Mystery Seedlings

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

My new tomato plants are looking good. Corn has tasels but are only 3-4'' tall. will be pulling some of my spent butternuts and cukes and plant more I hope soon.

Pics show both aero gardens I have. You can see the lettuce is an over achiever and we decided to plant flowers in the smaller one for a brief bit....

[surviort_wwdnet]

Wow!! Your lettuce is going crazy! The flowers are beautiful too. I like that AeroGarden; what size did you buy? I could get one and put it on the guest room dresser where it wouldn't be in the way. We rarely have guests - maybe once a year family comes to visit. Or I could hang some grow lights in my little greenhouse and grow outside this winter. I don't have time right now to figure out the logistics of winter gardening when the summer gardens are taking so much of my time.

Picked more tomatoes - 2 more bags and it will be time to can again - and vacuum sealed the dehydrated beans. Sprayed the aphids again and then gave up on the organic gardening solutions that seem to be allowing exponential growth in the number of aphids; went to pick up a few groceries, four 1 lb propane canisters, and 2 gallons of white gas, then ran to Home Depot for some Sevin spray. Driving home the rains came, so spraying was out. I pulled off the shade cloth to let the bag garden get a good watering, cut back more of the watermelon vines and harvested a sugar baby watermelon that was pulling down the trellis. Cukes will be replanted next month after the aphids are gone! I'm re-engineering my future trellis setup to use longer stakes, with evenly sized rows of bags. I'm not sure if I'll reuse the drip lines the way they are now, since it's become something of an obstacle course. If my husband fits the spigot to an additional irrigation valve, they would still work in a slightly different configuration (a lot depends on him recovering from a sprained knee and ankle so he can finish what is a great idea for the shade cloth structure).

I'm going to try canning tomatoes on the turkey fryer and see how that goes. It's too hot to can inside the house with the canner running for hours. Now I will definitely need that additional propane tank.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Nice...you are really fine tuning your system. What kind of fertilizer do you use and how often? I have one for "vegetables and herbs" and another for fruit trees. Looking at the NPK, they are essentially the same with just 1-2 points different. I was thinking of just getting the cheaper one, which I think is the one for the trees as it comes in a larger bag. I am fertilizing once every 10-14 days...

Also, do you have a tiller or cultivator? I am looking at expanding my "ground" garden and think a device will be easier than a shovel...which I did when I help dad as a kid.....but last time I looked, I ain't no kid anymore...:rolleyes:

[surviort_wwdnet]

I use Osmocote, which is a general fruit-and-vegetable fertilizer and was recommended for potting soil and raised bed soil revitalization. I intend to reuse all of my existing soil, except for the 3 squash vine borer infected ones, which I dumped on my tropical bed. Step Home - plaster the soil with Sevin dust to get rid of aphids and other destructive insects, and wait a week (re-dust if it rains heavily). Step Forum - work 1/4-1/2 cup of Osmocote into the soil and water well, and wait a couple of days. Step Blogs - Replant. I've already Sevin dusted the grow bags and the parts of the containers, where I pulled all the plants.

We do have a tiller, although we stopped tilling the garden plot when I went to container gardening. Because our native soil is infested with parasitic nematodes, it's not suitable for growing much in-ground. While solarizing the soil for 3-4 months worked for one season, it had to be done after each season, rendering the garden plot unusable for months at a time. I'm considering pulling out the tiller to dig up parts of the yard where week killer just isn't effective. Then I can clear the debris, and put down some fresh dirt and some St. Augustine trailers and plugs. The hot dry weather we had for weeks was the perfect environment for weeds, especially narrow-leaf plantain and spotted spurge. I have a bumper crop of both...

I use a shovel to plant flowers but that's about it. That was our garden plot creation tool when I was growing up, and a childhood memory best forgotten! We had a big garden, about 1K square ft., and my parents had 3 little slave laborers😉

Today was mostly rain and drizzle, but I did manage to trim some leaves, spray some more plants, and straighten my leaning trellis up. The rain came early and has been here most of the day, so I did laundry and worked on getting old family photos put into a super-sized used photo album that I picked up at Teen Challenge. I still have hundreds of photos left to get in there, and a lot of them were friends of my parents that barely remember. Surprisingly, I picked one photo up from when I was a young teenager and immediately recognized (and remembered the name of) the older woman in the picture. Funny how that works.

Anyway, my husband has a small battery operated line trimmer in the workshop that's about to become mine so I can trim around the gardens. I can't use his Ryobi because he says it would cut my leg off😂 I'm tired of tripping over Bermuda grass and nutsedge.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Our yard is florida grass...uh, weeds. I am cheap and even though I am on a well, I don't want to waste water on my grass.

