Blorvak's Greenhorn 2014 - End of Season Wrap Up!

Roguejim · May 15, 2014

I'm surprised at how large you let your plants get in Solo cups without potting up. You go straight from Solo cups to the ground? Good luck from Grants Pass!

blorvak · May 15, 2014

Roguejim said:
I'm surprised at how large you let your plants get in Solo cups without potting up. You go straight from Solo cups to the ground? Good luck from Grants Pass!

Thanks! I'll take all the luck I can get!

Absolutely had no room to pot up, so I decided that I wasn't going to worry about it. They are going straight into the ground. Well, half in 7 gal pots. This is a learning year for me, so I'm going to see how it works out. I've seen some surprising pics of solo cup only grows. That said: I don't want to push it.

Dirt day soon!

blorvak · May 17, 2014

Dirt Day 2014!

So the weather cooled off, and now it's partly cloudy. Very comfortable temp to get to planting.

Started off with the plants going into the dirt. Each hole is amended with 1/4 cup of my special mix (1 part Tomato Tone, 1/2 part Kelp Meal, 1/2 part Crab Meal).

First one in the soil, the Tunisian Baklouti:

Here's a pic of the roots. Not completely root bound (I was able to break it up without too much trouble), but getting there:

As I planted, I did a survey of the roots. I'd say that about 30% were more root bound than I would have liked. We'll see how they adjust to their new digs.

Here's more!:

Orange Hab was accidentally topped while hardening off. Already starting to branch out:

And here's Pepper Bed 2014!:

I've got a bunch more pics of the grow bags, if someone wants to give me a bump.

Seacowboy · May 18, 2014

Bump. Looking great on your dirt day.

blorvak · May 18, 2014

Seacowboy said:
Bump. Looking great on your dirt day.

Thank ya kindly!

Gotta say that it was much easier to plant the 7 gal root pouches. Of course, I put in the work for 8 of them about a month ago. Bought a bag of Ocean Forest for the last two. Also easy, but $$$!

All in all, planted 21 peppers, and 2 eggplants. Still have 15 peppers in cups. I'll give most of those away, and try to find space for the rest!

PaulG · May 18, 2014

John, your plants look just great, buddy! Looks like an awesome grow coming for you.
Love the yellow 7 Pot, yellow Rocoto, Pequin and the White Bullet Hab. They should all
do very well for you here, but all the plants look superior. And nice raised bed!

We had a .4 inches of rain in our yard last night. How about you? Your plants outs should
have liked that a lot. Mine seem very perky this morning, except for the Chacoense which
droops in cooler night temps. Always sumpin'

blorvak · May 18, 2014

PaulG said:
John, your plants look just great, buddy! Looks like an awesome grow coming for you.
Love the yellow 7 Pot, yellow Rocoto, Pequin and the White Bullet Hab. They should all
do very well for you here, but all the plants look superior. And nice raised bed!

We had a .4 inches of rain in our yard last night. How about you? Your plants outs should
have liked that a lot. Mine seem very perky this morning, except for the Chacoense which
droops in cooler night temps. Always sumpin'

Hey thanks! I slept the sleep of the dead last night after all that gardening, but I do know it's absolutely pouring right now. We had a bit of hail, but not enough to damage the plants. Oh, Portland spring...

Was a bit worried about night temps, as the long term forecast had a 39 in it, but then they revised it to 48-50s. Bought some PVC and clear plastic just in case I need to throw a hoop house together quickly.

A few pics left over from plant out:

Put the Joe E. Parker pepper at the base of my hugelkultur:

Here's a pic of everyone together:

And that only leaves 15 plants to find homes for:

Gave 5 away today to a good friend. Pretty sure I can find good homes for the rest. If not, All I need is more potting soil...

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

PaulG · May 18, 2014

You're getting it together now, buddy!

hugelkultur?

Roguejim · May 18, 2014

blorvak said:
Thank ya kindly!

