Thanks for the tips. I don't know what species of moth they are but they are very common and they fly in the daytime as well as at night. I harvested the ripe and damage fruit from inside the tree net yesterday along with about 5 lbs of cucumbers. I have about 9 cucumbers to eat, or give away or feed to the worms. Some of them were drilled with pickleworms, so I can cut out the pickleworm damage and give the rest to the worms. The pickleworms make the cucumber bitter.
I haven't cut any of the scarred fruit up yet. I will take a look and see if there is any internal damage. Most of the damage is scarring on the rind and I did not notice any holes in the fruit. I have about 7 or 8 scarred fruit.
It rained last night more than usual. I might not have to water everything. I certainly don't have to water anything this morning, but I will check later in the day. Some of the smaller pots will still need to be watered.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, I sprayed Bt, now that it has rained, I have to do it again.
I put stocking on as many cucumbers I could find. I don't know if the stockings are helping with the pickle worms, but they do seem to be reducing the scarring on the fruit. So, I guess they do stop thrips and mites.
I hand pollinated 3 out of 4 dragon fruit last night. The fourth was out of reach. I did not do a good job and spilled the pollen out of one flower and it ended up all over my arm instead. Hopefully, I will get some fruit to set after getting up in the dead of night with a flashlight to go out and pollinate them. The ironic thing is that I am spraying Bt to keep the moths away from the cucumber, but I have to hand pollinate because the moths are not pollinating the dragon fruit. I guess there are different moths. The bees are visiting the dragon fruit in the morning, but they are there mainly to collect pollen.
I went to the store the other day to get chicken for my orchid club potluck. I got some green onions. I always feel bad when I have to buy something I normally grow, but most of my green onions aren't big enough. It cost $2.99 for a bunch (about 4 oz) of thrip scarred onions. I don't blame the farmers because onion thrips are hard to stop in summer. I just am not used to buying green onions at all because I usually have a dozen 1 gallon containers of them.
Carolina bell is not doing that well. It was bred for the south and it has nematode resistance. It has actually produced fruit. It however, has a lot of issues with bacterial spot. Red knight is looking better and Majestic Red looks promising. At least the plant looks healthy. Aristotle and Burpee Experimental # 5 are proven winners. All in all, I still have problems with the bells. I get very few peppers from each plant and except for Chinese Giant, they are on the smallish side. The bull horn sweet peppers are a lot easier to grow, and are more productive. Carmen, Big Jim, cubanelle, and Hungarian wax all out produce the bells. I may be growing them at the wrong time of the year. To grow them in the fall, I can only grow the ones that have resistance to the common bacterial spot , and cercospora leaf spot diseases which are the ones that are the most common here. Chinese Giant produces large peppers (although only for the first round), but it is not resistant to leaf spot and mildew. That and broad mites are what usually kills it.
All of the dragon fruit flowers have bloomed finally, there were 16 of them. Normally, when I only have 3-5 blooms, I don't smell them, but with 16, I definitely smell the sweet fragrance.
Yesterday, I fertilized the organic pots with fish emulsion, sprayed Bt on the cucumber vines and covered the larger fruit I could find with stockings. I have 2 zucchini fruit. They seem to be taking forever to grow. That's o.k., I still have 8 cucumbers, 5 slicer tomatoes, and a couple of handfuls of grape tomatoes to get through. I picked the Big Kahuna beans. It gets rust, so I may not grow this variety again once I finish off the seeds I already have. I also repotted two orchids. I hope they make it. I fertilized the orchids in the back. I still have to fertilize the orchids on the front benches.
I sprayed Bt yesterday on the cucumbers. Today I used Gary's tip and sprayed the cucumber with baking soda spray and covered the larger cucumbers with stockings. I did find one- 3 inch cucumber that was drilled by a pickle worm and I picked that one off. It is better than finding half of them damaged.
I picked the first corn cob off the Early Sunglow. It is not very sweet, because it is a normal sugary sweet corn. Next time I will doctor it with some honey butter. It was still o.k. The plant is short and the ears are about 8 inches long and skinny, but the ear was full, tender, had no corn ear worm damage, and no maize mosaic virus. I guess the Bt works on everything even when it is only being sprayed on the cucumbers. But, I will stick to the UH number 9 if I can get more seeds. I like bigger plants, bigger ears, and sweeter corn.
I had to go to the garden to volunteer today so I did not check the plants until this evening. I watered the smaller pots, but the rest of the plants can hold off until tomorrow morning. I watered them last evening.
Yesterday, I fertilized the organic pots with fish emulsion, sprayed Bt on the cucumber vines and covered the larger fruit I could find with stockings. I have 2 zucchini fruit. They seem to be taking forever to grow. That's o.k., I still have 8 cucumbers, 5 slicer tomatoes, and a couple of handfuls of grape tomatoes to get through. I picked the Big Kahuna beans. It gets rust, so I may not grow this variety again once I finish off the seeds I already have. I also repotted two orchids. I hope they make it. I fertilized the orchids in the back. I still have to fertilize the orchids on the front benches.
I sprayed Bt yesterday on the cucumbers. Today I used Gary's tip and sprayed the cucumber with baking soda spray and covered the larger cucumbers with stockings. I did find one- 3 inch cucumber that was drilled by a pickle worm and I picked that one off. It is better than finding half of them damaged.
I picked the first corn cob off the Early Sunglow. It is not very sweet, because it is a normal sugary sweet corn. Next time I will doctor it with some honey butter. It was still o.k. The plant is short and the ears are about 8 inches long and skinny, but the ear was full, tender, had no corn ear worm damage, and no maize mosaic virus. I guess the Bt works on everything even when it is only being sprayed on the cucumbers. But, I will stick to the UH number 9 if I can get more seeds. I like bigger plants, bigger ears, and sweeter corn.
I had to go to the garden to volunteer today so I did not check the plants until this evening. I watered the smaller pots, but the rest of the plants can hold off until tomorrow morning. I watered them last evening.
It is still a little early, but I am going to try to start New Big Dwarf tomatoes. I collected seeds from valentine tomatoes, and started those. I took cuttngs from the long purple eggplant, and I have about 7 green Satsuma eggplants in gallon pots now. I also started monster bell. I don't remember much about its' traits.
I planted more emerite pole beans, and a few more okra ( I must be crazy. I have lost some of the okra but, I still have 6 left) The green onions, basil, and shishito pepper
Although it only got up to 82 degrees today. It is 76 degrees now. It feels hotter because they the winds are very light. It has been raining briefly in the afternoons and sometimes overnight. Big Kahuna beans are getting rust. Summer Dance cucumber has some mild powdery mildew, but nothing that has to be treated.
I am seeing more plant hoppers and stink bugs. I usually don't see them. There are still lizards in the yard, just not as many of them.
I am finding less damage from pickleworms. Mostly on the cucumbers I missed and did not cover. I am spraying every couple of days with Bt and I sprayed with baking soda yesterday. I found one cucumber today that had been drilled by a pickle worm. Anything I find damaged, I cull. One of the cucumber pots is down to 1 vine, so I replanted it with 4 more Suyo cucumbers. Suyo is reliable even in hot weather, although it only has intermediate powdery mildew resistance. It is parthenocarpic as well.
I am surprised that the Dunja zucchini is still alive. It has basically crawled out of the pot and is starting to go down the side of the pot to sprawl on the ground.
I fertilized the orchids with MG, and some of the pots with 6-4-6 fertilizer. I fed the organic pots with fish emulsion. My nursery bench is full, but there are some dead pots there that I need to clean off and there are some pots elsewhere as well I need to collect and wash.
I am doing most of my gardening in the morning and after 3 p.m. It is too hot to be outside in the middle of the day.
I went through a couple of bags of seeds today. I set some aside to find other homes for. I have collected more seeds as well. The garden got a donation from a local grocery store of Renee's garden seeds, so I got a few of those added to my collection.
I planted more emerite pole beans, and a few more okra ( I must be crazy. I have lost some of the okra but, I still have 6 left) The green onions, basil, and shishito pepper
Although it only got up to 82 degrees today. It is 76 degrees now. It feels hotter because they the winds are very light. It has been raining briefly in the afternoons and sometimes overnight. Big Kahuna beans are getting rust. Summer Dance cucumber has some mild powdery mildew, but nothing that has to be treated.
I am seeing more plant hoppers and stink bugs. I usually don't see them. There are still lizards in the yard, just not as many of them.
I am finding less damage from pickleworms. Mostly on the cucumbers I missed and did not cover. I am spraying every couple of days with Bt and I sprayed with baking soda yesterday. I found one cucumber today that had been drilled by a pickle worm. Anything I find damaged, I cull. One of the cucumber pots is down to 1 vine, so I replanted it with 4 more Suyo cucumbers. Suyo is reliable even in hot weather, although it only has intermediate powdery mildew resistance. It is parthenocarpic as well.
I am surprised that the Dunja zucchini is still alive. It has basically crawled out of the pot and is starting to go down the side of the pot to sprawl on the ground.
I fertilized the orchids with MG, and some of the pots with 6-4-6 fertilizer. I fed the organic pots with fish emulsion. My nursery bench is full, but there are some dead pots there that I need to clean off and there are some pots elsewhere as well I need to collect and wash.
I am doing most of my gardening in the morning and after 3 p.m. It is too hot to be outside in the middle of the day.
I went through a couple of bags of seeds today. I set some aside to find other homes for. I have collected more seeds as well. The garden got a donation from a local grocery store of Renee's garden seeds, so I got a few of those added to my collection.
I have planted more eggplant, and a few more peppers. Not as much as I usually do, but I don't have space for it all. It will be harder to start eggplant and peppers when the days are shorter and cooler, so I have to get all the spares in now. I do have to replace one eggplant and find a place and a fill a pot for one of the Satsuma green eggplants.
I am contemplating replacing Dunja. I did not expect it to last this long, but it is getting older and the flowers usually don't cooperate in the heat. I can plant another one and it should mature as the weather cools off. There will be fewer pests then too.
I tried the Devotion sweet basil. It is not Genovese basil but it is less offensive than some of the other downy mildew resistant basil. Most of those still taste like Thai basil. I might as well just grow Thai basil, the seeds are easier to get and they are less trouble than any of the hybrids.
The satsuma eggplant in 1 gallon pots are starting to fruit.
All of the nau gardenia I transplanted look o.k. without transplant shock. Even the one that was 3 feet tall but only had a few roots.
Sun King and BHN 589 are producing tomatoes. Sun King had stopped for awhile, but is flowering and has fruit again. It does have some fungal disease, on the older leaves. I have started seeds of New Big Dwarf and Valentine. I can consider replacing them if it looks like they won't hang on much longer. The New Big Dwarf seeds are old, so I don't know how well they will germinate. That may make the decision to keep or cull for me.
I made cuttings of cinnamon basil and long purple eggplant. I also took seeds from Diamond and planted them. I planted cinnamon basil seeds as well. It is a pretty basil, I grow it more for pollinators and for aesthetics than for culinary use.
I picked 4 more cucumbers today ( 2lbs, 2.3 oz). I had more cucumber and tomato salad for lunch. This time I added tuna. Otherwise, its the same thing everyday.
I have 6 cucumbers but I am down to 1 BHN 589 and a bunch of valentine grape tomatoes. I looked up recipes for pickles, but even if I make it, I can't eat it, because of the salt. The only other thing is a cucumber dip or appetizer, but I am not going to a party till next week. Well, by then I could try out some of the recipes, I will probably have more cucumbers and tomatoes by then.
I am waiting for little bit to go out and do some work in the yard. It is still too hot. In the meantime, I cleaned my robot vacs and they are doing their thing now and I am washing the cat's blanket. I do have a high efficiency machine with an agitator, so it uses less water. It still does not clean as well as the old machine. It just causes more problems when it has a fit.
I am contemplating replacing Dunja. I did not expect it to last this long, but it is getting older and the flowers usually don't cooperate in the heat. I can plant another one and it should mature as the weather cools off. There will be fewer pests then too.
I tried the Devotion sweet basil. It is not Genovese basil but it is less offensive than some of the other downy mildew resistant basil. Most of those still taste like Thai basil. I might as well just grow Thai basil, the seeds are easier to get and they are less trouble than any of the hybrids.
The satsuma eggplant in 1 gallon pots are starting to fruit.
All of the nau gardenia I transplanted look o.k. without transplant shock. Even the one that was 3 feet tall but only had a few roots.
Sun King and BHN 589 are producing tomatoes. Sun King had stopped for awhile, but is flowering and has fruit again. It does have some fungal disease, on the older leaves. I have started seeds of New Big Dwarf and Valentine. I can consider replacing them if it looks like they won't hang on much longer. The New Big Dwarf seeds are old, so I don't know how well they will germinate. That may make the decision to keep or cull for me.
I made cuttings of cinnamon basil and long purple eggplant. I also took seeds from Diamond and planted them. I planted cinnamon basil seeds as well. It is a pretty basil, I grow it more for pollinators and for aesthetics than for culinary use.
I picked 4 more cucumbers today ( 2lbs, 2.3 oz). I had more cucumber and tomato salad for lunch. This time I added tuna. Otherwise, its the same thing everyday.
I have 6 cucumbers but I am down to 1 BHN 589 and a bunch of valentine grape tomatoes. I looked up recipes for pickles, but even if I make it, I can't eat it, because of the salt. The only other thing is a cucumber dip or appetizer, but I am not going to a party till next week. Well, by then I could try out some of the recipes, I will probably have more cucumbers and tomatoes by then.
I am waiting for little bit to go out and do some work in the yard. It is still too hot. In the meantime, I cleaned my robot vacs and they are doing their thing now and I am washing the cat's blanket. I do have a high efficiency machine with an agitator, so it uses less water. It still does not clean as well as the old machine. It just causes more problems when it has a fit.
Yesterday, I planted a few more seeds. Superex (Maui) onions, Di Cicco Broccoli. It is a little early for both, but the weather has been milder in temperature than most years. It has rarely been over 84 degrees. These seeds are older seeds. Maui onions are from 2020 and DiCicco is from 2016. So, I am also doing a test germination. If it doesn't work, I normally start these seeds in September anyway. I don't have any more onion seeds, but I have more broccoli seeds. Instead of starting the broccoli in small pots. I planted them in one of my larger containers with other plants. Small pots dry out too fast in the hot weather. I am hoping they will sprout better in the larger pots and I can transplant them out from there.
The okra is starting to flower and there are some small pods.
I am planting some of the warm season plants, eggplant and peppers now. Once the night temperatures start to drop below 68 degrees, they won't germinate very well. I did not plant any super hots this year. The hottest was the Thai pepper. I am going to try the bell pepper in the fall, so I have to start seeds now while it is still warm enough to do so. I can only plant peppers that have good disease resistance. Carolina bell has good heat and nematode resistance, but it is susceptible to bacterial spot. Chinese Giant give me the best yield, but also is very susceptible to bacterial spot and mildew. Revolution did well. It did not grow very large, but it stayed relatively disease free and I got a couple of small peppers.
