cgantt
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Location: Aiken, SC

My Summer 2011 Garden

Back when I was in high school I was very much into the FFA, and for 3 years in a row I grew a very impressive 1/2 acre garden. The last one I grew actually won second place in a county vegetable garden contest. That garden had 14 different variety of tomatoes, most of which grew to 6-10 feet in plant height. 2 short 20' rows of Sweet Corn produced 268 ears, and my green beans produced 42 gallons of beans. All in all I had something like 40 different veggies and some strawberries and Raspberries.

I have not had a garden since that one so its been 10 years now. This year that is going to change. I was thinking of growing one in my small backyard, but after reading over the HOA, if anything grew over my fence height I would have to cut it down. So I have decided to head out to my grandmothers and build one there.

Having already broken up a spot for her, I have to find a new spot for mine, but the initial plan is for a 100'x50' space that will house the following varieties of veggies. Before someone says that I have way more than I need, I agree, and will be giving away lots of veggies to friends, families and if there is still too much left over, I will donate it to a soup kitchen or church to give away. This is mainly for me to have something to do and relax a bit in the summer evenings.

So hows this for a vegetable list?
  • Tomato Big Beef Hybrid
  • Tomato Early Girl Hybrid
  • Tomato Jelly Bean Hybrid
  • Tomato Better Boy Hybrid
  • Tomato Big Boy Hybrid
  • Tomato Large Red Cherry
  • Squash Pic n Pic Hybrid
  • Squash E. Prolific Straitneck
  • Turnip P-Top W-Globe
  • Watermelon Crimson Sweet
  • Watermelon Carolina Cross
  • Watermelon Sugar Baby
  • Raddish French Breakfast
  • Raddish E. Scarlet Globe
  • Raddish Cherry Bell
  • Carrot Chantenay
  • Carrot Tendersweet
  • Cucumber Carolina Hybrid
  • Cucumber Sumter
  • Cucumber Muncher
  • Pepper Long Thin Cayenne
  • Pepper California Wonder
  • Pepper Hungarian Hot Yello Wax
  • Pepper Jalapeno
  • Pepper Sweet Banana
  • Bean Contender
  • Bean Kentucky Wonder Pole
  • Bean Harvester
  • Crowder Pea Mississippi Silver Queen
  • Crowder Pea Purple Hull
  • Lima Bean Henderson Bush
  • Green Onion White Lisbon Bunching
  • Cantaloupe Imperial 45
  • Cantaloupe Hales Best
  • Lettuce Iceberg
  • Dill Long Island Mammoth
  • Parsley Italian
  • Parsley Moss Curled
  • Sweet Basil Sweet Basil
  • Chives Chives
  • Sage Broad Leaf
  • Thyme Common
  • Rosemary Rosemary
  • Onion Crimson Red
  • Onion Sweet Yellow
  • Onion White
  • Okra Clemson Spineless
  • Cabbage Ferrys Round Dutch
  • Egg Plant Black Beauty
  • Sweet Potato
  • Potato White Idaho
  • Potato Early Red
I use to love going into the greenhouses everyday and seeing how much my seedlings had grown and I believe that a lot of my success my senior year came from starting most of my plants in the greenhouse. Not in a position to buy a full sized hoop house at this point in my life, I settled on a small portable 12'x7'x7' greenhouse that should be arriving via fedex sometime tomorrow afternoon. I have a photo of it (well the one used on ebay) posted below.

[img]https://thebestcasescenario.com/oneslowz28/personal/GREENHOUSE-ZGSGH05.jpg[/img]

So Last week I started some of my seeds. I actually ordered some 6-pack flats and a few 180 cell plug trays but they were delayed for some reason, so I decided to try out those home made newspaper pots I keep seeing on every garden blog. I searched everywhere locally for seed starting mix that I have seen mentioned on here, and the only thing I could find was those small miracle grow bags. I wound up purchasing some organic garden soil from Lowes and "fluffing" it up some with some sphagnum moss. It worked much better than I had expected.

Yesterday morning I noticed that my squash and cantaloupe seedlings had gotten a little long in the stem so I transplanted several of each to some 2.5" pots I found cheap at a dollar store. (10 for $1) I did plant a few too many of each but I was expecting a germination rate much lower than I got. I am going to post a list of my germination rates below.

