When you harvest the ginger, do you do anything with the ginger stalks and leaves? They are so fragrant that I always think it would be a waste to just compost them.
I’ve tried different things like putting them in the bath, extracting in unscented shampoo and liquid soap, even putting in tea, etc.
…is Okinawan the one that is white on the outside and purple inside? I tried one like that once but I just don’t have enough growing days — nothing was thicker than a pencil when frost was imminent. I need to experiment some more to extend the season and increase soil temperature during the growing season.
The stems are fragrant, but I compost them. However, while the flowers are inconspicuous, I can smell them from 20 ft away. The flowers are good as a filler in arrangements just for their strong ginger scent. It goes well with anthuriums or heliconia that are showy but have no scent at all. The stems and leaves are edible, for steaming, stir fries, salads, and tea. Just not really worthwhile since I have the root to do the same thing.
Yes, the Okinawan sweet potato has a white skin and is purple inside. The ones I ate were sweet and they were not as dry as some I have had. I think part of that was because it was not sitting on a shelf for weeks. I had one very large potato, but most were medium or small and they were all at the bottom of the container. I was surprised, I thought it may have started to rot since they should have been harvested in August after they bloomed. They were all o.k.
I should have taken some pictures, but I did not have my phone with me. I gave the big potato away, frankly, it is harder to cook the big ones, and kept a few of the fingerlings since it is all I can eat.
I still have more ginger left in the pot. I can harvest that a little at a time at least until the tops yellow and die. Then, I will have to harvest the remainder in the pots and store the ginger in a container with some damp peat moss or sand until March or they sprout, whichever comes first. I could leave them in the container, but if I do that the ginger will become tighter and smaller. It is hard to peel very small ginger fingers. I have planted them in a Rubbermaid container that is only about 9 inches deep 16x24 wide (approx) about 10 gallon container. I will need 3 pieces to start each pot. More would only make the ginger ultimately smaller. Ginger grows laterally and not deep, so a shallow wide container is what you need. Commercially, they plant ginger in hills and hill it up to encourage the ginger to grow up. That is too much work for me and a waste of a deep container. Technically, ginger can be harvested around 5 months when it is large enough to break off pieces as you need them. We did grow ginger in 5 gallon buckets before and got two crops a year that way. The ginger had to be planted and the bucket gradually filled to get the ginger to grow upwards. Ginger, in the tropics can get wild if you let it run in the ground. Ginger has no resistance to nematodes so it is best to plant it in a pot.
Yes, the Okinawan sweet potato has a white skin and is purple inside. The ones I ate were sweet and they were not as dry as some I have had. I think part of that was because it was not sitting on a shelf for weeks. I had one very large potato, but most were medium or small and they were all at the bottom of the container. I was surprised, I thought it may have started to rot since they should have been harvested in August after they bloomed. They were all o.k.
I should have taken some pictures, but I did not have my phone with me. I gave the big potato away, frankly, it is harder to cook the big ones, and kept a few of the fingerlings since it is all I can eat.
I still have more ginger left in the pot. I can harvest that a little at a time at least until the tops yellow and die. Then, I will have to harvest the remainder in the pots and store the ginger in a container with some damp peat moss or sand until March or they sprout, whichever comes first. I could leave them in the container, but if I do that the ginger will become tighter and smaller. It is hard to peel very small ginger fingers. I have planted them in a Rubbermaid container that is only about 9 inches deep 16x24 wide (approx) about 10 gallon container. I will need 3 pieces to start each pot. More would only make the ginger ultimately smaller. Ginger grows laterally and not deep, so a shallow wide container is what you need. Commercially, they plant ginger in hills and hill it up to encourage the ginger to grow up. That is too much work for me and a waste of a deep container. Technically, ginger can be harvested around 5 months when it is large enough to break off pieces as you need them. We did grow ginger in 5 gallon buckets before and got two crops a year that way. The ginger had to be planted and the bucket gradually filled to get the ginger to grow upwards. Ginger, in the tropics can get wild if you let it run in the ground. Ginger has no resistance to nematodes so it is best to plant it in a pot.
I finally got some new pictures of the garden. The main garden has been reamended and I will be planting it in stages so everything hopefully will not come in at the same week. There are seeds started in the tower and in pots that have to be thinned so they might make it into the main garden. Most things will be ready in 45-60 days, except for the tomatoes, pole beans, cucumbers, komatsuna, kale, Swiss chard, and perpetual spinach which can give me fewer, but a little longer harvest interval.
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- This vanda blooms 3-4 times a year. It is over 5 ft tall and I don't know the name. I also have the renenthera in bloom, but it is over 12 ft tall and I cannot get a close picture because it is blooming in the top of my plumeria tree.
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- Catleya just fully opened. This is still catleya season.
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- koba green onions planted Sept 21,2021
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- hibiscus mutabilis in the morning is a white double hibiscus
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- Hibiscus mutabilis in the afternoon it changes from white in the morning. At mid day it is tinged with pink. By the next day it will be cerise pink
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- hibiscus Princess Michiko
I can't seem to get a picture of h. mutabilis in the afternoon. It was too dark after I got home from work at 6:30 pm and the flower is already shriveled this morning. There are a couple of more flowers and I get off at 4:30 p.m. today, so hopefully I will remember to go out before dark to get a picture.
It is a bit drippy this morning which is normal for this time of year. I did try to go out and check on things. The tower garden needed thinning and I hate to thin so I put the thinnings in the main garden. I don't expect all of them to survive, some of them were very small. Since, I had to thin them anyway, anything that does survive is a bonus. Unfortunately my succession scheme is not going to work out so well since these thinnings fill up a lot of the garden space and they are the same age as the ones planted earlier. I still have more thinning to do in the tower. I may run out of garden space sooner than I thought. It started to rain heavier and so I had to cut short any thought of doing much outside this morning. At least I don't have to water and I might be able to get something done after work (wishful thinking on my part. I am usually really tired after work).
The cutting from the sweet potato has rooted but the leaves look a mess. I don't know if this is going to work. I may have to start over with another potato to grow the shoots.
It is 71 degrees now and will get to be around 80 today. This has been a cool La nina year. Usually I would have had my fan running every night starting in September, but I have only used it and the air conditioner a few times when the winds were calm.
The ginger is blooming a couple of months early and some of the oncidiums are already spiking (they usually spike in December). The green onions are also starting to flower and they only flower in cool weather. Right now I can grow both cool and warm season crops since it is warm enough for the warm season crops and cool enough for most of the cool season crops. The night temperatures do dip into the mid sixties. It is too late for me to grow broccoli, but it is such a big plant and I can get better yields from other things that are easier to grow. The seedlings in the compots are also coming up. I have to figure out where they are going to go as well. One of the cucumber seedlings came up late, but right now all four are up. As long as the snails don't find them they should be o.k. I have found a couple of big African snails but not that many. Since it has been raining for awhile and it is still overcast, it would be a good time to go on a snail hunt as long as it does not rain too hard.
The edibles that have sprouted or transplanted are
Main Garden
Swiss chard(2), perpetual spinach (2) from starts
semposai, Adjvarski pepper, Mucho nacho pepper, grand rapid lettuce from vegetable tower thinnings. I will see what survives.
Already established in the main garden: Aloe (it was cut back), Jamaican oregano, culantro, Ajaka basil, Curly Vates Kale.
7 tiered garden tower (36 pockets)
grand rapids lettuce, swiss chard, perpetual spinach, Adjvarsky pepper, Mucho nacho, nasturtiums, cilantro, mizuna, Mexican tarragon, Koba green onions, and some peppers. Some peppers have not sprouted yet.
Compot
Soarer cucumber, kale, orange cherry tomato have sprouted.
Cucumber pot. I have 3 soarer and 1 progress cucumber and Kuroda carrots
Bean pot 1 Poamoho string beans, Pak choi (pechai)
Bean pot 2 Long beans with purple tip, bok choi
18 gallon pot 3 Tokyo bekana, bok choi
48 qt rubbermaid choi sum and gai lan (chinese broccoli)
The other plants are older and are in production Red currant tomato (flowering now), camaro tomato, diamond eggplant, Thai pepper, Super chili, multiple potted citrus trees are fruiting now: Meyer lemon, persian lime, calamondin, kaffir limes ( they have fruit but are really only grown for the leaves), herbs: Thai basil, lavender, rosemary, bay leaf, Mexican mint marigold, lemon grass, and green onions (Ishikura, Tokyo Long, Shimonishi, Koba). Dragon fruit has flowered several times but no fruit, miracle berry, thyme (English, French, Creeping, Orange), mint (spearmint and peppermint), pandan, murraya koenigii, katuk, ginger, galangal, araimo, and bilimbi
Growing wild in the yard: bitter melon, allspice. I have to keep pulling these out.
Then there are the ornamentals in pots and planted in the front yard. The front yard actually has one Thai and one Blue fil basil but they are ornamental and I haven't been cited for it yet.
