Pulpiteer 2013 Grow Log

Pulpiteer · Jun 24, 2013

First off, I apologize for not being able to keep up with everyone's glogs this year. I'm going to try to make another push to read through several asap. As you can imagine with a fourth child, a job, and a lot of gardening stuff I haven't had the spare time I'd like to keep up on things here.

Devv said:
Been a busy week and I'm attempting to catch up!

First off, congratulations on the birth of your son! Like the pic with him and big sis.

Glad you got your planting done, and thanks for the information on the sweet taters. How do they compare, season wise with regular taters? Plant at the same time?

Sorry about the plant damage, we all get some of that, one way or another.

Good luck with your grow this season!

Thank you!
This is my first year growing sweet potatoes. I'm having trouble getting them hardened off. The vines I put out there look a little ragged right now, so we'll see. Apparently they like a longer and warmer season than I think I am giving them, but it's a fun experiment.

romy6 said:
Wow Andy you are an amazing grower.

I am sorry I missed the update about the little guy

Awesome that Momma and him are both doing well.

I know all about the dogs getting into your pepper patch. My only problem is it's my dog

God bless my friend

This is the best picture you have posted in a while

Thanks Jamie!

I've been battling rabbits too this year. My cabbage is all gone. Kind of makes we want rabbit stew...

RocketMan said:
MAN, did I miss it, I thought you had taken some time for a Sabbatical but nope i had it wrong. Congrats to you and the Misses Andy. that's a good looking boy.

Wow has the garden come along too, Great variety of pepper and non's. that herb garden is nice. I'll be building one in the new house and am going to try and clone the Myers Lemon Tree at my mom's house. They're supposed to grow great in containers and still give full size fruits.

Have a great rest of the week and try and get some rest. Your looking a little worn out

Thanks Bill!

I saw the pics of the new house a while back - a new herb garden would be great for you. There are a ton of perennial herbs, which is cool because they keep coming back and getting bigger. Also, you'll be able to get more herbs to make it through your milder winters than I can. Nothing like cooking with fresh herbs.
Good luck with the Lemon tree - that sounds like a cool project. How are you going to do it? Will you graft it? I'm not sure how you clone a tree.

Ok, a quick update...

It's been a rough start to the season thus far. Lots of failures...

I was 0/7 on the over winters. This was not a huge surprise, since I put them in the dark and forgot to water them a bit due to an aphid problem. I was hoping at least one would make it though.

Also, I started an experiment to try to get some Mexican Rocotos going. I am apparently pretty bad with pubescens. I'm guessing either I am not getting a stable temperature for them, or I drown them without a stable temp. Not sure. I am thinking about putting some seeds in soil outside and getting some started in order to attempt over wintering again. We'll see.

Finally, the peppers do not look good right now. I look at pictures of where I was last year and get depressed. Here are some shots:

So, a few things here. With all the wood mulch I have a bit of a slug factory. This will be less and less of a problem once the plants get bigger (if they ever do), but it sucks right now. I'm wondering what eats slugs... perhaps bringing in some ducks to clean it out would be appropriate.
Second, I think there was some transplant shock. I still haven't gotten the hardening thing down, although I thought I was doing it better, I didn't. They yellowed up. Finally, I was talking to a parishioner today, he's a farmer guy, consults and works with lots of farmers in the area. He was saying that the nitrates in the soil were really low this spring due to the low temperature and high moisture. This would makes sense. The leaves would then yellow from a lack of nitrogen - but it's more due to the lack of microorganisms processing the nitrogen cycle and creating nitrates. Also, the wood mulch would keep the temperature of the soil lower than if it were bare earth. All of this leads to a really slow start.

Perhaps you are thinking that the wood has locked out the nitrogen. I really do not think this is the case as the wood is only in contact with the top of the soil. Everything beneath that will be business as usual, so I do not think the lack of nitrogen is due to the wood mulch.

Ok - a third picture. This one is doing a bit better. You can see they are starting to get some green tops, which is a good sign.

I made an effort to help things along:

I put on this compost tea after it ran awhile. I could never get a foamy head on it though. Just one more failure, I guess. I figured there was still some good stuff in it though, so the plants got some of it. I also foliar fed them some dissolved Epsom salts, and sprinkled on some organic root fertilizer.

Here is one that is doing well - a pablano:

Here's a wide shot of the pepper patch. Hopefully we'll all look back on this in September and be amazed at how big it got :pray:

.

The tomato garden. My tomatoes are just starting to take off.

Another shot of my herb garden. I've got everything from sages, rosemary, 2 orange thai, strawberries, grape vine, currant, sunflowers, 2 mints, horseradish, various basils and thymes and all sorts of stuff in there.