I will look for the osmocote...thanks

I forgot yesterday to tell you the Aerogardens I have. The little one is the 9 pod and the mac daddy is the 24 pod "family" one. I would advise if you get one, not to plant in all the openings. The plants grow really well and it gets out of control quick. I have not used it as a starter, but apparently it can be used for that and then transplant outside...I think it is perfect for growing lettuce year round as long as you have water to refill, and electric/power to run the lamps and pump...each pod kit comes with their liquid fertilizer

[surviort_wwdnet]

Thanks for the info on the Aerogardens. I will put this on my list for when I've recovered from the new roof. It would be nice to grow lettuce and herbs all year.

Husband asked, "Do you have more landscape fabric?" and proceeded to trim all around the edges of the bag garden. I raked up the trimmings, put them in the compost, and put down enough fabric (3 lengths, one along the fence and 2 to "flesh out" the existing rows) to keep him from having to trim out there again, at least this season. It is now a lovely sea of landscape fabric topped with grow bags. I trimmed off some dead leaves, fertilized some of the containers, picked up my mess, and then the rains came. I have 6 empty grow bags so I'll get those ready for all the new transplants.

It looks like I have a fungal infection in some of the tomatoes in one of the container gardens, but it's a type that shouldn't affect the tomatoes. I'll keep an eye on them just to be sure, spray them down with Immunox (next day it's not raining all day), and plaster the soil with copper fungicide once the plants are gone. I'll use that container for something besides tomatoes next time. The plants grew so big that even though they should have been separated enough (I measured), they weren't. Next season I'll do all the tomatoes in grow bags so I can separate them as needed.

I have one eggplant that's almost big enough to pick, and a LOT of small ones. I guess I need to make room in the freezer...

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

so, I have some yellow leaves on my corn plants. I have three corn with silks showing, so I don't want to harm these plants...any ideas? I sprayed the whole garden with copper last night hours after the rain and today I have these 4-5 yellow leaves. We have been getting rain the last 2-3 days so could it just be overwater? I see no other problems associated with the copper application I did last night.

My new tomato plants from seed are looking healthy. It is funny how you plant the seeds the same time but yet have different results...the tallest plant is 12" tall where the smallest is 4" tall. All in same area, received the same of everything....just like kids they grow differently...

My cantaloupe and watermelon plants are blooming so I hope some fruit will pop out soon. I am planning on waiting until the first part of August to replant some things as it is still blasted hot with temps yesterday of 96 with a feels like 103.

I pulled my cucumbers and squash plants as they were pretty well done, and letting the soil rest a bit and I will put down some fertilizer there as well over the next few days.

Got all eleven solar panels mounted and hooked up to my system, so now I am officially drawing power from the sun to charge my LiPO4 battery. Need to run my dedicated circuits to my house to power a few things still, but at least that is all done. Last night when I got down at 5:20pm, I was drawing 960w, which I thought was good for being so late. I am watching today to see what I draw. I also put up our second sun shade to cover the table in our swim spa area so we can BBQ and eat outside without being beat up by Mr Sun....busy day yesterday...

[surviort_wwdnet]

Your corn is likely over-watered; the fungicide shouldn't have affected your plants. Just leave them alone and see if they rejoin the living leaves. If they start shriveling up, just remove the dead leaves.

Growth rates are indeed funny. I transplanted 3 lima bean plants that were so tall they were in danger of falling over, yet the 4th one is only about 3" tall (see pictures), all in the same soil, in the same size pots, in the same carrier. All were from the same batch of seeds - Mother Nature at work separating out the weak links? Also transplanted one pinto bean (the one next to it is sprouting but barely breaking the soil) and one spaghetti squash. The aphids are trying to mount a comeback on my yellow squash, so I "fed" them Sevin dust and spray - take that!! There are several small yellow squash that look healthy. I had a couple with end blossom rot, but these look like they're going to make it to maturity. Pulled some weeds and that was it. After 2 hours or so in this heat, I'm just melting🥵

Between yesterday and this morning, I got weed & feed down on the whole yard in the 100° temps and it felt like our just under half an acre was 3 football fields. I picked another gallon+ bag of tomatoes, pulled the pedicels, and off to the freezer they went. I'm going to pressure can them to avoid overheating the house and it's faster than water bath canning.

I have half a sugar baby watermelon in the fridge - it has a zillion seeds but it's delicious! There's one more out in the bag garden and I'm waiting to see if it grows any bigger.

