2018 NMLarson Community Garden GLOG
- Thread starter nmlarson
- Start date
And, Lamb's Quarters! I haven't a clue what to do with them, but when I wash them in my salad spinner, I keep getting this sandy debris on the inside of the bowl. What gives? Anyone?
There are many Nepalese refugees who garden here, and they forage for it, making a curry with it. Curry isn't my thing, so maybe I'll just saute them with some garlic and red pepper flakes? If I ever get them clean, that is.
There are many Nepalese refugees who garden here, and they forage for it, making a curry with it. Curry isn't my thing, so maybe I'll just saute them with some garlic and red pepper flakes? If I ever get them clean, that is.
on the Padrons.Here's what I'm up against with my water supply. Here's the tank:
Originally, it held artificial vanilla flavoring and was cleaned thoroughly prior to being put into use. The black gunk inside the tank is algae. This is year 5 for the tank. The algae has been there for at least 2 years, but is worse this year.
The water I transport to this tank is from our well at home. It tests at 7.0 at the faucet at home. If I draw a water sample directly from the tank and test for pH, here's the result....easily 8.0, possibly higher. Algae is definitely the culprit here.
After using some white vinegar to correct (5 ml for 2 gal.), it settles down to this.....6.0. If I mix in the DynaGro before correcting, then check pH, it's still 8.0. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I correct pH after adding the DynaGro or before.
Yes, I should have painted the tank opaque black prior to using it, but, you know, hindsight and all. The tank is some sort of poly and the top and bottom are plasti-welded to the barrel. Not being Elastigirl, there's no chance of me ever getting in there to scrub things down, so I'll need to be content with testing and correcting with vinegar until I find another tank.
What's the chance the issue with pH has anything to do with the condition of this tomato? This one is really trying to grow, but it's tough finding any sort of real information on what happens to a tomato when you feed it alkaline water. It's only been a week since I've been correcting pH, and, there's still the possibility of some sort of herbicide drift. Not having seen any herbicide damage before, do the leaves curl under, or do they just grow out paddle shaped? I've checked for bugs, but can't find any and the full size tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are doing just fine, and they were all raised on the same diet. I'm at the point where I'm going to stop looking at these two plants, yank them and fuhgeddaboudit I don't care about the Maglia Rosa, but the Five Star Grape would sting a bit.
Originally, it held artificial vanilla flavoring and was cleaned thoroughly prior to being put into use. The black gunk inside the tank is algae. This is year 5 for the tank. The algae has been there for at least 2 years, but is worse this year.
The water I transport to this tank is from our well at home. It tests at 7.0 at the faucet at home. If I draw a water sample directly from the tank and test for pH, here's the result....easily 8.0, possibly higher. Algae is definitely the culprit here.
After using some white vinegar to correct (5 ml for 2 gal.), it settles down to this.....6.0. If I mix in the DynaGro before correcting, then check pH, it's still 8.0. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I correct pH after adding the DynaGro or before.
Yes, I should have painted the tank opaque black prior to using it, but, you know, hindsight and all. The tank is some sort of poly and the top and bottom are plasti-welded to the barrel. Not being Elastigirl, there's no chance of me ever getting in there to scrub things down, so I'll need to be content with testing and correcting with vinegar until I find another tank.
What's the chance the issue with pH has anything to do with the condition of this tomato? This one is really trying to grow, but it's tough finding any sort of real information on what happens to a tomato when you feed it alkaline water. It's only been a week since I've been correcting pH, and, there's still the possibility of some sort of herbicide drift. Not having seen any herbicide damage before, do the leaves curl under, or do they just grow out paddle shaped? I've checked for bugs, but can't find any and the full size tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are doing just fine, and they were all raised on the same diet. I'm at the point where I'm going to stop looking at these two plants, yank them and fuhgeddaboudit I don't care about the Maglia Rosa, but the Five Star Grape would sting a bit.
nmlarson said:Padrons! Tapas, anyone?
Blistered in olive oil and finished with some flake sea salt. Dee-li-cious!
padron.jpg
nmlarson said:And, Lamb's Quarters! I haven't a clue what to do with them, but when I wash them in my salad spinner, I keep getting this sandy debris on the inside of the bowl. What gives? Anyone?
lambs quarters.jpg
There are many Nepalese refugees who garden here, and they forage for it, making a curry with it. Curry isn't my thing, so maybe I'll just saute them with some garlic and red pepper flakes? If I ever get them clean, that is.
