Gardening: the beets must go on

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on

Mommyblog Mindy: Apr 6, 2012; power is power

Big Beef City posted:

I have a cure-all for your ant problem that I've used to immense success. This works for any location, not just the garden.

1 part borax, 1 part powder sugar and just enough water to make a paste.
Spread the mix on an old plate or some other flat fixture you can spare.
Make sure the ants can access it (ie if you have a lipped plate, bury in the soil so it's ground level)

The ants will go nuts over free sugar, carry it all back to their hill/nest and in a few days the entire colony dies from eating the food. The borax acts like 'alkaseltzer to seagulls', if you're familiar, sadly. The ants cannot expel the gasses caused by the borax in their digestive tract and kills them. That they can smell and taste the sugar causes them to take it down to the entire colony and wipes the entire thing out in a few days time.

It's not a preventative to keep more colonies from coming in, but it DEFINITELY controls an existing problem without resorting to wide-band insecticides and the like. Though, to be frank, I don't know if this would cause unintended damage to bee colonies, etc. I honestly don't know, but I 'feel' less badly about this than applying pesticides. If there's something that proves me wrong I'm all for it.

edit: totally non-related, I'm growing an 'Indigo Rose' cherry tomato bush for the first time, and the things are freaky little buggers. At the time the tomato clusters go dark purple on their top-halves but still have a lot of 'hairs' on them (sorry don't know the term), if you stand with the sun behind you and over your shoulder and look at them, they are dark blue-ish purple against green foliage, and the sun makes the hairs glow neon green. So you're looking at a purple tomato with a glowing green halo around it. It's incredible looking. None are ripe enough to sample now, but drat if that isn't a neat effect on its own. Couldn't get my camera to capture it properly or I'd share.

edit again: This image kinda shows it on the forward tomato, but not even close to its entirety.

Thanks, I will try that. They are still lurking and it's gonna get nasty if they don't go away before I get my herbs all situated the way I want them pre-fall

# ? Jul 27, 2014 05:03

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 30, 2024 21:11

GuyDudeBroMan: Jun 3, 2013; by Ralp

I bought a house recently that has a small urban style backyard, but we have a bunch of fruit trees. Peaches, Figs, Apples, Apricots, Lemons, and one other tree that has fruit on it but I still don't know what it is. It looks like a peach, fuzzy with a seam up the side, but its leaves are totally different from my actual peach tree. The fruit is too small and unripe to really tell what it is yet though. Any ideas?

Anyways, my main question is about my Apricots. My tree was filled with them and all of a sudden they ripened and poo poo fruit all over my lawn. It was glorious..... for about 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden I go out there and I can't find a single fruit on the entire tree. Ripe or unripe, all of it is gone.

Do Apricots just blow their wad that fast? Like a once a year harvest and then that's it? Or did some kind of animal just eat all the fruit?

# ? Jul 27, 2014 07:40

OlyMike: Sep 17, 2006; I'm talking about flagellation, who gives a damn about parades

GuyDudeBroMan posted:

I bought a house recently that has a small urban style backyard, but we have a bunch of fruit trees. Peaches, Figs, Apples, Apricots, Lemons, and one other tree that has fruit on it but I still don't know what it is. It looks like a peach, fuzzy with a seam up the side, but its leaves are totally different from my actual peach tree. The fruit is too small and unripe to really tell what it is yet though. Any ideas?

Anyways, my main question is about my Apricots. My tree was filled with them and all of a sudden they ripened and poo poo fruit all over my lawn. It was glorious..... for about 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden I go out there and I can't find a single fruit on the entire tree. Ripe or unripe, all of it is gone.

Do Apricots just blow their wad that fast? Like a once a year harvest and then that's it? Or did some kind of animal just eat all the fruit?

Coons? They go nuts for the plums in my yard. Whole families just freezing in my tree when I turn the outside light on, it's pretty hilarious.

# ? Jul 27, 2014 17:52

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Yeah, it's on.

