SQWIBS Urban Gardening Adventure 2018

[SQWIB]

May 25th 2018

Wow, its been a while since I updated this page.
Not much of anything has happened the last few weeks, it is sort of like watching paint dry.

Anyhow, I spent the weekend doing a section of the AT with a buddy, scrambling rocks, dodging snakes, getting soaked, you know... the fun stuff.






We finished up the trail a bit early and headed back to my trailer to reward ourselves a bit. We figured we burnt all those calories on the trail so we need to get them back.


And we did and then some!




OK...Back to the garden


Oats are doing well


I pretty much have given everything free reign to grow, I just chopped down all the cabbages and all but one of the Bok Choy and laid them out as mulch. I even let the weeds get to a decent size before pulling and placing back in the garden...nothing is removed!


Sage, Horseradish, Chocolate mint and phlox are all doing well.


There's always one knucklehead.



Last years leeks, I may save for seeds


The Cape Gooseberry in this planter is doing real well.


Something has been munching on the Comfrey, this was a good call planting the comfrey here, the turtles love hanging here.


Bad pic, but my first year getting Blueberries.


Training the Reliance Grapes


My only head of broccoli, about the size of a quarter, I will never try to grow cabbage, broccoli or Brussels Sprouts again.


Yacon, the only survivor of 4 plants


BeeBalm


No sign of my Jerusalem Artichokes.

The Box Car Willie is doing great. Parsley is doing well too, not sure about the Beets.



Snow Peas



Jalapeno, Jimmy Nardello and Poblanos in the Aquaponics veggie filter are doing well.


The pond plants are doing well.



Artichoke


Blackberries.


Table Dainty


Bok Choy for the pollinators


Training the Concord Grapes


Spaghetti Squash.



Artichoke.






Purple Thai Yard Long Beans, can't wait to make "dilly beans" this year!


Training the Hardy Kiwi's


Mater plant


Lovage


Chives


Pepper.


Yesterday when I got home I had a flooded yard, thank goodness the wife unit was home. I had a hose burst that feeds my irrigation, so that was the first thing on my to do list when I got home.

I planted a few more Table Dainty seeds and Cantaloupe seeds, all my cantaloupe plants died.



May 29th 2018

Friday my trellis supplies came in so I started work on my trellis for the concord grapes.








I was sick most of the weekend but I did get to try some stuff from the garden

Lovage, Chives including florets, perpetual spinach, eggs, american cheese, grilled chicken, topped with Feta. I would have added the Feta to the inside of the omelet but I was splitting the omelet wit my daughter and she cant stand feta, so I topped with feta for the photo then scraped it off for her. lol.









The omelet was dam tasty and the Lovage was really good, I was actually impressed, it was like a cross between celery and parsley (peppery celery) the perpetual spinach didn't taste too good raw but once cooked it was really good, it doesn't wilt quite like baby spinach so I added a tablespoon of water, wilted it down then added some olive oil and salt. A pinch of pepper flakes on the PS would have been nice but my breakfast guest doesn't like red pepper... yeah I know!


Cant wait to try some Frittatas like this.

Better shot of the Blueberries and Comfrey flowers.





Picked the broccoli to eat tonight, just starting to bolt.


This morning I was out in the yard at 4:30 am half naked due to the water line blowing again, this afternoon I ordered a pressure regulator, hopefully this will fix the problem for good!

[wisconsindead]

Your backyard looks more and more amazing every season SQWIB.

What type of drip emitters are you using for your tomatoes? What rate do the put out in gph? and how long do your run them? I am currently using 2 gph emitters on each plant for a total of 1 hour per day. But I am thinking this may be far too much water for them. My issue is I have it tied into a sprinkler system that needs to run for 1 hour per day.

[SQWIB]

Your backyard looks more and more amazing every season SQWIB.

What type of drip emitters are you using for your tomatoes? What rate do the put out in gph? and how long do your run them? I am currently using 2 gph emitters on each plant for a total of 1 hour per day. But I am thinking this may be far too much water for them. My issue is I have it tied into a sprinkler system that needs to run for 1 hour per day.

Its been a wet month so it's hard to judge.
I use 12" spaced .5gph emitter tubing.
Currently I have it set for 20 minutes in the morning every other day.
I start the season with 20 minutes twice a day until the plants are established

[SQWIB]

June 6th, 2018

Just finished up a small section of the AT with my brother and daughter.











I have been experimenting with cooking up some perpetual spinach for dinner and its pretty good. Its not so good raw.

I rinse the spinach place in a pan with a tablespoon of water or so, cover with a pot lid and steam a bit, I then add a bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt and a pinch of crushed red pepper, sometimes garlic.





The pond is looking good, I really need to get in the pond and clean it up a bit.





Jimmy Nardello in the Pond veggie filter.





Planted some hollyhock a friend had given me. I had no where to put these so I crammed them in with the Maypops.

My sugar snap peas have been coming in, the plants are half the size of the Swenson Swedish Snow Peas but are producing like crazy, I like to pick these when they're young for stir fry's and such.









Planted some crimson clover in the hugelkultur beds. The worms in the Hugelkultur beds are going absolutely nuts, these are worm castings. They're mostly on the top 2 inches of the beds.





I tucked in some Kraft paper that was headed to the recycle bin for them to munch on.





I pretty much have been in the garden after work most days just tweaking everything munching on strawberries every day and some mornings.


I have my irrigation set for 20 minutes every 48 hours, so far it has been OK.
Before an expected rain I soak the hugelkultur beds with my collected rain water. This frees up the barrels for fresh rain water.

I'm hoping by next year I can turn off the individual water lines to the hugelkultur beds and supplement with just rain water, I'll probably have to water the first several weeks until the roots are established, this is my game plan anyhow.

Been weeding a bit, cutting back the oregano and cabbage, and trying to stick to my strategy... everything is tossed back on the beds nothing is removed
Sowed a bunch of crimson clover in the hugelkultur beds, I figured most of the plants are established so they shouldn't be bothered by the clover.

The oats are doing well, these were planted too densely and some are dying off.






The turtles love it in here.




Strawberries have been doing well. I eat some and share with the turtles when I'm out doing yard work.





Cape Gooseberry





Most of the pepper plants are doing well, plants are small but producing.





I have this spot marked as a Corno Di Toro Rosso, but the closest thing it resembles is a Jimmy Nardello





Grow dammit!!




This is my first year with Marconi peppers.











I may need to add some trellis to this area next year, I'll see how the squash performs and decide if I want to make it wider or not.





First year with Blueberries





Last year my first tomato on and last one off was from a Box Car Willie, this year the first on is a Rutgers.





Time to play, my better half took the dog to the vets so I recycled some leftovers for dinner.








Sugar Snap peas roasted with olive oil, garlic, soy, sesame oil, some sriracha sauce, and chives.





Dinner is served, I call this my, "Poor Mans Lasagna", leftover Cheese Raviolis, Caramelized onions, Green peppers, some breakfast sausage from breakfast burritos I made Saturday, in a tortilla topped with three blend cheese and a bit of Sriracha Sauce. Garden Strawberries and Sugar Snap Peas. AWESOME DINNER!

[applestar]

Is that a mini-loaf tray? Love that idea to line with tortilla and fillings.

