How does your garden grow?

[Larro Darro]

Yesterday's picking. The melons just about all have a bad spot on the ends, so I'm eating them as fast as I can. They are small, but then, it's September. Last patch of corn is showing silks.

 

[Larro Darro]

The 3rd planting of peas has hit it's stride. I bush hogged the 2nd planting this afternoon in preparation of starting my no till operation. I will lay out cardboard and cover it with mushroom mulch, then search for wood chips. I have lots of oak trees, so I can always use leaves until I locate chips.

 

[DFB]

So what do you do when you get rained out...you cook right! :wink:


No outdoor market today been steady rain showers so I got to pickle up some more of my hot peppers...jalapeno, wax and cherry, plus made stuffed sweet peppers and eggplant parm too along with cooking another pot of sauce for the freezer.

 

[Larro Darro]

So what do you do when you get rained out...you cook right! :wink:


No outdoor market today been steady rain showers so I got to pickle up some more of my hot peppers...jalapeno, wax and cherry, plus made stuffed sweet peppers and eggplant parm too along with cooking another pot of sauce for the freezer.


View attachment 440613

That looks good. We shelled the peas I picked yesterday, but didn't get them in the freezer yet. I put down cardboard and paper in the 18 X 30 section of the garden where I mowed the peas. I'm going to get a scoop or two of mushroom mulch in the morning and spread over the cardboard. If I can't find wood chips, we do have a couple of sawmills in Blountstown. I may stop in and ask about a load of sawdust.

 

[dragoneggs]

So what do you do when you get rained out...you cook right! :wink:


No outdoor market today been steady rain showers so I got to pickle up some more of my hot peppers...jalapeno, wax and cherry, plus made stuffed sweet peppers and eggplant parm too along with cooking another pot of sauce for the freezer.


View attachment 440613

I would like to try that! :licking:

 

[Larro Darro]

Yesterday morning I used Mamma's truck to pick up a scoop of mushroom mulch. There was still a lot of the paper and cardboard showing after I spread it, so I went by the Co-op on my way to work and got another scoop. After getting it out this morning, I had much better coverage. Then I spread the three trashcans of leaves I had raked up. I have plenty of leaves, just not enough time to rake them.

I got lots done in the garden today. Maybe I will have time to post more tomorrow.

 

[Paul Thornton]

Larry, what is mushroom mulch?

 

[Larro Darro]

Larry, what is mushroom mulch?

It's what they use to grow mushrooms. It is sold to garden centers after it has been used for growing mushrooms. It is still pretty hot and should set for a while before growing in it. And I don't use it for seedlings.

Here is an link about using it to grow tomatoes. Mushroom Compost & Tomatoes | Home Guides | SF Gate

Or just the important parts.

Mushroom Compost Content
The precise composition of mushroom compost varies from source to source, but in general it is composed of a customized mixture that includes hay, straw, spent brewer's grain, peat moss, chicken manure, corncobs, potash, gypsum, cottonseed meal, soybean meal, lime and ammonium nitrate. Before being used as a growing medium for mushrooms, piles sit for up to a month to "cook," or undergo a chemical process that results in finished compost.
Benefits
Mushroom compost sold in garden centers and agricultural supply stores has already been used to grow mushrooms, but it still has a variety of nutrients and minerals valuable for garden plants and vegetables. In addition to increasing the water-holding capacity of garden soils, it raises the pH (alkalinity) of soil, which can be beneficial for gardeners in areas with particularly acidic soils. Mushroom compost is also rich in calcium, a deficiency of which leads to blossom-end rot on tomato fruits.

 

[Larro Darro]

Yesterday's pictures: I transplanted 12 Anaheim peppers, 6 Jalapeno peppers & 6 California Wonder Bell peppers. There is only enough room inside under the lights for two or three of each kind, so the rest have to go somewhere. We are talking about a greenhouse, so they may end up in there when it gets built. I transplanted all the Grand Bell Mix peppers in the 2nd swimming pool. {also a few other assorted bells into the ground} The Pruden's Purple tomatoes in the swimming pool are kicking butt. Also transplanted a few mystery vines. They came up with the tomato seeds. That is what you get for recycling potting soil.

I've mixed up a couple of batches of the Darro Dirt this morning. And ate a couple bad ended melons. Still have peas to pick.

 

[Larro Darro]

Another picture from 9-15-15. So when I get to wondering when I side dressed the last patch of peas I will be able to find out.



I had a really late night {or early morning} at work, so I haven't got around to picking peas, peppers, cucumbers and squash yet this morning. I did water the swimming pool plants though. It's really dried out in a hurry here.

 

[DFB]

Volunteer pumpkins found in my compost pile today!

 

[Larro Darro]

Those are looking good. I love finding veggies. There is some kind of vine growing on my mulch pile. Not sure what it is, but it's nice and green.

