Posted on 10/01/2024 6:10:14 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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High of 57 Tues and low of 31 Wed morning here in the MO Ozarks, then back to 70 mid 40s.
Hit 88 yesterday but that 80 something might be done for the year.
31 won’t quite kill off the bugs but mornings will be cool enough to go into the woods or tall grass for firewood without getting bit by ticks/chiggers.
Haha - if anyone ever digs up our garden areas they will find QUITE a collection...
I have one orange tomato fruit maybe 3-1/2” diameter I hope to get some seeds from. After that, there’s one much smaller & almost ripe on the better plant, and the plant is struggling to grow a couple more that are still very green. However, I’ll have to cover it and most anything else not potted that I want to save, the next few nights, as widespread frost is predicted and we might even get a light freeze, Wed. and / or Th. morning. Most potted stuff I can move under trees and they should be ok for the most part. The more sensitive ones come in or get covered. :-(
That family whose vids I’ve posted a couple links to is out doing relief work despite all the damage to their own farm!
FINALLY... I got the “drain” piping upgrade for the “flood pump” completed. The last PVC pipe joints are curing now. (This drain line and pump evacuates water from the low area a little east of our house.) First I’d added a home-made “filter” to house the pump, said filter made of a 5 gallon Menards bucket with large holes cut in it and those holes covered with stainless steel 30 mesh screen. (Good stuff, if pricey!) This prevents silly 3/16” pebbles from getting in and jamming the pump’s impeller. (Pretty frustrating for a pump rated to handle 2” “solids”!) Then the pump exhaust was just inserted into the end of the 3” drain pipe, but, that of course partially blocked the entrance of the drain pipe, causing the pump to run more in moderate rain events. Now there is a 45 deg. “Y” to “inject” the pump output into the drain pipe. I’m hoping this will create a bit of a venturi effect, something like a jet pump injector / foot, and perhaps drag additional water from the 3” inlet, down the 3” ID pipe. The nice thing also about the bucket is that I can drill holes in it to position the pump float however I want, maximizing the run cycles and thereby hopefully prolonging the life of the pump motor capacitor. I should be able to lengthen the operational life of the float, too.
I’ve estimated the water out there after a good rain at 50,000 - 60,000 gallons. Maybe 100,000 gallons after very heavy rain. (This is not water from a stream or ditch — it’s just water pooling. Proper landscaping would solve the problem with “natural” drainage, which is pretty much what happens once we get 2-3” of water out there anyway, but that would be QUITE a project.
This pump can chuck out 10,000 GPH at the under 3’ of “head” involved, so, worst case is to drain that side yard in 10 hours. In reality, it usually takes much less. :-)
Until we get some rain, though, I’ll have the opposite problem of having to water whatever of the garden survives the next few nights’ frosts, as we are really getting dry again. :-(
Meh. No “injector” effect noted, probably due to too much turbulence and splashback @ the 45 deg. “Y”, at least when the 3” pipe is not full of water upstream of the “Y”. I’m not inclined to run the well for thousands of gallons of water to find out. Might go out there in our next big rain...
Now to get the smell of that “yuck” layer of gray clay that is about 2’ down off of me, B4 wifey gets home.
Yes, looks like it might crack 80 deg. by next week Tu. or Wed., but, I think Fall is officially here.
Granted that we’ve seen upper 70’s on Thanksgiving in a few past years, and I’ve kept tomatoes going that long those years too... This year that seems unlikely...
Some years it seems like we get a few spells of lows in the low 40’s to upper 30’s before we get close to freezing. But the last few years it seems those lows once the cooler air really gets here in (roughly) mid-late October have been in the low 30’s.
In the table shot the one on the upper right was the ripest.
Thanks for the pix of your set-up, Mom. If you can keep the temperature around 50-55, and some air circulation, you should be golden. :)
Those orange tomatoes sure look like ‘Chef’s Choice Orange’ to me. I’ve grown them every year for probably 10 years, now. Everything in the ‘Chef’s Choice’ line is awesome!
