2022 Garden Thread

[DuaeGuttae]

They are kind of like a fat poblano with light green skin that we are told will go red. Sorry for the poor picture. My body is blocking the late afternoon sunlight. This is a medium-sized one. There are at least 8 on this plant some bigger, some smaller.

View attachment 297930

Thanks so much for the picture, Begreen. I’d be delighted if I end up with peppers like that.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

View attachment 297949

Is that an Enduraplas rain tank? The construction looks like the one I have on order.

Yes, it is Enduraplas brand. This one is 870 gallons, I believe. We also have one that is 1150 gallons. We had to get a little creative with the downspout for this one as you can see from the picture, but this way it catches water from two different gutters that serve a very large area of the house roof, but is a bit hidden by our front porch. These are our newest tanks, only a couple of years old, so I can’t speak from experience about longevity. They are very solid, though, and it has been a huge blessing for us to capture water with them.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Put up another batch of tomatoes in the freezer. We aren’t getting as many as I thought we would, but that’s how it goes.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yes, it is Enduraplas brand. This one is 870 gallons, I believe. We also have one that is 1150 gallons. We had to get a little creative with the downspout for this one as you can see from the picture, but this way it catches water from two different gutters that serve a very large area of the house roof, but is a bit hidden by our front porch. These are our newest tanks, only a couple of years old, so I can’t speak from experience about longevity. They are very solid, though, and it has been a huge blessing for us to capture water with them.

Ours is going to be 550, just a baby. We also will have to get creative with the inlet since it is 4-inch corrugated pipe that empties from our house and warehouse roofs. I did a lot of research before choosing Enduraplas. They have a good reputation, and supposedly produce one of the best tanks in the industry. I know they are the only company that gives a 10-year warranty.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Ours is going to be 550, just a baby. We also will have to get creative with the inlet since it is 4-inch corrugated pipe that empties from our house and warehouse roofs. I did a lot of research before choosing Enduraplas. They have a good reputation, and supposedly produce one of the best tanks in the industry. I know they are the only company that gives a 10-year warranty.

Mine are babies, too, compared to some of the ones around here. If I remember sometime, I’ll try to get a photo of the tank that collects water from the roof of a nearby library. It’s huge.

When we moved here, we had two homemade rain barrels: a 55 gallon and a 35 gallon. It didn’t take us long to figure out that that was not what we needed in this climate. Our first tanks that we bought weren’t Enduraplas, but they’ve been fine so far. They were one at 500 gallons and two at 250 gallons. We used those for a couple years before we invested in the larger tanks. We use every single one of those tanks and barrels, and we could even use a few more probably. The rain here tends to come, when it comes at all, in flooding torrents. Even small amounts of rain produce a lot of run-off for us with our hip and valley roof. The 870 gallon tank seems to have picked up almost 300 hundred gallons, though that’s a very rough estimate based on where the temperature changes on the outside when the sun is on it.

I seem to have picked up a stomach bug from my children. It took all my energy this morning to move the transfer pump to our barn to pump 50 gallons over to the 870 tank. Then I moved the pump over to the 870 tank, and it’s pumping now over to the 500 gallon tank at our garden. Now I’m resting until the oven timer goes off to tell me to check the water levels in the two tanks. My little six year old was a trooper hauling hoses for me while I moved the pump and extension cord. I hope the garden can make it all day without extra water. It was still a bit damp this morning, but it’s getting sunny out there, and there’s no shade cloth anymore.

 

[woodey]

Great looking peppers, @woodey. I love stuffed peppers. I sometimes make stuffed peppers with my peppers as well. I also wait to let some of my California Wonder Bells turn red. Then, I pick a combination of green and red ones and make sausage and peppers. So good. What variety is that you grew? They look like California Wonder Bells.

Great looking peppers, @woodey. I love stuffed peppers. I sometimes make stuffed peppers with my peppers as well. I also wait to let some of my California Wonder Bells turn red. Then, I pick a combination of green and red ones and make sausage and peppers. So good. What variety is that you grew? They look like California Wonder Bells.

I always keep the plastic markers naming the variety but this year I can't find them. I probably forgot where I put them, but I did have help planting this year along with my 3 year old grandson so I will pin the blame on him.
,

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yes, DG, they make those Enduraplas rain tanks up to 10,400 gallons!