Gotta say that it was much easier to plant the 7 gal root pouches. Of course, I put in the work for 8 of them about a month ago. Bought a bag of Ocean Forest for the last two. Also easy, but $$$!

All in all, planted 21 peppers, and 2 eggplants. Still have 15 peppers in cups. I'll give most of those away, and try to find space for the rest!

Looks like you have some wind issues there in PTLD? I've used more stakes this year than before.

blorvak · May 19, 2014

PaulG said:
You're getting it together now, buddy!

hugelkultur?

Long story short, hugelkultur is a Eastern European raised bed that consists of burying logs. I had one of my giant Oregon maples pruned last year, and my fireplace is out of commission. Needed to do something with the wood! Supposedly, the hugelkultur doesn't need to be watered, because the decaying logs act as water batteries, storing moisture for plant roots. Curious to see how well it works.

Roguejim said:
Looks like you have some wind issues there in PTLD? I've used more stakes this year than before.

Yep, I live right up the slope from the river. Get some strong winds that travel down the Gorge. I figure better safe than sorry. Last year, my peppers were bent down by a windstorm. Not that they were producing anyway...

PaulG · May 19, 2014

blorvak said:
Long story short, hugelkultur is a Eastern European raised bed that consists of burying logs. I had one of my giant Oregon maples pruned last year, and my fireplace is out of commission. Needed to do something with the wood! Supposedly, the hugelkultur doesn't need to be watered, because the decaying logs act as water batteries, storing moisture for plant roots. Curious to see how well it works.

Yep, I live right up the slope from the river. Get some strong winds that travel down the Gorge. I figure better safe than sorry. Last year, my peppers were bent down by a windstorm. Not that t hey were producing anyway...

Okay - sort of like a 'nurse log' in the forest. The decaying logs provide a home, water and
nutrients for other plants and little trees that take root in it as it decays. A large log may well
over a century or more to decay back into the forest soil. I can see why that would work. It is a slow process,
however. Great experiment for ya.! I have seen some awesome nurse log 'gardens' backpacking in the Cascades,
and other mountain areas.

I gather you are on the east side of town?

blorvak · May 19, 2014

PaulG said:
Okay - sort of like a 'nurse log' in the forest. The decaying logs provide a home, water and
nutrients for other plants and little trees that take root in it as it decays. A large log may well
over a century or more to decay back into the forest soil. I can see why that would work. It is a slow process,
however. Great experiment for ya.! I have seen some awesome nurse log 'gardens' backpacking in the Cascades,
and other mountain areas.

I gather you are on the east side of town?

Yep, same concept as the nurse log. I found the concept while browsing garden sites, and some people swear by it. So far, all I have is some baby bok choi on it, but it seems to like it!

I am out in Northeast these days. Lived for years on the West side, and then several years in inner SE, but pretty happy where i ended up.

PaulG · May 20, 2014

blorvak said:
Yep, same concept as the nurse log. I found the concept while browsing garden sites, and some people swear by it. So far, all I have is some baby bok choi on it, but it seems to like it!

I am out in Northeast these days. Lived for years on the West side, and then several years in inner SE, but pretty happy where i ended up.

Northeast has some great neighborhoods.

PaulG · May 20, 2014

How old is your Hugekultur?

blorvak · May 21, 2014

PaulG said:
Northeast has some great neighborhoods.

Yep, I love it here. Not to disparage the rest of Portland. Some people like to get into the East vs West thing. This is just the place that fits me.

PaulG said:
How old is your Hugekultur?

I built it last Fall, and the wood had been sitting outside in the elements for about a year. It was already on it's way to decomposing. Built it too tall, so it's a challenge to plant on the top, but I'm hoping it breaks down a bit soon.

So, haven't managed to kill any plants yet, but some did get a bit of sunburn. The Mako Akokosrade probably suffered the most:

Same scald on some in pots, some in the ground. I think the wide leaves are tender from being pampered inside. At least I'm pretty sure it's sunburn. If it's something else completely awful, please let me know!

