Gardening Forum

pepperhead212

I made another one of those one dish meals in the Instant Pot, and another one of those Italian style dishes, to use up a bunch of that basil from the hydroponics, and use up a bunch of things from the fridge - a couple bell peppers, a generous cup of celery, chopped up, that cooked rice/millet mix,...

pepperhead212

I went to the Asian market today when I went to visit a friend that lives nearby. I was low on a couple of things, and I always have to get some chicken hearts and gizzards. I made that 1,2,3,4,5 dish with a third of each - a little over 1½ lbs total. And I made that Szechwan eggplant dish I am alwa...

pepperhead212

This is definitely one of those random dishes, with a bunch of ingredients I'm trying to use up! I made another batch of an Italian type dish, this one with some cremini mushrooms, some bell peppers, and some of the stems from that Swiss chard I harvested a week or so ago. I also chopped up a large ...

pepperhead212

apple , Nufar wasn't a variety I would grow, partly because it grows 3 ft tall - not a bad thing out in the garden, but I don't want anything that large in my hydro or my windowsill boxes, on my deck, which is where most of my basil is grown. Also, if I remember correctly, nufar was a variety grown...

pepperhead212

I got the basil and epazote out of my cloner today, and planted all of them. I then put in some cuttings from the sage, marjoram, spearmint, and peppermint for my friends, and the only tomato of mine that got broken off - one of 2 Atomic Fusion plants - and I'll try to root it, which is usually easy...

pepperhead212

I controlled my desires very well, considering what I was dealing with! I cut it into 30 pieces, and put 28 of them into small pieces of foil, in pairs, and kept 2 out to eat now! Actually, I only ate one, and put the other into a piece of foil, and I put that in the freezer in the fridge, and I'll ...

pepperhead212

It was wet, until about 2 pm today, but only .17" total, and it stayed in the 50s all day. Around 4 pm it actually got sunny, but not enough to raise the heat much, and it's still supposed to get down to 45° tonight, but the last one, according to the forecast!

pepperhead212

I normally only make these kind of things to take somewhere (otherwise, I eat them all), but after seeing this day mentioned, I got a craving for it, and I had to make some! This one was an unusual batch, that I made up out of a cream cheese fudge brownie recipe, but the nutty part this time was pea...

pepperhead212

It was 55° yesterday, raining much of the day, though not heavy, only .31" total. Nice today, but still cool - 66° high, and breezy, and getting cloudy around 5 pm, but no rain, until late in the evening and overnight, when it is getting down to 45°. Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day, and...

pepperhead212

After going up to 88° yesterday, it is only supposed to get up to 71° today, and 54° Friday, with a low of 46°, and 64 and 61° for highs Saturday and Sunday. This is why I almost always plant the peppers on 5-15, or later sometimes. Now the gusty weather is forecast for Friday, so I'll have to delay...

pepperhead212

I got some of my beans in today - had to pull the chicken wire out on one side, and pull out the irrigation line, to cut all the old weeds out, then put the line back, then put some cardboard down, with some slots cut in it where the drip irrigators go, and to plant the beans in. I got the Thai Red ...

pepperhead212

I haven't cooked much lately - been eating a lot of leftovers from the freezer, since I've been busy with the garden. Today was the first time I cooked anything for a while, and I had a pound of mushrooms I had to use soon, so I made some soup, since it's cool these days. I started with browning a m...

pepperhead212

Only ones I had were daffodils...and weeds.

pepperhead212

I transplanted those eggplant seedlings, just dropping the pellets into the larger pots (18/tray) - I could already see the growth on them overnight! Here is one of those trays of tomatoes last night, and a top view this morning, showing these things after soaking overnight on 4-6, and starting all ...

pepperhead212

About 3 days ago I started some rye bread, again, this time, adding a cup of mashed potatoes to 1½ c rye flour, 1 c water, 1 tb caraway, and 1 tb yeast, and let it ferment, this time for the full 3 days. Today I continued with it, and ended up with a slightly larger loaf, in addition to the 2 lb loa...

pepperhead212

Thursday night it got down to 34° on my back thermometer, and last night it got down to 36°; one more below average day, around 62°, then it starts getting into the 80s, and staying in the 50s or 60s for the lows. Tomatoes will be hardening off soon!

pepperhead212

Today was only up to 60° here, and tonight they have switched my area into a freeze warning, instead of the freeze watch last night. Still nothing I have to worry about out there - not until May. And the next few days it will be getting warmer faster, up to maybe 86° Tuesday! As always, crazy weather.

pepperhead212

I just turned on my oscillating fan in my seedling room, to help strengthen them. The tomatoes are growing fast now, and the tomatillos are, too. And something I probably didn't mention, when discussing the small amount of fertilizer in these things is the silica fertilizer, from the hydroponics, wh...

pepperhead212

That Swiss chard is a biennial, like parsley, and usually dies back in the winter, then in the spring, bolts very soon after coming back. I'm thinking that maybe these didn't completely die back, and maybe that's why it hasn't gone to seed. The parsley definitely didn't die off over the winter, but ...