This is the driest summer we've had since the late 90's. My well is "limping" every day now. When I water, I lose pressure at a point and stop watering for the day. I am concentrating on the fruit trees and bushes since I have about $3000 invested in them in the past two years... and vegetables if the pressure lasts. I don't mind losing the annual flowers, but I stand to lose all those perennials I started from seeds this past Spring. Finally, Monday and Tuesday are looking good for rain (right now

). I heard on the news if it comes through, we could see a minimum of 1/2 to 1 inch over the two days, perhaps more. That's what we need a soft rain that will soak in, not a downpour that will run off. It won't end the drought, but it will help a lot if we get it.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today, I took all the eggplants (6) out of their pots and mulched them. I saved the soil to put into one of the raised beds. At least we got one huge eggplant parm dinner from them. I don't think I will plant eggplants again next year. They always seem to be a disappointment.

I also unpotted 4 of my 10 California Wonder Bells. The blossom end rot continues to haunt me, but I picked enough today to make a big pan of sausage and peppers...with our peppers and some of the onions we grew. We should get 2 main meals out of this.



I super bloomed the remaining 6 California Wonder Bells, the 9 Shishitos, and the 5 Tiny Tim's in the greenhouse.

I also trimmed the heck out of our Chicago Hardy Fig Tree, leaving only the 5 pieces that have figs, hoping the energy will go into the figs before the first frost. I fertilized the fig with kelp seaweed fertilizer.

I also gave a jolt of kelp fertilizer to our basil and parsley. We have already dried a lot of it for use during the winter, but I want to see if I can get another bunch of each for drying.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Yes, DG, they make those Enduraplas rain tanks up to 10,400 gallons!

This is the driest summer we've had since the late 90's. My well is "limping" every day now. When I water, I lose pressure at a point and stop watering for the day. I am concentrating on the fruit trees and bushes since I have about $3000 invested in them in the past two years... and vegetables if the pressure lasts. I don't mind losing the annual flowers, but I stand to lose all those perennials I started from seeds this past Spring. Finally, Monday and Tuesday are looking good for rain (right now

). I heard on the news if it comes through, we could see a minimum of 1/2 to 1 inch over the two days, perhaps more. That's what we need a soft rain that will soak in, not a downpour that will run off. It won't end the drought, but it will help a lot if we get it.

I’m so sorry to hear about the dry conditions and the “limping” well. Have you had that happen before? I’m sure you’ll be glad to get your rain tank when it finally comes. I do hope you get some good rain in the coming days. A good soaking rain does wonders that no amount of watering can ever do.

I took a look at the US Drought Monitor for your area today and was surprised to see how much drought there was In the Northeast. I heard there was a storm coming for New England. Maybe it’s already happened. My week has been a bit of a blur.

| U.S. Drought Monitor

droughtmonitor.unl.edu

We have a shot at some rain this evening. I sure hope we get it. Earlier our temperature dropped, and there were cooler winds blowing from the north and east, but so far no precipitation. My garden plants were all wilted down today despite my good watering yesterday. They aren’t used to it without the shade cloth, and this morning the sky was really clear (despite our forecast for cloudy days this week). I assume that the soil is losing water a lot faster without the cloth, too. It may have been too early to take it off, but I’m going to leave it off now since we do have some rain chances. It lets the rain through, but it does decrease the amount somewhat. Now that the sun angle is changing, the temperature is a bit less unreasonable, and there are some shots at showers, I hope the garden will benefit.

I have never had great success with eggplant either, and I haven’t managed any successful transplants this fall. My mom tells me that she found Black Beauty (the type currently in my garden) harder to grow successfully than some of the long Asian types. I think these would be the Ichiban-type that @begreen grows. The name Pingtung Long comes to my mind as a good open pollinated one, Orient Express as a good hybrid. They aren’t the big Italian types for Parmesan, of course, but somehow my plants don’t produce big Italian types, just small ones.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd get a single eggplant off of a plant per year. It didn't seem worth the hassle. I was probably doing something wrong.

I have lots of very small peppers coming out. I hope they continue to develop. Itll make my wife happy.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I’m so sorry to hear about the dry conditions and the “limping” well. Have you had that happen before? I’m sure you’ll be glad to get your rain tank when it finally comes. I do hope you get some good rain in the coming days. A good soaking rain does wonders that no amount of watering can ever do.

Only once before in the late 90's.

 

[begreen]

We may be late and limping along this year, but I harvested 4 nice Ichiban eggplants and a basket of cherry tomatoes today. Tomorrow I will be picking about 5 Early Girl tomatoes.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

We may be late and limping along this year, but I harvested 4 nice Ichiban eggplants and a basket of cherry tomatoes today. Tomorrow I will be picking about 5 Early Girl tomatoes.

That sounds lovely, Begreen.

My harvest this morning was 1 tiny, flea-beetle-bitten eggplant and three pods of okra.



I’ve learned that if I try to wait too long for them to get bigger, they end up getting seedy and bitter. Normally with just one eggplant this small, I would blend it up with tomatoes and other vegetables to make pizza sauce (we love eggplant in our pizza sauce), but I have no tomatoes bearing right now.