Mamma is always talking about the tomatoes that grew out back of the outhouse when she was a kid. She says she has never seen anything grow as good as those sh!thouse tomates

 

[Larro Darro]

Saw the first blooms on the pool {Pruden's Purple} tomatoes this morning. The corn is almost ready. I'll pick a couple of "test" ears for supper tomorrow. The few green beans to live have beans on them now. Today's harvest was two beans. My current pea patch has just about gave up the ghost, and the next one has yet to start blooming. It looks like there will be the dreaded pea break. I had the sprinkler on the peas on Thursday and decided to let it run 30 minutes more while I got ready for work. Margie called me when she got home and ask, "did you intend to leave the sprinkler on the peas?" So after five hours of sprinkling, she turned it off. They are growing like crazy though. The first blooms om the inside tomatoes. The first cucumber on the inside plants. I recently discovered that I had threw away the Armenian cucumbers from under the lights and kept the squash. Not what I had intended to do. Now the squash are gone out to the garden, so I may plant a few more AC seeds. It is a challenge to grow viney plants beside non-viney ones under the lights. The cucumbers are real light hogs and will block the other plants. I saw plans for a cheap 4' X 4' grow chamber online. It is big enough you can run your lights up the side, so all the plants will get their share of rays. When I get caught up on my other projects, I may build one.

I bought the first material for the greenhouse/garden shed build today. They are going in where the cucumbers and acorn squash are now, so I'm going to wait as long as I can to get started. October 28 is average first frost around here, so it needs to be done before that.

 

[Larro Darro]

I transplanted the cucumbers and moved the soaker hoses from where the greenhouse is going to go, then smoothed it out with the tiller. {So much for waiting} Over on the other side, where the garden shed is going to be, I moved the soaker hoses, transplanted a tomato, the mystery vine, and a Jalapeno pepper. I picked all the acorn squash that were ready, transplanted any with blooms or young fruit and pulled the rest. {didn't get that side tilled. Ran out of time} Picked a few cherry tomatoes off the plant that I had brought inside then put back outside.

 

[dragoneggs]

This will be the first winter we will use our greenhouse... wondering what I should focus on. It's two years old but last winter we didn't use it until late just to get seedlings going. I have rigged it up for automated watering and venting so I should take advantage but I haven't put in heat. Seems to be a bit overboard... electrical power consumption and all.

 

[Larro Darro]

This will be the first winter we will use our greenhouse... wondering what I should focus on. It's two years old but last winter we didn't use it until late just to get seedlings going. I have rigged it up for automated watering and venting so I should take advantage but I haven't put in heat. Seems to be a bit overboard... electrical power consumption and all.

For now I'm just going to run a line from the pump's electrical supply, so a couple of small fans and a light or two is all it will pull. I've been doing research on rocket mass wood heaters. Here is a video showing what one fellow did in his greenhouse. We usually have a few nights down in the teens, so I need some sort of heat.

 

[Duwop]

It's been awhile since I've added to this (Spring) the summer crops in and we've move to fall plants. The corn is the second crop I'm hoping it gets in before the frost but it will be close. Currently have lettuce, red and regular cabbages, onions and broccoli. Will be adding garlic in Nov. as that's the best time to plant here in SW Virginia. The late corn was added because bugs had eaten the silks off while I was away on vacation and I didn't think it would make much. I picked 6 bushel but after cleaning and processing it was about 3 bushels. A neighbor and I planted 50 lbs of Yukon golds and 50 lbs of kennebec and harvested 1100 lbs of potatoes I think that will get us to next harvest. Sweet potatoes didn't do so well as I planted the in the hardest and rockyest part of the garden and combined with near drought conditions but still manger to end up with 3/4 bushel. Anyways that's how the garden grows and though I havnt posted in awhile I have been lurking reading all of your post and enjoy them all let's keep it going. Best to all !

 

[Larro Darro]

Looking good Duwop. My Mamma requested sweet potatoes in next year's garden. It's been a while since I grew any, so I'll need to do some research before planting. I picked five ears of corn today. A couple of them could have stood another day or two, but they were all very good. I did see a few worms. Mamma was telling me that when she was a kid {in the 1930's} they put hot sand in the leaf at the base of the ear for worm control. It rained today, but when we get a hot, sunny day I'm going to try it.

 

[Duwop]

Well Larro never heard of the sand trick but don't have sand either. The worms are not bad here it was beetles they were real bad this year. I learned what Mama wants she gets sweet potatoes are considered a super food so that's the bonus to growing them.
Oh I wanted to share with you that I picked up a pack of Snake gourds from Amazon if memory serves me I got 5 seeds for around 10 bucks. Planted all five only to plants grew and I have two snakes, I plan to save seeds from one and dry the other for crafts.

 

[Larro Darro]

Well Larro never heard of the sand trick but don't have sand either. The worms are not bad here it was beetles they were real bad this year. I learned what Mama wants she gets sweet potatoes are considered a super food so that's the bonus to growing them.
Oh I wanted to share with you that I picked up a pack of Snake gourds from Amazon if memory serves me I got 5 seeds for around 10 bucks. Planted all five only to plants grew and I have two snakes, I plan to save seeds from one and dry the other for crafts.

I planted some saved snake gourd seeds this year. Some of them turned out to be normal snake gourds, but a few looked like clubs, thin on one end and thick on the other. It wasn't a great year for gourds in general for me. The birdhouse gourds were small, as were the dipper gourds. And everything seemed to be thin walled.