JJJ Glog 2014.....in summary

JJJessee · Mar 31, 2014

Thanks, guys.
Made it back to the homestead last evening. Everything looked OK when I made it in, the aphids we're waiting for their ration of garlic spray :banghead:

.
We visited D&B who spent Jan and Feb in So. Asia. They brought back almost a dozen varieties of pepper seeds.
Their big tomato sow (1000+) is therefore behind schedule plus it's not growing the way it should be and has in the past.
I got sent home with ten different tomato plants and pepper seeds from Indonesian and Sri Lanka.

Of course the Aji Colorado is just one I'd lost my seeds on, and I lost the Cabe Merah Pendek somewhere along the way. :rolleyes:

Most he got from the market peppers, along the road, or where ever and he had someone ID most of them.

So I sowed more on Wave 2, just as the main sow is starting to pop.

Put some tomatoes in there for encouragement.

Non-stuff

I planted ~30' row of snow peas, and direct-sowed a few spots of lettuce: May Queen and Merveilles de Quatre Saison.
It was sowed on a layer of the chip/sludge compost fines I screen awhile back.

A week or so ago I made up some little "succession frames", in the old fashion "row cover" style.
Instead of one big lettuce bed, I'll have small beds on intervals of about 10-14 days.

Cheesecloth (I call it tobacco canvas) respires better than Remay and the other poly-spun clothes. It lets rain in better especially. I use both though.
The Mervailles I spot sowed under milk jug cloches. It makes nice big butterheads if you treat it nice.

Guess who we're having over for dinner next week.

This is the third year on the asparagus so, we can collect for 3 weeks they say without harm to the beds.

The raspberries are showing life signs, so I've got to move quickly now.

This is a tip sucker I pulled of a black raspberry. I've got 20' of row that never took initially (two years ago) that needs filling in....

....and on the red raspberries, I've almost got all the canes pruned and tied to the trellis.

Then I'll take 25 of their root suckers and make another 100' row.
I'll still have oodles and oodles of plants that HAVE to be dug up.

Need any?

Thanks for reading.

stickman · Apr 1, 2014

Wow... never a dull moment JJJ! It looks like you've still got lots of work to do before you get your garden dialed in this spring. Man, you've got Asparagus coming up?! :woohoo:

So many farmers in this part of the Connecticut River valley grow it that they call it "Hadley Grass" here. Good luck with the next round of seeds.

annie57 · Apr 1, 2014

Damn triple J! Uh . . . I did a similar "thing" in making soil this year for 2.5 pots, just to see. (Because not paying that for FFOF.) For the pots, as I see it, what it lacks is a wetting agent for peat. But you covered that with Doc Bron. I used plain Doc, however tempted with peppermint. Studied Ganja Girl's recipe too.

Had no rock dust, wasn't going to pay for it, not in those amounts, 4 cups for 7.5 gals/1 cu. foot? I just left it out and let it "cook" in a Rubber-Maid container for a month, wet and let it air some days. Then, one day, recently, drove by a rock quarry and slammed on brakes, did a Uey, and they have granite rock dust, if I have a truck to crate it. So, that's one source. We got rocks, I know you gots rocks. "Glacial rock dust." Uh, granite is how old? Old enough. They had other stone or rock dust too, but just a thought. Am going to get some, as soil tested yesterday/last night and yep, limed (in dark with headlamp--geez, me and head lamps). Just a thought: you got a truck and they are willing to give me the dust if I shovel it.