Jung’s carries them and it’s also available in their ‘Totally Tomatoes’ catalog or on-line.
I would take the potatoes out of their plastic bags, though. That might hold too much moisture?
They are a weird cross. I think between a genovese and a golden jubilee that I grew last year and saved the seeds from. They were labeled as such but the plant bore these huge orange ones. Not that I am complaining.
Thanks for the pics. My “orange” tomatoes look very similar, except they were not so large. However, few of our tomatoes were large this year.
Does anyone know if any Menards stores had Chef’s Choice Orange this year? The plants I got were LABELLED Roma, but obviously that was incorrect. I suspect an error back at the grower’s greenhouses, as these were purchased as a 6-pack, but the 6 pack included 2 of the orange color fruit plants. (None were Roma.) Whatever they are, they taste great!
Ah..the plants were mislabeled. I get it now. My golden jubilee was started with last years seed. I have not seen Chef’s Choice at any Menards, they only sell Bonnie a far as I have seen.
Sometimes what happens - and I’ve seen it myself - people are not completely HONEST and want a 6 pack with a ‘variety’ of plant types in it, so they scavenge what they want for tomatoes, then put it all in ONE 6-pack and take it to the check out.
So, there may have been some ‘re-arranging of the merchandise’ at your Menard’s. ;)
I think you can get stared plants in the ‘Chef’s Choice’ series through mail order but I’ve never seen them started and for sale at any garden center/retail outlet - as I’ve looked for them, too. ;)
Last week was mostly hot and bone dry here in the Middle of Misery. Cold front moving in now and we’re getting a few sprinkles. Supposed to get our first freeze tonight.
I’ve picked up most of the soaker hose from the garden. Still have a few out there under tomato cages. Need to run over the whole thing with the weed whacker, pick up the tomato cages and those last few soaker hoses.
I need to get the garlic planted in the next few days. Mrs. Augie and I are heading to Sunny Florida on Saturday for two weeks of badly needed R&R on the beach. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to plant it when I get back but it would be better to just get it done.
I know you are super busy, but just wanted you to know I‘ve been thinking of you and your mom today, and hoping that the move is going well! Or good enough if that’s all there is.
Well, I can go buy seed too. My “Best Boys” were started from seed. Livingston @ Rural King, IIRC.
Do you know if plants from seeds taken from Chef’s Choice Orange tomatoes reproduce “true”?
If I scavenged as you describe, I probably wouldn’t remember which plants were which!
“Do you know if plants from seeds taken from Chef’s Choice Orange tomatoes reproduce “true”?”
Unless you are VIGILANT about cross pollination and are using mesh cages around your plants to prevent that, in the average garden you’re going to get something pollinated with something else.
HOWEVER - the Good News is that even if you’re not actively preventing pollination, you’re still going to get a decent plant out of the seeds you harvest.
They generally do not breed one seed variety to another unless BOTH have some outstanding features to begin with.
So, while it’s always a cr@p shoot, you’ll usually still get SOMETHING of value from saved seeds.
Almost ALL of the ‘heirloom’ seeds they sell these days started out as accidents - but the qualities of the final product was so awesome that people just kept it up!
Did you know that the ‘Granny Smith’ apple was instrumental in the pollination of Orchids? And ‘Granny Smith’ really WAS a Real Life person. Australian. She discovered that green apple that the WORLD LOVES...while she was looking for better ways to propagate her Orchids. :)
‘Flower Confidential’ by Amy Stewart is a fabulous read. Enjoy it this winter! (All of Amy’s books are VERY interesting!)
https://www.amystewart.com/books/
Mom & I are LOVING her ‘Lady Cop/Miss Kopp’ series as well. I’m 100% convinced that someone will make them into a TV series. :)
Augie, enjoy your trip! Hope the beach will be intact in your vacation spot!
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