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Cpt.Wacky posted:Worm bins are a great way to go for composting kitchen scraps. The rotating barrel composters are effective in composting stuff much faster if you actually go out and turn them often enough, but they also have a smaller capacity and cost more than building a more traditional pile out of shipping pallets or whatever. I have a worm farm and a compost bin. Kitchen waste goes to the wormies, and garden waste goes in the compost. The rotating types are fairly easy to build yourself. Get a barrel (I found a place the recycles these, so I get em cheap for $20 per 200l barrel) Drill a hole through each end, stick a piece of thick dowel through it, reinforce the ends so the barrel doesnt tear when you add a shitload of material to it, and then put it on an X made of wood or whatever. Add a flap with a hinge, and you are good to go. Its maybe $30 worth of lumber if you dont use offcuts, and whatever a barrel costs you, takes about half a day to put together, if you have no idea what you are doing, and there are plans all over the internet if you arent brave enough to just do it.
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Jul 30, 2012 04:59
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polyfractal posted:Time for some Jalepeno Poppers. My mouth is watering! My snow peas are done for the summer, but the bush beans are just now coming out and one of my tomato plants. The carrots and turnips are coming along slowly.
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Jul 30, 2012 06:46
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So I stopped paying attention to the basil plants in my apartment, and one of them flowered and bloomed. Dammit. Apparently flowering makes the leaves a lot more bitter, and that's not something I want. Is there any way to "fix" it at this point, or will that plant be bitter forever? I might as well put it out for the bees and harvest the seeds later, but I'm wondering if the rest of the plant is lost.
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Jul 31, 2012 02:35
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I fight a constant battle against basil bolting every summer. Just pinch off the white flowers and you'll be fine. They smell great in a little vase on the kitchen table.
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Jul 31, 2012 02:54
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mischief posted:I fight a constant battle against basil bolting every summer. Just pinch off the white flowers and you'll be fine. They smell great in a little vase on the kitchen table. Thanks, that's really good to know! I figured since the flowers were already blooming that it was too late. And you pinch off the flowers themselves, rather than cutting off that part of the stem entirely? Anything I can do to get these back to proper taste while keeping them robust is good, since my next roommate has cats and I want something that can survive an encounter with them. My first basil plant had a run-in with some alley cats and never recovered.
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Jul 31, 2012 03:28
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I've always just pinched the whole little flowering part of the plant off. I've had 4' tall shrubs of basil trying to bolt that never tasted bitter. Edit: To clarify, yes the stem as well.
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Jul 31, 2012 05:38
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mischief posted:I fight a constant battle against basil bolting every summer. Just pinch off the white flowers and you'll be fine. They smell great in a little vase on the kitchen table.
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Jul 31, 2012 07:43
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Morning made.   You little beauties are late, but you're greatly appreciated.
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Jul 31, 2012 14:12
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I thought I would show off my vegetable garden. They are two raised planters about 4.5' wide, 16.5' long, and about 2.5' deep. The depth measurement actually matters because they are lined with pond liner so that the water the plants don't use returns to the sump area so I can water them again with it. It also prevents the nutrients from the compost from getting lost into the ground, out of reach of the root systems of the plants. I suppose you could call it a halfassed hydroponic hybrid set up. Anyway, on to the plants! Most of what you'll see here are tamoto plants of various types. I don't care much for tomatos myself, but I do like the way they smell and giving them away is fun. I pretty much tell my dad how many plants I have room for and he starts the seeds and gives me the plants when the weather is good enough for them.  These are about halfway between cherry and 'normal' tomatos when they are ripe. This side of this planter has about six plants, with peas scattered around for soil enrichment. The peas get too much shade to really produce as a crop, but they put in something that tomatos need so it should hopefully lessen the need for fertilizer or crop rotation.  These are mostly cherry tomatos with some grape tomatos on the end. I think this side of this planter has 8 plants, but I'm not sure anymore. Same deal with the peas.  Here you see that pumpkin plants can crawl up trellises too. I unwound and relocated it later that day. Pumpkin and squash can boss around pretty much any other vegetable plant when you let them, so I don't let them.  More of the same. It's not as big of a jumbled mess now as when I took these, but it's still pretty unrully and I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to pruning tomato plants yet.  This planter has a bald spot do to some kind of critter that thought it was awesome to tear a plant out of the ground. I never replaced it and there isn't much of a point to try this late in the season. I have more to post, but I want to make sure I actually did this right to begin with.