[SQWIB]

Is that a mini-loaf tray? Love that idea to line with tortilla and fillings.

Yes, I use that on my smoker when doing chicken bombs.

[SQWIB]

June 8th, 2018

I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with the Hugelkultur beds, actually I'm pretty impressed with all the beds with the exception of the Asparagus bed.
Some of the beds are on their third season and a few are on their 2nd season. The best time to make these beds would be in the fall so they have a full winter season to absorb water, settle a bit and get more established. My beds were all built late winter, I am starting to see some settling now in the beds and have been heavily watering the Hugelkultur beds this season to help the beds settle in better.

From what I have researched, Hugelkultur beds take around three seasons to establish, this is around the time they are supposed to stop taking up nitrogen and start releasing it.

I am very happy with these beds and I feel I am over the hump with them. I'm really pleased with the soil this season so far. It's so nice to be able to use your bare hands.

It looks like the winter prep has paid off. I'm not sure how much the bio-char has made a difference, but it definitely hasn't hindered anything.

Last year I did have a terrible Slug and Aphid problem in section #4 of Hugelkultur bed #2. The slugs were easy to take care of but the Aphids were out of control, I think the main problem was the ants, there were just so many ants. This year I had the same ant problem, and I traced it to the "Rose of Sharon" plant on the hill that is next to this bed. The Rose of Sharon was infested so badly that if I accidentally brushed up against it, I was covered in tiny ants. So I figured treating the ant problem may eliminate the aphids problem, so I treated the area with a Terro bait. I usually leave the ants alone but they were just out of control.
This season I am growing crimson clover in these beds as a living mulch. For a living mulch I already have oregano and strawberries in some of the bed and have been letting the strawberries do their thing.

2nd year Hugelkultur bed (1 winter) The tomato plants in this bed are doing real well, but I am really impressed with the Rutgers plant in the center. Next year this bed will have 3 tomato plants only and I'll leave the Raspberry plant that is to the right.





We couldn't find this guy (Reds) for the longest time I found him buried and he was packed in tight, only his head was visible. Amanda dug him out and we fed him his favorite food and gave him some water, were still clueless as to how he got buried that tight. Poor guy was pretty hungry and really thirsty.





Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #1





Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #4







Raised bed on hill (Right bed)







June 10th - 12th, 2018


I actually got a jump on my Rain Water Collection. One of my 2019 goals is to utilize more rain water, this year I am using my tossed together system and the plants are thriving. The rainwater Collection progress is posted on another page. See Tabs above.

OK back to the garden


Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #3




After work today, I had the joy of replacing a bad pond pump in the back yard pond, thankfully I had a spare pump. I also tore out all of my periwinkle in the front garden and will reseed with crimson clover.

Finally getting some flowers on my cucurbits.




I guess its time to stat spraying with some Bt.






I think I'm going to thin out the Spaghetti Squash next year.











June 12th, 2018



Testing out the "Perpetual Spinach" again. I gotta say I'm really liking this stuff, I may dedicate more space to this plant next year.





Awesome dinner.





Helping mother nature with the spaghetti squash.





The only female so far.





Aquaponics, veggie filter









Front Planter






Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #3










Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #4 [L-R Cherokee Purple - Jalapeno - Rutgers - Box Car Willie - Jalapeno]






June 13th - 15th, 2018

I have been following my Gardening Strategy as outlined in the beginning of this site and it seems to be working out rather well, the only thing I haven't done is side dress with compost after the plants had flowered, but it wasn't needed.



This Artichoke is jammed up in between the Spaghetti Squash and Bee Balm. Bee Balm is just starting to flower.








This imperial star Artichoke is on the retaining wall in front of the fence.





Artichoke with Rosemary, Blackberry, Marigolds and some unidentified plant I'm letting grow.









Hugelkultur bed #2 Section #4







Left Raised bed on hill





Grapes, Raspberry, Swiss Chard





Blueberries, Comfrey, Maypops, Hollyhock.






Some random pictures of how I have been managing my new strategy, "nothing is removed" and "Interplanting". This would drive my Mom nuts! If there's a bare spot, I put something there like crimson clover, trimmed plants, bark, onions that sprouted etc...















Every now and then I'll dig in an old bagel, bread, some paper etc... I also add kraft packing paper, thin cardboard and tuck them in the back of the beds.


Pond.





Koi Pond Patio Planter with Leeks and a Gerbera Daisy. This is our Compromise planter, I wanted leeks, she wanted flowers.

[SQWIB]

June 17th, 2018

Food break,

Egg, grilled cheese - Smoked provolone, American cheese, oregano, green peppers, jalapeno, Lovage, on butter grilled Honey Wheat bread, with Sriracha Hot sauce. Beverages - Mint tea and 2% milk







Leeks for seeds. I'll leave a few leeks in the soil from this year to hopefully get seeds again next year.





Some color in the Koi Pond.





Started work on my other Grape Trellis, I'm winging this so I hope it comes out well.















June 19th, 2018


Not much going on in the garden, haven't really been up to doing any gardening lately, just playing around with my Rain water collection and grape trellis.

Calla lilies are happy in their new location, these were moved from the front garden last year.





Every thing is growing pretty good here, except my Cape Gooseberry in the Hugelkultur bed. The front yard filled out nicely, I'm still undecided on removing the Red Maple or not, I really don't want it to shade out all the growth on the hill, but do like a little shade on the patio. I was thinking if I do remove it to put in a Japanese Stewartia.

[applestar]

How are you doing with the blueberries? Here, once they start to blush like that I put the trusses in organza gift bags (wedding supply and whatnot/craft store). I use bigger ones for entire branch/multiple trusses and little ones for single trusses.

Otherwise, birds — catbirds, robins, mockingbirds — will steal the berries THE DAY BEFORE they are fully ripe, and you can’t pick them ahead of time to ripen on the counter.

The bags come with double satin ribbon cinch and generally all I have to do is pull the two ribbons to close the bags, but sometimes they get smart and pick at the ribbons until the bags open they pull the bags off... or bite down on the ripe berries from the outside of the bag. Chipmunks will rip pen the bags.

[SQWIB]

How are you doing with the blueberries? Here, once they start to blush like that I put the trusses in organza gift bags (wedding supply and whatnot/craft store). I use bigger ones for entire branch/multiple trusses and little ones for single trusses.

Otherwise, birds — catbirds, robins, mockingbirds — will steal the berries THE DAY BEFORE they are fully ripe, and you can’t pick them ahead of time to ripen on the counter.

The bags come with double satin ribbon cinch and generally all I have to do is pull the two ribbons to close the bags, but sometimes they get smart and pick at the ribbons until the bags open they pull the bags off... or bite down on the ripe berries from the outside of the bag. Chipmunks will rip pen the bags.

I don't bother with the blueberries, Its such a small quantity, I leave them for the birds.

[SQWIB]

June 20th - 25th, 2018

I got some of my garden stuff done after work today.

Cut down my Oat Field. lol.









I really wish I had enough land to do this on a yearly basis.



Cut down my Snow Peas, such a waste, we never ate any except for that one batch I made a few weeks ago, I wont grow these again. Trying to keep up with my new strategy, the Snow Peas will be chopped and placed back in the bed for mulch.

Trimmed back the Spaghetti Squash before it eats the neighbor.

