Looks like my computer is back up this morning after numerous crashes, yesterday. A replacement is on the way!
Anyhow, just a ‘garden chat post’ this morning...trying to get this posted before the next crash! :)
Here in Upstate NY...the corn and tomatoes are sweet as they can be...Everything is huge from the rain...peppers the size of grapefruits...I’m slicing and freezing...
Anyone else venturing into hydroponic gardening?
The grass is a bit greener: 
And this plumeria finally decided to show itself after the rain:
I saw a tree rat run across my back retaining wall - while this one was relaxing inside, shirking her duties:
Click on the picture of This "Shoal" of French Fries.
I have been reminded, that if I ever need a quick boost to my Gardening Skills, I should just plant a few dried beans and wait a few days. I planted a few pinto beans in a small outside garden, next to onion and garlic bulbs.
Within days, I was able to enjoy the viewing the growing process, from puffy seed, to emergence of the first root.
The first root becomes thicker and greens up, with roots forming. Soon, I have an actual functioning plant to water.
Like most of you attracted to this topic, I’ve done things like this since my Grade School Science classes. Seeing things grow, develop into full flower status is an uplifting hobby and makes me hopeful.
Thanks for posting these! I’ve seen your threads for years and lived in places it was almost impossible to garden (space, super dry, life happening).
Living where i am now, i said this is the year! God knew i needed more patience thru stumbling blocks :) had some unexpected injuries in early and again late spring so i didnt get to tend edible trees and shrub plants and missed spring cool planting, but did get some summer veggies in before the second injury.
Got some zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers. My dad’s garden did
Great with tomoatoes beans peppers zucchini.
I just started some lettuce seed and cool weather seeds.
Already dreaming of next year’s garden!
It was another week of normal August misery here in Central Missouri. Hot and humid. Rained Saturday morning.
I’ve given away a full bushel of pole beans over the last few days. I’m half tempted to pull em out by the roots so I don’t have to keep picking every other day. Same goes for the okra. I think I’ll be better off if I get most of the garden cleaned up before we run off to Sunny Florida next month. On the one hand it’s a shame to tear down things that are working, but the other hand is dealing with an overgrown, tangled mess when we get back home.
I didn’t do much of anything in the garden over the weekend. After the rain stopped on Saturday I got the pressure washer out and cleaned the roof on the toy hauler trailer. Yesterday I replaced the lids on both roof vents and put three coats of rubberized paint on the roof. I also gave the roof of the pump house a good heavy coating. Potting shed needs it too but I’ll wait until I tear the busted roof off of the greenhouse to do that one.
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
Outputs
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.
