Garden Thread 2023!

[begreen]

Bummer. We saw our first stink bug a couple of weeks ago. It came in on some lilacs my wife had picked. Here's a video with some tips to try. I have also read that kaolin clay dust is good.

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[Dan Freeman]

Thanks, DG. The straw is helping, and we are concentrating the water right around the plant to help conserve.

Too bad about the beans. I never heard of those kissing bugs, but I did look them up and they have been spotted up as far as my neck of the woods. They don't look like anything you want to mess with. Good thing it was only stink bugs. They do look similar and are easy to see all over those pods.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thanks for the suggestions, Begreen. I’m very glad to report that I’m not having trouble with stink bugs in the house. They continue to be limited to the red noodle beans in the garden. I did take a glass bottle out today and try to bump the stink bugs into it. My stink bugs are either more coordinated than the ones in the video, or it’s just harder to do with leaves and twining vines on a trellis. I knocked a lot to the ground, and I really disliked it when they fell toward my face as many of them congregate at the very top of the trellis. Nevertheless I have more than half of a sixteen ounce bottle filled with soapy water and stink bugs at the moment, and the vines were looking much less burdened. I did puff more DE up there, though, to help take care of new ones that hatch or fly in.

I had a good harvest this morning of cucumbers, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. We sliced the zucchini and coated in lemon juice and olive oil and fried it to accompany some roasted potatoes for lunch. We had some of the cucumbers and tomatoes along with what parsley I could gather as part of tabbouleh for dinner. That’s a favorite with most of my family, and it always feels like an accomplishment when I make the first batch each year with the fresh garden produce.

 

[begreen]

Dan, I am curious how this will work out. I did a straw mulch one year in a large garden. It was a small disaster. The straw was full of seed heads and the pathways sprung to life with a large crop of oats. It took me all season to get this under control. Since then I have shied away from straw.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We've been buying straw from this same guy for years, mainly for our garlic. It stays on from October to July or so. Put it on about 6 inches thick, and to be honest, we've never had a problem with seeds. Don't believe we'll have any problem now using it to cover other vegetables, but I guess one could get a bad bale depending on where it is being taken from.

 

[begreen]

I did the Ruth Stout method and piled the straw mulch about 12-18" high, knowing it would compact over time. It came in compressed bales from our local lumber/feed store. The straw was fine for bedding, but not for mulch. Now I chew up fall leaves with the mower and put them on the beds in October for overwintering mulch but it would be nice to find something for summer mulch to reduce watering.

 

[EbS-P]

Hydroponic update.. tomatoes are doing really well. This many tomatoes in the tower garden was a mistake, in fact I want to find a tomato only hydroponic solution cucumbers too. It has been nice to be able to roll them around. We’ve had an ongoing construction project and a few storms. Peppers and eggplant are come along well. Chard gets harvested once a week. I spin the tower around every week.

Salad rack has been replanted. I may start another 20-30 cups.

The bag garden has been a bust. Two misshapen cucumbers and a few chard leaves is all so far. Squirrels dig everything I plant up. But i haven’t given up.

She’s a god tomato squisher!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Quite an impressive system you've got going there. Bet you are having fun with it...and satisfying vegetables!

 

[Dan Freeman]

I started to make a waterfall for the new greenhouse pond today. I bought a small waterfall pond box, and I created a frame from cedar wood from my old greenhouse. Tomorrow, I'll go over Lowes and pick up a few cedar boards to enclose it. After that, I will stain it. I think it will look nice and will give that running water sound in the greenhouse. Pics to follow...

 

[Dan Freeman]

I went out after dinner and took two pics of the waterfall frame. Tomorrow, I will close it in and stain it.

 

[Dan Freeman]

After pricing the cedar boards at Lowes, I decided to pick up some new sanding belts for my benchtop sander. I still have some old stained/dirty redwood slats from the original greenhouse. I think I will use them and clean them up on the sander before staining. It will save me about 2/3's of the price.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I was able to get the old western redwood cut down and closed in the waterfall today. The wood was a bit further gone than I thought, but it came out well and has a rustic look after staining.



The waterfall will exit that top space. The bottom opening is to feed the tubing from the pump down to the filter.



I want to get the liner in tomorrow. It is a custom fit welded box liner made of 45 mil EPDM. The pressure filter will go under the table, and I will disguise it. The table that holds the waterfall will have herbs growing around it.

We also got about 1/5th of the FF covered with another 2 inches or so of sawdust we've had piled since last Fall.

 

[EbS-P]

3/4 of a gallon of blue berries from my parents front yard. Late harvest this year.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Nice! We have 6 blueberry bushes, 3 of which are pink lemonade blueberry bushes, but it will be a while before they are ripe.

 

[begreen]

It'll be over a month before our first blueberries are ripe.

 

[EbS-P]

It'll be over a month before our first blueberries are ripe.

It’s been unseasonably cool here. Even the lifelong residents have a hard time recalling an April-May start of June that has been this cool. It was down to 59 this morning. Last 50 degree low we will see for some time. Dry here too but nothing critical. Normal Summer weather patter looks to be setting up.

Now I have get to see how my tomatoes do in the hotter weather. They only get direct Sun 11-3. So they won’t get cooked but I bet they start needing more than 20 gallons of water a week.

 

[begreen]

It’s been unseasonably cool here. Even the lifelong residents have a hard time recalling an April-May start of June that has been this cool. It was down to 59 this morning. Last 50 degree low we will see for some time. Dry here too but nothing critical. Normal Summer weather patter looks to be setting up.