Man, your grow looks amazing. ~~Like~~ Love the oats and peas cover. On my to-do next fall. You've just put so much work into this--keep telling myself "asparagus" and just might do a raised bed to begin it this year. Thank you for the inspiration and I thought 5th Season--reading ganja boards they say to go easy on that crab meal fert--but thought 5th had it. Was up there last Wed. to deplete bank account, thought I saw it but was in/out as needed to get back. Picked up 2 big bags EWC and more Indo bat guano. I used this stuff that I think, thus far, beats Tomato-Tone--Mater Magic. How bad could it be if Home Depot sells it? :rofl:

Just beautiful and a LOT of work here. Thanks for inspiration, my friend. And no: maybe we won't have 5" rain per day (almost not exaggeration) this year because would really like some maters! (That was just some sad pickins last year.) Thank you!

millworkman · Apr 1, 2014

I've go the wild ones here in East TN and they are taking over. Can't really complain though cause they are TASTY!

HillBilly Jeff · Apr 1, 2014

Nice variety of pepper seed you got. Should be interesting.

I don't care much for the red raspberries, but the wild black ones are awesome. Got them growing here, and they are a bit of a chore to pick. I wish they filled a coffee can as fast as the blackberries do. Got a really nice patch of them by my garage and they produce some big berries.

Good Growing to you.

JJJessee · Apr 1, 2014

stickman said:
Wow... never a dull moment JJJ! It looks like you've still got lots of work to do before you get your garden dialed in this spring. Man, you've got Asparagus coming up?! So many farmers in this part of the Connecticut River valley grow it that they call it "Hadley Grass" here. Good luck with the next round of seeds.

Yeap, I'm already behind on my second onion bed. I just need a few shovel fulls (1/4 -1/2 yd)of compost to top it off and I'll stick my cipollini seedlings in it and maybe get a few sets from the farm store to fill it out. Asparagus is just a wee bit earlier than I expected.
I ain't complainin' :woohoo:

annie57 said:
Damn triple J! Uh . . . I did a similar "thing" in making soil this year for 2.5 pots, just to see. (Because not paying that for FFOF.) For the pots, as I see it, what it lacks is a wetting agent for peat. But you covered that with Doc Bron. I used plain Doc, however tempted with peppermint. Studied Ganja Girl's recipe too.

Had no rock dust, wasn't going to pay for it, not in those amounts, 4 cups for 7.5 gals/1 cu. foot? I just left it out and let it "cook" in a Rubber-Maid container for a month, wet and let it air some days. Then, one day, recently, drove by a rock quarry and slammed on brakes, did a Uey, and they have granite rock dust, if I have a truck to crate it. So, that's one source. We got rocks, I know you gots rocks. "Glacial rock dust." Uh, granite is how old? Old enough. They had other stone or rock dust too, but just a thought. Am going to get some, as soil tested yesterday/last night and yep, limed (in dark with headlamp--geez, me and head lamps). Just a thought: you got a truck and they are willing to give me the dust if I shovel it.

Man, your grow looks amazing. ~~Like~~ Love the oats and peas cover. On my to-do next fall. You've just put so much work into this--keep telling myself "asparagus" and just might do a raised bed to begin it this year. Thank you for the inspiration and I thought 5th Season--reading ganja boards they say to go easy on that crab meal fert--but thought 5th had it. Was up there last Wed. to deplete bank account, thought I saw it but was in/out as needed to get back. Picked up 2 big bags EWC and more Indo bat guano. I used this stuff that I think, thus far, beats Tomato-Tone--Mater Magic. How bad could it be if Home Depot sells it?

Just beautiful and a LOT of work here. Thanks for inspiration, my friend. And no: maybe we won't have 5" rain per day (almost not exaggeration) this year because would really like some maters! (That was just some sad pickins last year.) Thank you!

Missed you while you were dealing with the turmoil of human life. Hope everything is levelin' out. NICE score on the granite. My truck is willing and more than able to head over the mountain for some shovel-till-u-drop granite dust. Let's set up a time and I'll haul you and me both a load. I mean REALLY. Found a good source on EWC from a bait producer across the river in TN. 8 bucks for 25#, looks good too. I'll bring some of that if interested.

millworkman said:
I've go the wild ones here in East TN and they are taking over. Can't really complain though cause they are TASTY!