[table]Plant Type|Plant Name|Seeds Planted|Seeds Germinated
Tomato|Early Girl Hybrid|34|31
Tomato|Big Beef Hybrid|29|28
Tomato|Jelly Bean Hybrid|34|34
Tomato|Better Boy Hybrid|25|22
Tomato|Big Boy Hybrid|50|49
Tomato|Large Red Cherry|70|70
Egg Plant|Black Beauty|78|56
Squash|Pic & Pic Hybrid|29|28
Squash|Early Prolific Strait Neck|69|53
Cabbage|Ferry's Round Dutch|100|94
Cantaloupe|Hales Best|32|27
Cantaloupe|Imperial #45|26|25
Okra|Clemson Spineless|103|97
Lettuce|Iceberg|201|167
Lettuce|Romaine|156|85[/table]


So who wants to see some photos of seedlings?

[img]https://themakersworkbench.com/images/garden2011/cabbage-germination.jpg[/img]Cabbage

[img]https://themakersworkbench.com/images/garden2011/squash-germination3.jpg[/img]Squash

[img]https://themakersworkbench.com/images/garden2011/squash-transplant7.jpg[/img]Squash

[img]https://themakersworkbench.com/images/garden2011/squash-germination2.jpg[/img]Squash Transplanted

[/img]

cgantt
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Well it looks like this message board software does not allow table code as my table is all messed up. I am more familiar with Vbullitin. I tried editing my post but it would not let me, clicking the edit button just gives me a server not found error.

I also meant to mention that the images are tagged with my personal website's logo. If there is a problem with posting tagged images here, I will be more than happy to change them to non tagged photos. I do have proof that I am the websites owner though.

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Kisal
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Right. To the best of my knowledge, this forum uses BBC tags (which for all I know are the same thing as vBulletin tags). I've never been able to make tables work with that format. Perhaps with a newer version?

It can be done, but it's tedious and never looks really right. You have to run a series of characters such as dots or dashes between each column on each line.

Your pics are fine, and your seedlings are looking good. :)

The Mad Hatter
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Do you have a link for that green house by chance?

T.M.H.

cgantt
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Kisal wrote:Right. To the best of my knowledge, this forum uses BBC tags (which for all I know are the same thing as vBulletin tags). I've never been able to make tables work with that format. Perhaps with a newer version?

It can be done, but it's tedious and never looks really right. You have to run a series of characters such as dots or dashes between each column on each line.

Your pics are fine, and your seedlings are looking good. :)
Thanks for the welcome Kisal, It can be done in BB code. We use it on a PC modding community I am the Editor in Chief at. I do not remember if it is a Vbullitin addon or if we custom coded it in.

cgantt
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The Mad Hatter wrote:Do you have a link for that green house by chance?

T.M.H.
Ask and you shall receive. Not a bad little greenhouse for $70 [url]https://cgi.ebay.com/12x7x7-Walk-Green-Hot-House-Garden-Greenhouse-/380314949635?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588c899803[/url]

cgantt
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Marlingardener wrote:WOW! Once an FFAer, always an FFAer. That is very impressive--the list of vegetables, the set-up, and the seedlings.
Chives, sage, rosemary, and thyme are all perennial so can you section off a part of your garden to allow them to remain undisturbed?
We, too grow too much, and since all the other farmers up and down the road have gardens, it's kind of hard to find "donees"! The local food pantry will take any and all of our excess, so what I don't can or freeze and what we don't eat, goes there. Does your grandmother can? She may be able to put up some of your extras for winter enjoyment.
Keep us posted on your garden's success!
I didn't memorize the FFA Creed for nothing lol. Actually the Herbs will be container plants on my back deck with drip irrigation. I love chives (I eat them in everything) and actually have one rectangular planter full of it already from last year.

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Halfway
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Nice post and thanks for the link for the mini greenhouse.

Best of success to you! 8)

greenstubbs
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Wait a minute! You say that the HOA says "that anything that grows taller than the fence height has to be cut down." Riddle me this, what about trees, or tall shrubs? For the life of me I can't see why anybody wants to live in a area that has any rules, I.e. a HOA! I would rather live in a communist country that to have to deal with the crappy rules of a HOA! Good Luck

The Mad Hatter
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Thanks for the link on the green house. Does it just sit on the ground? How does it anchor to the ground to keep com blowing away?

T.M.H.

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alaskagold
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cgnatt, I am with you on the little hot houses. I own one, but mine is more sturdier white plastic canvas and they do very very well. I bought one with a "defect" which we could never figure out what the defect was and I have used it for 3 yrs and will be buying another one this year. They are worth the money for a couple years of good growing.

Mad Hatter, I have mine anchored to 8x8x12 pressed and sealed planks. They do just fine. In the winter, I take the top off, as it has side walls, and clean and put it away until a little before the spring.

Mine kind of looks like this:
https://www.teakwickerandmore.com/King-Canopy-GH1010-VY1116.html
But mine is better quality and I didn't spend 400 on it.