I normally transplant from compots to 3.5 inch pots to gallons. The perennial peppers get up potted to larger containers after the first fruit. Except for Chinese Giant, none of the bell peppers get taller than one foot and I am lucky if they produce any fruit. Most of the Carolina bells are over 5 months old and are less than a foot tall, have significant bacterial spot and have never produced fruit. Revolution has produced smaller fruit than is should and the plant is also under a foot. I usually don't plant peppers in the fall because of diseases, but I specifically got seeds of more resistant peppers to try. I am also going to pot them up into larger containers to see if they will size up better. It may be too hot here to plant them through the summer. They don't get very big before they start to put out flowers. Once they put out flowers, they don't grow much. I am going to try to grow them in cooler weather in larger pots to see if I can get them to size up better and produce more fruit.
La Nina usually brings more rain, but with climate change and the shift of the North Pacific High more westward, we are getting below average rainfall. I don't expect a lot of rain till December- Mar. The westward stagnation of the North Pacific High has been largely responsible for the years long California drought and the shifting patterns cause the extreme weather in the U.S. Melting of the permafrost has a lot to do with that. Causing shifts in the currents and the jet stream. When the large ice shelf that is cracking in Antarctica breaks up, it will probably get worse as sea levels are likely to rise as well.
https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/o ... ook_HI.pdf
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/cl ... te-and-ice
The okra is starting to flower and there are some small pods.
I am planting some of the warm season plants, eggplant and peppers now. Once the night temperatures start to drop below 68 degrees, they won't germinate very well. I did not plant any super hots this year. The hottest was the Thai pepper. I am going to try the bell pepper in the fall, so I have to start seeds now while it is still warm enough to do so. I can only plant peppers that have good disease resistance. Carolina bell has good heat and nematode resistance, but it is susceptible to bacterial spot. Chinese Giant give me the best yield, but also is very susceptible to bacterial spot and mildew. Revolution did well. It did not grow very large, but it stayed relatively disease free and I got a couple of small peppers.
I normally transplant from compots to 3.5 inch pots to gallons. The perennial peppers get up potted to larger containers after the first fruit. Except for Chinese Giant, none of the bell peppers get taller than one foot and I am lucky if they produce any fruit. Most of the Carolina bells are over 5 months old and are less than a foot tall, have significant bacterial spot and have never produced fruit. Revolution has produced smaller fruit than is should and the plant is also under a foot. I usually don't plant peppers in the fall because of diseases, but I specifically got seeds of more resistant peppers to try. I am also going to pot them up into larger containers to see if they will size up better. It may be too hot here to plant them through the summer. They don't get very big before they start to put out flowers. Once they put out flowers, they don't grow much. I am going to try to grow them in cooler weather in larger pots to see if I can get them to size up better and produce more fruit.
La Nina usually brings more rain, but with climate change and the shift of the North Pacific High more westward, we are getting below average rainfall. I don't expect a lot of rain till December- Mar. The westward stagnation of the North Pacific High has been largely responsible for the years long California drought and the shifting patterns cause the extreme weather in the U.S. Melting of the permafrost has a lot to do with that. Causing shifts in the currents and the jet stream. When the large ice shelf that is cracking in Antarctica breaks up, it will probably get worse as sea levels are likely to rise as well.
https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/o ... ook_HI.pdf
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/cl ... te-and-ice
The BOARD of Water Supply zoomed a presentation to our volunteers at the garden about water conservation. The facility has a goal of 10% water reduction and we are still using about twice that amount or around 650,000 gallons a month for the 30 acre garden. It is still much less than it was even a year before, but we are heading into the driest part of the year when water use typically rises sharply.
Each hui (group) shared how they were trying to reduce water consumption. Overall, one hui has been able to reduce water mainly because, they had done it slowly over two years, because the irrigation system failed and their garden has lots of organic matter in it. The other huis have not fared as well. The rose hui said they cannot reduce water without taking out plants and they are limited because they can't use mulch because of coconut rhinocerous beetle. The fruit hui, has turned off water to some of the trees. Some trees are showing signs of stress and fruit cracking because of it. Our herbs get water cut off to it frequently. We have lost some plants. Last week I found several geysers in the garden from broken sprinklers and blown drip lines. Our garden wasn't getting any water, our plants were dying and in the next row, there were geysers and emitters watering dirt. I reported the leaks and it was repaired in two days. The three rows connected to us have high flow emitters, we have drip tape. They have major leaks, we don't get water. We have 2 drip lines, only one was getting water the other had 0 pressure. There were leaks in the drip tape and part of the line was pinched by a hungry plant. It was lucky that I came early that day so I was there when the drip system went on and I was able to see all the leaks. It seems futile to starve our plants, while there is no maintenance plan to test the irrigation system and check for leaks regularly. It negates our conservation efforts if leaks go unchecked.
At home, a few plants are looking bad, the grass is actually black in places. I am not watering the grass. I forgot to water the front yard the other day. After a day of not watering, some of the plants not only wilted, the crown flower leaves turned yellow. They still have not recovered. I need to pot them up into larger containers so they can hold on to water a little longer.
I weeded the main garden and pulled out most of the corn. I also cleaned up the Swiss chard and took out the leaves with spots. I found the ajvarsky pepper with one large pepper, but I accidentally pulled it out. It made a valiant effort. The pepper was bigger than the plant. I put in a shishito and another pepper in the garden. I will try to harvest out the older Swiss chard, when I don't have so much in the refrigerator. Otherwise, I will have to cook and freeze it. I may never see it again. It is feast or famine in the garden. I have been trying to keep tabs on my garden expenses and production. I have missed a few, because I did not start it early and I forgot to weigh some of the things. But so far, I have saved over $230 in produce costs from what I have harvested out of the garden. I check the market prices on the online shopping apps and figure out what it would have cost me if I had to buy it from the store. I have spent more of that in inputs though. Still, it is a savings when I can save something on my grocery bill. I have been lucky this week. I actually got 2 bags of groceries for $50. Of course, I am not buying a lot of expensive things. I am also trying to stay away from McDonalds, and other take out places, because it costs anywhere from $8-$15 for one meal. Well, I can actually get 2 or 3 meals with the local deluxe breakfast, if I add a couple of more eggs and some vegetables.
For the most part, I am buying potatoes, carrots, onions, but most of the other produce, I get from my yard. I am trying to grow more nutrient dense foods like beans. I really don't care that much for beans, but I am trying to work them in. I do a lot of stir fries. I have 5 tomatoes now, that is more than I have ever grown. I gave some away and I cut up the last 3 and put it in my casserole. I also harvested a bunch of eggplant and the zucchini and put that is in the casserole as well. I will probably be eating that for the better part of the week. I still have the asparagus beans I stir fried with bacon as well as the honey butter corn. I think I am going to have to put meals together in containers, so I won't have an excuse not to eat them.
I need to up pot more plants. I have to find the pots. They are scattered in the garage and around the yard. I just got another 2 cu ft of peat moss. It's been a month since I last saw that.
Each hui (group) shared how they were trying to reduce water consumption. Overall, one hui has been able to reduce water mainly because, they had done it slowly over two years, because the irrigation system failed and their garden has lots of organic matter in it. The other huis have not fared as well. The rose hui said they cannot reduce water without taking out plants and they are limited because they can't use mulch because of coconut rhinocerous beetle. The fruit hui, has turned off water to some of the trees. Some trees are showing signs of stress and fruit cracking because of it. Our herbs get water cut off to it frequently. We have lost some plants. Last week I found several geysers in the garden from broken sprinklers and blown drip lines. Our garden wasn't getting any water, our plants were dying and in the next row, there were geysers and emitters watering dirt. I reported the leaks and it was repaired in two days. The three rows connected to us have high flow emitters, we have drip tape. They have major leaks, we don't get water. We have 2 drip lines, only one was getting water the other had 0 pressure. There were leaks in the drip tape and part of the line was pinched by a hungry plant. It was lucky that I came early that day so I was there when the drip system went on and I was able to see all the leaks. It seems futile to starve our plants, while there is no maintenance plan to test the irrigation system and check for leaks regularly. It negates our conservation efforts if leaks go unchecked.
At home, a few plants are looking bad, the grass is actually black in places. I am not watering the grass. I forgot to water the front yard the other day. After a day of not watering, some of the plants not only wilted, the crown flower leaves turned yellow. They still have not recovered. I need to pot them up into larger containers so they can hold on to water a little longer.
I weeded the main garden and pulled out most of the corn. I also cleaned up the Swiss chard and took out the leaves with spots. I found the ajvarsky pepper with one large pepper, but I accidentally pulled it out. It made a valiant effort. The pepper was bigger than the plant. I put in a shishito and another pepper in the garden. I will try to harvest out the older Swiss chard, when I don't have so much in the refrigerator. Otherwise, I will have to cook and freeze it. I may never see it again. It is feast or famine in the garden. I have been trying to keep tabs on my garden expenses and production. I have missed a few, because I did not start it early and I forgot to weigh some of the things. But so far, I have saved over $230 in produce costs from what I have harvested out of the garden. I check the market prices on the online shopping apps and figure out what it would have cost me if I had to buy it from the store. I have spent more of that in inputs though. Still, it is a savings when I can save something on my grocery bill. I have been lucky this week. I actually got 2 bags of groceries for $50. Of course, I am not buying a lot of expensive things. I am also trying to stay away from McDonalds, and other take out places, because it costs anywhere from $8-$15 for one meal. Well, I can actually get 2 or 3 meals with the local deluxe breakfast, if I add a couple of more eggs and some vegetables.
For the most part, I am buying potatoes, carrots, onions, but most of the other produce, I get from my yard. I am trying to grow more nutrient dense foods like beans. I really don't care that much for beans, but I am trying to work them in. I do a lot of stir fries. I have 5 tomatoes now, that is more than I have ever grown. I gave some away and I cut up the last 3 and put it in my casserole. I also harvested a bunch of eggplant and the zucchini and put that is in the casserole as well. I will probably be eating that for the better part of the week. I still have the asparagus beans I stir fried with bacon as well as the honey butter corn. I think I am going to have to put meals together in containers, so I won't have an excuse not to eat them.
I need to up pot more plants. I have to find the pots. They are scattered in the garage and around the yard. I just got another 2 cu ft of peat moss. It's been a month since I last saw that.
I went to the garden center today. I watered the herbs. They look better now that the irrigation is fixed. I deep watered half the garden. When I went to water the other side, the handle was missing from the spigot. I guess I have to get a master key for the faucet and keep it in my car. My cohort was coming in as I was about to go to the meeting ( half hour late. At least I wasn't the only one late.), she told me the key disappeared two weeks ago and she had a water key so she would take care of the other half of the row. The Shimonita leek was out of the ground and I pulled one of the dead basil out.
I did score a small upo gourd, and 7 mango. I was looking for a gourd last week. Now, I don't remember what I wanted to make with it. I have a few days to try to remember. I can't make anything anyway until I finish off the beef and macaroni.
I did score a small upo gourd, and 7 mango. I was looking for a gourd last week. Now, I don't remember what I wanted to make with it. I have a few days to try to remember. I can't make anything anyway until I finish off the beef and macaroni.
The seeds of the broccoli (2016) sprouted. Now, If they just stay alive and grow big enough to transplant. The lacinato and Red Russian kale are almost ready to try to pot them up. I may lose a few but I really only need one of each for my garden. New Big dwarf also came up. It was older seeds as well. The onions I grew from seeds are big enough now to up pot. So are some of the peppers.
I harvested 10 lbs of cucumber yesterday. I made namasu with three of them and gave some away. Two of the cucumbers had pickle worm damage, so ended up in the garbage disposal. I gave some of the namasu to my mom and sister. Both at my mom's house and my sister's, someone had covid in the last week.
I got up early and watered the garden. The eria is blooming again. I meant to take a picture, but I did not have the time. This is the third time it has bloomed this year. The flowers last only one day. By tomorrow, they will be closed.
The garden had a container workshop on Thursday. It was more comprehensive than that covering succulent as well as vegetables crops, Different kinds of containers from store bought to home made and repurposed. They even included tours of some of the garden plots and the static hydro.
Today, it was a water wise workshop on succulents. The participants made a dish garden to take home. I was working with two other people in the parking lot. Not fun, on a hot August day. After that we had a volunteer appreciation lunch where I brought the namasu I made. Somebody brought a mock "apple pie". The "apples" were actually upo gourd. It was really amazing.
I harvested 10 lbs of cucumber yesterday. I made namasu with three of them and gave some away. Two of the cucumbers had pickle worm damage, so ended up in the garbage disposal. I gave some of the namasu to my mom and sister. Both at my mom's house and my sister's, someone had covid in the last week.
I got up early and watered the garden. The eria is blooming again. I meant to take a picture, but I did not have the time. This is the third time it has bloomed this year. The flowers last only one day. By tomorrow, they will be closed.
The garden had a container workshop on Thursday. It was more comprehensive than that covering succulent as well as vegetables crops, Different kinds of containers from store bought to home made and repurposed. They even included tours of some of the garden plots and the static hydro.
Today, it was a water wise workshop on succulents. The participants made a dish garden to take home. I was working with two other people in the parking lot. Not fun, on a hot August day. After that we had a volunteer appreciation lunch where I brought the namasu I made. Somebody brought a mock "apple pie". The "apples" were actually upo gourd. It was really amazing.
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applestar
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Sounds like you and your garden are being productive, even if it’s hard to do.
I had to chuckle about 10 POUNDS of cucumbers! I think I had that happening a few years ago — my girls who are tasked with putting away the harvest put their collective feet down, and I’m not allowed to grow “too many” any more — I have three plants this year which they say are just about right. I probably won’t be able to make preserved cucumbers, but they mostly like to eat them fresh….
I’ve heard of mock apple pie made with green pumpkins — interesting that you can make it with gourd like upo too. If you ever get their recipe, please share
I had to chuckle about 10 POUNDS of cucumbers! I think I had that happening a few years ago — my girls who are tasked with putting away the harvest put their collective feet down, and I’m not allowed to grow “too many” any more — I have three plants this year which they say are just about right. I probably won’t be able to make preserved cucumbers, but they mostly like to eat them fresh….
I’ve heard of mock apple pie made with green pumpkins — interesting that you can make it with gourd like upo too. If you ever get their recipe, please share
I'll ask the person who made it for the recipe.
I just came in from watering and I found another fat cucumber I missed. I am going to reduce the vines to three and try to succession plant them so I don't get all the cucumbers all at the same time. In the next week, I don't have a lot of cucumbers. Only about will be of any size. Even after I gave some cucumbers away and made the namasu, I still have 11 cucumbers left. The okra is also flowering and I have another pod to pick today.
The turmeric is blooming. It is a little early.
It looks like none of the dragon fruit took. Well, more buds are coming out, so I will get to practice more.
I have too many tomatoes too. I have five. Three are beefsteak type and two are grape type. The valentine grape is falling all over the ground. Princess Yum Yum is getting tall and has green fruit, that are just starting to color up. Sun King is waking up from its nap and is putting out fruit again. The two BHN 459 have ripe fruit.
I am still eating the beef and macaroni dish where I put all the last batch of ripe tomatoes I had. I know I can freeze tomatoes. But, I don't have room in the freezer either. I will have to find some unsuspecting people to unload some fruit on. And I guess I will be eating more cucumber and tomato salads for a few days more.
I just came in from watering and I found another fat cucumber I missed. I am going to reduce the vines to three and try to succession plant them so I don't get all the cucumbers all at the same time. In the next week, I don't have a lot of cucumbers. Only about will be of any size. Even after I gave some cucumbers away and made the namasu, I still have 11 cucumbers left. The okra is also flowering and I have another pod to pick today.
The turmeric is blooming. It is a little early.