I've got another bed going that has some things in it, and I put an extra Scotch Bonnet (P. Dreadie via Pic1) in it. This one is looking good. It went in the ground later which means two things: it had more time to harden off, and the ground was warmer.

Finally, here's a shot of a ground cherry. It's the first year I've grown these and I'm excited to see how they are.

And that's it! Thanks for stopping by. I hope things take a turn for the better soon or I'll just sit at my computer looking at pictures of last year's garden and get depressed.

romy6 · Jun 24, 2013

I have faith that you will turn it around Andy. You got the skills so let's just be patient and see :fireball:

I do recall Gary ( windchicken) mention it takes a couple of years for the wood chips to break down and he usually supplements with extra nitrogen the first year. Don't quote me though. I would double check with the master.

Pulpiteer · Jun 24, 2013

romy6 said:
I have faith that you will turn it around Andy. You got the skills so let's just be patient and see

I do recall Gary ( windchicken) mention it takes a couple of years for the wood chips to break down and he usually supplements with extra nitrogen the first year. Don't quote me though. I would double check with the master.

Thanks Jamie,
Yeah, I did know it took awhile for them to break down, then it should be awesome. I had a good layer of composted manure under the wood, and then did the same the year before, so I'm hoping that helps with the nitrogen, because I do think that is correct that I will need some more. I think I'll also do some more foliar feed, maybe with some fish emulsion, but I don't want the neighbor dogs to come over and eat my plants (or a certain dog to travel up from Florida and eat them, although then we'd get to meet :surprised:

).

highalt · Jun 24, 2013

I'm sorry to hear that things are off to a slow start this season. I didn't harden my plants off enough either, and it definitely set them back some. It looks like mine have rounded the corner though, and most are starting to show new growth. Not sure but seems like I planted out a little before you, so like Jamie said, maybe some patience is all that's needed?

Your ground cherry looks great! It's a lot further along than mine. I'm trying mine in pots this year, and lost a few sprouts after I planted them. I think I have them sprouting all over the place at the community garden. It's either ground cherries or tomatillos that reseeded last season. Tempted to just let them run amuck ...

Seacowboy · Jun 24, 2013

Perhaps you are thinking that the wood has locked out the nitrogen. I really do not think this is the case as the wood is only in contact with the top of the soil. Everything beneath that will be business as usual, so I do not think the lack of nitrogen is due to the wood mulch.

This has me concerned in my garden set up also. I laid weed cloth down then added mulch on top since I'm away for 3 weeks at a time and didn't want to come back to nothing but weeds, and to keep moisture in. So far its been a slow start and overwatering was a big problem while I was gone but over the 3 weeks I was home it seemed to pick up on growth and the watering schedule has been changed significantly to none except the 4.5" of rain we received and my light application of aact. Time will tell. Looks like things are moving in the right direction for you.

Devv · Jun 24, 2013

Keep the faith, your garden will take off and run.

This was an exceptionally cool spring nation wide, those babies have been growing down below where you can't see them doing their thing.

stc3248 · Jun 24, 2013

Green tops is a great sign they're about to make a run for you! I use a knockoff sluggo bait for the snails/slugs. The stuff works great and is bio-friendly. Won't harm pets or kids. You started late for good reason this year, so don't sweat it!

As far as catching up on glogs goes, don't read all of mine or you'll never get to anyone else's!

MGOLD86 · Jun 24, 2013

Don't worry brother, it won't be long before you are right back on track!

Pulpiteer · Jun 25, 2013

highalt said:
I'm sorry to hear that things are off to a slow start this season. I didn't harden my plants off enough either, and it definitely set them back some. It looks like mine have rounded the corner though, and most are starting to show new growth. Not sure but seems like I planted out a little before you, so like Jamie said, maybe some patience is all that's needed?

Your ground cherry looks great! It's a lot further along than mine. I'm trying mine in pots this year, and lost a few sprouts after I planted them. I think I have them sprouting all over the place at the community garden. It's either ground cherries or tomatillos that reseeded last season. Tempted to just let them run amuck ...

I think you are probably right, but patience is a hard thing at times

.
I'm excited for those ground cherries, and I have tomatillos right by them. I've heard they reseed pretty easily, which is cool. Just let them run free - no work yet they give food - sounds like a winner.

Seacowboy said:
This has me concerned in my garden set up also. I laid weed cloth down then added mulch on top since I'm away for 3 weeks at a time and didn't want to come back to nothing but weeds, and to keep moisture in. So far its been a slow start and overwatering was a big problem while I was gone but over the 3 weeks I was home it seemed to pick up on growth and the watering schedule has been changed significantly to none except the 4.5" of rain we received and my light application of aact. Time will tell. Looks like things are moving in the right direction for you.