The Mad Hatter
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That is really cool! So you anchor to the 2 d 8's then do you anchor to the groind with the wood? How many plants can you get in there?

T.M.H.

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alaskagold
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Well Mad, I had over 15 different peppers for Hubby, my corn stalks, 20 different toms, quite a few herbs, my eggplant and a few other things. I don't remember all of them.. sorry.

But I had 4, black 20 gallon containers for the large toms and the corn.

And my husband and I put in a drip irrigation as the pipes were metal and sprayed so they wouldn't rust.

My hot house had holes in the feet of the hot house metal so we could ancor it to the planks. We also buried the planks in the gound so when I put the top on it would warm up the soil and such fast. The only issue I had was due to the soil, which I called swamp soil. It grew moss as it had quite a bit of clay and swampy like stuff. Alaska isn't known for topsoil, so I got what I could and did what I can to it.

cgantt
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greenstubbs wrote:Wait a minute! You say that the HOA says "that anything that grows taller than the fence height has to be cut down." Riddle me this, what about trees, or tall shrubs? For the life of me I can't see why anybody wants to live in a area that has any rules, I.e. a HOA! I would rather live in a communist country that to have to deal with the crappy rules of a HOA! Good Luck
The only reason I am living here is because I inherited it when my grandfather passed away. He was a home builder and this was the last home he built. I took the small builders loan over on it and got a very nice home for less than 6 digits. That was 6 years ago and now I am hoping to sell the home and build me my dream place out on my land. But yes the HOA here is very strict and I am simi ok with it because it keeps my property value high. I do not agree with all of their rules, the "nothing over fence height" being one of them. Trees and approved shrubs are ok if taller though. On my land I will be the only person for 40+ acres though so out there I can grow what I please. I have plans for a nice 40x100 hoop house one day.

cgantt
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The Mad Hatter wrote:Thanks for the link on the green house. Does it just sit on the ground? How does it anchor to the ground to keep com blowing away?

T.M.H.
It came with some cheap iron wire style anchors. They are about 1/8" thick and only 6" long. I plan on replacing them with some 6' rebar which is bent into a U and hammering it into the ground over the bottom rail. Then maybe anchoring the 4 corners down with the included rope by tying it to a 8" x 16" cinder block which will be buried 3' in the ground. It gets pretty windy here around April and then again in October. I will take photos of the kit and the build process.

cgantt
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alaskagold wrote:cgnatt, I am with you on the little hot houses. I own one, but mine is more sturdier white plastic canvas and they do very very well. I bought one with a "defect" which we could never figure out what the defect was and I have used it for 3 yrs and will be buying another one this year. They are worth the money for a couple years of good growing.

Mad Hatter, I have mine anchored to 8x8x12 pressed and sealed planks. They do just fine. In the winter, I take the top off, as it has side walls, and clean and put it away until a little before the spring.

Mine kind of looks like this:
https://www.teakwickerandmore.com/King-Canopy-GH1010-VY1116.html
But mine is better quality and I didn't spend 400 on it.
Mine came today, the plastic is pretty thick. I would say its as thick if not thicker than 12 mil and is clear with a green fiber molded in for some shading. The frame is a little smaller than I would like, but it is powder coated inside and out. The plastic frame joints are nice and thick, and they have UV Resistant on them. There is no doubt that it is not as nice as I would like it to be, nor as large as I would like, but for this year and maybe next, it will serve its purpose just fine. I am going to build the benches for it tomorrow and hopefully have it up and running by Sunday.

greenstubbs
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cgantt wrote:
greenstubbs wrote:Wait a minute! You say that the HOA says "that anything that grows taller than the fence height has to be cut down." Riddle me this, what about trees, or tall shrubs? For the life of me I can't see why anybody wants to live in a area that has any rules, I.e. a HOA! I would rather live in a communist country that to have to deal with the crappy rules of a HOA! Good Luck
The only reason I am living here is because I inherited it when my grandfather passed away. He was a home builder and this was the last home he built. I took the small builders loan over on it and got a very nice home for less than 6 digits. That was 6 years ago and now I am hoping to sell the home and build me my dream place out on my land. But yes the HOA here is very strict and I am simi ok with it because it keeps my property value high. I do not agree with all of their rules, the "nothing over fence height" being one of them. Trees and approved shrubs are ok if taller though. On my land I will be the only person for 40+ acres though so out there I can grow what I please. I have plans for a nice 40x100 hoop house one day.
Well then, that changes the whole ball of wax, sorry about your Grandfather. Good Luck with the sale of the house and your 40+ acres and all. I'm still dreaming and waiting for the day I can have a good plot of land.

