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SeanW is back...and the hydro plants are all in!

What the heck, weather? 70 degrees one day, snow the next? 
 
Anyway, this year is going to be way stepped back from last year. We now have a 7 week old baby in the house, and between preparing for his arrival and actually having him here, I didn't get a chance to get any seeds started. They'll live happily in the fridge until next year, I guess. My garden prep also didn't really go where I wanted it, so there's that, too. It's okay, a scaled back year this year and spend what time I can this summer getting major work done on the garden and then next year will be rocking.
 
I think I'm just going to be planting peppers that I can find at the local shops, either Big Blue or Big Orange, or the local garden stores if they have some. I've started to see them crop up, I just need to give it another week or three to make sure we don't have yet another killing cold. It's only about 40 here today, but should be warming up next week. 
 
Anyway, I'm back! Any pepper season is a good pepper season, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can get. 
 
Click to expand...
Thanks, McGuiver
 
 
I just ordered some more perlite for the garden, and some coco coir. I'm going to try a pepper or two in the coco coir, I've got some 10 gallon pots that should do nicely. Any pointers on nutrients to add to this, or if I should mix in some perlite, or what? I've got some seaweed goop around here somewhere that I can add in periodically. Most of my plants will be in the dirt, however. I was hoping to get a small hydro setup going, but things got busy.
 
Looking at probably mixing a 50/50 perlite/coco coir for the soil in the potted plants, and tossing in some mykos and azomite in there as well. I have some cal-mag+ and fish fertilizers, and some epsom salts. That should give me most of what the plants need, so we'll see what happens. I can amend as needed.
 
In the garden will be a probably a similar mix, but using real soil along with some tasty fresh compost from my pile
 
Sounds like a good plan... with a coco based soil cal-mag will be your ally.  Also... you should consider acquiring some worm castings... or better yet... start your own worm farm!!!!
 
I've thought about starting my own worm farm, but I don't have a good place to do it indoors, and so I'd be restarting it every year. It's not terribly expensive, so I probably could go that route anyway.
 
I've also thought about buying a bucket of red wrigglers and just dumping them into my compost pile. I currently only have one pile, but I'm looking to expand to 3 (one to use, one to fill, one to "cook") and I could put the worms in the two that I'm not drawing compost from. Break down the muck a bit quicker, and get the castings in my compost. Maybe only put them in the pile I'm actively contributing to. They'd die off in the winter, my pile was frozen pretty hard this year.
 
Do I need to add cal-mag to the coco medium in excess of what's on the bottle, since the coco will lock it up?
 
You would be surprised how little space they take up... if you have lets say 1 tub of 18 gallon capacity (approx 12 inches wide, 19 inches long, and 16.5 inches tall)... that should be enough space to take care of your kitchen scraps for the entire winter, given that you have a pound of worms to start and you separate the castings at the appropriate time.  And yes!!! By all means do put some worms in your compost... in fact I know of several gardeners who over winter their worms in their compost piles.  As long as your compost pile is at least 16 cubic feet your worms should be able to survive easily.  Did you try getting past the perma frost when your pile was "frozen solid"?   My compost pile sometimes freezes over in the winter... but only the first couple of inches... as you get further in... the lowest temp it could possibly be is 55 degrees... which is fine...  I am expanding my worm farms this year.. and plan to have such a quantity of worms that the only choice will be to over-winter most of them outdoors in the compost pile.  Should work out fine. ;)

And... with regard to the Cal-Mag with coco... I dont have any actual experience using a heavy coco base... but I have read quite alot about it... and I do not think you should exceed the recommendations listed on the bottle... however, I have read that alot of coco growers like to feed calmag with every watering.
 
I have zero worms in my garden, and it's hot and dry. Any advice? I do maintain a year round compost pile, well a few:)
 
To get worms going in your actual garden you need mulch... and lots of it to keep the soil moist and cool... usually it costs... but there is a solution: You know those guys with orange trucks that go around mulching stuff along the roadways?... well try stopping and asking them if they need a place to dump their mulch... you may get lucky... often they would love to have a local place to dump the stuff... hell... they will practically pay to have a place to unload those wood chips.  We happened to score big time on that front!!! XD   Also... leaves from trees are excellent mulches...
 
Well I'm really lucky; our county mulches branches and gives it away.
 
I scored 24yds. in the fall, I still have 1/3 left. The rest I tilled in and used to cover the areas between the rows. I also have the grounds keeper guys throw the leaf bags in my truck as they rake the school grounds. I in turn share produce.
 
So if I buy worms, I guess they wil do OK under the mulch. But here in the semi desert, do you think they will ever thrive in the garden itself?
 
