Thoughts of 2015 Garden

[ET]

I know winter hasn’t even officially left and my thoughts are already drifting about next year’s garden adventure.
The 2014 garden was a good year for tomatoes, beans and squash. There were some good lessons learned about tomato blight and unwanted wildlife. Also a further study of soil conditions such as PH level requirements for different plants revealed some interesting results. Then of course I’m looking into expanding the garden for additional vegetables as well as changing some of the varieties. An example of this is trying burp less cucumbers instead of the regular ones used for canning.

Another item planned for the garden this year is an assortment of peppers. For some years we have not plated peppers because of a suspected disease or virus that would cause the peppers to rot before maturing. Hopefully this disease or virus has run its course and we again can experience fresh peppers. Canning tomato sauce or salsa without peppers is like having a bland hamburger.

Okay the soil has already been treated with dolomite lime in the fall to further reduce the acidity level of the soil bringing it closer to neutral to help combat some of the blight problems. What will be a new approach for soil nutrients is using discarded soil from a mushroom farm. Supposedly this will enhance plant growth as well as producing larger vegetables. As this is a new approach it will be interesting to see first time results.

Another new approach is employing a trellis for cucumbers. The plant’s vine growth is directed above the trellis while the actual cucumber hangs below as it matures. Should be no more probing inside the plant area to find the cucumbers and easily picked as they hang. The other fun aspect for me is constructing a makeshift trellis from scrap material. Right now it’s too cold to work in the garage without heat so a little patience is needed to pass the time.

Another new condition will be on the spot canning to try. Last fall the lady (now a good friend) of the home bought a new stove and the old stove was moved into the garage where by her request I wired an outlet for it. Along with a nice bench table to work on this should reduce the mess at home for canning. Along with a few store bought items it should be fresh from the garden into canning jars.

Hopefully we’ll have a short winter this year as I’m eager to get started on further garden preparations. It will be nice to feel the warmth again outside and participate in generating new life that will be tasty to boot.
I’m also looking forward to meeting up with my old friend the Dinosaur (Roto-Tiller) who gave me a hard time at the start of last year. When I finally got it started it chewed up the ground like nothing would stop it. With 3-turnovers planned it will get a good workout, including yours truly.


Ed

[rambler]

Ed, try the products in the pepper link below, good stuff and nice tips. Cucumbers love humus and I've had excellent luck using a trellis in years past. The mushroom soil sounds cool, I think they use a lot of manure.

Peppers

Good luck and looking forward to some pics and progress reports.

[ET]

Thanks for the thoughtful info on a seed supplier.
Before my best friend passed away he used to raise seedling plants from seed in the basement under artificial sunlight because of the shorter growing season we have here. Now that he is gone certain plants are already started elsewhere by a supplier.
Cucumber plants, squash and a few others we start by seed because the growing season is long enough to accommodate them.

I’m not sure about the composition of the spent soil from a mushroom farm but it is heavier than compost and I was informed to spread it sparingly.
As I’ve been doing some research on gardening I was surprised to learn there is much more than what meets the eye here that can make a difference from a so-so garden to one that produces a quality crop. The better the quality produced the more rewarding the satisfaction felt when it comes time to harvest.

This year I’m going to have some extra help for tending the garden so extra care can be applied at certain growth stages. For the tomatoes I missed too many suckers and under tied them to the stakes last year because of being in a hurry.
I shared some pictures last year and will again as this year as garden progresses. You’ll probably get a kick out of what I will use for constructing a make shift trellis.
Anyway the plants for this year’s garden are already chosen and the garden layout is planned. Now I just need to see the Robins arriving to signal garden start time is at hand.


Ed

[hydrodog]

ET, you can never start planning the next garden too early. I have been growing a few varieties of burpless cukes for quite a few years now. I have had good luck with the Diva and Muncher types. For trellises I have taken concrete reinforcement mesh and just bend a piece in the middle so all you do is lay it over the row.I found it easier than pounding supports into the ground.As for the mushroom compost I believe it is mainly horse manure and should work very well. My wife starts all our pepper plants from seed and they are very slow germinating,some take 2-3 weeks.The rot you described the peppers having sounds like blossom end rot which is from a lack of calcium,some gypsum or limestone added to the soil will help that alot.Good luck and keep us updated.

[rambler]

Egg shells work well for calcium deficiency also. We have a bucket under the kitchen sink that besides all the coffee grounds, all the egg shells, banana peels, and any veggie scraps go. Then out to the compost pile.

[ET]

Hydrodog

Thanks for providing a possible identification of pepper rot.
Last fall I treated the soil with dolomite lime to get the Ph up from 6.4 to 6.8. Supposedly this should also help reduce the tomato blight condition we had in 2014. Used a fair bit of Bordo spray to combat blight.

