Weekly Garden Thread - August 26-Sept 1, 2023 [Potpourri Edition]

August 26, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Bon of Babble]

No. We have actual rats that move along the wires and from tree to tree and eat and destroy fruit. They are horrible. My last cat would climb up the trees to get them.

Right after I posted that yesterday, went out to water and there was a large, dead rat right on the driveway! My kitty did her job. Glad she didn’t drag it in the house like she usually does.

[goodnesswins]

Eewwww...

[MomwithHope]

Our patch going 20+ years. We were told they were Egyptian walking onions.

[MomwithHope]

It’s not too bad. The generator is off at night and part of the day. With the house closed up it stays about 70 or less.

[Jacquerie]

During high school, I lived on my grandparent’s farm south of Grand Rapids (near Martin) for a couple years. Great memories including wild weather from tornadoes to blizzards.

Of course, no electricity back then wasn’t as much of big deal as it is today.

Hope your utilities have been restored.

[MomwithHope]

It’s nice down there, they do get hit with a lot of bad weather when it comes up from Chicago. Power came back in a couple of hour ago. 91 hours total. Not a record. Many years ago we went 7 days, no generator. Thanks for everyone’s well wishes.

[Pollard]

5 months later, I'm starting to get sick of taking care of these tomato plants and a little sick of eating them too. Going to let them go/grow without much pampering and start bringing tomatoes to work to give away. The big varieties are just coming in and the cherries will be going until frost kills them in Oct/Nov.

Mid 50s this morning in tomatoville.

/****** Begin Gibberish ******/ (hey, ya never know who might stumble on this and find it useful. It is on the internet after all)

Finally decided on high tunnel automation components. Not the easiest system but bullet proof industrial and the same thing they use for automation at the factory I work at so hopefully, it will help me get a leg up there.

Automation needs for four irrigation zones, 2 gable vents, 4 drop down sides(2 on each side);

Inputs

• 6 - air/soil temperature sensors (4 soil, 1 indoor air, 1 outdoor air)
• 2 - humidity sensor (1 indoor, 1 outdoor)
• 1 - wind speed (analog)
• 4 - soil moisture sensors
• 4 - drip system pressure sensors - upper/lower limits to detect leak(low/no pressure) or bad Pressure switch on pump or bad Sensor(high pressure) turn off pump in either case
• ?- various sensors to detect open/closed/position

Outputs

• 4 - 24VDC pumps/motors - (on/off based on soil moisture or pressure)
• 2 - 24VDC motors with limit switches that open/close based on temperature (louvered gable vents)
• 4 - 24VDC motors for drop down sides

Eventually, watering will simply be volume/time based for the most part. May add grow lights later on for seedlings to give them 14 hours of light on short sun days.

Gable vents can be open/close based on temperature and I can buy them that already work like that but they're expensive. The full length drop down sides are really what needs to be automated and there is no off the shelf system for that because the drop down sides are custom made, unless of course you're buying a commercial tunnel for a 5-6 digit price tag.

It's not just open/close all the way based on temperature like the gable vents. I need to be able to close them most of the way if it gets windy else I could come home to all the plants knocked over, one side of the tunnel flooded from a sideways rain or the wind having blown hard into one side causing high pressure inside and blowing the plastic film to shreds or lifting the whole tunnel up and tossing it into the woods/trees. Can't close them all the way though if it's in the high 90s.

Its like having the car windows open all the way through town at 30mph but then you get on the interstate and go 70mph and the wind is a bit much but you still want fresh air so you close them most of the way. Sometimes you might just close the driver's window most of the way but leave the passenger window open all the way if you're the only one in the car.

Likewise with the rain. Sometimes having your window open even a crack and you have rain blowing in on you due to the wind direction. I may also try tracking wind direction so I can have just the windward side close most of the way or all the way and leave the leeward side wide open. 90% of the time, it would be the SW side I'd want to close because that's the prevailing wind side.

Unitronics Vision V130 PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)

/****** Super gibberish ******/
Buying used from ebay along with two expansion modules to give me more I/O - inputs/outputs. Inputs/Outputs come in two types, digital/analog. Digital is simple on/off, true/false etc. Analog is for things like temperature that have a range of readings. I'm not 100% sure which way I'll go with the drop down sides. Might go analog but would need some sort of component to know what percentage open/closed the side is for the full 36" range.($$$?) Might go with digital that reads open/closed fro limit switches and also a midway point which would actually be proximity sensor for when it's in the 80% closed position.

They use the V120 at work which is basically the same internally/functionally but I like the looks of the V130 better than this hideous thing(plus the V130 is what I found on ebay.

Unitronics will also sell you branded units in your colors with your logo which is what I found. There's a company in Israel that takes moisture from the air to make/get(generate) water, Watergen. I'd prefer the stock black/white scheme and the face plates do come up on ebay occasionally so hopefully I'll run across one cheap someday.