It is a bit drippy this morning which is normal for this time of year. I did try to go out and check on things. The tower garden needed thinning and I hate to thin so I put the thinnings in the main garden. I don't expect all of them to survive, some of them were very small. Since, I had to thin them anyway, anything that does survive is a bonus. Unfortunately my succession scheme is not going to work out so well since these thinnings fill up a lot of the garden space and they are the same age as the ones planted earlier. I still have more thinning to do in the tower. I may run out of garden space sooner than I thought. It started to rain heavier and so I had to cut short any thought of doing much outside this morning. At least I don't have to water and I might be able to get something done after work (wishful thinking on my part. I am usually really tired after work).
The cutting from the sweet potato has rooted but the leaves look a mess. I don't know if this is going to work. I may have to start over with another potato to grow the shoots.
It is 71 degrees now and will get to be around 80 today. This has been a cool La nina year. Usually I would have had my fan running every night starting in September, but I have only used it and the air conditioner a few times when the winds were calm.
The ginger is blooming a couple of months early and some of the oncidiums are already spiking (they usually spike in December). The green onions are also starting to flower and they only flower in cool weather. Right now I can grow both cool and warm season crops since it is warm enough for the warm season crops and cool enough for most of the cool season crops. The night temperatures do dip into the mid sixties. It is too late for me to grow broccoli, but it is such a big plant and I can get better yields from other things that are easier to grow. The seedlings in the compots are also coming up. I have to figure out where they are going to go as well. One of the cucumber seedlings came up late, but right now all four are up. As long as the snails don't find them they should be o.k. I have found a couple of big African snails but not that many. Since it has been raining for awhile and it is still overcast, it would be a good time to go on a snail hunt as long as it does not rain too hard.
The edibles that have sprouted or transplanted are
Main Garden
Swiss chard(2), perpetual spinach (2) from starts
semposai, Adjvarski pepper, Mucho nacho pepper, grand rapid lettuce from vegetable tower thinnings. I will see what survives.
Already established in the main garden: Aloe (it was cut back), Jamaican oregano, culantro, Ajaka basil, Curly Vates Kale.
7 tiered garden tower (36 pockets)
grand rapids lettuce, swiss chard, perpetual spinach, Adjvarsky pepper, Mucho nacho, nasturtiums, cilantro, mizuna, Mexican tarragon, Koba green onions, and some peppers. Some peppers have not sprouted yet.
Compot
Soarer cucumber, kale, orange cherry tomato have sprouted.
Cucumber pot. I have 3 soarer and 1 progress cucumber and Kuroda carrots
Bean pot 1 Poamoho string beans, Pak choi (pechai)
Bean pot 2 Long beans with purple tip, bok choi
18 gallon pot 3 Tokyo bekana, bok choi
48 qt rubbermaid choi sum and gai lan (chinese broccoli)
The other plants are older and are in production Red currant tomato (flowering now), camaro tomato, diamond eggplant, Thai pepper, Super chili, multiple potted citrus trees are fruiting now: Meyer lemon, persian lime, calamondin, kaffir limes ( they have fruit but are really only grown for the leaves), herbs: Thai basil, lavender, rosemary, bay leaf, Mexican mint marigold, lemon grass, and green onions (Ishikura, Tokyo Long, Shimonishi, Koba). Dragon fruit has flowered several times but no fruit, miracle berry, thyme (English, French, Creeping, Orange), mint (spearmint and peppermint), pandan, murraya koenigii, katuk, ginger, galangal, araimo, and bilimbi
Growing wild in the yard: bitter melon, allspice. I have to keep pulling these out.
Then there are the ornamentals in pots and planted in the front yard. The front yard actually has one Thai and one Blue fil basil but they are ornamental and I haven't been cited for it yet.
Yesterday, I did more thinning. I am quickly filling up the main garden with the thinnings and there are still more to go. I may run out of room soon. Most of the transplanted seedlings survived, even the lettuce which was very small.
I moved the seedlings around in the 48 quart container with gai lan and choi sum. They sprouted in bunches instead of evenly. Most of those seem to have survived as well.
The carrots under planted in the cucumber pot is also bunched. The pot was not level and the carrots ended up in a puddle. I can't really transplant that so it will have to be thinned instead.
I checked on the worms. I gave them more wild bitter melon. They have a lot of carbon now, so it will last awhile.
It has been very windy at night knocking down some of the pots. It rains a bit overnight but not enough, so I still have to water. It is not enough rain to take the grass out of dormancy at any rate. I still have to mow. The rain makes it hard to do that, but at least I have not had to do it as often.
The alyssum looks a bit tired. If I can find some filler plants. It would be a good time to weed and add some accent color and more forage for the bees. The bees are heavily feasting on the basil since it is in constant bloom. The marigolds that reseeded are starting to bloom.
I fertilized the yard yesterday with miracle grow. It is the easiest way to get everything. It is the most practical way to fertilize orchids and succulents that are on the trees and fences and in no media, as well as the cuttings on the bench.
The roses in the inner courtyard are blooming. The roses in the front yard were cut later so they have new shoots and will bloom at the end of October. I usually do all the pruning at the same time, but I maybe should consider staggering the pruning of the roses so I can spread the bloom out more. I have a lot of plants in the yard that are in almost constant bloom. Seasonal bloomers like glads, agapanthus, crepe mrytle don't require much pruning, just cutting back the stems after they bloom.
The mussaenda glabra, pikake, gardenia, hibiscus, plumeria, Vireya, and dragon fruit are cut to control growth and shape, but not for bloom. Most of these have repeat blooming cycles or are free blooming most of the year and don't require a lot of pruning to enhance bloom. The plumeria should start shedding leaves soon. It will bloom on bare branches in January. Plumeria is not native to Hawaii. Tropical trees are for the most part not deciduous and will keep their leaves year round. They will drop older leaves, usually a few at a time.
I moved the seedlings around in the 48 quart container with gai lan and choi sum. They sprouted in bunches instead of evenly. Most of those seem to have survived as well.
The carrots under planted in the cucumber pot is also bunched. The pot was not level and the carrots ended up in a puddle. I can't really transplant that so it will have to be thinned instead.
I checked on the worms. I gave them more wild bitter melon. They have a lot of carbon now, so it will last awhile.
It has been very windy at night knocking down some of the pots. It rains a bit overnight but not enough, so I still have to water. It is not enough rain to take the grass out of dormancy at any rate. I still have to mow. The rain makes it hard to do that, but at least I have not had to do it as often.
The alyssum looks a bit tired. If I can find some filler plants. It would be a good time to weed and add some accent color and more forage for the bees. The bees are heavily feasting on the basil since it is in constant bloom. The marigolds that reseeded are starting to bloom.
I fertilized the yard yesterday with miracle grow. It is the easiest way to get everything. It is the most practical way to fertilize orchids and succulents that are on the trees and fences and in no media, as well as the cuttings on the bench.
The roses in the inner courtyard are blooming. The roses in the front yard were cut later so they have new shoots and will bloom at the end of October. I usually do all the pruning at the same time, but I maybe should consider staggering the pruning of the roses so I can spread the bloom out more. I have a lot of plants in the yard that are in almost constant bloom. Seasonal bloomers like glads, agapanthus, crepe mrytle don't require much pruning, just cutting back the stems after they bloom.
The mussaenda glabra, pikake, gardenia, hibiscus, plumeria, Vireya, and dragon fruit are cut to control growth and shape, but not for bloom. Most of these have repeat blooming cycles or are free blooming most of the year and don't require a lot of pruning to enhance bloom. The plumeria should start shedding leaves soon. It will bloom on bare branches in January. Plumeria is not native to Hawaii. Tropical trees are for the most part not deciduous and will keep their leaves year round. They will drop older leaves, usually a few at a time.
I went out to the garden to water and found that all of the bean seedlings and most of the semposai in the main garden have been topped by a snail. I guess I don't have to worry about too many things coming in at one time or garden space. I will have to replant the beans for sure. I still have semposai in the tower. the snails left the chilies and lettuce alone. It was probably full after eating all the seedlings in the two bean buckets and the semposai in the main garden. I put out snail bait. I found 2 African snails but they were in the front yard. The snail even took a few bites out of the eggplant.
I weed whacked the inner courtyard yesterday. The string trimmer line broke a lot and it took awhile just to go a few feet. I also repotted the bougainvillea. I picked up a pot that is not a bonsai pot but is slightly smaller and about 2 inches shallower. It only had one drain hole and it was a struggle to wire the bougie in and keep it straight, my thigh and arms are sore today from the struggle. I used 14 guage steel wire which is harder to work and tighten than copper. It is a heavy plant and I broke up the root ball up more than I would like. It is a miracle that today a least it does not look like it went into transplant shock. It is in full bloom and I actually should have top worked it as well, but I did not do that. It won't stand up on its own so I put the pot inside of the original terra cotta so it will have stability. The wiring is messy but it keeps the plant from falling out of the pot. Once the roots reestablish, I should be able to take the wires out and hopefully the pot will be able to stand.