Trimmed a few stems and leaves off of a tomato plant that was yellowing, this will not go back into the bed, this heads straight to the firepit.


Two of my eggplants are loaded with aphids and ants, I did put out a terro bait but the ants are still coming, I ended up spraying the leaves with Neem Oil.
Sprayed the Zucchini plant with Bt.





Time to compost. I'm already on my way to having a great compost year.

Layering my Compost ingredients.









Topped with spent Rabbit bedding.

I need to top this with my Wood Ash from last weeks cook on the Pit.


Prickly Lettuce Compass Plant Lactuca serriola?





Hoping this is my Sunchoke.







I was going nuts trying to figure out what this was, I'm pretty sure its Crimson Clover that dropped its petals.











Finished the trellis for the Reliance Grapes. I really wanted something Low Profile so I came up with this. So far I am happy with how it looks.



[imgh]ttps://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1830/42936539261_83a9401256_b.jpg[/img]







Installed gutters on the underdecking.



Compost is kicking butt



Hardy Kiwis climbing nicely





Started the day with a garden breakfast.



Done a bit more work on the Rainwater Collection. Put an overflow on the Koi Pond rain barrel and ran the hose beside the Hugelkultur bed.




Added a 2x6 to the edge of the pavers, hopefully this will divert some water to the drain and not flow on the patio.




Battled some ants




I was going to remove this vertical tower next year but the Jalapenos do so dam good here. I think I may leave it be. Maybe it's all the beer I pour in it? Quick explanation... I have a beer meister and the first pour is always foam, this foam gets dumped in this vertical tower. Looks like I'm making Poppers next week!






Chopped up all of the snow peas and mulched the Hugelkultur bed.




Been spraying the heck out of my Eggplants and Artichokes with neem oil, the Aphids are out of control.




First eggplant of the season. (Small planter on the side patio.)

[applestar]

Yay! Your artichoke is budding. Yours will grow much bigger than mine since the plants are bigger.

[SQWIB]

Grow dammit! I'm hungry!!!




Since I am running out of space in my smallish yard, I started looking at my garden in cubic feet not square feet, So I have been utilizing areas above things that are already planted.

My Corno di Toro Rosso was near death yesterday, I watered it last night and this morning. This morning it looks like it bounced back slightly.
I'm not sure what happened but it looked as if it wasn't getting any water. The only thing I can figure is that the water is channeling through the soil as the soil settles in the hugelkultur beds due to decomposition of the material below. The area is probably drying out too quickly due to air pockets and the water channeling. The roots are not extensive so it may not be reaching water.



I tweaked my irrigation lines and put the timer on for every day instead of every other day until I can get some rain water collected.

What I have been doing recently is when a hole opens up due to settling, I try to stuff it with kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, pieces of wood, grass trimmings, whatever organic matter I can get my hands on.


Yesterday after work I soaked down all the raised beds and yard, I really soaked down the Hugelkultur beds to dissipate larger air pockets, as I was doing this my son said, "dad its supposed to rain", I said, "yeah but there is only a 10% chance of rain and my luck it wont rain". Guess what it rained so hard my back yard flooded and my rain barrels are completely full.

[applestar]

Corno di Toro — maybe it’s definitely the water issue, but you might want to check for stalk borer just in case
Subject: STALK BORER in my Tomato , Potato, PEPPER

[SQWIB]

June 25th -28th

Rutgers




This is my neighbors yard, this is where I removed all of his hemlock shrubs? Anyhow I was afraid he would spray poison everywhere so I planted him a garden (per request from his wife), Basil, Eggplants, Tomatoes, marigolds, sunflowers and White clover. I go over there once a week and clean out the weeds and pinch the basil. I love my neighbors and have no problem taking care of a garden for them, plus it keeps the poison bottle use at a minimum.





July 7th

Not a whole lot going on in SQWIBS garden, I planted quite a few Okra seeds in various spots, trimming some plants here and there, trench composting quite a bit, working on my Rainwater Catchment/Diverting system. Things are going pretty good, I am battling some kind of Fungus on my Box Car willie plant, removed my Cape Gooseberry from the front Hugelkultur bed and I am having some Issue with my Matts Wild Cherry.

















I'm a novice with Bee Balm, it got real leggy then flopped, I now know I need to cut it back in early spring. I'm leaving it be for now because its been bringing in humming birds.















I'm real happy with my "Mini Guilds, this one has Maypops, Blueberries, Comfrey, Hollyhocks (that I haven't seen yet) and I just planted some Okra seeds, but I don't expect them to do anything, let alone sprout. When I trim around the yard a bit I toss it in this guild, this is two of the turtles favorite spot.


This guild wasn't really planned, it just happened, there s a rosemary in there that needs to be moved to the front, also Blackberry, Artichoke, marigolds, some weed that I've been using as a chop and drop. I like to leave all this fill in because its perfect relaxation spots for the turtles.


Here is a video of a poor attempt at capturing a hummingbird on video, however the video does give you an idea of how things are doing in my garden.

[SQWIB]

July 7th

I got a little done this weekend, Friday after work I started digging out the pathway stones and a few inches of soil, we decided to put in a mini rain garden here. When it rains the water runs down this path and onto the patio towards the drain, I'm trying to catch some water and channel the water to the drain a little better.





Saturday, Laura and I stopped at HD to Look at some flowers and once there decided to grab these. Our game plan was to look at what HD had then go to a nursery, but I was actually more impressed with HD's choices, thats pretty sad!





I had Sam help me out, after all the rocks and soil were dug out I cut the lawn and had Sam rake the grass clippings in the rain garden, I then topped with a few small bags of peat moss and 5 gallon bucket of my compost and about a 1/4 cup of Blood Meal. I then mixed everything up with a few inches of the clay soil. Sam planted the new plants for me then mulched the top. The marigolds got beat up a bit when I separated them, I had quite a few up on the hill all growing in a clump. My only concern is this area gets 5 hours of sun from afternoon till evening, I'm hopping its enough. I tested the garden out with a 55 gallon drum of water 90 percent full. I pumped the water out in about 10 minutes and it caught at least half of the water before it went towards the drain.






I battled some Aphids on my Table Dainty plants but it appears I am loosing, Tried neem oil with a few drops of dish detergent, I guess I'm gonna have to go out and spray the leaves every other day. I also have been keeping up on my Zucchini plants with Bt spraying the stem and soil surface real good, maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

I also wanted to try setting up another trellis from the deck. I want to grow Honeydew here next year, as a test I set it up and tossed in a few Cantaloupe plants from HD, This trellis is removable.






I had these stakes left over from when I purchased some landscape edging for diverting the rain water on the patio, these stake the bottom of the trellis nicely.



Here are a few shots from the garden.

The pepper plant bounced back. To be honest, I'm a bit confused as to what it is, I had it labeled as a Tabasco but I think it was replaced with a Corno di Toro Rosso?




Turtle Guild (that's what I call it now, they love it here!)




Artichoke, you really got to watch these guys, they start to open very quickly, I just got this guy in time.








I am really impressed with the Spaghetti Squash plants, I think there are at least 6 Squash so far.






This is what happens when the pepper is bigger than the plant, sunscald.








These Poblanos are earmarked for some Chili Rellenos, woohoo!