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Jul 31, 2012 18:19
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I had a bit of a mad scientist moment a couple of days ago and bought a bunch of Chilli seeds from B&Q along with a couple of seed trays. (jalapeņo, Cayenne, and something that the packet only identified as "Lantern peppers")  Hopefully something will happen, despite that the months are out of whack, I have zero growing experience, and I doubt that the climate in the south of England is Ideal for pepper growing. Also, I'm pretty sure I have watermelon plants growing. I'll try to get a picture of them.
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Aug 1, 2012 01:02
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If you don't live in an ideal climate then you'll have to be starting peppers indoors anyways so it's good to practice now for next year. Don't plant all the seeds, they will keep for a few years with care (airtight in the refrigerator). Label or map what you do plant in the seed tray because pepper seedlings pretty much all look the same. I'm sure you can grow them in southern England but you'll probably need to resort to some season-extending devices to get good results. A greenhouse would be ideal, even a mini greenhouse. I've been making half-assed attempts every year at peppers for a few years now without much to show for it, so be prepared for failure and it'll make success that much sweeter. Cayennes always seem to pull through for me even if they don't ripen by the end of the season so you could look at those for a backup plan next year.
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Aug 1, 2012 02:41
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Dilettante. posted:I had a bit of a mad scientist moment a couple of days ago and bought a bunch of Chilli seeds from B&Q along with a couple of seed trays. (jalapeņo, Cayenne, and something that the packet only identified as "Lantern peppers") My peppers are actually doing really well inside my apartment, if you have the room. I use a UV sun-replacement lamp for lizards (not a heat lamp!) to give them light, and they're really flourishing. Once they flower, you can put them outside if it's hot enough, but I hear there are ways to manually pollinate them with a q-tip or similar. Haven't tried that out yet, personally.
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Aug 1, 2012 02:48
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Yeah, all of my plants are inside, sitting on a windowsill where it's all nice and warm and away from the wind. I only used about six of each seeds in a growing tray, so I have plenty to spare. I'm just wondering if they will germinate at all, because I read other comments like they were germinated first in a wet paper towel etc, while I just plopped mine down into compost straight away. If they grow, I'll be pleased, If they grow Chillies I'll be ecstatic. The few watermelon seeds I planted a few months ago seem to be doing ok, I highly doubt they will grow anything, but a couple of them shot up out of nowhere.  Some of the leaves seem to be dying, I dunno what's causing that, apart from that they seem fine. Oh please be melon plants and not weeds or something
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Aug 1, 2012 16:51
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Dilettante. posted:Oh please be melon plants and not weeds or something They definitely look like cucurbits, so I would say, yes they are your watermelons. The leaves that are dying are the primary leaves and they often will fall off as the plants grow.
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Aug 1, 2012 17:05
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The peppers will germinate as long as the soil is kept moist/damp but not waterlogged. I like to water the seed starting medium right after planting and then loosely cover with plastic wrap. It will keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout without needing additional watering. As soon as they sprout you can remove the plastic and start watering from the bottom. Is that window south-facing with sun all day? If not you then you'll need supplemental light. The seedlings will get "leggy" with 2-3" or more of stem before the first leaves.
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Aug 1, 2012 17:12
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Oh, don't worry, your melon plants will survive just so they can taunt you with week after week of useless male flowers. 
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Aug 1, 2012 17:18
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Is that window south-facing with sun all day? If not you then you'll need supplemental light. The seedlings will get "leggy" with 2-3" or more of stem before the first leaves. No, east facing, I'll have to look at some things, hopefully UV lamps aren't that pricey to run. Molten Llama posted:Oh, don't worry, your melon plants will survive just so they can taunt you with week after week of useless male flowers. I'll still be happy with that. 
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Aug 1, 2012 17:35
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It's been getting colder the last few nights, and my broccoli is starting to pop up (as well as my pea seeds that I put in the ground a few days or a week ago), but I'm going to need to find something to cover my tomatoes at night, maybe.
coyo7e fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Aug 1, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 17:43
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Dilettante. posted:No, east facing, I'll have to look at some things, hopefully UV lamps aren't that pricey to run. Don't buy anything fancy, plain old CFLs or fluorescent tube lights will work just fine. Just try to keep them within 2-3 inches of the top of the plants. 8 hours/day is plenty and a cheap timer makes it a lot easier to do.