Thanks Seacowboy - you guys have probably had a cooler spring too. That plus too much water is hard on them, I think. I think we are moving in the right direction.

Devv said:
Keep the faith, your garden will take off and run.

This was an exceptionally cool spring nation wide, those babies have been growing down below where you can't see them doing their thing.

Thanks Devv - I'm hoping you are right on the money.

stc3248 said:
Green tops is a great sign they're about to make a run for you! I use a knockoff sluggo bait for the snails/slugs. The stuff works great and is bio-friendly. Won't harm pets or kids. You started late for good reason this year, so don't sweat it!

As far as catching up on glogs goes, don't read all of mine or you'll never get to anyone else's!

I may check into that sluggo. Right now I go out and find them and squish them between my fingers, which is a way to extract personal revenge on each one. Probably not the most efficient way though. The green tops do give me hope. I was looking at them yesterday and feeling a bit better. Your glog is out of control this year! I still want to stop by - if I were only independently wealthy, then I could devote more time to glog reading...

MGOLD86 said:
Don't worry brother, it won't be long before you are right back on track!

Thanks Matt! I hope so. I think they are turning the corner, it's just hard to wait...

MGOLD86 · Jun 25, 2013

What kind of tea did you use? Homebrew or premix??

WalkGood · Jun 25, 2013

Don’t get depressed, I think you’re just having a slow start … that tea you made (I saw some foam, just not a lot but I'm sure it's good still) should make them happy and hope they turn the corner soon. They will turn around and you will have a great grow … PMA (positive mental attitude, didn’t want you to think of the other PMA, lol).

Quote “~~Hopefully~~ we'll all look back on this in September and be amazed,” I have no doubt that it will be wonderful way before then … Have a great week and post some mas pics soon!

PaulG · Jun 25, 2013

Hey, brother Andy, congratulations on the new arrival. The pic of #'s 3 and 4 is just too cute. I empathize with your late start. We always have such a cool moist spring that things get a good spurt going in a few sunny days, then just sort of sit there for week of cool, rainy weather. That cycle goes through May and June. By July, we should be in real summer!

Your garden is so awesome. I remember all the prep work you did last season. Once those root systems really get into all that good stuff, you may have to beat the plants back with a stick to keep them from taking over your whole lot! I'm looking forward to further exploits of the Pulpiteer family - am going to send you some rocoto and manzano seeds from my harvest last year. I had pretty good success with their germination. You can give them a try now and go for OW's or wait 'til next season to give them a go. Keep up the good work, my friend. P.S. I have a couple of Scotch Bonnets going from pods you gave me last year! The Yellow and Trinidad Red varieties. I have two nice starts of each going. We are at the coast for a few days, and my son is watching them. I hope they are good when we get back!

Sawyer · Jun 25, 2013

Congratulations on the new family member, Andy. I missed the announcement at the time. I hear you about the difficulties in keeping up with all the wonderful glogs here, and I only have babies of the green variety. I agree with others on the need for some supplemental nitrogen. I bet that tea will do the trick.

Pulpiteer · Jun 25, 2013

MGOLD86 said:
What kind of tea did you use? Homebrew or premix??

Homebrew. Added some compost, composted leaves, and soil. Also, fish emulsion and kelp extract, and finally some sorghum instead of molasses. I'm wondering if the microbiotic count was low in our soil due to cold and wet, and also if the temperature was not optimal for the brewing. I know you do a lot of premix stuff - how picky are things on the measurements?

WalkGood said:
Don’t get depressed, I think you’re just having a slow start … that tea you made (I saw some foam, just not a lot but I'm sure it's good still) should make them happy and hope they turn the corner soon. They will turn around and you will have a great grow … PMA (positive mental attitude, didn’t want you to think of the other PMA, lol).

Quote “~~Hopefully~~ we'll all look back on this in September and be amazed,” I have no doubt that it will be wonderful way before then … Have a great week and post some mas pics soon!

Thanks WalkGood - I'm attempting to exercise patience.... I think we'll be good. Although this morning I saw that another plant was run over by (I'm assuming) the neighbor's dog that wander through my garden. Think positive... think positive...

Seacowboy · Jun 25, 2013

Being on the corner I'm sure its tough with dog traffic and kids too. I'd put up an electric fence or at least some seriously strong pepper powder to let them get a snoot full. I have a small flower bed in the front corner of my yard and have had several freshly planted shrubs and flowers ripped straight out and either laying there or in the middle of the road, those high school boys do not want me to catch them in the act on that. I was no angel when I was that age but nothing like that.

Peptacular · Jun 25, 2013

Sorry to hear it hasn't been a super season so far, but its always darkest before dawn! And I'm a little late here, but congrats on the new addition to your fam!