The other seedlings have come up and are growing in the tower. I still have some thinning to do in the tower and I may have to replant some of the pockets. I put more snail bait around the other containers that I planted in case the snails come around for seconds.
It rained last night and everything is still wet this morning. It is overcast and 78 degrees. It may rain again later. I will check later if I need to water.
There is thrip damage on the orchid flowers. The cat has been open at least a week. The phalaenopsis has just started to bloom and another rescue orchid is in bud. The phalaenopsis is also showing signs of thrip damage. It has a nice color and is opening fairly flat and in good arrangement ( a little bit close. It should have a little more space between the flowers) Thrips and mites are a constant problem, but I don't treat for them for the most part to conserve predators. If there were a show and they were show quality, I would have had to treat and stake them while they were in bud. I have only treated the honohono orchids this year and that was only because last year the thrips and blossom midges destroyed all of the buds.
I have a problem that you probably don't have at this time of the year. I need to declutter, and I do a lousy job of it. However, where the garden is concerned. I end up having to buy all the peat moss, perlite, some gardening tools that I will need for the fall and winter months by September. Otherwise, the big box stores stop ordering garden supplies to make room for the holiday stuff, like Halloween which is now down to a single aisle. The store did not order a lot of Halloween this year and most of it sold quickly. Christmas decorations started going up before the end of September and those Christmas products are taking up space in the garden, so there are fewer garden products around. I have 4-2 cu ft bags of perlite and 40cuft bags of Peat Moss to last until next year. I still have pruning paint at home, but there isn't any at the store. I also cannot find orchard spray. I was able to get some long fibered shagnum peat moss on amazon. It was very expensive, but it was unavailable for such a long time and the one I bought is already not available. I can't get the ag suppliers to answer the phone. Even if I did, I know from past experience that they order supplies space available because they cannot charter an entire container. This time of the year with Christmas products coming in, there isn't much space. The current shipping backlog in California with 70 ships waiting to unload, only makes that worse. The store does have plenty of deer repellent though. P.S. there are no deer where I live. The only place in Hawaii that has deer is Molokai and they are starving to death from the drought. This is a problem when Big Box stores order nationally and are not flexible in ordering to meet the needs of the local market. Well, at least Walmart carries sickles and metal dust pans. My store does not. People are still looking for outdoor furniture and air conditioners which are seasonal items and not stocked year round. Only locally owned stores carry them year round, but even they have a hard time bringing things in now.
I weed whacked the inner courtyard yesterday. The string trimmer line broke a lot and it took awhile just to go a few feet. I also repotted the bougainvillea. I picked up a pot that is not a bonsai pot but is slightly smaller and about 2 inches shallower. It only had one drain hole and it was a struggle to wire the bougie in and keep it straight, my thigh and arms are sore today from the struggle. I used 14 guage steel wire which is harder to work and tighten than copper. It is a heavy plant and I broke up the root ball up more than I would like. It is a miracle that today a least it does not look like it went into transplant shock. It is in full bloom and I actually should have top worked it as well, but I did not do that. It won't stand up on its own so I put the pot inside of the original terra cotta so it will have stability. The wiring is messy but it keeps the plant from falling out of the pot. Once the roots reestablish, I should be able to take the wires out and hopefully the pot will be able to stand.
The other seedlings have come up and are growing in the tower. I still have some thinning to do in the tower and I may have to replant some of the pockets. I put more snail bait around the other containers that I planted in case the snails come around for seconds.
It rained last night and everything is still wet this morning. It is overcast and 78 degrees. It may rain again later. I will check later if I need to water.
There is thrip damage on the orchid flowers. The cat has been open at least a week. The phalaenopsis has just started to bloom and another rescue orchid is in bud. The phalaenopsis is also showing signs of thrip damage. It has a nice color and is opening fairly flat and in good arrangement ( a little bit close. It should have a little more space between the flowers) Thrips and mites are a constant problem, but I don't treat for them for the most part to conserve predators. If there were a show and they were show quality, I would have had to treat and stake them while they were in bud. I have only treated the honohono orchids this year and that was only because last year the thrips and blossom midges destroyed all of the buds.
I have a problem that you probably don't have at this time of the year. I need to declutter, and I do a lousy job of it. However, where the garden is concerned. I end up having to buy all the peat moss, perlite, some gardening tools that I will need for the fall and winter months by September. Otherwise, the big box stores stop ordering garden supplies to make room for the holiday stuff, like Halloween which is now down to a single aisle. The store did not order a lot of Halloween this year and most of it sold quickly. Christmas decorations started going up before the end of September and those Christmas products are taking up space in the garden, so there are fewer garden products around. I have 4-2 cu ft bags of perlite and 40cuft bags of Peat Moss to last until next year. I still have pruning paint at home, but there isn't any at the store. I also cannot find orchard spray. I was able to get some long fibered shagnum peat moss on amazon. It was very expensive, but it was unavailable for such a long time and the one I bought is already not available. I can't get the ag suppliers to answer the phone. Even if I did, I know from past experience that they order supplies space available because they cannot charter an entire container. This time of the year with Christmas products coming in, there isn't much space. The current shipping backlog in California with 70 ships waiting to unload, only makes that worse. The store does have plenty of deer repellent though. P.S. there are no deer where I live. The only place in Hawaii that has deer is Molokai and they are starving to death from the drought. This is a problem when Big Box stores order nationally and are not flexible in ordering to meet the needs of the local market. Well, at least Walmart carries sickles and metal dust pans. My store does not. People are still looking for outdoor furniture and air conditioners which are seasonal items and not stocked year round. Only locally owned stores carry them year round, but even they have a hard time bringing things in now.
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- Phalaenopsis starting to open
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- Repotted bougainvillea the morning after.
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- bok choy and Tokyo bekana
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- cucumber/ Kuroda carrots
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- seed starts
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- eggplant damaged by snail
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- bean seedlings eaten by snail
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- snails wiped out bean seedling in both containers
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- Camaro tomatoes still producing
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- mint replanted. Leaves were showing fungal damage. Soil was too wet. Repotted in peatlite
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- gramm scriptum citrinum
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- catleya with thrip damage. Dark shriveled on edges of petals and scars on petals.
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applestar
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- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
So lovely to be able to enjoy your orchids vicariously. Not much to bloom here now though I’m looking forward to catching and harvesting the saffron crocus when they bloom this year since I watched them get beaten down to the ground by fall rains last autumn.
I can sympathize about the lack of gardening supplies in stores even though I do have the option of paying outrageously to still obtain them online.
I think the problem with your snails is that they are so HUGE.
Even though they are smaller here, I do have to preemptively treat my garden this year since I’m trying to grow greens etc as fall/winter crop under protection. and they think the protection are put up for them with free buffet included.
My order for Sluggo+ (sow and pill bugs + millipedes are uncomfortably numerous this year so I decided to go ahead and try to reduce their numbers, even though I do occasionally see wood louse spiders who specialize in those pests) just arrived today so I can get to work. 
I can sympathize about the lack of gardening supplies in stores even though I do have the option of paying outrageously to still obtain them online.
I think the problem with your snails is that they are so HUGE.
Even though they are smaller here, I do have to preemptively treat my garden this year since I’m trying to grow greens etc as fall/winter crop under protection. and they think the protection are put up for them with free buffet included.
My order for Sluggo+ (sow and pill bugs + millipedes are uncomfortably numerous this year so I decided to go ahead and try to reduce their numbers, even though I do occasionally see wood louse spiders who specialize in those pests) just arrived today so I can get to work. Thanks Applestar. I do spend a lot on snail bait and it is a losing battle. It gets worse because the snail bait should last two weeks but in reality most of it is gone in a couple of days. The birds eat the snail bait in the day time and the mice/rats eat it at night. And they come back for more. Birds are also fond of eating pepper seeds from the compots if they are not covered.
The snails are huge. I actually don't see that many in the back yard anymore but I do find most of them or the trails in the front yard because I don't bait that as often. It only takes one big snail a night to do a lot of damage. The snails do have patience. They don't eat the strawberries until they are ripe and they went after the greens with the biggest leaves (except for the swiss chard and perpetual spinach) and left the tiny lettuce, and chili alone. The birds were out on the ground today looking for the slug bait. At least I did not encounter anymore snail damage over night.
I do have some saved hair from when I cut my hair. I can place that strategically around a few plants to protect them from snails. I have to use the iron phosphate around the vegetable garden, but I can use the cheaper bait that is not attractive to the birds in the ornamentals and in the pathways. The carrier for those baits are bran and the birds are not too interested in eating that.
I did replant the long beans in one pot. I haven't repotted the other one yet. I may do something else in that pot besides pole beans.
At this point, I now have more space to plant. I am not up against any planting deadlines so it is not too late to start something else. It still gets to 80 degrees in the daytime, so eggplant and pepper seeds will still germinate if I want to go that route. I still have seedlings that need to be thinned and potted up, so it is not that bad. I still have plants to fill in even if I don't plant more seeds right away. Now would be the time I would start some of the succession plants anyway.