It looks like none of the dragon fruit took. Well, more buds are coming out, so I will get to practice more.
I have too many tomatoes too. I have five. Three are beefsteak type and two are grape type. The valentine grape is falling all over the ground. Princess Yum Yum is getting tall and has green fruit, that are just starting to color up. Sun King is waking up from its nap and is putting out fruit again. The two BHN 459 have ripe fruit.
I am still eating the beef and macaroni dish where I put all the last batch of ripe tomatoes I had. I know I can freeze tomatoes. But, I don't have room in the freezer either. I will have to find some unsuspecting people to unload some fruit on. And I guess I will be eating more cucumber and tomato salads for a few days more.
I ordered seeds from the dwarf tomato project. There are only a few companies that sell these seeds. Some were sold out on some sites. I ordered Tasmanian Chocolate, Rosella crimson, Fred's Tye Dye, and Dwarf Sweet Sue. I wanted Brandyfred, but it is sold out.
I used to grow only indeterminate tomatoes. I actually still prefer them because I prefer to get tomatoes spread out over a longer time and not all at once.
However, tomato yellow leaf curl virus has changed the way I grow tomatoes. I can only grow TYLCV resistant tomatoes and only one of those are indeterminate. The others all are determinate. I am growing BHN 589 which was bred for flavor, because like most red round disease resistant tomatoes, flavor is last. BHN 589 can be grown in a tree bag, It has not stopped spider mites from getting in, but in a low white fly year like this one, it is stopping TYLCV.
I thought determinates would only last a short time. I expected one large harvest and the plants to die off. That actually has not happened. These plants are not heat resistant, so like most non heat resistant cultivars they stop setting fruit when it gets hot. They are fairly resistant to the other diseases like powdery mildew and bacterial spot. Plus minus on fungal disease, some are better than others. The don't die as expected. After a while, they start producing tomatoes again. I have had them go about 6 months before pulling them. They still die mainly from old age and disease. They become less resistant to disease as they get older.
An indeterminate would be 8-10 ft long so it would not fit in a tree bag that is 39 inches tall. Overall, the indeterminates do produce more fruit over their lifetime and the fruit does not come in all at one time. An indeterminate tomato with good heat and disease resistance will last about 10 months before it dies of disease.
Many of these dwarf tomatoes are heirloom crosses. Not so big on heat and disease resistance, but they are small enough to grow them in a tree bag. If I grow them at the right time, I am hoping to get better tasting tomatoes. Although, without as much disease resistance, I don't expect them to live as long.
For now, Sun King has started to put on fruit again. BHN 589 has ripening fruit. One of the bags had small holes in it. Spider mites caused damage to the leaves and scars on the fruit. But it is still edible. It will probably be the first to be replaced. Sun King is TYLCV resistant, it has good powdery mildew and bacterial spot resistance. It does show some fungal disease, but it does not seem to stop it for now. It has more of a tomatoey taste.
I tried to reduce the watering of the tomatoes to concentrate flavor. It is hard to do in a potted tomato. So I can reduce the watering to a day and a half (it does cause wilting), and I have to pick the tomato in the afternoon when it is the driest to get the best flavor from the tomatoes.
Before, even when I grew tomatoes that should taste good, they were bland. I water tomatoes every day in summer. I usually pick fruit early in the morning. But, I learned that tomatoes are best picked late in the day when they have the least water and the flavor is concentrated. This seems to be true with these tomatoes. It makes a difference in taste when I pick them in the morning or afternoon.
I need to make room for the fall plants. Today, I started collecting the empty pots and washing the pots. I moved some of the green onions off the bench. I also took out some of the weaker peppers. I still have a lot more to go. I can only do a little bit of work in the yard at a time before I get tired and I need long breaks, so I don't get as much done as I want to. The beans are not looking good. The emerite is drying up, Red noodle is producing short beans an is yellowing. Poamoho was eaten by birds. I am only holding on to the vine so the pods on the vine can dry enough for me to save seeds. These seeds are hard to get.
I used to grow only indeterminate tomatoes. I actually still prefer them because I prefer to get tomatoes spread out over a longer time and not all at once.
However, tomato yellow leaf curl virus has changed the way I grow tomatoes. I can only grow TYLCV resistant tomatoes and only one of those are indeterminate. The others all are determinate. I am growing BHN 589 which was bred for flavor, because like most red round disease resistant tomatoes, flavor is last. BHN 589 can be grown in a tree bag, It has not stopped spider mites from getting in, but in a low white fly year like this one, it is stopping TYLCV.
I thought determinates would only last a short time. I expected one large harvest and the plants to die off. That actually has not happened. These plants are not heat resistant, so like most non heat resistant cultivars they stop setting fruit when it gets hot. They are fairly resistant to the other diseases like powdery mildew and bacterial spot. Plus minus on fungal disease, some are better than others. The don't die as expected. After a while, they start producing tomatoes again. I have had them go about 6 months before pulling them. They still die mainly from old age and disease. They become less resistant to disease as they get older.
An indeterminate would be 8-10 ft long so it would not fit in a tree bag that is 39 inches tall. Overall, the indeterminates do produce more fruit over their lifetime and the fruit does not come in all at one time. An indeterminate tomato with good heat and disease resistance will last about 10 months before it dies of disease.
Many of these dwarf tomatoes are heirloom crosses. Not so big on heat and disease resistance, but they are small enough to grow them in a tree bag. If I grow them at the right time, I am hoping to get better tasting tomatoes. Although, without as much disease resistance, I don't expect them to live as long.
For now, Sun King has started to put on fruit again. BHN 589 has ripening fruit. One of the bags had small holes in it. Spider mites caused damage to the leaves and scars on the fruit. But it is still edible. It will probably be the first to be replaced. Sun King is TYLCV resistant, it has good powdery mildew and bacterial spot resistance. It does show some fungal disease, but it does not seem to stop it for now. It has more of a tomatoey taste.
I tried to reduce the watering of the tomatoes to concentrate flavor. It is hard to do in a potted tomato. So I can reduce the watering to a day and a half (it does cause wilting), and I have to pick the tomato in the afternoon when it is the driest to get the best flavor from the tomatoes.
Before, even when I grew tomatoes that should taste good, they were bland. I water tomatoes every day in summer. I usually pick fruit early in the morning. But, I learned that tomatoes are best picked late in the day when they have the least water and the flavor is concentrated. This seems to be true with these tomatoes. It makes a difference in taste when I pick them in the morning or afternoon.
I need to make room for the fall plants. Today, I started collecting the empty pots and washing the pots. I moved some of the green onions off the bench. I also took out some of the weaker peppers. I still have a lot more to go. I can only do a little bit of work in the yard at a time before I get tired and I need long breaks, so I don't get as much done as I want to. The beans are not looking good. The emerite is drying up, Red noodle is producing short beans an is yellowing. Poamoho was eaten by birds. I am only holding on to the vine so the pods on the vine can dry enough for me to save seeds. These seeds are hard to get.
I was down hill at the Urban garden yesterday. I was hot, dry, and muggy. On my way home there was a line in the road and on the north side of the road it was raining and the south side was bone dry. I live on the north side. It was not a heavy rain but it was enough to wet the roads and the soil. I could use more of that. I did not have to do the second watering of the day, because the rain cooled things off a little and the plants were not bone dry.
Today, I picked the first satsuma eggplant. Actually, I got two of them with a combined weight of 9.8 oz. I think I will make tortang talong (Filipino eggplant omelette) for lunch or dinner. That means I have to cook rice again. I have so many eggplant, but so few recipes. I still have the stuffed cabbage as well for a few more meals. I have to harvest the Tokyo bekana very soon. This will be the third and last cutting since it is bolting.
The snails are eating leaves again. They have eaten all of the amaryllis leaves in the front. The grass is too tall. It is easy for them to hide. I have holes in basil and eggplant. Those could be snails but more likely Chinese rose beetles. There is no light strong enough in the back yard to stop them.
The beans are almost dry. I will be able to cut the vines back soon. Just in time, the worms need food. Today, I gave the worms some of the brown paper packing that I got in my package. It is good that companies are being more environmentally friendly and using recyclable packing instead of bubble wrap and Styrofoam. Only thing is, that I actually recycle Styrofoam to plant orchids. The bubble wrap does not have a lot of reuse value unless I am mailing something and it is not easy to store.
Today, I picked the first satsuma eggplant. Actually, I got two of them with a combined weight of 9.8 oz. I think I will make tortang talong (Filipino eggplant omelette) for lunch or dinner. That means I have to cook rice again. I have so many eggplant, but so few recipes. I still have the stuffed cabbage as well for a few more meals. I have to harvest the Tokyo bekana very soon. This will be the third and last cutting since it is bolting.
The snails are eating leaves again. They have eaten all of the amaryllis leaves in the front. The grass is too tall. It is easy for them to hide. I have holes in basil and eggplant. Those could be snails but more likely Chinese rose beetles. There is no light strong enough in the back yard to stop them.
The beans are almost dry. I will be able to cut the vines back soon. Just in time, the worms need food. Today, I gave the worms some of the brown paper packing that I got in my package. It is good that companies are being more environmentally friendly and using recyclable packing instead of bubble wrap and Styrofoam. Only thing is, that I actually recycle Styrofoam to plant orchids. The bubble wrap does not have a lot of reuse value unless I am mailing something and it is not easy to store.
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pepperhead212
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So Imafan, about how long was it from transplant to harvest of that satsuma eggplant? That was one I was thinking of trying, as one green one I used to have good luck with (Hari) isn't the same. And was a hybrid, so F2 and F3 versions also weren't as good. The description of this one sounds like the old one. I've grown several other green varieties, like that Green Knight this year, just didn't make it, as they would be very seedy, when small.
I planted seeds on June 12,2022 Temperature on that day high 82 degrees low 69 degrees F. August 18 first fruit. I don't keep records of transplant dates. I usually transplant late. In general warm crops like peppers and eggplant need night temperatures above 68 degrees; the warmer the better. It germinates faster and better when the day temperatures are above 80. When I try to germinate hot peppers and eggplant in the cooler months, I encounter more germination failure and the plants grow much slower.
I don't like seedy eggplant. My friends' wife is the only one that likes them. Seedy eggplants are more bitter as they mature. Thai's prefer some bitter and sour in the flavor profile rather than sweet. The other one I had was Petch, which is even seedier than this one. The shape of this eggplant doesn't look like the picture from Baker seeds. It is shorter and fatter than a typical long eggplant.
The choryoku green eggplant from Kitazawa was too hard.
The UH green eggplant and Louisiana green eggplant are similar, not as seedy but they are both hard.
The reason I like green eggplant better is because they can get larger and stay softer on the plant longer than purple varieties. Once the purple eggplant lose their shine, they become very hard, seedy, and bitter. They are prolific, I just don't want to have to throw away so many of them.
I don't like seedy eggplant. My friends' wife is the only one that likes them. Seedy eggplants are more bitter as they mature. Thai's prefer some bitter and sour in the flavor profile rather than sweet. The other one I had was Petch, which is even seedier than this one. The shape of this eggplant doesn't look like the picture from Baker seeds. It is shorter and fatter than a typical long eggplant.
The choryoku green eggplant from Kitazawa was too hard.
The UH green eggplant and Louisiana green eggplant are similar, not as seedy but they are both hard.
The reason I like green eggplant better is because they can get larger and stay softer on the plant longer than purple varieties. Once the purple eggplant lose their shine, they become very hard, seedy, and bitter. They are prolific, I just don't want to have to throw away so many of them.
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applestar
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Have you tried Mitoku eggplant? I think it looks a bit like Aswad (which reportedly does well in Gulf-coast of Florida), but eating quality may be different.
The Japanese gardeners in the southern islands of Japan seem to consider that one a must plant cooking variety — “creamy” is the way it’s described. It’s a late maturing variety and probably not worth trying in my garden….
I’m also hearing good reports for Kamo (similarly large pear/pouch shaped variety) from panhandle Florida… I’ve only been able to grow tiny fruits here so far. There IS a green version of Kamo.
The Japanese gardeners in the southern islands of Japan seem to consider that one a must plant cooking variety — “creamy” is the way it’s described. It’s a late maturing variety and probably not worth trying in my garden….
I’m also hearing good reports for Kamo (similarly large pear/pouch shaped variety) from panhandle Florida… I’ve only been able to grow tiny fruits here so far. There IS a green version of Kamo.
I tried Kamo, it did not grow very well for me. I might not have planted it at the best time. The Mitoyo and Kamo are large round eggplant. For the most part, most of us don't like the large round eggplant like Black Beauty. I have a Black Beauty as well. Eggplant are easy to grow as long as you grow them at the right time. They germinate best when the day temperature is over 80 and in dry weather. Eggplant and other hairy vegetables don't like a lot of rain or they will have fungal issues like powdery mildew or anthrachnose. They don't germinate or grow well when it is cold (night temperatures less than 68 degrees and day temperatures less than 75) Mature plants will over winter in colder areas, but production will slow when it is cooler. Eggplant can live here for 8-10 years and can become tall shrubs in the ground. However, I usually only keep eggplant for a couple of years as production drops as the plants get older as well. Eggplant is a fast maturing plant so replacements don't take that long to reproduce as long as you give your replacement about 70-90 days to mature.
We prefer the long eggplant. Most people here like the purple one because they just don't like the color of the green eggplant.
The reason is that for the thick round eggplant like Black Beauty, you have to cut it into slices or chunks. The more cuts you make on an eggplant, the more surface area is exposed and when it turns brown it gets bitter. Normally, if I have to cut up an eggplant that is not going into the pot immediately, it is put in cold water. The water keeps it from browning. Salting is not something that I learned to do to get rid of bitterness. Eggplant is a sponge, if it is put in water, it will absorb water. So, when cooking with it, it is better to cut it and put it in the pot immediately so it absorbs the sauce instead. Eggplant itself does not have much of a taste, but will absorb flavor from the things around it. I have made eggplant lasagna and eggplant Parmesan with the larger eggplant. The lasagna was o.k. but I don't like too much salt and cheese is very salty.
With the Filipino eggplant or Pingtung long eggplant, there are almost no cuts except for taking off the cap and maybe cutting it in half. It isn't very seedy when it is young. Waimanalo Long is thicker about 7-8 inches long. It can be used for stir fry or it can be cut into smaller pieces for stewing usually with pork and soy sauce. It can also be nuked ( prick it with a fork or it can explode in the microwave oven) Sliced in half with some soy sauce for an easy meal or side dish. These are not seedy when young and are very prolific, but they don't keep well on the plant and once they lose their shine they become hard, seeds turn brown, and bitter. Poamoho Dark eggplant is a little thicker on the bottom. It does stay softer longer than most black eggplant, and it it is short so it does not curl the way the long ones do.
I bought an eggplant that was labeled Filipino eggplant, but looks like long purple. Filipino eggplant should be green and purple. This does not look anything like that. It is longer than Pingtung long.
Addendum: I just paused to water the yard. When I was out there, a monarch flew right at me and then flew over my head. Then it came back and danced around the garden.
We prefer the long eggplant. Most people here like the purple one because they just don't like the color of the green eggplant.
