Garden Thread 2023!

[DuaeGuttae]

My younger daughter likes to make doodles of fruit and vegetables. She did this on Sunday. I just thought the gardeners here would enjoy it.


We had half an inch of rain yesterday evening, overnight, and into the morning. I had to pour water off my little seedlings. They’ve been spending days and nights on our back deck, but this afternoon I moved them to the garden where there is more full sunshine. I may transplant on Saturday depending on the forecast. We’re supposed to freeze Friday night.


My Austrian Winter Peas (in the square beds) and Crimson Clover (in the long bed in back) looked perky and happy after the rain. They came through the ice with no protection.



The Crawford lettuce had protection during the worst of the ice storm, and it has bounced back wonderfully.. I harvested two gallon-sized containers full yesterday for giving away and eating, and this is what the bed looked like this afternoon.

 

[EbS-P]

Went back to my stream that’s been logged and got enough soil to fill five 7 gallon non woven bags. Theo wanted to plant carrots so we have two bags of carrots and two cucumbers and I had a sweet potato that started budding in the pantry so I stuck it in one.

I can put them inside if we get another freeze. I will modify my yard sprinkler system to get them automatically watered.

Hydroponics are coming along. Chard and kale look rough. Buttercup lettuce looks amazing and turnips look good. I was rushed and unable to check ph so I guessed it was a bit high. That will be properly sorted out this week. I have 12 tomatoes growing well. They are in 2” net cups for the tower but not in the tower yet so they are just sitting in the lid in a bit of water to keep the mineral wool wet. The plan was to raft them but my foam was not thick enough to keep them out of the water.

Started poblanos and broccoli rabe.

It becoming more clear that if I want to grow 80% of our leafy greens. I’m going to need to expand to a second system.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@EbS-P , sweet potatoes really don’t like any cold at all, even if it’s above freezing. If you have a warm place where you can keep that one bag, it would be better to have it inside until your nights are consistently above 55 or even 60 degrees. That ”mother” sweet potato should make a bunch of slips for you that you can then plant out to create more plants. They’re definitely a good crops for the hot summers.

I know that you have said that you don’t have much full sun due to trees, but leafy greens can take more partial shade than a lot of other crops, especially greens like lettuce and spinach that would tend to bolt in the heat.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Sweet potatoes are great for container growing. I’m not sure how you would get all of them out of the ground if they were in the soil! They went all through the containers I was growing them in!

 

[begreen]

I would love to grow sweet potatoes but I don't know if our soil will get warm enough. I suppose I could try them in a black grow bag, but this is one plant we will probably just buy organic from the store.

 

[EbS-P]

I would love to grow sweet potatoes but I don't know if our soil will get warm enough. I suppose I could try them in a black grow bag, but this is one plant we will probably just buy organic from the store.

I’m worried about my black bags getting too warm come the end of may

 

[begreen]

I’m worried about my black bags getting too warm come the end of may

Yup, sweet potatoes and okra are two crops my sister can easily grow that I haven't tried.

On the good side, we are harvesting lots of lemons and limes right now.

In the iDoo I have started our third round of lettuce plants.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yup, sweet potatoes and okra are two crops my sister can easily grow that I haven't tried.

On the good side, we are harvesting lots of lemons and limes right now.

In the iDoo I have started our third round of lettuce plants.

I'm with you begreen. I have never tried sweet potatoes or okra either. And I would love to be able to grow citrus.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We worked outside today. It is 54 and full sun. Nicer day than they predicted Breezy, but still warm enough in the sun to work without a jacket.

We moved all the wood from the greenhouse to one of the wood piles. I finished removing all the interior hardware used to hang pipes for the lighting, removed the two fans, removed all the Reflectix Insulation and cut it up so it won't take a lot of garbage bags to get rid of it. I also removed the front and back doors.

I saved all the brackets and the wood from the doors and will do so with a lot of the greenhouse as we dismantle it. It stuck me that I can make frames with the cedar and the brackets to put over our berry bushes and cover with netting for the summer! I will keep all the cedar that is in good shape...most of it. Some of the polycarbonate will be discarded, some will be saved for future projects.

The greenhouse looks so empty and sad since we started working on it this past Wednesday and today.

Here it is without the doors, raised flower beds in front, all the Reflectix insulation removed, all firewood removed, and all "everything" removed.



Next, we'll begin dismantling it.

The Site Prep company is coming next Wednesday to measure, figure slope, materials, etc. I told them we would be ready for them by April 3rd, but it may be earlier. It takes 10-14 days to get on the schedule once you are ready to have the work done.

 

[NHWS]

On the good side, we are harvesting lots of lemons and limes right now.

Are your lemons and limes indoors or outdoors?

 

[begreen]

Are your lemons and limes indoors or outdoors?

They're in the greenhouse for another month or so. Then they go outdoors until sometime in October.