I am from India and I love Lamb's Quarters curry. They grow everywhere. We make dal out of it.
Well, if you don't count the lamb's quarters, here's the first harvest of the year!
There are two butter types, a green and a red, along with two heavily incised types, green and red. Johnny's Seeds markets them as part of their Salanova line of lettuces. The red types are actually green, tipped with the red.
For those of you who are market growers, they are all an easy grow. The seed I ordered was pelleted, so it was easy to plant individual starts. A +90 degree spell hit right after I transplanted them, so shade fabric was placed to protect them for about 2 weeks. They all grow to about a foot across. Each has a core, when removed, allow the individual leaves to fall away from the head. The flavor is good on all varieties, with the butter being especially sweet. The incised is a bit of a PIA to clean, but not impossible. It adds a nice bulk to the overall mix.
I love me a good butter lettuce!
There are two butter types, a green and a red, along with two heavily incised types, green and red. Johnny's Seeds markets them as part of their Salanova line of lettuces. The red types are actually green, tipped with the red.
For those of you who are market growers, they are all an easy grow. The seed I ordered was pelleted, so it was easy to plant individual starts. A +90 degree spell hit right after I transplanted them, so shade fabric was placed to protect them for about 2 weeks. They all grow to about a foot across. Each has a core, when removed, allow the individual leaves to fall away from the head. The flavor is good on all varieties, with the butter being especially sweet. The incised is a bit of a PIA to clean, but not impossible. It adds a nice bulk to the overall mix.
I love me a good butter lettuce!
Last evening, my husband and I took the tank out of the Community Garden plots and brought it home. It was due for a thorough cleaning of the black algae that's been skewing the pH. Using a saber saw, he cut an opening in the top of the tank that I'll use for access, and can use it in the future, if needed. At my request, he cut the hole at an angle, so the flap wouldn't fall in the tank, but, rather, just sit in the opening. After we picked up the tank, we went to Target for some Flex-Tape to secure the flap back in place. Yep, As Seen on TV Flex-Tape.
Nasty, nasty!
Three weeks ago, he took one of his restored floppers to a nostalgia event in Bowling Green, KY for a cackle-fest. Those of you out there who are hard core drag race fans know of what I speak. Anyway, just when he was getting ready to light it off, an oil line started to leak. One of his buddies comes over with a roll of the tape and the darned stuff worked! He said it was a bitch to clean up when he went to repair/replace the line, because it's so sticky. It should work here.
Nasty, nasty!
Three weeks ago, he took one of his restored floppers to a nostalgia event in Bowling Green, KY for a cackle-fest. Those of you out there who are hard core drag race fans know of what I speak. Anyway, just when he was getting ready to light it off, an oil line started to leak. One of his buddies comes over with a roll of the tape and the darned stuff worked! He said it was a bitch to clean up when he went to repair/replace the line, because it's so sticky. It should work here.
Sawyer said:
Actually, I discovered it was my ignorant and unbelievably lazy next door neighbor. He decided that maybe since he hadn't mowed their back yard in 5 years, killing it off would take care of it. Unfortunately for me, it's about 100 feed from the deck where I was hardening off my starts. It took care of their back yard, but now, in addition to losing all my tomatoes, we're seeing a lot of needle drop on the underside of a line of Leyland Cypress we put in 20 years ago. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. Monomakht's Hat tomato plants were among those I'd started and had pulled out two for a friend long before I thought they were ready to leave home, but she was going on vacation and wanted to get them in the ground before she left. Those plants are fine. Every single other tomato was affected, including starts given to 3 other friends growing in three different communities.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. We recently cut down six +100' tall tulip poplars in the front yard of our home, with the intent to redo some landscaping. I head down to the neighbor's house to ask for a "heads up" of if and when they are going to spray again and their psycho German Shepard decides it wants a chunk of my right arm. I'm still waiting on a rabies certificate.
skullbiker
eXtreme
ruh rohnmlarson said:Guess what I spotted in my husband's shop?
