Weekly Garden Thread - November 4-10, 2023 [Favorite Gardening Tips Edition]

November 4, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Pollard]

Holy carp man, these little sprinklers put out some water volume. I ran 5 of them for an hour tops and used about 90 gallons of water. According to the specs, that's the equivalent of almost an inch of rain.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Oooh! Liz, A Holiday Dessert out break, er out bake! :)

[Liz]

LOL......a definite keeper.......yes?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thank you! Both are keepers!

Nice that the Dulce d leche with only 2 packages of Cream Cheese! T.J.s sells Caramel (Fleur d Sel) that could be used for topping. (Lighter than my NY Cheesecake! 4 packages of C.Cheese.) I will have to imagine the sweet potato pie for the time being. I have 9" and 6" springform pans.

[Liz]

Yes, it is a lighter cheesecake.....nice after a heavy meal.

TJ’s caramel would be a perfect topping.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Laughing at the last line...Ha!

Thank you! I used to make Cheesecake on a regular basis, but I had a faster metabolism then, was still into running (Ugh!) and had teen boys in the house - so they went too fast for me to eat the whole thing, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Those sprinklers sound really efficient!

[Liz]

Never heard of “leftover” cheesecake.......not even once.

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You had teen boys in the house who went too fast for you to eat the whole cheesecake?

Wassamatter? You cant eat AND run at the same time?

[Pollard]

Holy carp man, these little sprinklers put out some water volume. I ran 5 of them for an hour tops and used about 90 gallons of water. According to the specs, that's the equivalent of almost an inch of rain.

Ok, not as bad as I thought. I forgot about the shape of the tank being a cylinder shape on it's side. The beginning and end go fast as vertical level. It has gallon markers and I saw this morning that it's just under 160 out of 200 so I used about 45 gallons, half what I was thinking.

Still almost an inch of watering based on how long they ran at their rated output. They do put out a surprising amount of water for their size.

90 gallons had me freaking out thinking about how much more sq ft the tunnel is. At 45 gallons, four IBC tanks for it will give me four watering sessions like above. Drip uses a lot less and is mostly what I'll be using and it will always be mulched. I'm guessing 8-10 drip sessions with four full IBC tanks. Definitely won't make it through no rain for over a month but I figured that.

Went out in the dark and hooked up my soil moisture sensor and stuck it in the raised bed last night and will be monitoring the readings from it compared to observation. Next time I water, I'll stick it in a different bed where it will be in soil instead of that raised bed mix. I'll stick it in at an angle so it's reading the top 1 inch in the bed I'll be seeding today with Bok Choy.

Time to go rake and burn and rake and burn. At least want to see the driveway and clear out under the high tunnel frame welding area. I work tomorrow and then have Tues/Wed off and have no other pressing projects so I think I'll actually get them welded up. Then I have Sat/Sun/Mon off to paint them and get them in the ground. I'll probably just paint the top/arch part so we can handle them as it's going to be mid to high 50s, just warm enough to paint but may be slow to dry/cure since I'm using rust-oleum enamel from the gallon. They will be sprayed, not brushed so that helps.

[Pollard]

Didn’t see your reply until right after I posted this - https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4194429/posts?page=49#49

Twice as efficient than I thought.

I got 1 out of 6 that wobbles a bit. Still waters good. I’m using five but somehow lost one yesterday. When I run across it, I’ll replace the wobbly one as I know the missing one doesn’t wobble. It’s probably under the leaves out there. Need to rake the little garden out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Not anymore! It’s a struggle to walk and chew gum at the same time these days. ;)

[Liz]

Darn it.

[Pollard]

Bok Choy growing advice needed.

From what I’m seeing;

1) pH 6-7.5
2) shallow rooted - keep top moist
3) heavy feeder
4) 12” SPACING

What I’m thinking

1) I have 5.2 - 5.5 pH so wood ash to almost cover soil with grey - water in
2) overhead micro-sprinklers
3) I have 5-1-1 fish emultion and can fertigate through drip once true leaves are out and again later
4) I have a tape measure :)

I’ve never had much luck with brassica, especially here with this pH. I’ve been reluctant to lime because I have absolutely disease free and mostly pest free nightshades, maters/taters, which is what I’ve been mostly growing. I also need to get a soil test but the AG ext service is a bit pricey and I hadn’t gotten into growing non-nightshades enough yet to bother. That and I wanted to see what would grow. Mustard and leaf lettuce do ok.

thx

[Diana in Wisconsin]

*BUMP* Hope someone here has personal growing experience and can help. I have never grown any Asian greens - but I probably should.

Bok Choy: Zones 4-7. They are heavy feeders. I learned that with my Brussels Sprouts this season. Dosed them 2x with Blood Meal for the nitrogen and iron...they were 4-5’ tall!

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-bok-choy-4125560

[Pollard]

Bok Choy is a cabbage/brassica and the Asian greens I planted are brassica.

Seems like the leafy stuff isn’t quite as hungry as head or thick stalk forming are because mustard is a brassica and did ok here but cauliflower/broccoli, not so much. I really don’t know if it’s pH or N though and didn’t know if someone might have some brassica tips.

