Mystery Seedlings

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Thanks for the greenhouse...we are thinking a bit bigger.

My one tomato plant is doing the same. We have a sun shade over our swim spa, so I think I will move it under that. We harvested some butter nut squash, one crooked neck squash, one more cuke and about 4-5 cherry tomatoes daily.

I put top soil in my grow bags as I only had potting soil in there, so hope that helps with maintaining some water. My squash, especially, and a few cucumber leaves have the mold/fungus so sprayed them with H2O2 today. Planted some more watermelon, crooked neck squash, and sunflower.

[surviort_wwdnet]

I have one small butternut squash (about 6" long) and a few tiny ones. I also have (drum roll please)...a new zucchini that looks healthy. I had pulled out half of the plant and Bt-injected the heck out of the other half, and I'm not seeing any more vine borer damage. Watermelon babies are starting to grow again after 2 days with some healthy rain. My first planting of sugar snaps has exhausted itself, so I picked the last few pods and got them into the freezer, then pulled out the dead plants and put them in the compost. My newer sugar snap plantings are already producing. I picked a bunch of lima beans, shelled them, and stuck them in a jar to wait for the rest of them to mature (I planted a lot of lima beans). Tomorrow I'll lightly fertilize the container where the sugar snaps were, then transplant a straight neck yellow squash, and build it a small trellis. I've been picking tomatoes for a couple of days and made a tomato & cucumber salad for dinner. I'm going to have to start freezing the tomatoes until I have enough to run a canner full.

Husband is still working on the irrigation system so I can conveniently run a drip line through all the grow bags. He's going to add another valve so the bag garden will have its own circuit like the container garden does, and I can water it with the touch of a button, and he's raising one of the container garden sprinklers so it will water more than just the potatoes that are tall enough to block out half of the bell pepper container in front of it.

I didn't grow the butter but I was tired of having 10# of butter taking up so much of my fridge and freezer space, and canning it will give me 5 years of shelf-stable butter. Since it rained a few times today, it was a good day for me to get some kitchen "stuff" done.

Show me what greenhouse you end up with. I wish I had room for a bigger one but as they say, it is what it is. I had some friends with a greenhouse about 8x10 with hermetically controlled vents - it was so awesome.


My butternut squash


Picked 5 tomatoes today


Canned 10# of butter this morning

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

nice haul, and butter canning...we pulled a carrot yesterday to see how big they are getting. It was about 4 inches and 1.25 inches at top...nice and healthy looking. Will give them a bit longer and then start pulling them as needed...

[surviort_wwdnet]

My carrot greens look super green and healthy, but I'm not pulling them until I see the tops start to protrude, and same for my parsnips. It rained just often enough today to keep me from planting, but I did work on adjusting one of the irrigation sprinklers for the container garden - touchy little thing and it's not quite there yet.

Lost another spaghetti squash to the vine borers and into the trash it went, but the zucchini that I inoculated is looking much better and the new zucchini is growing nicely. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll get a couple of squash plants transplanted and keep the anti-vine borer chemicals loaded up. I need to take down the box trellis and build a new one, but not in the rain... I need a dry day that's not 100^o to get some serious work done out there. I need to dismantle the A-frame for the dead spaghetti squash, disinfect the stakes, and rebuild it for the black soybeans.

A second black soybean is just breaking the top of the potting soil, so I'll at least have 2 to transplant. A new (from seed) zucchini is sprouting too. All of the purple top turnips are ready to pull and get into the freezer. That will give me a grow bag for my black soybeans and a little more space in one of the tomato containers, where my 4 Roma tomato plants are producing nicely and threatening to push the turnips out into the yard!

Based on what I know now, the mystery seedlings are Rutgers tomatoes and they are producing at a rate of 12+ tomatoes/plant, and I have ~20 of those. If all stay healthy, I will have a lot of canning to do.

I ordered a 100 ft. roll of shade cloth (with clips); that will give me enough to cover the bag garden and put up a side and front shade on the RV carport to shade the motorhome, which gets WAY too much afternoon sun. The container garden is shaded by the house and in the afternoon, so I don't need to cover it.