I don't expect to have to use the buttons much. The programming gets loaded from a PC using a cable and then, it's all automated. I will have readouts displayed for all the sensors and be able to scroll through them using the keypad. I could set it up to be able to manually turn on/off, open/close things while in the tunnel. Technically, you can program them using only the keypad and tiny screen but...

Speaking of gibberish. This is the gibberish I'll have to learn. It's called Ladder Logic programming language. This is a simple example of starting a pump to fill a container with liquid until it's full and then stopping the pump.

If I can become somewhat knowledgeable in this plus the various components used in automation by December, I'll have a good bargaining chip for my 1 year review at work.

/****** End Gibberish ******/

Gotta go eat my tomato breakfast now. Corned beef hash + eggs + tomatoes? Maybe even blister a few shisitos, dice them and throw them in too? Corned Beef Garden Hash. Then I gotta go pick maters.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re going to have gardening down to a science with all that fancy gadgetry!

I’m not QUITE sick of tomatoes yet, but Mom is coming to help me do some serious harvesting tomorrow.

Got another batch of V-8 on the stove right now - almost ready for canning.

The A/C went out on Sunday night into Monday so I have a guy coming to look at it tomorrow. If it’s anything like the oven repair situation, we should have A/C again by Christmastime.

*Rolleyes*

[Pollard]

You’re going to have gardening down to a science with all that fancy gadgetry!

I don't like the word science™ these days. LOL.

We all rely on our HVAC system at home, plus most have used this to run grow lights for starting seedlings.

I'm just doing the same thing on a different scale.

Made a $60 offer on this V120 and it was accepted. The white/blue faced V130 unit was $140 but I like the black/white OEM version better. I might grab the addons from that seller soon as they will work with this V120 and he has them for $40-50 which is a good price.

Will give an update when it runs a 12 volt pump or something.

[Qiviut]

I just checked the fig bush & the figs are ripening. A pound is needed for each batch of Rosemary Wine Fig Jam .... it’s going to be a real fight between the bees, ants, gnats & birds to collect enough good fruit. I’d like to make at least 2 batches since you only get 5 half pints per batch.

What I plan to do is check the bush 1-2 times/day and throw the figs in the fridge/freezer until I can accumulate enough. The bush is huge and loaded with figs but anything that gets close to ripe is quickly found by everything out there that loves figs .... we even had a groundhog eating figs one year!

[Pollard]

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Rosemary Wine Fig Jam”

*DROOL*

My wine jelly STILL has not set. I am taking drastic measures later in the week. Grrr!

Recipes need to WORK first time out, IMHO. Otherwise, why bother? Why disappoint people?

Double Grrr!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Glad your power is back!

[Qiviut]

The albino fawn, its mom & another doe were gathered ‘round the fig bush around dusk last night, snacking on figs, no doubt ... the rascals. They actually let me walk up fairly close, before spooking off.

Is the wine jelly the recipe I posted or another one? The one I use has never failed to set for me .... will probably happen to me one of these days with a batch of something.

Idalia clouds should be clearing out this morning along with the humidity. Tomorrow should be ‘glorious’ with a high in the 70’s, 50’s overnight. Saturday will be in the 80’s. The 90’s return Monday. I have so much to do outside that has piled up with the hot/humid weather when I stayed in. The biggy is washing down some metal shelves we found in a storage building & moving them into the house & my ‘new’ kitchen closet. These shelves will give me room for all my canning jars & equipment.

In addition to garden work & mowing, I have to work on organizing the garage - it’s so bad I can hardly walk around without stepping over or tripping on something. There are 2 brand new, still in boxes, metal shelves in the barn on sawhorses that I will try to move to the garage & set up. They are big & heavy: 6.5’ long, 6.5’ tall & the shelves are 2’ wide. I figure I can move them one shelf at a time in the PU bed. We made a dump run Tuesday & I washed the empty bed out when we got home.

Dawn is here ... time for coffee & off to the projects!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Qiviut; Re PM, Protecting figs from birds and ants and insects and stuff!

Green Organza Bags

Don't go smaller than 4x6. Green sort of blends with the leaves.

There are other fine mesh woven that look like lady's nylons that can be wrapped around plums and apricots. \

[Qiviut]

Beautiful morning - 59°, feels SO good ... it’s not going to last (mid-90’s coming next week).

Wildlife morning: albino deer spotted in the back pasture & I saw a red fox running down the fence line between our place & the neighbor.

[Qiviut]

Added “insurance” .... my SIL is saving some of her figs for me, too. I thought she told me they were Italian figs, but she said they are something else - hers are ripening & easier to reach than mine (plus the deer/crows don’t come in her yard due to the Collie). I would like to make at least 2 batches of the fig jam (10 jars total) which requires 2 lbs.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Celeste perhaps?

Well, enjoy your figs! I am the only person here who likes them so there is not much incentive to do anything with them.

[Pollard]

I came home yesterday to two young deer standing in my driveway, young enough to still have spots. They trotted a few hundred feet away as I parked the truck and got out and then stood there for five minutes munching on bushes while I stood there watching.

The initial spot they were standing in the driveway is where my goats often plunk down for a cud chewing rest.