Food break.... we got to enjoy a few of our tomatoes and I had asked Laura to make me some "jalapeno poppers", but there was a mis-communication... my fault. I sent her a list of ingredients and included Jalapenos in the list, so the poppers are not from the garden (sad face).

It's pretty awesome when you are having a discussion with your spouse on where to go out for lunch and you both agree you would rather eat at home knowing there's some home grown veggies waiting.








This morning I got a little surprise, my Koi pond was half drained, looks like I'm gonna be late for work today! The veggie filter outlets got plugged and the water was running out of the veggie filter underneath the pond, I usually have the pump that feeds the veggie filter higher up in the main pond just for this reason, somehow it had dropped to the bottom of the main pond. I fixed the problem and added half the water back, I'll top it off tonight and tomorrow so I don't shock the fish.

[SQWIB]

July 10th

The 10 day is gonna be dry!







Me learning how to use the camera incorrectly!!!



Here's the pic I was trying to take.



Weeds serving another purpose.



2nd artichoke from this plant



My first BB !!!



First flower on the Purple Thai Yard Long Beans



One of my pollinators hard at work on the comfrey.



Sunflower for the birds.

[SQWIB]

July 10th

After work today I checked on my Table dainty "aphid problem", it don't look good, I put out a terro bait yesterday to get rid of the ants and will keep spraying for the aphids. It's a shame everything is shriveling up. This morning I checked and it seems the ant population has seriously declined.

I got tired of looking at my Box Car Willie plant in the planter so I ripped that out, it had one tomato the size of a marble and all the flowers were just brown. I replaced the BCW with a volunteer I pulled from my Vertical tower, we will see if it takes.


I learned last year to pull the Cherokee purples before they are ripe or they split like a 17 yr old married couple.


Minor split on top


What the hell is wrong with my Rutgers? The plant and fruit look OK, I'm wondering if it was a seed mix up or some funky cross or something, it looks like a Tigerella or Red Zebra. I ordered these seeds from Bakers Creek.


Image from Bakers Creek website


Red Zebra (image from internet)


Red Zebra (image from internet)


Yay, a viable zucchini.


Eggplants are doing nicely, the Listada di Gandia set fruit much quicker than the Black Beauties and the plants are 25% larger. This one needs to be picked soon


The spaghetti squash took over the neighborhood, I think my neighbor is going to have a good harvest this year, lol. This is the first Squash that was green, the rest all started out tannish/white.


Everything looks great from a distance.




I tasted one of the "Rutgers" last night and let me tell you it was the best tomato I have ever eaten in my life...EVER!!!

But seriously the tomato was OK, sweet with a little acid/tart flavor, nothing to write home about but just a decent tomato, although I was impressed at how thin the skin was.

Anyhow here's a few pics of the tomato and plant.









OK Back to the garden, I went out and sprayed a lot of the plants with some Neem Oil, and Bt on the Zucchini plants. I'm not winning the Aphid battle but I'm not loosing either, I'll know in a few days. I have also been battling some type of fungus/virus who knows what it is. Also powdery mildew has reared its ugly head already on my squash plants, I'm not too worried about the spaghetti squash because there's a good amount of squash set on the plant already. I picked a few tomatoes and trimmed the comfrey a bit

There is also rain in the forecast, thank goodness.


July 17th

Sunday we got a good bit of rain, I filled up my rain barrels and played around a bit. Still waiting for my 90 gallon rain barrel to arrive so I can finish my Rain Barrel harvesting system this year.

Sorry for the dizzying video!




Found this guy, not happy. I smacked him around a bit and said, "go tell your friends they'll get the same if they show their faces around here"


Some random garden pics.










Random food pics.

Chicken, Feta, Egg, Red Onion, Chopped popper and Perpetual spinach wrap.


Popper burger - Burger, popper, Am. cheese, red onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard (finishing up my poppers, lol)


Turkey club, (shoulda' toasted it)


A Sulcata that we are fostering until we can find him a home. Strawberry all over her face lol.


Apparently I'm not the only one that likes a good butt scratch.


Table Dainty squash isn't looking good, I may throw in the towel if it don't look better by this weekend.

My neighbor was out doing some yard work with his daughter and was thrilled at the spaghetti squash growing on his side. He said they were 30" long and 40 pounds, I laughed and thought he needs to clean off his glasses.

There's also a volunteer pumpkin plant that appeared on his side with an itty, bitty pumpkin.

[SQWIB]

July 17th

Woohoo, the Cavalry is here!



Reliance grape vine is coming along nicely.



I may have to put the table dainty out of its misery




The rain garden perked up and the plants around the pond are doing OK.






Not sure what is happening with the 3rd tomato plant from the left (Brandywine Red). It hasn't put on any new flowers or grown anymore in the last few weeks.



two of my Texas tomato cages got blown over in the storm today. The problem is these are Hugelkultur beds and I can't get the cages in deep enough for support before they hit logs or sticks, next year I'll beat in a few pieces of rebar.



Getting a 2nd harvest of strawberries and my Giant Leader Cabbage is starting to form a head, its only been 4 months!!




July 20th







Random garden pics

Chia sees for living mulch.

[SQWIB]

August 1st

Been a while since I updated this page, been pretty busy with other stuff.


Tossed some water lettuce in the pond.



Haul for the shore





At the condo (OC MD)



Food Pics

Fried Eggplant, Poblanos stuffed with cheese and sweet peppers, fried poppers..






I gotta say that I like the Listada di Gandia better than the black beauty, taste is better, cooks better, skin is not as tough. This is a winner.


Jimmy Nardello peppers fried with Burrato Cheese and French Bread, everyone raved over this. Toasted french bread would have even been better.




Tried this Eggplant Bacon recipe and it was a fail, however the marinade was awesome, I may try it on something else. I tried recycling it into a dip and it was OK, barely!



Mountains of oyster shells we found while hiking.




July 28th


OK Vacation is over ... back at home...

Garden pics when I got home


















Haul when I got home







Hardening off a few spaghetti squash.


Garden woes... gave up on the Table Dainty and pulled them. Spaghetti squash plants are dying, got a few SVB in the squash, pulled the Zucchini plant (SVB), have a few tomato plants that aren't doing well (pulled one, may need to pull two more), asparagus didn't grow hardly at all and a few pepper plants are pretty stunted.



Poblanos are going crazy




Canned some salsa






Why I love oregano in the garden.




Friendly garden critters.







Food pics

Spaghetti squash, feta, basil and tomatoes.



But first, I had to get rid of this guy.



August 1st

Harvest after work today



Pond is doing well but I really need to clean the filters.





Made some lunches for work, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Jalapeno, Oregano, Basil.


I really need to get some trimming done.

[applestar]

Looking really great!

...and ah HA! So you came across the oyster shells in MD! I was wondering where in Philly area there would be such a place.

Also, this is the time of the year when I watch the weather radar red/orange/yellow/green blobs of storm systems march from south to north on your side of the Delaware R., with maybe fringe puffs of clouds scattering drops that may or may not fall on this side, certainly not as east as my area. (Also, my area has some kind of secret anti-rain device that activates and splits storm systems over us, the system re-coalesce after it has passed without raining....) The weather folks keep giving us false hope because they want to promise us a % chance just in case the system shifts a few miles this-a-way, but nope. On the other hand, you probably get hammered by some of those storms, too.