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Aug 1, 2012 18:03
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I went out to the garden center today to replace all the plants that died in the heat wave. It was kind of depressing  When I was prepping my planter table to put in the new stuff, I pulled up a 1'x1' mat of roots from my old oregano. It was like carpet! I've never seen anything produce such dense roots. I can't help but wonder if it kind of choked itself out - it had been looking a bit lackluster even before the heat wave.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:59
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I re-planted my melon plants into bigger pots today, so now all my plants have a pot to themselves. Now they are sitting in the Garden where they can get the most light all day and are out of the worst of the elements. I was worried about damaging the roots of the plants, I'm pretty sure I tore up the smaller plants extracting them from the bigger ones. I made sure they are standing sturdy, and they seem ok at the moment.
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Aug 3, 2012 00:27
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We're still getting daytime temps in the 80s and near 90s, is it ok to plant peas or should I wait/start them indoors (starting them inside isn't gonna be any cooler, we don't have a/c, but it'll be easier to keep the seeds moist so they might germinate better)? I went out today to untangle my cucumber and tomato (they're an unruly mess!) and string them up better, and there were at least two kinds of bees in my cucumber flowers. I'm really hopeful this means fresh cucumbers are on the way :3 Promised some fresh tomatoes to a co-worker, and now everybody wants some. I hope my tomato plant produces enough to share now! 
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Aug 3, 2012 01:30
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Faerunner posted:We're still getting daytime temps in the 80s and near 90s, is it ok to plant peas or should I wait/start them indoors (starting them inside isn't gonna be any cooler, we don't have a/c, but it'll be easier to keep the seeds moist so they might germinate better)?
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Aug 3, 2012 01:36
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Today's harvest! My second pick of basil and dill, there are also some radishes but I forgot to take them out of the sink for the picture after I rinsed them.  Thinking about boiling/steaming those beans then dressing them in some butter and lemon zest.  Still have both meat and cherry tomatoes that are still green, hot peppers and red bell peppers, carrots, green onions, parsley and rosemary coming along. It's been incredibly hot, this was the second hottest summer we've had in the past ten years so the veggies have been coming in leaps and bounds.
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Aug 3, 2012 18:06
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Things are getting out of control. Tomatoes are starting to break their trellis strings and devolve into a chaotic tomato making GBS threads monster. Cucumbers are appearing overnight. There is literally nothing else in the garden at the moment and I've still got my hands full.
mischief fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Aug 4, 2012 |
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Aug 4, 2012 20:04
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so we just had a fairly windy day. i just got back in from investigating and it seems the wind knocked over the more cumbersome branches on my tie dye tomatoes. The branches are still attached to the main stalk so i just staked and tied the branches so they are not touching the ground. Will the plant heal itself a bit, or should i consider those branches and the fruit attached to it a write off?
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Aug 6, 2012 01:26
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I had one of my bigger tomato plants halfway break itself against it's stake. I just basically wrapped the broken section with a flexible cloth tape and kept an eye on it and it's been fine ever since.
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Aug 6, 2012 01:29
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You can also just stick them into the ground. Tomato stems will root themselves. This is why, when you transplant, you should be burying your tomato starts up to their last leaves. Also how you can get a headstart on next season by rooting just growing tips in the fall and housing in a greenhouse for the next season.
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Aug 6, 2012 02:20
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Speaking of tomatoes, my Big Boy vines are over my 6 foot trellis now. I guess I need to figure out some ways to extend it. The tomatoes themselves are going pretty nuts, too, a few are bigger than my fist. We're finally back down to temps between 85-95 degrees, I'm sure that's helping a ton.
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Aug 7, 2012 04:00
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Starting to wonder if there is something going on with the soil we used for the new garden. - Zucchini are HUGE growth-wise and are steadily pumping out large flowers and then nice veggie. - To the right of the zucchini, the Big Boy tomato plants are pushing 4-5' but flowers are sparse and only about 3 tomatoes over 2" wide. Still green of course. - To the left of the zukes, the cucumbers have grown vinelike to about 3', have had steady flowers, but only a 1" veggie to sport so far. I don't get it. Would love to have the number of cukes that we are seeing with the zukes.
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Aug 9, 2012 15:02
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What soil and fertilizer did you use, how much, and when?
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Aug 9, 2012 17:50
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Cpt.Wacky posted:What soil and fertilizer did you use, how much, and when? Raw topsoil (really rich black, unscreened) leftover from prep for a new lawn, I think my wife used miracle grow with the water saver pellets mixed into the dirt around each young plant, Dunno, and mid-June.
