Garden 2024

[pepperhead212]

When I was done outside today, I went upstairs to clean up, and of course, I had to look to see if any more seeds had sprouted. lol At 6:30 pm, there were 4 of the tomatoes sprouted - Napa Rose, Sunsugar (always one of the first), Genuwine F1, and Superfantastic. I also noticed that all 3 of the tomatillo pots have at least one sprout in it. The tomatoes are on their way!

There was also an Aruna pepper sprout, and a couple others that have already come up.

 

[pepperhead212]

Overnight, I had 8 more tomato varieties sprout, plus some of the previous varieties had more. Green Brandy, Negro Azteka, Ron's Carbon Copy, Rosella, Early Blue Ribbon F1, Mountain Rouge F1, Primary Colors Angora, and Pruden's Purple Pink are the 8 new ones to sprout, and some of the earlier ones have all of their pots filled, some with the 2 seeds I planted in them. Just over half the varieties have sprouted, and well over half the pots have sprouts in them.

Only one more pepper variety sprouted overnight - the Aji Dulce. No more eggplants overnight.

 

[pepperhead212]

The main thing I did in the garden today was setting up the drip irrigation lines in my garlic bed, and the mint bed. I tested them, to make sure there were no unwanted leaks, then shut them off, as I definitely won't be needing them soon! I set my leaf cutter bees house up again - too early to order any, but I'll watch to see if any show up on their own. I finished outside just in time, as it started raining hard around 3:30 pm.

One thing I did I forgot about - I put my rain gauge back up. I put new batteries in it, and figure I'll probably get some readings on it tonight! No more lows even close to freezing forecast, so I put that in, and started with the drip irrigation system, too.

Around 4 pm today I had 7 more tomato varieties sprout, some of them in all 3 or 4 of the pots I put them in! All of the cherries (or other small varieties) have started, and all but 3 of the rest of the varieties have appeared.
Bronze Torch F1, Juliet F1, and Zluta Gold Kytice were the last of the small ones, and Amish Gold Slicer, Atomic Fusion, Beefmaster F1, and Green Giant are the others that have come up since this morning.

 

[caseydog]

As I read these posts, in some ways I envy some of you, and in other ways I'm glad I'm not you.

That needs some explaining.

My first two houses had huge yards. My last house, about a half mile from my current house, had a big garden, with tomatoes, peppers, and stuff my ex-wife liked. I also had a peach tree that yielded a couple hundred peaches every June. I even had prickly pear cactus, which produces very strange fruit. All that, and ample room to park my boat.

When I built my current house, I went with a very small yard. I just didn't want to do all that work, while trying to operate a business. Now, I am mostly retired, and I just have a small herb garden. I am satisfied with having fresh herbs... and nothing else.

I do miss having good fresh tomatoes for a couple of months in the summer, but don't miss the work, or the constant fight with critters who loved to eat holes in my tomatoes. They wouldn't eat the whole darned tomato, just enough of it to ruin it. I own guns, but luckily I had enough self-control to not go all Elmer Fudd on the critters.

CD

 

[GotGarlic]

As I read these posts, in some ways I envy some of you, and in other ways I'm glad I'm not you.

That needs some explaining.

My first two houses had huge yards. My last house, about a half mile from my current house, had a big garden, with tomatoes, peppers, and stuff my ex-wife liked. I also had a peach tree that yielded a couple hundred peaches every June. I even had prickly pear cactus, which produces very strange fruit. All that, and ample room to park my boat.

When I built my current house, I went with a very small yard. I just didn't want to do all that work, while trying to operate a business. Now, I am mostly retired, and I just have a small herb garden. I am satisfied with having fresh herbs... and nothing else.

I do miss having good fresh tomatoes for a couple of months in the summer, but don't miss the work, or the constant fight with critters who loved to eat holes in my tomatoes. They wouldn't eat the whole darned tomato, just enough of it to ruin it. I own guns, but luckily I had enough self-control to not go all Elmer Fudd on the critters.

CD

OMG, that's hilarious!

 

[dragnlaw]

OMG, that's hilarious!

DItto, ditto, ditto!

 

[pepperhead212]

I'm the opposite - as I got older, I kept seeing more things in the garden, though eventually, it couldn't get larger. Unfortunately, these areas don't allow front yards dug up, for growing food. So I just leave the weeds, though I have thought of planting some creeping thyme as a lawn cover.

One more of the 3 tomatoes that hadn't sprouted showed up overnight - the Oaxacan Jewel. And one of the Ichiban eggplant seeds sprouted, and several more pepper seeds, but nothing new. Another 2 weeks or so before I start the okra and cucurbits, which are only inside 2½-3 weeks, before they go out.