Now I have get to see how my tomatoes do in the hotter weather. They only get direct Sun 11-3. So they won’t get cooked but I bet they start needing more than 20 gallons of water a week.

My sister is loving the cool weather in NC.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Got out bright and early today. Put the liner in the pond and filled it. No plants or fish yet. I added some beneficial bacteria and will wait for the pond to cycle before adding fish. Plants...I need to do some repotting first. Think I'll take the rest of the day off.

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[DuaeGuttae]

That’s looking and sounding nice, Dan Freeman. You did good work.

Our cooler, moister spring is over, I believe. We’re having our first major heat wave of the summer, and there are triple digits in the forecast for a number of days this week and next. I’ll have to up the watering of the garden, but thankfully the rain tanks are mostly full at this point.

I was amazed when I went out to the garden to harvest beans and cucumbers this morning how orange my volunteer pumpkin had turned. The first picture I took on June third, I believe; the second just Friday, June ninth; the last I took this afternoon, June eleventh. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting such quick progress on the pumpkin.


I also harvested my first Porter tomatoes today. They’re only a little over an ounce per tomato for the most part, and I haven’t tasted them yet, but I’m pleased that I got some. Some tomatoes have trouble ripening when the temperature hit the high nineties and one hundreds. I hope that will not be the case for this one. This week should tell me a lot. The Porter Tomatoes are the pinker ones on the top in this photo.



We also have blueberries ripening, @EbS-P , but no where near three quarters of a pound. Ours, too, may be slightly behind, but it’s a good crop this year, so I’m glad for that. We grow rabbiteye types in pots. Do you know what your parents have? Rabbiteye? Southern High Bush? How many bushes do they have? Do they have to net them against birds?

 

[Dan Freeman]

Thanks, DG!

Garden still looking good despite threat. Hope you don't come a hair close to last years' experience.

We have had virtually no rain in 1.5 months. They are saying we could get a significant amount tomorrow afternoon/evening. I certainly hope so. Both our wells stopped functioning for a while today.

It is scary so early in the season.

Here is our best hope for some rain in the last 1.5 months and the next 10 days. It is starting to feel like a biblical plague...and perhaps it is.

 

[EbS-P]

That’s looking and sounding nice, Dan Freeman. You did good work.

Our cooler, moister spring is over, I believe. We’re having our first major heat wave of the summer, and there are triple digits in the forecast for a number of days this week and next. I’ll have to up the watering of the garden, but thankfully the rain tanks are mostly full at this point.

I was amazed when I went out to the garden to harvest beans and cucumbers this morning how orange my volunteer pumpkin had turned. The first picture I took on June third, I believe; the second just Friday, June ninth; the last I took this afternoon, June eleventh. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting such quick progress on the pumpkin.
View attachment 313278View attachment 313276View attachment 313277

I also harvested my first Porter tomatoes today. They’re only a little over an ounce per tomato for the most part, and I haven’t tasted them yet, but I’m pleased that I got some. Some tomatoes have trouble ripening when the temperature hit the high nineties and one hundreds. I hope that will not be the case for this one. This week should tell me a lot. The Porter Tomatoes are the pinker ones on the top in this photo.

View attachment 313280

We also have blueberries ripening, @EbS-P , but no where near three quarters of a pound. Ours, too, may be slightly behind, but it’s a good crop this year, so I’m glad for that. We grow rabbiteye types in pots. Do you know what your parents have? Rabbiteye? Southern High Bush? How many bushes do they have? Do they have to net them against birds?

The blue berries are high bush. What ever Home Depot was selling. We have netted them in the past. But not this year. The yields have been so high the last two years there were still plenty after the birds got their share. But we did have starlings one year. One flock and they were picked clean.

 

[begreen]

The new beds are now finished, irrigated, and planted. Things are starting to look summery.

The potatoes are blooming and garlic will be getting harvested in a couple of weeks. I have already clipped off the scapes.


The garden picture was shot from the driveway through the deer fence.

 

[Dan Freeman]

What a nice job you have done, begreen. Enjoy!

 

[EbS-P]

My dad has been so impressed with my hydroponics he is wanting to go that route. I’m ready to build the perfect hydroponic tomato system. It will be 30-40 gallons, self contained, semi portable, NFT air roots, and a capacity for 15-25 vines. I hope to get some cucumbers in there too. Maybe zucchini too. The idea being semi portable is I can bring inside during cold weather. The vines will have to get cut but not starting over with seedlings is appealing.

I think it will be 4” pvc horizontal system two or three pipes. My plan is to plant only indeterminate varieties. And make a trellis that secures to my second story porch. Up then over

I will also make another 30-40 gallon big plant (think okra collards, chard) using the same design.

My hope is to get the tower garden growing smaller plants that better utilize the vertical space.

So all done I’m running about 90 gallons capacity across 4 systems. I’m almost to the point where I might consider a single flood and drain system but the lack of easy portability is a turn off.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today was one of those days I love on the property. Nothing pressing (even if there is!) and just drifting from one chore to the next.

The first thing I did this morning was cut and assemble the black pvc pipes and joints into plant stands for the new pond in the greenhouse. I used to use little resin garden tables, but I can't find them in the colors I want anymore.



I finished off the (temporary???) front step into the greenhouse. Up until now, it was just 2 6x6's with a piece of slate. I decided to close it in with pressure treated wood. We need to replace the walkway that will go across the front of the greenhouse, around the side, and then branch off in two directions...one to the tool shed; the other to the back door of the greenhouse.