Have peppers forming on a few of the Anuums... The Alma Papika, Goat's Weed, Joe E. Parker, Black Hungarian and Cracked Jalapeno. Not a ton yet, obviously, as they're still tiny guys. Thought about pinching them, but I'm gonna let them do their own thing.

PaulG · May 22, 2014

I had some leaves like that, too. I just cut them off. That's usually what I do with weird leaves.
That way, if there is a pest or a virus/fungus trying to get established, they are removed. I think
that if one can get on these things early, they are easier to deal with. Of, course, one has to be
able to check the plants over every day.

The Mako is a pretty little plant.

blorvak · May 23, 2014

PaulG said:
I had some leaves like that, too. I just cut them off. That's usually what I do with weird leaves.
That way, if there is a pest or a virus/fungus trying to get established, they are removed. I think
that if one can get on these things early, they are easier to deal with. Of, course, one has to be
able to check the plants over every day.

The Mako is a pretty little plant.

That's a good idea! Of course, I didn't have time to do it today

So, just got back from a night seek and destroy mission. Slugs. I forgot to stake a tomatillo the other day, and the wind pushed it to the ground. The next day, it was half gone! Went out at dusk, and it was crawling with a tiny slug army. Must have smashed 30 of them. They're all over the bok choi as well. Tiny jerks! Easy enough to dab off and smash with a paper towel, but time consuming.

Even on the peppers! This will not stand. Killed two sizable ones on the Joe E. Parker, and a few on the Tunisian Baklouti. They seem to like the lower leaves that touch the ground. Need to trim those.

Also killed my first aphid on a Datil. The peppers are by the hops, which I'm hoping the aphids will like better. There's an army of ladybugs already massing on the hops.

PaulG · May 23, 2014

I have seen more ladybugs around this
spring than last, and lots of jumping spiders, too.

Guess the super cold spells this winter didn't really
faze them much!

I have to confess, I use slug pellets. Problem solved.

blorvak · May 27, 2014

Happy Memorial Day! A sincere thanks to all the service men and women out there. I hope this weekend finds you safe and sound!

So, the peppers have been a week in soil, and looking a bit rough. It's to be expected, but still a bit of a bummer. But here's to hoping they rebound. Temps have been 70's high, and 50's low. The anuums seem to be happiest with this arrangement.

Here's the Purple Cayenne. It's original leaves are rough, but lots of new growth:

A few of the anuums have set some pods. The biggest belongs to the Black Hungarian:

Goat's Weed setting several pods:

Joe E. Parker has one big pod. And some slug scars:

And the Alma Paprika has some cute buttons pods forming as well:

The topped Orange Hab is starting new growth nodes:

Also was able to give away most of my remaining starts. Had a few left over, and some 3gal root pouches, so it was time to pot 'em up with some cheap Lowe's potting soil. Science!

I'm thinking I need to mix up some cal mag to see if they'll get a bit greener. Weather has been hot and cold (just like a PDX spring), and I'm hoping the hotter peppers take off once we start getting some reliable warm weather. We shall see.

Thanks for stopping by!

blorvak · May 30, 2014

Took a vacation day! Thought it was high time to upgrade my root pouch grow. Pouches are just sitting on grass, killing grass, promoting mold, and getting weedy in-between. I can fix that!
Dropped by the hardware store for some stones, and drip irrigation supplies.

Put down some plastic mulch and stones for the pouches to sit on:

Everybody back in place:

The drip irrigation kit came with 20 emitters, but of course only 5 actual connectors. So, looks like I need another trip to the hardware store! But I did get 5 pots set up:

Attached the hose, fired it up, and it worked on the trial run! Guess that makes up for the lack of parts!

All the plants in the dirt are serviced by a soaker hose. Watering is going to be a much more pleasant experience this year!