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Google
SUGA 2018
+8
BlackjackWidow
CapeCoddess
countrynaturals
trolleydriver
SQWIB
sanderson
AtlantaMarie
yolos
12 posters
Square Foot Gardening Forum :: Square Foot Gardening :: Outside The Box :: Non-SFG Gardening discussion
Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
Re: SUGA 2018
July 17th
July 20th
- Woohoo, the Cavalry is here!
- Reliance grape vine is coming along nicely.
- I may have to put the table dainty out of its misery
- The rain garden perked up and the plants around the pond are doing OK.
- Not sure what is happening with the 3rd tomato plant from the left (Brandywine Red). It hasn't put on any new flowers or grown anymore in the last few weeks.
- two of my Texas tomato cages got blown over in the storm today. The problem is these are Hugelkultur beds and I can't get the cages in deep enough for support before they hit logs or sticks, next year I'll beat in a few pieces of rebar.
- Getting a 2nd harvest of strawberries and my Giant Leader Cabbage is starting to form a head, its only been 4 months!!
July 20th
Random garden pics
- Chia sees for living mulch.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
August 1st
Been a while since I updated this page, been pretty busy with other stuff.
Food Pics
I gotta say that I like the Listada di Gandia better than the black beauty, taste is better, cooks better, skin is not as tough. This is a winner.
July 28th
OK Vacation is over ... back at home...
Garden woes... gave up on the Table Dainty and pulled them. Spaghetti squash plants are dying, got a few SVB in the squash, pulled the Zucchini plant (SVB), have a few tomato plants that aren't doing well (pulled one, may need to pull two more), asparagus didn't grow hardly at all and a few pepper plants are pretty stunted.
Food pics
August 1st
Been a while since I updated this page, been pretty busy with other stuff.
- Tossed some water lettuce in the pond.
- Haul for the shore
- At the condo (OC MD)
Food Pics
- Fried Eggplant, Poblanos stuffed with cheese and sweet peppers, fried poppers..
I gotta say that I like the Listada di Gandia better than the black beauty, taste is better, cooks better, skin is not as tough. This is a winner.
- Jimmy Nardello peppers fried with Burrato Cheese and French Bread, everyone raved over this. Toasted french bread would have even been better.
- Tried this Eggplant Bacon recipe and it was a fail, however the marinade was awesome, I may try it on something else. I tried recycling it into a dip and it was OK, barely!
- Mountains of oyster shells we found while hiking.
July 28th
OK Vacation is over ... back at home...
- Garden pics when I got home
- Haul when I got home
- Hardening off a few spaghetti squash
Garden woes... gave up on the Table Dainty and pulled them. Spaghetti squash plants are dying, got a few SVB in the squash, pulled the Zucchini plant (SVB), have a few tomato plants that aren't doing well (pulled one, may need to pull two more), asparagus didn't grow hardly at all and a few pepper plants are pretty stunted.
- Poblanos are going crazy
- Canned some salsa
- Why I love oregano in the garden.
- Friendly garden critters.
Food pics
- Spaghetti squash, feta, basil and tomatoes.
- But first, I had to get rid of this guy.
August 1st
- Harvest after work today
- Pond is doing well but I really need to clean the filters.
- Made some lunches for work, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Jalapeno, Oregano, Basil.
- I really need to get some trimming done.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Texas tomato cages
I tied my cages down this year and it worked great for me. It looks like you could put some "Eye hooks" on the sides of your beds then screw some boards across the beds between the cages and tie them down.
As you can see, these cages are tied down.
As you can see, these cages are tied down.
Last edited by MrBooker on 8/3/2018, 8:28 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Add another pic)
MrBooker- Posts : 732
Join date : 2016-03-19
Age : 78
Location : 62260
Re: SUGA 2018
That's actually a great idea, I may do that but use bungees. Thanks
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
I guess bungees would work but I'd think they would stretch and you'd have to keep adjusting them. Perhaps not. OBTW: I really liked all of your great pics.SQWIB wrote:That's actually a great idea, I may do that but use bungees. Thanks
MrBooker- Posts : 732
Join date : 2016-03-19
Age : 78
Location : 62260
Re: SUGA 2018
August 6th
Pulled the last of the Spaghetti squash, got two more squash that are free of SVB's
Everything in the garden is in its, what I like to call, "weird stage", Crickets have taken over, plants seem to be frozen in time, the grass is even getting funky, my lawn is overcome with this weird looking grass (Bermuda?) that grows by runners, happens every year, lots of heat, rain and humidity. This runner grass is in most of my beds, planters and pots, it's even coming up through the pavers.
I cut back a lot of the Chia plants that I had inter planted for green manure.
The Hugelkultur beds are sinking significantly this year, that's a good thing, I have been direct composting in these low spots and filling in with green manures, shredded paper, cardboard and grass clippings.
I'm basically just letting everything do its thing.
Food pics,
1) Don't ever double a recipe until you have tried it.
2) Don't can in the house when its 95°F outside.
