WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JULY 1, 2016

freerepublic | July 1, 2016 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the link. I’ll be exploring that for sure.

[greeneyes]

I am blessed with patio doors that face south west. I had ceramic tile put down in front of these doors so that I have a defined space where the plants will be.

My basement kitchen where I do my canning, alas, has almost no natural light. So I have a couple of grow lights set up that I use when I want to have some extra pots growing some greens.

[greeneyes]

Me too. I like to cook a whole bunch of extra, and then nosh on the “leftovers” during the week. Sometimes freeze a little for a “rainy day” BBQ.LOL

[tubebender]

Last year it was Celebrity and this years is Legend from Territorial Seed in Oregon. Not my choice but Lady Bender tricked me and they had BETTER PRODUCE!!!

[ladyjane]

The link may work better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCWFpwJfqM

[greeneyes]

Sneaky Lady Bender! LOL I do hope they produce.

[greeneyes]

No. It took me to getting rid of crab grass, and the other one took me to getting rid of clover.

So I googled and found a guy that dried the eggshells, and banana peel and then pulverized it. He had documented all the nutrients - amazing.

I knew of course that there was more than calcium and potassium in those two and always use them, but hadn’t really bothered to look up what else was in there.

[momtothree]

No.... I checked the plants. I think it must be a rot (defined by others). Thank you... I am hoping the nutrients help. If not... I have healthy grape tomatoes to look forward to :)

[momtothree]

Thank you so much, greeneyes... I will go this week. (((Hugs))) Mom

[left that other site]

Sounds good to Me!

[ladyjane]

Darn - I don’t know why those links kept changing. I have sent links to the video to many tomato growing friends with no problem.

There are several youtube videos about using egg shells. This one is excellent. It shows how pulverizing them is important and why the vinegar is needed to mix with the egg shells to make the calcium absorbable by the tomato plant.

Here is a link - again - and if it sends you to the wrong place here is the title of the youtube video.

How to Prepare Eggshells for Use in the Garden: Vinegar and Blossom End Rot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycETgNRe5k

Early this year I put eggshells in the garden prepared this way. The plants are the best I’ve ever had. All of them, not just the tomato plants. All the vegetables seem to love the mixture.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Darth Reardon :" . Turns out one of the varieties of marigold I’m trying for the first time
grows a lot bigger than I expected, and grows faster than the peppers."

There are two things you can do to prevent plants from overgrowing or crowding your vegetables.
(#1)You can cut them back; in which case you will get double the blooms, although the plant stems will be shorter.
(#2) If you want longer stems, you can pt two sticks at either end of the row, and tie a taught line in between the two sticks, to physically pull the flower stems away,
thus preventing the flowers from shading out the vegetables.
You can bend the stems, so long as you don't break them.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

ladyjane :" The link may work better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCWFpwJfqM

Thank you for the hotlink !

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

tubebender : " Last year it was Celebrity and this years is Legend from Territorial Seed in Oregon "

Celebrity seems to be more crack resistant than Legend. Both varieties seem to be early and late blight resistant ,
with Celebrity being determinate (all fruits develop together - ideal for canning).
It appears that Legend will bring you the earliest, sweeter tomatoes
So this year, you say , "Yes dear, you were right"
And next year you make the order , yourself, for what you prefer. LMAO !

[tubebender]

I should save your reply because I will forget by next year...

[tob2]

Plants are growing well. Still have some lettuce, arugula, and mache. And also pansies. The lilies are almost finished blooming, Finally, the four o’clocks are growing past their seed leaves! I can hardly wait to see what colors they are. The tomatoes are growing big and strong. I’m a happy camper.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Fourth of July!

[Darth Reardon]

Thanks for not mentioning option number three, reading the plant height that is clearly marked on the front of the seed packet.

[ladyjane]

LOL - I went to that link and it was to crabgrass!! LOL Very strange

Basically the youtube video I tried to link shows why it is important to break up the eggshells to increase the surface of the shell. Then it shows the 2:1 ratio of vinegar to eggshell to release the CO2 and make the calcium turn into a form to be absolved by the tomato plant. (be warned, the vinegar causes the eggshells to bubble over)

The eggshells and epsom salts have greatly increased my harvest. The pea vines, some of them, are over 6’ tall. I’ve never had pea vines that robust in al the years i have grown peas. Maybe it’s the eggshells? Not sure.

[Augie]

The last couple days have been wet, wet, and more wet here in Central Missouri. It started raining Friday evening, and by 8:00am on Saturday there was 5.1" in the gauge at Pops' house. I didn't check it this morning but I expect we got over an inch more yesterday. I'm going to have to pump the pond out again before I can get back to work on it.

Pops came over Friday afternoon and bush-hogged the back pasture. Good timing on that. The sunflowers in the wildlife plot started to bloom a few days ago. This rain sure came at a good time for them. The turnips that I planted back there are doing well. The bigger ones are already the size of a baseball.

Did a bit of cleaning in the barn yesterday, and started re-assembling Mom's antique roll-top secretary that Dad gave to me. Finished that up today, pulled out my old computer desk and set up shop on the secretary this afternoon. I cut four big heads of cabbage this morning and chopped them up to make sauerkraut. It was enough to fill a five gallon bucket about 2/3 full. Hopefully it will turn out good.

I got started digging garlic last week. It looks pretty good so far. Need to finish that and get the potatoes out this week so I can put something in behind them. Another 75 row-feet of sweet corn and something else, probably a couple hills of zucchini squash.

I need to mow the yard but it needs to settle up for a day or two first. There's plenty of other stuff I could work on tomorrow, but instead I'm going to take the day off from chores and go trout fishing at Bennett Spring.

[cherry]

beautiful desk....

and btw, you sure do get a lot done....but life is better isn't it, when you can take pride in your work.....