2020 gardens

[CADplans]

I ripped out the awful plot and removed its more involved hooved rat protection in front. Threw in snow pea and nasturtium seeds and covered with a bit of mulch/compost.

Only put 2 wires back, one at 4 ft and the another at 2 ft spaced about 18" to 2 feet from the inner 4 ft one. Hooved rats have awful depth perception.

Ralph

Ralph, don't blame yourself totally for the poor garden,,
We bought EXPENSIVE Wetsel snow pea seeds,, I planted, nothing happened,,
I germination checked them after that,, (wet paper towel, zip lock plastic bag) the seed must be 10 years old,,
The seeds that germinated were VERY weak,, I think I really only had 2 out of 20 that I would consider good germination.

Wetsel was bought out, someone in Ohio,, so I heard.
Several hardware stores in my area quit handling that brand of seed, because they have received SO many complaints,,

The same with Wetsel green beans, nothing,,
luckily I went to another seed carrying hardware,, they had a different brand of green bean seed,,
I got three varieties, two did great,,

On another note,,
we learned, over a decade ago, that if we get heavy rains, we have to fertilize EVERY TWO WEEKS,,,
One year my garden was looking REAL bad, I visited a neighbor gardener,,
His garden looked like it was growing in the middle of the Amazon, EVERYTHING was perfect.
I asked him his trick,, he watered with Miracle-Grow a couple times a week!!

We gave up on any other fertilizer schedule,, EVERYTHING gets fertilizer on a two week cycle,,

All that time, and effort, if I gotta waste a little fertilizer, so be it,,
We have had very good garden results EVER since the two week feeding started,,

My sweet corn has (well mostly gone now) ears close to 6 feet off the ground,,
the sweet corn plants are 9 to 10 feet high to the tassel,,

We get 19-19-19 at Rockingham COOP,, that is the cheapest way we have found to feed,,
IT DON'T TAKE MUCH! but, you kinda gotta learn how much is enough,,

We even feed the tomatoes like that,, but, VERY little,,
I use an empty plastic 1 liter mouthwash bottle, fill it with the fertilizer, and sprinkle right out of the bottle.
YEP, we feed green beans like that also.

I have WAY TO MUCH $,$$$ invested in gardening to let $10 worth of fertilizer frustrate me,,,

 

[RalphVa]

Well, my 2 HUGE squash plants by our outside shower have finally started growing squash. Only had male blossoms during all the heat. Guess the break in the heat brought out the female blossoms.

I NEVER use Miracle Gro or any chemical fert. Once bought some Miracle Gro soil. Had a great garden that 1st year. Then it was DEAD for the next 4 years because I didn't use any more Miracle Gro, just mulch and compost. Miracle Gro and similar chemical ferts kill all life in the soil. Gotta use it to give the plants anything to grow with. All spelled out in Levinspeil's (sp?) book who used to be a big proponent of Miracle Gro.

Soil I have now has some chicken manure in it, part of their recipe for making it from leaves, limbs, etc. they get from the city of Charlottesville. I've bought some additional dried chicken manure. May buy the 25 # bag of it next year at TSC.

Ralph

 

[oldballs]

As a rule, I fertilize once at planting...using slow release 10-10-10. IIRC I used to side dress corn as it came along. Potatoes get 0-45-0 when seed is planted. This year I've got bumper crops of cukes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, snap peas,....and now the cantaloupe and watermelon are getting ripe.... and the zucchini squash have been coming on for a couple weeks. Carrots and beets are OK , if you can find them in the weeds.

The potatoes were healthy, but not that big....some had little side spuds growing on the main spud...never saw that before. More than average rainfall this year, in between dry spells ...in which case, I have to water with the garden hose...............which is one of the easier and relaxing parts of gardening. I use wheat straw mulch under tomatoes and peppers......and hand hoe the rest of the garden for weeds....as a rule...but sometimes use the walk behind tiller.....and sometimes the weeds get away from me.:confused3:

This year, planting was late due to excess rain, then the distraction of the Covid thing....and then I got a bad case of Shingles

I'd post pictures, but this new computer has me befuddled.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. The Bag Worms on my Cedars are really bad this year. ...I didn't get them sprayed earlier as usual in June....about 1000 feet of trees.

