What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

got some more lettuce and herbs to plant.

 

[jerryse]

The rats and mice are just out of control around here... I've only seen one snake all summer. We kept it around since we don't have baby chicks this year and the rodents are bad. Hoped it would help but not enough... I started looking at rat traps. I really like the Uhlik Repeater Trap but can't bring myself to pay $240 for it, even if it is really good. Kept looking and came across this video which got me thinking... I can pick up a 55 gallon garbage can and make this... Wonder if it would work?

A plastic or steel 55-gallon barrel works fine. No need to put anything over the top. A rat cannot jump out. Some feed or BOSS in the bottom. 20 gallon is tall enough for mice. A board for a ramp on the barrel helps.

 

[jerryse]

Worked on the deck yesterday. Again today. I need to water as no rain. Grass is getting brown. No need to mow.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I tried to over-winter 2 different pepper plants in 5 gallon buckets. Didn't work. They went downhill very slowly over the winter and were fully dead by March.

I'm thinking it's related to the shorter hours of sunlight. I'm going to try & keep mine going with a grow light...it may or may not work but I figure it's worth trying.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Worked on the deck yesterday. Again today. I need to water as no rain. Grass is getting brown. No need to mow.

Ditto, walking outside I hear a crunch sound with each step.

 

[Smokerbill]

I let a volunteer tomato plant do its thing in my garden this year and it set fruit that look like Roma tomatoes. Very large Roma tomatoes. I didn't fertilize it at all, just watered it a few times. I didn't stake it up either, just letting it vine on the ground.

The plants I grew from commercial Roma VF seeds grew well but produce loads of very small fruits, no big ones. I fertilized these a couple times with chicken compost and staked them up off of the ground.

I don't know if the volunteer plant produced better fruit because of the soil it grew in or if it was the result of cross pollination. Whatever the reason I'll be saving seeds from the volunteer plant for next year's garden.

Roma VF on left - Volunteer tomato on the right.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners, I bought a new egg turner for my hard plastic incubator. I will bring in more green tomato.

 

[Smokerbill]

Another oddball is the Black Krim tomato plant that produced yellow fruit. These tomatoes aren't very big and look kind of ugly. They have a sort of sharp, tart flavor and not much sweetness. I'll be saving seeds from these too.

 

[Smokerbill]

And finally, these tomatoes are from a plant that was started from Burpee's Roma VF seeds, an heirloom variety. The plant grew to no more than 2 feet tall. It was staked and fertilized.

Another Roma VF plant growing 18 inches away, (identical growing conditions) from the short plant grew normally, with vines 5 or 6 feet long.

Maybe it has a dwarf mutation or it's the result of cross pollination. Maybe the roots were damaged, or there's some other reason for its small size. I'll be planting its seeds in next year's garden too.

I'll separate each variety with enough distance to prevent cross pollination, and then save seeds from the best of those plants. And I'll plant only these three varieties and hope for the best.

 

[Molpet]

And finally, these tomatoes are from a plant that was started from Burpee's Roma VF seeds, an heirloom variety. The plant grew to no more than 2 feet tall. It was staked and fertilized.

Another Roma VF plant growing 18 inches away, (identical growing conditions) from the short plant grew normally, with vines 5 or 6 feet long.

Maybe it has a dwarf mutation or it's the result of cross pollination. Maybe the roots were damaged, or there's some other reason for its small size. I'll be planting its seeds in next years garden too.

Next year I plan to have all three varieties separated by enough distance to prevent cross pollination, and then save seeds from the best of those plants.

View attachment 3943518

I thought it was a quarter mile to prevent cross pollinating

ETA farther than that
https://seedsavers.org/learn/isolat...quired for,pollinating crops, such as spinach.