Having more time available now

[2ManyGuns]

I was putting away my gardening tools this afternoon when I saw some saved dog food bags (plastic, woven type). I normally use these to put HEAVY items for the trash pick up, BUT I thought why not turn some of these into grow bags. So, I think I may use them to plant some tomato plants. Waste not, want not! I pick up nursery pots from job sites all the time, clean them well and plant things like bush beans, jalapeno, serrano, and bell-type peppers, FREE is GREAT! I get sizes from small to very large (20-25 gallon estimated).

 

[2ManyGuns]

I normally use mushroom compost in my garden and stuff I compost myself, BUT with the possible upcoming craziness, I stopped at TSC when coming through La Grange on 3/24 and purchased 80 lbs. of 13-13-13 and then put those away in airtight 5-gallon buckets. When I next pass another TSC I think I may purchase a few more bags as an added precaution. I also bought two bags of pine flakes to use as a mulch to keep the weeds down and retain more moisture in the raised beds, simple and very cheap. Next purchase more seeds to store for the future.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Purchased 2 more bags of 13-13-13, which gives me about 160 lbs. of fertilizer, all sealed in airtight 5-gallon buckets. I don't use that much, its recommended usage is 1 1/2 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. Even with 4 applications per year, this should be enough for 3-5 years at current usage.

So here are a few pictures, everything is in its early stage of growth.

Potatoes!!

To the side you see what few strawberries survived, I am hoping that when they send out runners they will be strong like the parent plants, 3 of 40 survived!

Kentucky Wonder pole beans, most germinated

The Hulk green bush bean, a new variety that I am trying, supposed to yield large tender pods, 9 to 12 inches.

Yellow Wax Beans (bush type) add some color when canning.

Two of the 3 sisters, sweet corn and squash

Garlic, this is my first attempt.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Continued

Upside down photo, turnips.

Recently transplanted Kale, this is a heat tolerant variety I am trying, I have more to transplant, I am just waiting to see if these will take.

The Straight 8 cucumbers peeking thru, with a late planting of potatoes, not yet showing.

The bed of Wandering Onions, from another thread.

Foreground, swiss chard, background spinach

If anyone is wondering about the diagonal pieces of scrap wood, it was used to support some cover for the young plants during the last cold snap to protect the tender plants. I have just not gotten around to removing it yet.

I also planted some butternut squash today to make a more storable item with less work, this is a first as well.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Sauteed Zucchini


3 Tablespoons UNSALTED Butter
1 to 1 1/2 cups zucchini
2 celery stalks (sticks)
1/2 bell pepper (large)
1/2 yellow onion
10 - 12 quartered grape or cherry tomatoes (I had grape on hand)
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Over low heat melt butter in a covered skillet, add frozen or thawed zucchini either will work, some salt, pepper, and lemon pepper (season to taste). After the frozen zucchini thaws in the skillet, add the celery, bell pepper, onion, tomato, and minced garlic. Simmer over low heat stirring occasionally until tender.

This turned out to be a very tasty creation.

 

[2ManyGuns]

My latest scrap, recycled, upcycled wood project. My costs are time, some screws, 18 gauge finish nails, and glue. All of the wood for this project was collected from the trash piles at home builder sites that I visit when installing finished doors or TDI jamb units, with the permission of the builder. The paint I had from painting ceilings a number of years back, it is Glidden ceiling paint, I had 2 unopened gallons, so I opened one for this, the remainder will be used for some other drywall that will be getting painted as my "shop" upgrade continues. There is a minor flaw in one shelf, I misread a measurement and I have it off a bit, the lane for the cans still functions as it should. If I have calculated correctly, I should get 195 cans in the rotator.

I also built a simple guide for my cordless saw today, it allows me to true up larger sheet goods with ease.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Returned late from Austin chemo treatment. I stopped at TSC in La Grange on the way home. I picked up 2 bags of peat moss, 4 bags of manure with hummus, 2 bags of pine shavings, and 2 bags of in-ground soil. I returned well after 7:30 pm, I amended one existing bed with some peat and a bag of manure with hummus. Then I planted 10 Roma tomato plants, side dressed with some other fertilizer, watered them in and mulched them with the pine shavings. I continued working in the moonlight and added more mulch to some other beds.