Next project - ordering some cheesemaking supplies. I can't grow cheese but I do use a lot of cheese and having a way to make it seems like a good idea.

[surviort_wwdnet]

My garden adventures of the day:

102° - Miserable weather for gardening! I took down the box trellis, tied up my Lima beans, fertilized and turned the soil over in preparation for my yellow squash transplant; took the grow bag full of contaminated soil to the tropical bed, pulled the turnips and picked 6 tomatoes, re-ran the drip lines in the bag garden, untangled a tomato plant from some aggressive butternut squash tendrils, adjusted one sprinkler head in the container garden so it won't soak the house or the screen porch, watered everything, and decided I was done working outside for the day. The heat and humidity is brutal!

My original zucchini plant is looking great after I injected it, and there's one zucchini almost ready to pick and a couple of smaller ones growing. Watermelons are still continuing to grow and the vines are creeping all over the place. I did get a fresh grow bag from the garden shed to transplant a new acorn squash seedling, but ran out of steam before I got that project finished. I still need to build a trellis for the yellow squash once I get it transplanted, not to mention the new acorn squash and zucchini that just sprouted.

Before I came into the house to cool off, I had a passing thought that maybe I'm too old for all this gardening:rolleyes:. It passed.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

First...never too old.
The weather is brutal. I am working this week so haven't "worked" the garden much except last weekend. Picked 3 good size cucumbers last night and have about 5 more on the vine. They need a few more days to grow. Have one more squash which will likely come in this weekend. The Kratcky totes have basil and cucumbers growing strong (that is the plants the cukes I picked came from), so maybe it does work. Over the weekend I moved some stuff to get more shade and decided to water a bit heavy. I am watering morning and night, with the evening watering lighter then the morning watering. Get this, on Sunday morning I watered every thing. Came back out about 2 hours later and two of my sunflowers (the strongest two) were bent over like weeping willows...the other two were fine...I was planning on moving them as they had stopped growing and decided to move them to get a bit more shade. That night the largest one was still literally bent over to where the leaves were touching the soil, but it looked like he was coming out of his depression, so I gave it more water. Monday night when I checked on him, he was almost straight up and last night he was up but two of his leaves were dead a curled. The other perked right back up over night...strange....but that is gardening I guess...

[surviort_wwdnet]

I hope you can save the sunflower!! They are so beautiful and useful.

An unexpected husband-requested morning jaunt to Costco - we found nothing worth lugging home, but gas was $4.69 as opposed to the $4.87 at Murphy. I couldn't buy any because their computer for printing membership cards was down - I've had that membership for a while but this was my first trip. So after making a 30-mile round trip to find nothing interesting and not getting my membership card, I won't likely go back.

Why am I talking about Costco? Because I had some gardening to do this morning and by the time we got home it was 98^o and the humidity was heavy. I did manage to get a trellis built for my yellow squash and got it transplanted, by which time I needed another shower:D I got the drip lines working well as long as I run that zone for 30 minutes. I have 1 more squash plant to transplant and I'm going to have to put it in a grow bag because the containers are full! I transplanted the acorn squash seedling tonight. I pulled 6 purple top turnips and will get those in the freezer tomorrow. I have more cukes, a zucchini, tomatoes, lima beans, sugar snaps, and giant onions ready to pull, but that's a job for tomorrow morning. The roofers are delivering shingles tomorrow afternoon, so that will be more dead time. I need to get out there early and be done with it!

My cukes are looking a bit stressed but they're still producing. The black beans are going crazy! The peanut plants are getting pretty tall and having to fight that agressive butternut squash for sunlight. That butternut squash has about 6 small squashes besides the biggest one that's about 7" tall now.

I need a compost tumbler - any suggestions? I need something easy to use, not like the huge stationary bin I have now.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Compost Tumbler...I use a pitch fork...LOL

My cukes are stressed EXCEPT the Kracky totes are looking healthy. I do have this, see pics, and wonder what it could be...I am wondering if they are just getting beat up and need more water. My totes are only about 6' away and get the same sun..first is zucchini and second is butternut squash. They sit next to each other....

