The main box on 5/30/09

After yesterday's problems, it sure did brighten my day to have 2 new followers of the blog. Happy Hermit and Rosey Pollen - Welcome, and thanks for being interested in my ramblings!

Anyway, here's some things that are doing good....
This section is still doing quite well, especially the corn. That cabbage is gonna have to be pulled in about 2 weeks, 'cause it's really getting cramped in this small space. My wacky idea of interplanting has worked well, though! Ha!




Photo below - the beans, squash, okra, and lettuce are still doing great also, and as you can see on the right - the beans are going absolutely bonkers! Man....I hope the little okra seedlings amongst the lettuce get enough sunshine....I'll pull that lettuce this week, so that should open things up a bit.


Here's another shot of the beans/okra/lettuce.

Here's a shot of the carrots and cucumbers. The little cucumber vines have latched onto the trellis, and blooms are everywhere....I even saw a little bumblebee visiting them this morning. Yay!!!

Photo below - The melon box. The vines in the center that have outgrown the rest are sugar bowl - which get to about 20-25 lbs. The others are doing better, and should begin to run in a few days.

Lastly, I'd like to say that some shed building posts will be coming up this week, and I hope you enjoy them.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

Problems in the garden

Ya know, I try my absolute best to take care of the garden - but things are just gonna happen occasionally. Over the last week, the first Cherokee Purple tomatoes began to show signs of blossom end rot.....I've thought long and hard about why it happened, and came to the conclusion that it is because of the fluctuating rainfall amounts of late. You see, my wicking baskets are restricted to keep the soil moisture content in the "moist" range (which they do very well), but because of the type mulch I'm using - any rainfall at all will be added to the soil in the earthtainer. A light rain wouldn't be much of a concern, but everytime it's rained over the past 3 weeks - it's been alot! Also, some of the leaves on a couple of plants starting showing signs of a magnesium deficiency. Well, after adding dolomitic lime and epsom salt, I now have some leaf curl. Dangit! After researching some University publications, I've discovered that too much magnesium can keep the plants from getting the proper calcium uptake. (which causes BER).
Crap!

So....my next step is to completely flush all nutrients from the soil, then add some nitrate of soda, which only has nitrogen, and calcium in it.

I quit applying BT to the cabbage 3 or 4 weeks ago, because I figured they would have reached maturitry by now. One of the heads was attacked by cabbage worms, and they really did a number on it. Boo!!!!!! Needless to say, I soaked them with BT after finding that! Ha!

Now, for the sweet potato slips.....When they were planted in the 100% compost the other day, I didn't water them. Hey, I figured they would be ok for a day or two - because compost retains moisture quite well. Well, all it took was 1 blazing hot day of 100% sunshine, and 80% of them succumbed to the heat. I'll have to resort to taking some cuttings later from the remaining 3 plants, and see if they will root for me.

Everything else is doing well, but a lack of bees this morning caused me to have to hand pollinate the squash flowers that were open. I sure hope they show up like last year.

Well, it's getting late, and I should hit the sack. Tomorrow is a busy, busy day!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

Fruit progression

Ya know, it's a good thing that I planted several different types of fruiting vines, bushes, and trees a few years back - because we're almost guaranteed to get something every year. As you already know, the plum and pear trees bloomed too early in the year, and weren't pollinated - but several other things are gonna produce well. The most impressive harvests will come from the muscadine grapes, and wild blackberries. Anyway, here are some photos.....



Photo below - Man....As I stated in an earlier video, this muscadine grape harvest is gonna be a big one! My early projection is at least (2) 5 gallon buckets full - maybe even three.....At least one will be used for jelly, and another for homemade wine (maybe). Dad and I last made grape jelly about 10 years ago, and it was soooooo good! Of course, i'll post about it.....



Photo below - Although it isn't concerning fruit, it is about one of my bee friends. This is a little sweat bee, and it can pollinate vegetables, as well. They really liked my melon flowers last year.