The reason is that for the thick round eggplant like Black Beauty, you have to cut it into slices or chunks. The more cuts you make on an eggplant, the more surface area is exposed and when it turns brown it gets bitter. Normally, if I have to cut up an eggplant that is not going into the pot immediately, it is put in cold water. The water keeps it from browning. Salting is not something that I learned to do to get rid of bitterness. Eggplant is a sponge, if it is put in water, it will absorb water. So, when cooking with it, it is better to cut it and put it in the pot immediately so it absorbs the sauce instead. Eggplant itself does not have much of a taste, but will absorb flavor from the things around it. I have made eggplant lasagna and eggplant Parmesan with the larger eggplant. The lasagna was o.k. but I don't like too much salt and cheese is very salty.
With the Filipino eggplant or Pingtung long eggplant, there are almost no cuts except for taking off the cap and maybe cutting it in half. It isn't very seedy when it is young. Waimanalo Long is thicker about 7-8 inches long. It can be used for stir fry or it can be cut into smaller pieces for stewing usually with pork and soy sauce. It can also be nuked ( prick it with a fork or it can explode in the microwave oven) Sliced in half with some soy sauce for an easy meal or side dish. These are not seedy when young and are very prolific, but they don't keep well on the plant and once they lose their shine they become hard, seeds turn brown, and bitter. Poamoho Dark eggplant is a little thicker on the bottom. It does stay softer longer than most black eggplant, and it it is short so it does not curl the way the long ones do.
I bought an eggplant that was labeled Filipino eggplant, but looks like long purple. Filipino eggplant should be green and purple. This does not look anything like that. It is longer than Pingtung long.
Addendum: I just paused to water the yard. When I was out there, a monarch flew right at me and then flew over my head. Then it came back and danced around the garden.
I attended a webinar yesterday sponsored by Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture. There is a microgrant program for households in geographically food insecure areas. It was part of the 2018 farm bill. It provides up to $5000 for about 600 households to grow more food for themselves and their communities. This is the second year of the program. It is actually only available to households in Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories because we definitely fit the criteria for being geographically vulnerable to food insecurity.
It sounds like a very good program. But, there are a lot of rules. The people who would most benefit from this and the ones they have targeted are in the zip codes that receive the highest SNAP benefits. It requires people to fill out a form to Apply by Sept 19 for the items on a list they are allowed to buy to make them more food secure. It includes things like equipment, tools, soil, seeds, fencing, even food processing and storage equipment. They do have to prove they have increased the local food supply by turning in reports, keeping receipts, and keeping records of their harvest. While, I applaud the effort, for the people who would benefit the most from this live in densely populated areas, in apartments. The city does have community gardens, but the waiting list is long, and does not meet demand.
While we don't have the same kind of food deserts as they do in the mainland, there are other barriers, like culture and language, that makes it hard for people to get access to fresh food. The bus system is better than most areas, so most people can get to a store. However, if they don't have a lot of money to spend, they will spend it on what is cheap, filling, and can feed the most people. Fresh vegetables would be low on the list, especially, if it is not something that they usually eat. It would be really great if they could grow their own vegetables. But it would be hard in an apartment. Especially since, most apartments are already crowded and not everyone will even have a lanai to grow food on.
The application is in English, a lot of them don't speak English. They probably won't understand how to fill out the application. I don't even know if they would be able to understand to keep all the receipts and to keep records of the harvest. I doubt many would even have a scale to weigh it. Not to mention sending reports. They also have to give an estimate of what they intend to grow and how many people they are going to feed and how many pounds they will get. Obviously, not something a newbie would know unless they are clairvoyant.
Priority will be given to the zip codes that receive the most SNAP benefits, but it will probably be to households that actually have a house or have land, so may not be receiving any SNAP benefits. Still if it does help increase local food production and start up small market farm businesses, it can achieve the goal of increasing the local food supply.
Right now 80%-90% of all goods, including food is imported. Local produce costs more than mainland produce because of the high cost of labor, land, and having to import everything needed to grow food from gasoline, to farm equipment, tools, fertilizer, seed, chemicals for pest control, boxes, bags, etc. Most small farmers don't own the land they farm. They also have to not only grow the produce, but have to do their own marketing. If they want to sell at some markets they are required to have or use approved packing facility which adds to their costs.
Farmers here don't face the water restrictions, like the farms in California, but they do have to pay for water if they don't have a well or access to the Waiahole ditch.
It sounds like a very good program. But, there are a lot of rules. The people who would most benefit from this and the ones they have targeted are in the zip codes that receive the highest SNAP benefits. It requires people to fill out a form to Apply by Sept 19 for the items on a list they are allowed to buy to make them more food secure. It includes things like equipment, tools, soil, seeds, fencing, even food processing and storage equipment. They do have to prove they have increased the local food supply by turning in reports, keeping receipts, and keeping records of their harvest. While, I applaud the effort, for the people who would benefit the most from this live in densely populated areas, in apartments. The city does have community gardens, but the waiting list is long, and does not meet demand.
While we don't have the same kind of food deserts as they do in the mainland, there are other barriers, like culture and language, that makes it hard for people to get access to fresh food. The bus system is better than most areas, so most people can get to a store. However, if they don't have a lot of money to spend, they will spend it on what is cheap, filling, and can feed the most people. Fresh vegetables would be low on the list, especially, if it is not something that they usually eat. It would be really great if they could grow their own vegetables. But it would be hard in an apartment. Especially since, most apartments are already crowded and not everyone will even have a lanai to grow food on.
The application is in English, a lot of them don't speak English. They probably won't understand how to fill out the application. I don't even know if they would be able to understand to keep all the receipts and to keep records of the harvest. I doubt many would even have a scale to weigh it. Not to mention sending reports. They also have to give an estimate of what they intend to grow and how many people they are going to feed and how many pounds they will get. Obviously, not something a newbie would know unless they are clairvoyant.
Priority will be given to the zip codes that receive the most SNAP benefits, but it will probably be to households that actually have a house or have land, so may not be receiving any SNAP benefits. Still if it does help increase local food production and start up small market farm businesses, it can achieve the goal of increasing the local food supply.
Right now 80%-90% of all goods, including food is imported. Local produce costs more than mainland produce because of the high cost of labor, land, and having to import everything needed to grow food from gasoline, to farm equipment, tools, fertilizer, seed, chemicals for pest control, boxes, bags, etc. Most small farmers don't own the land they farm. They also have to not only grow the produce, but have to do their own marketing. If they want to sell at some markets they are required to have or use approved packing facility which adds to their costs.
Farmers here don't face the water restrictions, like the farms in California, but they do have to pay for water if they don't have a well or access to the Waiahole ditch.
I had an inch of water in my rain guage. The street was dry, but the ground was wet. There has been slow rain mostly in the evening and night. My rain gauge is being interfered with by the papaya, so some of the water probably came off the leaf. It was not an inch of rain, but considering the rain gauge has been empty for so long, it was something. I still watered. But it did not take me long, since most of the small pots just needed to be topped off and the succulents are under cover so they need to be watered weekly. Irrigation keeps the plants alive, but it really takes rain and the environmental changes that comes with it like the increased humidity (not nice for people to be around) and the cooling effects of the rain, to bring the garden back to life.
I have more very large cucumbers I need to harvest. And one or two okra may be ready later today. The okra are piling up in my refrigerator with the cucumbers. The snails are out, one of the broccoli disappeared and another one is missing a leaf.
I found mealybugs on the older zucchini leaves so I sprayed it with 3 in 1 and cut off the older leaves and bagged them for the trash. Bindweed has whiteflies and there is a lot of that around. I have some white flies on the citrus leaves, but I have been washing them off so it is better now.
Yesterday I potted up some of the fall seedlings of lacinato kale, Poamoho Dark Eggplant, and Red Russian kale. It was good timing. It rained again last night and that helps to keep the new transplants up. So far I haven't lost any, not even the smallest ones.
Four more dragon fruit flowered. The one that I thought was going to flower wasn't one of them. That one should be opening up soon. Most of the dragon fruit flowers open up over the course of three days. Then after all the flowers are done. The plant rests and in about 4-6 weeks, another round of buds will appear.
I saw a monarch again today. I have crown flowers and butterfly weed in the yard, so it is attracting them.
I still have more seedlings to pot up and I need to find places to put them.
The St Augustine grass is 8 inches tall in some places. I will have to sickle it down because my electric weed whacker won't be able to handle that.
I have green lantern and a green dendrobium in bloom and some of the phals are budding up.
The roses in the front yard stopped growing. They probably needed more water. I was only watering maybe once a week, if I remembered. The alyssum looks better now. and there is some new growth on the roses. I will have to treat them for blackspot since the humidity is 86% and we have had the night rain. It is just the right conditions for fungal and bacterial diseases.
I had devotion DMR sweet basil, it was going o.k. But again, warm, humid, wet conditions are bad. They started showing signs of basil downy mildew, so I don't know if they will recover. I cut them back. They have only intermediate resistance to downy mildew.
I will also be culling peppers because of bacterial spot. Some of the new ones I got like Majestic Red, Revolution, and Red Knight have been more resilient and so far are not showing a lot of disease. I probably should still spray them with hydrogen peroxide at the minimum or baking soda. Big Jim looks like it is getting disease. I have one pepper from it, but I will probably have to pull the plants.
The beets look good and at least one has a marble sized root.
The papaya is teasing me. It produces flowers. I think it is a hermaphrodite. So far, I have not confirmed any fruit set. If it is a female, it will depend on any trees the neighbors have. The tree my next door neighbor had is dead, so I don't know if there are others around. The X77 is usually 90% hermaphrodite. When I had females before, there were three flowers in a cluster, not one. The shape of this flower is less rotund than a normal female flower.
It is 9:30 a.m. and it is already humid and 78 degrees. August is not my favorite time of the year.
I have more very large cucumbers I need to harvest. And one or two okra may be ready later today. The okra are piling up in my refrigerator with the cucumbers. The snails are out, one of the broccoli disappeared and another one is missing a leaf.
I found mealybugs on the older zucchini leaves so I sprayed it with 3 in 1 and cut off the older leaves and bagged them for the trash. Bindweed has whiteflies and there is a lot of that around. I have some white flies on the citrus leaves, but I have been washing them off so it is better now.
Yesterday I potted up some of the fall seedlings of lacinato kale, Poamoho Dark Eggplant, and Red Russian kale. It was good timing. It rained again last night and that helps to keep the new transplants up. So far I haven't lost any, not even the smallest ones.
Four more dragon fruit flowered. The one that I thought was going to flower wasn't one of them. That one should be opening up soon. Most of the dragon fruit flowers open up over the course of three days. Then after all the flowers are done. The plant rests and in about 4-6 weeks, another round of buds will appear.
I saw a monarch again today. I have crown flowers and butterfly weed in the yard, so it is attracting them.
I still have more seedlings to pot up and I need to find places to put them.
The St Augustine grass is 8 inches tall in some places. I will have to sickle it down because my electric weed whacker won't be able to handle that.
I have green lantern and a green dendrobium in bloom and some of the phals are budding up.
The roses in the front yard stopped growing. They probably needed more water. I was only watering maybe once a week, if I remembered. The alyssum looks better now. and there is some new growth on the roses. I will have to treat them for blackspot since the humidity is 86% and we have had the night rain. It is just the right conditions for fungal and bacterial diseases.
I had devotion DMR sweet basil, it was going o.k. But again, warm, humid, wet conditions are bad. They started showing signs of basil downy mildew, so I don't know if they will recover. I cut them back. They have only intermediate resistance to downy mildew.
I will also be culling peppers because of bacterial spot. Some of the new ones I got like Majestic Red, Revolution, and Red Knight have been more resilient and so far are not showing a lot of disease. I probably should still spray them with hydrogen peroxide at the minimum or baking soda. Big Jim looks like it is getting disease. I have one pepper from it, but I will probably have to pull the plants.
The beets look good and at least one has a marble sized root.
The papaya is teasing me. It produces flowers. I think it is a hermaphrodite. So far, I have not confirmed any fruit set. If it is a female, it will depend on any trees the neighbors have. The tree my next door neighbor had is dead, so I don't know if there are others around. The X77 is usually 90% hermaphrodite. When I had females before, there were three flowers in a cluster, not one. The shape of this flower is less rotund than a normal female flower.
It is 9:30 a.m. and it is already humid and 78 degrees. August is not my favorite time of the year.
I pulled some of the weeds (dallis grass, goose grass, kylinga, spurge, clover, and baby's tears) from an 8x3 section of the front yard. Lots more to go. They are already flowering so I don't want to weed whack them and some of these things would just spread farther with the weed whacker. I tried cutting down some of my 8 inch tufts of St Augustine. Not much luck. It took me about an hour. I have a few more hours to get to the rest of the 20x20 foot space. I can only do this early in the morning or in the afternoon when the house shades the front yard.
I did some cleaning up in the back yard too. I picked most of the fruit that I had. I had overripe tomatoes and peppers. I picked almost 5 lbs of cucumber 6/7 were still good, but very big. I gave two of the cucumbers in the frig to the worms, they were getting slimy. I picked a couple of more okra pods (0.6 oz), 10 tomatoes most of them were overripe and broken. One had mite damage, 2 had something probably a fruit worm from the moths that got under the netting, and the rest were just over ripe and soft. I did save 3. They are still very ripe and need to be used soon they weighed 15.7 oz. I also picked the Princess Yum Yum and valentine tomatoes. Their combined wt was almost 13 oz. They are a tangy. I know valentine can be sweet. I am thinking the acidic soil is probably causing this. The Valentine at the garden is sweet and it is planted in a bed with alkaline compost.
I picked off all the fruit from the kaffir lime so they would not keep dropping off the tree. I put out a new cue lure for the melon fly. Sprayed the curcurbits with Bt., except the zucchini, I forgot again. Fertilized most of the potted plants. I still have to fertilize the towers.
I potted up the seedlings I had of poamoho eggplant, hot pepper ( I think it is a serrano, no label on the plant), culled some of the peppers with bacterial spot, potted up valentine seedlings, and planted fall seeds of Dunja zucchini, Partenon zucchini, Great Stuff pepper, Corno d' toro, and Soarer cucumbers. Most the the ones I planted yesterday stayed up and the ones I planted this morning are still up. I lost some pepper seedlings to slugs, the tops were gone. I also lost some tops of the butterfly weed. I put out snail bait. Two of the cucumbers look like they are going out, they are starting to wilt and not recover. I still have 3 cucumbers left. I have two young suyo cucumbers in one pot as a replacement. The soarer I planted today will be the second replacement.
I am not going to try to grow the cucumbers in the containers organically anymore. They are too sensitive to nutrient deficiencies. The tomatoes do better with organic fertilizer. But, it is not important to me, so I may switch that over to synthetic as well. It will mean less supplimentation, higher yields, and a lot less pesticides. I usually only have to use water and some alcohol to treat the pests in the garden, but it was hard to get the weaker organic plants through the pest gauntlet of summer. And they attracted pests I usually never see like the stink bugs and plant hoppers.
I spayed the inside of the green can with alcohol. There were mealy bugs trying to climb out of the can.
I do see some white flies, but they are not that bad. They are mostly on the citrus and that is a chronic issue. They seem to be leaving the gardenia alone for now.
The rain perked up the plumeria. It was looking bad this summer. The canopy never really filled out and the leaves were small. I don't have any plants under the plumeria now, so it isn't getting water. I need to get rid of more of the persistant weeds and put down weed block , then I can put some plants there again and the plumeria will get water again. The plumeria is a thrip, whitefly trap and has plumeria rust, so I have to be picky about what I put under those trees.
