2025 gardens

sixdogs · Jun 4, 2025

I don’t specifically recall hydrangeas but have seen similar burn from environmental issues such as lawn chemicals. Lots of them drift.

Also, I’ve found some unlikely plants to be damaged just like your photo, by Preen pre-emergent. I don’t know if it was too much Preen or too much or too little rainfall combined with the chemical but I had a tough time figuring that out.

part-time-Farmer-NC · Jun 4, 2025

Looks kinda like root rot. Its a disease and if so you will most likely loose the plant. But could be caused by excess watering or runoff from a roof for example. If its spreading it appears you may lose that plant, time will tell.

walhondingMF · Jun 4, 2025

part-time-Farmer-NC said:
Looks kinda like root rot. Its a disease and if so you will most likely loose the plant. But could be caused by excess watering or runoff from a roof for example. If its spreading it appears you may lose that plant, time will tell.

The other all recovered. They are not as strong as they were but something in the roots makes a lot of sense. I don't use any chemicals on my lawn. I do use miracle grow on the flowers in the planters that could run off there.

DJ54 · Jun 5, 2025

Ran the repurposed John Deere pull type dethatcher converted to a 3 pt. tine weeder for the little Sears ST10 with electric 3 pt. hitch. Makes quick work of cleaning up tiny weeds between the wide rows.

4 rows of Silver Queen Sweet corn put in with my Sears & Roebuck corn jobber.

Also set another 70+ cabbage plants out but was dark by the time I was done. Hope to get another row in later today before the rains come.

part-time-Farmer-NC · Jun 5, 2025

I like your setup.

DJ54 · Jun 5, 2025

Another 140+ cabbage plants, 4 doz. various squash, 18 Brussels Sprouts and 12 Buttercrunch lettuce set last evening and today and got watered in just before a nice rain to set them in. Watered in with Fish Fertilizer to give them a little kick start.

Need to replant Beets not a one came up, and two tomato plants in the greenhouse yet to set, a grape variety and a currant variety. They both took what seemed like forever last year to get big enough to set out, but once they did, grew well and both produced heavy yields.

DJ54 · Jun 7, 2025

Finally got a chance to try some of the asparagus I canned up about a month ago. Friends in the tractor club bought 12 acres with house & buildings that were part of a large farm last year. PO owner sold off the farm ground to continue to be farmed. Old homestead with a mini orchard and 2 huge asparagus beds. It was producing way more than they needed, so offered it to club members free to pick. I picked over 30 lbs. and got 17 pints out of it. Happy to report it turned out great..!!

walhondingMF · Jun 7, 2025

Raised beds are doing well. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and a squash. Going to try some homemade pickles and canning tomatoes this year. Pumpkins have been up for a few weeks and look good. Temperatures finally warmed up enough and the gourds are popping out too.

sixdogs · Jun 8, 2025

Here's an update to my post #118 that showed how I bury tomatoes a foot deep and leave just a little sticking above ground when planted.

This way the whole stalk gets roots so plants dig deep for water. I feel that gives heartier plants and better tasting fruit. Here's some pics of tomatoes today and they are healthy and strong. Cages get zip tied to the posts soon.

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We cover with buckets at night keep some heat in and the rabbits out. Wife just told me we have two blossoms.

Torvy · Jun 9, 2025

Mom used to put old coffee cans with the bottoms cut out around her young tomato plants (in South Dakota). She could leave them there day or night until the plants got too big.

We have tomatoes on the vine. Or at least we did before last night's storms. I'll have to get out in a few hours when I can see and inspect the damage. Power was out for 4-5 hours.

DJ54 · Jun 9, 2025

My first planting of cabbage is looking great. Same cabbage in the pic in post 164 10 days ago I ran the tine weeder through. I'd given it a foliar feed, but mostly on the ground around plants of Fish Fertilizer. Just mainly 4 circles around the plants spraying on the ground. Waxy leaves won't let it absorb much. Sprayed it in the evening ahead of an expected inch of rain. It really made the plants pop in 10 days' time. I highly recommend it if you've never tried it. Wal-Mart is the least expensive place to buy it @ $24 per gallon, but I bought the first gallon 5-6 years ago and just used the last of it spraying this. Only take 2 TBS. per gallon of water so it goes a long way. The scent isn't the best, kinda' like a bucket full of bass heads that have sat on the dock for a couple days in the Summer, but it sure makes stuff grow!!