Photo below - a shot of a little cluster of blackberries. I figure in 2 weeks - the first berries will begin to mature. Boy....I sure do dread the countless hours of picking them, but the rewards are definitely worth it! I'll be making the first batch of jam pretty soon...Woo Hoo!

Photo below - The blueberries are doing fantastic! We should be able to harvest enough to make muffins, and add to breakfast cereal or pancakes (Thanks to the bird netting!)

Photo below - I noticed one of the limbs of a pear tree bent down, and after closer inspection - realized there was a pear on it. Can you believe it? Ha! One stinkin' pear....I'm claiming it for myself.....

On Saturday, i'll be traveling to Hartselle, Alabama - where i'll be a judge in the regional 4-H competition. It should be alot of fun, and hopefully I can take a few photos.

In gardening news, I have just planted my sweet potato slips where the red potatoes were located. They may fail miserably, but I had no choice with the location. We'll just have to wait and see if it will be a problem, I guess. The final summer garden planting will take place in 2 weeks, which will be the pumpkins. I'm hoping the timing will be right for maturity during the 2nd or 3rd week of October. Jack-O-lantern, small ornamental, and a large type (that I don't know the name of) will be the varieties grown, and will be trellised - of course.

Speaking of trellises....a pole bean vine has already reached the top of it's 4 foot trellis, and has latched on to one of the bamboo extensions I installed a while back. One of the melon vines, and cucumbers have latched on, as well.....Cool! I felt like saying to the little vines "there ya go little fella, I built this just for you." Hee Hee...

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

The construction of the shed, part 1

If you've followed me from my old blog - you know that I build all kinds of things, mainly as a hobby - and only for our own use. It's been a while since my carpentry tools have seen action, but that's about to change. Several posts will be dedicated to this construction (maybe 6 - 8 ?), and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do showing the progress, and tutorial.


On Sunday, it's shed building time! The sub-floor was constructed over a year ago, with thoughts of sitting another metal building on top (like the one to the right). They work great for keeping seldomly used household items in, but those metal buildings don't fit my needs for tool storage and plant propagation. (Plus, I keep hitting my head on the roof of the metal building). Anyway, i'll have to construct this shed by myself - with only my handy little clamps, a hammer, circular saw, and nails. Here's the sub-floor...



I finally had time to make a decent drawing of the stud walls. The rear and sides will be constructed exactly like this....




Before the stud walls can be built, I'll have to layout the sole plate locations on the sub-floor. With a chalk line, measuring tape, and Pythagorean Theorem - the boundary lines for the walls were marked, and perfectly square. I can't stress enough how important this is. Without it, the rest of the construction will be a complete nightmare! In a right angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the squares of the other 2 sides. It is commonly referred to, as the "3-4-5" method (and 6-8-10 works even better, where possible)...

The front wall will be constructed like this, and it's a little bit more troublesome, as you can see from the drawing below. The rough-in for the door has to be beefed up to provide support for the weight of the door and roof, so it won't sag. Installing the header, cripple studs, and trimmer are my least favorite part of the whole construction. It's gotta be done, though.

Take care, and happy building!

EG

A pretty wordless post

Although I don't have time to write something about these pictures, I still wanted to show how everything is progressing. I wanted to say to my readers, that I'm so sorry.....I worked from 7 am 'til 9 pm yesterday...

Cynthia - thanks for following!





EG

The tomatoes on 5/25/09

My Dad (age 75) absolutely loves tomatoes. For years, it was the only thing he would attempt to grow in the small plot that I fixed for him. Better Boy was always the variety grown, and his yield was less than impressive - mainly because of the weeds, poor soil, and misunderstanding of proper tomato growing culture. After last year's gardening success with sfg'ing, I told him "Oh...just wait 'til next year, I'll grow the best tomatoes you've ever seen." Well...thanks to the Earthtainers and recent Master Gardener classes I attended, things are working well. Dad comments almost daily, about how healthy the plants look - especially the dark green color of the foliage. Pretty soon he'll get to try his first Cherokee Purple tomato, and I can't wait to see his expression.....Anyway, this section of the garden is for him. In these 4 earthtainers, I have 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 Brandywine, 3 Mortgage Lifter, and 1 Big Boy.


