to climb their wall. Got some mulch down. Watered in another area I will weed and mulch. Getting the first few green beans. Also peas in the field are just about ready.

 

[winds-of-change]

I too have been picking peas and some strawberries. We finally got a week of rain, but its kinda late. My lettuce has bolted. I am trying mulch in the garden this year, been watching the guy who made the video Back to Eden and he inspired me to give it a go.

Im tempted to try composting, too. Im looking for a tumble composter as I'm not strong enough to turn over a compost pile and I don’t like starting projects and asking my hubby to do the work for me. But I don’t know which tumble composter is good. There are so many kinds.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Tonight I ran my drip irrigation using the new emitters that I got. I purchased the real cheap version and I am dissatisfied with their function. In the past I have used the 180 degree sprayers along the edge of my raised bed, I had been using the ones with a cap that have a consistent spray pattern, this time I installed a block of the less expensive fixed units that are a solid unit, basically a jet with an angled anvil over the jet. Not happy with the results as the water was not spraying evenly into the bed, part of the stream was wrapping back around and spraying outside the bed. A lot of my emitters are over 5 seasons old so I figured I would replace a bunch at 1 time.

On my vertical gardening project I am using pumps and flag emitters to water the top layers, it's a fairly simple design using a total of 8 emitters. I am using a section of 1/2" tubing across the top of one of the and the installing tees, lines, and emitters to deliver water to each of the growing pockets in the top 2 layers of the planter. I will connect the pump's 1/2" clear delivery line to the black line using a barbed junction, the clear line climbs up the side of the tower so I can see if water is being delivered. Tomorrow I can start assembling the unit, but I can't add water till next Friday because the sealant I used takes 3-7 days to cure, and I would really prefer not to have any leaks in the house...

Using the electrical tape to seal the holes almost worked, I had about a 15% failure rate due to the tape coming loose after the sealant was poured into the container (Glade I did it on the driveway). If I had used duct tape I don't think it would have been an issue. None of the locations where I glued a PVC cap over a hole leaked. By keeping the layer of sealant as thin as possible ~1/2" it only increased the price of each tower by about $10.

We are expecting rain starting in the middle of the week, which is a good thing. I tried to keep my system functional by running a hose into the rain barrels for a half hour this afternoon and it was enough to water all the plants normally using the barrels and the pump.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Yesterday I was able to fill and plant a bunch (20+) of bare root strawberries, I am putting them in those stacking containers... I now have soil in my indoor vertical growing tower, I have 7 rows of growing spaces with 4 spaces on each row, gives my 28 choices. I want to plan it so I have a variety that I can use and there is something constantly ready to harvest.

My outdoor version is growing well and I will have to start thinning some of the plants soon. The spinach in the shaded raised bed it really doing nicely. Between 2 raised beds we are getting more salad than we could ever eat, but we'll try. My squash plants are putting on buds, so it will not be long before we have flowers.

 

[Wingnut]

My weed seedlings nearly got scorched yesterday in the heat... good thing I noticed 'em before they got cooked. One looks like it's already toast, but we'll see, I haven't put 'em out yet today, maybe I should leave 'em in the mud room for a day to recover? There are windows in the mud room, so there's some light, but I'd rather have the plants under direct sun if possible. Maybe it's too darned hot for 'em at their age? They're only 2" or 3" tall...

Some of my squash and watermelon plants are doing well, I'm watering them twice a day, which is a PITA when doing it by hand with the garden hose, but I can't afford to set up an irrigation system right now, too many other projects sucking up the money, lol. Perhaps I should move some of the squash and melon plants, some "holes" out there have multiple plants in 'em... maybe I'll just leave 'em be and see what happens once the monsoon rains arrive.

Those pesky wasps are starting to get out of hand, I'm gonna nuke 'em this evening once it gets dark... I'll wear a headlamp and zap 'em with poison. Some of the pests have actually set up shop in the metal donkey at my front door... I guess they crawled inside the head and are making a nest there. So THAT gets sprayed tonight, I don't feel like doing it right now... I had to duck and avoid some wasps which were crowding the birdbaths this morning.

HERE'S THE DONKEY, HE'S GONNA GET A SNOOT FULL OF POISON SPRAY THIS EVENING...

 

[Magpie]

As its the solstice, I lifted my garlic. Also lifted the potatoes in the polytunnel, because I don't want to water them anymore and need the space for my parsnips. Yesterday mowed and weeded, planted out next batch of pea shoots and cut back my chard and spinach which is suffering a little in the heat.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Yesterday I received my drip emitters and risers (I am excited about these risers for my hanging spray heads).

My vertical garden tower is now rapidly nearing completion, I have made the light/power supports and a watering manifold. I hope to be able to install the watering pump and lights tonight. The lighting system will be 180 watts, and everything will be powered from the top of the tower.

Because of my limited space I have been trying to figure out how to transplant a number of things that are normally direct sow. To support that end, I am adding some of the smaller but deeper seed starting cups to my inventory. This will allow me to start and transplant some root crops like beets and turnips.

We got a light rain last night, less than a quarter inch but it was rain.... More expected tonight.

 

[Magus]

My garden is four truck tires full of potting soil and compost.

 

[Wingnut]

Had to move the weed seedlings into the A/C of the 'War Room'---even in the mud room, they were shriveling up in the heat. These are replacement seeds from the same outfit I had trouble with before... seems like their seeds are bunk, not hardy enough to stand up to outdoor growing.