I took this picture just to show how sad my eggplants can be (this one is particularly sad, but I have never managed a large one, though I do get multiple small ones). When I picked it up for the picture, though, my ten year old saw it and was so excited because she loves eggplant. I think I’ll end up sautéing it with a few okra pods and onions, and she and I will enjoy it.

We ended up with no rain yesterday sadly. It went all around us, but thankfully some nearby communities like Uvalde which really needed it got some significant totals. I believe that several of the wells for their water system have run dry, and they’ve been having to truck water to distribute it. I hope this will recharge their wells. It was a lot of rain in some places, but I haven’t heard of damage or harm from it.

A friend of mine recently shared this website with me that tracks rainfall totals from radar for the most recent 72 hours down to one hour intervals. I haven’t had a lot of time to check how accurate it appears to be, but the couple of times we’ve had rain since I’ve learned of it have matched pretty well with our rain gauge. The 0.00 inches was right for us yesterday, even though all around us with green spots with some measurable rainfall.

Rainfall totals for the last 24 hours to 3 days - high resolution map

Radar-estimated precipitation accumulation for the past 24 hours to 3 days. High resolution and interactive rainfall data on Google Maps.

www.iweathernet.com

I thought some of you might appreciate knowing about the site if you didn’t already.

 

[Dan Freeman]

This is a picture of the side of the pond where I smeared mud on it last week and the right side where I have done nothing. The mud held although it cracked, which I expected. Tomorrow, I am going to coat the entire side with mud.



Today, I added about 100+ gallons of sifted clay around the pond to contour it and watered it in. The concrete blocks at the far end (in first pic) and near end (in 2nd pic) were placed to create a solid edge for the shallow end.



I hope to put the underlayment and the pond liner in on Sunday before the rain starts Sunday afternoon. If I don't and get an inch or two on top of the clay bottom, I'll have to wait another week to get the underlayment and liner down.

A pic of the FF from our deck. Haven't taken one in a while. You can see we have made great progress with the wood chips. Just got another delivery of 10 cubic yards today.

 

[begreen]

I’ve learned that if I try to wait too long for them to get bigger, they end up getting seedy and bitter. Normally with just one eggplant this small, I would blend it up with tomatoes and other vegetables to make pizza sauce (we love eggplant in our pizza sauce), but I have no tomatoes bearing right now.

I try not to grow an eggplant that can get bitter. Ichiban is a reliable producer here and another good variety is Megal. We have never had a bitter experience with either, even when larger. This year someone gave me some Galina which I am trying for the first time and I bought a Black Beauty because the nursery I buy my Megal starts from didn't have them this year.

Meanwhile, I cleaned out the corn patch today to get it ready for January King cabbage. While doing it I found this onion I missed. It had grown into a 2 pounder.

 

[begreen]

That is quite a change and a lot of work from the beginning of the year Dan. It looks great.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

DG,

Are you getting a tropical storm?

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT04/refresh/AL042022_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/233253_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

 

[Dan Freeman]

This morning we were out at 7am to beat the heat. Worked for 3 hours. I finished putting clay mud on the sides to fill the big holes and smooth the walls as much as possible. Then, we put about 1-2 inches of sifted clay on the bottom.

We're ready to put in the underlayment. Might get that done this afternoon depending on how hot it feels when I get back out there.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

DG,

Are you getting a tropical storm?

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT04/refresh/AL042022_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/233253_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

No, it’s south of us. There’s a slight possibility of showers tomorrow. We’re more likely to get rain later in the week, though, if a front moves down from the Red River Valley. The forecast had temperatures in the 80’s on Tuesday and beyond. I hope it’s true.

@Dan Freeman, that pond looks great. I’ll be excited to see it when it’s all done, as I’m sure you will be, too.
Thanks for the picture of the food forest as well. You’ve done a lot of work, and I bet it’s great to look down on it from the back of your house.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Down in the FF bright and early this morning.

We got the underlayment down.



And then we got the 45 MIL EDPM liner in place. Hard work with the liner. It weighs 150 lbs.



It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow and part of the day on Tuesday. That is why we worked overtime getting the underlayment and liner in, so the clay doesn't get all mucky again.

With the conditions as dry as they are, who knows when we will get the pond filled. I don't want to tax our well any more than we have to right now. We did extend the drainage pipe from our roof another 100 feet, and could use that to fill the pond, but I would want to be on sight as it filled to make adjustments in the liner. Since the rain is supposed to start at 4am, I opted not to run the drainage pipe into the pond right now. Perhaps, once day breaks, I may go out in the rain and redirect the drainage pipe to start filling the pond while I make liner adjustments. We'll see.