# ? Jul 27, 2014 18:08

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Big Beef City posted:

1 part borax, 1 part powder sugar and just enough water to make a paste.
Spread the mix on an old plate or some other flat fixture you can spare.
Make sure the ants can access it (ie if you have a lipped plate, bury in the soil so it's ground level)

Boric Acid is more effective than plain borax.

quote:

edit: totally non-related, I'm growing an 'Indigo Rose' cherry tomato bush for the first time, and the things are freaky little buggers. At the time the tomato clusters go dark purple on their top-halves but still have a lot of 'hairs' on them (sorry don't know the term), if you stand with the sun behind you and over your shoulder and look at them, they are dark blue-ish purple against green foliage, and the sun makes the hairs glow neon green. So you're looking at a purple tomato with a glowing green halo around it. It's incredible looking. None are ripe enough to sample now, but drat if that isn't a neat effect on its own. Couldn't get my camera to capture it properly or I'd share.

They will turn very red on the point of each fruit which gets the least amount of light, indicating ripeness. Or you can just squeeze them gently. Been growing them for three years in a row, they're by far my favorite tomatoes, although sometimes they never get much larger than cherry tomatoes.

# ? Jul 27, 2014 22:48

defectivemonkey: Jun 5, 2012

I picked cherry tomatoes the size of golf balls today, and they were smooth and beautiful. I also pulled up three carrots that had split open completely. I imagine that both of these are caused by the heavy rain we've had this year.

I'll probably collect a bunch more before I leave for 5 days, but not enough to make a batch of sauce. Any ideas?

defectivemonkey fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Jul 28, 2014

# ? Jul 28, 2014 02:28

Big Beef City: Aug 15, 2013

coyo7e posted:

Boric Acid is more effective than plain borax.
They will turn very red on the point of each fruit which gets the least amount of light, indicating ripeness. Or you can just squeeze them gently. Been growing them for three years in a row, they're by far my favorite tomatoes, although sometimes they never get much larger than cherry tomatoes.

Yeah, I used 'indigo rose' as the name, given they are a type of this, but these are being marketed now with smaller fruits specifically AS cherry tomatoes. I wish I had the tag from the UW extension I bought them from, I want to say they may have 'blueberry' in the name but I'll be damned if I can find it or think of it. They're not strictly indigo rose though, oh well. If I like them I think I'll use them as my first seed-saver attempt, as it's prolific and looks so nice.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 03:08

Sulla Faex: May 14, 2010; No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING

I'm interested in setting up a small DWC hydroponic tub with some lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, and maybe parsley.

The general plan seems to be a tub with the plants growing in pots of those clay pellet things, nutrition fed directly into the water, an air stone with air compressor to oxygenate, outside in the sunlight but under cover (so no rain overflow), and the pots on a floating styrofoam raft with a bit of black plastic stretched over the whole thing to keep out sunlight, and just holes cut for the plants to poke through.

I have a couple questions however:

1. Does the whole water supply really need to be emptied and the tub scrubbed every week to combat algae etc? If so, how do people deal with the roots during the cleaning process - I read something about roots converting from water to air roots (i.e. hydroponic to aeroponic) after like 5 minutes, and that they don't convert back nearly so quickly and instead start to drown. I've also heard about using hydrogen peroxide to fight fungus and algae. Could you just add hydrogen peroxide to the water supply every week, or would that damage the roots? How do people maintain cleanliness etc with a single-tub DWC system?

2. Does the tub need to be as deep as the 20-30 gallon tubs that you see in youtube videos? I know you don't want the roots to tangle and fill the water but if you're going to be ripping everything out after 8 months, wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to have a shallower tub? Or is 20 gallons (75 litres) about the standard minimum for that kind of non-circulating system? I know that tomato plants are supposed to have rampant root systems that will clog up the whole thing anyway, and since I'm moving country again in 9 months I'm okay to break everything down and just keep the air compressor and air stone/bubbler thing for the move.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 10:48

jvick: Jun 24, 2008; WE ARE
PENN STATE

GuyDudeBroMan posted:

Anyways, my main question is about my Apricots. My tree was filled with them and all of a sudden they ripened and poo poo fruit all over my lawn. It was glorious..... for about 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden I go out there and I can't find a single fruit on the entire tree. Ripe or unripe, all of it is gone.