 

[dragnlaw]

Pepper, there's no reason why anyone would notice a vegie plant here and there between the daisies.

 

[caseydog]

I'm the opposite - as I got older, I kept seeing more things in the garden, though eventually, it couldn't get larger. Unfortunately, these areas don't allow front yards dug up, for growing food. So I just leave the weeds, though I have thought of planting some creeping thyme as a lawn cover.

One more of the 3 tomatoes that hadn't sprouted showed up overnight - the Oaxacan Jewel. And one of the Ichiban eggplant seeds sprouted, and several more pepper seeds, but nothing new. Another 2 weeks or so before I start the okra and cucurbits, which are only inside 2½-3 weeks, before they go out.

I spent the first ten years of my life in Glassboro. Our front yard was mostly weeds. My dad did have a pretty good sized vegetable garden in the back yard. Mostly tomatoes.

My current front yard is bushes and ground cover. The ground cover is a spreading juniper. Almost zero maintenance, and it survives our Texas droughts.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

It looks nice out today, but was much cooler, and incredibly windy, so I only went out briefly for a couple things, so I went down to do some things in the hydroponics (which I've been ignoring lately, with all the other things). The Russian red kale I had to pull out, as it was growing into the lights, but I got a bunch more greens from that one plant. The wasabina mustard greens plant had a bunch more, too, but that one sort of spreads out, rather than going straight up, branching out more every time. I also pulled the one leaf lettuce that still hadn't bolted in over 5 months, and I got a huge amount of leaves from it for salads. I'll have some outside soon, so I don't need this anymore. And I trimmed a bunch from the basils - didn't use any of this (and there's still a lot more), but this will trigger the plants into some new growth, which I need for starting cuttings - the easier and faster way to start plants for outside, than starting with seeds. Same with the epazote. I also re-filled the tubs, which were low, due to those large greens, and ignoring them, as I noted. I also added a little nutrients - a little low, but surprisingly not much, after all those greens and herbs!
A large bunch of greens from the Russian red kale and wasabina mustard greens, from the hydro. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Had to finally pull out the Russian red kale in the hydro, as it was growing up in the lights. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[blissful]

@pepperhead212 ALL THAT GREEN SCHTUFF!
I feel a great deal of envy rising up in me....ugh,,,,wait, I have it barely under control...wait...almost there.
Beautiful stuff! Whew, almost fell apart for a minute there. It's gorgeous stuff.

 

[KatyCooks]

Pepper, there's no reason why anyone would notice a vegie plant here and there between the daisies.

Wily Dragn! I am trying to build up a variety of planting at the front of my house, (Low walls and a lot of people passing by on foot), so the entirely unused area can be made a bit more useful. I have put in some prickly plants at the edges, and about to plant a small pear tree. Eventually, I'd like to be able to sit out there in privacy among some carefully selected vegetables! But that is a way off. Meanwhile, I was very laggardly in planting some tulip bulbs in my back garden and I am very ashamed to admit that the bulbs were showing signs of mould by the time I got to put them in the pots. However, they did me proud! (Hope it is okay to show some flora rather than edible plants.)

 

[caseydog]

@pepperhead212 ALL THAT GREEN SCHTUFF!
I feel a great deal of envy rising up in me....ugh,,,,wait, I have it barely under control...wait...almost there.
Beautiful stuff! Whew, almost fell apart for a minute there. It's gorgeous stuff.

I'd be a bit anxious about all that hydroponic stuff and grow lights in my home. I'd have nightmares about the people in those three-letter agencies catching wind of my electric usage, and a bunch of Black Chevy Suburbans showing up at my home.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

Tell the nosey nay sayer ones that they are companion plants.

 

[rodentraiser]

My tulips are looking gorgeous and I figure that's because I really don't want them. My neighbor is going to take them when she can. I need the tub for when the strawberries arrive.

I had one little weeny teeny tiny poppy bloom yesterday. It was about an inch high and two inches wide. Bright red with the little black insides. Lovely. Parsley is going strong, the blue mist plants are still alive, and the climbing rose looks ready to break out and escape. That rose is looking so healthy I'm afraid to look at it in case I hex it somehow. The azalea plants I have in front are dead, I'm afraid, and the pampas plant is still not showing any growth. But there are people along the road to town who have huge pampas plants and they're all looking dead, too. So maybe it just needs a little time.