 

[begreen]

That EPDM is tough stuff. I got a bunch from a decommissioned pond and have used it for between row weed control and wood stack top covers.
What happens to the outer edges that are not in the water? Will they get covered with an earth berm?

 

[Dan Freeman]

That EPDM is tough stuff. I got a bunch from a decommissioned pond and have used it for between row weed control and wood stack top covers.
What happens to the outer edges that are not in the water? Will they get covered with an earth berm?

Once we fill the pond, we will trim to outer edges to about 1 to 1.5 feet around the pond and put rocks all around the pond to hide the liner. As with the rest of the FF, we will put wood chips right up to the back of the rocks around the edge.

You are right about the 45 MIL EDPM. It is very strong stuff. I will have a good bit left over once I trim this pond. I will use it for other projects where I need some rubber cushioning. That's what I did with the left-over parts from the pond we installed in 2017 in our back yard.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@Dan Freeman, congratulations on getting the liner in before the rain. Now you just need a good rain to start the filling and to help recharge that well. I’m rooting for both of us to get some this week.

Yesterday my husband and I and worked on filling our second compost tumbler. We have a two tumbler system so that we can stop adding to one and let it decompose and cure while we start adding to the other. One has some fairly nice-looking compost in it right now, but I’m letting it break down more and will perhaps use it to side dress corn and rhubarb at the end of this month as well as to add to areas for fall planting.



The one we worked on yesterday has been getting our kitchen scraps for several weeks, but we hadn’t really added a big carbon load to it yet. We have oodles of leaves, but we like to run them over with a lawnmower before adding them. Yesterday my husband pulled out the lawnmower and got to work. We did shred some leaves that my six year old had piled up for us with his toy excavator, but most of our carbon additions this time were other materials. We had three bags of solarized garden debris from the end of the season last year that we added, mostly tomato, squash, and cucumber vines, as well as some sprouts of nandina that we had pulled up a couple of weeks ago, so all that got shredded and added as well. (The nandina had actually been buried in the compost bin so that its green leaves would decompose in there. We just pulled out the woody skeletons and added them to the shredding piles.). We have a harder time coming up with nitrogen inputs because we don’t have much grass, and what we have certainly hasn’t grown in this drought. I found a few volunteer tomato plants in our herb planter, a passionflower vine that was trying to take over a Texas sage bush, some horehound, pokeweed, and thistles. That still wasn’t a lot of green compared to the brown, so I also mixed up a slurry of cottonseed meal and alfalfa pellets in rainwater and added that. It’s heating up nicely now. I’m looking forward to emptying the first bin soon so that we’ll get to start over again with our kitchen scraps, but scraps will keep going into here until that other bin is ready.


@begreen, I forgot to congratulate you on your super-sized onion the other day. I think that one onion all by itself could make you and your wife a lovely dinner of French onion soup.

 

[JbTech]

We ended up with no rain yesterday sadly. It went all around us, but thankfully some nearby communities like Uvalde which really needed it got some significant totals. I believe that several of the wells for their water system have run dry, and they’ve been having to truck water to distribute it. I hope this will recharge their wells. It was a lot of rain in some places, but I haven’t heard of damage or harm from it.

A friend of mine recently shared this website with me that tracks rainfall totals from radar for the most recent 72 hours down to one hour intervals. I haven’t had a lot of time to check how accurate it appears to be, but the couple of times we’ve had rain since I’ve learned of it have matched pretty well with our rain gauge. The 0.00 inches was right for us yesterday, even though all around us with green spots with some measurable rainfall.

Rainfall totals for the last 24 hours to 3 days - high resolution map

Radar-estimated precipitation accumulation for the past 24 hours to 3 days. High resolution and interactive rainfall data on Google Maps.

www.iweathernet.com

I thought some of you might appreciate knowing about the site if you didn’t already.

We received two monster storms in the last two days. Each with substantial rain. Best thunderstorms I can remember in a while.

That map seems accurate. Just over 2 inches in 72 hours.

Closest "Large" town 12 miles North had severe flooding. They showed just over 6 inches in that same period.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We received two monster storms in the last two days. Each with substantial rain. Best thunderstorms I can remember in a while.

That map seems accurate. Just over 2 inches in 72 hours.

Closest "Large" town 12 miles North had severe flooding. They showed just over 6 inches in that same period.

Hi @JbTech That's a food amount of rain. It seems like the whole US is suffering. Also nice to "see a new face" in the Gardening Forum. Hope you stick around.

We had some rain last night and this morning. Supposed to get more this afternoon...maybe 1 inch in total. We haven't seen any significant rain here in well over a month other than an errant sprinkle. There are trees that are dropping leaves already without turning colors...just dead.