After work today I strained the remaining Puttanesca sauce and rinsed real well, put back in the pot, added a few quarts of Crushed tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano and a pinch of red peppers and simmered for 30 minutes. Processed in a water bath using 1.5 liter jars adding a teaspoon of citric acid to each jar.
I think this will make a fine sauce for pizza.
- This weekend was a bust, had to work Saturday. On the way to work, I liberated one of these for my Butterfly Garden, I also grabbed a Milkweed, but sadly I dont think it's going to make it.
- I got a few fall crops planted and I thought I was being pretty slick using old Tortillo shells to plant my fall crops, that was until the little rat dog came by and ate all the shells.
- Artichoke
Pulled the last of the Spaghetti squash, got two more squash that are free of SVB's
Everything in the garden is in its, what I like to call, "weird stage", Crickets have taken over, plants seem to be frozen in time, the grass is even getting funky, my lawn is overcome with this weird looking grass (Bermuda?) that grows by runners, happens every year, lots of heat, rain and humidity. This runner grass is in most of my beds, planters and pots, it's even coming up through the pavers.
I cut back a lot of the Chia plants that I had inter planted for green manure.
The Hugelkultur beds are sinking significantly this year, that's a good thing, I have been direct composting in these low spots and filling in with green manures, shredded paper, cardboard and grass clippings.
I'm basically just letting everything do its thing.
- Laura had asked Stephen to shred the mail and I thought, Hmmm, mulch and said, "I'll do it", so for the next several hours I sat on the floor painstakingly going through all the mail, separating it then shredding while watching SG-1 on Hulu. I even shredded the packing kraft paper that comes in shipped packages, I then got a little crazy and started shredding the pizza boxes.
Food pics,
- Frittata - Havarti Cheese with dill, Perpetual Spinach, Red Onion, Ham, Milk, Eggs. The Frittatta was excellent.
- Got some canning done made a double batch of "Ball's Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Puttanesca sauce". I learned two things from this go around with canning,
1) Don't ever double a recipe until you have tried it.
2) Don't can in the house when its 95°F outside.
- I am totally disappointed and can kick myself in the @SS, I canned 8 jars and have 7 to go, it was a lot of work and I sacrificed 4 pounds of eggplant and 10 pounds of tomatoes from the garden.
After work today I strained the remaining Puttanesca sauce and rinsed real well, put back in the pot, added a few quarts of Crushed tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano and a pinch of red peppers and simmered for 30 minutes. Processed in a water bath using 1.5 liter jars adding a teaspoon of citric acid to each jar.
I think this will make a fine sauce for pizza.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
August 8th
It's too hot and humid to do any serious gardening other than some maintenance. Still getting rain every few days. Heavy rain in the forecast for tonight and rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Laura made some Cole slaw from the cabbage and it was a fail! I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis
I removed most of the Basil, it took over the Asparagus bed, I am very disappointed in the asparagus.
It's too hot and humid to do any serious gardening other than some maintenance. Still getting rain every few days. Heavy rain in the forecast for tonight and rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
- Was very happy to see a bunch of Honey Bees visiting the Spearmint Flowers.
- Starting to get a bunch of Maypop Fruit, hopefully I'll toss together a Maypop Jam in a couple of weeks.
Laura made some Cole slaw from the cabbage and it was a fail! I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis
- My Reliance Grape plant is coming along nicely.
- Definitely need to work on the tomato supports in the hugelkultur beds next year. I'm loosing my Box Car Willie, I may cut it down once the tomatoes are ripening a good bit. Marigolds are taking over, I need to trim them back a bit.
I removed most of the Basil, it took over the Asparagus bed, I am very disappointed in the asparagus.
- Hardening off the Spaghetti squash, note the one in the center was green when I pulled it from the plant, (bottom picture). I'll pull seeds from it just in case I decide to grow it again.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
August 14th
Removed a few tomato plants that were struggling to make room for the other plants, the plants on the hill have exploded. I pruned the Hardy Kiwi, there were several main stems that were twining, so I cut them at the base and started the tedious task of unwinding the cut stem from the main trunk. I'm going to cut them just below the trellis and hopefully get a couple cardons.
I cut back all of the perpetual spinach and my daughter took the cuttings to the AARK for the animals, also pulled my old woody beets to feed to the AARK animals.
Added some fertz (Leftover Milorganite, yeah, yeah, I know!) to the flowers and shrubs and 10-10-10 to the potted plants. I don't add any type of fertilizers to the non-potted plants with the exception of flowers and shrubs, only compost.
The yard is loaded with critters, more so this year than any other year, the Carpenter Bees look like they're getting drunk on the Passion Flower. The oregano and Mint is loaded with insects.
- The garden is doing very well. With all the recent rain it looks like the tomato plants shot up a good bit, they outgrew the Texas Tomato Cages, the poblano on the left center is nearing 6' tall and is loaded with peppers. I turned off the irrigation and have been watering with my rain water barrel this week. I'm going to see how far I can go before I need to turn it back on.
- The Reliance Grapes are doing better than I could have hoped for.
- Did a bit more trim work on the trunk and cordons.