A lot of people don't like the millipedes. I have a few in the garden, but they are not numerous and the lizards will eat them so they are never a problem. I have the small millipede and not the big one and they are not usually congregating anywhere in my yard. I haven't seen many pill bugs in awhile either. My niece did find a centipede in the garden. I don't know how that got there. It must have come from the bagged soil because I don't bring in homemade compost or mulch specifically for that reason. I did kill that one.
I did pay outrageously $58 for 1.4 lbs of long fibered sphagnum moss. Other things like Garden Safe snail bait which has the same ingredient as Sluggo is actually about the same price as the stores here, if they had it.
I just ordered sul-po-mag and urea and those were cheaper because I would have to buy a 50 lb bag if the ag supplier answered the phone. I got 5 lb bags online and that is still something that will last awhile. The price per pound was of course more than what it would be buying a larger bag. A larger bag would take me years to finish it.
The snails are huge. I actually don't see that many in the back yard anymore but I do find most of them or the trails in the front yard because I don't bait that as often. It only takes one big snail a night to do a lot of damage. The snails do have patience. They don't eat the strawberries until they are ripe and they went after the greens with the biggest leaves (except for the swiss chard and perpetual spinach) and left the tiny lettuce, and chili alone. The birds were out on the ground today looking for the slug bait. At least I did not encounter anymore snail damage over night.
I do have some saved hair from when I cut my hair. I can place that strategically around a few plants to protect them from snails. I have to use the iron phosphate around the vegetable garden, but I can use the cheaper bait that is not attractive to the birds in the ornamentals and in the pathways. The carrier for those baits are bran and the birds are not too interested in eating that.
I did replant the long beans in one pot. I haven't repotted the other one yet. I may do something else in that pot besides pole beans.
At this point, I now have more space to plant. I am not up against any planting deadlines so it is not too late to start something else. It still gets to 80 degrees in the daytime, so eggplant and pepper seeds will still germinate if I want to go that route. I still have seedlings that need to be thinned and potted up, so it is not that bad. I still have plants to fill in even if I don't plant more seeds right away. Now would be the time I would start some of the succession plants anyway.
A lot of people don't like the millipedes. I have a few in the garden, but they are not numerous and the lizards will eat them so they are never a problem. I have the small millipede and not the big one and they are not usually congregating anywhere in my yard. I haven't seen many pill bugs in awhile either. My niece did find a centipede in the garden. I don't know how that got there. It must have come from the bagged soil because I don't bring in homemade compost or mulch specifically for that reason. I did kill that one.
I did pay outrageously $58 for 1.4 lbs of long fibered sphagnum moss. Other things like Garden Safe snail bait which has the same ingredient as Sluggo is actually about the same price as the stores here, if they had it.
I just ordered sul-po-mag and urea and those were cheaper because I would have to buy a 50 lb bag if the ag supplier answered the phone. I got 5 lb bags online and that is still something that will last awhile. The price per pound was of course more than what it would be buying a larger bag. A larger bag would take me years to finish it.
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30543
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
@imafan this is completely OT but since you do grow gardenias and you live in Hawaii … would you know which gardenias are used/suitable/best for the dried flower buds to obtain yellow food coloring?
I’m thinking of starting to look for a plant to keep just for this purpose to add to my “edible” collection.
This would be a good time to buy live plants to be shipped here.
I’m thinking of starting to look for a plant to keep just for this purpose to add to my “edible” collection.
This would be a good time to buy live plants to be shipped here.
The plant you are looking for is gardenia jasminoides Ellis. I have never seen that one.
Gardenias here are used for fragrance and perfumes. Most of them are o.k. to wear in your hair for a day, but they don't last long and are too big to use for things like lei.
If you want to make a natural dye, turmeric produces a yellow dye. In fact, if I cut turmeric I have to wear gloves and put saran wrap on my cutting board because the dye would have to wear off. Hawaiians used olena (tumeric) primarily to make a yellow kapa dye. Olena has medicinal uses as well.
Gardenias here are used for fragrance and perfumes. Most of them are o.k. to wear in your hair for a day, but they don't last long and are too big to use for things like lei.
If you want to make a natural dye, turmeric produces a yellow dye. In fact, if I cut turmeric I have to wear gloves and put saran wrap on my cutting board because the dye would have to wear off. Hawaiians used olena (tumeric) primarily to make a yellow kapa dye. Olena has medicinal uses as well.
Yesterday I harvested some of my super chili peppers, calamansi, and some ginger and gave them away at work. It is better than letting them fall off the trees. I am still harvesting the ginger from the smaller of my two containers. There are a few more ginger I can get outof it before I move on to the other container. The people who like the calamansi, want it on the green side. I usually like it riper since I don't like it so sour and it has more juice if it is riper. I have 3 plants in fruit now. I grow citrus in pots and calamansi produces multiple crops. The trees are small but provide more fruit than I can use. I also have a lot of peppers. For that, I only pick peppers for about 30 minutes at a time because it is such a tedious job to cut each pepper off. Some of the peppers are also almost constantly in bloom. The birds do try to eat a lot of them especially if they are red.
I still have ginger in the refrigerator that I preserved last year. I guess I need to make more things to use up ginger or find a few more people to give the extras to. I haven't harvested the galangal yet. There are even fewer people I know who can use that.
I still have ginger in the refrigerator that I preserved last year. I guess I need to make more things to use up ginger or find a few more people to give the extras to. I haven't harvested the galangal yet. There are even fewer people I know who can use that.
I seem to be planting for the birds and snails. The birds were all over the back yard the other day eating the slug bait. Last night, the snail ate the tops off the gai lan and choi sum in the 48 quart container. I need to get a different snail bait that the birds don't like to eat.
Some of the peppers are getting white flies and the hibiscus mutabilus is loaded with them so I cut some of the branches off the hibiscus. Love my ratcheting lopper. I hit them with water. I have to decide whether to move the chili or not. I did replant the long beans with purple tail, but not the Poamoho. I am rethinking that one. I may plant snow peas instead and put bush beans in the main garden instead. I still have to catch the hungry fat snail first. I caught one snail today, but it probably was not the one eating everything up.
I rooted the cuttings from the Okinawan sweet potato, but they don't look really good. Sweet potatoes like warmer weather anyway, so I may plant something else in that pot instead. I do have sweet potato leaves which are only grown for their leaves, but I don't eat that much of it so I don't know if I want to do that. It is close to the hibiscus and is also a white fly magnet so it may not be a good idea to have it there anyway.
I checked the rosemary and thyme I heat treated for the ground mealy bugs. They look like they are gone. Only about half of the plants survived the treatment. I am adding diatomaceous earth to my potting mix now just in case.
It has been raining and windy. The neighbor's hibiscus have less mealy bugs now and mine don't have any so that is good. However, the ajaka basil did not like the rain much and it is a bit droopy. It is way over the top of the small tomato cage I used when it was smaller, so I have to add more supports to hold it up. It is over 4.5 ft tall now.
Gary said something interesting about having more peppers in October. I have a lot of super chili, but that is pretty much all the time as long as it is warm. I'll try some bell peppers and see if it does better in the fall. It does not do that well in Summer for me. I do get better output from the long and hot peppers, but not bells.
Some of the peppers are getting white flies and the hibiscus mutabilus is loaded with them so I cut some of the branches off the hibiscus. Love my ratcheting lopper. I hit them with water. I have to decide whether to move the chili or not. I did replant the long beans with purple tail, but not the Poamoho. I am rethinking that one. I may plant snow peas instead and put bush beans in the main garden instead. I still have to catch the hungry fat snail first. I caught one snail today, but it probably was not the one eating everything up.
I rooted the cuttings from the Okinawan sweet potato, but they don't look really good. Sweet potatoes like warmer weather anyway, so I may plant something else in that pot instead. I do have sweet potato leaves which are only grown for their leaves, but I don't eat that much of it so I don't know if I want to do that. It is close to the hibiscus and is also a white fly magnet so it may not be a good idea to have it there anyway.
I checked the rosemary and thyme I heat treated for the ground mealy bugs. They look like they are gone. Only about half of the plants survived the treatment. I am adding diatomaceous earth to my potting mix now just in case.
It has been raining and windy. The neighbor's hibiscus have less mealy bugs now and mine don't have any so that is good. However, the ajaka basil did not like the rain much and it is a bit droopy. It is way over the top of the small tomato cage I used when it was smaller, so I have to add more supports to hold it up. It is over 4.5 ft tall now.
Gary said something interesting about having more peppers in October. I have a lot of super chili, but that is pretty much all the time as long as it is warm. I'll try some bell peppers and see if it does better in the fall. It does not do that well in Summer for me. I do get better output from the long and hot peppers, but not bells.