Do Apricots just blow their wad that fast? Like a once a year harvest and then that's it? Or did some kind of animal just eat all the fruit?

Two weeks is pretty short. But yes, Apricots are once a year, and they come fast. Harvest usually lasts around a month or so. Did you get a sudden temperature change, or a fair amount of rain? That could be a cause. If the fruit has bite marks I would say it's an animal.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 14:36

Rogue: May 11, 2002

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

I'm interested in setting up a small DWC hydroponic tub with some lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, and maybe parsley.

The general plan seems to be a tub with the plants growing in pots of those clay pellet things, nutrition fed directly into the water, an air stone with air compressor to oxygenate, outside in the sunlight but under cover (so no rain overflow), and the pots on a floating styrofoam raft with a bit of black plastic stretched over the whole thing to keep out sunlight, and just holes cut for the plants to poke through.

I have a couple questions however:

1. Does the whole water supply really need to be emptied and the tub scrubbed every week to combat algae etc? If so, how do people deal with the roots during the cleaning process - I read something about roots converting from water to air roots (i.e. hydroponic to aeroponic) after like 5 minutes, and that they don't convert back nearly so quickly and instead start to drown. I've also heard about using hydrogen peroxide to fight fungus and algae. Could you just add hydrogen peroxide to the water supply every week, or would that damage the roots? How do people maintain cleanliness etc with a single-tub DWC system?

2. Does the tub need to be as deep as the 20-30 gallon tubs that you see in youtube videos? I know you don't want the roots to tangle and fill the water but if you're going to be ripping everything out after 8 months, wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to have a shallower tub? Or is 20 gallons (75 litres) about the standard minimum for that kind of non-circulating system? I know that tomato plants are supposed to have rampant root systems that will clog up the whole thing anyway, and since I'm moving country again in 9 months I'm okay to break everything down and just keep the air compressor and air stone/bubbler thing for the move.

Your plan sounds pretty good overall. Of the plants you mentioned, lettuce, spinach, and any herbs will be easy and compatible enough to grow in the same system. Tomatoes are a totally different beast and you'll want 1 or 2 vines in their own separate container; a 5-gal bucket at a minimum, preferably with an easy way to drain out the liquid inside so it can be easily replaced. Dutch bucket systems are popular for fruiting vine crops like this.

For your questions: you shouldn't have any algae growing in your reservoir. Seal it off from external light to prevent them from growing in there. Whatever you read about "hydroponic roots converting to aeroponic roots in 5 minutes" is complete hogwash. I just lift up my container top with all the net pots set into it, roots hanging out and all, set it into another empty container, dump out and clean the original, fill it with new nutrient solution, then put the airstone back in and replace the cover with the plants.

You shouldn't get mold or fungus or anything like that either, but you can use some hydrogen peroxide when you clean it. I use the concentrated 30% stuff in a few gallons of water when I change the reservoir to help kill anything that might be in there. Some people do add a bit of hydrogen peroxide to the media, but I don't like the idea of having the roots bathing in it either. I don't add it to my nutrients and I haven't had any problems.

The tub doesn't need to be so gigantic. For something simple like lettuce and herbs, I have 8 3" net pot sites in a 10-gallon tote (see pictures below). For tomatoes, like I said you will probably want an individual tote for each plant, 5 gallon bucket size minimum. (And with tomatoes there are lots of other considerations like altering the nutrient reservoir strength and composition over time.)

edit: for changing out the reservoir, once every 2 weeks is a good minimum. When plants get larger, you may have to add water more frequently as they will transpire it very rapidly and the EC of the solution will shoot up. Check the EC, pH, and water level every day or two when the plants get large.

