Posted on 12/27/2013 12:25:05 PM PST by greeneyes
-I am on the computer too much period.-
Myself. My wife encourages my woodworking to get me off the computer. My computer chair is the only place I am comfortable, so when I tire of doing anything, guess where I go for a break. I am on here and off all day and night, along with youtube and a woodworker site that is huge, and of course I check my email 20 times per day. I am always researching something online, or looking for a good deal on something. Plus...I use Firefox which has a “restore last session” feature that puts my screen exactly where it was at shutdown.
Yesterday, I planted all the peppers. Well, I just got my mail and there are two more types of pepper seed to start. I need to plant these now, too. One is “Hot pepper Mixture”. It has Anaheim Chili, Ancho (Poblano), Hungarian Wax, Jalapeno M and Long Red Slim Cayenne. Harvest about 70-80 days after transplanting. I just put some of these seeds in my hand and I can tell some are different from others but most of them look alike. How in the world am I supposed to know which is which? I can't. There are 100 seeds in this packet. I'll try to pick a few of each that is different from others and then just plant some that look the same and see what comes up. I would say when they come up I could identify them but I don't know what each of those peppers look like. Guess it will be back to the net to look at these names/pictures of peppers and try to figure out which is which.
The other one is “Tangerine Dream Peppers”. I got these because they were planted in a container and it said these are great to grow in containers. “Gorgeous. 18 inch tall bushes studded with reddish orange fruits. Sweet, 3 inch peppers delicious either pickled or fresh. Harvest about 70 days after transplanting.”
Also, “Homemade Pickles” came in the mail. Harvest after 55 days. Great for pickles and salad. It says there are enough seeds for 10 “mounds” which is 6 seeds per mound so that is 60 seeds in the packet. These will be my bread and butter pickles and the ones used to make pickle relish. These pickles are known to be naturally crisp inside. They have excellent disease resistance, very high yields, and ready to harvest early and have 4 foot compact vines. They produce a long time. I'll use the cheap bamboo 4 ft. stakes I got to hold up the vines. I have plenty of soft plastic ties to tie them to the stakes.
The tomatoes I planted today are:
Better Boy Hybrid
Fourth of July Hybrid
Mortgage Lifter Red
Sweet Million Hybrid
Cosmonaut Volkov Red-Heirloom Tomato
I also planted the celery seed this morning.
A nice Freeper sent me Sabre tomato seed and I bought a small packet and it came in today's mail - I'll plant the ones the Freeper sent me and a few of the new ones. I'll wait a bit to start these seeds as they will produce in the fall. I bought this seed from Amishland Heirloom Seeds in Reamstown, Pennsylvania. This lady sent me some free seeds, “Red Icicle Tomato”. I'll have to look up this tomato on her website: http://www.amishlandseeds.com/ Her name is Lisa and if you go there, you will see her picture in her garden. She only sells seeds from her garden, never sells someone else’s seeds. Sure would like to go see her garden and have tea - wonder if they have special “Amish” tea?
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I ordered a mix of "Microgreens" that I plan to just sprinkle in a few large containers. Whatever comes up will just be snipped and put in a salad. This is what I did with my basil last year. Will you be seed starting inside? Or will you be casting your seeds directly onto the ground?
Well, drat, I thought you’d get the envelope I sent you today...
I start every seed under the grow lamp that is about four feet from my chair. If you remember the squirrel/bird saga I went through, they got/ate every seed I planted in garden dirt and in a long planter sitting on the dirt, so I got the grow lamp and now those killers don’t get my seed. I don’t plant ANYTHING in ground dirt. Every plant is in a container. There will be many containers in the net room so the killers can’t get to my plants and others will be on my deck and covered with net to keep the killers out.
My lettuce is on a tape and that will go in the long wood planter sitting on the dirt but it will be covered with net to keep out the killers. The Egyptian Walking Onions are also in a wood planter on the garden dirt and it is covered with net.
Today’s mail was likely not in the mail I got. I’ll look again tomorrow and perhaps it will be there. As soon as I get it, I will send the “T” squash seed to your address on that package.
Wow. A greenhouse would be the perfect solution to that, but they are so expensive! On the other hand, something like this might be even better:
http://www.squidoo.com/garden-enclosure
I worded that incorrectly. I thought it would arrive there today. I mailed it the 31st.Since you're 4.5 hrs away, I didn't think it would take very long to get there.
My computer guy called this morning and when I described what happened, he said the computer might have thought those usb plug ins with my e-cigs on them, were programs and it was trying to open them and couldn't so it shut down. I told him I'm not going to plug in a cig recharger on my computer anymore. He thought that was a good idea.
"Don't do that!"
/johnny
All of my other herbs and some of my tomatoes will be in containers on the deck. Some tomatoes will be in containers lining the path out front.
http://www.squidoo.com/garden-enclosure
That garden enclosure looks really nice. It would be great for keeping birds out of berry patches, too. Thx for posting it.
You’re welcome!
That man spent a lot of money using various things to keep them out but I figured out before he did that small stuff was not going to work. I felt the same frustration he did that squirrels were not going to eat my food. It was a war between them and me and I was going to win.
My engineer relative thought they would eat through my net but I guess they are dumb squirrels because they just walk around it and leave. My Yorkie also knows when one comes in back there and she has a fit at the door so I let her out and she chases them out.
“Tangerine Dream” was either a group in the ‘80’s or the title of one of their albums. At any rate, I appreciate your insustriousness!
$20. is certainly better than $100. I’m fortunate not to have problems with squirrels. We have had too many cats here, so that may be good for reducing our squirrel population. We also have hawks, fisher cats, fox and coyotes. Did I mention the bears? :)
I opened another envelope that came today and it was from Everwilde Farms and was “Carolina” cucumbers, 100 seeds. “51 days. Cucumis sativus. (F1) Plant produces good yields of pickling type cucumbers. Excellent quality white spined variety. Suitable for home garden and market growers. Excellent disease resistant variety.”
The two varieties of cucumbers will give me plenty to eat and to can. Well, I will can them IF I get jars and vinegar which I still have to do. Since I'm not going outside right now, the vinegar, jars/lids, are on hold.
I have ordered the Ball Bread and Butter seasoning and Ball pectin and Ball hot sauce seasoning. By seasoning, I mean the spices, etc., that goes in those foods to make bread and butter pickles and hot sauce made of tomatoes, etc.. I figured for my first time canning, I'd better get those things already made up so it would be easier for me to do it and screw up less.
I have a very small greenhouse that cost me about $30. It’s large enough to put the baby plants to acclimate them to the outside just before transplanting. It zips down the front on two sides so the squirrels/birds can’t get in there.
I’ve never done any canning, although I admire those who do. It’s an excellent way to provide healthy vegetables all fall, winter and spring. The father of my best friend growing up canned. He was quite a guy.
That’s excellent, especially given the volume of your transplants.
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