Gardening

[Powgirl]

Good news - I'm getting better at inserting emitters into 1/4" tubing. I figured out that if you tilt the tool so that the emitter is at the bottom instead of the side, it works way better. I had originally installed a 2 gallon per hour emitter for the first tomato plant, but I had somehow overlooked that the half hour program runs three times a day ... 2GPH is way too much. So I installed 1GPH emitters all around for the tomato plants, and we'll see if that's about right.

A little trick I use in my business...warm up the end of the tubing with a lighter (just a few seconds) before you insert the emitter...when the tubing is warm, it makes it super easy to get the emitter secure and all the way in...once it cools, you've got a tight seal.

 

[Jenny]

My work schedule was different this week so I was home yesterday. Spent three hours in the morning just weeding and deadheading(been a little neglectful these past hot weekends!). Judging from the appearance of the sunflowers, Mexican sunflowers, cosmos, impatiens, and celandine poppy (all of the things lined up against the new fence) that area definitely gets more sun than before, but not enough to be full sun. Celandine poppy will need moving - now a little too much light for it - and now I know to stick to part sun plants when I figure out what I'm doing back there.

 

[bounceswoosh]

A little trick I use in my business...warm up the end of the tubing with a lighter (just a few seconds) before you insert the emitter...when the tubing is warm, it makes it super easy to get the emitter secure and all the way in...once it cools, you've got a tight seal.

Oh, great idea! I gave up on the tool and found just shoving them in to be faster, but the warming trick makes a ton of sense.

I got home yesterday, checked the veggie beds, and realized the mulch in one direction was wet. Yet another blown plug. Feel like I'm playing whackamole! I figure it's all part of the learning process.

Also - this seems improbable, but two days after planting lettuce seeds, I see a couple of small sprouts. I have to wonder if they're weeds, but I will withhold judgment and see what they turn out to be.

 

[Powgirl]

It's a great hack!

 

[Kimmyt]

Also - this seems improbable, but two days after planting lettuce seeds, I see a couple of small sprouts. I have to wonder if they're weeds, but I will withhold judgment and see what they turn out to be.

This weather is super ideal for leafy veg. Cool and rainy and the soil is still warm from the hot weather recently.

 

[bounceswoosh]

This weather is super ideal for leafy veg. Cool and rainy and the soil is still warm from the hot weather recently.

Yeah, there are enough sprouts, and just where I planted lettuce, that I think it's lettuce, not weeds. Naturally there are like 5 in a 4" cluster and then another one under the big, immobile sprinkler pipe.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

We have some awesome local farm stands around here so really thinking about taking a garden break next year. Until we get some garden beds I think it might be time to take a break. We spent over $100 in June on soil and various tomato and vegetable plants and it's not not looking good. We have a handful of cherry tomatoes and I've got 3 white eggplants that are coming along but that's it. I'm sure it's user error and perhaps I need to read a book on this. However, when I spend just over $10 and I get a bunch of stuff from the farm stand it just makes me want to save the gardening money and use it at the farm stand all summer.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Really the only benefit of growing it yourself is satisfaction (when it works) and the ability to pick things right off the vine or out of the soil when you need it for maximum freshness - for example, I hate buying herbs or salad stuff because I never use it before it gets gross in the fridge.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I've decided the tiny green things are, in fact, veggie sprouts, not interlopers. I have chard, beets, and lettuce. There's one clump that may or may not be carrot - it's right on the line between two regions, and I can't remember how closely I planted. I had originally put lots of markers in, but didn't have enough and ended up having to pull a bunch ... The last few days have been overcast, somewhat moist, nice and cool. Great for starting some seedlings.

Beet:




Chard:



Lettuce:



AND my strawberry plants are loving drip. I've never had this many berries and flowers going, and they were always pretty anemic.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Friggen amazeballs I have some lettuce and finally some broccoli buds coming along. I swear it's the slowest growing garden EVER but I think it heard me say I wasn't doing one next year and so things grew a little ha ha.

 

[Kimmyt]

I swear sunflowers thrive on neglect. These things are giant! (tiny human is 2.5 feet tall, for reference)

 

[Jenny]

I swear sunflowers thrive on neglect. These things are giant! (tiny human is 2.5 feet tall, for reference)

So cute! Like Jack and the Beanstalk!

As pleased as I was with my sunflowers it's clear they are not in a sunny enough spot. We drove by some today that looked much more like yours does. Mine are pretty much dead now.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

@Kimmyt your tiny human is simply adorable.....

I am convinced my garden heard me say that I'm not doing a garden next year because in the last week we've gotten a few cherry tomatoes and a couple mid sized ones are looking pretty good. I have lettuce, white eggplant is looking great with one about ready to eat and 2 more buds, plus brocoli is coming along. Apparently I just need to threaten it and things happen.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Can anyone guess what these massive interlopers are? They seem to have arrived with the lettuce (left) and carrots (right). I am waiting for them to say, "Feed me, Maurice! "

 

[Jenny]

They kind of look like something I get here, too. Usually in clumps, but each plant is individual, shallow rooted, and easily pulled up. Can't help with what they actually are, though. I kind of just assumed it was something growing from a bird feeder seed. Our neighbors have feeders, and I'll also find corn randomly growing around the garden/yard.

 

[Kimmyt]

Its pretty hard to tell what seeds are when they are in the cotyledon stage. Based on the size alone though, they seem to come from a sizeable seed. They almost look like sunflower seedlings...but could be anything. They probably won't transplant super well though if they are something you want to save.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Its pretty hard to tell what seeds are when they are in the cotyledon stage. Based on the size alone though, they seem to come from a sizeable seed. They almost look like sunflower seedlings...but could be anything. They probably won't transplant super well though if they are something you want to save.

I can't even guess whether I want to keep or cull right now ... sunflower would be cool, albeit a bit late ...

 

[Kimmyt]

Yeah I would just pull them. Odds are that they won't mature in time to be useful, and they will just outcompete all your purposefully planted seedling.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Can anyone guess what these massive interlopers are? They seem to have arrived with the lettuce (left) and carrots (right). I am waiting for them to say, "Feed me, Maurice! "
View attachment 5894

So, I brought these photos to the local gardening store. The horticulturist said she couldn't tell yet what it is, but definitely not a weed. Possibly cucumber, pumpkin ... I asked if it could be a sunflower, and she said sure, maybe. I'm going to leave the two plants in place and see what develops, even though I doubt whatever it is will fruit successfully before it gets cold.

In the meantime ...

The tomato plants are huge fans of the drip system. And by huge, I mean, they are huge. This is after I spent quite a while trimming them all down so they'll focus on fruit production:



Also, one of my lettuce plants actually looks like lettuce already! A little tiny lettuce head! So excited.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Not sure we'll have enough cherry tomatoes?