Rogue fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jul 28, 2014

# ? Jul 28, 2014 18:22

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Big Beef City posted:

Yeah, I used 'indigo rose' as the name, given they are a type of this, but these are being marketed now with smaller fruits specifically AS cherry tomatoes. I wish I had the tag from the UW extension I bought them from, I want to say they may have 'blueberry' in the name but I'll be damned if I can find it or think of it. They're not strictly indigo rose though, oh well. If I like them I think I'll use them as my first seed-saver attempt, as it's prolific and looks so nice.

FWIW the only Indigo Rose I've grown which had large-ish fruits were shipped to me as grafted starts, from Territorial Seed Company. I have a suspicion that they've got their own stock or something, I follow their facebook and they're always talking about their new crosses and strains of different plants, they've got a pretty substantial "test field".

This year I've got three different ones (the one I planted, and the two ex-roommate planted in small buckets) from two different sources. The one I planted in my beds are around plum-sized, the two in buckets are more like cherry tomatoes with pointy tips - likely due to underwater but still, those two's leaves never turned green, either.

Next year I'll be ordering my TSC Indigo Rose far in advance.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 19:51

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

My garden cloth defenses worked for a few days and lulled me into a false sense of security. The squirrels came back in numbers and took every single fruit off the Taxi and Brandywine. Over a dozen taxis and five Brandywine fruits destroyed. The plants are just bare now :smith:

# ? Jul 28, 2014 21:11

AlistairCookie: Apr 1, 2010; I am a Dinosaur

So, a couple of my carrots did something strange. Their foliage "bolted" (got stalky, the leaves changed) and they sent up a flower. I pinched the flowers, but left them alone otherwise.

I know carrots are biennial, but do they occasionally do this their primary year? I just left them in the ground, should I pull them? Out of my rainbow blend, it was both white carrots that did this (in case it matters.)

# ? Jul 29, 2014 18:32

Marchegiana: Jan 31, 2006; . . . Bitch.

When a carrot bolts they're no good for eating anymore- the roots get real woody and bitter. I'd pull them unless they're an open pollinated variety you can save seed from.

I haven't seen any carrots bolt their first year, but I have had that happen with parsley. Sometimes if you have a cold snap hit at just the right time after they've sprouted it tricks them into thinking it's now "winter" and they'll bolt when it warms because it thinks it's the second year now.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 21:39

SubG: Aug 19, 2004; It's a hard world for little things.

Marchegiana posted:

When a carrot bolts they're no good for eating anymore- the roots get real woody and bitter. I'd pull them unless they're an open pollinated variety you can save seed from.

I haven't seen any carrots bolt their first year, but I have had that happen with parsley. Sometimes if you have a cold snap hit at just the right time after they've sprouted it tricks them into thinking it's now "winter" and they'll bolt when it warms because it thinks it's the second year now.

Onions and other alliums loving love to do this too. It's convenient if you're growing chives, for example, because you can just let them self-propagate and pretty soon you'll end up with more than you know what to do with and who cares if a couple are inedible due to bolting. Otherwise, pain in the rear end.

I don't know about carrots, but with onions pretty much any environmental stress seems to be apt to trigger bolting---a sudden warm spell, a particularly rainy period, whatever the gently caress.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 22:59

AlistairCookie: Apr 1, 2010; I am a Dinosaur

Meh, I'll just pull them. It's literally two carrots out of easily two hundred. Our weather has been crazy up and down (went from close to 100 over the weekend, to down in the 50's last night) so it's no wonder they got confused. I pulled a half dozen tonight to check out size and whatnot and I think I'm going to pull the whole first sowing anyway in a couple weeks.

# ? Jul 30, 2014 01:45

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

I finally identified my garden pests this year as flea beetles, and since they're already all over a bunch of stuff row covers would seem to be a waste of time. I heard insecticidal soap can work well on them and also saw online that you can make an insecticidal soap by mixing Dr. Bronner's with water.

Has anyone tried DIY insecticidal soap with this stuff, or other castille soaps etc?

I know I've seen a few posts about people using dish soap and stuff and am pretty sure that's a no-no (for a couple reasons) but I like Dr. Bronner's as it's less environmentally harmful.

