Gardens 2020

[bacpacker]

When I first plant I use 6-12-12. After the tops start growing I go with all nitrogen. I've got some 46-0-0 i used this year. But I go light with that stuff. But spread a little every 2-3 weeks until the bulbs stop swelling. The info on DixonDales site explains the fertilize part really well. This is the first year I have fertilized and watered like they are suppose to be. Seeing good results so far.

[Katrina]

Hello all, we're back. Garden did okay with the watering system DH put in. We may have lost all the pea blossoms while we were gone, got a doe that showed up about 2 weeks ago and we only have a couple of blossoms on the peas stalks, DH thinks she nibbled the plants. Tomatoes are starting to look good, got the peppers showing quite a few bells. Green onions, carrots, cantaloupe and the squash are going like crazy and my one lone onion looks like it took and is growing well. As for the salad greens we told our cat sitter to take what she wanted, if she didn't, guess the deer got that too, LOL so we're waiting for the next bunch to get big enough to harvest. If all goes well we should get 4-6 more cuttings on the salad greens. No problems traveling but a whole lot of people with OUT masks out there. Due to DH's and my health, we took the precautions and wore masks when we stopped, hand sanitizer was used A LOT LOL. Most of the trouble was south of Son1's area and most people around town wore masks and there was no trouble or problems. He said they are okay as most of the town is decent so they haven't had any trouble there. On the way home we may have seen a drug? bust go down at a rest stop, pulled in and there were two sets of state troopers by this car (two female troopers)and they had the woman out talking to her, the K9 was going a bit nuts in the one troopers car so they got the dog out of the car and he went right to the front right tire well and stood there barking. We didn't stick around and the other two cars of old folks that we had followed in, did our business and got out of there as quickly as we all could. Well we are anxiously waiting for the "crops" to be ready Hope you all had a good 4th.

[Vodin]

Apologies, it has again been awhile. Focused 150% on business. LQ has been closed for 120 days trying to get back into the safety zone.

Have an alert:

Meat.
I read some stories bout the slaughter houses booked for the near future. It is a valid issue every farmer is bringing in their cattle in droves. My provider is needing to wait until May-July of 2021. Still not verified but supposedly the grocers will have empty shelves. I placed my order. It is verified for several states at least the slaughter houses are booked.

[Vodin]

Working fast and hard on the Aquaponics. My gut is tell me something in the food world is building up. Need to be able to supply a good portion of veggies.
Completed 3 more NFT Tubes for my system have 2 more to do for completion.

It is filling out will be reseeding it for the next crops.

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Working fast and hard on the Aquaponics. My gut is tell me something in the food world is building up. Need to be able to supply a good portion of veggies.
Completed 3 more NFT Tubes for my system have 2 more to do for completion.

It is filling out will be reseeding it for the next crops. Also have (hopefully 10M/10F Tilapia inc for farming purposes.

https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/qLCGVh6gLYv-syoWuOZnJaGzhT8y0c3STQKUojmak1FfDigjTaMDPY3KLjQ/1600x1600/img?static={static}https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/yvuOhCSes4oNE5XYBwq7m9rkb0eHC5PzugrmYCDktZJfEfUEXe MleNeiaLM/1600x1600/img?static={static}

https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/qLCGVh6gLYv-syoWuOZnJaGzhT8y0c3STQKUojmak1FfDigjTaMDPY3KLjQ/1600x1600/img?static={static}

