We were lucky, it only got down to 39 degrees here, so I hope that was the worst of it this year, guess we will see. The only thing that took a big hit a month ago or so was my English walnut tree, it got totally frosted and it is just now recovering. Even though it got down into the twenties, it did not affect any of our perch trees. Sorry to hear so many of you got killing frost. I really do think my little hoop greenhouses help a lot and when I first built them from that Youtube video, they even showed you could double layer them to make them even better. I’ve been holding back on watering my garden and yard this year because of our low water year but I think I’m going to turn it up a little higher today. I started off with only 3 minutes a day, I think I’ll double that today. I got a scare last year, when I went over our allotment of water, then I found out that last year was a test year but this year it will count and we will be charged $500 just to get it turned back on. I’m hoping that now that my chemo sections are over that I’ll be able to reroute all my drip irrigation, into one zone, so if things get bad, I can shut off everything but my garden water supply. I’m even considering putting in fake grass in my front yard. I understand why things have gotten this bad, but I sure don’t like it.
Here’s a picture of what my Garden is looking like right now , The bales are still in the prepping mode for 6 more days and then we can start planting. I’m a little late this year due to not finding the Bales at a decent price right away,
Nice, how long did your last bales last? Seems like you had them for quite a while. What do you have there growing in the front?
Here are the pics of my drip irrigation system, the filter and how pipes are run from the filter to the drip lines.
The Bales will last all Summer and into the last part of September , by that time they will have deteriorated to about half the size that are now and turn Dark Brown and eventually into Compost . The Boxes in front are full of Strawberries , but they are in soil. Best part of this type of Gardening is that after the Plants are in place you only use 1 Gallon of water per Bale everyday .
Wow, I thought they lasted for several years, I have two that I use for strawberries that are at least several years old, I wonder if that is why they seem to be declining this year.
Well , I have to condition the for 10 day with a 29-0-3 Lawn Fertilizer. There is a Schedule to follow and it tells you how much to use each day . After they are conditioned you can put your plants in the straw and watch them grow. Almost no weeding . But this is why mine deteriorate like they do, basically the bales cook from the inside out.
Not to be discouraging but do you worry about the chemicals in the fertilizer, getting into the vegetables? It is one of the reasons I only use organic ferdilizers, like the kind that comes from cows. That being said, it sure did not help me when it came to getting AML, so it likely doesn’t matter that much.
Not really , and I say that because during the conditioning process after the fertilizer is added to the bales you have to saturate each bale with water until you see it coming out around the bottom then move to the next bale. What that does is to wash the fertilizer and nutrients into and through to make the bale Basically cook from the inside out. If you put your hand in the bale you can feel the heat. This the decomposition starting , the fertilizer is only used every other day and you water every day.
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| wiperhunter2
May 22 |
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Not to be discouraging but do you worry about the chemicals in the fertilizer, getting into the vegetables? It is one of the reasons I only use organic ferdilizers, like the kind that comes from cows. That being said, it sure did not help me when it came to getting AML, so it likely doesn’t matter that much.
Had a really busy weekend last week and planted most everything I have left except bananna squash and pumpkins that didn’t get done… (still want to plant some more potatoes and corn for later harvest, but waiting a bit on that.) Anyway I noticed this morning the cucumbers are sprouted already, so I’m excited about that… but keep the frost away from now on… Later J
Got my 2 Tomato plants in the ground, now in get to see how they do while gone in Alaska for 2 months. With any luck my wife will have her fresh tomatoes when we return
Hey Alan, in two months, I’d bet they will be doing great, if not have fruit setting.
Here are a few pics of how my garden is doing today. The biggest plants were under my hoop green house covers. The small ones had no covers and are having a hard time getting any size to them. Zucchini are growing like crazy, so I took off the covers. All these plants were started as seed
Man Curt those Zuc’s look great!!! Mine aren’t even as big as your little ones yet… But they are are coming up now, so someday I hope to have some… Later J
That mini green house makes a huge difference on how fast zucchini grow.
I tried some in my High Tunnel a couple years ago and they really grew fast, but they never set many good fruit for me in there, so I haven’t done any follow ups… I probably should try it again in case it was just a bad plant… J
The biggest issue, with any high tunnel or green house is getting bees into it to pollinate. In Idaho, the DIL had bee hives right outside and of course you have to leave the doors open, once the plants get big enough to flower. Even then the humidity and heat in a GH is so much higher than outside.
You’re right on getting the polinators in to do their work, I have a ton of tomato blossoms lately and I’m sure hoping they get polinated so I get some maters… I haven’t seen many in there, but I also go in when it’s cooler, so I probably miss them… Anyway hoping it works out… My Zuc’s are finally caught up with your early pictures… So I’m about 2 months behind you… Are you eating zucs by now? Later J
No zucchini yet, but they are big enough that we should see blossoms any day now.
Man we had a terrible hail storm Tuesday it beat everything to a pulp, not sure any of the squash, cucumbers, canteloupe or beans, cabbage or anything I planted outside will make it… I know I’m going to have to restart the cucumbers for sure… corn and taters were torn to shreds as well as the onions… I’m starting to think we’re seeing the plagues of Egypt this year.. not sure if frogs or fire from the sky comes next… Maybe crickets… This is by far the worst year I’ve ever seen for crop destruction, frost, hail, drought it’s all leaving a mark… Not sure I’ll even get the summer planted stuff this year… Guess I need to put fish in a bottle to have something for next winter if I ever make it fishing… Later J