 

[begreen]

We worked outside today. It is 54 and full sun. Nicer day than they predicted Breezy, but still warm enough in the sun to work without a jacket.

We moved all the wood from the greenhouse to one of the wood piles. I finished removing all the interior hardware used to hang pipes for the lighting, removed the two fans, removed all the Reflectix Insulation and cut it up so it won't take a lot of garbage bags to get rid of it. I also removed the front and back doors.

I saved all the brackets and the wood from the doors and will do so with a lot of the greenhouse as we dismantle it. It stuck me that I can make frames with the cedar and the brackets to put over our berry bushes and cover with netting for the summer! I will keep all the cedar that is in good shape...most of it. Some of the polycarbonate will be discarded, some will be saved for future projects.

View attachment 309506 View attachment 309507

Next, we'll begin dismantling it.

The Site Prep company is coming next Wednesday to measure, figure slope, materials, etc. I told them we would be ready for them by April 3rd, but it may be earlier. It takes 10-14 days to get on the schedule once you are ready to have the work done.

The old greenhouse would make a dandy firewood kiln.

 

[begreen]

Sound familiar?

 

[NHWS]

They're in the greenhouse for another month or so. Then they go outdoors until sometime in October.

Lemons and limes are a good reason to consider building a greenhouse. I've been considering growing one or two of each in indoor pots.

 

[NHWS]

Sound familiar?

View attachment 309520

Those numbers are off by at least an order of magnitude.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Well, if that order of magnitude is a little exponent number…

 

[ispinwool]

@DuaeGuttae I'm seeing buried pots with saucer lids in your raised beds...what purpose to they serve?
(I would also like to mention that your garden area looks great!)

 

[NHWS]

@DuaeGuttae I'm seeing buried pots with saucer lids in your raised beds...what purpose to they serve?
(I would also like to mention that your garden area looks great!)

If he was in the PNW, they would be beer-filled slug collectors. Not sure if that part of Texas suffers from the wee beasties, though.

Agree that the garden looks very nice.

 

[begreen]

They are ollas used as a slow-release method for watering plant roots.

How to make DIY Ollas: Low Tech Self-Watering Systems for Plants

Introduction to using ollas in the garden and simple instructions for how to make a DIY olla using a terracotta plant pot. Ollas are an inexpensive way to keep plants watered. They slow-release water around growing plants using an ancient technique discovered by people living in arid regions.

lovelygreens.com

 

[ispinwool]

@begreen Thanks for the answer/link!
I've been trying raised beds for 2 years and absolutely can't
keep them hydrated...I even mixed my 'soil' from the Square Foot Gardening instructions.
These look promising

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Started my seeds this afternoon.. Tomatos, peppers celery onion eggplant.. got them all on the mat.. we will see in about 10/12 days how were doing.. I got more to sow.. but this is a good start

 

[begreen]

@begreen Thanks for the answer/link!
I've been trying raised beds for 2 years and absolutely can't
keep them hydrated...I even mixed my 'soil' from the Square Foot Gardening instructions.
These look promising

Very sandy soil needs a lot of organic matter to help retain moisture. Keep adding mulched leaves in the fall and compost in the spring,

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@ispinwool , thanks for the compliments on the garden. Ollas work well for me in my arid climate, and normally the ground doesn’t freeze where I am, so I don’t have to lift and store them every winter. (I have had some break because of exceptional freezes, though. I repair them as best I can.). I think before I committed to ollas in a more temperature climate with more rainfall, I’d definitely look to amending the soil to hold moisture better as @begreen mentioned. If your garden beds aren’t too large and you’d have a place to store all the pots for the winter and you want to go ahead, I can give you tips on pots. They do work really well for me. They work great in large pots as well.

@Woodsplitter67 , I started seeds as well today: tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. I also transplanted my sugar snap peas to the garden. I hope I’ll be able to get a crop of them before the heat comes on. I still have some broccoli, cauliflower, kale and beet seedlings to put out, but they’re so small right now, that I’m letting them grow a bit more before they go into the raised beds.

@Dan Freeman , how are your ribs after all your work on the greenhouse?

 

[ispinwool]

@DuaeGuttae ...I looked up a few videos on youtube...what is your favorite way to close the hole in the
bottom of the ollas? I'm absolutely gonna give these a try this summer... We honestly don't eat
a lot of veggies, but I really love to play in the dirt.

 

[clancey]

That greenhouse looks sad being torn down and that site looks just perfect for another larger greenhouse--close to the house--gets sun and it looks protected. DG your daughter draws really good and maybe she will be a botany major with a emphasis on art...Seems you all are getting an early start and that's good. Lots of work to this "planting business"...I am just looking at my area maybe to dig up some soil and turn it over but waiting for better weather...thanks for the posting everyone..clancey