The pots on the other side of the yard have not been bothered by the birds or snails. I put out snail bait there too. I haven't seen anymore snails or plants eaten by the main garden. Not that there is much to eat. The lettuce,Swiss Chard, and perpetual spinach survived. Some of the topped seedlings are trying to make a comeback. I am working on a way to cover them while they are young.
In the meantime, the Tokyo bekana and baby bok may have harvest-able leaves. The cucumber and carrots are growing. Most of the tower garden plants are also growing well. They grow slower in the tower than in the ground. The lettuce that were transplanted to the main garden from the tower are bigger than the ones in the tower. I cut the confederate rose back. It has white flies and is shading the peppers. The white flies are also bothering the peppers and citrus trees more. It is better now that the white fly magnet is not right over them.
In the meantime, the Tokyo bekana and baby bok may have harvest-able leaves. The cucumber and carrots are growing. Most of the tower garden plants are also growing well. They grow slower in the tower than in the ground. The lettuce that were transplanted to the main garden from the tower are bigger than the ones in the tower. I cut the confederate rose back. It has white flies and is shading the peppers. The white flies are also bothering the peppers and citrus trees more. It is better now that the white fly magnet is not right over them.
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- Tower garden has 36 pockets
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- Tower garden has a few empty pockets to replant but is otherwise growing out
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- Seedlings ready to plant out
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- Tokyo bekana and baby bok
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- cucumber Soarer and Progress. Underplanted with Kuroda carrots
Yesterday, I planted daikon and more bok choy. I made a cage to protect them. If it works to keep the snails and birds out. I will work on more covers for the other pots.
I planted some green crop bush beans in the garden. I replanted some of the pockets in the tower garden.
I found one large snail on the side yard, and saw the toad scampering toward the front yard. I found a smaller snail on the aloe. It looks like the birds are taking bites out of the leaves of the semposai on the tower and ate the phalaenopsis flower on my lanai table and the orchid flowers from a basket on the tree.
The baby bok and Tokyo bekana should be just about ready to harvest.
I removed the camaro tomato. Now, the birds won't have tomatoes to eat. There are still a lot of chilies. They may go after them more now. It is hard to cut off all of their food sources and keep them from eating mine.
I planted some green crop bush beans in the garden. I replanted some of the pockets in the tower garden.
I found one large snail on the side yard, and saw the toad scampering toward the front yard. I found a smaller snail on the aloe. It looks like the birds are taking bites out of the leaves of the semposai on the tower and ate the phalaenopsis flower on my lanai table and the orchid flowers from a basket on the tree.
The baby bok and Tokyo bekana should be just about ready to harvest.
I removed the camaro tomato. Now, the birds won't have tomatoes to eat. There are still a lot of chilies. They may go after them more now. It is hard to cut off all of their food sources and keep them from eating mine.
I had a disaster this morning. I was watering my tower garden. I guess I leaned on it too hard and it toppled over. I had to scoop up 4 tiers of plants and wet soil and put it together. I will find out in a day or two what survived and what did not. I know some of the pockets will need to be replanted. Lesson learned. When I re do the tower, I need to make sure that the tower is level. It is on wheels and I don't move it often, but my ground is not level and one of the tiers could not handle the extra weight any more. I might get a turntable instead since I really don't have to move the tower and there is less chance when I do move it for it to end up on ground that is not level. I have 5 cucumbers about 5 inches long now. The Tokyo bekana and pak choi are ready to eat. The newest beans I planted are up. I hope they make it this time. The red currant tomato finally has some small green tomatoes.
The tower falling over, messed up my plans for the day. I was going to go to the herb garden. Instead, I pulled out half the alyssum in front, cut the Thai basil, and the euphorbia cotonifolia. My green can was collected today; one is 3/4 full again.
When the alyssum regrows I will pull out the other half. I did not want to take all the forage away from the bees and beneficial insects so I left 2 other flowering basil and half the alyssum for them.
The tower falling over, messed up my plans for the day. I was going to go to the herb garden. Instead, I pulled out half the alyssum in front, cut the Thai basil, and the euphorbia cotonifolia. My green can was collected today; one is 3/4 full again.
When the alyssum regrows I will pull out the other half. I did not want to take all the forage away from the bees and beneficial insects so I left 2 other flowering basil and half the alyssum for them.
It is the day after. I got some pictures. Some things in the tower are goners, some like the cilantro are iffy. The nasturtiums got turned upside down so they look weird but they don't look wilted. I did have to replant one of the nasturtiums today since it looked like it was about to fall out. A few leaves were broken and the mizuna looks like it is on life support. Most of it survived. I did lose about 6 pockets that I will have to replant. Most of the plants are in different positions now. But, I don't want to try to turn the tower again.
While I was out there I found some blooming orchids.
While I was out there I found some blooming orchids.
- Attachments
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- noname vanda. Probably and ascocenda I got from Walmart or Home Depot. It is hard to identify unknown hybrids.
This plant is only about 6 inches tall in a 4 inch basket.
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- Oncidium cultivar on my orchid bench.
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- Bsn Maikai 'Mayumi' has three spikes. About 18 flowers. It is also glued to my bench so I would have to rip it out to change the angle. It is a reliable bloomer for this time of the year. This is also on one of my orchid benches under 50% shadecloth. Lumens would be about 1500-3000. Full sun for me is about 8000 lumens. The shade cloth is doubled here.
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- Replanted 48 quart container the snails and birds decimated. Survivors are some of the gai lan. Planted some bush beans and pak choi. I put up a cover made with bamboo stakes and plastic construction fencing. It is clamped on with clothes pins so I can get into it. So far, the birds and snails have left things alone. I have caught a few snails (2-3) a day.
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- orange cherry tomato under planted with kuroda carrots
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- Soarer Cucumbers. I think I have about 6 that are big enough to count and a lot more flowers.
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- Tower after the fall
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- Mizuna still wilted
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- This is what the tower looked like before it fell
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pepperhead212
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2882
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
- Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b
I know what you mean. Maybe it might be better if I just cut the top off the mizuna. That is what I did with the Swiss chard that got most of the branches broken. The tower fell on the green onions and some of them got bent. Those I know will come back. If not, I have almost a dozen green onion containers, only a couple of them are garlic chives or leeks. Even those should come back too. Most of the onions are over two years old. They are blooming now. It isn't even that cold yet. It only gets into the high 60's at night. It is 74 degrees now. All in all, most of the plants may be walking wounded and some have lost some leaves. The cilantro did not outright die, but it is really mangled so I don't know what kind of recovery it will make. I lost about 6 plants totally, so it is not that bad.
The mizuna took four days but it did come up again. I have replanted the pockets of the tower with chives and cilantro.
I transplanted broccoli and peppers into the main garden yesterday. They are older starts so hopefully they won't get eaten.
Today, I replanted two of the 18 gallon tubs. One has long beans and daikon and other has snow peas and buttercrunch lettuce. I covered the pots with a spare folding trellis and construction fencing and topped it with a second folding trellis.
I did hear the feral chickens in the front yard. There was a hen and two chicks in the neighbors' front yard. It looked like they were scratching in the soil around my palm tree. There are palm seeds and seedlings there. It saves me the trouble of weeding out the palm seedlings, but I still don't want them hanging around. These feral chickens have roamed around the neighborhood for a couple of years. I did not see the rooster this time. There are a lot of feral chickens around. Many of them hang out around shopping centers. Most of them are jungle fowl, aka, fighting chickens that have been set free.
I transplanted broccoli and peppers into the main garden yesterday. They are older starts so hopefully they won't get eaten.
Today, I replanted two of the 18 gallon tubs. One has long beans and daikon and other has snow peas and buttercrunch lettuce. I covered the pots with a spare folding trellis and construction fencing and topped it with a second folding trellis.
I did hear the feral chickens in the front yard. There was a hen and two chicks in the neighbors' front yard. It looked like they were scratching in the soil around my palm tree. There are palm seeds and seedlings there. It saves me the trouble of weeding out the palm seedlings, but I still don't want them hanging around. These feral chickens have roamed around the neighborhood for a couple of years. I did not see the rooster this time. There are a lot of feral chickens around. Many of them hang out around shopping centers. Most of them are jungle fowl, aka, fighting chickens that have been set free.
the chicken has not moved on. She has been scratching up my front yard almost every day. I have covered the pollinator garden and some of the roses with bird netting. I had to replant the flowers. I think she ate the seeds.
The netting worked. Now, the chicken is tearing up other parts of the front yard.
Meanwhile, the beans are under attack again. I started putting in a fence today. I stopped when it decided to rain a day late. Actually, I was tired anyway after pounding rebar around the perimeter of the main garden. If it does not rain tomorrow, I will try to get a little more of it done. I also have to make a better cover for the bean container than what I have. I hate having to resort to this. It also makes it much harder for me to get into the garden as well.
The netting worked. Now, the chicken is tearing up other parts of the front yard.