Removed a few tomato plants that were struggling to make room for the other plants, the plants on the hill have exploded. I pruned the Hardy Kiwi, there were several main stems that were twining, so I cut them at the base and started the tedious task of unwinding the cut stem from the main trunk. I'm going to cut them just below the trellis and hopefully get a couple cardons.
- Harvested my first batch of Yard Long beans, and cooked them, I don't like green beans and would rather eat these instead. I don't think anyone else cared for them but I think my family felt bad and really didn't say much. They were OK but I don't think I'll grow them again. I'll finish the year with them and make dilly beans.
- Cooked another spaghetti squash, this was the one that was green (pictured above) tried it with a Sage Butter. I liked this squash much better than the first one we tried but not enough to regrow it next year. It had a very pleasant smell when cut open, reminded me of cantaloupe. I did save seeds from this just in case.
- I had to cut back a lot of stuff. Alot of the trimmings were chopped and remained in the beds as mulch, other trimmings went into the compost heap and questionable trimmings went into the firepit.
- I planted some Detroit Radish on the back hill, left and right of the tiger lilies, around the playhouse trellis and in the front Hugelkultur bed. Here I am trying out my shredded paper mulch.
- The pond is doing real good this year, no string algae... KNOCK WOOD!! The pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter this year, they are still producing but look stunted, I usually fertilize twice in a season but just added some 10-10-10 to the peps this weekend... long overdue. I'm pretty conservative with adding anything for the plants that reside in the veggie filter for the safety of the fish. If they don't bounce back a bit, I may try to find something else to grow in the veggie filter next year. The water lettuce will make a fine compost this year, I may even just plop these in the hugelkultur beds as mulch. I am very pleased with the Rain Barrel I hooked up to the pond, I have only had to top it off twice this year, the rest has been supplied by the Rain Barrel, it's on a timer that cycles on and off twice a day for an hour, the feed line is a 1/4" hose.
I cut back all of the perpetual spinach and my daughter took the cuttings to the AARK for the animals, also pulled my old woody beets to feed to the AARK animals.
Added some fertz (Leftover Milorganite, yeah, yeah, I know!) to the flowers and shrubs and 10-10-10 to the potted plants. I don't add any type of fertilizers to the non-potted plants with the exception of flowers and shrubs, only compost.
The yard is loaded with critters, more so this year than any other year, the Carpenter Bees look like they're getting drunk on the Passion Flower. The oregano and Mint is loaded with insects.
- Maypops are going nuts, next year I'm going to figure out an arbor or something for them to climb a bit neater.
- Wasn't sure if this was a thread waisted wasp or Mud dauber.
- Some crazy looking spider.
- Looks like a frog with 4 eyes!
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
Spaghetti squash envy here. I've never been able to grow them. Maybe next year.SQWIB wrote:August 8th
- Hardening off the Spaghetti squash, note the one in the center was green when I pulled it from the plant, (bottom picture). I'll pull seeds from it just in case I decide to grow it again.
CC
CapeCoddess- Posts : 6811
Join date : 2012-05-20
Age : 68
Location : elbow of the Cape, MA, Zone 6b/7a
Re: SUGA 2018
CapeCoddess wrote:Spaghetti squash envy here. I've never been able to grow them. Maybe next year.sqwib wrote:
CC
I wont grow them again - SVB's
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
August 23rd
The garden is doing fairly well, all the peppers are really starting to produce, some smaller plants are growing fruit as tall as the plants and rotting as they touch the soil, I have some plants 14" tall and some are near 5' tall, go figure. I am loosing one of my Eggplant Plants, it's being shaded out by a poblano, which blows my mind. The funky rutgers tomato plant is putting out a lot of tomatoes, there is definitely something wrong with this plant, some tomatoes look beautiful and some look scarred.
I'm eating and giving away a lot of eggplant and freezing a ton of tomatoes.
The Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans have escaped and are climbing the hedges in the neighbors yard, I'm going to let these die off and harvest the seeds for pulses.
I have been using the water lettuce from the pond for fertilizer/mulch for some plants, the pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter, the jalapeno is the only one that looks decent, the poblanos look a little better than the Jimmy Nardellos, they all have peppers but small in size.
No signs of the Detroit Red Radishes I planted.
I have been messing with my Rainwater setup, I'll post that on my Rain Harvesting page when finished. Other than that I've just been tweaking the garden and doing a lot of trench composting.
The garden is doing fairly well, all the peppers are really starting to produce, some smaller plants are growing fruit as tall as the plants and rotting as they touch the soil, I have some plants 14" tall and some are near 5' tall, go figure. I am loosing one of my Eggplant Plants, it's being shaded out by a poblano, which blows my mind. The funky rutgers tomato plant is putting out a lot of tomatoes, there is definitely something wrong with this plant, some tomatoes look beautiful and some look scarred.
I'm eating and giving away a lot of eggplant and freezing a ton of tomatoes.
The Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans have escaped and are climbing the hedges in the neighbors yard, I'm going to let these die off and harvest the seeds for pulses.