Photo below - One of my 5 little Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

Photo below - Here's a closeup of one of the Brandywine leaves.

Photo below - The paste tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers. (These are for me)

Lastly, here's the Cherokee Purple sucker that was rooted a few weeks ago...It's doing quite well amongst the paste tomatoes.

Some final words.....I really thought that this week would allow more time for gardening and blogging, but no. There's just so much to do right now with work, and also the refrigeration project I've been working on during the evenings. I've read everyone's blogs, but have left few comments.....I'm really sorry for that. Hopefully, i'll be able to soon. BTW, the shed construction will start this weekend, and i'll dedicate several detailed posts about it.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

Back to work

Well....it was good to relax for a while, but it's back to work for EG. There's alot of stuff to talk about, and I really appreciate the kind words from everyone. Amy and crystalhawk - thanks for following! I normally post everyday, but had to take a short break...Amy, yes...you have definitely been in my area. I hope you got to see everything that's in the area, because alot of it is quite beautiful.
In gardening news, I have tons of photos from the weekend, and wanted to show some random ones for this post. Anyway...here goes.


The last rain barrel that was contructed was no more than 20 feet from the main garden box, so I hooked a garden hose to the spigot and have been watering with it. It comes out pretty slow, but I have plenty of time to water - so, no big deal.


Photo below - I finally got the flowerbed out front planted with roses and shrubs, and it should all fill out nicely in a year or two. Some annual pruning will be needed, though - to keep everything in the 3'x3' area that was alotted for each.

Photo below - I just had to take this photo. It's a rare occasion for Jude to sit still for any length of time, and couldn't pass up the opportunity. She's so pretty......

Photo below - Ok....I've got alot to say about the next 2 photos. Although I get alot of UCG's from work, I really wanted to get my hands on some high quality grass clippings - and alot of it, to get this compost pile heated up. What I did, was drove thru the most "high-to-do" neighborhood I knew of during my lunch break one day, in search of some already bagged, weed - free turfgrass clippings. Oh my....the lawns really looked well kept, and probably cost more than our house! Boy, I felt like the neighborhood watch people would get me when I threw 2 really large bags of grass clippings in the back of my "not so pretty, completely out of place, big redneck pickup truck." Anyway, I hope they liked my heavy metal music as I left the scene....Ha! One bag was put into the pile of leaves, and turned over a few times. In the second photo, you can see the other bag of clippings, and also 11lbs of UCG's in the black bag. We're set now! Woo Doggie!

Photo below - I just had to pull the red potatoes out of the earthtainer scrap planters, because I have sweet potatoes to plant, dangit! Hee Hee..Pretty impressive, ain't it? All 4.4 lbs. of them...Oh well...maybe we can make tater tots with 'em. Ha!

Photo below - I started making my own slips from a store-bought sweet potato around the middle of March, and these little things were almost ready for planting.

Photo below - a few days with their feet soaking in this little bowl of water should make them produce their own roots, and then they'll be planted. I'm hoping they'll be ready to harvest in September.

I'll try to get another post in when I get the chance, but in the meantime - Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

I'm resting this weekend

Fourteen hour workdays, and only 5 hours of sleep each night will eventually catch up with a person - even me. I need a break. I really, really need a break.....All week long, nothing has been done in the garden, except a quick walk-thru every morning and evening (to make sure nothing bad is happening, of course). No time for pictures, and the video problems right now are just gonna have to remain unresolved until I can find some breathing room. I'll get pictures this weekend, one way or another, though. I'm reading everyone's blogs, but don't have time to comment on most. I'm just not able to do the things that I normally do right now - even reply to the comments left for mine.

