TXCG 2016

After a couple years without a garden I'm really looking forward to having stuff growing again. We're getting the community garden started back up at work & since we had a few members give up their plots I now have doubled my space and have two 4'x8' plots to work with. The new plot is in pretty sad shape compared to my original one so I have a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks to get things ready for planting out at the end of March.
 
 
Don't really have any pictures yet since I didn't start seeds this year but ordered 24 plants from Cross Country Nurseries. I had really good luck with the plants I bought from them back in 2013 so I'm hoping this year turns out at as well. I've never had plants get anywhere near as big in this raised bed as they do when I grow them in containers so going to try and make up for size with volume.
 
 
Plants on order (arriving week of 3/28):
Texas Chiltepin (4)
Chupetinho (2)
Cumari (2)
Datil (2)
Sweet Datil (2)
Devil's Tongue (2)
Fatalii (2) 
Orange Jalapeno (2)
Lemon Drop (2)
PA 353 Red (2)
Shishito (2)

 
Now I just have to figure out how I want to space these things out. I'm thinking about putting 16 in my one good 4x8 bed and picking 8 to stick in a 4x4 section of my not so good bed leaving me a 4x4 space to plant some other things. After seeing Joyner's 16 plant 4x4 square foot garden I'm even kinda considering cramming all 24 into the one 8x8 bed especially because my plants never get more than about 2 feet tall here.

 

[TXCG]

Hell yeah! Killer job fixing up the plot. That campus Austin Community College?

 
Nope, but not very far away from ACC.
 

The deer around here will attempt to break through evn metal wire fences and eat everything regardless of flavor or toxicity. Reapers and monkshood are two notable examples. Good luck keeping yours out and with your season!

 
Luckily the deer around here don't seem quite that motivated. Never had issue with them when we had a fence put up made out of the same material as this cage.

 

[TXCG]

Went out and picked up some pH down, pH meter calibration kit & some coco wet wetting agent. In the past I always just used a few drops of mild soap as a wetting agent but the guy at the hydro store sold me on this and it was only $6 so I figured why not. Picked all that up with the intention of mixing up a batch of kelp & seaweed fert + some epsom salt as a foliar feed. Just can't decide if I want to apply it tonight when it cools off or somehow manage to get my ass out of bed early enough to do it tomorrow morning at sunrise. Kinda leaning toward the evening since I'm not really a morning person unless someone can give me a compelling reason not to. 
 
While I was out I decided to stop by and check on the garden. Looks like some kinda bug has gotten into one of my plants. Not sure if it's a slug or caterpillar. Luckily damage is minimal and only visible on 1 out of 24 plants.
 

 
 
Closer view with some kinda little flying thing perched on the leaf. Definitely not the culprit unless it can somehow eat more than it's own weight in leaf.
 

 
 
 
I did find this creepy little thing crawling around in the dirt but not sure if he's the bastard responsible.  Either way he looked like he was up to no good so he's now munching leaves up in caterpillar heaven. 
 

 
 
It looks like this soil holds a good bit of moisture. While not soaked it is still visibly damp even on the surface several days after watering. I imagine it won't hold moisture anywhere near as long here in a month or so once temperatures pick up. Still need to pick up a bit of mulch but I'm going to hold off on that until the plants get a bit taller so I can put down a good inch or two without it touching the leaves. 
 
Also I noticed I screwed up the orientation of the Orange Jalapenos & Shishitos in the right bed.
 

 

[Chilima]

Dat labeling doe

 

[Devv]

Like the plot prep!
 
Don't worry about the labeling, you know what you planted, and will soon know for sure as the pods develop as to what is what. I'm the master at screwing up the plant naming. Who cares? The end results are what matters.
 
Good luck this year!

 

[TXCG]

Our facilities people at work went above and beyond what was necessary to get our water fixed at the garden plot & actually installed a connection right in the garden! Our old connection was 200 feet away at the other end of the parking lot. I'm going to have to figure out who was responsible and buy them a 6 pack.  
 

 
 
I finally caught the culprit who has been munching on leaves. This tiny little caterpillar:  
 

 
Playing with the camera on my new phone took a video of the little bastard before sending him off to caterpillar hell:  

 
Also found this little lady chilling on some of my leftover pots. While it looks like something you would want to squish it's actually the larva stage of a Seven-spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata). 
 

 

[Chilima]

i expected a stomp on that video xD

 

[Malarky]

i expected a stomp on that video xD

me too

 

[Maligator]

Great pic of the Ladybug larvae

 

[Devv]

Gotta love the Lady Bugs!

 

[TXCG]

Spotted a few aphids and thrips this week & seeing just tiny bit of damage on emerging leaves so Friday evening I sprayed some spinosad & azamax. This year I'm trying to actually stay ahead of the bugs instead of waiting til there is a problem and fighting an uphill battle. Whatever had been eating holes in the leaves seems to have given up, I haven't seen any new ones pop up since I squashed that one caterpillar back on the 12th.
 
So far all the plants are looking nice and green and happy
 

 
 
Been seeing a good number of ladybug larvae around the garden. This one was hanging out on one of my Chupetinhos 
 

 
A honeybee that was kind enough to pose for a picture  
 

 
 
Another one of those mean looking caterpillars. It's some kind of Buck or Io Moth caterpillar (genus Hemileuca) and the things that look like they would sting are in fact stingers. Apparently they live in oak trees which we have a ton of around here and after they get done gorging on oak leaves they drop out and then go look for a place to cocoon up. Supposedly by the time you see them on the ground they are done feeding but I had already squashed this one before I found that out.
 