I have been using the water lettuce from the pond for fertilizer/mulch for some plants, the pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter, the jalapeno is the only one that looks decent, the poblanos look a little better than the Jimmy Nardellos, they all have peppers but small in size.
No signs of the Detroit Red Radishes I planted.
I have been messing with my Rainwater setup, I'll post that on my Rain Harvesting page when finished. Other than that I've just been tweaking the garden and doing a lot of trench composting.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
August 28th
I have been working on the Koi Pond rebuilding the Faux bricks on the sides, trimmed back a lot of the mints and basil plants.
My new rain barrel came in and I played with that a bit, more on that later in the season when its finished.
September 4th, 2018
Critters
Garden
Canning
Food
I have been working on the Koi Pond rebuilding the Faux bricks on the sides, trimmed back a lot of the mints and basil plants.
My new rain barrel came in and I played with that a bit, more on that later in the season when its finished.
- Making some mulch
- A couple peppers for my Sausage Peppers and onion I am canning.
- Ruby King center, the others are store bought.
- For the 2019 season, I think I'm gonna replace my Corno di Toro Giallo's and Rosso's with the Red Marconi.
- First Batch
- Canned 21 quart jars and only had one that did not seal, that was lunch yesterday and today, half the jars have whole sausage links for sandwiches and half are sliced. My wife doesn't care for the hots but they are my favorite, but for her, I done a 25% hot, 75% sweet ratio. The sweets are cut on a diagonal and the hots are cross cut. The "Links" jars have 2 sweets and 2 hots in each. The last batch of links (4 jars) I added a few poblanos, a can of RO*TELL to the existing peppers and onions and blended with an immersion blender for a smooth sauce.
- Saving some seeds.
September 4th, 2018
- The compost is doing well, these are Bio-degradable packing peanuts.
Critters
- I have seen a few more yellow finches here and there, they really love the sunflowers. Sorry no picture, they're just too dam skittish.
- These are probably the only insect that really bother me, for some reason they like to get in your face and buzz all around you. They seem really attracted to alcohol, these pineapple chunks were sitting in grain for quite a while.
Garden
- I really haven't noticed any difference between the Giant Marconi and Red Marconi, both plants are doing equally well. The seeds were graciously sent from a forum member.
Canning
- Picked 3.5 pounds of Jalapenos for a batch of cowboy candy, the reds that were not crisp are set aside to dry and make chili powder. Roasted and canned some poblanos a few of the reds that weren't firm were set aside for chili powder.
- Got 8 jars and canned the remaining syrup for another 4 batches of Jalapenos
- Roasted and peeled the poblanos, used trimming and simmered for a broth to use as a canning liquid.
- In retrospect, I wish I would have canned in 8 oz. jars.
- Chili powder. These will be dried and placed in the refrigerator in a mason jar unsealed then processed in a coffee mill. I'll continue to add Jalapenos and Poblanos til the end of the season.
Food
- Red Marconi and Buratta cheese. We usually make this with Jimmy Nardello peppers, these are Red Marconi and just needed to be cooked twice as long. The family liked these just as much as the Jimmy Nardellos.
- Basil, mozzarella, grape tomatoes (store bought tomatoes)
- Nachos
- Fried garden peppers, chives and cheese omelet with fried butter, garlic, crushed red pepper toast and a side of fried hard salami. Apple juice and coffee.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
September 10th
Breakfast
Canning
- Played in the garden a bit. I had this piece of bark that I decided to cover up one of my 4x4 posts.
- the Garden is still producing, the eggplant on the hill exploded.
Breakfast
- Mac n' Cheese omelet with fried sweet peppers
Canning
- Working on my canning stuff, Canned some Roasted Red Marconi peppers and a few Ruby Red Bell's then made some Turkey Taco Meat and canned that. Tweaking the pantry for more goodies.
- Stopped at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve and Bowman's Hill Tower. Picked up some plants for my Butterfly Garden - Butterfly Weed, Swamp Milkweed, New England Aster, Purple Cone Flower and some Black eyed Susan's. Got everything planted right away.
- I saw this Aphid Eater Block House for sale but they didn't have any, I may research this and make one from a piece of log and keep in a few of my gardens.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
Interesting, Sqwib! I built some solitary bee houses using a piece of limb from an Ash tree I cut down. Included are small holes for the Aphid Wasp (5/64"), and it is great seeing them collect aphids to store in the hole to feed the young larva when their eggs hatch.
I have several size holes for various solitary bees, such as the 5/16" for the Mason Bee, 1/4" for the Leafcutter Bee, etc. Check out this page for some good info on building a solitary bee house for your gardens: Creating a Solitary Bee Hotel
This is one of the bee houses I made from a piece of limb - the limb is 8" deep, but the holes are various depths depending on the type of bee.
I have several size holes for various solitary bees, such as the 5/16" for the Mason Bee, 1/4" for the Leafcutter Bee, etc. Check out this page for some good info on building a solitary bee house for your gardens: Creating a Solitary Bee Hotel
This is one of the bee houses I made from a piece of limb - the limb is 8" deep, but the holes are various depths depending on the type of bee.