[Pollard]

But what I’ve read, plus your brussel sprouts experience tells me head/stalk forming(even little ones) or anything other than leafy greens need plenty of N.

The cauliflower and broccoli I tried one year here did ok but didn’t get big. That’s probably lack of N

Any special reason for the iron or just something that comes with bloodmeal?

[Augie]

The weather here in Central Missouri was pleasant following last weekend’s drizzle fest. We got a few sprinkles late Saturday afternoon but that cleared up in time to get a hayride in for the dozen or so littles that were able to make it.

Mrs. Augie and I spent a good bit of time doing cleanup getting the yard and gardens ready to put to bed for the winter. We pulled all of the pool toys out of the pump house yesterday. Deflated and packed all of the floaty things, and moved some stuff that had been shoved in there to a more appropriate location for storage. I’m going to install some shelving in there so we’ll have space for the smaller stuff that belongs in there.

The tree watering bags and garden hoses from the chestnut grove have all been picked up, drained, and packed away for the winter. I’ve still got 300’ or so worth of garden hose laying out to drain that needs to be picked up and packed. Mrs. Augie’s elephant ear roots have been dug and are drying in the garage. Still need to dig canna lilies and get those ready for storage.

Pops and I spent a little time yesterday putting some tillage equipment, the big Minneapolis-Moline tractor and bush hog, and some other smaller tools into dry storage for the winter. After we finished that up I put the boat in the pond and pulled the deep air diffuser out and put it on the swim deck. After work today I’ll reset it in shallow water to keep a section of water open during the winter.

The yard needs to be mowed one more time before I send the Kubota to the dealership for its annual maintenance visit. I should be able to knock most of that out later today assuming I’m able to escape work while the sun is still up.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Any special reason for the iron or just something that comes with bloodmeal?”

Just an added bonus. I cleaned the 6 stalks and production was poor, but only because of bug damage. I didn’t spray them with anything during the season. About 1/3 of the top of each stalk was fine; sprouts on the lower stalks were ‘holey’ and chewed through.

Anyhow, I just grew them because my sister wanted them. She’ll have to get them at market next year. They took up an entire bed which could’ve been put to more productive use - but I taste-tested a few small ones after they were blanched and they ARE tasty! :)

[Pollard]

New addition to the gadget family

Temperature/Humidity Sensor

It's sitting in another room right now but I'll get it set up outside today.

Next on the list is an analog expansion module that will be able to read the soil moisture sensor. Right now I have to go outside with a multimeter and measure the voltage which varies between 0.00 - 3.00 VDC with 0.00 being dry as a bone and 3.0 being wet as can be.

Went out and looked at the garden last night after work and the freshly seeded bed was patchy, wet/dry so I hit it with the overhead micro-sprinklers for 5 minutes. I'm going to set up timers for a few 5 minute sessions per day. 9am before the sun hits, 3:30pm when it's starting to get patchy afternoon shade and again at 9pm. The analog stuff is expensive, $330 for the module, so I won't be getting one for a while. Wouldn't help me right now anyway because there's no way of knowing what a particular voltage means.

It's not something the makers of it can tell you because it depends on what kind of soil you have. Heavy soil doesn't release it's moisture to a plant like light soil does so 1.70 vdc in sand is different than 1.70 vdc in clay. I'm recording voltage readings with comments on how wet or dry the soil is at the various readings. By the time I get an analog input module, I'll know, it's time to water at 0.87 vdc etc.

Today, I weld tunnel frames

Hopefully I'll get them all welded and sprayed with rust treatment to take care of the surface rust today. Tomorrow, prime with "rusty metal" primer and paint them white. Then I have Sat/Sun/Mon off with 60 degrees and sunny to get them in the ground.

It's time to start shopping for poly film to cover it. Hopefully I'll find an end of the year sale.

[Pollard]

Well that was quick pre-shopping. Boostrap Farmer still has the best poly film price and does free shipping to the 48 states.

$266 - 32x60 to completely cover once
$385 - 32x100 to completely cover once plus re-cover the top/roof and West side a second time in 4-6 years

Who am I kidding? I don’t have a good place to store plastic film for 4-6 years. It would be in a hot shed every Summer.

$266 it is.

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I still need chain link fence top rail to make my drop down sides and it’s surprisingly expensive.

35’ long tunnel. Fence rail comes in 21’ lengths. I need two for each horizontal and with the bi-fold door design, that’s 4 horizontals per side. Total of 16 lengths at $30 ea.

$30 x 16 = $480
$150 x 2 for linear actuators = $300

$800 for bi-fold drop down sides

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Roll up sides are starting to look pretty good.
2 - 21’ lengths per side

$30 x 4 = $120
$25 gearmotor mounted inside a $18 - 6x6x4 weatherproof junction box x 2 = $76
$100 for misc pieces

$300 for roll up sides ($120 for non-motorized)

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OR

New design. Put pivots 2/3 of the way up a 48” tall panel/side so that the 16” top 1/3 tilts in/down and 32” bottom part tilts out/up.

Four lengths of top rail per side plus two linear actuators. $240 + $300 = $540

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Anyway

It’s light out. I’m gonna go weld tunnel truss frames.