Posted on 08/03/2019 5:55:02 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Well, thank you very much! I think I may have bloom buster here! I’ll go look; but I know I can pick that up easily.
On the other hand, my banana plant/tree is progressing nicely. I planted it close to the side of my house and every day I watch a new leaf unfolding. It’s the most exciting thing I have in my garden being a northeasterner transplanted down south who never expected to own a banana tree. My neighbor suddenly got a bunch of bananas hanging from her tree after 4 years.
I’ll plant some hard neck garlic in Sept-October for next spring...
Last year’s crops were spotty at best. This year I can’t pick them fast enough - pickles, cucumbers, string beans, tomatoes. Already put up 21 quarts of pickles and still have 9 quarts from last year(all refrigerated). I guess I over rationed.
Might skip the 2nd string bean planting and work on radishes, carrots and leeks.
Next year planning & how many to plant - don’t know yet.
My hothouse cucumbers are barely holding on. Powdery mildew is a son of a gun. I have two small fans that run on solar power but I placed them so they push air on tomato side of greenhouse....no issues on that side so I need to order 2 more.
Adding more plastic barrels to set the outdoor planting crates up for gravity drip irrigation. It requires tapping holes in the barrels, putting 1/2 inch spigots in the holes and sealing it with some caulk. Then an electronic timer, then the drip lines.
I am claiming a victory for the Weekly Gardening thread. It was the tidbit someone posted about peppers and tomatoes not liking to set fruit above 85 degrees.
My pepper plants that I had suspended up high in the hothouse were not setting fruit. I moved them down lower and they are not setting fruit well. Up high in the hot house, even with the auto vent opening at 90 degrees and me opening the doors all day, up near the roof on a sunny day stays fairly hot.
I have a huge Douglass fir tree about 40 feet from my greenhouse that is weeping sap like crazy, starting aboutb16 feet off the ground.
I have to have a tree guy come check it out before the windy season starts.
What a great Farm/Ag Report! :)
Those pigs are adorable! I see our local Tractor Supply carries them in season. I’ve got to let Beau know about that breed.
I don’t have a problem with butchering; I help Beau all the time with deer, elk, bear, etc.
It’s the killing part I don’t like anymore, either. :(
Thinking about a fall garden. I have some room, so I may as well make use of it!
Anything I can grow in the spring in zone 4/5, I can grow again in the fall. Gotta double check to see what I still have on hand and maturity dates.
We usually get a hard freeze about mid-October, but Mother Nature totally OWES us a long, warm fall after the cold, wet weather she gave so many of us this past spring!
I want to try some things in my greenhouse this fall, too. This will be my first season for an extended gardening year. Yay! :)
I’ve read that those Ice Cream Bananas (Blue Java) are really something!
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/blue-java-banana.htm
What a cute pig!!!
Isn’t that fascinating? Blue skins and black seeds! I don’t know what variety my plant is but all I know is that it is growing rapidly. My neighbor who gave me the plant was quite dismissive of my chosen location but it seems to be doing very well...so far.
Kunekune are supposed to be the only true pasture pig. The kunekune is pretty much unchanged since the Maori people had them centuries ago. They can live on grass and don't root much. and yeah, they're cute. They're from New Zealand, hence the funny name starting with a K,(kiwi). There's some good videos here https://www.youtube.com/user/KunekunePigSociety/videos from the UK kunekune society - https://www.britishkunekunesociety.org.uk - the NZ version https://kunekune.co.nz/ and the American version http://americankunekunepigsociety.com
I'm also thinking about Kiko for the meat goats.(yup, New Zealand) They're about the lowest input of all goats except for maybe Spanish goats but a lot of the Spanish goats became general brush goats with no care put into breeding them. Most people that raise meat goats use the Boer goat - white body red head - but those were developed in S Africa where it's dry as a bone so they have major hoof and parasite issues here in the temperate Ozarks. The ground is wet here for more than half the year. Also thought abut Kiko does with a Boer buck but then I wouldn't have a buck that looks like this.