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: SUGA 2018
Ohiogardener, thank you posting that info, this is definitely on the 2019 to do list.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
September 10th - 16th
This weekend I got some yard work done, cut the grass, while I was cutting the grass I found a little surprise.
Let me tell you the whole story, anyone that reads my threads know that we rescue box turtles and have a few full timers in the yard.
Last season my daughter had a few she was rehabbing in the yard that wintered over then were released.
Well Speedy (full timer) was digging a few months ago and I figured she was going to lay some eggs, I didn't think much of it because the eggs are never viable.
June 20th
September 13th
OK back to the garden,
Trimmed and cut back more plants in the veggie garden and have been adding compost and planting cover crops in the beds. Battled some Aphids and Ants on my Concord Grape vine with neem and dish soap.
Garden pics
[size=18][size=18]Garden Breakfast[/size][/size]
- I started planting my cover crops
- The garden is starting to get a bit out of control, everything is growing out of their cages and flopping over. I was up on the hill trying to support the poblanos and eggplant plants. The eggplant plant ripped the cage out of the ground. The poblanos are growing out sideways about 2' past the cage. The tomatoes grew out of the TTC's and are growing anywhere they can. I may need to start cutting some stuff back and tying things up a bit.
- Tabascos are starting to come in, a lot of my pepper plants really start producing in September.
- This will give you an idea on how wet it has been, I haven't seen the sun in nearly a week. Needless to say, I turned my water off September 6th.
The excessive rain has pretty much destroyed my heirloom tomatoes as they are splitting like crazy, usually I can scavenge a few split ones and either eat them right away or, core, cut out the split and freeze, I always smell the cut area because sometime they start rotting underneath the split. Between sight, smell and feel I can pretty much perform a successful surgery. My unaffected tomatoes has been my "so-called" Rutgers tomato plant, not one split at all.
- The water lettuce in the pond has done real well this year and I have been harvesting a lot of the lettuce during the growing season as a mulch. Here I am gathering some water lettuce to top portions of my beds for a cover crop.
- The drip line is pulled up, this can be a chore with the roots entwined in the drip line, especially the roots from the oregano. The drip line is turned off by the small valve in the line, each bed section has its own valve. I will handwater from the Rain Barrel at this point. Everything is cut back to the soil level and chopped up and placed back in the bed, this is so much easier now that I have a pair of Felco pruners. The next step is to cover everything with some water lettuce.
- A bucket of My compost is dumped on top.
- Oats are added and lightly tapped in.
- Another layer of Oats is added and a handful of Crimson Clover, then I tap over the whole area with my Hori Hori, followed by a good watering. The area is then covered until I get some sprouts.
- Another bed done the same way but using the potting soil from my retired Vertical Tower.
Its been 8 days and every day is has rained to some extent, the Sun still hasn't made an appearance.
I've been slowly going through sections of my beds, pulling up the drip lines, chop and dropping weeds, some veggie plants and early season cover crops then adding compost and planting a fall cover crop (Oats and Crimson Clover).
- I dont know what the heck is going on with this zucchini plant, no fruit yet but a ton of mushrooms. This soil with the mushrooms will be spread out over a few of the beds.
Eggplants are really putting on fruit, I'll be cooking plenty of eggplant dishes and giving some eggplant away, I wont be freezing any eggplant dishes this year.
Tomatoes have me totally dissapointed, I have a lot of fruit that has set but most of the fruit that is somewhat red is split, half ripe and infested with gnats and ants, some I can save and some I can't. I definitely will be trying some Hybrids next year, the weather this year has been really rough on my heirlooms.
- The "True Black Brandywine" and the "Cherokee Purple" really produced this year but more than half was not worth saving. The Brandywine Red tomatoes are not producing near as much but have had more salvageable fruit.
- Volunteer Bok Choy.
- Artichoke that will probably be removed and used as mulch.
- Oats sprouted after 4 dayss
- My rain barrel came in Friday the 14th, so I played with that a bit. Full post coming soon.
This weekend I got some yard work done, cut the grass, while I was cutting the grass I found a little surprise.
Let me tell you the whole story, anyone that reads my threads know that we rescue box turtles and have a few full timers in the yard.
Last season my daughter had a few she was rehabbing in the yard that wintered over then were released.
Well Speedy (full timer) was digging a few months ago and I figured she was going to lay some eggs, I didn't think much of it because the eggs are never viable.
June 20th
- Speedy digging a nest
September 13th
- [size=18][size=18]Anyhow last week, I noticed a hole where she was digging and the hole looked like it was made from the inside out, sorta looked like a cave. [/size][/size]When I peered inside I saw an egg that was broken open. I told the family that their may be a baby in the yard but there would be no way we would ever find it.
- They all thought I was nuts, because both turtles in the yard are female. Well...this morning armed with a weed whacker I was cutting the lawn an noticed this little brown spot, I thought it was a leaf when I went over it with the weed wacker but then it started to move.