pepperhead212

Thanks apple - that's actually not the entire garden; the S side and front of the house has the peppers and okra, plus those mints in that other side of the front, and some herbs in a small raised bed behind the deck. Then there's that "weed herb" patch behind the shed, mostly garlic chives, that sp...

pepperhead212

Today was a near perfect day, sunny and 69° - the only thing I would have changed would have been that strong wind, which got even stronger when I when out later. Tomorrow is going to be much cooler, but much less wind, supposedly. It did rain again, before I got up - .18", so I would have lost that...

pepperhead212

Nice day today, would have reduced the wind a little, for a perfect day. I got a lot done out there today, getting the tarps off those SIPs , and getting them in their spots for the season, though I didn't level them, or "refresh" them yet. A few of the plastic covers on them need replaced (hard to ...

pepperhead212

I made an Italian type dish tonight, because I trimmed a bunch more basil from those plants in the hydroponics, to trigger some new growth, to take cuttings from those. I first took some dried eggplant and dried green beans, equivalent to 1 and ½ lb of each, and set it to soak in hot water. Then set...

pepperhead212

Those Swiss chard are still getting large - surprisingly not a hint of bolting yet, but as soon as they show that, I'll harvest all of them, as those spots get other plants in them soon. Here are those Swiss chard plants, out front, that I planted sometime last fall, harvested a bunch then, before t...

pepperhead212

Cooler this morning - 52° @7 am, and only up to 55° now, and only supposed to get to 57° later, so well below avg. A few lows in the 10 day showing 43°, but getting up to low to mid 60s - about avg, but none of those summer temps we got a few of. More rain from out west tomorrow, but then no more un...

pepperhead212

It wasn't a record heat Monday, but it got to 83°, with a brief rain around 3:30 pm, but not enough to wet the deck. It dried out quickly, and no more rain, through later today, with a gorgeous day yesterday, getting to 73° here. Today 67° is the forecast high - about average - and rain starting aro...

pepperhead212

Cilantro doesn't do well for me, at least outside - as soon as it starts getting hot out, it bolts. Also doesn't have great germination %, and it doesn't really get better at higher temps. I've tried a bunch of varieties, including a "frilly" type, that were all supposed to be bolt resistant, but di...

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 lig...

pepperhead212

Glad that's working for you so well! Not everything needs heat, but it's great to do something like that, when it does.

pepperhead212

It started raining here about 3.30, and I had just cleaned up, and put everything away around 3:00, so it was timed just right. It rained hard, but briefly, and even though the rain has been on and off, in almost 6 hours it has only totalled .02" on that gauge I just put back up. It's supposed to be...

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 orde...

pepperhead212

Yesterday, I harvested some of my spearmint, to make my first mint tea of the season. Just a bunch of 3-4" stalks - not a lot of flavor, at first, but I always look forward to starting to get that mint! And soon, I'll have enough of the peppermint, to start using in Indian dishes. https://live.stati...

pepperhead212

Yesterday morning, I still had no tomatoes sprouted, but one tomatillo. When I was done outside yesterday, 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 f...

pepperhead212

It was well into the 70s again yesterday, and it got a little windy, but a good windy - cooled me enough, plus blew the perlite and other powder away, while I was potting something! Rain again today, but more tonight, so maybe I'll get something done outside today. It already rained a little

pepperhead212

I prefer the flat leaf, but to grow it in my hydroponics or in the pots on my deck, I have to grow the curly (not the super curly) - the flat leaf gets incredibly overgrown roots in both of those. I've tried a few types, but they all did the same thing, even one that said it was for growing in pots....

pepperhead212

It got to 79° here today, warmest day since sometime last October. Rain starting in the morning, but the worst is coming Thursday, into Friday, and we might get an inch or so over the next 3 days. Staying around 70°, and higher than average lows, as well.

pepperhead212

I got two eggplants sprouting today, after 5 days - the long purple, and matrosik. A couple more peppers, but still no tomatoes, after just 2 days.

pepperhead212

Actually, most of my onions I grow as scallions, starting with onion sets, some of which I get at Asian markets, when they have bags of "pearl onions", for 99¢. And I got a bunch of onion sets at Ocean State Job Lots, at 40% off. I plant them 2" apart, maybe a dozen every 2 weeks, to get them coming...

pepperhead212

Today, besides straightening up, and getting ready out there, for when those things just starting up inside will be going out (these few weeks fly by quickly! :ohmy:), I also direct seeded some herbs (dill, cilantro, and parsley, again), and greens (a couple brassicas, and the lettuce). I also plant...

pepperhead212

I just saw another pepper peeping through this morning - turns out it was one of those Hanoi markets, which usually aren't some of the faster ones. Those Thai Dragon ones are all the way up, with their fake leaves spread out, so I turned another light on - still one more left on the eggplant side, w...

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