[SQWIB]

Looking really great!

...and ah HA! So you came across the oyster shells in MD! I was wondering where in Philly area there would be such a place.

Also, this is the time of the year when I watch the weather radar red/orange/yellow/green blobs of storm systems march from south to north on your side of the Delaware R., with maybe fringe puffs of clouds scattering drops that may or may not fall on this side, certainly not as east as my area. (Also, my area has some kind of secret anti-rain device that activates and splits storm systems over us, the system re-coalesce after it has passed without raining....) The weather folks keep giving us false hope because they want to promise us a % chance just in case the system shifts a few miles this-a-way, but nope. On the other hand, you probably get hammered by some of those storms, too.

Fresh Pond Trail Delaware Seashore - Fresh Pond State Park

Just got done pouring here at work about 30 minutes ago, Bristol.
Rained most of the week in Philly when I was in OC MD, rained a few days ago too

Rain in forecast til Sat. Night.

Sorry your not getting much.

[SQWIB]

August 6th

This weekend was a bust, had to work Saturday. On the way to work, I liberated one of these for my Butterfly Garden, I also grabbed a Milkweed, but sadly I don't think its going to make it.



I got a few fall crops planted and I thought I was being pretty slick using old Tortillo shells to plant my fall crops, that was until the little rat dog came by and ate all the shells.



Artichoke



Pulled the last of the Spaghetti squash, got two more squash that are free of SVB's


Everything in the garden is in its, what I like to call, "weird stage", Crickets have taken over, plants seem to be frozen in time, the grass is even getting funky, my lawn is overcome with this weird looking grass (Bermuda?) that grows by runners, happens every year, lots of heat, rain and humidity. This runner grass is in most of my beds, planters and pots, it's even coming up through the pavers.

I cut back a lot of the Chia plants that I had inter planted for green manure.

The Hugelkultur beds are sinking significantly this year, that's a good thing, I have been direct composting in these low spots and filling in with green manures, shredded paper, cardboard and grass clippings.

I'm basically just letting everything do its thing.




Laura had asked Stephen to shred the mail and I thought, Hmmm, mulch and said, "I'll do it", so for the next several hours I sat on the floor painstakingly going through all the mail, separating it then shredding while watching SG-1 on Hulu. I even shredded the packing kraft paper that comes in shipped packages, I then got a little crazy and started shredding the pizza boxes.


Food pics,

Frittata - Havarti Cheese with dill, Perpetual Spinach, Red Onion, Ham, Milk, Eggs. The Frittatta was excellent.


Got some canning done made a double batch of "Ball's Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Puttanesca sauce". I learned two things from this go around with canning,

1) Don't ever double a recipe until you have tried it.
2) Don't can in the house when its 95°F outside.




I am totally disappointed and can kick myself in the @SS, I canned 8 jars and have 7 to go, it was a lot of work and I sacrificed 4 pounds of eggplant and 10 pounds of tomatoes from the garden.




After work today I strained the Puttanesca sauce and rinsed real well, put back in the pot, added a few quarts of Crushed tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano and a pinch of red peppers and simmered for 30 minutes. Processed in a water bath using 1.5 liter jars adding a teaspoon of citric acid to each jar.
I think this will make a fine sauce for pizza

[SQWIB]

August 8th

It's too hot and humid to do any serious gardening other than some maintenance. Still getting rain every few days. Heavy rain in the forecast for tonight and rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Was very happy to see a bunch of Honey Bees visiting the Spearmint Flowers.



Starting to get a bunch of Maypop Fruit, hopefully I'll toss together a Maypop Jam in a couple of weeks.


Laura made some Cole slaw from the cabbage and it was a fail! I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis


My Reliance Grape vine is coming along nicely.






Definitely need to work on the tomato supports in the hugelkultur beds next year. I'm loosing my Box Car Willie, I may cut it down once the tomatoes are ripening a good bit. Marigolds are taking over, I need to trim them back a bit.





I removed most of the Basil, it took over the Asparagus bed, I am very disappointed in the asparagus.


Hardening off the Spaghetti squash, note the one in the center was green when I pulled it from the plant, (bottom picture). I'll pull seeds from it just in case I do decide to grow it again.

[applestar]

I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis

“Great minds” SQWIB! I told my BIL to have his mom make those with the heirloom tomatoes last weekend when he told me he is having trouble with splitting from all the rain, and tomatoes are going bad quicker than they can eat them. He was really happy with the suggestion so I imagine they did.

There’s a sort of fixed brainwashing going on that tomato sauce needs to be made with “sauce” tomatoes, but great tasting super ripe heirlooms make fantastic sauce/soup.

[SQWIB]

I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis

“Great minds” SQWIB! I told my BIL to have his mom make those with the heirloom tomatoes last weekend when he told me he is having trouble with splitting from all the rain, and tomatoes are going bad quicker than they can eat them. He was really happy with the suggestion so I imagine they did.

There’s a sort of fixed brainwashing going on that tomato sauce needs to be made with “sauce” tomatoes, but great tasting super ripe heirlooms make fantastic sauce/soup.

I totally agree, I never was on board with the "paste tomato only" recommendations.

[SQWIB]

August 14th

The garden is doing very well. With all the recent rain it looks like the tomato plants shot up a good bit, they outgrew the Texas Tomato Cages, the poblano on the left center is nearing 6' tall and is loaded with peppers. I turned off the irrigation and have been watering with my rain water barrel this week. I'm going to see how far I can go before I need to turn it back on.





The Reliance Grapes are doing better than I could have hoped for.



Did a bit more trim work on the trunk and cordons.



Removed a few tomato plants that were struggling to make room for the other plants, the plants on the hill have exploded. I pruned the Hardy Kiwi, there were several main stems that were twining, so I cut them at the base and started the tedious task of unwinding the cut stem from the main trunk. I'm going to cut them just below the trellis and hopefully get a couple cardons.

Harvested my first batch of Yard Long beans, and cooked them, I don't like green beans and would rather eat these instead. I don't think anyone else cared for them but I think my family felt bad and really didn't say much. They were OK but I don't think I'll grow them again. I'll finish the year with them and make dilly beans.



Cooked another spaghetti squash, this was the one that was green (pictured above) tried it with a Sage Butter. I liked this squash much better than the first one we tried but not enough to regrow it next year. It had a very pleasant smell when cut open, reminded me of cantaloupe. I did save seeds from this just in case.



I had to cut back a lot of stuff. A lot of the trimmings were chopped and remained in the beds as mulch, other trimmings went into the compost heap and questionable trimmings went into the firepit.




I planted some Detroit Radish on the back hill, left and right of the tiger lilies, around the playhouse trellis and in the front Hugelkultur bed. Here I am trying out my shredded paper mulch.



The pond is doing real good this year, no string algae... KNOCK WOOD!! The pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter this year, they are still producing but look stunted, I usually fertilize twice in a season but just added some 10-10-10 to the peps this weekend... long overdue. I'm pretty conservative with adding anything for the plants that reside in the veggie filter for the safety of the fish. If they don't bounce back a bit, I may try to find something else to grow in the veggie filter next year. The water lettuce will make a fine compost this year, I may even just plop these in the hugelkultur beds as mulch. I am very pleased with the Rain Barrel I hooked up to the pond, I have only had to top it off twice this year, the rest has been supplied by the Rain Barrel, its on a timer that cycles on and off twice a day for an hour, the feed line is a 1/4" hose.