I did some cleaning up in the back yard too. I picked most of the fruit that I had. I had overripe tomatoes and peppers. I picked almost 5 lbs of cucumber 6/7 were still good, but very big. I gave two of the cucumbers in the frig to the worms, they were getting slimy. I picked a couple of more okra pods (0.6 oz), 10 tomatoes most of them were overripe and broken. One had mite damage, 2 had something probably a fruit worm from the moths that got under the netting, and the rest were just over ripe and soft. I did save 3. They are still very ripe and need to be used soon they weighed 15.7 oz. I also picked the Princess Yum Yum and valentine tomatoes. Their combined wt was almost 13 oz. They are a tangy. I know valentine can be sweet. I am thinking the acidic soil is probably causing this. The Valentine at the garden is sweet and it is planted in a bed with alkaline compost.
I picked off all the fruit from the kaffir lime so they would not keep dropping off the tree. I put out a new cue lure for the melon fly. Sprayed the curcurbits with Bt., except the zucchini, I forgot again. Fertilized most of the potted plants. I still have to fertilize the towers.
I potted up the seedlings I had of poamoho eggplant, hot pepper ( I think it is a serrano, no label on the plant), culled some of the peppers with bacterial spot, potted up valentine seedlings, and planted fall seeds of Dunja zucchini, Partenon zucchini, Great Stuff pepper, Corno d' toro, and Soarer cucumbers. Most the the ones I planted yesterday stayed up and the ones I planted this morning are still up. I lost some pepper seedlings to slugs, the tops were gone. I also lost some tops of the butterfly weed. I put out snail bait. Two of the cucumbers look like they are going out, they are starting to wilt and not recover. I still have 3 cucumbers left. I have two young suyo cucumbers in one pot as a replacement. The soarer I planted today will be the second replacement.
I am not going to try to grow the cucumbers in the containers organically anymore. They are too sensitive to nutrient deficiencies. The tomatoes do better with organic fertilizer. But, it is not important to me, so I may switch that over to synthetic as well. It will mean less supplimentation, higher yields, and a lot less pesticides. I usually only have to use water and some alcohol to treat the pests in the garden, but it was hard to get the weaker organic plants through the pest gauntlet of summer. And they attracted pests I usually never see like the stink bugs and plant hoppers.
I spayed the inside of the green can with alcohol. There were mealy bugs trying to climb out of the can.
I do see some white flies, but they are not that bad. They are mostly on the citrus and that is a chronic issue. They seem to be leaving the gardenia alone for now.
The rain perked up the plumeria. It was looking bad this summer. The canopy never really filled out and the leaves were small. I don't have any plants under the plumeria now, so it isn't getting water. I need to get rid of more of the persistant weeds and put down weed block , then I can put some plants there again and the plumeria will get water again. The plumeria is a thrip, whitefly trap and has plumeria rust, so I have to be picky about what I put under those trees.
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30551
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
So many of the pests like mealybugs and whiteflies, even the mites you mention are mostly indoor house plant pests in my mind. It’s not that they aren’t out in the garden, but I don’t see a lot of them during the growing season.
I had an outbreak of mealybugs in the house during the winter — they were all over the coffee plants in the Green Room, and on almost every plant (including onion and celery) but mostly sweet potatoes and cabbage in the experimental aquaponics — I was feeding them to the guppies in desperation….
You mentioned earlier that you had mealybugs on the zucchini— I found out they go after zucchini for the first time when I found some in the Sunflower Hoophouse, and I was preparing to do something… But there had been an aphid outbreak in there, with subsequent explosion of predatory wasps (Aphid Mummymakers, etc.) and predatory flies (Robber flies, etc.), and I guess they are still in there because I’m not seeing the mealybugs as much any more.
I had an outbreak of mealybugs in the house during the winter — they were all over the coffee plants in the Green Room, and on almost every plant (including onion and celery) but mostly sweet potatoes and cabbage in the experimental aquaponics — I was feeding them to the guppies in desperation….
You mentioned earlier that you had mealybugs on the zucchini— I found out they go after zucchini for the first time when I found some in the Sunflower Hoophouse, and I was preparing to do something… But there had been an aphid outbreak in there, with subsequent explosion of predatory wasps (Aphid Mummymakers, etc.) and predatory flies (Robber flies, etc.), and I guess they are still in there because I’m not seeing the mealybugs as much any more.
This is the first year I have seen mealybugs, plant hoppers, and stink bugs in any kind of numbers. Most of those appeared after the stray cat was living in my yard. She chased away the birds ( a good thing), but a lot of the geckos disappeared too. I haven't seen the cat in awhile and I am seeing some geckos and anoles, and their population will get better. They take care of the larger things like caterpillars, small insects, and they even catch moths, and mosquitos.
I do a have a problem with ground mealybugs. They are very hard to control and I have to basically bag the soil and toss the plants. I have tried to save some plants with hot water treatments and I have saved a fraction that way. But now, it is easier to destroy the plants unless it is something that is rare, then I will still try to save it. The neighbors' hibiscus hedge has had a few severe breakouts of hibiscus mealy bugs, and some of that ended up on my hibiscus. I have recently treated a native hibiscus for that and it is in isolation now.
The zucchini is in the side yard and about 5 ft from the hibiscus hedge. I don't know if it came from that, because, hibiscus mealy bugs are a little fussy. They don't like all plants.
They leave the roses alone, but the roses are treated with systemics to control blackspot and scale. I have repotted the hibiscus and it did not have root mealybugs, so I treated it with imidicloprid which is one of the most effective things for mealybugs. If I use malathion, I would have to do multiple treatments. Diatomaceous earth does slow them, but does not stop them. Alcohol does stop them, but it is not practical to use that on a large scale.
I have indoor cats. Although these particular cats have not bothered plants as my other cats did, I don't keep plants in the house.
I have crown flower and milkweed in the yard, so I am seeing monarchs almost every day. Some of the tops of the butterfly weed are gone. I am not sure if the butterflies or the snails are the culprits. I have not seen any caterpillars, so I am guessing it is snails. I have a plant sale on Sept 10, so hopefully, after these milkweeds are gone, the monarchs will go away. Not to worry, my neighbor 7 houses away has a huge giant milkweed (crown flower) tree, so there is plenty of food nearby. I have butterfly plants, in the flower and nectar garden, but they attract multiple beneficial insects including moths, but those insects are there more for the pollen and nectar and don't eat the plants.
It is going to be another hot August day. It is around 83 degrees with winds about 5 mph. UV index is 11. I have to wait until after 2 p.m. to work in the yard. I did harvest some red noodle beans and another okra today.
I do a have a problem with ground mealybugs. They are very hard to control and I have to basically bag the soil and toss the plants. I have tried to save some plants with hot water treatments and I have saved a fraction that way. But now, it is easier to destroy the plants unless it is something that is rare, then I will still try to save it. The neighbors' hibiscus hedge has had a few severe breakouts of hibiscus mealy bugs, and some of that ended up on my hibiscus. I have recently treated a native hibiscus for that and it is in isolation now.
The zucchini is in the side yard and about 5 ft from the hibiscus hedge. I don't know if it came from that, because, hibiscus mealy bugs are a little fussy. They don't like all plants.
They leave the roses alone, but the roses are treated with systemics to control blackspot and scale. I have repotted the hibiscus and it did not have root mealybugs, so I treated it with imidicloprid which is one of the most effective things for mealybugs. If I use malathion, I would have to do multiple treatments. Diatomaceous earth does slow them, but does not stop them. Alcohol does stop them, but it is not practical to use that on a large scale.
I have indoor cats. Although these particular cats have not bothered plants as my other cats did, I don't keep plants in the house.
I have crown flower and milkweed in the yard, so I am seeing monarchs almost every day. Some of the tops of the butterfly weed are gone. I am not sure if the butterflies or the snails are the culprits. I have not seen any caterpillars, so I am guessing it is snails. I have a plant sale on Sept 10, so hopefully, after these milkweeds are gone, the monarchs will go away. Not to worry, my neighbor 7 houses away has a huge giant milkweed (crown flower) tree, so there is plenty of food nearby. I have butterfly plants, in the flower and nectar garden, but they attract multiple beneficial insects including moths, but those insects are there more for the pollen and nectar and don't eat the plants.
It is going to be another hot August day. It is around 83 degrees with winds about 5 mph. UV index is 11. I have to wait until after 2 p.m. to work in the yard. I did harvest some red noodle beans and another okra today.
I cleaned up the main garden two days ago. I harvested out some of the Swiss chard and perpetual spinach, picked a couple more cucumbers, 5 long beans, 4 okra, and 7 tomatoes. My last soil test showed the phosphorus was even worse than before. The only real source for that has been the potting soil or compost I have been adding. So, now that I have cleaned up the bed (at least for a while), I am going to give it a couple of weeks and plant it. It only needs nitrogen.
Yesterday, I pulled out the beans, and cucumbers from two containers. I replanted the cucumber container with Poamoho beans. The other container will need some work and it needs time for the bean roots to decompose. I need to stagger plantings more so everything does not come in at the same time. So, it is just as well.
I did replant some of the tower's empty pockets with bok choy. I think it will be o.k. The temperature maxes out at around 84 degrees and the tower is shaded for part of the day. I have pockets in the other tower as well. But I will wait a bit to plant those so I won't have everything coming in at the same time. I don't know what I am going to plant in it yet. I also under planted the okra in the 48 quart tote with bok choy and Tokyo bekana. I have some seedlings of Bekana coming up in the compot. Those may be for under planting or for the tower.
The turmeric and ginger are blooming. The turmeric has been in bloom for a couple of weeks and the ginger buds have come out. The ginger is already pushing the side of the container. The beet roots are slowly growing.
I ate one of the tomatoes today and gave the other six to my friends at our meeting last night. The galangal is also pushing the container. I will have to do something about that one too. It has not bloomed, but unlike the other gingers, galangal will not die back, so I have to just divide it at the same time to keep it from getting too tight in the pot.
All of the seeds I planted have finally come up. New Big Dwarf and the peppers are finally showing up. The transplants of the peppers are starting to recover and the eggplant, zucchini, and cucumber seedlings are doing fine. The tomatoes are a bit tall, but the sale is in a couple of days so hopefully, someone will buy them. Otherwise, a tomato will go into one of the containers, and I can pull the other one out of the main garden.
I have some mealy bugs on the tomatoes, the mealy bugs on the zucchini seem to be under control for now. The peppers and basil have broad mites. I cut back the basil and I have been hosing down the pepper and eggplant with water twice a day, and that seems to be working. It is too hot to use 3 in1 spray, but I will use it, if I can't keep it under control. The bindweed and bitter melon are out of control again so I will have to work on that. Bindweed is better controlled with herbicides because of the long tap root, breaking the top, won't stop it. Bitter melon, is hard to control. Birds spread the seeds.
Yesterday, I pulled out the beans, and cucumbers from two containers. I replanted the cucumber container with Poamoho beans. The other container will need some work and it needs time for the bean roots to decompose. I need to stagger plantings more so everything does not come in at the same time. So, it is just as well.
I did replant some of the tower's empty pockets with bok choy. I think it will be o.k. The temperature maxes out at around 84 degrees and the tower is shaded for part of the day. I have pockets in the other tower as well. But I will wait a bit to plant those so I won't have everything coming in at the same time. I don't know what I am going to plant in it yet. I also under planted the okra in the 48 quart tote with bok choy and Tokyo bekana. I have some seedlings of Bekana coming up in the compot. Those may be for under planting or for the tower.
The turmeric and ginger are blooming. The turmeric has been in bloom for a couple of weeks and the ginger buds have come out. The ginger is already pushing the side of the container. The beet roots are slowly growing.
I ate one of the tomatoes today and gave the other six to my friends at our meeting last night. The galangal is also pushing the container. I will have to do something about that one too. It has not bloomed, but unlike the other gingers, galangal will not die back, so I have to just divide it at the same time to keep it from getting too tight in the pot.
All of the seeds I planted have finally come up. New Big Dwarf and the peppers are finally showing up. The transplants of the peppers are starting to recover and the eggplant, zucchini, and cucumber seedlings are doing fine. The tomatoes are a bit tall, but the sale is in a couple of days so hopefully, someone will buy them. Otherwise, a tomato will go into one of the containers, and I can pull the other one out of the main garden.
I have some mealy bugs on the tomatoes, the mealy bugs on the zucchini seem to be under control for now. The peppers and basil have broad mites. I cut back the basil and I have been hosing down the pepper and eggplant with water twice a day, and that seems to be working. It is too hot to use 3 in1 spray, but I will use it, if I can't keep it under control. The bindweed and bitter melon are out of control again so I will have to work on that. Bindweed is better controlled with herbicides because of the long tap root, breaking the top, won't stop it. Bitter melon, is hard to control. Birds spread the seeds.
I cut back the curry tree, bilimbi, crepe myrtle. I deadheaded the roses, lightly pruned the gardenia. it is getting too tall, euphorbia cotonifolia, and rhapsiolepsis indica. It was enough to fill both cans for pickup tomorrow.
There are more tomatoes and cucumbers to pick, but I don't want to do it today. I did pick 4 okra.
I planted 2 of the cuttings of hibiscus mutabilis.
Today, I went to the garden in the morning and helped with the registration for the Kratky hydroponic class.
Tomorrow I have to get up early and take the plants for the sale on Saturday down to the garden. It will take more than one trip in my small Kia Rio. I have to be picky about what I bring. I have to bring all the leftovers back home so the most trips I can make tomorrow will be two trips, otherwise I won't be able to bring the plants home in one trip on Saturday.
I am already tired and it is only 6:37 p.m.
There are more tomatoes and cucumbers to pick, but I don't want to do it today. I did pick 4 okra.
I planted 2 of the cuttings of hibiscus mutabilis.
Today, I went to the garden in the morning and helped with the registration for the Kratky hydroponic class.
Tomorrow I have to get up early and take the plants for the sale on Saturday down to the garden. It will take more than one trip in my small Kia Rio. I have to be picky about what I bring. I have to bring all the leftovers back home so the most trips I can make tomorrow will be two trips, otherwise I won't be able to bring the plants home in one trip on Saturday.
I am already tired and it is only 6:37 p.m.
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30551
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
For me, hot summer days aggravate my chemical sensitivities, and the worst allergy season of the year starts around mid-August and continues until frost, so I’ve adjusted to every other day gardening some time ago.
When I used to be able to garden every day, I’ve tried harvesting every other day, and doing all the maintenance work on the other alternating days. I’ve also tried doing everything for the gardenbeds on one side of the house one day, then working in the gardenbeds on the other side of the house….
You are responsible for not just your own garden but your other club? membership? activities too. You are a dedicated worker — they’re lucky to have you.
When I used to be able to garden every day, I’ve tried harvesting every other day, and doing all the maintenance work on the other alternating days. I’ve also tried doing everything for the gardenbeds on one side of the house one day, then working in the gardenbeds on the other side of the house….
You are responsible for not just your own garden but your other club? membership? activities too. You are a dedicated worker — they’re lucky to have you.
I can only work for a short time in the garden. I get too tired and my legs start to hurt, so I take long breaks. I try to do most of the gardening either in the morning before 10 a.m. or after 3 p.m. Usually, it takes me almost an hour just to water, so it limits what I can get done in the morning. In the afternoon, sometimes, I just don't want to go out so late in the day. I don't have a lot of energy to do anything late in the day.