 
 
Still haven't got to try out my soaker hose system. Lots & lots of rain for the foreseeable future. I'm also thinking about modifying that system so I can hook up and water each bed individually since they will probably end up needing different amounts of water. 
 

 

[TXSandman]

Great bee pic!
 
That rain is hitting hard up 35. My backyard is looking like a rice paddy 

 

[twiasp]

Fun to watch your glog, TX, keep em coming )

 

[TXCG]

Picked up a neat little 15x zoom macro lens that clips on to my phone so took it out to the garden to try it out.
 
Found this tiny jumping spider. For size reference he is sitting on a 1/4" diameter plant stake. With just my eyes I couldn't even really tell it was a spider.
 

 
While I was watching him he managed to catch some dinner

 

 
 
Closeup of some of the spines on what's left of that caterpillar from the other day
 

 

[Devv]

Cool pics!
 
Yeah the rain, yall got way more than we did down here. I got just a bit over 2"s, and I'm happy with that!
 
I'm especially happy we saw no hail, last year it trashed the garden early on, but it recovered nicely.
 
Wishing you continued success!

 

[TXCG]

So far so good, nothing has died and everything is looking mostly healthy. Azamax & spinosad have done a decent job getting the thrips, aphids and possibly broadmites under control. New growth on most plants looking nice instead of all chewed up. Still haven't had a chance to use my fancy irrigation system, been getting a ton of rain this spring. The soil is holding up great though, not getting waterlogged & not compacting like the soil in the beds next to mine. Looks like adding that whole crapload of compost was worth the effort.
 
Friday I hit the plants again with a dose of Azamax & spinosad. 1 TBSP of Azamax & 2 TBSP of spinosad in a 2 liter sprayer enough to cover all the plants top & bottom with plenty to spare. This morning I gave them a foliar feeding of 2 TBSP kelp & fish emulsion + 2 TBSP of epsom salt dissolved in a gallon of water with a bit of coco wet as a surfactant. I have to use a ton of pH up with this fish emulsion, 2 TBSP in a gallon of water drops the pH to about 4.3 and it takes a good 7-10mL or so of pH up to bring it up to about 6.7. 
 

 
 
The orange jalapenos are looking like the most vigorous plants on the right side of the bed. Lots of flower buds (already pinched off a ton) & lots of side growth.
 

 
You can see the bug damage from the battle with thrips & possibly broadmites on this orange jal. New growth looking nice and unaffected though
 

 
 
Lemon drops looking great and starting to bush out. Quite a few flower buds on these guys too.
 

 

 
The datils are looking like the most vigorous ones over on the left side. They are the tallest plants and still haven't shown sides of forking at the top. Interesting leaf shape too for a chinense, not heart shaped but elongated more like an annum. Looking forward to these. Behind it you can see the sweet datils which aren't quite happy about something, showing a bit of yellowing on some of the leaves. Newer growth doesn't really seem as affected so not sure what their problem is.
 

 
The chupetinos are doing pretty well too. Loads and loads of flower buds on these things, 4+ at some of the nodes. This one was taken on friday.
 

 
Same plant today has first flower of the season I've let open. Kinda wanting to pinch it off and let it grow a bit more before it sets fruit but with 4 flowers coming off that node I also kinda want to let it do its thing and see what happens. You can see the scars from early bug damage on this plant. Some of the leaves have a bit of a leathery look from those damned thrips and some of the lower leaves have holes in em from that armyworm I have a picture of a few posts back. New growth is all happy as can be though. 
 

 
And finally the two plants that aren't doing so hot. The two cumaris all the way in the back of the left bed are both looking pretty unhappy at the moment. A good bit of yellowing and some puckering on the leaves. Not sure exactly what they're pissed about and not sure what I can really do about it since the rest of the plants are pretty content in this soil. Think I'm going to try fertilizing them with a good soaking of fish & kelp once the ground FINALLY dries out and I can actually water. 
 

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

lookin good, love all the nice clean clear pics 
 
 
keep the updates coming
 
 
 
 
 

G.I.P.

 

[Devv]

It's all good!
 
Can't beat the rain we're having this spring for sure!

 

[Chewi]

Hey man, that garden looks great. Should be almost done with hail season soon. Home free then! Glad the spinosad/azamax is working for you. I think spinosad is what is in Captain Jack's Dead Bug iirc. Good stuff. Love azamax too. Works like a champ!

 

[TXCG]

Bought an 18lb bag of Tomato Tone and gave each plant about 1/4 cup scratched into the surface in a ring around the drip line of each plant. Finally got to try out my soaker hose too, ran it for an hour but it looks like I'll need to run it around 2 for a proper watering. Of course a thunderstorm blew in out of nowhere shortly after I finished watering so no need for that 2nd hour this time.
 
Plants are looking pretty good, 1 or two still seem to be fighting mites or something so I'm going to hit them with another round of Azamax & spinosad either tonight or friday.
 
Got first couple fruits of the season set on the orange jalapenos and shishitos and possibly one on the chupetinho. That orange jalapeno in the front right is growing like crazy. 
 

 

[TXCG]

First set pods of the season goes to Shishito
 

 
I didn't even see these this morning when taking pics, only little tiny ones where the flower had just fallen off. Really looking forward to this one, the shishitos are so expensive in the store when I can find them.