What did you do in the garden today?

[Swiss]

WE HAVE WATER!!!!!

I am going to tell you all exactly how easy it was to get this all set up (minus wandering stores for 2 hours trying to figure out the last few parts I needed) because it seriously took maybe 20 minutes to set up (and most of that was unrolling the tubing).

Supplies Needed:

• 500' of Drip Irrigation Tubing (Ace Hardware has the cheapest price, but Menard's was the only place nearby that had it in stock)
• 1- Backflow Preventer
• 2- 3/4" to 1/2" Adapters
• 1- Threaded Hose Adapter (to make the female on the 3/4" to 1/2" adapter into a male end)
• 25 pack of Straw Staples
• A sharp knife to cut the tubing

Step 1: Attach the Backflow Preventer to the spigot.

Step 2: Insert one end of the tubing into the unthreaded end of one of the 3/4" to 1/2" Adapters. Use one of the Straw Staples to hold this end of the tubing in place (near the spigot).

Step 3: Unroll the tubing to where you need it to end. Straighten it out as needed. (I originally had to walk backwards to my garden while unrolling the tubing, so I had to go back and pick it up near the beginning and pull it tighter. Wear gloves if it is hot and sunny because this tubing gets hot quickly).

Step 4: Attach the adapted end of the tubing to the spigot.

Step 5: Use the Straw Staples to secure the tubing to the ground.

Step 6: Insert the unadapted end of the tubing into the remaining 3/4" to 1/2" Adapter.

Step 7: Attach the Threaded Hose Adapter to this end.

Step 8: Attach a hose or sprinkler to the Threaded Hose Adapter.

Step 9: Test that water does indeed travel all the way to the end with no leaks.

Step 10: Water the dry cardboard with grass piled on top of it out of SHEER JOY that the whole process was so simple and quick!

Step 11 (OPTIONAL): Bury the tubing so you don't trip on it or run it over with the lawn mower (I haven't done this, yet, but I am going to because that tubing gets scaldingly hot surprisingly quickly).

 

[chickengr]

Is there a reason that you blanch the beans before freezing them? As you can tell, we are still learning this stuff....

if you don't blanch them they will be rubber like and you would not be able to cook them properly.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Blanching also kills off any bacteria that could affect the quality of the produce. For beans. I blanch for 3 minutes, toss into ice water to stop the cooking process, dry on a clean dish towel then place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and insert into freezer. After the beans are frozen put them in a sturdy ziplock bag and return to freezer. Easy peasy.

 

[Sueby]

Dear Wife has been freezing some of our beans, but she is new to the process. Is there a reason that you blanch the beans before freezing them? As you can tell, we are still learning this stuff....

Blanching stops the enzyme process, if you don't they will lose color, texture & taste when you thaw them. I blanch for 2 mins & then transfer to a bowl of ice water. Then I place on a towel to dry a bit & put them on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen they go in ziplock bags.

ETA: Yea like @Wee Farmer Sarah said!!

 

[SusanMc]

My seeds are up ! I’m so happy

 

[Sally PB]

One summer he got his entire body infected by poison ivy.

A friend's sister had the job of pointing out the poison ivy, and the guys pulled it up. She never touched it, because she knew she was terribly allergic to it. They decided to burn the pile. She had such a bad reaction they took her to the ER. Her heart stopped twice.

Please, never burn poison ivy or oak.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

We’ve got about 1.3 inches so far @Sueby. It’s still coming down. I’m managing the water just fine @gtaus. As long as the sump pump keeps working and the dehumidifier keeps cranking it’s all good. We here in New England went through a severe drought for over 1 1/2 years. It only ended with the heavy snows this past winter. My garden beds are all raised more or less and the main garden is elevated on a slope and those beds are all raised from there. I thought I had compensated for soil nutrient loss, however I missed the magnesium deficiency. What’s that old saying? You live and you learn!

 

[Elyrian1]

Hey! It's raining here too! Doesn't even show on the radar though so won't last long. Still, long enough I don't have to water the plants, and long enough to cool the rv exterior down for the afternoon and give the AC a break. Good times.

I'm wanting to make raised beds with a hint of hügelkultur to them. I'd love to fill the bottom properly with logs, but we're in short supply on large enough trees around here. It's mostly wimpy mesquite that people have ripped out and chipped. I can get wood chips, and I can probably get straw, and cardboard I could have coming out my ears easily. So I was thinking about layering carboard at the bottom for grass/weed smothering, then a couple of inches of wood chips, then another inch or two of straw in the bottom of the raised garden beds since I'm going to have about 15 inches of vertical space to play with and don't really want to fill that whole space with garden soil. It's not cheap around here for the good "black dirt" as the haulers call it. I only really need about 8 inches of soil in there for the first year and I can build up more from there.