Meanwhile, the beans are under attack again. I started putting in a fence today. I stopped when it decided to rain a day late. Actually, I was tired anyway after pounding rebar around the perimeter of the main garden. If it does not rain tomorrow, I will try to get a little more of it done. I also have to make a better cover for the bean container than what I have. I hate having to resort to this. It also makes it much harder for me to get into the garden as well.
I put the garden cage project on hold for a few days. I needed to fill my green can and cut down the weedy Fukien Tea tree and it would have landed partially on the vegetables garden. As it was, it did snag part of the fence I did have up. I caught 8 snails yesterday and 4 today. The beans I replanted were pretty much topped off again. The beans in the pot that I did cover with construction fence did o.k. so I won't be totally bean less. I caught one of the snails yesterday eating the Swiss chard.
I have more of the weedy trees to cut before I can work on completing the fence. I could put the fence up on the other side of the garden. Taking out those trees should not affect that end. Taking out the branches on the African Tulip might. Yesterday, I also cut back the bay leaf tree and it topped off the green can along with the fallen palm fronds. At any rate my green cans were picked up today so I have room again.
I could not keep up with the cucumbers. I ended up picking one large one and I still have half of it left to eat. I fed the 3 other over sized ones to the worms. More are coming. I am grateful for the abundance. I went to the store today and cucumbers were $2.99 a lb. Hot peppers are still about $20 a lb. and ginger is also $2.99 a lb. I am glad I don't have to buy these.
Cat food at Sam's club went up another dollar. I picked up two more cases. I should be good for another 5 months. I figured since it is so hard to get, and I will definitely use it, I should get what I can now. I am sure the next shipment will probably cost more.
I did finally harvest my Tokyo bekana and made a stir fry with pork. When it is this young it can be eaten raw in a salad. It does have a lettuce like crunch and for a mustard it is very mild. I harvested 2 large ones, but after they were cooked, they shrank a lot. I did get enough to make a stir fry for three meals.
My sister brought me a Meyer lemon. I had to buy 2 lemons at 99 cents each from the store just to get the zest. When I make a lemon meringue pie, I rather use the Meyer lemons, but the Meyer rind is green so it turns the pie green.
I have more of the weedy trees to cut before I can work on completing the fence. I could put the fence up on the other side of the garden. Taking out those trees should not affect that end. Taking out the branches on the African Tulip might. Yesterday, I also cut back the bay leaf tree and it topped off the green can along with the fallen palm fronds. At any rate my green cans were picked up today so I have room again.
I could not keep up with the cucumbers. I ended up picking one large one and I still have half of it left to eat. I fed the 3 other over sized ones to the worms. More are coming. I am grateful for the abundance. I went to the store today and cucumbers were $2.99 a lb. Hot peppers are still about $20 a lb. and ginger is also $2.99 a lb. I am glad I don't have to buy these.
Cat food at Sam's club went up another dollar. I picked up two more cases. I should be good for another 5 months. I figured since it is so hard to get, and I will definitely use it, I should get what I can now. I am sure the next shipment will probably cost more.
I did finally harvest my Tokyo bekana and made a stir fry with pork. When it is this young it can be eaten raw in a salad. It does have a lettuce like crunch and for a mustard it is very mild. I harvested 2 large ones, but after they were cooked, they shrank a lot. I did get enough to make a stir fry for three meals.
My sister brought me a Meyer lemon. I had to buy 2 lemons at 99 cents each from the store just to get the zest. When I make a lemon meringue pie, I rather use the Meyer lemons, but the Meyer rind is green so it turns the pie green.
I just got some sticker shock. I had to get more osmocote which I add to my potting mix. I knew the price would be higher but I did not expect $21 for 5 lbs. The last time I bought osmocote was a couple of years ago. It was around $8 then.
Thankfully, except for repotting, I don't need to add a lot of fertilizer except for nitrogen. I have almost 18 lbs of sulfate of ammonia and it usually lasts around 4 years.
The Haber-Bosch process for manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer requires large amounts of natural gas for the artificial fixation. Natural gas apparently has been hampered by supply and covid issues.
All of this undoubtedly will lead to higher costs for farmers next year, added to the higher cost associated with the John Deere strike, and issues farmers face with climate change, I.e. drought or deluge, water rationing in California forcing farmers to leave fields fallow or reduce water to crops, less feed for meat production, worker shortages in the fields, mills, and processing centers, transportation issues and higher costs.
All of these will mean, costs will continue to rise on everything, for consumers faster than wage growth.
I am glad, I can grow some of my own food, even though, I will also be paying more for fertilizer, seeds, water, and tools for my garden.
I feel sorry most for those who were already food insecure and those that will probably get pushed over the edge since they are already living paycheck to paycheck.
While, it might seem a good time to become less dependent on synthetic fertilizers, I just saw something that said that organic farming could feed about 6 billion people. The problem with the math is that there are about 8 billion people in the world.
Thankfully, except for repotting, I don't need to add a lot of fertilizer except for nitrogen. I have almost 18 lbs of sulfate of ammonia and it usually lasts around 4 years.
The Haber-Bosch process for manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer requires large amounts of natural gas for the artificial fixation. Natural gas apparently has been hampered by supply and covid issues.
All of this undoubtedly will lead to higher costs for farmers next year, added to the higher cost associated with the John Deere strike, and issues farmers face with climate change, I.e. drought or deluge, water rationing in California forcing farmers to leave fields fallow or reduce water to crops, less feed for meat production, worker shortages in the fields, mills, and processing centers, transportation issues and higher costs.
All of these will mean, costs will continue to rise on everything, for consumers faster than wage growth.
I am glad, I can grow some of my own food, even though, I will also be paying more for fertilizer, seeds, water, and tools for my garden.
I feel sorry most for those who were already food insecure and those that will probably get pushed over the edge since they are already living paycheck to paycheck.
While, it might seem a good time to become less dependent on synthetic fertilizers, I just saw something that said that organic farming could feed about 6 billion people. The problem with the math is that there are about 8 billion people in the world.
I had replanted my pots with snow peas, long beans, lettuce and radish. I had them covered with construction temporary fencing. Everything was fine. Then the peas got too big and I had to take the fencing off. They lasted one day. everything got eaten again. I am going to have to put something else in these containers and try planting the vines somewhere else. It would be easier here since this is actually where my permanent trellis is an it is a waste to plant things that don't need a trellis in these pots. These pots seem to be targeted. I have had one of the cabbage leaves being chewed probably by birds, but they are leaving most of the other things alone. I caught 4 snails today, but only 2 were near the pots that got chewed.
At least some of the other things are doing ok. some of the baby bok got chewed by snails, but those snails seem to be controlled with snail bait. I have 4 cucumbers that should be ready in a few days. I finally finished the big one in the frig yesterday. The red currant tomatoes are ripening and the birds are not interested in those. They are a being left alone. The eggplant have been eaten, but I don't need any now. I will just feed these to the worms. Semposai, lettuce, cilantro, mizuna in the tower can be harvested. The Swiss chard, pepetual spinach, kale, Italian parsley, and some of the basils can be harvested as well and they are cut and come again crops. I just made 4 chili pepper recipes with my super chile. I made chili pepper water ( I added more peppers, it was salty, but not really hot), pique ( Peppers in vinegar), Peppers in vodka (somehow it is very sweet. I wonder if I mistook sugar for salt?) It is hot, the heat comes afterwards. The last sauce I yesterday was finadene ( Chamorro staple sauce it has hot peppers, soy sauce, green onions, vinegar as a base. Optional ingredients garlic, onions, tomato, lemon or lime juice (or calamansi), and cilantro. I only have low sodium soy sauce, so I added another teaspoon of salt as well. I use a mix of red and green peppers. My peppers are hot even if they are not red and I don't seed them. Super chili is about 50000 SHU, so it is a medium to hot pepper. I added about 12 more to the chili pepper water. The recipe called for 2 Hawaiian peppers. It was too wimpy. I added a few more the other day. It is hotter now.
My sister came over the other day to raid my pepper bushes to make achara (pickled papaya). I gave her a plant, but apparently it only took a few days for it to be dead in her hands.
I finally got a few more pictures to post. I started chopping up the Tokyo bekana before I remembered to take a picture of it.
At least some of the other things are doing ok. some of the baby bok got chewed by snails, but those snails seem to be controlled with snail bait. I have 4 cucumbers that should be ready in a few days. I finally finished the big one in the frig yesterday. The red currant tomatoes are ripening and the birds are not interested in those. They are a being left alone. The eggplant have been eaten, but I don't need any now. I will just feed these to the worms. Semposai, lettuce, cilantro, mizuna in the tower can be harvested. The Swiss chard, pepetual spinach, kale, Italian parsley, and some of the basils can be harvested as well and they are cut and come again crops. I just made 4 chili pepper recipes with my super chile. I made chili pepper water ( I added more peppers, it was salty, but not really hot), pique ( Peppers in vinegar), Peppers in vodka (somehow it is very sweet. I wonder if I mistook sugar for salt?) It is hot, the heat comes afterwards. The last sauce I yesterday was finadene ( Chamorro staple sauce it has hot peppers, soy sauce, green onions, vinegar as a base. Optional ingredients garlic, onions, tomato, lemon or lime juice (or calamansi), and cilantro. I only have low sodium soy sauce, so I added another teaspoon of salt as well. I use a mix of red and green peppers. My peppers are hot even if they are not red and I don't seed them. Super chili is about 50000 SHU, so it is a medium to hot pepper. I added about 12 more to the chili pepper water. The recipe called for 2 Hawaiian peppers. It was too wimpy. I added a few more the other day. It is hotter now.
