Garden Thread 2023!

[clancey]

Just beautiful water plants and the coloring is so pretty that green and purple so pretty. Good idea about different species being able to climb out if need be--wonderful for bees and other bugs of that nature enjoyed the posting..clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

Not a nice afternoon to work outside with the temp around 50, damp, cloudy and windy, but I finally cut off about 2 feet of a 12" diameter green drainage pipe I had sitting in the driveway to make a fish cave for the Food Forest pond. The fish need a place to hide if a predator comes around....most likely with the fencing, an Egret is about the only predator, But, we lost 2 goldfish to an egret last Fall.

In addition to adding the fish cave, I also dropped 12 clumps of Hornwort into the FF pond. Once it adjusts and the water warms up, the hornwort can grow to 8 feet in length with side shoots. It not only provides shade, but it also feeds on nutrients that algae need to grow, so it helps keep algae in check.

From the picture, it looks like a vertical growing plant, and you can anchor it in a substrate, but it doesn't root. It grows best as a floating plant.

 

[EbS-P]

The tower garden will produce its first tomato this week. Seeded January 19th. I’ve almost killed the tower twice due to an extension cord getting unplugged. It needs about 8-10 gallons of water a week. First chard harvest too! The salad rack is given lots of cilantro and a a big salad every week. If I planted it correctly a rack that size could easily make 4 big salads a week. I never filled the second tier and left the third empty. My biggest complaint is that the vertical space between racks is too small. I can fix that with a few $$ if pvc.

I ran out of time when March hit. Birthdays kids getting sick ect. So nothing else has been started.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yum, EbS-P, I can almost taste those tomatoes from here. Can't wait for fresh ones. It will be a while, though.

It is amazing to me that now that I am in 3 weeks since I planted my seeds and have them under grow lights in the den, how much slower everything is growing compared to when I started them in the greenhouse. Most of them look pretty good, but they are not growing as fast, and I can tell by just looking at them that I am going to have to spend a few days hardening them off. I never had to harden off my seedlings when they were started in the greenhouse.

Tomatoes


Peppers


Cantaloupe, Rhubarb, Celery (front to back)


Broccoli left. Cabbages right. I added a few seeds today in the pots where nothing germinated.


I only started my flower seeds about 8 days or so ago.

Zinnias on the right. Marigolds in the middle. Hard to see, but the right side of the marigold flat has germinated, but nothing on the left side of the flat. They were supposed to be "Sparky" marigolds. I must have gotten a bad pack. So, I added another variety called "Champion" today and even planted one cell pack with zucchini. Nasturtiums on the left. Hard to see again, but all cells are showing germination.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Congratulations, @EbS-P , on the harvests, current and future. The plants look pretty nice.

Our lettuce, grown outside all winter, is bolting to flower now. It’s actually hard to find some to harvest, even though the bed is still chock full. Today are temperatures are approaching ninety, so it’s definitely no longer time for lettuce down here.

I spotted my first green tomato yesterday when I went out in the morning to inspect the damage from a hail storm the night before. Thankfully the hail was only up to about grape size, and there wasn’t a huge amount. It did tear through some larger leaves on pumpkin, cucumber, and kale, but nothing looked too bad. Had I not been looking for the damage, it’s possible that I might not have noticed it immediately. It is there, though. I was glad to get forty five hundredths of an inch of rain. [The numbers and parentheses on my keyboard are not working now, hence the all verbal numbers in this post.]

I also spotted a tiny green bean this morning on my bush beans, and cucumbers are beginning to flower. I’ve been harvesting beets, radishes, and leeks. There are some more in the garden, but it’s definitely the end of the cool season, and the beginning of the heat. I just hope it doesn’t come too hard and fast so that I can get some fruit set on my plants.

 

[begreen]

I did a lot of transplanting today into 4" pots like Dan. The tomatoes and peppers were started 3 weeks late due to our cold spring. I started squashes and cukes earlier and put the first Marketmore outdoors. So far it looks ok. All our broccoli is outside along with onions, radishes, leeks, potatoes, celery, and lettuce. We are harvesting the lettuce now.
Most of my time is now focused on getting the new planting area ready. New ground cover is down. The new planting area is now in place. This is 51' x 14' and raised above the main area. It took 28 cu yds of fill. Now we are building the Vegogarden beds to put there, but it is slow. Half of the time is spent peeling off the $#@%^ protective plastic.

Today are temperatures are approaching ninety, so it’s definitely no longer time for lettuce down here.

How about growing it in the Aerogarden or indoors under lights?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Wow. Cubic yards of fill, and you still have assemble the raised beds and get those filled. I’m glad I’m not doing that work. The raised design looks really nice the way you’ve done it, though.

I’ve done lettuce inside before, but I’m not planning on it this summer. Once I’ve gone a few weeks without my homegrown lettuce salad, I’ll be missing it. I do currently have a medium-sized terra cotta pot outside that has volunteered with lettuce and herbs. It’s the pot I used last year to grow my salad inside, so I do have the option of bringing it in when the heat comes back. Today was much milder, only in the seventies. It was really lovely.

 

[Dan Freeman]

begreen, you've been real busy. It looks great!