 

[Birdsonghill]

With control, comes constant maintenance. Hydroponics need to be checked for nutrient levels regularly and amended as needed for plants to thrive. Also, consider the cost of water and electricity (if you have a well, just the cost of electricity). And if you put it outside, you risk the water getting too hot in the summer sun. Inside, you have to run high power lights (even my LED setup for my indoor starters pulls around 400 watts).

My indoor grow lights use from 275 watts to over 1,000 watts. For purely vegetative growth, a T5 hi output light, with 4 to 6 , 4 ft. , 55 watt bulbs is very good for starting and growing many vegetative plants, IF KEPT CLOSE TO THE PLANTS GROWING TOPS(about 4 to 6 or 8 inches). It often outperforms my very expensive and heavy, LED 1000 watt fixture(also a smaller LED 280 watts) or my old Metal Halide or HP Sodium lights that were 500 and 1000 watts. I did a lot of hydroponics 25 to 35 years ago, and found the costly chemical fertilizers prohibitive (except for very valuable crops) and undesirable for me, as well as limitations on crop size and larger utility bills! I tried going organic with hydroponics but found it to be even more expensive and/or more time consuming. Growing in organic soilless mixes(with compost and worm castings added), used in bags or pots, works very well under lights, but growing in the garden, whenever possible is far cheaper and certainly, more natural. The natural, mostly, farm sourced fertilizer materials cost me only labor, with exception to liming and some trace elements, like Azomite, that I purchase. The open, natural and outside garden is for me , as far as food production goes! I start many plants under lights but grow out, only a few, in the winter under a light. I plant mostly heirloom crops , many picked for heat and drought resistance. I have had Tennessee Red Cob corn produce well, in a terrible drought year, when the big farmers had nearly total crop failures here(ditto for heirloom crowder peas, corn field beans, Seminole pumpkins and more), with their modern varieties! My two largest garden plots, that I still work, are not irrigated and are never watered, except by rainfall. I did place the larger, lowest garden at the bottom of a slope, where the groundwater is often, very close to the surface(only 3 to 4 feet down ) and is where my Three Sisters Garden and watermelon patch is located! I do not make "water junkies" of the plants by watering them with frequent shallow waterings, as some may do. I use a slow, drip watering system in my upper most vegetable garden, that if used (three times this year), is left to run a minimum of 5 to 6 hours and create a deep saturated zone around the plants. We have not had consistent drought conditions this year here. Two or three weeks with no rain and temps in the 90's plus, then a week with 2 to about 5 inches of rain. I typically water when I plant new transplants or seed, a time or two, then little, to no irrigation(were I have it). Also. the good compost added to my clay based soil makes for deep roots and good water retention down in the improved typical root zone. Organic, open pollinated heirlooms, chosen for a combo of reasons, including flavor, drought and insect/disease resistance(rather than size/appearance/shelf life) , make up the bulk of what I grow. Everyone, may have different circumstances, and I am supportive of them, if what works for me, is not best for them! I have had people who looked at my "ugly" organic heirloom apples and you could see their distrust of the quality, but if they tasted them and knew they were grown without dangerous insecticides/fungicides, they were usually impressed, despite a less perfect appearance! I sometimes settle for less harvest, rather than a 'pretty" or super abundant, but less durable or sometimes , less flavorful variety! My thinking on many of the heirlooms is, if they produced decent crops of good flavor, for over a hundred years, they have proven themselves capable of producing without modern inputs and are proven tough survivors, in most cases! How many homesteaders in 1900(or 1800) had Sevin(Carbaryl) dust, Captan or permethrin? They raised families without electricity, modern chemical pesticides/fertilizers and usually, without irrigation in their fields! The evidence of their success? We pioneer families are still here, in the former backwoods of Tennessee! Trying new varieties should include finding the mostly forgotten heirlooms and field testing them for several seasons. You may easily discover, that an original heirloom Ananas melon, first imported here in the 1830's from Persia, is your favorite small melon, as I did! That is compared to more than a dozen, more modern varieties, I have grown! It is similar what one would imagine from the perfect cross of a cantaloupe and honeydew, with comparable size to many popular modern varieties. Please excuse my long winded remarks/rant on a favorite topic! My final word today, Plant disease, insect and drought resistant heirlooms(and some new ones!), grow them with natural fertilizer(compost) and find that you usually can use less pesticide, water and fertilizer, while surviving bad conditions, better than before.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I try to grow as “organically” as possible. If I wanted chemically produced beautiful produce I would just go to the grocery store. I only use organic fertilizers and compost. For pest control and other issues I use neem oil. I originally learned to garden south of the mason dixon line and I have learned that gardening in the north is a big learning curve. I understand that hydroponic garden is way too costly for my meager retirement income. A former coworker did this method, however he was living off a 6 figure income. I also believe that your soil is where your homegrown vegetables get their flavor from. But that’s just MHO. We all garden the best way we can and share what works for us.