[surviort_wwdnet]

Compost Tumbler...I use a pitch fork...LOL

My cukes are stressed EXCEPT the Kracky totes are looking healthy. I do have this, see pics, and wonder what it could be...I am wondering if they are just getting beat up and need more water. My totes are only about 6' away and get the same sun..first is zucchini and second is butternut squash. They sit next to each other....

There are a few things that can affect squash; too much sun/heat can really stress them. They both look very close to the edge and the roots may be struggling to spread out. Are these newer transplants or new from seed? The yellow may be just first leaves that can be removed. For now, make sure they're getting enough water, and maybe get some Bt spray to counteract any ill effects from insects. Have you seen anything like this? If you do, you'll need to inject the stems with full-strength Bt.

Here's a good article about squash stressors: https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garde...avesspots.html

My butternut squash leaves were getting yellow edges, so I added more water and they're looking healthier. Running the drip lines instead of direct watering has been a lifesaver for my garden, as I was waiting too long between waterings, then drenching the plants. Now I can water 2x daily, morning and evening, and everything seems to be sufficiently moist without drowning. My cucumber leaves are getting pale green and this may be the intense heat. Hopefully the shade cloth will be here soon!

Husband said "Buy your compost thingy" ;)after I sent him a picture, so I will do that. Pitchfork? That won't do it for me unless I get taller and stronger! I need a simpler, faster solution because I have a lot of compostable material between both gardens, the yard, and all the vegetables I cook.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

The plants were from seed...I don't know what Bt spray is, but I will search it. The heat is intense and I think that is part of the problem. the plants in the totes are very healthy looking, so I am wondering if watering is the problem? I try and soak them in the morning and then if it hasn't been overcast (unlikely) or rained (VERY unlikely) I water lightly in evening. My wife is wondering if I am watering too much as she watched a vid on YT that says tor strengthen the roots and drive them deeper maybe just water a couple times a week. I feel there are variables to that statement. What is planted, what is the plant planted in, what is the growing zone, etc. I will try skipping a day and keep a close eye on it. I am liking the totes though....I just have to check bucket that has the new water in it and keep it full, which is not that often to fill it, and the plants that are growing are doing very well. I think that this in a greenhouse and it would do even better as I only have 4 of the 18 seed growing (two basil and two cukes). This gardening stuff keep you young though and stimulates your brain on thinking whats wrong, and how to do it better next time. I was looking at my yard and told my wife this morning, look at all the grassy areas, if needed we have a lot more space to add to our current garden. I am thinking we will need to add to it, as prices of everything is getting crazy. The stories I have heard from some of my patients tells me we are deep into some manure for sure, and I don't see this turning around soon and feel this is going to be a mult-year event. I have been thinking of starting a stories from the streets kinda thread and let people tell what they are seeing/hearing.

[surviort_wwdnet]

Bt is (as I understand it) a bacterial liquid compound that will kill squash vine borers when they injest it.

Are you watering with a garden hose or ???? Make sure to water just the soil and not the leaves. You probably already know that :) The drip lines are great for this. As for keeping my brain working finding problem solutions, I spend a fair amount of time looking up helpful information since I don't want to lose my plants.

I more than doubled my garden capacity this year by adding the bag garden after listening to Ice Age Farmer, Mike Adams, and others about the coming food shortages. While I also added a lot more grocery store type foods to my storage (dry beans, rice, canned meat, poultry, and fish, plus a few more cans of FD), I am also aware that affordable/available produce may disappear from shelves so I needed to up my game. I am heavily invested both financially and emotionally in my gardens (which is why I am out there checking, examining, and caring for all of my plants). My husband has mostly gotten the message because, as we were eating Mexican ground beef & zucchini, he said "In the future we may be eating this without the ground beef". He can see a future without commercial food availability in light of recent food production facility destruction and cattle/poultry murders. I am reminded to get some extra ground beef to can a few more pounds...