- My daughter was working on her essays for vet school when I walked in and plopped it in front of her and with a smile on my face I said, "so ya'll thought I was nuts". She couldn't be happier. She went into care taker mode and made sure he/she was hydrated. Her assumption is it's at least two weeks old because the egg sack is completely absorbed, however she is worried that it may have been born too late in the season to survive.
OK back to the garden,
- Made some more mulch.
Trimmed and cut back more plants in the veggie garden and have been adding compost and planting cover crops in the beds. Battled some Aphids and Ants on my Concord Grape vine with neem and dish soap.
- Drying some herbs and making some infused Olive oil.
Garden pics
- Chopped and dropped around the tree then mulched.
- Mulched the grapes with coffee grounds and shredded cardboard mulch
- My compromise pot, she wanted flowers and I wanted veggies.
- Oats are coming up nicely.
- I forgot all about the Okra seeds that I tossed in here a while back.
- Maypops are going nuts in the back yard.
- I had my buddy over and loaded him up with some veggies to take to his moms, she was thrilled. I'm now trying to get him into gardening, we'll see!
- This poblano plant is so loaded with peppers that branches were snapping off.
- This is from one branch that snapped.
- My first year with yacon
- I have no idea what this is.
- Finally got a chance to work on a few stumps, I got tired of tripping over them.
[size=18][size=18]Garden Breakfast[/size][/size]
- Sour Cream and Chive scramble with sweet peppers and a side of Garlic toast with Olive oil and crushed red pepper.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
September 19th
[size=18][size=18]I like to start my cover crops covered with cardboard for a few days, the key is to wet the soil down real good and cover with cardboard and saturate the cardboard. Overcast days are great during this phase as the sun really dries out the cardboard quickly and you need to water more often ensuring the cardboard stay wet. Pizza boxes work great for this. [/size][/size][size=18][size=18][size=18][size=18]I decided to add some peas and alfalfa to the beds and watered then in.[/size][/size][/size][/size]
- Removed cardboard after 3 days, I usually uncover after 3 or 4 days and I'm good.
- After one week, 3 days covered 4 days uncovered.
- My daughter made up a tank for the Box turtle.
- This guy was "side-eying" me!
- Rogue Daikon Radish, there must have been a radish seed in with the crimson clover.
- This is one of the hardest things for me to do at the end of the season. Cutting down tomato plants that are still flowering and loaded with tomatoes.
- Everything is cut down, the cages are removed, the drip line is turned off and moved out of the way. Tomato plants, and rogue weeds/plants are chopped up with my Felcos pruners then lightly chopped with the shovel, then saturated with rain water
- My weeds that have been sitting in the bucket of rain water and a bit of urea for a week are dumped onto the bed and scattered somewhat.
- A layer of shredded cardboard is placed on top.
- Cardboard is saturated with rain water.
- I had a bit of spent potting mix left over from when I removed my garden tower and dumped that on top of the cardboard.
- For this bed I'll be using mixed Lentils, Crimson Clover, Alfalfa and Oats as a cover crop. I thing the oats will probably pretty much choke most of the stuff out, well see. Seeds are broadcasted.
- Seeds are mixed in with a needle hose sprayer using rain water.
- The final step is to cover with cardboard, I used some pizza boxes. I will wet down the cardboard each morning and evening and when I have a good germination rate, I'll remove the cardboard and toss in the compost bin. It has been overcast lately but if it gets real sunny the cardboard dries out fairly quickly but the soil always stays moist.
September 24th
- Its been raining most of the month, the yard is like a swamp. The plants in the raised beds on the hill are still producing, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Poblanos, Red Marconi, Giant Marconi, Ruby Red and Jalapenos. I'll let these plants go until they look stressed or stop flowering. The leeks are getting a little shaded out but hanging in there. I also Have a volunteer eggplant by the fence that has set some nice fruit. The plants out front are doing well, although, I'm not real happy with my sunpatients
- Harvested my first Okra ever, I cant wait to grow more of these next year.
- I was impressed with the Okra flower and can see these being grown in front yards where vegetable gardens aren't allowed.
- Drying some Cayenne and Serrano for chili powder.
- Saving some seeds and going through my trays.
- One of the Maypops fell or was blown off of the trellis, It seemed a bit wrinkly and starting to yellow so my kids and I sampled it. It wasn't bad, a bit tart and had a citrus flavor. Sam and Stephen said it had a pear flavor. I took the rest after sampling and put in a few ounces of hot water and a pinch of sugar, strained and sat in the fridge. I tried it later and it made for a decent beverage.
- Oats in the front pots.
- The front hugelkultur bed is growing nicely, I wont touch this bed at all until the spring. Im curious to see what will happen in the spring.
And had to make some Garden meals, I try to make something from the garden every weekend.
- [size=18][size=18][size=18]Garden Fritatta[/size][/size][/size]
- [size=18][size=18][size=18][size=18][size=18]Garden Pizza[/size][/size][/size][/size][/size]
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
September 26th
[*]Buffalo Chicken Eggplant Parmigiana Burger
Still Raining
- Removed cardboard
- Everything appears to have germinated, I thought I put oats in here but dont see any, I'll leave it as is and see what happens.