"You cannot eat roses. I dug them out."
I laughed super hard at this for some reason.

Pulpiteer · Jun 25, 2013

PaulG said:
Hey, brother Andy, congratulations on the new arrival. The pic of #'s 3 and 4 is just too cute. I empathize with your late start. We always have such a cool moist spring that things get a good spurt going in a few sunny days, then just sort of sit there for week of cool, rainy weather. That cycle goes through May and June. By July, we should be in real summer!

Your garden is so awesome. I remember all the prep work you did last season. Once those root systems really get into all that good stuff, you may have to beat the plants back with a stick to keep them from taking over your whole lot! I'm looking forward to further exploits of the Pulpiteer family - am going to send you some rocoto and manzano seeds from my harvest last year. I had pretty good success with their germination. You can give them a try now and go for OW's or wait 'til next season to give them a go. Keep up the good work, my friend. P.S. I have a couple of Scotch Bonnets going from pods you gave me last year! The Yellow and Trinidad Red varieties. I have two nice starts of each going. We are at the coast for a few days, and my son is watching them. I hope they are good when we get back!

thanks Paul! Our third has really taken to being an older sister now, for the most part. She loves her little brother and can be very, very "helpful".
I was out there again tonight, and things are turning the corner, I think. Thanks for the rocoto and manzano offer - do you have any germination tricks for those? For some reason I've just had bad luck. I'm wondering about a heating mat or something to keep a stable warm temp or something.

Glad you've got those trinidad SB's going - I loved those peppers. Great flavor!

Sawyer said:
Congratulations on the new family member, Andy. I missed the announcement at the time. I hear you about the difficulties in keeping up with all the wonderful glogs here, and I only have babies of the green variety. I agree with others on the need for some supplemental nitrogen. I bet that tea will do the trick.

Thanks Sawyer! I just need like two days devoted to glog reading and I'll be set...

Seacowboy said:
Being on the corner I'm sure its tough with dog traffic and kids too. I'd put up an electric fence or at least some seriously strong pepper powder to let them get a snoot full. I have a small flower bed in the front corner of my yard and have had several freshly planted shrubs and flowers ripped straight out and either laying there or in the middle of the road, those high school boys do not want me to catch them in the act on that. I was no angel when I was that age but nothing like that.

Yeah - I think I know the dogs that are doing it. It's tough though because the guy won't keep his dogs in his yard when he lets them out. I put some scorpion powder out there today - wow, that's nasty stuff. Just the bits that got airborne are burning my forehead and arms and I can't stop smelling it... I hope the dogs get a nose full.

Man - tearing out shrubs and flowers... I'd almost be tempted to get a paintball gun and a hidden sniper position... that's low right there.

Peptacular said:
Sorry to hear it hasn't been a super season so far, but its always darkest before dawn! And I'm a little late here, but congrats on the new addition to your fam!

"You cannot eat roses. I dug them out."
I laughed super hard at this for some reason.

Thanks Peptacular!
Glad you got a laugh out of that. That sort of thinking has been my guide for most of my planting. Some non-edibles make it because they assist the edibles. Those roses were put in by someone else before we moved here and I grumbled every time I had to prune them, so I took appropriate steps to improve my attitude.

allaKAZAAM · Jun 30, 2013

Hey'yah!
Great news to hear on your newest arrival to the family! I'm really loving being a father now to, but my wife left me to go visit my family down south...not liking being alone/without them.
Sorry to hear that your crop is slow moving, but to cheer you up, let yah know that up here in Moosonee Ontario. Growing ANYTHING is not easy. Thought I lost all my plants about 2 weeks ago, temperature dropped to 2 celcius (average night temperature right now is about 10). So your plant WILL takeoff like gangbusters, and produce lots for you.
'Cause I am SURE ALL OF US here on THP wanna see more recipes/preserves! I know I do!!!
Let nature take its course...

KiNGDeNNiZ · Jul 1, 2013

How does your garden grow

RocketMan · Jul 2, 2013

Pulpiteer said:
Homebrew. Added some compost, composted leaves, and soil. Also, fish emulsion and kelp extract, and finally some sorghum instead of molasses. I'm wondering if the microbiotic count was low in our soil due to cold and wet, and also if the temperature was not optimal for the brewing. I know you do a lot of premix stuff - how picky are things on the measurements?

I put the fish emulsion in my first Homebrew and it killed all the foam also. Shane told me to add some fresh grass clippings and I got some slight foam after I did that. In the second one I left the fish out and made sure the grass was in there and had foam for days. I don't think measurements have to be very exact, I just used 2 scoops of this and one of that and just get some on the scoop of another. I think that as long as you have the right ingredients in there and some mycos to get it started you'll be golden but then I've only done 2 and could be all wrong

Have a great week.