cgantt
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Well looks like I may end up starting my Squash over along with my lettuce. I got the greenhouse up yesterday morning and began building the benches for it. I dropped a nail and bent over to pick it up and disaster struck. My back made a loud popping sound and I was unable to bring myself back upright. So I simi crawled / walked inside and phoned my mother. We got to the HP and after 5 x-rays and 3 hours of waiting I was diagnosed with "acute back pain" and was referred to an Orthopedic specialist if the pain does not go away within 12 days....... So I have been laying in bed for the last 15 hours. My squash is sitting in my kitchen continuing to stretch to the window because I am unable to take them outside. :(

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rainbowgardener
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Oh wow! So sorry to hear that. Amazing, just from bending over to pick something up?!! Take care of yourself and worry about the plants later!

cgantt
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Yea, I just bent over and when coming back up there was a loud pop and immense searing pain. The x-rays they took showed my spine to be in perfect condition, so the doc said it could be a torn muscle, pinched nerve or both.

I am so bored its not funny lol. I want to go and finish my greenhouse and get some stuff in the ground.

Anyone know of a good gardening blog I could read while I am trapped in this bed?

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applestar
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Aouch! Hope you are better soon!

When I suffered a severe shoulder pain with non apparent damage, I resorted to a series of acupuncture with excellent results. The bonus was that the acupuncturist took care of my severe sinus infection and I had the best allergy-free spring that year.

cgantt
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Well this morning I have about 70% movement back. Walking still hurts a little bit and when standing up from sitting down, there is still some pain when my back gets close to being straight again. The good news is that I can sit in a chair just fine so that means I can transplant those squash to larger containers and maybe get them in the green house on some temp benches. I really need to up pot my tomatoes as well.

The Mad Hatter
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Wow. That's rough. Hope you get to feeling better. Be careful though and don't over do things.

T.M.H.

cgantt
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Thanks T.M.H. I will be taking it very careful.

cgantt
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Well I must say that I am pleased with the portable greenhouse. I spent most of yesterday up potting my tomatoes and then finished up the benches for the inside of the greenhouse. I wanted to build my benches with wire tops for drainage but after thinking it over, I built them out of some old custom concrete forms I had left over from a past job. They are basically 4'x8' 3/4" marine grade plywood with one side boxed in with 2x4s and a 2x4 brace every 16 inches. They have been sitting out by our shop for over a year now and would most likely rot there. So I ripped one in half, boxed in the open end and added some 32" 2x4 legs. They will last me this year and maybe next year I will build a PVC hoop house that's much larger.

I am noticing some of my tomatoes dieing. It's like the cotyledon leaves are pinching themselves off then the stalk is shriveling up. It has only happen on 3 of the seedlings so far. I have about 15 more of each variety than I will plant so if I lose a few it is no big deal.

One thing that has me worried is ants and yellow jackets. I noticed that my benches were crawling with ants and at the peak of the greenhouse tiny yellow jackets were buzzing around. Is there anything I can do to get rid of them that is plant friendly at the same time?

greenstubbs
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cgantt wrote:Yea, I just bent over and when coming back up there was a loud pop and immense searing pain. The x-rays they took showed my spine to be in perfect condition, so the doc said it could be a torn muscle, pinched nerve or both.

I am so bored its not funny lol. I want to go and finish my greenhouse and get some stuff in the ground.

Anyone know of a good gardening blog I could read while I am trapped in this bed?
Sounds like your back is getting better. Please take this advice from someone with a low back condition, I.e. all my discs are buldged in my lumbar region. it will help tons!!!
1. Enjoy the drugs for as little as possibile.
2. Search you-tube and/or the web for "low back and core exercises" and do a handfull of the ones that you feel help the best. Do them 2x a day religiously everyday! If you have a gut, try as loose it and strenghten the abs, but Don't do sit ups!
3. Stretching is always good for the back, do it with the exercieses. You should feel better and range of motion will be greatly inproved within a week or two. Good Luck and take care of the back.

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rainbowgardener
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Type ant control into the Search the Forum keyword box and find a whole bunch written here about them. Here's some info about dealing with wasps:

https://eartheasy.com/live_natwasp_control.htm

but I'd want to be looking around for where all the critters are getting into the greenhouse and what is attracting them. Follow them back to where they are getting in and seal up the entry ways. And look around for what is attracting them in to your greenhouse. It wouldn't be live plants. For the ants, it might be dead/dying plants. For both of them either protein sources or sugar sources would be attractive. Watch them for awhile, see what they are feeding on.

How are you watering your seedlings? Commonest source of problems in young seedlings is too much water/moisture.



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