My sister came over the other day to raid my pepper bushes to make achara (pickled papaya). I gave her a plant, but apparently it only took a few days for it to be dead in her hands.
I finally got a few more pictures to post. I started chopping up the Tokyo bekana before I remembered to take a picture of it.
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- harvested two Tokyo bekana for stir fry. They are crisp like lettuce and can be used in salads when they are young. They are a very mild cabbage in the mustard family
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- Pork and Bekana Stir fry.
The first of the catalogs I did not order came today. I am trying not to look. I have a lot of seeds I have to use up.
One of the Swiss chard plants fell down. it looks like it has been getting too much water and the base is rotting. I guess it is time to plant another.
It is a problem with clay soil and then adding organic matter on top of it. It holds even more water when it rains.
One of the Swiss chard plants fell down. it looks like it has been getting too much water and the base is rotting. I guess it is time to plant another.
It is a problem with clay soil and then adding organic matter on top of it. It holds even more water when it rains.
I finally got around to harvesting the second container of ginger yesterday. I peeled the roots and preserved them in sherry. The remainder of the roots are in a storage bin on my lanai. I will just keep them slightly damp and plant them around March or whenever they start to sprout. My friend harvested her ginger in early November before they bloomed. Her pieces are already trying to sprout. I don't know if it was a good idea for her to harvest before the ginger went dormant. I really don't know if this is a good or bad thing. I always harvest after my tops starts to show signs of drying and my roots would not start to sprout until next year.
It rained last night and two storm systems are passing by. Most of the rain is falling on the ocean but the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai may get most of the heaviest rain. It is supposed to rain more heavily on the weekend, but it is hard to say when it will get here and where it will land. As it is the ground is too wet for me to do any weed whacking or Roundup for the weeds.
I did go out early to day and cut down more branches of the weedy trees (fukien ti, and ? ) I have been pulling out seedlings of the African tulip, fukien ti, the other noname weedy tree, and allspice. I have also been dealing with the asparagus fern. Also hard to get rid of and very thorny. I did fill my second green bin this morning and set out both bins out on the curb for pickup tomorrow.
If it does not rain this afternoon, and I have the energy, I will hand pull some of the other weeds and bag them and get a head start on filling the bins again.
The flower seeds I planted in the pollinator garden are starting to show some leaves. The bird netting is keeping the feral chicken from digging them up, but I will have problems getting the netting off since the roses are growing through the netting.
I built another net barrier on the pots that keep getting eaten. This time I planted a zucchini and some lettuce in the pot. I hope this works. My original plan to bungee the barrier to the outside of the pot did not work well because this half whisky barrel does not have a lip like the storage bin. If the zucchini manages to grow, I will have to find a more flexible barrier to protect it.
It rained last night and two storm systems are passing by. Most of the rain is falling on the ocean but the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai may get most of the heaviest rain. It is supposed to rain more heavily on the weekend, but it is hard to say when it will get here and where it will land. As it is the ground is too wet for me to do any weed whacking or Roundup for the weeds.
I did go out early to day and cut down more branches of the weedy trees (fukien ti, and ? ) I have been pulling out seedlings of the African tulip, fukien ti, the other noname weedy tree, and allspice. I have also been dealing with the asparagus fern. Also hard to get rid of and very thorny. I did fill my second green bin this morning and set out both bins out on the curb for pickup tomorrow.
If it does not rain this afternoon, and I have the energy, I will hand pull some of the other weeds and bag them and get a head start on filling the bins again.
The flower seeds I planted in the pollinator garden are starting to show some leaves. The bird netting is keeping the feral chicken from digging them up, but I will have problems getting the netting off since the roses are growing through the netting.
I built another net barrier on the pots that keep getting eaten. This time I planted a zucchini and some lettuce in the pot. I hope this works. My original plan to bungee the barrier to the outside of the pot did not work well because this half whisky barrel does not have a lip like the storage bin. If the zucchini manages to grow, I will have to find a more flexible barrier to protect it.
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- ginger preserved in sherry
Good idea. I never thought about using hooks. I ended up using clothes pins to hold the netting onto the pot. Birds have gotten them off before. I am not sure if it is the birds or the snails going after the seedlings. Both of them would do the same kind of damage to the seedlings.
I caught the feral chicken inside my front yard and I had to grab her and throw her over the fence. I haven't heard or seen her since, but I can still hear the rooster crowing, so they are nearby.
I caught the feral chicken inside my front yard and I had to grab her and throw her over the fence. I haven't heard or seen her since, but I can still hear the rooster crowing, so they are nearby.
I made nishime yesterday. I wish my daikon was ready, but no daikon. I went to two stores. The first store is a Japanese market, no daikon, but they had the nishime konbu and gobo. The second market. The daikon was $2.59 a lb, and there was only cut pieces of large daikons. Most of them looked like they were rotting. I got a cracked piece. It cost as much as the over priced chicken ($1.89 lb for chicken leg quarters). The daikon cost as much as the chicken, a little over $6 each.
I did have araimo, which is why I am making nishime early anyway. I don't want to try to hunt down ingredients close to the New Year.
It still costs out to about $2.50 a serving, so it is still cheaper than a plate lunch.
At least I have peppers, citrus fruits (lemons, limes), cucumber, a couple of Tokyo bekana, swiss chard, mizuna, semposai, eggplant, lettuce, kale, herbs, and tomatoes left. At least I don't have to buy those. I just wish I had daikon now. It seems that is how it goes. I have an abundance of some things, just not at the right time.
I called my sister to ask my BIL to help me reset the vegetable tower. It is not as muddy but everything is still soaked so I cannot lift the tiers and set them by myself.
When my sister comes, I can give her one of the jars of ginger I made and some of the nishime. I made a lot, and it would be dangerous for me to eat that much salt in a short time. It was a big daikon, and I put it all in the pot.
I did have araimo, which is why I am making nishime early anyway. I don't want to try to hunt down ingredients close to the New Year.
It still costs out to about $2.50 a serving, so it is still cheaper than a plate lunch.
At least I have peppers, citrus fruits (lemons, limes), cucumber, a couple of Tokyo bekana, swiss chard, mizuna, semposai, eggplant, lettuce, kale, herbs, and tomatoes left. At least I don't have to buy those. I just wish I had daikon now. It seems that is how it goes. I have an abundance of some things, just not at the right time.
I called my sister to ask my BIL to help me reset the vegetable tower. It is not as muddy but everything is still soaked so I cannot lift the tiers and set them by myself.
When my sister comes, I can give her one of the jars of ginger I made and some of the nishime. I made a lot, and it would be dangerous for me to eat that much salt in a short time. It was a big daikon, and I put it all in the pot.
I got my tower garden set up again. the wheels were half buried in mud. I took off the dolly and put the tower on a large stepping stone. It still is not perfectly level, but I don't want to take it apart and start again. The stepping stone was rocking a bit so I had to shim it up with some stones. It is not shaking now, but I can't do much about the tilt. One of the tiers would not lock in so I had to exchange it with another tier after making multiple attempts to get it to lock in. At times like this I really miss having a bar in the middle to support the tiers. I'll have to look into ways to to improve the stability.
I sprayed the roses, orchids, peppers, and gardenia with orchard spray (pyrethrin and sulfur) I also sprayed a couple of my peppers. When my sister came over, she picked the peppers from the trees I sprayed so I told her to throw them away. She has to wait a few days before they can be picked again.
I did not spray the cucumber, or tomatoes because they are in fruit even though they are also prone to get fungal disease. The Soarer has good disease resistance and the tomatoes are iffy, but I'll take the chance with them. The tomatoes are ready to pick.
I sprayed the roses, orchids, peppers, and gardenia with orchard spray (pyrethrin and sulfur) I also sprayed a couple of my peppers. When my sister came over, she picked the peppers from the trees I sprayed so I told her to throw them away. She has to wait a few days before they can be picked again.
I did not spray the cucumber, or tomatoes because they are in fruit even though they are also prone to get fungal disease. The Soarer has good disease resistance and the tomatoes are iffy, but I'll take the chance with them. The tomatoes are ready to pick.
Today was nice and sunny even though it did rain overnight. I finally got out to do some stuff out in the yard. I replanted some of the tower pockets with cilantro and provider bush beans. I also started seeds of komatsuna, touchdown bell pepper, fennel, rainbow swiss chard, Paris cos romaine lettuce, and Soarer cucumber. I was going to pull the pepper volunteers out of one of my large 18 gallon pots. But there were a lot of pepper seedlings, so I potted them up instead. I think I have about 11 super chile seedlings. They will grow slow in this cold weather, so they will be able to stay in the 4 inch pots for awhile.