You should definitely do the "stories from the streets" thread. That would be some great insight into other areas of the country.

Husband put together my greenhouse this morning and I set it out on the stoop without the cover of couse, and put my seed starters on it. Now that I have a lot more surface area for starting seeds, I can see that I need to get back to starting more! I have room for 60-80 seed starter pots, and I only have 2 that are waiting for transplanting. I don't have 60 empty grow bags (I have 6), and the drip lines are just long enough to cover the bags I have, so I'll have to be judicious with my planting. I just hate to not have something started! As for space, we have a LOT of grassy area, and if it was up to me, I'd be using some of that space for more garden but we'll see;) For now I'm going to keep stocking up on potting soil and trellis netting/fittings.

[surviort_wwdnet]

Today's harvest; last of the purple globe turnips, a zucchini from my salvaged plant, cukes ? , and more tomatoes. I also pulled up the pinto bean plant and plucked all the beans, and picked some more Lima beans. Those are all shelled and jarred. I blanched and froze some sugar snaps, green peas, and the turnips.

Husband put together my compost tumbler (there were a dozen or so pieces and dozens of screws and bolts, and I felt so bad because he has nerve damage in his arms and struggles with such tasks) and then I transferred all of my open compost pile to the new closed composter (nasty job). Cleaned up the shovels, old compost tub, my garden cart, my gloves, my sneakers and then turned the hose on myself.

I pulled up the giant cornstalks and cut them up. I got a few ears of corn but the tassels were well past the soffets and the roofers are coming Monday. They're in the yard waste container along with a bunch of weeds from the yard. Now I have room in the newly-emptied container to plant my black soybeans. They can use the side of the trellis netting that my acorn squash shunned.

I hired someone to come tomorrow and pull all the weeds out of my flower beds. It's not that I'm lazy...it's just that vegetable gardening and having to take on some things my husband can't do anymore has taken over most of my time. Once the weeds are gone, I'll go pick up a few flats of flowers and some garden soil, and get the front beds back in fighting form!

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Nice haul....

[surviort_wwdnet]

There are a lot of tomatoes almost ready to pick; then I'll have to pull out the small water bath canner and get them put up. We've been eating cucumber and tomato salad but enough already! I was digging around in the potato container and spotted a good-sized potato that I covered back up. I'm not quite ready to tackle that container, but maybe I'll pick that one to go with the Father's Day steak dinner.

My second "little" butternut squash is now almost as big as the "big" butternut squash, but both are still green striped so not close to harvest. The two new sugar snap plantings should be ready to start picking in another few days. The black beans are multiplying like rabbits but a long way from harvest. The sugar baby watermelon is starting to take over the whole trellis row and I have to keep rerouting the creeping vines. I have two eggplants and both are blooming. Tomorrow is Father's Day, so I will likely spend more time in the kitchen and less in the garden (while I'm waiting for a delivery for my husband), but I'm chomping at the bit to get more seeds planted. I have 4 bags of potting soil on the way, and once they get here, it's time to get some more seeds in.

Otherwise, I'm exhausted from today. BTW, the new compost tumbler is great but, because the open compost pot had a lot of water in it, the compost in the tumbler is very heavy (no wonder I'm tired because I turned it a couple times). I'm hoping the heat inside the closed container will dry it out. Of course, I keep adding to it every day.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I picked two more little butternuts yesterday. We actually had a splattering of rain yesterday. Not much but it sprinkled for about an hour. My watermelons are not even to the vine stage.

What are you planting this late? I have four empty bags and want to plant but this heat is holding me back. I am also looking at some sort of barter items to plant. We seem to be able to grow peppers good, so maybe them for barter as we don't eat them often. Was also thinking wild coffee as I saw a bush at the local zoo....dandelion can be used for coffee substitute I have heard, so that is on my short list as well. Just trying to make it thru June with work. I worked three weeks, this week I am off but SIL and my son and his GF come into town tomorrow til next Saturday, so I won't be able to do much around here. The following week I cover for another provider....then done and that is when I can focus on projects.