I cut back all of the perpetual spinach and my daughter took the cuttings to the AARK for the animals, also pulled my old woody beets to feed to the AARK animals.

Added some fertz (Leftover Milorganite, yeah, yeah, I know!) to the flowers and shrubs and 10-10-10 to the potted plants. I don't add any type of fertilizers to the non-potted plants with the exception of flowers and shrubs, only compost.

The yard is loaded with critters, more so this year than any other year, the Carpenter Bees look like they're getting drunk on the Passion Flower. The oregano and Mint is loaded with insects.


Maypops are going nuts, next year I'm going to figure out an arbor or something for them to climb a bit neater.



Wasn't sure if this was a thread waisted wasp or Mud dauber.














Some crazy looking spider.


Looks like a frog with 4 eyes!

[applestar]

From the posture, I think it’s a jumping spider....

Hmm... eggplants are better than peppers with extra moisture.... or you might want to try micro-dwarf tomatoes if you need smaller stature plants. Shorter pepper plants tend to be hot peppers and prefer drier growing medium I think? Thicker walled peppers do better with more moisture.

If you can find fresh waterchestnuts (early spring) you might try growing them — I Think you would need the entire trough (maybe a windowbox) rather than individual pots.

I *thought* I found water chestnuts at Hmart and grew them last year, but they turned out to be some kind of (edible) arrowleaf bog plant — they Overwintered in one of those white square 2.5 gal pots in the bottom of the pond after it got pushed off the shelf and into the deep by some critter (I realize now, probably raccoon). They actually managed to send up leaves all the way up and are thriving this year — you can see them in the middle of my pond. I really should pull them out this fall....

[SQWIB]

From the posture, I think it’s a jumping spider....

Hmm... eggplants are better than peppers with extra moisture.... or you might want to try micro-dwarf tomatoes if you need smaller stature plants. Shorter pepper plants tend to be hot peppers and prefer drier growing medium I think? Thicker walled peppers do better with more moisture.

If you can find fresh waterchestnuts (early spring) you might try growing them — I Think you would need the entire trough (maybe a windowbox) rather than individual pots.

I may try a few eggplants in there next season.

[SQWIB]

August 23rd

The garden is doing fairly well, all the peppers are really starting to produce, some smaller plants are growing fruit as tall as the plants and rotting as they touch the soil, I have some plants 14" tall and some are near 5' tall, go figure. I am loosing one of my Eggplant Plants, it's being shaded out by a poblano, which blows my mind. The funky rutgers tomato plant is putting out a lot of tomatoes, there is definitely something wrong with this plant, some tomatoes look beautiful and some look scarred.

I'm eating and giving away a lot of eggplant and freezing a ton of tomatoes.

The Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans have escaped and are climbing the hedges in the neighbors yard, I'm going to let these die off and harvest the seeds for pulses.

I have been using the water lettuce from the pond for fertilizer/mulch for some plants, the pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter, the jalapeno is the only one that looks decent, the poblanos look a little better than the Jimmy Nardellos, they all have peppers but small in size.

No signs of the Detroit Red Radishes I planted.

I have been messing with my Rainwater setup, I'll post that on my Rain Harvesting page when finished. Other than that I've just been tweaking the garden and doing a lot of trench composting.

[SQWIB]

August 28th

I have been working on the Koi Pond rebuilding the Faux bricks on the sides, trimmed back a lot of the mints and basil plants.

My new rain barrel came in and I played with that a bit, more on that later in the season when its finished.



Making some mulch




A couple peppers for my Sausage Peppers and onion I am canning.





Ruby King center, the others are store bought.


For the 2019 season, I think I'm gonna replace my Corno di Toro Giallo's and Rosso's with the Red Marconi.


First Batch




Canned 21 quart jars and only had one that did not seal, that was lunch yesterday and today, half the jars have whole sausage links for sandwiches and half are sliced. My wife doesn't care for the hots but they are my favorite, but for her, I done a 25% hot, 75% sweet ratio. The sweets are cut on a diagonal and the hots are cross cut. The "Links" jars have 2 sweets and 2 hots in each. The last batch of links (4 jars) I added a few poblanos, a can of RO*TELL to the existing peppers and onions and blended with an immersion blender for a smooth sauce.




Saving some seeds.







September 4th, 2018

The compost is doing well, these are Bio-degradable packing peanuts.


Critters

I have seen a few more yellow finches here and there, they really love the sunflowers. Sorry no picture, they're just too dam skittish.


These are probably the only insect that really bother me, for some reason they like to get in your face and buzz all around you. They seem really attracted to alcohol, these pineapple chunks were sitting in grain for quite a while.


Garden

I really haven't noticed any difference between the Giant Marconi and Red Marconi, both plants are doing equally well. The seeds were graciously sent from a forum member.








Canning

Picked 3.5 pounds of Jalapenos for a batch of cowboy candy, the reds that were not crisp are set aside to dry and make chili powder. Roasted and canned some poblanos a few of the reds that weren't firm were set aside for chili powder.




Got 8 jars and canned the remaining syrup for another 4 batches of Jalapenos


Roasted and peeled the poblanos, used trimming and simmered for a broth to use as a canning liquid.




In retrospect, I wish I would have canned in 8 oz. jars.


Chili powder. These will be dried and placed in the refrigerator in a mason jar unsealed then processed in a coffee mill. I'll continue to add Jalapenos and Poblanos til the end of the season.



Food

Red Marconi and Buratta cheese. We usually make this with Jimmy Nardello peppers, these are Red Marconi and just needed to be cooked twice as long. The family liked these just as much as the Jimmy Nardellos.


Basil, mozzarella, grape tomatoes (store bought tomatoes)


Nachos




Fried garden peppers, chives and cheese omelet with fried butter, garlic, crushed red pepper toast and a side of fried hard salami. Apple juice and coffee.

[SQWIB]

September 10th

Played in the garden a bit. I had this piece of bark that I decided to cover up one of my 4x4 posts.




the Garden is still producing, the eggplant on the hill exploded.




Breakfast

Mac n' Cheese omelet with fried sweet peppers




Canning

Working on my canning stuff, Canned some Roasted Red Marconi peppers and a few Ruby Red Bell's then made some Turkey Taco Meat and canned that. Tweaking the pantry for more goodies.













Stopped at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve and Bowman's Hill Tower. Picked up some plants for my Butterfly Garden - Butterfly Weed, Swamp Milkweed, New England Aster, Purple Cone Flower and some Black eyed Susan's. Got everything planted right away.



I saw this Aphid Eater Block House for sale but they didn't have any, I may research this and make one from a piece of log and keep in a few of my gardens.

[applestar]

Oooh jealous! I really wanted to go to the plant sale, but we had a family thing going on this weekend.

Glad you got some nice stuff.

[SQWIB]

Oooh jealous! I really wanted to go to the plant sale, but we had a family thing going on this weekend.

Glad you got some nice stuff.