I also have a couple of shop vacs - one even has all the hose attachments still! - and that sounded pretty reasonable as well - spraying them off with water sure didn't do much to them.

# ? Jul 30, 2014 01:49

Sulla Faex: May 14, 2010; No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING

Rogue posted:

Your plan sounds pretty good overall. Of the plants you mentioned, lettuce, spinach, and any herbs will be easy and compatible enough to grow in the same system. Tomatoes are a totally different beast and you'll want 1 or 2 vines in their own separate container; a 5-gal bucket at a minimum, preferably with an easy way to drain out the liquid inside so it can be easily replaced. Dutch bucket systems are popular for fruiting vine crops like this.

For your questions: you shouldn't have any algae growing in your reservoir. Seal it off from external light to prevent them from growing in there. Whatever you read about "hydroponic roots converting to aeroponic roots in 5 minutes" is complete hogwash. I just lift up my container top with all the net pots set into it, roots hanging out and all, set it into another empty container, dump out and clean the original, fill it with new nutrient solution, then put the airstone back in and replace the cover with the plants.

You shouldn't get mold or fungus or anything like that either, but you can use some hydrogen peroxide when you clean it. I use the concentrated 30% stuff in a few gallons of water when I change the reservoir to help kill anything that might be in there. Some people do add a bit of hydrogen peroxide to the media, but I don't like the idea of having the roots bathing in it either. I don't add it to my nutrients and I haven't had any problems.

The tub doesn't need to be so gigantic. For something simple like lettuce and herbs, I have 8 3" net pot sites in a 10-gallon tote (see pictures below). For tomatoes, like I said you will probably want an individual tote for each plant, 5 gallon bucket size minimum. (And with tomatoes there are lots of other considerations like altering the nutrient reservoir strength and composition over time.)

edit: for changing out the reservoir, once every 2 weeks is a good minimum. When plants get larger, you may have to add water more frequently as they will transpire it very rapidly and the EC of the solution will shoot up. Check the EC, pH, and water level every day or two when the plants get large.

Hey, thanks for this. Sorry, I just got back home and things have been crazy busy as usual. I'll drop the tomato idea and focus on a shallow tub with some lettuce. Right now I'm trying to think of a way to prettily block the cats from munching on whatever I grow, I've got a long pot with some rosemary/lavender/garlic growing in there and they're just savaging the poor things. I think if I had a bubbling water source with green leafy things on top they'd go crazy and tear it apart in the first week. I'll have to think about it and see whether I can make a small chicken wire enclosure or something.

What strength bubbler/etc do you use?

# ? Jul 30, 2014 10:41

Gounads: Mar 13, 2013; Where am I?
How did I get here?

Big Beef City posted:

I have a cure-all for your ant problem that I've used to immense success. This works for any location, not just the garden.

1 part borax, 1 part powder sugar and just enough water to make a paste.
Spread the mix on an old plate or some other flat fixture you can spare.
Make sure the ants can access it (ie if you have a lipped plate, bury in the soil so it's ground level)

I've used that before, but find if you boil down the water and sugar mixture to a maple-syrup consistency and then mix in the borax it works a lot better. The ants will get so worked up over it, some will drown.

If you want to keep it away from animals and rain, put it in an empty soda can on it's side.

# ? Jul 31, 2014 17:41

Mommyblog Mindy: Apr 6, 2012; power is power

coyo7e posted:

I finally identified my garden pests this year as flea beetles, and since they're already all over a bunch of stuff row covers would seem to be a waste of time. I heard insecticidal soap can work well on them and also saw online that you can make an insecticidal soap by mixing Dr. Bronner's with water.

Has anyone tried DIY insecticidal soap with this stuff, or other castille soaps etc?

I know I've seen a few posts about people using dish soap and stuff and am pretty sure that's a no-no (for a couple reasons) but I like Dr. Bronner's as it's less environmentally harmful.