I weeded the main garden and pulled off the bacterial spotted leaves off the chard, perpetual spinach and peppers. It is a problem, because of disease, I have to throw the leaves away. I can't really do any chop and drop mulching. Mulching would only give snails a nice place to hide anyway.
I have a few cucumbers left but I don't see any more flowers and the vines keeps falling off the trellis.
The zucchini and mesclun have sprouted and they are under netting. So far, nothing has made it past that barrier. However, the broccoli was the latest victim.
I extended the fencing around the main garden. It is still very wet, but I will try to replant it and close off the fencing. The 48 guart tub that I fenced off first has beans, and Asian greens that are almost full grown, so that barrier did work. The holes in the fencing are about a half inch wide so hopefully it is enough for the bees to pollinate the beans. I'll find out soon. The beans are flowering now.
Some of my orchids are getting sunburn. I cut some of the weedy trees so now the afternoon sun hits the orchids. I found a lot of dead orchids under the weedy tree. the bar had dropped some time ago and everything fell. I need to find somewhere else to put the orchids. The plumeria are almost 50 years old and many of the limbs cannot hold the weight of the orchids.
I need it to stay dry a few days before it is dry enough to weed whack or round up some of the weeds.
I weeded the main garden and pulled off the bacterial spotted leaves off the chard, perpetual spinach and peppers. It is a problem, because of disease, I have to throw the leaves away. I can't really do any chop and drop mulching. Mulching would only give snails a nice place to hide anyway.
I have a few cucumbers left but I don't see any more flowers and the vines keeps falling off the trellis.
The zucchini and mesclun have sprouted and they are under netting. So far, nothing has made it past that barrier. However, the broccoli was the latest victim.
I extended the fencing around the main garden. It is still very wet, but I will try to replant it and close off the fencing. The 48 guart tub that I fenced off first has beans, and Asian greens that are almost full grown, so that barrier did work. The holes in the fencing are about a half inch wide so hopefully it is enough for the bees to pollinate the beans. I'll find out soon. The beans are flowering now.
Some of my orchids are getting sunburn. I cut some of the weedy trees so now the afternoon sun hits the orchids. I found a lot of dead orchids under the weedy tree. the bar had dropped some time ago and everything fell. I need to find somewhere else to put the orchids. The plumeria are almost 50 years old and many of the limbs cannot hold the weight of the orchids.
I need it to stay dry a few days before it is dry enough to weed whack or round up some of the weeds.
It rained overnight, but today it is nice and sunny and the trades are brisk. The ground is still very wet, but I still had an oregano that was dying of thirst. Some of my super chilies have dropped a lot of leaves. They are not old, so I cut them back and repotted them. They had volunteered in one of the 18 gallon pots.
The snails ate one of my cucumbers. They were sneaky. I did not see the damage until I picked the cucumber.
The weeds are loving the rain and I have wild bitter melon everywhere. Too bad, I don't like to eat it.
The roses are growing and blooming through the bird netting. I am not looking forward to trying to take it off later. I found 2 small African snails and a mejiro (white eye) bird trapped in the netting. I let the mejiro go and killed the snails. Too bad mejiro are fruit and seed eaters (and terrorize cats), and don't eat snails.
https://hawaiibirdingtrails.hawaii.gov/ ... white-eye/
The snails ate one of my cucumbers. They were sneaky. I did not see the damage until I picked the cucumber.
The weeds are loving the rain and I have wild bitter melon everywhere. Too bad, I don't like to eat it.
The roses are growing and blooming through the bird netting. I am not looking forward to trying to take it off later. I found 2 small African snails and a mejiro (white eye) bird trapped in the netting. I let the mejiro go and killed the snails. Too bad mejiro are fruit and seed eaters (and terrorize cats), and don't eat snails.
https://hawaiibirdingtrails.hawaii.gov/ ... white-eye/
I am harvesting a few things in these last few days of the year. I have a couple of large lemons, over ripe calamondin (it goes in my iced tea), I have a few bush beans to pick. I just made pork and eggplant with 4 eggplant I picked yesterday. I still have a lot of currant tomatoes. I usually just eat those out in the garden, right off the plant. My lettuce bolted, but I have a lot of mesclun that came up. I transplanted a few of them. Some of those survived. I stilll have some choi sum and some pak choi left to harvest. I finished off the last of the Tokyo bekana the other day.
I transplanted komatsuna, they fared better than the lettuce, and so far all of them survived. I had to put a fence around my garden. I have one more section open. I need to close up. I am trying to keep the African snails out. The birds have been eating the seeds from my compots. Only one soarer cucumber came up,. I couldn't find any other seeds in the pot. I will have to cover the seed trays again.
I bought a tree insect bag for the zucchini. I reinforced the tie with a bungee cord. I was going to use the cup hooks, but it still left gaps. The zucchini and mesclun are together in the same pot. I still need to thin the mesclun, so I may be making some fingerling salads in the future.
I pulled out the super chili volunteers from the tree pot and three of them are now in separate 5 gallon egg cans. I cut them back and they are resprouting now. I planted snow peas and romaine lettuce and a couple of the lettuce transplants survived in that pot as well.
The coriander I replanted in the vegetable tower is sprouting. A couple of the peppers have tiny peppers on them. I am surprised they survived the tower falling twice. I may take the swiss chard out of the tower and plant it in the garden instead. The Swiss chard in the garden is not looking good and the ones in the tower look good but don't get as big as the ones in the ground.
The 18 gallon pot that has the Soarer cucumber and Kuroda carrots. Well, Progress is making some new flowers, but the vines look to be at the end of the road. I got a lot of cukes from them so there is nothing to complain about. The carrots are half grown.
Yesterday, I refurbished another of my 18 gallon pots and I planted the one soarer seedling that came up and 3 more Soarer cucumber seeds as replacement plants. I underplanted them with pak choi. I dragged another 18 gallon pot onto the lanai, in case it rains at night. I need it to dry out so I can redo the soil in the pot.
I cleaned the house today, watered the yard, and did 2 loads of laundry. I have Christmas leftovers so I don't have to do a lot of cooking for today. I do most of my chores in the morning because I just run out of gas later in the day. I will see how much energy I have this afternoon. The weeds are calling me. I did manage to weed whack the weeds before Christmas and I am waiting for Round Up to work on some of the weeds I sprayed in the paths and in the driveway.
My empty bag stash fell down overnight, so I was forced to purge some of it. There is a lot to do in the house still, but as long as it is not raining, I would rather work in the yard.
I have a few more days before the end of the year to squeeze in a few more things.
I transplanted komatsuna, they fared better than the lettuce, and so far all of them survived. I had to put a fence around my garden. I have one more section open. I need to close up. I am trying to keep the African snails out. The birds have been eating the seeds from my compots. Only one soarer cucumber came up,. I couldn't find any other seeds in the pot. I will have to cover the seed trays again.
I bought a tree insect bag for the zucchini. I reinforced the tie with a bungee cord. I was going to use the cup hooks, but it still left gaps. The zucchini and mesclun are together in the same pot. I still need to thin the mesclun, so I may be making some fingerling salads in the future.
I pulled out the super chili volunteers from the tree pot and three of them are now in separate 5 gallon egg cans. I cut them back and they are resprouting now. I planted snow peas and romaine lettuce and a couple of the lettuce transplants survived in that pot as well.
The coriander I replanted in the vegetable tower is sprouting. A couple of the peppers have tiny peppers on them. I am surprised they survived the tower falling twice. I may take the swiss chard out of the tower and plant it in the garden instead. The Swiss chard in the garden is not looking good and the ones in the tower look good but don't get as big as the ones in the ground.
The 18 gallon pot that has the Soarer cucumber and Kuroda carrots. Well, Progress is making some new flowers, but the vines look to be at the end of the road. I got a lot of cukes from them so there is nothing to complain about. The carrots are half grown.
Yesterday, I refurbished another of my 18 gallon pots and I planted the one soarer seedling that came up and 3 more Soarer cucumber seeds as replacement plants. I underplanted them with pak choi. I dragged another 18 gallon pot onto the lanai, in case it rains at night. I need it to dry out so I can redo the soil in the pot.
I cleaned the house today, watered the yard, and did 2 loads of laundry. I have Christmas leftovers so I don't have to do a lot of cooking for today. I do most of my chores in the morning because I just run out of gas later in the day. I will see how much energy I have this afternoon. The weeds are calling me. I did manage to weed whack the weeds before Christmas and I am waiting for Round Up to work on some of the weeds I sprayed in the paths and in the driveway.
My empty bag stash fell down overnight, so I was forced to purge some of it. There is a lot to do in the house still, but as long as it is not raining, I would rather work in the yard.
I have a few more days before the end of the year to squeeze in a few more things.