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Darn the Bad Luck - Rain

W

wordwiz

Yes we need it and no it was not a downpour, maybe a 1/2 inch, probaqbly half that. But I was able to rent a tiller - mine still is not running - and get a big chunk of ground reading for planting. The goal: 60 tomato plants, a dozen eggplants, radishes, beets, carrots and onions.

First - I found I have not been "hardened off" and an hour in the sun, pulling that tiller backwards and I had to take a break. And while it is great for ground that has already been tilled, it doesn't like weeds, grass or vines. I had to keep cleaning the tines. After going over 600 sq. ft. twice, I was ready to plant. Alas, 20 tomato and one eggplant in the ground later, the rain came.

I should be able to finish tomorrow - the ground drains real well, at least the top few inches.

The bright side: I don't have to water the plants!

The toms:
Giant Belgium
Large Pine Bulgarian
German Pink
Cherokee Chocolate
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Japanese Black Trifele
Green Sausage
Red Zebra
Hawaiian Pineapple
Golden Monarch
White Beauty
Jersey Giant
Red Delicious
Roma
Four volunteers (I tilled around them)

The eggplant is a Long Purple.

The weather is suppose to be mild but the plants have been in the sun for more than two weeks, so they should be okay.

I'm looking forward to putting up hopefully at least 10 gallons of each plant's juice. The Trifele and White Beauty ought to make some unique chili, especially if I can find the right chili plants to add to them. The Trifele especially intrigues me, as it is supposed to have a sublime hint of chocolate.

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
First - I found I have not been "hardened off" and an hour in the sun, pulling that tiller backwards and I had to take a break.
Mike
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Yes, More water will be needed to prevent wilting. This is a slow process that shouldn't be rushed.
 
Sounds like you guys up north are having what we did last year with all the rain...last year, if I recall correctly was in the top 5 wettest years on record...caused a bunch of my tomatoes to simply bust wide open...good luck with it Mike...
 
AJ,

The drought didn't hurt me so much last year as did the temps. My soil is bass ackwards of normal: The top layer is clay, the next layer is topsoil and under that is sand, then a clay/sand/silt mix (except for the dead area). In the spring and very erly summer, when we had downpours after downpours, the ground would drain very good. Then in the summer, when the drought hit, though the top was bone dry, where the roots were retained decent moisture levels. But severl days on 95+ heat ruined all the toms, cukes, beans and eggplants. One side of the tomatoes would ripen but the bottom side lagged far behind. By the time it turned red, the other hlaf was rotten. Of course, it might have helped them had I staked them, which I am doing this year.

Mike
 
Agh...Its raining again today. I have also been thinking that it HAS to start warming up soon. It has been almost chilly for this time of year,IMO. It's only 67 F right now...
 
Mike, Hopefully your getting some of this much needed sun as I am today. I actually found some sort of mushroom growing in one of my pepper beds today. Definitely a sign that we have been getting too much rain.
 
Defiantly to much rain. I am in a new house ,moved in late and did not have enough time to work the ground. Mostly clay. What i put in the ground 30% has died from the clay packing to hard on the roots after the rain, which for the last 8 days we had some kind of rain every day.going to have to put my peppers in containers. so if PF or WW know of any place around us that are selling them cheap please PM me
Dan




LET IT BURN
 
Because of the unique makeup of my garden (except for the dead part), it's almost impossible to get too much rain. Three inches of clay on three inches of top soil on top of three inches of sand. After a decent rain ~ a hlf-inch or so, it looks like a rice paddy. Within 24 hours the top is dry. But it can go a week in bright sunlight and very dry conditions and three inches down it is very moist. Beets, carrots and potatoes love it. The tomatoes and cukes did great last year until the 100 degree days hit - they could not ripen uniformly. The mustard and peppers also loved it, though the peppers didn't produce many pods until September, though that may be because I didn't get the plants in the ground until the end of June.

Mike
 
I got a lot of my buckets from a nutrition store for $1 per bucket. They are used sour cream 5 gallon buckets from restaurants. I thought it was a good deal and keeps them out of our landfills. My other buckets are cleaned out 5 gallon latex paint buckets that I got for free. Just make sure you clean them real good.
 
Paul,

I have some buckets but I wanted to have better control where the water went - I just wanted it around the stem and to pour slow enough to soak in to the roots.

Mike
 
We've been getting storms out here pretty much on a daily basis for the past couple weeks. It's definitely been a wet year. Oddly, I'm a mushroom hunter as well so I don't mind it when it's that time of year:P:lol: Still would be nice if it wasn't raining everyday though. Kind of sucks. Honestly, if it kind of dried out and then started raining again in late July I would be in heaven looking for chanterelles, and black trumpets!:D (Mushrooms...VERY tasty ones as well.)
 
rabbit said:
I'm a mushroom hunter as well so I don't mind it when it's that time of year
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I hear ya man, the wet year has been hell here too, but the morrel hunting has been incredible. I got two potato sacks full in three hours of hunting this past weekend.
 
gardenkiller said:
I hear ya man, the wet year has been hell here too, but the morrel hunting has been incredible. I got two potato sacks full in three hours of hunting this past weekend.
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You're still finding morels?..............SWEET!!!! I quit around Memorial Day weekend. I'm kind of in lingo until the summer shrooms pop. I may run across a shaggy mane in a yard, but I haven't seen any yet.
 
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