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Aug 10, 2012 16:27
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It's hard to say for sure without knowing all the conditions in your garden but I'd suspect the tomatoes are over-fertilized with nitrogen which causes primarily vegetative growth. It could also be a lack of phosphorus and potassium but it's hard to know without knowing how much fertilizer has been used already. Zuchinni are typically very vigorous under just about any conditions and always make large squash flowers. I don't have any experience with cucumbers but generally lots of flowers and not much fruit setting or poor fruit size/shape is due to poor pollination. Some flowers near them and a water source for pollinator insects would probably help. You could try some manual pollination with a Q-tip or shaking the plant every day to see if it helps too. Small fruit size and odd shapes can also be due to inadequate watering or inconsistent watering. That's something you just have to get a feel for over time.
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Aug 11, 2012 19:05
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Cpt.Wacky posted:It's hard to say for sure without knowing all the conditions in your garden but I'd suspect the tomatoes are over-fertilized with nitrogen which causes primarily vegetative growth. It could also be a lack of phosphorus and potassium but it's hard to know without knowing how much fertilizer has been used already. I'm hoping the soil will mellow out over the next couple years. I really wonder where the guy found such dark earth here in Utah. We have a spiffy composter en route which I plan to stuff the crap out of with scraps. Will be mixing it into the soil with a tiller come springtime, along with some soil tests. Jalepenos are beginning to explode. Picked 2 this evening and it looks like 10-15 will be on deck for poppers in a week or so. Wish I had planted more than 1 plant. This year has been a good first run in the box, realizing how spacing for the various plants will work next year. Example: no need for 3 big boy tomato plants.
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Aug 12, 2012 03:15
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Fog Tripper posted:Example: no need for 3 big boy tomato plants. Here is a question, what is causing my bell peppers to be hosed up like this?  This is from a few days ago, I picked two more off today with the same type of issue, more pictures can be taken if needed. I wonder if it is an issue with the leaves of the plants covering the peppers causing water damage/mold? But yet it doesn't look like mold so I could just be talkin' out my rear end.
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Aug 12, 2012 23:58
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Totally TWISTED posted:Here is a question, what is causing my bell peppers to be hosed up like this? How big are your plants? Our bells are only a foot and a half tall even after 2 months, the peppers that are on them are all scrunchy like yours. Not discolored tho. Wife counted over 20 big boys that are beginning to inflate. Next year I think I'll do without the cages. They are growing way too congested, even beyond the cage. In regards to harvest, we have cool neighbors who I told to come take as many as they can when they finally start making GBS threads them out. Already have been pushing zukes.
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Aug 13, 2012 02:35
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Totally TWISTED posted:I wonder if it is an issue with the leaves of the plants covering the peppers causing water damage/mold? But yet it doesn't look like mold so I could just be talkin' out my rear end. It could be blossom end rot but it looks more like sunscald to me. Were those fruits exposed to direct sunlight?
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Aug 13, 2012 07:08
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Cool, Some of my chilli plants have emerged, While two of my Melon plants have exploded in size covering everything in vines and yellow flowers.Molten Llama posted:Oh, don't worry, your melon plants will survive just so they can taunt you with week after week of useless male flowers. My other melon plants are letting down the rest of the team by not growing much at all, despite being in the same sized pots, watered equally, and getting the same amount of sunlight.  Get in the game, plants!
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Aug 13, 2012 10:50
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Fog Tripper posted:How big are your plants? Our bells are only a foot and a half tall even after 2 months, the peppers that are on them are all scrunchy like yours. Not discolored tho. Cpt.Wacky posted:It could be blossom end rot but it looks more like sunscald to me. Were those fruits exposed to direct sunlight?  The peppers are the dark green rising out of the watermelons in the foreground. And my tomatoes need more staking which I bought after I took this picture. This picture is facing east.
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Aug 14, 2012 00:30
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You should be able to find some shade cloth at your local nursery/garden store. It's rated by how much sun it blocks so 30% shade cloth allows 70% light through. Anything from 12 to 50% should work. You could rig it up as a tent, hoop tunnel or tie it to stakes in a cylinder as a sort of fence and put another section across the top. e: Squash trellis is going crazy, at least 10-12 good sized fruits forming with more on the way, not counting the biggest one that some jerk cut off. It wasn't even ripe yet. And stealing from a community garden?   Cpt.Wacky fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Aug 14, 2012 |
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Aug 14, 2012 01:02
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