I'm not sure how deep the pile was frozen. We had a few nights down into the negative teens, Fahrenheit. I tried to turn the compost at one point, but I couldn't get the pitchfork through the ice on top.
 
The only real place to put the bin is in my garage, which drops into the 30s during the winter. Too cold.
 
I'll be sure to watch the plants to see what's up, I intend on mixing some epsom salts in, which will help with the magnesium. 
 
I hope I can mulch this year, last year it was a pain to weed, but we didn't get around to doing the mulching. Maybe I can just get a small amount to cover the garden. 
 
As I say... dried tree leaves are awesome as mulch... the important thing with mulch is that its free... I have never payed for mulch, yet I have thousands of dollars worth on my garden... Mulch needs to be thick... 1-2 inches isnt cutting it. (Although 1-2 inches is better than none, its not adequate to get the full benefits.)
 
Hi Sean... welcome back buddy! Glad to hear things are going so well at home. :) 
 
I'm also sold on mulch, though my approach is to spade in the organics when preparing my beds in the spring and cover the ones where I have heat-seeking varieties planted with either red or black plastic mulch. The plastic mulch helps keep the weeds down, warms the soil to extend both ends of the season and improves growth overall in our northern climate.
 
Good luck with your grow in 2014!
 
Yeah... thats pretty cold.  Up there I will bet you all have alot harder winters...  Still... if your compost pile is a cubic shape that is roughly 4'x4'x4', with your worms being in the bottom/center... they will survive. It is a good idea to pile as much on top of them as possible in the late fall/early winter... and keep the pile somewhat hydrated throughout. Its probably better to have the compost pile touching the ground too... hell... other worms from all round might come to your pile for a nutritious shelter.  (And that brings up another point... the reason its ok to use worms exclusively in your compost piles {instead of "worm farms/bins"} is that there is no fear of losing worms.  In other words, your compost pile is the best place for a worm to be (as long as its not too hot as in both temp and nitrogen content)... its like a winter lodge or resort for retreat.
 
Rick - how do you get water through the plastic mulch? Do you have to handwater?
 
Noah - Winters vary from pretty mild to pretty hard, I think this year we had snow about a foot deep the whole winter long, with some high winds and bitter colds. I may have to get some worms once I've pulled the usable compost out of the bin for the season, get a little extra something going in there. Good to know that they might survive the winter, I guess we'll see. The bin is open on the bottom, so there's deeper ground to retreat to.
 
SeanW said:
Rick - how do you get water through the plastic mulch? Do you have to handwater?
Click to expand...
 
Last year I buried half-liter water bottles next to the plants I set out in the IRT plastic mulch. I removed the caps and cut off the bottoms of the bottles. I'd just fill the bottle to the top and let it slowly seep into the soil. Once a day was enough during the hottest months.  http://thehotpepper.com/topic/35512-stickmans-2013-glog-time-to-pull-the-plug-on-2013/page-56#entry825856
Cheers!
 
Looks good, I'll have to consider that. I like the comment a little further down that page about using a larger bottle capped, with a hole in the lid, as a sort of "drip" irrigator for when you go away for a few days. Looks like a roll is pretty inexpensive.
 
Just checked the Farmer's Almanac. Last frost for my area is guestimated to be April 28, so we're about a week out. It could be right, weather report has us up into the 70s again for a day or two this coming week, but we do have a night slotted for the 30s. New England weather (doesn't everyone say that about their weather everywhere?)
 
Bought some organic goop yesterday. Bone meal, kelp meal, blood meal, chicken manure, green sand. I've got a few other things in the mail, slotted for a Wednesday delivery. I got a late start this year, but we're rolling. I'll have to start trawling the local shops to see what they have. Aiming for a few pepper varieties, cukes, beans (I'll plant those, got a ton of "seeds" left over), and herbs galore. Stocks at the local shops have started to appear, so we should be good.
 
I think we're looking clear of frost, but it still might be sketchy. My plan is to pick up some peppers from the local shops this week or so, and take my time getting them in the dirt so that I have a bit more of a buffer in case the weather turns again. 
 
I also need to start getting my nons in...
 
I MAY have just blacked out while poking around online. When I came to, I had ordered stuff to build a small DWC rig. I don't know how it happened. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
So, I have a couple netpots, an air pump and some hydroton on the way. I'll snag some cheap buckets and nutes and have at it. I'll have the capacity for 4 plants, I'm not sure right this second if all 4 will be peppers or not.
 
Looks like I'll have some in the dirt, some in a soilless medium in bags, and some in a small DWC deploy. 
 
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