September 28th
Still raining.
Had a funeral yesterday and was home fairly early so I tried to keep my mind occupied by doing some gardening. Just did a bit of weeding, sprayed some neem on the milkweed and my one grapevine. Installed some lights on the Koi Pond Hugelkultur bed and installed another upright.
I received a nice compliment from the neighbors after the funeral, they were saying how serene and peaceful the front gardens are with the plants and Koi pond. Mostly everyone in my neighborhood has a green lawn and a few flowers and shrubs. Some of the neighbors stopped by and I gave them a tour of the herbs out front and told them they were for anyone to use. In disbelief they said, "we can just come up here and grab some herbs", I said, "yep, I tell all the neighbors to help themselves to the fresh herbs".
They smiled and starting calling it the "Greendale Community Garden" Greendale is the name of our street.
One of the neighbors replied, "I was wondering what you were always doing out front dumping stuff all over". Then I told them to enjoy the pond when they come up, we have a bench by the Koi pond and I keep fish pellets on the bench so folks can come by, have a seat and feed the fish as well, a few neighbors come by with their nieces and nephews and grandchildren.
Although we put to rest a Great neighbor and Friend, it was still a good day.
- Maypops are ripening, I'm waiting till they drop before I take them, but it's a race with the squirrels ever since they tasted one.
Messed with the landscape lighting, some bulbs are blown and some connections are bad. Replaced some Incandescent bulbs with LED's.
Got tired of fiddling with connections and ended up splicing directly into the wire and using wire nuts.
October 1st
Today the yard seems a little bit dryer, at least dry enough to get some yard work done. The neem oil has helped the common milkweed plant tremendously, it was flopped over a few days ago, after a good spray of neem oil and dish soap and it has perked up. The aphids have damaged my Concord Grapes, the ends are dead and not growing.
- Got a few more beds done this weekend. The raised beds on the hill were chopped and dropped.
- This was a hard choice to make, some of the plants were loaded with buds. I harvested whatever I could, all these poblanos are from one plant. Hopefully, I will have time to roast and can some. Some of the reds were placed in the dehydrator for chili powder and most of the red sweets (Marconi, Ruby Red) and some of the green peppers (California Wonder) were frozen for the sauce that I will be making and canning when the weather gets a bit cooler.
I still have a pepper plant in one of my Hugelkultur beds and a tomato plant and eggplant plant in my Hugelkultur pots, plus there's a rogue eggplant plant up on the hill that has some fruit on it, I'm going to leave them go as long as possible.
- New toy, now I really look like a farmer.
- Drip line is pulled up and set aside. I learned to do this the hard way.
- Everything is cut down to soil level and chopped with a shovel. The Yard long beans are still growing, I'll let these go till a cold snap then take them down and harvest the beans.
- The yacon and Leeks will stay in the beds. I'm also leaving the artichoke plant alone. The Big Box Store tomato cages are stacked in the corner. Just need to get my buckets and milk crates tucked away and winterize the water lines and take in the valves and timers.
- After the plant massacre, I tossed on a tightly packed 5 gallon bucket of Water Lettuce from the pond. I tried harvesting just enough each time so the water lettuce would recover quickly so I had plenty of water lettuce for the beds.
- Spread out the water lettuce.
- Topped with my compost. Seeded with Alfalfa, Oats and Crimson Clover, I'll water this every morning and evening with some rainwater until everything has germinated and become somewhat established.
- I started playing with my lighting and couldn't wait for it to get dark to check it out.
- Cover crops in the Hugelkultur beds.
- Stacked my Texas Tomato Cages against the play house, need to find a place for them. Burnt up my pallets, cardboard, some yard waste and a bit of a maple tree.
- Ooops! picked up a red coal.
- Enjoyed some Matts Wild Cherry tomatoes from a rogue plant.
Pulled some crab grass and weeds that had gone to seed and placed them in a bucket of rain water, they will sit in here for a week or so then will be dumped in a bed or the compost bin.
- The next day the fire pit is sprayed lightly with water then later it is cleaned out and the Ashes and bio-char are "sparingly" placed in the beds and watered in.
- Breakfast
- Dinner (Eggplant Rollatini)
- Delivered some Rain Barrels to a fellow gardener.
- Harvested some Eggplant seeds.
- Stupid dog in one of the Hugelkultur beds
- Saturday and Sunday night I was tweaking the Outdoor lighting, everything has been converted to LED lights. I still have a bit of tweaking to do, messing with positioning, uplighting, wattage and color temperature.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
October 6th
Getting some plants in for my 2019 season
Green Columnar Apple Tree
Malus 'North Pole'
Red Columnar Apple
Malus 'Scarlet Sentinel'
October 8th
- Some cleanup, I removed the trellis and will be using these for sweet potatoes in the raised beds on the hill next season.
- I think I'm gonna try a few Okra plants where the trellis was next season.
Getting some plants in for my 2019 season
- Sacrificed my Artichoke plant, there just wasn't enough room to grow this plant and I have no doubt that this would have come back next year!