As for Burpless cucumbers I was going to try “Tasty Green” variety that was recommended. Also want to try “Diomede” variety that is disease tolerant.
I like your idea of using concrete mesh for a trellis but also have some other material I need to try and make use of first.
The cucumber plants this year will be grown in large pots that are on hand. My deceased friend used to grow a lot of different spices in these pots but now that he is gone that will be discontinued. Might as well put these pots to another use.

Rambler

Good suggestion but not practical for doing any amount of compost in this situation. The Lady doesn’t generate a lot of compost material and wants to minimize the amount of compost bins in the yard. Who am I to argue if she prefers buying compost from a good inexpensive source.


As for the Raspberry patch all I have to do is provide it some fertilizer this year. Last fall I chopped it down and thinned out some of the old root systems. So no lengthy chore left here to attend too.
One half of the large patch was taken out and underneath all that vegetation I found a lone Strawberry plant that survived over 10-years. I moved it to a better location and find myself hoping it will survive and thrive again. Sort of rooting for the underdog, chuckle.
For years there was always a lot of sweet raspberries but a lot went to waste so that is why the patch size was reduced.

Everything is in place for the 2015 garden and I’m waiting for the Robins to arrive. Wonder if my friend from last year will return? When tilling the garden I had 1-Robin that didn’t fear me and would come close to me to retrieve whatever food I exposed from the ground. One time I had a fat dew worm within inches of my one foot and that Robin just came and snatched it. Instead of darting away it hesitated and gave me a look that expressed “So, what are you going to do?” I just had a good laugh before putting the tiller into gear again to finish my chore.


Ed

[billc]

Ed, I like the Gardens Alive products and their catalogs are a wealth of information on diseases, pests, soil conditions, and solutions for the problems. One example, end rot on my tomatoes was a huge problem for me. Their info explained the cause they have a product that eliminates the conditions. I used their product and no end rot for the past 15 years.

[ET]

Billc

Thanks for your reply and reference to a garden supplier.
Of all the years we’ve grown tomatoes end rot was never an issue. But the peppers are another story all together. For many years we never had a pepper rot issue then 1-year it really hit and a few consecutive years after that it always killed the crop before maturing.

I would prefer treating the soil than having to do a lot of spraying if possible. Hopefully by getting the PH level closer to neutral a lot of fungi won’t be generated to start with. Another possible remedy I read somewhere was using/spreading inexpensive powdered milk around the roots. Might take a small area and try that to see what happens.

The Lady friend and I are going to try a few different things this year and watch how the plants respond. I guess part of the fun is seeing what emerges with some of the trial and errors when trying different things. Our mindset is to go for the gusto on producing a better crop than last year.
We did resolve the bird issue pecking the tomatoes with CD’S tied on a string. That really worked well.


Ed

[rambler]

Ed, Bone meal is the answer to your pepper issues. Not only high in calcium but phosphorus as well, which really helps with blooming and will eliminate blossom end rot.

Read up on it with that high end smart phone you got lol

[10ga]

Everybody seems to have a couple tips to add. I'll list some of mine.

I love growing heirloom tomatoes and Black Krim does real good here. Rainbow (yellow w red stripes) isn't a heirloom but Is big and good tomatoes. I also grow some hybrid. Usually have at least 3 plants of 4 different varieties. Also have a late planting so I get maters until frost and then a bunch of green to take in and ripen after the frost knocks stuff down.

Peppers I grow sweet banana, cubanelles, and ancho. None all that hot but great for pepperoncini and stuffed peppers as well as making roast peppers to can.

I get my onion plants from dixondale and Copra grows really good here. www.dixondalefarms.com/jan09

I get my seed potato from potato garden www.potatogarden.com/index.html I really like Purple Viking and Red Thumb. They really produce good and keep well for me.

I grow a fair amount of heirloom pole beans too. Selma Zesta (Rattlesnake) and Turkey Craw grow good and really produce. They are also a great attractant for the Jap beetles and I put my beetle traps in the pole bean area.

Currently have a great crop of spinach getting ready for a bit of warmth and then I'll be picking that.

Lettuce of most any type does good for me and I grow mostly buttercrunch, romaine and some leaf types.

I also have my garlic in and it's fall planted and doing good.

I always have squash, 3 hills of 4 varieties, hyprid does good. They take the most attention around here as borers are very aggressive and will wreck a crop quick if you don't keep up.

Really good late fall cabbage crop and have just 1 head left.

anything that needs a trellis I just use old dog fence/pen wire.

Grow my snow peas and cucumbers on wire trellis. Pole beans go on redheart cedar poles.
For my tomatoes and peppers I use old hog/sheep wire made into cages.

Getting ready to start spring plants in my little greenhouse now.