And thanks for the heads-up on the sale

[SQWIB]

September 10th - 16th

I started planting my cover crops



The garden is starting to get a bit out of control, everything is growing out of their cages and flopping over. I was up on the hill trying to support the poblanos and eggplant plants. The eggplant plant ripped the cage out of the ground. The poblanos are growing out sideways about 2' past the cage. The tomatoes grew out of the TTC's and are growing anywhere they can. I may need to start cutting some stuff back and tying things up a bit.


Tabascos are starting to come in, a lot of my pepper plants really start producing in September.


This will give you an idea on how wet it has been, I haven't seen the sun in nearly a week. Needless to say, I turned my water off September 6th.





The excessive rain has pretty much destroyed my heirloom tomatoes as they are splitting like crazy, usually I can scavenge a few split ones and either eat them right away or, core, cut out the split and freeze, I always smell the cut area because sometime they start rotting underneath the split. Between sight, smell and feel I can pretty much perform a successful surgery. My unaffected tomatoes has been my "so-called" Rutgers tomato plant, not one split at all.

The water lettuce in the pond has done real well this year and I have been harvesting a lot of the lettuce during the growing season as a mulch. Here I am gathering some water lettuce to top portions of my beds for a cover crop.



The drip line is pulled up, this can be a chore with the roots entwined in the drip line, especially the roots from the oregano. The drip line is turned off by the small valve in the line, each bed section has its own valve. I will handwater from the Rain Barrel at this point. Everything is cut back to the soil level and chopped up and placed back in the bed, this is so much easier now that I have a pair of Felco pruners. The next step is to cover everything with some water lettuce.


A bucket of My compost is dumped on top.


Oats are added and lightly tapped in.



Another layer of Oats is added and a handful of Crimson Clover, then I tap over the whole area with my Hori Hori, followed by a good watering. The area is then covered until I get some sprouts.


Another bed done the same way but using the potting soil from my retired Vertical Tower.








Its been 8 days and every day is has rained to some extent, the Sun still hasn't made an appearance.
I've been slowly going through sections of my beds, pulling up the drip lines, chop and dropping weeds, some veggie plants and early season cover crops then adding compost and planting a fall cover crop (Oats and Crimson Clover).


I don't know what the heck is going on with this zucchini plant, no fruit yet but a ton of mushrooms. This soil with the mushrooms will be spread out over a few of the beds.




Eggplants are really putting on fruit, I'll be cooking plenty of eggplant dishes and giving some eggplant away, I wont be freezing any eggplant dishes this year.

Tomatoes have me totally disappointed, I have a lot of fruit that has set but most of the fruit that is somewhat red is split, half ripe and infested with gnats and ants, some I can save and some I can't. I definitely will be trying some Hybrids next year, the weather this year has been really rough on my heirlooms.

The "True Black Brandywine" and the "Cherokee Purple" really produced this year but more than half was not worth saving. The Brandywine Red tomatoes are not producing near as much but have had more salvageable fruit.


Volunteer Bok Choy.


Artichoke that will probably be removed and used as mulch.



Oats sprouted after 4 days



My rain barrel came in Friday the 14th, so I played with that a bit. Full post coming soon.


This weekend I got some yard work done, cut the grass, while I was cutting the grass I found a little surprise.

Let me tell you the whole story, anyone that reads my threads know that we rescue box turtles and have a few full timers in the yard.
Last season my daughter had a few she was rehabbing in the yard that wintered over then were released.
Well Speedy (full timer) was digging a few months ago and I figured she was going to lay some eggs, I didn't think much of it because the eggs are never viable.


June 20th

Speedy digging a nest



September 13th

Anyhow last week, I noticed a hole where she was digging and the hole looked like it was made from the inside out, sorta looked like a cave. When I peered inside I saw an egg that was broken open. I told the family that their may be a baby in the yard but there would be no way we would ever find it.


They all thought I was nuts, because both turtles in the yard are female. Well...this morning armed with a weed whacker I was cutting the lawn an noticed this little brown spot, I thought it was a leaf when I went over it with the weed wacker but then it started to move.



My daughter was working on her essays for vet school when I walked in and plopped it in front of her and with a smile on my face I said, "so ya'll thought I was nuts". She couldn't be happier. She went into care taker mode and made sure he/she was hydrated. Her assumption is it's at least two weeks old because the egg sack is completely absorbed, however she is worried that it may have been born too late in the season to survive.



OK back to the garden,

Made some more mulch.



Trimmed and cut back more plants in the veggie garden and have been adding compost and planting cover crops in the beds. Battled some Aphids and Ants on my Concord Grape vine with neem and dish soap.

Drying some herbs and making some infused Olive oil.





Garden pics

Chopped and dropped around the tree then mulched.


Mulched the grapes with coffee grounds and shredded cardboard mulch


My compromise pot, she wanted flowers and I wanted veggies.


Oats are coming up nicely.


I forgot all about the Okra seeds that I tossed in here a while back.



Maypops are going nuts in the back yard.



I had my buddy over and loaded him up with some veggies to take to his moms, she was thrilled. I'm now trying to get him into gardening, we'll see!





This poblano plant is so loaded with peppers that branches were snapping off.


This is from one branch that snapped.


My first year with yacon


I have no idea what this is.



Finally got a chance to work on a few stumps, I got tired of tripping over them.


Garden Breakfast
Sour Cream and Chive scramble with sweet peppers and a side of Garlic toast with Olive oil and crushed red pepper.

[Gary350]

All that stuff your, growing, cooking, canned looks good especially the sausages. Your in a cooler climate than us I wonder if that is helpful for growing peppers, I have always heard peppers like hot weather. What soil do you use to grow peppers? Do you grow peppers in full sun all day? Do you water your plants? I like your sweet Red Macaroni Peppers I may try to find seeds for those next year. I have to buy what is available local at, Lowe's, Home Depot, Garden Store, I have never seen red Macaroni for sale here. I have never seen Ruby Red either. My plants never produce peppers until about mid Sept when weather gets cooler & days get shorter Oct is my month to harvest the most peppers if I can get plants to grow taller than 3 ft. This year I did soil preparation on a few plants and fertilizer on other plants, soil preparation seems to work better than fertilizer. My pepper plants always seem to suffer all summer in full sun or shade in 96 degree heat. I never water my garden no matter how hot & dry it gets it makes grass & weeds grow but this summer I watered the 6 pepper plants that I fertilized and the other peppers that never got water or fertilizer seem to be doing better. I wish I could compare what your doing to what I am doing I would love to grow a bushel basket of red Macaroni next year for paprika & chili powder.

[SQWIB]

Gary, I tend to over water but that is something I am working on.
My poblanos, Ruby Red and Red Marconi are in my native clay soil amended with Peat, Black Cow, Bio char, rabbit bedding and manure, my compost and compost from the recycle center.

Fall time I plant a cover crop.

The beds on the hill get full sun most of the day

I also have peppers in my hugelkultur beds with the same soil structure as the raised beds but less clay soil. These beds get a little less sun.
I seem to get my pepper explosion in September. But my poblanos and Jalapeno's I get earlier.

I haven't used store bought soil ammendments or fertilisers the last three seasons (Black Kow, Peat was a one time deal when making the beds).
I do use my own compost, bio-char, potash and Urea.
I interplant with cover crops throughout the season and nothing is removed from the bed unless it's diseased, everything is chop and drop the entire season.
In the fall, I dress with compost or spent potting mix and plant a cover crop.
Come spring/late winter when the cover crop is dead and decomposing, I'll top with whatever I have on hand, leaves, compost, rabbit manure, bio-char.
I also trench compost a lot during the growing season.