 

[2ManyGuns]

This weekend's main project was building an "L" shaped raised bed from upcycled materials The long legs are each 8' L X 2' D X 6'. X 18" deep. The fill consists of the first layer about 6" in depth was tree material that I had from tree trimming. Then about 2 inches of semi-decomposed garden materials. Then some native soil mixed with peat moss and in-ground commercial soil. I ran out of fill and will have to acquire more. no pictures yet. The rest of the weekend was spent doing normal garden chores.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Photo of the raised bed, I need/want to add a "top" to it. I can sit on that better IF I need to weed. A small planting of butternut squash that I plan to train upwards on the trellis.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Updated Garden pics, it has been about 20 days since the last.

Corn, Yellow Wax Beans, Potatoes, and Cucumbers (Arch), the cukes are only about 8 inches in height.

Zucchini and the transplanted volunteer Purple hull peas

More zucchini and my grand fathers watering can that he used to water his garden!!

Container Potatoes, and a partial of the Pole beans.

I just transplanted these tomato vines today

More potatoes and asparagus

Turnip greens and onions

Roma tomatoes and kale

Garlic and yellow squash

Green beans (Hulk)

 

[2ManyGuns]

I was going to dump the old picnic table, it has been sitting under the trees for years, one has died and I am in the process of cutting it down. But I decided to repurpose the old table, I will probably get 3-5 years' use from it. Another place to set pots of plants!

 

[2ManyGuns]

Today planted 4 bell peppers and 3 egg plant. Finished filling the new raised bed.

 

[Vaquero]

Education and inspiration.
Good thread.

 

[2ManyGuns]

During the COVID "lockdown" I was unable to obtain mushroom compost, finally today I was able to have 8 yards delivered, this will last me through, fall, spring, and probably next summer plantings. Today I harvested my second bed of potatoes, not the best yield, but pretty decent for 30 sf, nearly a 5-gallon bucket full, most were tennis ball or larger from this bed, the first bed had golf ball to tennis ball size. I pick off all of the smaller potatoes as well, marble size and up, baby potatoes are expensive at the store. Beans this season, the most prolific were the yellow wax, the Hulk variety was not as prolific as I hoped, but maybe my soil is missing something, these did grow long, remained tender, and were very tasty. I still have seeds left and will try them again after I get a bed with compost made up, as well as planting another round of yellow wax beans. I will be replanting squash and zucchini, I have been plagued by squash borers once again. My sweet corn produced much better than last year and I have been eating fresh-picked as well as freezing quite a bit. I will be trying a fall crop of "Dent corn" aka field corn. As a kid my uncle planted this and when picked green is very good with large, full ears. Fall potatoes will be German Butterball and Yukon Gold, two varieties I have never tried.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Continuing the above, I was interrupted by a call. Before amending any raised beds, I am of course having to harvest, the inedible portions of the plants are being layered in my compost bed/box with alternating layers of mushroom compost since this is still "hot", and sprinkled with some Azomite to return minerals to the soil for later use in the beds. This is a labor-intensive project, I do not have a mini-tractor, but I do have my grandfather's 1/3 yard wheelbarrow that he used to move concrete in the 1940's, '50s, and '60s when he and my father built chicken houses in the La Grange and Gonzalez areas. So this thing has HISTORY to it!

 

[2ManyGuns]

Today much time was spent weeding between the raised beds, I'm about halfway finished with that chore. The remainder was cleaning old beds, amending with mushroom mulch, layering the compost beds, and finally planting a bed of yellow wax beans and a second with "dent" corn. Tomorrow, the third bed I cleaned and amended will get planted with "cowpeas". The 25-gallon planting buckets will get amended, and planted with zucchini. I'll probably continue my weeding, I'm tired of looking at them!!