Calling for severe storm here today with high winds and hail, hoping the orchard nearby fires up their hail cannon if we get hail..!!

sixdogs · Jun 9, 2025

DJ54 said:
My first planting of cabbage is looking great. Same cabbage in the pic in post 164 10 days ago I ran the tine weeder through. I'd given it a foliar feed, but mostly on the ground around plants of Fish Fertilizer. Just mainly 4 circles around the plants spraying on the ground. Waxy leaves won't let it absorb much. Sprayed it in the evening ahead of an expected inch of rain. It really made the plants pop in 10 days' time. I highly recommend it if you've never tried it. Wal-Mart is the least expensive place to buy it @ $24 per gallon, but I bought the first gallon 5-6 years ago and just used the last of it spraying this. Only take 2 TBS. per gallon of water so it goes a long way. The scent isn't the best, kinda' like a bucket full of bass heads that have sat on the dock for a couple days in the Summer, but it sure makes stuff grow!!

Calling for severe storm here today with high winds and hail, hoping the orchard nearby fires up their hail cannon if we get hail..!!

Hail cannon? How does that work?

DJ54 · Jun 9, 2025

Here's an actual picture of it. Large conical horn pointed towards the sky. Inside that building is a battery of 12 Acetylene tanks connected to a manifold to feed it. It fills the chamber below the horn, and is set off by what the owner says, "is just a sparkplug." It fires about every 4-5 seconds, and it's very loud.

I don't know the exact science behind it but supposedly changes the atmospheric conditions above it and breaks the hail up. I do know when I've gotten hail here when it's going off it's not much bigger than ice chips. I was at a buddy's house 5-6 years ago when a bad storm came up and they set it off. Sky was solid black and looked nasty, right above the cannon was an open spot of blue sky. It gave me cold chills seeing that.

When they first installed it I believe they had an article in the local paper, maybe even on the local news channels that they were putting it in, and what to expect if they fired it off so the locals knew what it was. Many have moved out from the city since then and you'll see a lot of comments on local social media. Most wonder what it is, some complain of the noise. I always get on my little soap box and tell them they moved into a farming community, and this is a farmer protecting a multi-million dollar crop, get used to it, or move back to where you came from. Pretty much crickets after that.

walhondingMF · Jun 9, 2025

Has anyone tried the fertilizer idea where you ferment weeds in a bucket of water?

part-time-Farmer-NC · Jun 9, 2025

Hmmm. That's an idea, I will have to try that, I have NO shortage of weeds....

Torvy · Jun 9, 2025

Science says the hail cannon doesn't work. The idea is that a series of shockwave from the ground will disrupt the cloud and/or hail formation. The storm itself would break them up if that wa as the case. The shockwaves from a thunderstorm are more powerful. Any meaningful waves would dissipate before reaching high enough to do anything.

Hail formation is a very interesting topic. I took some meteorology as well as the part included in a ground school course.

MossRoad · Jun 9, 2025

Torvy said:
Science says the hail cannon doesn't work. The idea is that a series of shockwave from the ground will disrupt the cloud and/or hail formation. The storm itself would break them up if that wa as the case. The shockwaves from a thunderstorm are more powerful. Any meaningful waves would dissipate before reaching high enough to do anything.

Hail formation is a very interesting topic. I took some meteorology as well as the part included in a ground school course.

My thoughts on hail cannons: snake oil. Think about it. Thunder is a bazillion times louder than any hail cannon, yet hail is formed in thunderstorms.

Torvy · Jun 9, 2025

Torvy said:
We have tomatoes on the vine. Or at least we did before last night's storms. I'll have to get out in a few hours when I can see and inspect the damage. Power was out for 4-5 hours.

Garden handled the wind and rain ok. We lost a handful of trees and lots of branches. Neighbor had one across his driveway. Unfortunately, I lost one of my new favorites. A wild Hercules' Club tree. (Sometimes called a toothache tree or a tickle tongue tree. The bark has a mild sedative effect when chewed. Natives would use it for oral pains.

We've got almost a quart bag of blackberries in the freezer. Only 2 plants and it's year 2. There is still some new fruit on the canes. Blueberries are still pink. Maybe another week or two for them.

Gardening has been hard for me. Wife decided it would be her thing, but she doesn't have a lot of experience. She definitely doesn't want my 2 cents.

part-time-Farmer-NC · Jun 9, 2025

Man what a harvest we had thus far for blackberries and just starting blueberries. They are about 10 days early for us.

I myself have harvested over 40# of blackberries. One row produced 12.5# Saturday after our pickers left (they picked I think it was 40#).

With my new ninja juicer I juiced the 12.5# and made 12.5 cups of the purttiest juice. There is over 6 cups in each of the gallon bags. Also after this I rejuiced the pulp it was so thick almost like a milk shake. Lots of pectin in that rejuiced stuff.