I took my shade cloth down to take advantage of the recent rains and hopefully my husband will get the support structure finished so I can have it overhead instead of on my head! We had so much rain I haven't had to water the bag garden for the past few days. We still need to put some up in front of the motorhome to keep the afternoon sun off it.

I'd love to have solar that would do something besides charge batteries and phones...

Update: Forgot to add the photos: I am up to my eyeballs in eggplant, with 2 almost ready to harvest and a dozen babies.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I will stop watering them but cannot stop the rain...

Was just released from jury duty last night, so I can get back to my yard and garden. Yes, after a couple hours you start melting. I am trying to slowly stay out longer and get more accustomed to the heat and humidity, but it does take a toll on you for sure. We have the biggest Berkey they make and I have to fill it daily now and it is just two of us going thru the water (wife does use it for water when cooking)

I am not ready to plant anything new right now except more pepper plants. My wife wants to try a lot of different kinds and so we picked up about a dozen more packs. I am saving seeds from what we have now...cayenne ring of fire, serrano, and jalapeno...peppers have a long grow time before bearing fruit, so I will start now....plus I just enjoy watching plants grow, as they are amazing to watch...kinda like watching my grandson grow. God is good!

[surviort_wwdnet]

Everything is suffering from the heat right now, not just us! I'm ready for some summer cooling, and so are my plants. Husband is outside putting up the shade structure, which will help (I hope). I feel sorry for my heat-stressed plants.

The last time I was summoned for jury duty I had the option to permanently opt out due to my age. I opted out. After 4 back surgeries, sitting for jury duty just doesn't cut it any more.

Guess I'd better head out to see if my husband needs some help...

Half done but we were both melting as it once again hit 100°😂...and now the rain is coming again!

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

well, I planted three different peppers..habanero, poblano and sweet/hot bananna. I also did a summer white squash and two more corn....we will see.

Had the front tires on my Yanmar 1500 flatten. So put slime in the tires and had to drive it to distribute the slime around some..lifted my bush hog and an o-ring on the hydraulic system blew out. Off to Tractor supply....had the o-rings but no fluid...Was really fun working on the tractor in the back yard in 95 degree, feels like 103 degree heat. I will tell you that every metal part of the tractor exposed to the sun is very hot....I was lucky as the hydraulic fluid had not heated up as it blew out directly on my legs....

[surviort_wwdnet]

That sucks!!! There's nothing like being geared up to work and having your equipment decide to go on strike.

I went out and watered the bag garden (so now it's guaranteed to rain), sprayed Neem oil on some bean plants that are looking like they have Pythium blight or some other exotic disease. My Immunox should be here today and I'll spray everything. I'll likely have to restart them. I think the problem is too much rain and too much heat. Picked another bag full of tomatoes and I'll remove the pedicels and throw them in the freezer. Also picked 2 nice bell peppers that will become stuffed peppers tomorrow.

Wasted morning due to husband's doctor appointment so not much is getting done outside as it's now 100°. I guess I could clean house or something...or just hang out and go swimming.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Well, got the tractor fixed and the hydraulic system is running fine. I do not need this tractor as I don't have a big enough yard, but want to get some property when the crash happens. There are also some empty yards/fields around me and a tractor may come in handy if we need to expand our garden. Plus, this vehicle is EMP proof, so that is the real reason I wanted it running.

Garden plans today are basically just watching plants grow. I got more seeds so I may plant some of them, but will depend on how I feel about the heat.

[surviort_wwdnet]

Well, got the tractor fixed and the hydraulic system is running fine. I do not need this tractor as I don't have a big enough yard, but want to get some property when the crash happens. There are also some empty yards/fields around me and a tractor may come in handy if we need to expand our garden. Plus, this vehicle is EMP proof, so that is the real reason I wanted it running.

Garden plans today are basically just watching plants grow. I got more seeds so I may plant some of them, but will depend on how I feel about the heat.

Glad you got the tractor fixed; it's easier to do it now than to wait for the time when you need it and can't get parts! I wish we had some empty land around us, but there's always the rest of the yard😉.

We had huge electrical storms accompanied by monsoons last night - power was out for an hour and I found myself looking at solar generators once again. I know this is the kind of lazy/expensive way to get some solar power backup, but when it's the middle of a storm, getting to the gas generator is downright dangerous as it's 100 ft from the house. I looked at an EcoFlow Delta 3.6kw system that comes with a 400w solar panel for about $4k. The system is expandable to provide 7.2kw output, and extra batteries can be used to extend the kwh. Thoughts?