I love to pick wild berries almost better than eating them. Black raspberries just not that common up this way. Blackberries more so, but people in the neighborhood here bushhog the wild patches I scavenge.

HillBilly Jeff said:
Nice variety of pepper seed you got. Should be interesting.

I don't care much for the red raspberries, but the wild black ones are awesome. Got them growing here, and they are a bit of a chore to pick. I wish they filled a coffee can as fast as the blackberries do. Got a really nice patch of them by my garage and they produce some big berries.

Good Growing to you.

My wife likes the red. I like them both. Reds didn't produce much last year, but about half of the black row put out 9 gal it's first year. All of which have been eaten except for a gallon I put in the meade.

Devv · Apr 1, 2014

All I have to say is you are one busy man JJJ!

Always up to something

And you're building a really nice future with your efforts.

Glad to see the Asparagus coming up, sure sign of spring. You say year 3, when they pop the first year, does that count as a year? We're at 12/14 of the plants I stuck in the raised bed. I really don't know what to expect harvest wise, should I plant more?

Granite dust? You got me thinking, San Antonio has a large area dedicated to Granite counter tops. Need to find some roundtuits and go ask about the dust and what they do with it.

Nice score on the exotic seeds! I bet you can't wait to see how they grow and taste!

Raspberries, the birds let you have some? I don't have any (yet), but they decimate my grapes.

Keep doing! It keeps one young :drooling:

annie57 · Apr 1, 2014

PM me TripJ. I hyar tayle that you'z posed to do hit right fore final till after limed if need to. And, it should rain on it oncst

before the tilling; you got a definite deal!! And that's a killer price on castings: castings are castings; those who do "specialized" vermicomposting would have my, as Dylan sang, "head in a guillotine" but "that's alright Ma," it's worm sh*t. And worm sh*t, only. :party:

JJJessee · Apr 1, 2014

Devv said:
All I have to say is you are one busy man JJJ!

Always up to something And you're building a really nice future with your efforts.

Glad to see the Asparagus coming up, sure sign of spring. You say year 3, when they pop the first year, does that count as a year? We're at 12/14 of the plants I stuck in the raised bed. I really don't know what to expect harvest wise, should I plant more?

Granite dust? You got me thinking, San Antonio has a large area dedicated to Granite counter tops. Need to find some roundtuits and go ask about the dust and what they do with it.

Nice score on the exotic seeds! I bet you can't wait to see how they grow and taste!

Raspberries, the birds let you have some? I don't have any (yet), but they decimate my grapes.

Keep doing! It keeps one young

Yeah, year three, built and planted 2 4x25 beds with about 90 crowns from Johnny's late March 2012; it was excellent looking stock. It came up and made massive 6' hedges some crowns had 24+ stalks before they quit just before frost. Didn't pick a stalk that year.

They were making stalks before mid-April last year. I let a few stalks by, but kept it picked pretty clean for 10 days and stopped. I think we got about 5lb total.

From reading, I think I can pick 3 weeks, but I'm gonna double check that.

I was strongly afeared the birds would plunder the berries. I got some 15' net from Lowe's and draped them just before ripening and I didn't notice any loss.
Which, even with the net, was a big surprise to me.

annie57 said:
PM me TripJ. I hyar tayle that you'z posed to do hit right fore final till after limed if need to. And, it should rain on it oncst before the tilling; you got a definite deal!! And that's a killer price on castings: castings are castings; those who do "specialized" vermicomposting would have my, as Dylan sang, "head in a guillotine" but "that's alright Ma," it's worm sh*t. And worm sh*t, only.

That Bobby, he's such a clever lad.

No wormsh!t that's a good price 'pared to the hydro-store and even So. States gits 13 fer it. It's close if not a cuft in 25lb.

I got 4 bags to make gitin lost and findin the place worthwhile.

Set the ladies out mid-morning and let them drink in the rest of a bright, kinda hot breezy day with only some tall bare oaks as their screen.