Needless to say, I won't be dealing with that outfit again... nor will I order any more 'Purple African Magic' seeds from anybody, that strain is pathetic despite claims that it's super-strong in THC.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I just got off work and I plan to finish installing the lighting system for my vertical growing station. I will now have an additional 28 sq feet of growing area in 9 sq feet, so I am stoked.

The wife and I have been thrashing how to do small scale gardening in such a way that we don't have any waste. This has become an issue because my last pinch of lettuce seeds in a single starter cup resulted in almost 30 lettuce plants! We can't eat that much lettuce at one time.

So last night she suggested using rubberized tweezers to only plant one or two seeds. Amazon has them, I ordered a set as a trial $9

She talked about using seed tapes, but they make already expensive seeds more expensive. So she went back to her sewing and suggested using a single thread coated in a thin film of Elmers' white glue, If the thread is supported about 1/2 inch above the channel of an inverted angle (1" aluminum angle) marked in 1" increments you can pour a few seeds at the proper spacing and then only a couple of seeds would stick to the thread, simple, easy, and cheap seed tape.... by using the angle you can easily collect the surplus seeds for use later....

We also made some progress on a methodology for her to plant seeds in starter cups at the kitchen table, but the whole dirt in the kitchen thing still needs to be worked out.

And finally, I want to thank everyone here, you listen to my ramblings and provide me with insightful feedback, you really make a difference in my world.....

 

[Neb]

I just got off work and I plan to finish installing the lighting system for my vertical growing station. I will now have an additional 28 sq feet of growing area in 9 sq feet, so I am stoked.

The wife and I have been thrashing how to do small scale gardening in such a way that we don't have any waste. This has become an issue because my last pinch of lettuce seeds in a single starter cup resulted in almost 30 lettuce plants! We can't eat that much lettuce at one time.

So last night she suggested using rubberized tweezers to only plant one or two seeds. Amazon has them, I ordered a set as a trial $9

She talked about using seed tapes, but they make already expensive seeds more expensive. So she went back to her sewing and suggested using a single thread coated in a thin film of Elmers' white glue, If the thread is supported about 1/2 inch above the channel of an inverted angle (1" aluminum angle) marked in 1" increments you can pour a few seeds at the proper spacing and then only a couple of seeds would stick to the thread, simple, easy, and cheap seed tape.... by using the angle you can easily collect the surplus seeds for use later....

We also made some progress on a methodology for her to plant seeds in starter cups at the kitchen table, but the whole dirt in the kitchen thing still needs to be worked out.

And finally, I want to thank everyone here, you listen to my ramblings and provide me with insightful feedback, you really make a difference in my world.....

I have read of using toilet paper folded in half lengthwise. Arange the seeds fold the paper and slightly moisten paper to hold seeds in place.

Home made seed tape.

Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

I am tired of endlessly weeding the crab grass in the strawberry patch, and thinking about getting one of those growing things like you got, Urban. Picked green beans this morning, enough for one meal.

 

[LadyLocust]

Hubby picked more green beans this morning- a pretty good bowl full. I ended up working today so will get them cleaned up and canned tomorrow if I think there’s enough. Otherwise we’ll eat them fresh.
AH. I hear you on the crabgrass

 

[Bacpacker]

Got some pics to share later. Here is my tater harvest today, rain uncovered them.

 

[Bacpacker]

Ate a couple of banana peppers while pickin them. And got my 1st 2 Black Cherry tomatos. They are SWEET.

 

[Wingnut]

I'm known to eat peppers & other produce right off the vine, stem, whatever... all organic, so a little dirt is like roughage!

 

[LadyLocust]

Picked a basket of peas from the front field (farmer told me I could).
Did some big weeding and still not done. Have baby tomatoes starting . A few peppers growing Italian sweets, cayenne, jumbo jalapeños, and one more I can’t remember the name of all have some getting close.

 

[Bacpacker]

Here are a few pics I took today. Glad we got the rain this week. Really perked things along. Looks like a decent crop of elderberries this year, 2nd year after planting.

 

[Bacpacker]

Then we have onions, cukes, melons, and sweet taters

 

[Bacpacker]

Tomatos and squash and renegade horse radish

 

[Bacpacker]

And finally Sweet bannana peppers

 

[Amish Heart]

How are you doing your horseradish? Just the small root? I thought you had to harvest the root in the winter after a hard frost.

 

[Bacpacker]

I've got 3 plants in the ground, out near the elderberries. But stupid me, I planted a couple roots in one of my beds last year, not realizing how they do. I dug all the way to the ground over the winter and thought I had it all cleaned out. but obviously I missed some. I'm down to trying to pull them every time they pop up. Those on the ground all came up in the last 2 weeks. They are still thin, but as you can see they get some length on them quickly. My shoe for comparison is a size 14.
I may never get it all out

 

[Pearl]

Picked a basket of peas from the front field (farmer told me I could).
Did some big weeding and still not done. Have baby tomatoes starting . A few peppers growing Italian sweets, cayenne, jumbo jalapeños, and one more I can’t remember the name of all have some getting close.

The farmer who  owns the field, or just some random farmer??

 

[UrbanHunter]

Well Mr. Goldberg... I have completed my vertical growing station, lights, water and all (except for planting). I have been slowly assembling my vertical growing station learning a lot along the way. Now that it is assembled, what would I change?


I would replace the center PVC pole with galvanized pipe, the PVC is just not as strong as I would prefer...
The Pump electrical line is too short to reach the overhead distribution system.
I will have to wait to report on how the plants respond to the vertical lighting system.