It rained last night and it has been raining off and on this morning. It took be two trips and over two hours to load the car with plants for the sale. Traffic was slow on the road for some unkown reason. What can I say, Hawaii people really don't know how to drive in the rain. It took another couple of hours to label and price the plants. I got back from the garden around 2 p.m. I revised my price lists since I did not bring some items and I had different sizes than planned of some things.
I had to revise a couple of prices to conform to the pricing rules. It has been hot an muggy today from the rain and steam. I did not water the garden. I was going to pick some cucumbers, but the three I wanted to pick were drilled by pickle worms last night. So, I can eat a couple of them for dinner and the rest will be going down the garbage disposal. The cucumbers are slowing down production, so I will get a respite fromr them at least for a few weeks. I am planting fewer of them next time and I won't be planting all of the buckets at the same time.
Yesterday, I did manage to fill my green cans and I finally finished weed whacking the nearly 1 ft tall grass that was burying my potted plants. I even dead headed roses ad crepe myrtle, cut back half of the lavender in the pollinator garden, and did some light pruning. It is raining today, I had planned to Roundup the weeds in the sidewalks, by the fence, paths, open ground, under benches, and the weeds under the plumeria, but that is not going to happen today. My pots are sitting in the middle of the yard so they will have to stay there until I can round up around their usual locations.
It rained last night and it has been raining off and on this morning. It took be two trips and over two hours to load the car with plants for the sale. Traffic was slow on the road for some unkown reason. What can I say, Hawaii people really don't know how to drive in the rain. It took another couple of hours to label and price the plants. I got back from the garden around 2 p.m. I revised my price lists since I did not bring some items and I had different sizes than planned of some things.
I had to revise a couple of prices to conform to the pricing rules. It has been hot an muggy today from the rain and steam. I did not water the garden. I was going to pick some cucumbers, but the three I wanted to pick were drilled by pickle worms last night. So, I can eat a couple of them for dinner and the rest will be going down the garbage disposal. The cucumbers are slowing down production, so I will get a respite fromr them at least for a few weeks. I am planting fewer of them next time and I won't be planting all of the buckets at the same time.
Yesterday, I did manage to fill my green cans and I finally finished weed whacking the nearly 1 ft tall grass that was burying my potted plants. I even dead headed roses ad crepe myrtle, cut back half of the lavender in the pollinator garden, and did some light pruning. It is raining today, I had planned to Roundup the weeds in the sidewalks, by the fence, paths, open ground, under benches, and the weeds under the plumeria, but that is not going to happen today. My pots are sitting in the middle of the yard so they will have to stay there until I can round up around their usual locations.
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7429
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Buy yourself a used, wheel chair, walker & crutches, before you get so bad you need them. I have a dozen of the side effects of Statin drugs for cholesterol, last Saturday the side effects put me in the hospital. Emergency room doctor said, stop taking Statins you will die of the cure not the disease. My, knee joints, legs, feet, have been hurting me for 2 years and 2 weeks ago both knees started giving me cramps while sleeping. Sat evening my left knee joint hurt like a 3rd degree burn & bending my knee was like pull the scab off of a 3rd degree burn. Test & X-ray shows Bursitis inflammation of the knee tendons. I have been in wheel chair all week taking meds. Today I am waking with crutches & walker. It was wife's idea to buy the used, wheel chair, walker & crutches, at yard sales, I am glad we bought those they are handy to have at our age. Wife could have never gotten me to hospital and home again without a wheel chair.
My cholesterol is 110 and my doctor wants it down to 100.
Read about Statin side effects online if your taking those.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I do have a walker, a cane, and a walking stick. I have arthritis in my knees and other places. I had been getting shots to replace the joint fluid, but the doctor said, there is so little space between the bones that I qualify for knee replacement. It isn't that bad yet as long as I don't overdo things. I can tolerate about 1- 1.5 hours standing, but I do have to take long rests, like a couple of hours. If I push it longer, it takes longer to recover.
I don't take statins, my cholesterol is borderline just over 200. I can control that with diet. Strange, but a low carb diet actually helps lower cholesterol because it uses fat instead of carbs as an energy source. I would have to stay under 20 carbs and 75g of protein to burn fat for energy. I cannot take statins because it interferes and enhances my other medications. I actually would not mind eating grapefruit to control cholesterol, but I found out that I still cannot eat grapefruit regularly or in large amounts because of the possible interaction with losartan.
My knees are hurting today because the sale yesterday was for four hours. It took almost two hours to load the car. I got help unloading, but I had to load the remainder back into the car at the end of the day which requires me to go up and down stairs in a short time. My knees are still hurting from that.
Today, I have to put everything away. I did give away some of the vegetable starts. I have a lot of eggplant left. There weren't that many takers. They did take the kale starts and some of the zucchini. All the peppers were sold (Jalapeno, and Shishito). I am culling some of the plants because, I don't want that many or any in my yard. I am culling the butterfly weed, and I put the remaining dragon fruit cuttings in the green can. I actually have to trim more of the dragon fruit anyway. I will take cutting from the crown flower, but not keep any plants unless I can find other takers. I can plant the tomatoes and some of the kale in the garden. I will see if I can find other people for the eggplant. The thing with eggplant is that it is so easy to grow and it can live for years, so many people don't need more. One or two plants provides more than enough. I might keep one, since I did just take out the old Poamoho eggplant. I am not keeping any of the satsuma. I want a green eggplant, just not a seedy one. I have another long purple eggplant already.
It rained on Friday setting up for the event. It was a long slow warm rain and the seeds of the Tokyo bekana and pack choy are sprouting Even one of the Poamoho beans sprouted. Usually beans take a while to sprout.
Now, that all these extra plants are gone, I have more space to put things and my path isn't being blocked by plants anymore. There are fewer plants to water.
I am surprised at Dunja zucchini. It has not been the most productive zucchini. Partenon produces more in a shorter time. But Dunja has lasted much longer so it is still producing flowers and zucchini. I have three on now. I still have to pick them young before they get stung, so I don't get large zucchini like I do with partenon. I did not expect this zucchini to actually live this long. I can't find the record of the day I planted it and the label is MIA. It was the second planting so it was probably April or May when I started it.
I don't take statins, my cholesterol is borderline just over 200. I can control that with diet. Strange, but a low carb diet actually helps lower cholesterol because it uses fat instead of carbs as an energy source. I would have to stay under 20 carbs and 75g of protein to burn fat for energy. I cannot take statins because it interferes and enhances my other medications. I actually would not mind eating grapefruit to control cholesterol, but I found out that I still cannot eat grapefruit regularly or in large amounts because of the possible interaction with losartan.
My knees are hurting today because the sale yesterday was for four hours. It took almost two hours to load the car. I got help unloading, but I had to load the remainder back into the car at the end of the day which requires me to go up and down stairs in a short time. My knees are still hurting from that.
Today, I have to put everything away. I did give away some of the vegetable starts. I have a lot of eggplant left. There weren't that many takers. They did take the kale starts and some of the zucchini. All the peppers were sold (Jalapeno, and Shishito). I am culling some of the plants because, I don't want that many or any in my yard. I am culling the butterfly weed, and I put the remaining dragon fruit cuttings in the green can. I actually have to trim more of the dragon fruit anyway. I will take cutting from the crown flower, but not keep any plants unless I can find other takers. I can plant the tomatoes and some of the kale in the garden. I will see if I can find other people for the eggplant. The thing with eggplant is that it is so easy to grow and it can live for years, so many people don't need more. One or two plants provides more than enough. I might keep one, since I did just take out the old Poamoho eggplant. I am not keeping any of the satsuma. I want a green eggplant, just not a seedy one. I have another long purple eggplant already.
It rained on Friday setting up for the event. It was a long slow warm rain and the seeds of the Tokyo bekana and pack choy are sprouting Even one of the Poamoho beans sprouted. Usually beans take a while to sprout.
Now, that all these extra plants are gone, I have more space to put things and my path isn't being blocked by plants anymore. There are fewer plants to water.
I am surprised at Dunja zucchini. It has not been the most productive zucchini. Partenon produces more in a shorter time. But Dunja has lasted much longer so it is still producing flowers and zucchini. I have three on now. I still have to pick them young before they get stung, so I don't get large zucchini like I do with partenon. I did not expect this zucchini to actually live this long. I can't find the record of the day I planted it and the label is MIA. It was the second planting so it was probably April or May when I started it.
I am not keeping up with the cucumbers. But the vines are dying so they have to slow down. I will be fine not seeing a cucumber for a while. The next one will probably be swiss chard, I have so much of that too. The only thing I am keeping up with, is Okra, but I have to pick it every day. If I skip a couple of days the okra gets almost 5 inches long. Any bigger and it would be fibrous.
Yesterday, I fertiilzed and replanted a couple of containers. I replanted cucumbers. The seedlings were getting to big. I intercropped them with Kuroda carrots. The suyo cucumber got extra fertilizer and a soarer cucumber to make three in a pot. I interplanted green top radish with them. The poamoho pole beans are doing o.k. I haven't lost any.
However, I am seeing more slugs. The curly vates kale is down to just the main ribs and a snail ate one of the zucchini. I guess, I have to put out more bait, now that it is raining a bit more.
I harvested all the tomatoes from BHN 589, they look like toast. Sun King still has some tomatoes, but I harvested yesterday and only three were good, the rest went to the worms.
I weeded around the yard with Round Up in the paths and by the fence. I hand weeded around the plantings. I will need to do another round of weeding in the main garden, the weed seeds are coming up. It may be time to take out more plants from the main garden. I need to control the replanting so I don't plant all of the garden at one time and have to harvest all at once as well. I will try to replant the main garden in stages. I am not going to add compost this time since the phosphorus is too high. I will add some potassium and some lime. Nitrogen is given as side dressings once the true leaves are in.
I still have 3 more containers to replant, the main garden and some pockets in the towers. After that more containers need to be refurbished (beans, okra, eggplant, cucumber, and tomato pots)
However, I am seeing more slugs. The curly vates kale is down to just the main ribs and a snail ate one of the zucchini. I guess, I have to put out more bait, now that it is raining a bit more.
I harvested all the tomatoes from BHN 589, they look like toast. Sun King still has some tomatoes, but I harvested yesterday and only three were good, the rest went to the worms.
I weeded around the yard with Round Up in the paths and by the fence. I hand weeded around the plantings. I will need to do another round of weeding in the main garden, the weed seeds are coming up. It may be time to take out more plants from the main garden. I need to control the replanting so I don't plant all of the garden at one time and have to harvest all at once as well. I will try to replant the main garden in stages. I am not going to add compost this time since the phosphorus is too high. I will add some potassium and some lime. Nitrogen is given as side dressings once the true leaves are in.
I still have 3 more containers to replant, the main garden and some pockets in the towers. After that more containers need to be refurbished (beans, okra, eggplant, cucumber, and tomato pots)
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30551
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
I copied your question here. I have one like the link but with twisted tones and an S-shaped handles for more aggressive movement. It came from my Dad’s garden and presumably he used it. This design is more of a cultivator, but only effective in loose soil — he had sandy native soil, I have clay, and it’s not easy to manipulate.imafan26 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 12:57 pmGary, since you are into old gardening tools. Tell me what you think of this one. I am considering buying it. It is this or the garden claw. The claw is locally available but it looks like it leaves a big hole. I want something that might be more surgical but still easy to use without having to do a lot of bending.
https://grampasweeder.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Weasel-91 ... B000WOMYMG
I’ve seen the Grandpa’s weeder, but when I purchased, I opted instead for one like this — not sure what brand I have but the design is same, with 5 prongs
Walensee Upgraded Weed Puller, Stand Up Weeder Hand Tool, Long Handle Garden Weeding Tool with 5 Claws, Hound Weed Puller for Dandelion, Standup Weed Root Pulling Tool and Picker, Grabber (1 Pack)
https://a.co/d/77DzgQh
(wow, what’s with all the descriptions? … hm… “Hound” sounds familiar….)
…also, I just got this last year for planting bulbs and punching through plastic mulch, and realized it is also good for digging out bigger weeds than the above tool can handle —
ProPlugger 5-in-1 Lawn and Garden Tool, Bulb Planter, Weeder or Weeding Tool, Sod Plugger, Annual Planter, Soil Test Probe
https://a.co/d/h8G0Hv0
Thanks Applestar. I think the weed hound would work better too. I have hard clay soil, so I would need something that has a foot pedal to get it around the weed and an ejector to get it off. Right now, I use a garden stool and a hoe mattock for hand weeding or a hoe. I can't lean or reach too far and I can't really squat to do any weeding because it would put too much pressure on my knees. I sit on the stool and weed around me with the mattock. It works when the weeds are close together but harder to do when weeds are farther apart or in tighter spaces. I checked it out. There are a few different models I am looking it.
It finally feels like fall is coming. It got down to a cool 68 degrees last night and 82 in the day. It has been raining lightly every few days. Not enough to actually be enough to soak things, but enough so I only have to water lightly.
The bugs are getting washed off the plants, but the bacterial spots and fungal diseases are more prevalent and the the snails and slugs are back.
I have started replanting for the fall garden. I am spacing the plantings out so hopefully, I won't have as much come in all at once.
Last night I went to my orchid meeting and gave away some oranges I got from the garden, grapes I bought and can't finish, and 8 okra pods I picked yesterday.
A couple of the okra plants look like they are done and can probably come out. The others will stop producing as well. Today, the pods were small so I will collect them tomorrow. I harvested a zucchini that is two days old. It is small, but if I leave it on the bush, the snails will eat it. I did eat the squash blossom. Today, I got there in time to harvest it.
There are three more dragon fruit flowers blooming. I harvested one small dragon fruit, I did not eat it. It was very seedy.
My beets seem to be going backwards. They aren't getting any bigger. If anything they are shrinking, so I think I will give them to the worms instead. I really like fresh beets, but it is not on my diet anyway. I can plant bush beans instead.
The oncidium orchids are starting to spike and some of them are blooming. The spikes and blooms are early. Wierd weather. The orchid show is this Friday and Saturday. I have to help with setting up the display on Thursday. Hopefully, I can pick up a couple of new orchids. I have a vanda, miltassia, phalaenopsis, and green lantern blooming. None of them are show quality, so I am just bringing Spanish moss and greens for the display.
Some of the weeds were not killed by Round Up, so I have to go back and spot treat those with Triclopyr or repeat the Round Up.
The cooling weather means I can plant some of the heat tolerant lettuce like Jericho Romaine and salad bowl. By the time they mature in November, it should be cool enough so they won't bolt easily. I have already planted some Kuroda carrots, Tokyo bekana, and more chard.
I have weeded the main garden a second time and planted three more peppers. I still have a tomato that is still producing that I will wait to pull later. I fertilized the part of the garden I did clear with potassium and lime. The garden is very rich in calcium but the magnesium and potassium will help to raise the pH a little. I am not adding any more compost because the phosphorus was higher than before and the compost and potting soil I have added would have been the only major source of that. I still haven't decided exactly what to plant there, but I will probably put more lettuce, and komatsuna between the peppers. Maybe some other cabbage like kai choy or choi sum. It would be better to put the broccoli and kale on the other side of the garden where it gets more shade in summer. The kale will last a couple of years and the broccoli should last until May. I can plant shorter crops between them. And Contender bush beans over the nematodes. I'd like to sqeeze in another semposai, but the broccoli, komatsuna, kale, and chard are big plants so I don't know if I have enough space for all of them. I would need to find smaller plants to interplant. The chard can go in the towers. They won't be as big but I do like the smaller leaves better. It just takes more plants to make a meal. I can put more bush beans in the tower. They are also smaller than in the larger containers, but they do produce a good number of beans over a couple of weeks. The bush beans are better companions than the pole beans which have a few plants they don't like to be around.
