Here is the forge with the modified leaf blower and the autotransformer that I use for a bellows.
The thing eats lots of charcoal. I need to find a source for coke instead.
/johnny
greeneyes is out of pocket today and sent an email asking some one else to post for her. She may have sent the email to others, so if it is multiple posted, that is why.
I didn’t do it right, so sorry. Pinging for greeneyes.
Looks OK to me! Raining today in SE Wisconsin, but at least it’s warmer. I might even plant a flower.
You did just fine! thank You for filling in! :-)
Here is the forge with the modified leaf blower and the autotransformer that I use for a bellows.
The thing eats lots of charcoal. I need to find a source for coke instead.
/johnny
I have nickle to quarter size tomatos on most plants today. My banana peppers are about 2” long on one plant and just budding out on others. I have no jalapenos yet, but the plants are growing and looking good.
My experiment of growing tomatos in the raised containers has not produced any flowers yet. I principle difference is the amount of water. They are not on a timer yet and depend on me to water and that is not as much as the in-ground tomatos get.
I transplanted a few pepper plants into the garden yesterday, and spent some quality time with Nanner working in the pond. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the elevation where the pump is laying is close to five feet below the original level of the pond basin.
Goal for the weekend will be to get the rest of the peppers and the tomato plants into the dirt.
Went way over budget with gardening supplies this month. I had to buy garden soil for my raised beds and planters. My backyard is clay and nothing would grow in that. I grew some things, squash, peppers, lettuce, eggplant, beans, and zucchini from seeds but bought tomato plants. I must confess I spent a lot of the budget on flowers. I like to mix the flowers and the vegetables in the backyard.
So far 2 of my cherry tomatoes are loaded with fruit, my squash and eggplant have blossoms and I have one tiny pepper. Lettuce is doing great on the covered back porch.
I’ve been vacuuming the oak tree stuff and related gold dust from our screened porch and front porch area today. We had a good rain yesterday and washed a lot of this stuff out of the air. The oaks out class and out dump the cedars. Cedars really make me sneeze.
Thanks for the thread today.
Two big questions .......
Love eggplant & get hit with flea beetles every time I grow them. I’ve looked up various “solutions” online .... treating the soil (in a new bed this year), insecticidal soap, planting other plants they love nearby (radishes, for instance) .... anybody got something that works for them?
Also, anybody got a homemade insecticidal soap/veggie spray recipe - looked up a bunch online, but would rather hear from somebody I “know” what works for them.
Big week - the garden went in ... tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, plus the two Trombetta seedlings went outside. Planted seeds in the garden for two lettuce mixes, spinach, radishes, onions, chives, and herbs (basil, thyme) & transplanted the volunteer cilantro plants out of the garden to their own pots. I have some Chinese Kale (Broccoli) that is about two inches - took a taste test & it does taste like broccoli - will have to try it earlier in the fall this year. Held off on carrots - will do them in the fall as well. The garden looks the best it’s probably going to look - no weeds, everything neat and green. It’s all good .... for now. :-)
Picked the first tick of the season off of my arm yesterday...supposedly a record crop headed to Red Hampshire this year...some doctors here put lyme disease in the same category as chemtrails, so not sure whether to panic or not. :-)
I am fairly new to gardening, as this will be only my 4th year for vegetables. Not so sure I can count last year, though, because 1) my cat dumped my germinating seeds from the table in my house, and I had no idea what was what; 2) last summer was so stinking hot here that nothing grew but the weeds.
Every victory is a big, big deal for me.
This year: I successfully germinated tomato seeds. One group was a packet of seeds that I bought from Burpee, but the other group is from an heirloom tomato that I bought just to harvest the seeds. I put them in a dark room on an old heating pad for 2 days after seeing the expensive tomato “grow mats” in an online catalog, and they popped right out! I will be planting them tomorrow. Hope my yield is as impressive as the germination rate.
Has anyone ever tried ‘planting by the signs’?
Just started tilling the garden today. A good 3-4 weeks later than usual, due to the cold and overly wet weather. Will plant the spring crops over the next few days and hope for the best in the compressed spring season.