Just before dark, I pumped up my 3 gallon sprayer and a gave them a foliar feed with MaxiCrop Kelp and splash of alfalfa tea that those
aphids won't soon forget.

Earlier, with wormsh!t in hand, I mixed up Blend #2 General Purpose

oops, missed .9 cups of alfalfa pellets here

Well, on paper, I planned to put the onions I sowed in the ground today.

Here's the ground.

Here's the onions.

I think I can get them together before the weeks out, but raspberry work is a bit more urgent.

50° is the low tonight and the ladies are staying out unless I change my mind at the last minute.

This is about about all the front yard flowers I get since the oaks and wild cherries choke ground and sky as they please by early May.

Thanks for reading.

annie57 · Apr 2, 2014

Pretty! How'd the pepper children do? Did you leave a nightlight on for them? Hmm?

TripJ, you not usin' no Indo Bat guaner? Hits on up thar in phosfrus. Just kidding as I put that stuff in hole/use in compost teas, for blooming, pod-set. (The Indo high P v Jamaican high P is water soluble, while Jamaican is not.)

Again, thanks for info on soil mixes/amendments, as in, plant's gonna do as the soil provides for it. Have a great one!

JJJessee · Apr 2, 2014

No Bat's but that SeaBirdsh!t at 10-12-2 (or whatever) with 4% of N water-soluble orta sock their knocks off.
I'm headed to la berry patch nuevo with a transplant mix I just whipped up.
catchyalater

PS. they did fine, hit high fortys, tonight's good to if the thunderstorm doesn't show

PIC 1 · Apr 2, 2014

Nice updates....the gardens moving right along...amended soil and hoop frames intact. Maybe an early summer to get the rest of the show on the road.

I too started up with Foxfarms mediums but after potting up over 300- 5" pots I decided to switch to the spaghnum/perlite mix $7 bags from the local home center. Still more to pot up but by the time I can get the tomatoes and peppers out I'll be mixing in compost with recycled container soil to hold them through the hardening process.

With the super soil amendments at hand your plant roots will be feeling like they're wearing Italian Patent Leather Shoes......and there's nothing wrong about that ...

Devv · Apr 2, 2014

Very nice JJJ! Glad to see the gals sunning it up, they sure do drink more once they find their way into the weather.

24 stalks from each head on the Asparagus? Mine are way slackin' then, just one or two. But we bought them at the box store. How far apart did you plant them?

If you're getting 50's those onions can hit dirt, unless you expect a few days of 20's. And that my friend I don't want to see happen.

keep a doin'!

HillBilly Jeff · Apr 2, 2014

Nice looking dafs....mine aren't ready to bloom yet.

Helvete · Apr 2, 2014

You're inspiring me to be a little more organized next season haha. Looking good!. :mouthonfire:

JJJessee · Apr 2, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Nice updates....the gardens moving right along...amended soil and hoop frames intact. Maybe an early summer to get the rest of the show on the road.

I too started up with Foxfarms mediums but after potting up over 300- 5" pots I decided to switch to the spaghnum/perlite mix $7 bags from the local home center. Still more to pot up but by the time I can get the tomatoes and peppers out I'll be mixing in compost with recycled container soil to hold them through the hardening process.

With the super soil amendments at hand your plant roots will be feeling like they're wearing Italian Patent Leather Shoes......and there's nothing wrong about that ...

I love playing in the dirt. If I had a "gardening business" of sorts, it would be mixing and aging boutique and designer soils.

Devv said:
Very nice JJJ! Glad to see the gals sunning it up, they sure do drink more once they find their way into the weather.

24 stalks from each head on the Asparagus? Mine are way slackin' then, just one or two. But we bought them at the box store. How far apart did you plant them?