My garden secret, chicken manure and leaf compost.

There are several things I like to grow but don't, like sweet corn and sweet potatoes. They both take more room than I have and attract more varmits than you can kill. Seems every animal and bug there is eat those two things.

Hope all well, and may you have an early spring, moderate summer and late frost. 10 ga

Going out to look for wild cresses now. From now until they bloom is prime time for creasy greens.

[rambler]

10ga....you got it goin' on now!!

[ET]

Rambler

My cell phone is busy recharging after having a heck of a time with downloading those translation programs but I finally got them installed, chuckle.

Followed up on your Bone Meal suggestion and was surprised to read that at one time it was used for human calcium supplement until they found metal contaminants. This will be easy to use like a fertilizer and the area where the pepper plants are located will get treated with this. Hey I’m already getting a real warm fuzzy feeling about a successful pepper crop, chuckle.

10Ga

Sounds like you have a really well organized garden with a good selection and variety.

For peppers we want to try an assortment and in that assortment definitely some cherry peppers if available. They taste great stuffed ranging from cream cheese to anchovies.
Sweet corn is grown by the acres up here and really cheap to purchase when in season.
Beets are also on the list as I love a good homemade borsch which IMO is becoming a lost art.
My area is not so good for cabbage and lettuce unless I try a mid- summer planting. Summers can get hot here causing the aforementioned plants wanting to quickly go to seed.

What I really enjoy also is a good homemade stew with whatever fresh vegetables are in season. Through in some potato dumplings and I’m going to succumb to having my fill (over eat).

My Lady friend has a particular choice for a hybrid tomato so I don’t try to persuade her to try something else. They can get nice and big where a good meaty tomato slice can easily cover a slice of bread. There will also be some grape tomatoes planted for salads.

After each post I read with helpful suggestions my enthusiasm for the 2015 garden just gets better and better. Thanks to all for responding.


Ed

[rambler]

Pepper Growing Tips

The first part of this article is for growing from seeds but if you scroll down it gets into maintaining them.

[ET]

Rambler

I quickly read some of that link and bookmarked it for later reading.

Being in a talkative mood tonight I have to share a hot story with you.
My deceased friend and I used to can hot sweet cherry peppers together using a traditional recipe carried down a few generations. He was a High School Teacher who one time shared some peppers with his associates. They loved them so much they wanted to can their own. Okay a canning party with couples on Friday night was arranged one season.

Everyone was forewarned to use gloves and take precaution when removing the gloves or putting them back on so as not to get any pepper fluid on their hands. Well the drinks flowed and people became careless with glove care. The following Monday the horror stories began to flow about incidents that occurred ranging from hot hands, hot organs and the best was from couples who were amorous that night. I’ll let your creative imagination fill in the blanks. I’ll tell you I almost busted a gut from laughing when I heard the stories conveyed to me by my friend.

Normally I don’t laugh at people’s misery but the hot burning sensations from the peppers were self inflicted so the people only had themselves to blame because they were numerous times forewarned. Needless to say we never again had a couple’s hot pepper canning party and the original party was talked about for years.


Ed

[rambler]

That is pretty funny. I grew some of the world's hottest peppers from seeds on that link I sent you, always wear gloves is my motto after learning the hard way, but not as hard as your friends. I bet that added some spice to their love life     hahahahahah

[ET]

Rambler

Yeah I don’t think love making could get any hotter than that night, chuckle.

Gardening with my friend when he was alive wasn’t a ho-hum deal but an adventure waiting to happen because you never knew what to expect. One such adventure started a Saturday morning when I stopped by to enjoy a cup of coffee on the veranda underneath the Magnolia tree. We original planned to clean up the garden area in preparation for roto-tilling. A few homes away lived 2-gay women celebrating a designated Gay-Day in the backyard. Man they were loud and obnoxious declaring their gay status. So loud that my friend said we’re going to move the roto-tilling operation up to today.

Now the roto-tiller is an older 7-hp machine that is actually noisy when fired up. When we started you should of heard those women’s objection to us spoiling their celebration. They cursed us to no end and when we stopped to refuel those women laid a bombardment of insults on us.
Then out of the blue another neighbor shouted out “hey if you run out of gas I got some extra here”.
Then another neighbor shouted “And if you need more there’s plenty of extra gas here”.

Gord and I both got a chuckle out of the unexpected response from other neighbors. The women got the message and moved their celebration indoors. After finishing up the roto-tilling chore we had some liquid refreshments afterwards. After giving some thought to what just transpired I admitted to Gord that he was the only man that I know of that was thanked for making excessive noise in a neighborhood.
As stated gardening with my friend just seemed to have an adventure or incident just waiting to happen. He has left me with a lot of fond and unforgettable memories from our friendship.

Ed