Sunday, June 13, 2010
blossom end rot - patio tomato
some of the fruit on the patio in a SWC has developed blossom end rot. a search in one of our natural pest and disease books reveals this could be due to overwater or periods of drought or a lack of calcium that ultimately prevents water and nutrients from reaching the entire fruit cluster. this is our first experience with BER. not all of the fruits have it. we will keep posting updates on this plant.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Garden Update June 3 2010
Tomatoes everywhere. Cukes growing nicely, cosmos ready to bloom, basil and cilantro ready to pick. Strawberry or two and peppers are flowering. The bees have been out pollinating.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Frog
I was watering the garden and I heard a loud croaking noise and it was echoing. I looked around and figured there had to be a frog inside the PVC pipe that I use to put water in the earthboxes. So I ran inside and grabbed my camera and this is what I saw when I peaked inside.
Ultimate Worm Poop
Here is one of three bags of worm castings Vikki brought back from california on her recent trip.
Maggie and I used this when planting our updates to the soil garden. We add a handful in each dug hole for the plant to sit in after planting.
Maggie and I used this when planting our updates to the soil garden. We add a handful in each dug hole for the plant to sit in after planting.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Green up your garden!
Want an inexpensive and easy way to green up your garden? Pick up some epsom salt. I bought this 1/2 gallon carton at walgreens for about $2.
Sprinkle a bit around your plants and water well. You can also mix about 1/4 cup of salts in a gallon of water and apply during the watering cycle.
Don't believe me? Check out this link. http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/garden_usage_tips.htm
Ready for okra
Started okra from seed on March 15th. 2 months later, about to enjoy some fresh okra. These are small plants too.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Red Bellpepper
Here are some seedlings given to us by our friend Mio. These are red bells. We got all 9 of them in the garden. Growing nicely.
Patio Tomatoes
Maggie bought patio tomato plants, along with Mr. Stripey (heirloom) and cherry tomato plants at Lewis strawberry farms yesterday. If you search for patio tomatoes in the blog section, you will pull up a lot of post from last years garden about the patio. They produced the most fruit of any tomato. The plants are determinate and do not get larger than about 24 inches high. They are perfect for container pots and we have already planted ours in a pickle bucket self watering container. Much more as this plant gets bigger. I highly recommend this variety for gardeners that do not have a large are for gardening.
Okra onboard
Our small okra plants have started producing small fruit, already! Looking forward to a bountiful harvest.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Tomatoes in Pickle Buckets
Here is the latest! An heirloom purchased as a small seedling and a big boy. Both in pickle buckets or self watering containers.
Garden up!
Spent a few days clearing the garden area and digging up the soil to loosen things up. Here's what we've got in the ground now. 8x16 foot area.
- tomatoes
- cosmos
- yellow and red potatoes
- cilantro
- basil
- cukes
- melons
- beans
- yellow and red peppers
- jalepenos
- corn
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Parsley Hydroponic!
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/waterfarm.html
Waterfarms are great for small plants such as herbs. We grew a tomato in this unit last season and it grew too big for the container to support. This product does work! It runs off an an air pump which is included in the system.
Big Boy Tomato
About 20 of these guys growing now. Started the seed on March 15, which was the new moon. Most are in starter soil, some are in grow sponges. Will transplant to an earthbox after we move to our new house next week.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Healthy Soil!
Earhtworms are a sure sign of soil health. We found this one in our yard today. Unfortunately we are moving next week. Goodbye healthy soil.
Rapid Growth
A sunflower seedling planted on March 15th inside under the growlight. We had to move it to a larger container today. Healthy white roots.
Great source for gardening ideas
This is our source for building the wooden seed flat mentioned in a previous post.
Growlight Setup
Here is our grow light setup invented and constructed by Chris. He built this with uneven legs so it could use the hearth as a shelf to keep the seed trays close to the grow light as well as support for the whole setup. We are still using the Sunsystems HPS150 light which we got last year and are still using the original bulb. We have a modified desk fan blowing on the light because it puts off a lot of heat and we also are using a seedling heat mat under the seed trays which mantains a constant temp. of about 80ยบ. We are re-using standard black plastic seed trays with plastic domes on top to keep in moisture and maintain temp. which we got last year at Progressive Gardens . We are growing in grow sponges also from Progressive Gardens and some soil.
Seedlings!
Herbs and Okra. The herbs have been outside in a homemade wooden flat using window screen on the bottom and the okra has been in a seed tray which has been inside under the grow light, both since March 15th.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Late summer squash
Started a few squash plants indoors over the last couple of weeks. Transplanted to a self watering container today. This time I drilled 4 holes in the lid so after the seedling was planted, a wire cage could be inserted. Now, as the plant grows, I do not have to find created ways to stake the plant as it gets taller. I do not know why I did not think of this with the tomatoes. We had a couple of massive wind storms early in the season and nearly lost 2 plants. I should have pre-staked them!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)