The bugs are getting washed off the plants, but the bacterial spots and fungal diseases are more prevalent and the the snails and slugs are back.
I have started replanting for the fall garden. I am spacing the plantings out so hopefully, I won't have as much come in all at once.
Last night I went to my orchid meeting and gave away some oranges I got from the garden, grapes I bought and can't finish, and 8 okra pods I picked yesterday.
A couple of the okra plants look like they are done and can probably come out. The others will stop producing as well. Today, the pods were small so I will collect them tomorrow. I harvested a zucchini that is two days old. It is small, but if I leave it on the bush, the snails will eat it. I did eat the squash blossom. Today, I got there in time to harvest it.
There are three more dragon fruit flowers blooming. I harvested one small dragon fruit, I did not eat it. It was very seedy.
My beets seem to be going backwards. They aren't getting any bigger. If anything they are shrinking, so I think I will give them to the worms instead. I really like fresh beets, but it is not on my diet anyway. I can plant bush beans instead.
The oncidium orchids are starting to spike and some of them are blooming. The spikes and blooms are early. Wierd weather. The orchid show is this Friday and Saturday. I have to help with setting up the display on Thursday. Hopefully, I can pick up a couple of new orchids. I have a vanda, miltassia, phalaenopsis, and green lantern blooming. None of them are show quality, so I am just bringing Spanish moss and greens for the display.
Some of the weeds were not killed by Round Up, so I have to go back and spot treat those with Triclopyr or repeat the Round Up.
The cooling weather means I can plant some of the heat tolerant lettuce like Jericho Romaine and salad bowl. By the time they mature in November, it should be cool enough so they won't bolt easily. I have already planted some Kuroda carrots, Tokyo bekana, and more chard.
I have weeded the main garden a second time and planted three more peppers. I still have a tomato that is still producing that I will wait to pull later. I fertilized the part of the garden I did clear with potassium and lime. The garden is very rich in calcium but the magnesium and potassium will help to raise the pH a little. I am not adding any more compost because the phosphorus was higher than before and the compost and potting soil I have added would have been the only major source of that. I still haven't decided exactly what to plant there, but I will probably put more lettuce, and komatsuna between the peppers. Maybe some other cabbage like kai choy or choi sum. It would be better to put the broccoli and kale on the other side of the garden where it gets more shade in summer. The kale will last a couple of years and the broccoli should last until May. I can plant shorter crops between them. And Contender bush beans over the nematodes. I'd like to sqeeze in another semposai, but the broccoli, komatsuna, kale, and chard are big plants so I don't know if I have enough space for all of them. I would need to find smaller plants to interplant. The chard can go in the towers. They won't be as big but I do like the smaller leaves better. It just takes more plants to make a meal. I can put more bush beans in the tower. They are also smaller than in the larger containers, but they do produce a good number of beans over a couple of weeks. The bush beans are better companions than the pole beans which have a few plants they don't like to be around.
Today was green day and I only had one green can filled yesterday. I got up early and filled the second can. I mostly trimmed the neighbors hedge that is poking through and over the top of my fence. It has mealy bugs and white flies and that is causing problem with the plants I have within 10 ft of the fenceline. I only trimmed enough of the hedge to fill the container. There is still more to go I only got a third of the way down the fence and I can't reach the palm and hibiscus that is over my orchid bench.
I pulled out the long beans and a couple of okra plants. I still have a perpetual spinach in the pot which I probably will transplant to the main garden. I also cleaned out 2 of the tomato containers and the remaining old cucumbers. The other two tomatoes still have some fruit but they look like they are on their way out as well.
The snow peas have not sprouted. The seeds were old. I should have other packs of seeds, so I will try to reseed with younger seed and do a germination test on these older seeds. The first new cucumber I planted has its first fruit. The second cucumber has started to flower. I need to sterilize the soil and clean the pot on the third pot before I plant the last cucumber.
The papaya is hogging space and the nutrients. The kale is shrinking. It is old, so I will replant another one somewhere else in the main garden. I found more bleeding heart vine. I will have to use triclopyr to kill that. Round Up does not work well on shiny leaves.
I cut back some of the branches of the native gardenia as it is blocking the walkway. I also cut back the Rabbit foot fern on the other side of the house for the same reason, it was covering the edge of the sidewalk. I also thinned out the aloe patch on the edge of the main garden. It was hard to weed between the patch and the garden because there wasn't much walking space left. It will also make it easier to see snails and slugs. They like to hide in the aloe.
It looks like the hibiscus cuttings that lost all the leaves after I sprayed them for mealy bugs is still green. It may survive after all. The gardenia cuttings are toast.
Christmas decorations are already out at the stores. There is hardly anything for Halloween. This means though that it will be even harder to get garden supplies until next year.
I ordered a new pair of rose gloves. These fit better. They will come in handy trimming the bougainvillea, roses, citrus, and handling the cactus. I usually prefer leather but these are made with aramid, a type of kevlar and unlike leather, these gloves are machine washable.
I am glad I have empty cans again. I have a lot of big things to cut and it will fill the cans fast.
I went to the orchid show set up yesterday. I brought Spanish moss. I don't have any show quality orchids in bloom. I basically wrapped pots in black weed cloth for the Kunia Society, and then I wrapped more orchids for the Honolulu Orchid Society. The orchid community is small so belonging to multiple societies is common. That means when there is a show, you can end up working for different societies. I belong to three clubs. Mililani Orchid Club, Kunia Orchid Society, and the Honolulu Orchid Society. Most of the orchid organizations are societies. Only Mililani and Aiea are called clubs instead of societies. It does not really matter, it is just how they named themselves when they organized.
I pulled out the long beans and a couple of okra plants. I still have a perpetual spinach in the pot which I probably will transplant to the main garden. I also cleaned out 2 of the tomato containers and the remaining old cucumbers. The other two tomatoes still have some fruit but they look like they are on their way out as well.
The snow peas have not sprouted. The seeds were old. I should have other packs of seeds, so I will try to reseed with younger seed and do a germination test on these older seeds. The first new cucumber I planted has its first fruit. The second cucumber has started to flower. I need to sterilize the soil and clean the pot on the third pot before I plant the last cucumber.
The papaya is hogging space and the nutrients. The kale is shrinking. It is old, so I will replant another one somewhere else in the main garden. I found more bleeding heart vine. I will have to use triclopyr to kill that. Round Up does not work well on shiny leaves.
I cut back some of the branches of the native gardenia as it is blocking the walkway. I also cut back the Rabbit foot fern on the other side of the house for the same reason, it was covering the edge of the sidewalk. I also thinned out the aloe patch on the edge of the main garden. It was hard to weed between the patch and the garden because there wasn't much walking space left. It will also make it easier to see snails and slugs. They like to hide in the aloe.
It looks like the hibiscus cuttings that lost all the leaves after I sprayed them for mealy bugs is still green. It may survive after all. The gardenia cuttings are toast.
Christmas decorations are already out at the stores. There is hardly anything for Halloween. This means though that it will be even harder to get garden supplies until next year.
I ordered a new pair of rose gloves. These fit better. They will come in handy trimming the bougainvillea, roses, citrus, and handling the cactus. I usually prefer leather but these are made with aramid, a type of kevlar and unlike leather, these gloves are machine washable.
I am glad I have empty cans again. I have a lot of big things to cut and it will fill the cans fast.
I went to the orchid show set up yesterday. I brought Spanish moss. I don't have any show quality orchids in bloom. I basically wrapped pots in black weed cloth for the Kunia Society, and then I wrapped more orchids for the Honolulu Orchid Society. The orchid community is small so belonging to multiple societies is common. That means when there is a show, you can end up working for different societies. I belong to three clubs. Mililani Orchid Club, Kunia Orchid Society, and the Honolulu Orchid Society. Most of the orchid organizations are societies. Only Mililani and Aiea are called clubs instead of societies. It does not really matter, it is just how they named themselves when they organized.
Looks like everyone is getting ready to put their gardens away for the year. I am just starting to plant the fall garden. It is still hot. It got to 69 degrees this morning around 7 a.m. but the average nite temperature is still around 72 degrees and the day temperature is 82 with almost no wind.
I am putting in my fall garden slower to try to space the harvest out better. I have planted some things 2 cucumbers, carrots, Tokyo Bekana, some lettuce seeds. lacinato kale, some peppers, broccoli ( I had too many plants.) I thought some of the seedlings would not make it , but all of them did. I may have a problem later, or the snails will solve the problem for me.
I started cilantro from the seeds I saved earlier this year and they germinated pretty well.
I am sterilizing the soil in the pots. I broke my microwave in the process. I am going to try to sterilize it with physan 20. I could only get a small bottle since amazon won't ship the gallon. I can try to see if it is available locally. Some of the pots, I will just dump the soil in the front yard rather than try to sterilize them. I don't have a lot of soil mix, but I will try to get more. I replanted some of the towers pockets with bush beans, chard, and lettuce. I left some pockets open for later and some of the older chard will be coming out after I harvest it.
I planted a few carrots, Tokyo bekana, radish, bok choi, as under plantings under cucumbers, peas (which failed to sprout, so I replanted it), and peppers.
The zucchini bit the dust. I did forget to water a couple of days and that might have done it in. I will try and replant the pot. The pot had volunteer tomatoes in it, but that pot has a narrow base and falls down if it has a tall trellis on it.
The other zucchini (Dunja) is producing fruit again. I did put out slug bait since the snails have been getting most of the fruit before I do. It is slowly creeping. It is about 5 feet long now.
The lemons, limes, and calamansi are all fruiting. In fact the fruit are so ripe they are falling off. I need to pick them and get rid of them before they attract fruit flies.
I still have two tomatoes, but they are on their last legs. I have to reset the containers to plant the next set of tomatoes. I am only going to plant three tomatoes this time. Five was too many.
I am still harvesting a few okra pods everyday. I still have some ripe tomatoes, lemons, limes, calamansi, chard,perpetual spinach,eggplant, peppers, herbs, and I need to harvest the araimo. Ginger is blooming, so is the turmeric ( so they can be harvested anytime now). I can harvest the sweet potato leaves as well as the katuk. The roselle may not last much longer, but it got a late start.
I am putting in my fall garden slower to try to space the harvest out better. I have planted some things 2 cucumbers, carrots, Tokyo Bekana, some lettuce seeds. lacinato kale, some peppers, broccoli ( I had too many plants.) I thought some of the seedlings would not make it , but all of them did. I may have a problem later, or the snails will solve the problem for me.
I started cilantro from the seeds I saved earlier this year and they germinated pretty well.
I am sterilizing the soil in the pots. I broke my microwave in the process. I am going to try to sterilize it with physan 20. I could only get a small bottle since amazon won't ship the gallon. I can try to see if it is available locally. Some of the pots, I will just dump the soil in the front yard rather than try to sterilize them. I don't have a lot of soil mix, but I will try to get more. I replanted some of the towers pockets with bush beans, chard, and lettuce. I left some pockets open for later and some of the older chard will be coming out after I harvest it.
I planted a few carrots, Tokyo bekana, radish, bok choi, as under plantings under cucumbers, peas (which failed to sprout, so I replanted it), and peppers.
The zucchini bit the dust. I did forget to water a couple of days and that might have done it in. I will try and replant the pot. The pot had volunteer tomatoes in it, but that pot has a narrow base and falls down if it has a tall trellis on it.
The other zucchini (Dunja) is producing fruit again. I did put out slug bait since the snails have been getting most of the fruit before I do. It is slowly creeping. It is about 5 feet long now.
The lemons, limes, and calamansi are all fruiting. In fact the fruit are so ripe they are falling off. I need to pick them and get rid of them before they attract fruit flies.
I still have two tomatoes, but they are on their last legs. I have to reset the containers to plant the next set of tomatoes. I am only going to plant three tomatoes this time. Five was too many.
I am still harvesting a few okra pods everyday. I still have some ripe tomatoes, lemons, limes, calamansi, chard,perpetual spinach,eggplant, peppers, herbs, and I need to harvest the araimo. Ginger is blooming, so is the turmeric ( so they can be harvested anytime now). I can harvest the sweet potato leaves as well as the katuk. The roselle may not last much longer, but it got a late start.
I went grocery shopping today at Pacific Market which sells ethnic foods from Asia and India. Sorry, Mexican has their own market.
I went to get fresh shrimp. While I was there I got dark soy sauce, pho seasoning, sambal oeleck (hot chili sauce), and I found a bun long taro corm. I have been looking for it for a long time. The taro were not in the best shape. Some were very light and dry and some had signs of fungal disease setting in. I could only find two pieces that looked like they had viable eyes. None of them had usable hulis (top of the taro plant with part of the stem and the top of the root.)
Normally, taro is grown from huli or the top of the taro corm. I am going to plant the corm and hope the eyes have enough life left in them to sprout. Bun Long or Chinese taro can be grown as upland taro. It is the most common taro grown for its leaves. The root and taro both have to be cooked to death. Taro has oxalate acids in both the leaves and taro that would make your mouth itchy if you eat it raw. All taro have oxalate acids, the ones that are less edible have more and that is why they are usually not eaten. Or why some taro are grown for either their leaves, stems, or root. Bun Long is a smaller taro than Samoan Taro, which I grew a lot of leaves of before. My soil has too much nitrogen. I have grown Bun Long before. All parts are edible including the leaves, stem and root. It is not a poi taro. I use is more for stews or braising like pork and taro. It is used in the dish like a potato only it takes longer to fall apart than a potato. I will get smaller corms in a pots but I can put more potassium and calcium in the pot and control the nitrogen better. It is also hard to kill taro once it establishes in the ground, so I want it to be contained. If it doesn't work, then I might have to take a trip to Chinatown and see if I can find a fresher specimen there. Since this taro has appeared in the market, it may be time for harvesting. Taro usually takes 7-9 months to mature.
BTW, I still have to harvest my araimo aka dasheen before the mother corm gets eaten by the keiki.
I went to get fresh shrimp. While I was there I got dark soy sauce, pho seasoning, sambal oeleck (hot chili sauce), and I found a bun long taro corm. I have been looking for it for a long time. The taro were not in the best shape. Some were very light and dry and some had signs of fungal disease setting in. I could only find two pieces that looked like they had viable eyes. None of them had usable hulis (top of the taro plant with part of the stem and the top of the root.)
Normally, taro is grown from huli or the top of the taro corm. I am going to plant the corm and hope the eyes have enough life left in them to sprout. Bun Long or Chinese taro can be grown as upland taro. It is the most common taro grown for its leaves. The root and taro both have to be cooked to death. Taro has oxalate acids in both the leaves and taro that would make your mouth itchy if you eat it raw. All taro have oxalate acids, the ones that are less edible have more and that is why they are usually not eaten. Or why some taro are grown for either their leaves, stems, or root. Bun Long is a smaller taro than Samoan Taro, which I grew a lot of leaves of before. My soil has too much nitrogen. I have grown Bun Long before. All parts are edible including the leaves, stem and root. It is not a poi taro. I use is more for stews or braising like pork and taro. It is used in the dish like a potato only it takes longer to fall apart than a potato. I will get smaller corms in a pots but I can put more potassium and calcium in the pot and control the nitrogen better. It is also hard to kill taro once it establishes in the ground, so I want it to be contained. If it doesn't work, then I might have to take a trip to Chinatown and see if I can find a fresher specimen there. Since this taro has appeared in the market, it may be time for harvesting. Taro usually takes 7-9 months to mature.