The neighbor across the road has longhorn cattle. Kikos are the longhorn of goats.
Come to think of it. High Tensile fence is a New Zealand design. Weird as I'm like 99% English ancestry. The kiwi folks tend to do things with the environment in mind but that happens to equate to low input and self sufficiency so it works for me. They're also just big into farming and self sufficiency though, kind of like Aussies. I have no interest in 800 lb hogs that tear up the place and stink. One problem with any pig breed is that they BREED. Dozen piglets per litter. Gonna be sharing some pork or selling them live. Speaking of pig, I gotta get off of this computer and go fire up the smoker for some ribs.
Thanks so much!
I used to sell a fair number of them with few returns, but haven’t used one, myself. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work well for potted things. Being the geek I am, I’d have a ‘control’ pot that had the PH I was looking for to compare against.
I’ve always relied upon the old, ‘1/3 the dirt you’re stuck with, 1/3 compost and 1/3 peat’ when I’m refreshing a bed. Then I fertilize based upon what plants needs what and I don’t really worry about PH factors. So far, so good!
For pots, I use fresh soil every year, dumping the old stuff (sans root balls) into a garden bed or the compost pile. Maybe not so easy to do on your rooftop garden? ;)
I’ve either made my own (how I truly MISS having discounted broken bags of whatever soil/amendments I needed when I worked for Jung’s!) but I’ve had good results with good old Miracle Grow Potting Mix, too.
“Speaking of pig, I gotta get off of this computer and go fire up the smoker for some ribs.”
We’re in, ‘BLT While We Can Get Them’ mode this week!
Great info about the goats, too. Thanks! I spent summers on my Aunt’s farm tending goats. I hate them. Unless hers were the most ill-mannered goats of all time, I just can’t do it. Can’t stand the smell, can’t stand their cheese - and I LOVE cheese!
I have a feeling we’re getting some, though. Beau has a steep hillside where they will be very happy. ;)
All Poke Berry plants ripped out. So there goes the garden - apparently 90+ % of it.
TWO tomato plants remain. Plus some really tall “I don’t know what it is”. I have no idea what it is. But I’ll let it keep growing.
Harvest:
O.K. got ONE (1) tomato from the plant that had 3. One was going soft so it got tossed for whomever may find it. One was missing, so a squirrel, rabbit or perhaps one of the dogs found it and harvested it already. Completely gone.
So this year’s harvest has been ONE (1) tomato so far. My seedlings are still trying to get going on the deck. They’re now about 3 months old and there’s still an easy 10-11 weeks of growth. I may get some peppers and some small tomatoes.
Anyways, if you want some of the ONE (1) tomato, come on by. It’s bigger than a cherry tomato but way smaller than a Roma tomato. It’s probably a large cherry.
We can split it.
You lead a very interesting life, LOL! :)
Oh, the stories I could tell you. You wouldn’t believe about 85% or more of them.
Neither would I. Had I not already lived those stories.
Anyways, I can get a head of lettuce and make a salad with the ONE (1) tomato. I hope you like lettuce because that’s all it will be, pretty much. There will be more Ranch dressing than tomato.
I knew I was starting late but that’s how it went....
The funny thing is I never officially planted tomato down there. It’s just some seeds/scraps that I tossed down there.
Nobody, I mean nobody can grow Poke Berry weed like me.
I, apparently, am an expert at it. Healthiest, largest Poke Berry you’ve ever seen.
I have a weed that is very prevalent around my house.
It is green leafed with clusters of green berries about pea sized
It is vine like, as it will grow up onto a tree for 30 feet or more.
At several points it puts out thin feelers that are curved at the extreme ends.
I don't know if it is classified as a vine or a bush, but it is also a tenacious grower and looking to spread our.
It will grow in the middle of other weeds and overwhelm them.
What is this weed? - Tom
Chili peppers do best in soil with a ph of 6.0 to 6.8 so I would like to see how close I am to that.
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