Some of my neighbors are asking for odd jobs for their teens and I think I'm just going to hire one of them to open the bags of soil and bark to finish the front, otherwise it'll never get done. Then I can concentrate on weeding my rock garden beds in front of the trailer. I have about 50 feet now of those roll-out-and-water fabrics with their 1000s of seeds that I want to get in the ground by the end of the month.

I found out they grow well if you cover the fabric with soil (and the squirrels don't dig them up). Last year I missed buying them so this year I have extra. Basically, I just want some lush wildflowers there and if I have any fabric left over, they'll go in the back of the yard. If I ever get my yard done, that is. The back part of the yard will be wildflowers and meadow grass, while the front part will be lawn around raised beds.

 

[blissful]

I'd be a bit anxious about all that hydroponic stuff and grow lights in my home. I'd have nightmares about the people in those three-letter agencies catching wind of my electric usage, and a bunch of Black Chevy Suburbans showing up at my home.

CD

That actually happened a few miles from us a few years back. An adult man and his adult child had moved out of the house but it had not sold. Nice neighborhood, nice houses. So they outfitted it with grow lights and watering systems, grew lots of pot. The electric bill was so big that they were found out and arrested. It was in the newspaper.

Our fear is that the police don't know the difference between our legal tomato and pepper plants and illegal pot plants. From all accounts they rip out all the offensive plants and take them with them before they find out what kind they actually are. That would ruin my summer and my canning!

 

[taxlady]

When I lived in the country, back in the early 1980s a couple who were goat farmers grew a few very large pot plants in the corner of their veggie garden. They used goat poop as fertilizer, which they said worked really well. That's why the plants got so big. Someone had spotted the very distinctive green colour of pot from an airplane or helicopter. So, a whole bunch of armed RCMP descended on their land in a number of helicopters. When they saw that it was just a few of plants in the corner of a veggie garden, they turned around and left. They were so embarrassed about that fiasco that nothing was ever said about it. I guess they thought they were going to have an impressive raid.

 

[dragnlaw]

That's actually how they find the plants. Small planes or helicopters flying around looking for patches that are grown in the center of corn fields. The plants actually get extremely tall. But police also need permission to go on the land to confirm.

A long time ago one of my ex's friend's younger brother came to my husband at home and complained that someone had come into their back yard and stolen all of his plants he had growing along side a humongous hedge they had. Don't know what he thought my ex (a cop) could do. Lol, so he told him to go to the station and file a report. At that time pot was not legal. Ex chuckled about that for weeks!

 

[pepperhead212]

I'd be a bit anxious about all that hydroponic stuff and grow lights in my home. I'd have nightmares about the people in those three-letter agencies catching wind of my electric usage, and a bunch of Black Chevy Suburbans showing up at my home.

CD

Something related to this, before I ever grew the hydroponics, but had a very bright Metal Halide light, for the seedlings, upstairs, in my laundry room.

I was out in front of my house, doing some things on my car, with the hood up, and a cop car drove by, and about 2 minutes later he drove by, even slower, and I could see he was looking up at that window, and I said to him "Don't worry - I'm not growing anything illegal up there, just stuff I eat." And he stopped, and started laughing, and I asked him if he liked hot peppers. He paused, and said "well...", and I told him he wouldn't want these, if he had to stop and think about it! He said his son was the one that liked hot stuff, This was in early May, almost time to plant them, but I told him that if he wanted some to sample for his son and friends, the peppers start ripening in late July, then August, so drive up the alley, behind the houses, and I would give him some (this was before the days of the superhots, so I wasn't going to kill anyone with them!). He came by a few times, and his son (about my age back then) wanted to know how he could grow them, even though he had never grown anything before. I gave him the info on it, but I never heard if he did it or not.

 

[caseydog]

That actually happened a few miles from us a few years back. An adult man and his adult child had moved out of the house but it had not sold. Nice neighborhood, nice houses. So they outfitted it with grow lights and watering systems, grew lots of pot. The electric bill was so big that they were found out and arrested. It was in the newspaper.

Our fear is that the police don't know the difference between our legal tomato and pepper plants and illegal pot plants. From all accounts they rip out all the offensive plants and take them with them before they find out what kind they actually are. That would ruin my summer and my canning!

It happened in my sister's expensive gated community, directly across the street from her.

Two very nice young gentlemen bought the house across the street. They were quiet, polite and friendly. They also turned the whole two story house and garage into a grow house.

My sister came home from work one day, and the house was surrounded by police cars and those black Chevy Suburbans.

It was the electricity consumption that was their demise. The power company tipped off the feds, and the feds did some infrared camera shots of the house, got a search warrant, and that was that.

CD