- My plants came in from, FastGrowingTrees.com. I was extremely impressed with the packaging. I was informed that these are pruned when shipped out but I'm not too sure.
- Spaced them 26" apart, I did notice that there were roots on the scion that was grafted to the root stock so I just brushed off the tiny roots and made sure to plant with the graft 3" above the soil level.
Green Columnar Apple Tree
Malus 'North Pole'
Red Columnar Apple
Malus 'Scarlet Sentinel'
- Celeste Fig. I'm most likely going to put this in the basement bathroom this winter then may up-pot, the following year.
- My ginger seems to have grown, now I'm not sure If I should pot this and bring it in during the winter or plop in in some peat and put in the basement.
- Some of the fall plants I put in are blooming, this is one of my goals for next year is to have more native flowers in the Butterfly / Hummingbird garden.
- I have been very careful with removing flowers this year, I have been trying to leave as much as possible for the wildlife to enjoy. Funny thing, a lot of the flowers blooming now were plants that were tossed in the trash at one of my daughters events.
- During work today, I liberated a "Roadside Goldenrod" Common Goldenrod, Solidago canadensis for the butterfly/hummingbird garden.
October 8th
- Tried a batch of my Cowboy candy. I'm really happy with how these turned out.
- Roasted and canned 5 pints of Poblanos.
- Tore out my yard long beans. The hardy kiwi was all tangled up in them so I wanted to get the hardy kiwi vines untangled and start training them. The neighbors hedges or whatever they are are becoming a bit of a pain. I had to climb up on top of the fence and cut a lot of the hedge back.
- Going to harvest the beans from these. I may grow these again next year and pick them immature and make "dilly beans" again. I made a batch a few months ago and we just tried a jar at my parents house and they were pretty darn good.
- A few red Marconi's that I picked last week and some Jimmy Nardello's from the pond. Saved some seeds from the Jimmy Nardello's and made a batch of Fried peppers with Burrata cheese.
- Was at my parents house Saturday and I seeded their Hugelkultur bed with oats and crimson clover.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
I planted two Goldenrod plants in my butterfly garden, and have been battling them ever since. They really became invasive and try to smother out everything else - they spread both by seed and root spread. I make sure to cut off the dried blooms before they seed.
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: SUGA 2018
OhioGardener wrote:
I planted two Goldenrod plants in my butterfly garden, and have been battling them ever since. They really became invasive and try to smother out everything else - they spread both by seed and root spread. I make sure to cut off the dried blooms before they seed.
Yeah, I am a bit worried about that.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
October 16th
- Got some work done on my Rainwater Diverting project. Winterized the drip lines and the Koi pond.
- Stopped at the recycle center and picked up some compost, double ground mulch and single ground mulch. I worked on my neighbors garden, laid out some cardboard and mulched.
- Cleaned up the yard a bit.
- Installed a hanger for my Texas Tomato Cages.
- Harvested my beans.
- Harvested my one and only Zucchini of the year.
- I have a few pepper plants still growing.
- Gathered some Maypops from the ground
- Cover crops are growing nicely, I added some diluted urea to the cover crop beds @ 10-1.
- Found out why my grapes were suffering, this cardboard seemed like an ant narcotic.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
SQWIB wrote:
Installed a hanger for my Texas Tomato Cages.
This is something I need to do. I took all of my Texas Tomato Cages down, cleaned them up, and sprayed the bottom posts with WD-40 to prevent rust on them. But, right now they are just leaned against the all of the garage. I need to find a hanger sturdy enough to hang them up out of the way until they are needed next summer. Love the convenience of those cages, though!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: SUGA 2018
OhioGardener wrote:SQWIB wrote:
Installed a hanger for my Texas Tomato Cages.
This is something I need to do. I took all of my Texas Tomato Cages down, cleaned them up, and sprayed the bottom posts with WD-40 to prevent rust on them. But, right now they are just leaned against the all of the garage. I need to find a hanger sturdy enough to hang them up out of the way until they are needed next summer. Love the convenience of those cages, though!
I used a foldable bike hook that has been in the way for years.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
Re: SUGA 2018
October 22nd
- Fig and cover crops, I may transplant this to the deck planter.
- Laura picked up her fall Mums.
- Cut back the Listada di Gandia Eggplant and put the planter to bed.
- Kale and perpetual spinach in the Koi Pond Hugelkultur bed.
- Passion flower still going like gangbusters
October 29th
- Still getting Ruby Red peppers, just eating them green, tomatoes and Tabasco peppers, Kale and Perpetual Spinach and chard are growing nicely, parsley is doing great.
- Harvested my horseradish
- Made my tomato sauce and canned.
- I really love my immersion blender.
- My last stop at the recycle center for the season. They close on the weekends at the end of October till the end of May, so I got some compost, single ground mulch (wood chips) and double ground mulch that I will be putting down when the cover crops die back.
- In situ composting
- Mulch
- Winterized the drip lines.
SQWIB- Posts : 366
Join date : 2016-03-07
Location : Philly 7A
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