I also have a couple of shop vacs - one even has all the hose attachments still! - and that sounded pretty reasonable as well - spraying them off with water sure didn't do much to them.

yeah... dont use dish soap it was a bad bad plan

i replanted my tomato with some thai basil, hopefully they will stay away and if not i will do the borax thing

# ? Jul 31, 2014 17:59

TheBigBad: Feb 28, 2004; Madness is rare in individuals, but in groups, parties, nations and ages it is the rule.

Is this a nutrient deficiency or is it just an oddly developed beefsteak tomato?

# ? Jul 31, 2014 22:03

AlistairCookie: Apr 1, 2010; I am a Dinosaur

/\/\
That's called "cat face" on a tomato. Lots of heirlooms are prone to it. In fact, it can be prized as a sign that the tomato is "homegrown" or something in markets. It's totally harmless, doesn't mean anything. Most of my black krims look like that, to a greater or lesser degree.

# ? Aug 1, 2014 00:57

GabrielAisling: Dec 21, 2011; The finest of all dances.

We've got an old, broken-down backhoe by the barn. It's never going to be moved, so I'd like to turn the buckets into planters; however, I doubt we've got the supplies to drill drainage holes. What are my other options for preventing the beds from becoming a soupy mess when it rains?

# ? Aug 1, 2014 03:50

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

GabrielAisling posted:

We've got an old, broken-down backhoe by the barn. It's never going to be moved, so I'd like to turn the buckets into planters; however, I doubt we've got the supplies to drill drainage holes. What are my other options for preventing the beds from becoming a soupy mess when it rains?

If I were you I'd just plant something super-hardy that doesn't mind wet feet. Maybe just an herb garden? I'd be leery of shallower crops like carrots and stuff, as they may not reach deep enough to suck the extra moisture up.

How many backhoe buckets are we speaking about? Are they at an ideal angle - ie so that the top is horizontal?

I'm assuming that they're the larger ones which can hold like a 1/2 yard of dirt, which could potentially be enough to try something that's greedy with root systems, or if they're suspended you could do something that climbs/crawls like a cuke or tomato. Not like you'd waste much more than a bit of soil and some starts.

edit: how much sun are you looking at?

da411onCLassy posted:

yeah... dont use dish soap it was a bad bad plan

i replanted my tomato with some thai basil, hopefully they will stay away and if not i will do the borax thing

I've been growing thai basil for the last two years going and I really love the flavor of the stuff, although it definitely seems to like to bolt. I haven't tried it other than spring/summer (fall and winter here are cold and wet which I'm concerned would kill the poo poo out of them) however starting from direct seed probably yields about 1/3 or so of the ones I got from starts. Next year I'm going to start the seeds indoors since I've got a TON of seed still in the packet.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Aug 1, 2014

# ? Aug 1, 2014 09:18

Sulla Faex: May 14, 2010; No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING

What are some plants that can grow within the following context:

Hardiness zone: 9b (Rome)
Period: Planting in mid-summer, plants will be ripped up in March 2015 when I move
Medium: Soil pots on a balcony that gets full winter sunlight

I was thinking the usual basil and parsley, and then probably lettuce, spinach, maybe green beans? Is there anything else that will keep growing and fruiting in those conditions? Or should I ditch the beans because they won't fruit in winter..

# ? Aug 1, 2014 10:46

jvick: Jun 24, 2008; WE ARE
PENN STATE

GabrielAisling posted:

We've got an old, broken-down backhoe by the barn. It's never going to be moved, so I'd like to turn the buckets into planters; however, I doubt we've got the supplies to drill drainage holes. What are my other options for preventing the beds from becoming a soupy mess when it rains?

Power Drill + Titanium Drill Bits

Drill 1/8", 1/4", then out to 3/8" and voila you have drain holes.

It's a bit of work, but much easier than it sounds.