 

[EbS-P]

Wow. Cubic yards of fill, and you still have assemble the raised beds and get those filled. I’m glad I’m not doing that work. The raised design looks really nice the way you’ve done it, though.

I’ve done lettuce inside before, but I’m not planning on it this summer. Once I’ve gone a few weeks without my homegrown lettuce salad, I’ll be missing it. I do currently have a medium-sized terra cotta pot outside that has volunteered with lettuce and herbs. It’s the pot I used last year to grow my salad inside, so I do have the option of bringing it in when the heat comes back. Today was much milder, only in the seventies. It was really lovely.

I’m going to keep my lettuce going inside under lights. It’s the easiest plant I’ve grown hydroponically (and the tomatoes). When I get a chance I’ll expand to use all three levels. Try some different varieties. I want to add basil too. Now it takes longer to harvest than maintain the system.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I wanted to get my spinach, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, and onions planted outside this week, but it has been raining for the past few days and is going to keep raining for the next few days. The only good thing is we were under our normal rainfall totals. This has blasted through the rain deficit.

 

[begreen]

begreen, you've been real busy. It looks great!

Thanks, indeed I have. Building the vegogardens now. It takes as long (or longer) to remove the protective plastic as it takes to build one! They will take another 7 yds of good garden soil fill. I have to admit I am hiring help for a lot of this. 20 yrs ago I might have attempted to do this on my own, but my back and knees get pretty vocal now if I push it too hard.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I have to admit I am hiring help for a lot of this. 20 yrs ago I might have attempted to do this on my own, but my back and knees get pretty vocal now if I push it too hard.

LOL! I know exactly what you mean!

 

[EbS-P]

First tomato

 

[Dan Freeman]

First tomato

View attachment 312422

Nothing like that first one of the season! (Can you tell I like tomatoes?)

 

[clancey]

Now that's a celebration....That tomato is cute and a pretty color...lol clancey

 

[begreen]

All the vego-garden beds are built. I am going to build the asparagus bed frame out of wood. It's mostly just a low, dirt retainer.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Nice set-up, begreen.

With the on and off rain again this afternoon (almost a week, now), I spent time in my workshop putting together greenhouse roof windows. I did two yesterday and two today. They are quite large at about 42" x 38". I also have to do caulking of the joints and polycarbonate panels. I hate caulking. I usually get more on me than whatever I am caulking.

Here are the 4 windows finished.


I put them in the living room because I need the room to move around in my workshop. My living room looks like a warehouse. Besides these 4 windows, it also has 5 boxes with wood raised pond parts, 1 box with a pond liner, 2 boxes with the trench drainage pieces, 3 boxes with the exhaust fan, intake shutter, and thermostat, and 1 box with the Phase Change panels.

I am hoping for a nice, calm, dry weekend to start building.

 

[begreen]

They are large windows. Do they open to vent the greenhouse?

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yes. They have automatic openers that open/close the windows depending on the temperature. The opening temp can be roughly adjusted between about 55-70. The piston in the opener contains a mineral wax that expands when heated. As the temperature rises and the wax expands, the piston opens the greenhouse vent. As the temperature cools and the wax contracts, the piston will close the greenhouse vent.

 

[begreen]

Yes. They have automatic openers that open/close the windows depending on the temperature. The opening temp can be roughly adjusted between about 55-70. The piston in the opener contains a mineral wax that expands when heated. As the temperature rises and the wax expands, the piston opens the greenhouse vent. As the temperature cools and the wax contracts, the piston will close the greenhouse vent.

I put Bayliss autovent openers on our greenhouse peak windows. I really like them. They use a mineral wax that changes to liquid and expands with heat. They're 12 yrs old and still work well. Unfortunately, they are not on the roof which would be better but they do make a notable difference and have saved my plants more than once when I forget to open the greenhouse doors early enough.

Technical Information | Bayliss Autovents

www.baylissautovents.co.uk

 

[Dan Freeman]

So, you are familiar with these types of openers. The Bayliss looks very sturdy. The ones I got with the Riga greenhouse are made in Germany, but I don't remember which brand offhand.

 

[SpaceBus]

The first wildflowers have just started blooming and I started planting things about three weeks ago. I've got a big variety this year and hope my early planting pays off. I'm still short on sunflowers and beets, but I have just about everything else planted that I wanted. We might even get a second planting this year.

 

[begreen]

So, you are familiar with these types of openers. The Bayliss looks very sturdy. The ones I got with the Riga greenhouse are made in Germany, but I don't remember which brand offhand.

Bayliss is the only brand I have tried. I added one to the side, intake window and it's working well too.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Well, we started on the greenhouse today.

We put up most of the frame today just to the point where it is stabilized and can stand on its own. None of the "ribs" are exactly where their final placement will be. We just wanted to get them slid into the ridge beam for now. Tomorrow we'll build the back wall, attach the ridge beam to the back wall, and then start to build it forward with the poly panels. I would love to have done more today, but all that work above my head gets my shoulders and healing ribs to aching real fast. Tomorrow's another day. Think I'll go cut some grass now.

 

[begreen]

That's looking good. It's going to be a great space and garden asset.