If you're getting 50's those onions can hit dirt, unless you expect a few days of 20's. And that my friend I don't want to see happen.

keep a doin'!

yeah, onions are good to go now, I've already got all my Dixondale stock in the ground and under cover mainly because of hot wind.
Starting tomorrow, our rain chances pick up, so I'm going to race that for getting my onions in.

I was a little amazed too at how much bulk that first year asparagus put out, I'd say average stalk count was easily 15 per crown,

Here's an old photo

HillBilly Jeff said:
Nice looking dafs....mine aren't ready to bloom yet.

Thanks, Yeah, after 25 years, I've pretty well narrowed down the garden flowers to what deer won't eat.

That's called Natural Selection or Survival of the Least Tasty.

ikeepfish said:
You're inspiring me to be a little more organized next season haha. Looking good!.

Thanks. HA! I have many Ideas on organization, but for the most part they remain theoretical.

Meet the Annums' Family

Still got a couple of no-shows: Aci Sivri Cayenne and Thai Dragon that have been in-ground 9 days now :whistle:

Is this not the tiniest Annum ever?

Suppose to be a Rooster Tail.
Twas inspired by Pepper Guru's 2013 grow.

Non-suchness

early maters

I thought I'd try a few late April-early May tomatoes.

I have the Black Vernissage in coco coir, Ocean Forest, and plain ol' Forest Floor which is lawn- mowered, composted oak leaves. I'm treating it hydro along with the coir, but I'm using SeaBird Guano tea and a little CaMg instead of packaged hydro chems. It's actually a bit taller than the OF plant, but still not as dark green, T-minus 6 days on the main tomato sow.

Finished tying the last few red raspberry canes.

Ended up with 213 tied canes from the original 24 I stuck in the ground 2 years ago.
Plus I tilled a row, transplanted, and mulched 26 more plants.
Then I cleaned off the sucker plants on the lower side and got all the old, plastic silt fence out that I used as mulch when I started.
One more year and that stuff would have been a pain to get out.

Thanks for reading.

GA Growhead · Apr 3, 2014

I also have a few roosters up. Similar is size too. Also was inspired!
Would love to have raspberries. Have a few thornless blackberries, that were a gift, that I had to deal with already. Transplanted all the suckers in a different spot leaving the original three as is. They almost have fully open leaves here already. Enjoy this weather!

JJJessee · Apr 3, 2014

I'm still at one rooster.

But the rest of the gang is coming around, except the Thai Dragon.

So other than the Indonesian and Sri Lanka peppers, here's the score on Wave 2.

I potted up the Mu-Nex and Padrons, both from Sandia Seeds.

So beautiful day out today with some much needed early rain which force me to bring the peppers inside.

I hauled compost to top-up some of the beds. One of the new beds is chocked full of worms, Not exactly sure why, but none of the others have near as many. Several different varieties even. I ran into this variety at the horse barn last year.

(click picture for video)

Someone told me they were called Alabama Jumpers. When It gets warmer they get even friskier.
I found at least one in most of the beds, so maybe, they have found a home. They are a good clay worm.

I almost had the Hugel Grave full starting from small logs almost 2' down, mixing in the clay, dirt from other beds, a lot of ramial chipped wood, mountain sand, a squirt of alfalfa tea every now and again

then today I added few inches of compost and stirred lightly.

I mixed up 2 cf of a "raised bed starter" that should cover it about 1" thick, and I'll sort of let it "cook" until plant-out -cukes, or something. Who knows, maybe a pepper.

I still may post hole plant into some potting mix in case the it still too raw.

Finally finished topping-up the onion bed, so they may get stuck in the ground tomorrow at long last.

Thanks for reading.

HillBilly Jeff · Apr 4, 2014

Looking good.

Devv · Apr 4, 2014

A ton of work going on there JJJ! But I know you love it!

Those Asparagus plants are simply awesome!

I'm really tempted to purchase some worms, I want to make sure they survive in the heat we get here. I'm pretty sure I read about a Texas worm farm...hmm..

Impressive update!

Keep it green!