# ? Aug 1, 2014 19:35

Mommyblog Mindy: Apr 6, 2012; power is power

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

What are some plants that can grow within the following context:

Hardiness zone: 9b (Rome)
Period: Planting in mid-summer, plants will be ripped up in March 2015 when I move
Medium: Soil pots on a balcony that gets full winter sunlight

I was thinking the usual basil and parsley, and then probably lettuce, spinach, maybe green beans? Is there anything else that will keep growing and fruiting in those conditions? Or should I ditch the beans because they won't fruit in winter..

Maybe squash grown around a tomato cage?

# ? Aug 2, 2014 00:33

Stultus Maximus: Dec 21, 2009; USPOL May

jvick posted:

Power Drill + Titanium Drill Bits

Drill 1/8", 1/4", then out to 3/8" and voila you have drain holes.

It's a bit of work, but much easier than it sounds.

Cobalt's better for drilling metal.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 01:13

Rogue: May 11, 2002

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

Hey, thanks for this. Sorry, I just got back home and things have been crazy busy as usual. I'll drop the tomato idea and focus on a shallow tub with some lettuce. Right now I'm trying to think of a way to prettily block the cats from munching on whatever I grow, I've got a long pot with some rosemary/lavender/garlic growing in there and they're just savaging the poor things. I think if I had a bubbling water source with green leafy things on top they'd go crazy and tear it apart in the first week. I'll have to think about it and see whether I can make a small chicken wire enclosure or something.

What strength bubbler/etc do you use?

I put an 8" air stone in each of my totes and I power it with a decently good air pump, similar to this: http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?itemid=7644

The Tetra Whisper air pumps are cheaper, but pretty weak. The smaller ones can do a 4" airstone by themselves which should be sufficient for a small/medium container if you want to save.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 02:26

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

My jalapenos have been making more than I can eat.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 20:40

Hummingbirds: Feb 17, 2011

Shifty Pony posted:

My jalapenos have been making more than I can eat.

Pickled rings for sandwiches.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 20:49

Peristalsis: Apr 5, 2004; Move along.

Hummingbirds posted:

Pickled rings for sandwiches.

Yeah, they're quite good. I'm still eating ones I pickled in 2012.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 21:42

Kilersquirrel: Oct 16, 2004; My little sister is awesome and bought me this account.

Shifty Pony posted:

My jalapenos have been making more than I can eat.

Find a friend with a smoker and make chipotles! Mesquite chunks are available pretty much everywhere now.

# ? Aug 2, 2014 23:40

Cpt.Wacky: Apr 17, 2005

Shifty Pony posted:

My jalapenos have been making more than I can eat.

Let them get ripe and then make a fermented hot sauce like Sriracha.

e: Any ideas for excess zucchinis? I've already got plenty of zucchini bread frozen. Maybe recipes for refrigerator pickles or relish?

# ? Aug 3, 2014 00:58

AlistairCookie: Apr 1, 2010; I am a Dinosaur

/\/\
Do you make your own pasta sauce? Zucchinis are one of my favorites to add en masse, and tomato sauce cans really well. Plank them and grill them, bread them and fry them. Relish is a great idea. Spicy or sweet.

It's canning time! Today, we made strawberry-pepper jam from the berries I froze in June and some habs and red jalapenos I picked this week.

We made dill pickles last weekend. Also pulled 10lbs of black krims in two days. I need to take a picture of my kitchen. It's getting a little crazy in here, and I know it's still ramping up. (I love it.)

# ? Aug 3, 2014 01:14

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AlistairCookie posted:

We made dill pickles last weekend. Also pulled 10lbs of black krims in two days. I need to take a picture of my kitchen. It's getting a little crazy in here, and I know it's still ramping up. (I love it.)

I made batch 2 yesterday. And I'm leaving for a week. I have a feeling when I get back I'm going to spend the next day dealing with everything that's been exploding out of the garden. This is a good time of year.

# ? Aug 3, 2014 01:20

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Shifty Pony posted:

My jalapenos have been making more than I can eat.

Food processor and freeze them in a ice cube tray. All the salsa all the time.

Then again I use that many jalapeños in a couple quarts of salsa,or a nice pork rub.
Also pepper jelly owns.

# ? Aug 3, 2014 02:01