BTW, I totally agree on the soil preparation.

[Gary350]

Gary, I tend to over water but that is something I am working on.
My poblanos, Ruby Red and Red Marconi are in my native clay soil amended with Peat, Black Cow, Bio char, rabbit bedding and manure, my compost and compost from the recycle center.

Fall time I plant a cover crop.

The beds on the hill get full sun most of the day

I also have peppers in my hugelkultur beds with the same soil structure as the raised beds but less clay soil. These beds get a little less sun.
I seem to get my pepper explosion in September. But my poblanos and Jalapeno's I get earlier.

I haven't used store bought soil ammendments or fertilisers the last three seasons (Black Kow, Peat was a one time deal when making the beds).
I do use my own compost, bio-char, potash and Urea.
I interplant with cover crops throughout the season and nothing is removed from the bed unless it's diseased, everything is chop and drop the entire season.
In the fall, I dress with compost or spent potting mix and plant a cover crop.
Come spring/late winter when the cover crop is dead and decomposing, I'll top with whatever I have on hand, leaves, compost, rabbit manure, bio-char.
I also trench compost a lot during the growing season.

BTW, I totally agree on the soil preparation.

I know what you mean about pepper explosion this time of the year my plants are getting heavy limbs are breaking off. One year I tilled a 3.3 cu ft bale of peat moss into the soil & that was the year my sweet bell pepper plants were 7 ft tall & I had 2 bushel baskets of peppers. I never did know for sure if peat moss preparation helped or something else I don't remember helped. This year I did no soil preparation at all winter seemed like it was boring 14 months long. We went camping 3 to 4 days every week, I planted the garden when we were home. I have Urea & 15-15-15 fertilizer, I forgot to use it much this year except on a few peppers, I only fertilized with wood ash & pellet lime. I will get peat moss & cow manure this spring. It looks like you have lots of organic material on your peppers I think that must be what peppers like. If your using Urea it needs calcium to convert Urea to a type of nitrogen plants can use.

[SQWIB]

Gary, I tend to over water but that is something I am working on.
My poblanos, Ruby Red and Red Marconi are in my native clay soil amended with Peat, Black Cow, Bio char, rabbit bedding and manure, my compost and compost from the recycle center.

Fall time I plant a cover crop.

The beds on the hill get full sun most of the day

I also have peppers in my hugelkultur beds with the same soil structure as the raised beds but less clay soil. These beds get a little less sun.
I seem to get my pepper explosion in September. But my poblanos and Jalapeno's I get earlier.

I haven't used store bought soil ammendments or fertilisers the last three seasons (Black Kow, Peat was a one time deal when making the beds).
I do use my own compost, bio-char, potash and Urea.
I interplant with cover crops throughout the season and nothing is removed from the bed unless it's diseased, everything is chop and drop the entire season.
In the fall, I dress with compost or spent potting mix and plant a cover crop.
Come spring/late winter when the cover crop is dead and decomposing, I'll top with whatever I have on hand, leaves, compost, rabbit manure, bio-char.
I also trench compost a lot during the growing season.

BTW, I totally agree on the soil preparation.

I know what you mean about pepper explosion this time of the year my plants are getting heavy limbs are breaking off. One year I tilled a 3.3 cu ft bale of peat moss into the soil & that was the year my sweet bell pepper plants were 7 ft tall & I had 2 bushel baskets of peppers. I never did know for sure if peat moss preparation helped or something else I don't remember helped. This year I did no soil preparation at all winter seemed like it was boring 14 months long. We went camping 3 to 4 days every week, I planted the garden when we were home. I have Urea & 15-15-15 fertilizer, I forgot to use it much this year except on a few peppers, I only fertilized with wood ash & pellet lime. I will get peat moss & cow manure this spring. It looks like you have lots of organic material on your peppers I think that must be what peppers like. If your using Urea it needs calcium to convert Urea to a type of nitrogen plants can use.

Thanks for the heads up!

[SQWIB]

September 19th

I like to start my cover crops covered with cardboard for a few days, the key is to wet the soil down real good and cover with cardboard and saturate the cardboard. Overcast days are great during this phase as the sun really dries out the cardboard quickly and you need to water more often ensuring the cardboard stay wet. Pizza boxes work great for this. I decided to add some peas and alfalfa to the beds and watered then in.

Removed cardboard after 3 days, I usually uncover after 3 or 4 days and I'm good.



After one week, 3 days covered 4 days uncovered.


My daughter made up a tank for the Box turtle.


This guy was "side-eying" me!


Rogue Daikon Radish, there must have been a radish seed in with the crimson clover.




I'm sure a lot of folks are gonna cringe at how I prepped this bed for winter!

This is one of the hardest things for me to do at the end of the season. Cutting down tomato plants that are still flowering and loaded with tomatoes.


Everything is cut down, the cages are removed, the drip line is turned off and moved out of the way. Tomato plants, and rogue weeds/plants are chopped up with my Felcos pruners then lightly chopped with the shovel, then saturated with rain water


My weeds that have been sitting in the bucket of rain water and a bit of urea for a week are dumped onto the bed and scattered somewhat.


A layer of shredded cardboard is placed on top.


Cardboard is saturated with rain water.


I had a bit of spent potting mix left over from when I removed my garden tower and dumped that on top of the cardboard.



For this bed I'll be using mixed Lentils, Crimson Clover, Alfalfa and Oats as a cover crop. I thing the oats will probably pretty much choke most of the stuff out, well see. Seeds are broadcasted.




Seeds are mixed in with a needle hose sprayer using rain water.




The final step is to cover with cardboard, I used some pizza boxes. I will wet down the cardboard each morning and evening and when I have a good germination rate, I'll remove the cardboard and toss in the compost bin. It has been overcast lately but if it gets real sunny the cardboard dries out fairly quickly but the soil always stays moist.



September 24th


Its been raining most of the month, the yard is like a swamp. The plants in the raised beds on the hill are still producing, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Poblanos, Red Marconi, Giant Marconi, Ruby Red and Jalapenos. I'll let these plants go until they look stressed or stop flowering. The leeks are getting a little shaded out but hanging in there. I also Have a volunteer eggplant by the fence that has set some nice fruit. The plants out front are doing well, although, I'm not real happy with my sunpatients


Harvested my first Okra ever, I cant wait to grow more of these next year.


I was impressed with the Okra flower and can see these being grown in front yards where vegetable gardens aren't allowed.




Drying some Cayenne and Serrano for chili powder.



Saving some seeds and going through my trays.









One of the Maypops fell or was blown off of the trellis, It seemed a bit wrinkly and starting to yellow so my kids and I sampled it. It wasn't bad, a bit tart and had a citrus flavor. Sam and Stephen said it had a pear flavor. I took the rest after sampling and put in a few ounces of hot water and a pinch of sugar, strained and sat in the fridge. I tried it later and it made for a decent beverage.


Oats in the front pots.


The front hugelkultur bed is growing nicely, I wont touch this bed at all until the spring. I'm curious to see what will happen in the spring.


And had to make some Garden meals, I try to make something from the garden every weekend.

Garden Fritatta


Garden Pizza