 

[RalphVa]

Bag worms are fun to take out with a small torch.

Should have gotten the shingles vaccine if you had chicken pox. We've both had both shingles vaccines.

I used to never fertilize anything. Didn't need to in that creek overflow soil down below. Found out the dried chicken manure works well here in the raised beds and will continue to use it in future in these newer areas where I put the Panorama Paydirt which has chicken manure in it.

No chemical fert. Use dried blood and sulfur and peat moss mix on the blueberries. Would work on azaleas, too, but why fertilize them? Trees in the forest don't get fertilized.

Ralph

 

[CADplans]

Bag worms are fun to take out with a small torch.

Ralph

Back in the 1950's, I watched my BIL and 3 of his brothers, taking out the worms,,
using a hypodermic needle, gasoline, and a Zippo,,

The hypodermic needle would shoot gas like a squirt gun,,
first soak 'em,, then light the Zippo, and squirt again through the Zippo's flame,,
It looked like a WWII mini flame thrower,, the gas was like napalm,,

Heck, that probably is not legal anymore,,,?

:laughing:

 

[oldballs]

If one pulls the bag off and then squishes it between one's fingers, wouldn't that kill it? On the lower branches I have done that thinking it was worth the effort. Of course a heavy infestation on a 35 ft Cedar tree can't be accomplished this way. It's just a little revenge for me.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Ford850]

Back in the 1950's, I watched my BIL and 3 of his brothers, taking out the worms,,
using a hypodermic needle, gasoline, and a Zippo,,

The hypodermic needle would shoot gas like a squirt gun,,
first soak 'em,, then light the Zippo, and squirt again through the Zippo's flame,,
It looked like a WWII mini flame thrower,, the gas was like napalm,,

Heck, that probably is not legal anymore,,,?

:laughing:

Yeah I think just typing that on here probably broke a dozen laws and alerted everyone from PETA to HLS. :laughing:

 

[Sonny580]

Been busy canin green beans and yellow summer squash in jars. --Also finished the onions in the freeze-dryer and now have white patty-pans in it. We did a couple runs of yellow squash last week. The freeze-dryer has been runnin non-stop for the last 4 weeks.
greenbeans just picked

in the jars

squash in the jars--never did them before, so will see how this goes!lol!

Tha cabbage is doing fairly good so far---harvested 3 decent heads and put them in the freezer.

 

[CADplans]

--Also finished the onions in the freeze-dryer and now have white patty-pans in it. We did a couple runs of yellow squash last week.
The freeze-dryer has been runnin non-stop for the last 4 weeks.
[/ATTACH]

Do you have a pic of your freeze dryer? How many CFM is your vacuum pump?

As far as the price of the freeze dryer, I doubt that I will even spend $3,000 on store bought vegetables in the rest of my life,,
so, i am trying to figure out how to justify the machine,,,

 

[Sonny580]

Pump is a 7 cfm size
We got this unit 2 years ago as a year end close-out at half regular price--on a one day-one time offering. ---Even at regular price it dont take much use to pay it's way at the price of everything.
Freeze-dried stuff is costly to buy.
The thing we like is that this method helps us have summer squash year-round, and is the ONLY way to store onions. Sweetcorn is another thing that is good.--we can a few pints and have a bit in the freezer but the freeze-dry corn can be eaten like popcorn right out of the bag for snacking.
The dried stuff will last a lot longer than any other method. ---- We tried de-hydrating and it dont work for us--to me everything tasts toasted/burned and is hard textured. Freeze-dried stuff is light and fluffy, full flavor and no burned taste.
Payoff has to include the advantages as well as the dollars invested. That new car/truck parked in the driveway will never pay for it'self---ever think about that???
It kinda amounts to individual preference!