Nongarden related, but of much import was replacing the wax ring on a toilet, what goes in must go down!!

 

[2ManyGuns]

This was a long, hot weekend, BUT I did at least get 1 and 7/10 inches of rain!

My accomplishments this weekend, another two 4X8 bed was cleaned and amended, one waiting for potatoes and one was planted with field corn. I prepared 6 of the cattle molasses buckets, at 4 inches from the bottom I drilled 1-inch holes around the perimeter, roughly aligned with the injection molding stripes on the bottom, this should function much like the plate on a potted plant for water retention and drainage. In 4, I planted sweet peas, I will need to build a trellis for each of these. In one of the other 2, I planted romaine lettuce and the other butternut squash.
I amended with mushroom compost my two okra and 1 asparagus bed, 13 2.5-gallon nursery pots planted with the volunteer cowpeas, 6 Roma tomatoes, and 26 potted Hulk green beans. In addition, I prepared 18 2.5-gallon nursery pots for the strawberry plants I have on order, only 17 more to go!

My gardening habit has been changing this season. I have been noticing, not only much higher prices but a reduced quantity of items at the local grocery stores. For the fall season, I have doubled my usual planting of cowpeas (2 4X8 beds), I normally do not plant corn, but I have planted 2 4X8 beds, as well as a 4X8 bed of yellow wax beans, as well as more zucchini. The sweet peas are something I plant, but just enough to add some to fall salads, maybe a dozen plants, this year it is about 80 plants. I have 3 remaining beds to clean and amend, one will be used for carrots and the other I am planning to try parsnips, and the remaining will be potatoes. I have planted more sweet potatoes this year as well. I cannot produce enough to be self-sufficient, but if there are shortages, I can produce enough to minimize what I purchase at the grocery store.

I would like to get a dozen hens for eggs, but I will need to build a coup with the yard first. Future plans are to plant fruiting bushes in the now existing flower beds. I have been thinking about goji berries, pawpaws, elderberries, and a couple of others. Last year I planted black raspberries, these have taken off, but no real production yet.

Who knows what I will do.

Some of my Roma tomatoes are suffering blossom end rot, which might be indicative of calcium deficiency, so in hopes of eliminating this, I mixed up a bit of bone and blood meal and a little Epsom salts, then watered in. Afterward, I placed an inch of mushroom compost in the aforementioned 6 2.5-gallon nursery pots.

 

[2ManyGuns]

6/10/22

The butternut squash (6/5/22) planted has started to sprout, this is the OLD seed I have kept in the freezer since 2011! and it is still viable! The second planting of field corn has germinated and is about 1" in height, and a couple of the peas have sprouted as well. I have been having an issue with the yellow wax beans. The plants will get a couple of inches tall and die. I pulled one out of the soil, and at the soil interface there were tiny white hair-like growths, I suspect some type of fungi is attacking the plants. I replanted about thirty bean seeds.

The first planting of Dent corn has reached about 6 inches in height, I am going to give it one more week and I will plant some Kentucky Wonder pole beans with the corn. I am going to try growing two of the three sisters. Earlier in the year, I tried bush-type beans and yellow squash with the corn, but neither fared well. My mistake was NOT planting a climbing bean and not planting a vining-type squash, another lesson learned! I may plant at the center of the bed some spaghetti squash, just for shits and giggles!

On 6/8 I was forced to do something I really try NOT to do, but I was having an EXTREMELY heavy infestation of different insects that destroy plants and yields, I sprayed a mixture of liquid 7 on some of my plants, everything was being eaten and stung. I have been forced to use snail bait this year as well, I could have made a fortune in escargot. After last Saturday's rain, I stomped on nearly 150 of the little devils!

 

[Gunfire43]

I love baking my bread whenever i've got some free time to . I personally i make the best bread.

 

[Axxe55]

I love baking my bread whenever i've got some free time to . I personally i make the best bread.

Welcome to TGT.