Daylilyfanatic - welcome to the blog, and thanks for following!

Next week will be back to normal, thankfully....

EG

No video

My video uploading woes continue..../sigh

EG

problem with video

I have been trying to load a video of the blackberry patch for 2 nights now, and it keeps coming up with an error.....Dangit! I'm gonna try a different one tonight, and see if it's corrupt or something.



I'd like to give a big ol' welcome to Shirley, momma_s, Shannon, and lilegyptiangoddess. Thanks for following the blog!

Now, for a few words about what is going on around here right now.......

Most of my evenings have been spent working on the weird refrigeration unit for a friend, and i'll have it finished sometime later in the week. After it's complete, i'll start on the shed! Woo Hoo! I need to build something, because I'm having withdrawal symptoms...Ha!

Ok....for the garden news - The mystery eggs on the apple tree leaf are still there, and I check their status every morning - and evening. I would crush them, but would hate for them to actually be a beneficial insect of some kind. That would suck, for sure!

Four more cabbage plants have been removed from the garden, and that still leaves 13 plants total. I just felt that they were at least a week behind the others...Oh well, that's still more than enough to make sauerkraut with. The tomatoes are still doing well, and have been enjoying the abundance of sunshine this week. Blooms are everywhere, but no tomatoes yet....The Cherokee Purple seedling that replaced the sick roma plant is still doing well, and has new growth. Man...I love rooting cuttings!

I've also rooted 4 suckers from the Opalka plants, and may switch them with the existing plants later. That would give me a fresh start, once the brutal heat of summer shows up late July. That's one good thing about my location - you can get in 2 different crops of most warm weather vegetables.

Well...that's about all that's going on....Now, to start loading another video!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

A quick post between videos

I'll load up another video tonight, but wanted to write a few things in the meantime....

Granny mentioned posting a video of her own, and I sure hope she does....boy, she sure does talk funny! Ha!

Anyway, it's gonna be 42 here tonight, and although it won't cause any damage - it will surely slow the tomato plant growth....Ya gotta love this global warming thing! The diseased roma plant was pulled yesterday, and a Cherokee Purple seedling was put in it's place. I'll have to purchase another tomato cage, now...
I've also rooted 4 suckers from the Opalka plants, and will have them as backup to my current paste tomato planting. I always like to have a plan B.

I've noticed a couple more people have chosen to follow the blog. Thank you! Man...that makes me feel really good...

As you can tell from my videos, I am indeed - a bonafide redneck. I certainly write alot better than I talk, that's for sure! One time in Oklahoma, I was explaining a very technical programming language to an individual, and he looked at me and asked "Are you really from Alabama?" Aw man....that made me laugh really hard...Just because someone talks funny, doesn't mean they're ignorant..Heh. Another person saw me successfully program a piece of equipment in record time, and then stated "You know....you're a whole lot smarter than you look". I shook his hand, thanked him.....and told him that he just made my day....Stuff like that frequently happened when I was a traveling service technician. I'll have to do a video of something technical sometime, and let you get a good laugh from it.

Anyway, back to the home front....My construction projects are getting backed up - mainly because of a couple of pieces of industrial equipment I'm working on for a friend. They are chillers for an exothermic generator, and take alot of time to assemble. I'll start on the shed again once they are finished, and should have it done sometime before fall. Taking care of the upkeep on 2 homes gets to be a challenge sometimes, and I'm always doing something for my parents, as well. Busy, busy, busy......

I'd like to address the nasty comment that a person left for my good friend sinfonian on his blog.....People have differing opinions sometimes, but that doesn't mean that a person should go out of their way to grudgingly make a point. I commend sinfonian for his willingness to post the rude comment, as I wouldn't allow it on mine. This "farmer" obviously has some kind of deficiency or something.....maybe he needs a "Happy Meal?" Ha....Because Sinfonian is my friend, I kinda feel like he did it to me, too. It's just like my Daddy always told me..." son, there's always an ass in the bunch." This is definitely true.....