[Katrina]

hi all, Quick check in. Found about 3 pea pods the deer hasn't found yet LOL. She is chomping at the salad greens as well. The wild bunnies, the other day, were standing on their hind legs trying to figure out how to get to our plants, we have them in boxes about 30" off the ground. They's too short,LOL. Tomatoes are starting to produce, got several little greenies on all four plants. Green onions, carrots are hugging along Have a dozen or so peppers almost ready.Squash and melons are just now producing,still have a lot of blossoms though. If they all produce, gonna have a bumper crop this year. Unfortunately DH's roses in one spot are not doing so well, so he's rearranged the watering system to see if that helps..Not sure what's going on in the bird world but they have been attacking the feeder like there's no tomorrow and the two squirrels as well. They normally don't get into the feeder but this year the little red one has been gloming on to the seed.Wonder if that means it's going to be a hard winter this year. At least that's what my grandfather used to say about the amount of birds around his feeders some years. Gonna smack DH , he keeps pulling the purslane out. Keep telling him LEAVE IT ALONE!! but he keeps pulling it out. Can't use the stuff in the lawn as roundup is used so when I spot it in the boxes on the deck, I try to cultivate it. Can I get seeds for it somewhere? So I can plant it in a pot.

[bacpacker]

We've had a bunch of animals going after our feeders as well. Wife keeps suet out for our blue jays and woodpeckers. We've had coons (i've trapped 3), squirrels (trapped one, shot one, got one to go). We also had a hawk on the deck a few times. Been going thru bird food like crazy, and the animals seem different this year. Other than feeding I can't put my finger on it, but something is off.

[Katrina]

We've now got the doe taking the seed as well. this is the second morning we've found the feeder knocked over and all the seed gone. I'm starting to think that we ARE in for a heck of a winter. Last time a deer got into the bird feeder it was a nasty winter. DH cleared out the salad green box the other day, all that's left were the stubs of the plants, doe doesn't let them grow any bigger. He replanted with more early peas, pkg said we could replant in Aug and put the box up on the deck. So we'll see if we get any peas this year. Maters are coming along and we have a half doz or so of the green bells hanging on the plants. My green onions still look good but spindly and the carrots are almost ready to pick. Mellon and squash are doing good too. Our BCBS sent out packets to "help" keep us safe a few weeks ago. A mask, information on how to stay safe, some of those one use strips to take your temp on the forehead AND a packet of parsley seeds of all things, so DH planted some of them and we're starting to see some parsley too. Guess they wanted to keep us busy while staying home LOL. I want to store the rest of the seeds we have, first time doing this by the way. So what would be a good way to do that? Would like advice from those that have been doing it successfully. Do I vac-pac them in the freezer bags(still in orig. packs) and put them in the freezer? or put them in another container, labeled and store in cool dark place? I have been collecting our old amber colored pill bottles to use to put the smaller screws,nails, washers and nuts, etc. in for the workshop (aka garage).

[bacpacker]

I've just kept my seed either in their packets or use medicine bottles. Keep them in the basement so temps do flucuate. But they are kept very dry. I've had good luck with most seed. Some seed just isn't viable for long periods, some is good for a long time.

[Katrina]

Thanks bp, appreciate the info. however it looks like we are losing two of the tomato plants, they have been sprouting yellow leaves. From the information we've received, they are suffering from root rot. The melons have tons of flowers but no melons so far. Got 3-4 acorn squash doing good. My green onions are looking strange, some of the bulb parts are peeking out of the soil with spindly green tops. they don't look like the ones I get from the farmers market. as we've never grown these, how do I know when to pick them? OH and I think we have some orphan corn growing in the box we didn't use this year. We have the bird feeder near it and it looks like some of the corn from the feeder has sprouted from it. We're going to leave it growing and see what the plants do. My question is IF it does grow into stalks of corn , will the corn be edible?? Anybody have an idea if bird seed is treated with noxious chemicals or not?

[bacpacker]

Bird seed likely is not treated, but the seed is probably inedibile. But you could grow some of your own bird food.
Green onions I will start pulling them when the green top is close to the size of a pencil, maybe 2/3rds the size. But sometimes the onions will bulb anyway, and the bulbs will start showing as they increase in size. Assuming the onions are not a pure type of green onion just let them go and see what size the bulbs will get to. Any onion can be picked as green at any time, so just enjoy.