BTW, I still have to harvest my araimo aka dasheen before the mother corm gets eaten by the keiki.
I have almost got most of the fall garden planted. 1 planted the last of the three cucumbers. The first and second are producing cucumbers now. I have one more tomato plant to pull. I have pulled out 4, planted 2 buckets and a tomato is volunteering in my pea pot. The peas are a not happy so that will probably be my 3rd mystery tomato. One of the tomatoes is valentine and other is New Big dwarf. I need to pull out the sun King.
I have planted two taro. One is bun long, the other I don't know, but it was a healthy root. It is actually a shame to have to plant the root, but I don't have huli (tops).
I finally planted the contender beans in the main garden. It is almost fully planted out now. I have already planted the broccoli and peppers.
I pulled out the two tomatoes and what is left are a perpetual spinach, chard, toscano kale and cutting celery. The curly vates kale is shrinking. The papaya is crowding it out.
I pulled out the two Okra in one container and replanted it with provider beans. I cut the remainning two okra down because I can no longer reach the op.
I planted a Poamoho Dark Long eggplant in a different pot.
Tokyo bekana was a secondary plant for the pepper pot, but right now the pepper is being dwarfed by the bekana.
Cilantro is less than an inch tall.
I replanted the new zucchini. It bit the dust. I replanted it with Partenon. So now I have one Partenon and one Dunja zucchini.
I have reseeded the tower garden pockets with lettuce and bush beans. The birds have been eating the bean tips. I had to pull the Poamoho beans out because all the tips were gone and replanted the pot. I had to put bird netting around the trellis.
All I have to do is pull out the Sun King tomato, replant the snow peas, and clean up more of the smaller empty pots. Transplant some of the cutting, and work on the flower garden that is being invaded by the grass, harvest the araimo, and ginger. For now, that is on the short list of things to do.
But before that, I locked myself out of the house accidentally today. So now, I have to clean up the garage too, or at least re stack the mess. I have already put the screens back on and made new back up keys.
I have planted two taro. One is bun long, the other I don't know, but it was a healthy root. It is actually a shame to have to plant the root, but I don't have huli (tops).
I finally planted the contender beans in the main garden. It is almost fully planted out now. I have already planted the broccoli and peppers.
I pulled out the two tomatoes and what is left are a perpetual spinach, chard, toscano kale and cutting celery. The curly vates kale is shrinking. The papaya is crowding it out.
I pulled out the two Okra in one container and replanted it with provider beans. I cut the remainning two okra down because I can no longer reach the op.
I planted a Poamoho Dark Long eggplant in a different pot.
Tokyo bekana was a secondary plant for the pepper pot, but right now the pepper is being dwarfed by the bekana.
Cilantro is less than an inch tall.
I replanted the new zucchini. It bit the dust. I replanted it with Partenon. So now I have one Partenon and one Dunja zucchini.
I have reseeded the tower garden pockets with lettuce and bush beans. The birds have been eating the bean tips. I had to pull the Poamoho beans out because all the tips were gone and replanted the pot. I had to put bird netting around the trellis.
All I have to do is pull out the Sun King tomato, replant the snow peas, and clean up more of the smaller empty pots. Transplant some of the cutting, and work on the flower garden that is being invaded by the grass, harvest the araimo, and ginger. For now, that is on the short list of things to do.
But before that, I locked myself out of the house accidentally today. So now, I have to clean up the garage too, or at least re stack the mess. I have already put the screens back on and made new back up keys.
People here always grow green onions from the roots from the grocery store. You can stick it in a cup with just a little water and the roots and top will start growing in a few days. Too much water around the stalk will make it mushy. I have never grown green onions totally in water since it lacks nutrients, but they transplant fine. I usually grow my green onions from seed because, I want the thinner leaves for garnishing. As the onions get older, the leaves get fatter and tougher.
At the farm I worked at we did grow leeks in the biofilter (cinder bed). It was an aquaponic bed with an ebb and flow system. Kratky can work. the hardest part with onions is getting them to stand up. If the net pot has a supporting media like oasis, rockwool or hydroton, it should work fine. It can be seeded into peat plugs and then transplanted to the net pots once they have enough tops and roots.
I don't like to use peat moss in Kratky systems because it makes the tank dirty. The system does have to kept clean. If any fungal or bacterial disease sets in, then the roots will turn brown and the plants will die.
The the UH garden I volunteer at they plant lettuce and pak choy in the static hydro system (basically a Kratky without an aerator). They use seedlings planted in peat based potting mix because it is cheaper than oasis) You have to be careful not to over fill the reservoir. Only about 1/4 inch of the net pot is actually touching the water. The rest of the water travels by wicking. The master blend or Chem-gro, Calcium nitrate, an epsom salt is calculated for the 20 gal tank. Tested with an ec meter (on occasion). Each fertilizer must be added in separately or it won't dissolve properly and that makes the concentration go out of whack. The lettuce is usually ready to harvest in about a month. The lettuce looks nice and they do grow heat tolerant varieties. But lettuce in our summer heat is tough and bitter. It tastes much better when the peak temperatures are less than 75 degrees at maturity.
You can set up a small system in a storage tote. You would have to calculate the amount of fertilizer needed based on the size of the reservoir. The hydroponic fertilizers are expensive and suppliers here are limited. But it is available online as well.
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/vc-1.pdf
https://kratkymethodofhydroponics.com/c ... ky-method/
At the farm I worked at we did grow leeks in the biofilter (cinder bed). It was an aquaponic bed with an ebb and flow system. Kratky can work. the hardest part with onions is getting them to stand up. If the net pot has a supporting media like oasis, rockwool or hydroton, it should work fine. It can be seeded into peat plugs and then transplanted to the net pots once they have enough tops and roots.
I don't like to use peat moss in Kratky systems because it makes the tank dirty. The system does have to kept clean. If any fungal or bacterial disease sets in, then the roots will turn brown and the plants will die.
The the UH garden I volunteer at they plant lettuce and pak choy in the static hydro system (basically a Kratky without an aerator). They use seedlings planted in peat based potting mix because it is cheaper than oasis) You have to be careful not to over fill the reservoir. Only about 1/4 inch of the net pot is actually touching the water. The rest of the water travels by wicking. The master blend or Chem-gro, Calcium nitrate, an epsom salt is calculated for the 20 gal tank. Tested with an ec meter (on occasion). Each fertilizer must be added in separately or it won't dissolve properly and that makes the concentration go out of whack. The lettuce is usually ready to harvest in about a month. The lettuce looks nice and they do grow heat tolerant varieties. But lettuce in our summer heat is tough and bitter. It tastes much better when the peak temperatures are less than 75 degrees at maturity.
You can set up a small system in a storage tote. You would have to calculate the amount of fertilizer needed based on the size of the reservoir. The hydroponic fertilizers are expensive and suppliers here are limited. But it is available online as well.
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/vc-1.pdf
https://kratkymethodofhydroponics.com/c ... ky-method/
Today, I got my first strawberry from my strawberry plants in the tower. The ones planted on the sunny side are doing better than the ones on the shady side. I bought turntables for the towers. I will put them on when I get around to redoing the towers again. I took off the mover. I can't turn the tower on the pavers and without the pavers the wheels sink into the mud when it rains and the tower ends up falling.
I cut back the remaining two okra plants since they were too tall to pick easily. Now, they are branching out a bit.
I also picked two cucumbers. One was turning yellow, so it went to the worms. Hopefully, it did not stop the cucumber from producing. I picked another cucumber, but I had too many leftovers to eat it today.
I did not do much in the garden today except water the plants and pull a few weeds. I cleaned the house, went to the bank and post office, and did some cleaning in the garage. I threw out a couple of things, but I still kept way too many. The garbage can is full and I only cleaned a narrow strip in the garage. I did find a lot of potting soil, fertilizers and chemicals that I forgot about. I can use some of it in the yard. I had a half a bag of crumbles, chicken and steer manure, potting soil, and some hapuu bark.
In the garden, I still have a couple of pots to replant and a tomato to take out. Everytime I think the tomato is done, it surprises me and starts putting out more tomatoes. I really did not expect that from a determinate tomato.
Most of the pots I have already planted have sprouted. and some are ready to harvest. Provider and maxibel beans, carrots, Tokyo Bekana, lettuce, cucumber, cilantro, garlic, beets, and daikon have all started to sprout or are half grown. The Bekana is already ready to harvest.
I put the tree bag over the provider beans and carrots to keep the snails and birds out.
I just planted the contender beans in the main garden, but the broccoli and peppers that were transplanted have already doubled in size. I have to trim off more of the leaves of the chard and check the peppers for bacterial spot after the recent rain.
I still have not seen the zucchini. I may have a problem with that pot. I may have to change the soil again in that pot. It may have issues. Some of the lettuce and contender beans have yet to sprout. But they were not planted that long ago. They may need more time. The zucchini fruit rotted. I need to pick them very small to keep this from happening.
The Asparagus plant I have is a female, but I have so few plants that I am going to let it go to seed.
Today was a nice sunny day. There will be a few nice days before we get more rain next weekend. In the meantime, my "dead" grass in the front yard has mostly sprung back to life and as usual needs to be weed whacked. There is a large patch that I top dressed with the soil from the pots I have redone, I may have to plug in some of the grass so the weeds don't take over before the grass can grow back in.
I have a couple of orchids blooming. Both are nodosa cultivars. One is brassocatley nodosa "Little Stars". The other is a lavender nodosa that I don't remeber the name of. The popcorn oncidium is acting crazy again and it putting up not only spikes which is normal, but also a couple of them are actually getting ready to bloom months ahead of schedule. The eria bloomed again for the fifth time. That is the most I have ever seen that orchid bloom in a year. I also have a couple of catleyas in sheath. One of the sheaths may be empty. I will have to wait and see if a bud develops. I only picked up one orchid at the last show. They were very expensive considering they were only seedlings. I got an oncidium for a good price and it should be blooming next year. The box stores have mostly dendrobiums and phalaenopsis (noname). I may still pickup some of the marked down ones, but I have most of those colors already. My vandas are multiplying like crazy though. Even my succulents are blooming for the second time this year. Again, it is unexpected for them to bloom more than once a year. I do have a few more honohono orchid keiki that I can pot up. They will won't bloom until 2024.
The miracle berry just fruited. The papaya is definitely muscling out the kale.
The rain sagged the top of the ajaka basil again. I am going to try to make cutting from it before cutting it back. It is a tree basil, but it is getting old so I don't know how many times more it will tolerate the heavy pruning. The bottom 3 ft is very woody now.
The weed block, is not intended for heavy traffic and there are sections that are tattered and I have to get around to replacing it sometime.
The roses in the front yard are not growing or blooming. I haven't watered the front yard regularly. The grass is invading the border, so I will need to work on that as well. The bees are foraging in the front yard every day. I have to work around their schedule.
I cut back the remaining two okra plants since they were too tall to pick easily. Now, they are branching out a bit.
I also picked two cucumbers. One was turning yellow, so it went to the worms. Hopefully, it did not stop the cucumber from producing. I picked another cucumber, but I had too many leftovers to eat it today.
I did not do much in the garden today except water the plants and pull a few weeds. I cleaned the house, went to the bank and post office, and did some cleaning in the garage. I threw out a couple of things, but I still kept way too many. The garbage can is full and I only cleaned a narrow strip in the garage. I did find a lot of potting soil, fertilizers and chemicals that I forgot about. I can use some of it in the yard. I had a half a bag of crumbles, chicken and steer manure, potting soil, and some hapuu bark.
In the garden, I still have a couple of pots to replant and a tomato to take out. Everytime I think the tomato is done, it surprises me and starts putting out more tomatoes. I really did not expect that from a determinate tomato.
Most of the pots I have already planted have sprouted. and some are ready to harvest. Provider and maxibel beans, carrots, Tokyo Bekana, lettuce, cucumber, cilantro, garlic, beets, and daikon have all started to sprout or are half grown. The Bekana is already ready to harvest.
I put the tree bag over the provider beans and carrots to keep the snails and birds out.
I just planted the contender beans in the main garden, but the broccoli and peppers that were transplanted have already doubled in size. I have to trim off more of the leaves of the chard and check the peppers for bacterial spot after the recent rain.
I still have not seen the zucchini. I may have a problem with that pot. I may have to change the soil again in that pot. It may have issues. Some of the lettuce and contender beans have yet to sprout. But they were not planted that long ago. They may need more time. The zucchini fruit rotted. I need to pick them very small to keep this from happening.
The Asparagus plant I have is a female, but I have so few plants that I am going to let it go to seed.
Today was a nice sunny day. There will be a few nice days before we get more rain next weekend. In the meantime, my "dead" grass in the front yard has mostly sprung back to life and as usual needs to be weed whacked. There is a large patch that I top dressed with the soil from the pots I have redone, I may have to plug in some of the grass so the weeds don't take over before the grass can grow back in.
I have a couple of orchids blooming. Both are nodosa cultivars. One is brassocatley nodosa "Little Stars". The other is a lavender nodosa that I don't remeber the name of. The popcorn oncidium is acting crazy again and it putting up not only spikes which is normal, but also a couple of them are actually getting ready to bloom months ahead of schedule. The eria bloomed again for the fifth time. That is the most I have ever seen that orchid bloom in a year. I also have a couple of catleyas in sheath. One of the sheaths may be empty. I will have to wait and see if a bud develops. I only picked up one orchid at the last show. They were very expensive considering they were only seedlings. I got an oncidium for a good price and it should be blooming next year. The box stores have mostly dendrobiums and phalaenopsis (noname). I may still pickup some of the marked down ones, but I have most of those colors already. My vandas are multiplying like crazy though. Even my succulents are blooming for the second time this year. Again, it is unexpected for them to bloom more than once a year. I do have a few more honohono orchid keiki that I can pot up. They will won't bloom until 2024.
The miracle berry just fruited. The papaya is definitely muscling out the kale.
The rain sagged the top of the ajaka basil again. I am going to try to make cutting from it before cutting it back. It is a tree basil, but it is getting old so I don't know how many times more it will tolerate the heavy pruning. The bottom 3 ft is very woody now.
The weed block, is not intended for heavy traffic and there are sections that are tattered and I have to get around to replacing it sometime.
The roses in the front yard are not growing or blooming. I haven't watered the front yard regularly. The grass is invading the border, so I will need to work on that as well. The bees are foraging in the front yard every day. I have to work around their schedule.
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7429
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Put a space blanket on north side of strawberry plants it reflects sun like a mirror onto the dark side of your strawberry plants.imafan26 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:36 amToday, I got my first strawberry from my strawberry plants in the tower. The ones planted on the sunny side are doing better than the ones on the shady side. I bought turntables for the towers. I will put them on when I get around to redoing the towers again. I took off the mover. I can't turn the tower on the pavers and without the pavers the wheels sink into the mud when it rains and the tower ends up falling.