EG

Paste tomatoes on May 16

Here's a short video of the paste tomatoes. The sick roma was pulled later in the day....Of course, one of the Cherokee Purple suckers that were rooted 3 weeks ago was put in it's place....

Oh! I wanted to say that narrating a video is quite difficult sometimes, especially since I don't have any software to edit them with. It's a real challenge to think up what to say as the recording is being done.

Sorry for the cough in the video!

A quick post before the weekend

First of all, i'd like to welcome 2 new followers of the blog! To be "followed" is really cool!

Now. Let's talk gardening stuff! I'm really surprised that people think my cabbage looks great, because I walk out to the garden each day, and think "hmm...the fall garden looked much better than this one". Regardless though...Thanks for the compliments!

What else? Let's see...the roma plant with the really yellow blotches on the leaves has had some epsom salt added around it, in hopes that it might be deficient of magnesium just a little. That's the only thing I could come up with, because none of the foliar disease pictures I've seen look anything like these.

Thanks to a reader named greenscape, I have a totally different outlook on the term "self watering container" now. I always listen to others' thoughts and opinions about a subject that is somewhat new to me, but remain very analytical as well. Thanks, dude.

The wind from the various storm systems coming thru here, is bending the corn over just a little. This, of course - would be the 16 stalks in the earthtainer scrap pieces, that are located at the edge of the woods. Looks like i'll be supporting them very soon!

Oh! I almost forgot.....Small blackberries have already formed on the wild plants next to the property. In 2-3 weeks, i'll take the video camera out there, and show you the bounty for the taking! Woo Hoo! This year will be all about blackberries, blueberries, and muscadine grapes.

The tomato plants are growing like crazy, and I have already extended the cages for the (hopefully) massive plants. They haven't reached the top of the first cage....I just like to always be prepared. Ha!

Lastly, I just noticed that it's gonna be 45 degrees one night next week...Is that not crazy? No biggie, but I bet it will slow down the growth of everything for a while.

Have a great weekend!

EG

The main garden on 5/12/09

First of all, let me say that I appreciate the belated birthday wishes from everyone!

Now.....major changes have taken place in the main garden since last photos were taken. You'll notice that several cabbage have been removed - as those particular plants were way behind the others in development. Several outer leaves on the remaining plants have been removed as well, to allow the interplanted corn to get more sunshine (when it's not raining). In this first photo, there are a few carrots (that aren't doing much of anything), 7 cucumber plants on each side of the trellis, and of course the remaining cabbage and corn. I'll get to those beans you see in the back in the next photo...


Here's 2 of the (four total) plantings of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, planted against a trellis. They seem to be doing well, and have begun to attach themselves to the wire mesh. Seeing the yellow leaves reminded me that I need to apply a little bit of fertilizer to them - because you're supposed to do this when each plant has 3 to 4 leaves. OOPS! Like I said before - this is gonna be alot of beans, and I'm sure they'll green up in a week or two!

Photo below - One of the cabbage that has a nice head forming, and several outer leaves removed from one side.

Photos below - theses 2 photos are of some zucchini, that are right beside each other. Because of the constant rainfall over the previous couple of weeks, you can clearly see that the leaves on the plants in the second photo have withered, then died. I know....weird.

Photo below - the 2 remaining plantings of pole beans, against another trellis. These are the ones that were interplanted with lettuce and broccoli, and it sure helped me get a jump start on things! You can tell that the lettuce has been harvested several times, and looks like it's ready for another! This will probably be the last one, though.

Photo below - the broccoli section, that is quite naked-looking! The remaining items are peppers, melons, some volunteer lettuce, and also several okra.

Photo below - The other end of the 25 ft. long bed, that shows the remaining onions, and a couple of cantaloupe plants. Directly in the middle - nasturtium has been planted, as well.