Baked two butternut squashes this morning and waiting for them to cool so I can puree them.


I need to do some more transplants but it's too wet out there and rain is coming back again. I may start some more lima and black beans - when I think about what stores well and could easily be used to make meals, beans are the easiest and will grow in the summer. I was going to spray the gardens but it's a waste of materials with a day of rain predicted. I couldn't do it early because husband was mowing the yard and I didn't want to get in his way🥺, so I threw in a load of laundry.

I ordered 4 more bags of potting soil that should be here next week. I have what looks like a lot but it goes fast when filling up the grow bags. I have 8-10 empty bags right now and they will take a lot of soil.

Update: Potting soil arrived today (along with a pillow that came from ???). Finished the laundry, then pureed the squash (licked the spatula and the squash is soooo good) and put it in the fridge to drain. Time to relax...or not.

I started feeling guilty about ignoring the garden, so I transplanted one more spaghetti squash, an acorn squash, a pumpkin, two beefsteak tomatoes, and dug up the rest of the potatoes, harvested the last watermelon, tore out the vines and the potato tops, trimmed some dead leaves, and took it all out to the waste container. I sprayed the squash in spite of rain predictions because the aphids are again trying to mount a comeback. I sprayed Immunox on the lima beans, pinto beans, and tomato plants. Once I was sweating profusely, I called it quits😂 Now I need to start something for dinner!

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Funny, what you said about feeling guilty about the garden...I felt the same way yesterday...planted some Ali Baba watermelon, and Red Kuri Squash. Found both on a YT i watched. Had a wind storm here and the wind actually broke one of my corn stalks, lucky it had not started an ear yet, but still a loss. I cut back the tomato plant I lost to blight, and down at the very bottom at the soil level was a little tomato plant starting, so I left it and will start spraying with copper on Monday when I spray the rest of garden.

As for solar generator...I have the Inergy Flex 1500, with a spare battery and the super charger module (will be shipped August). I bought this system on a pre-order and with CV it took over 15 months to arrive and still waiting on the super charger. I like what it does and its capabilities. I also purchased four 100w panels. The only problem is with the Inergy panels, they have an EC8 connector vs the MC4 connectors that most companies use. Now, this is not a huge problem as I have bought an adapter. I have heard they went to MC4 on their newer panels, but just check that to be sure.

I think, in todays world, that Inergy, Titan, EcoFlow Delta (may be others that I don't know about) are all front runners. Goal Zero is well made from what I hear, but pricey. I know you can keep adding batteries to enlarge the Flex 1500 up to 96 batteries...now you will need to add additional panels and the super chargers to be able to recharge the batteries as you expand it. The Flex goes with us in the camper even if we plan on staying where there is full hookups as storms can occur. If I am boondocking the Flex AND my 2 Champion 2500w dual fuel gennies go as well, as the Flex will not power my AC in the trailer.

If you plan on just using solar for the house have you looked into a controller/inverter system? It is all in one, and is fairly easy to install. I have a 48v system for my home (have it hooked up to eleven 265w panels on roof and will hook to a circuit breaker box and run lines inside house for my fridge, freezer, internet/wifi, TV, security cameras, plugs for dehydrator, window AC in bedroom for night, and a few extra plugs for fans/phone/battery chargers, etc. I was able to purchase 15 used 265w panels for $70 each so that helps a lot with cost. The system is about $500-$1000 depending on size, but the battery is about $1500-$2500 for 100a 48v. I also have a 24v system ready to install for my tiny home. This will likely get 5 250w panels I had bought a couple years ago. It has a 24v 200a battery. Just have not gotten to this yet...soon though. This where I got my 24v system https://watts247.com/product/pip-lv2424-msd/ and battery here https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-lifep...ery-24v-200ah/

Hope that helps...I am a novice still on solar, but have learned a lot over the last two years (and still learning). I may purchase additional batteries for my 48v system after it is up and running with all circuits run. Funny story, about a week ago we had a line come down and we and a few neighbors lost power. Now I had just got the panels hooked to the 48v system the day before. Wife said Duke energy was saying it will take 4 hours to fix, "can we hook our generators as its going to get real hot inside the house?" she asked.....I said give me a few minutes and I went and install a female plug (so I could attach an extension cord) to my 48v system and then ran the extension cord to a power strip and was able to power two fans, the TV, internet, WiFi, security camera and my two crypto miners....ran that for the 2 hours and then power came back on. I had plenty of battery power left. We were comfortable...as it occurred at 2pm....