And lastly, here's a closeup of some okra that were interplanted with the broccoli a few weeks ago. They didn't receive much sunlight, but hopefully will take off, now.

This evening, I harvested another 12 oz. of green onions from the garden, and they were used in salads! Sadly though, the fresh greens for salads will no longer be available in another week or two.....It just gets too warm for those types of veggies at that time.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

The smaller garden boxes on 5/12/09

And now, for the smaller garden boxes (that are all over the place!) Ha!

Here are my 16 corn plants that are being grown in earthtainer scrap pieces. About a month ago, I incorrectly stated that they were 16" deep....Well, they are actually 10". Anyway, there's alot to say about this picture.....First off, notice the plants leaning to the right. This is because the plants are located at the edge of the woods, and are growing toward the sun's rays - which are only available for 5 1/2 hours per day. Also, notice the cage around them. These are some 3 sided tomato cages that were put together around the planters, in hopes of supporting the plants as they grow taller. I'll probably use sticks running crossways thru the cage, and tie each plant to them. (Anything to prevent the corn from falling over!) Also, I'll probably drape some bird netting over it, to keep the squirrels out!



Photo below - the 4x9 box next to the woods, that has the white potatoes, and recent planting of cowpeas in it. Man, those taters take a long time to mature! The cowpeas are growing very good, and hopefully will provide plenty for us to eat later.

Photo below - the new melon box, and as you can see - everything has it's true leaves now. The only problem, is that a pest of some kind is doing a little bit of damage to the leaves on some of them. Hmmm....i'll have to apply some pretty aggressive chemicals to solve that problem.

Photo below - The butternut squash in the 18 gallon swc. So far, so good.....Oh! The bare spot in the front right corner is where I planted some nasturtium seed. Hopefully, this will help deter some damaging bugs later...

And finally, here are my parent's red potatoes in the earthtainer scrap pieces. These things need to hurry up, because (even though it's not recommended) I've got sweet potato slips almost ready to plant in their place. I started mine mid-march, and they're pretty much ready! I'll have to take a picture of that, sometime....

Tomorrow, i'll post about the main garden, and lots of changes are taking place in there!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

The tomatoes on 5/12/09

Finally, some pictures of the garden! Since I have so many things out there right now, i'll split everything into 3 separate posts from now on. Here are the tomatoes, which have made a remarkable turn around over the last few weeks. I've applied some mancozeb fungicide to every plant, because as you probably know - none of the heirlooms that I'm growing have any disease resistance whatsoever. Mancozeb addresses most of the problems seen in my area, like - early blight, late blight, septoria leaf spot - and if mixed with copper fungicide, will address bacterial speck and bacterial spot, as well. Anyway, a weekly application of both should keep these foliar diseases at bay - especially since the frequent rainfall of present times are a perfect situation for them to thrive.

Photos below - the big slicer tomato plants. That's Cherokee Purple on the far left, brandywine to the right of those, then "Radiator Charlie's" Mortgage Lifter in the 2 earthtainers on the right. I'm very pleased with the growth of each, and prune any suckers that emerge.

Photo below - here are the Opalka paste tomato plants (in the forefront), that are doing very well. Oh yeah....I wanted to mention that the siphon that maintains the water level in the 4 swc's is still intact. The only thing is, the lines are getting some green - looking buildup inside from the rainwater that has been introduced over the past 2 weeks. With only one application of municipal water though, it's starting to clear up. Sometimes chlorine is a good thing! I'll try to add municipal water at least once per week, and that should keep the lines clear.

Photo below - one of my (3) roma plants that has a little problem right now....I'll have to research this a little, and find out what it is. Sometimes, a nutrient deficiency causes plant leaves to get some "yellowing" to them.

Anyway, that's the current progress report on the tomatoes. I feel that things are right on track, for a bountiful harvest of tomatoes that have never been seen before on our property! Woo Hoo!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG