YAMracer754 work in progress GLOG

Devv · May 15, 2018

+1 on #99, that should get you going

YAMracer754 · May 15, 2018

Will do I will see tomorrow what Lowes has as that's my best bet around here.. Supposed to rain the next 4 days on and off or thunderstorm so perfect container up planting weather! Got a few more bags to fill left and way too many plants smothered in small containers!

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Sawyer · May 18, 2018

Your plants look great.

A truck load of well-composted horse manure would be just about right for that bed. Maybe check your local Craigslist?

YAMracer754 · May 18, 2018

Yes it would be quite the addition. I got a hookup on like 6-8 cuft. Of free well composted oak tree stumps that I'm definitely going to use as the price is right! And it's about 100yd away (plus ph'ed at. 6.2-right on the money) but need to get on that horse manure if I can find it for the right price, or maybe ask around at the farmers market..

I asked this in grow tech but maybe I should post it in growing hot peppers, but does anyone know a cheap source of microbial and fungal innoculants vs. buying overpriced canna products? I got me some hi-brix molasses and an air pump and wanna make me some nice AACT but not trying to spend $25 on a quarter pound of products. I know I can link up cheaper. Any help or ideas incredibly helpful!

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Sawyer · May 18, 2018

I'm definitely no AACT expert, but forest floor duff is a good source of microbes and mycelia. I don't know about the risk of introducing pathogens. Seems like a possibility. But I've had the best luck growing trees when I include a handful of the home turf in the growing mix.

Sawyer · Jun 4, 2018

How are things growing?

YAMracer754 · Jun 8, 2018

Sawyer said:
How are things growing?

I'll update layer when I have a Lil time to photo things as it's super hot right now but it's been up and down... The weather and setting up this giant garden it has really been tough not to mention clay soil is hard to work with. Tomatoes are in the ground but I got like 50 more plants minmum to go!

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YAMracer754 · Jun 17, 2018

Alright so finally time to update! It's, been a while but I've been so busy with all the gardening and prepping this clay soil, watering, up potting, etc. As I have both a massive container garden, lots of youngins, and also these guys that have been begging and dying to go into the ground and was fighting with rain and waterlogged soil.

But I finally got my trench for drainage system almost done(100ft of trench in hard red clay by hand=kill you), rows and spacings done, whole garden amended with kelp meal, PBF (soil conditioner), peat, gypsum, garden tone, alfalfa meal, the list goes on! And I spot amended each and every hole and mixed the native soil removed from the holes with amendments as well to hopefully encourage roots to grow into the native soil and not just stay in their amended holes and get rootbound in the ground because of root circling-path of least resistance if ya catch my drift! 3'centers, 18"on the peppers, 30" on tomato and tomatillos, 3' on Vining plants, herbs placed for IPM.

I have quite a few more plants and strains than when I started my GLOG as it's become and obsession, but so nice to be able to post an update and kind of chill for a day here and there as I literally wore myself down to the point I could not walk after some 12hour days pushing me until 5am a couple nights, as it's very hot ND humid this part of the year.. So much less work having most of them in the ground vs watering constantly and missing plants stacked and hidden here and there in all the solo cups, nursery containers, trays, etc.

I also put in some Vining plants like north Carolina candy roaster winter squash, I have a strawberry watermelon from baker creek seed, yellow straightneck, and got some aji charapita in the ground and some in containers, sugar rush peach, leutschauer paprika, I could go on and on but you guys get the drift! I haven't left the forum just been reading and replying to others posts especially when they regard stuff I've already went through and am able to provide advice hopefully to save others the trouble!

Was also able to water everything in with giant 50gal of aact plus my submersible 1/4hp submersible pump and spray wand makes it a breeze! Hit them up yesterday with another brew with a ton of head on it! I can list the ingredients if anyone is curious. Been a hell of a journey but really paying off and so rewarding-to get this far when I started in the winter would almost seem like a pipedream! But it took oh so much work and research, trial, error, etc but now I got it down and am cooking with gas! Even put some clones out there (my first successful vegetable clones!). That's all for now folks, keep on gardening!

Ps:don't mind the crooked stakes, I have 1"x10' stakes I'm going to replace those with just haven't put em in yet as the tomatoes in front (north side) had to be trench buried as they were so overgrown in 1gal nursery pots w/coir they were over 4' tall so I trenched em to bring down the size a bit but they're already a foot taller so I guess it evened out! I buried like 16" of stem plus the rootball! Already roots on soil surface!

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Before:

Edmick · Jun 17, 2018

Awesome! Everythings looking great!

YAMracer754 · Jun 17, 2018

Edmick said:
Awesome! Everythings looking great!

Thanks Ed, yeah it's been a hell of a journey that's for sure! But getting there piece by piece.. Finally found my "lost" aleppo that was missing among the labeling, not sure what's up with it though.. Quarantined it for a whil along with a couple I thought were diseased but I don't think it is after all-just not sure what's up with it.. It's getting better since I recognized it and have been taking better care ie nutes and compost teas etc..

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Devv · Jun 17, 2018

Good work dude!

Bhuter · Jun 17, 2018

A job well done! Things are looking great! It looks like the maters got over being limp. Very nice!

YAMracer754 · Jun 17, 2018

Bhuter said:
A job well done! Things are looking great! It looks like the maters got over being limp. Very nice!

They sure did! Got themselves a foothold in the trench/ground now! There's already roots growing atop the soil along the trench their planted in! Already top dressed everything with a combo of castings, mag sulfate, gypsum, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, garden tone and 3-1-2 ratio controlled release fertilizer!

Really cool to see all these things get thereselves anchored and starting to take off, after being sidelined from getting stuck at max size in all the small pots and containers-that goes for all the plants-peppers, winter squash, okra, tomatoes, etc. Even got my alpine white strawberries from Seed separated and looking good as well as the PDN BMJ saved and separated, not long before they get to grow in the ground as well!

So funny that I originally planned on container garden only seeing as the ground was straight slabrock and red clay, not to mention the naysayers ie. Stupid sex pervert landlord saying I was wasting my time and that a garden here wasn't possible and non productive even if I could get them to not die upon transplanting and that you can't grow tomatoes or peppers on containers and boy is he eating his words now, stubborn ignorant people..

Once I had the spot cut out I was thinking "how am I going to possibly do all this, utilitize it, get it to work, make the clay work, get around all the rocks, and how to use all the space, etc"; and now I am wondering how to get more space to plant even more plants lol!

Talk about an addicting obsession/passion!! Love it! Got to use my first jalapeños today for an egg sausage and hash brown breakfast along with some pineapple sage I grew in an herb combo fabric pot!

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PtMD989 · Jun 17, 2018

Man those plants got big. Looks great [emoji106].

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YAMracer754 · Jul 10, 2018

Well I have not fallen off the edge of the earth or anything just been constantly busy with this garden and my 110+ plants but have been needing to do an update to my GLOG for a while just hate typing on the phone most times but it's the easiest way since I got my camera in my phone etc vs laptop, and this Tapatalk app just Sucks for me as far as finding my posts or alerting me to new messages etc... Anyway....

Things have really come online and I've added some new features. Got a vertical trellis setup and made for my candy roaster winter squash (most everything I have still all from Seed), got my strawberry watermelon planted along with yellow crookneck and straight eight cukes in an impromptu hill setup with kelp and all the goodie amenities. I have a nice streamlined process now from planting holes that ensures I get all the goodies mixed in with the least amount of work possible(mind you this all started as shitty TN red clay, by next year and even now I can tell it's rocking! And humus rich!).

I think I've bought enough bamboo stakes to build a damn hut or giant teepee! Just keep buyin a pack, and another, and another, plants just keep getting so big and needing more support all the time-everyday! At least they're reusable. Lesson learned:support and plan for the size of everything right from the beginning, would save so much headaches!!

I made some enriched and treated straw bales for planting and for mulch by using AACT'S, and fish fert, complete fert, etc. Made a Trench lined with 1.5" limestone gravel ($100 delivered! Expensive for rocks! But it was a whole yard, lots of wheelbarrowing!) this stuff is so black and humus rich! Like sticky tar and shrooms grow out of it!

Been fighting toppling tomato plants plenty especially with some of the storms and the sheer weight of the plants, definitely starting with the big stakes right off the bat next yr!
-setup a whole kit and still working on finishing my soaker system soon as I get another 100' of hose but got 2/3 of my rows setup with soaker as got tired of hustling water jugs daily
-have had lots of cracking on my container tomatoes and a few on my pear garden tomatoes, not sure if it's from overwatering or underwatering, or letting the get "too ripe?" if that's even a thing?
-have already harvested quite a few hot peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes, and have a straightneck squash that looks ripe for the pulling, just not sure when to do it..

Need to do:
-shade cloth and a fence I presume as don't want the total devastation that an attack of deer, coyotes, random stuff happening that will crush my soul, thinking about using that aluminet/alumicloth 40%,just have to figure how to cover my 3 plots of in ground garden and two container areas as the in ground is 30'x20' and container areas are about 10'x12' each and don't know about being able to afford all that!
-more support and staking-it never ends!
-figure out a dehydrator/dehydrating method for all my fruits coming!
-canning and pickling (learn how to do it and get supplies)
-make hot sauces
-figure out what to do with my overgrown fabric bags for plants that want to get giant but are limited by their coco coir container size, perhaps dig some holes in the ground to at least anchor and help insulate them.

And I'm sure there's a few things I forgot. 8 know it's a long read but a lot of time has went by and lots of things have happened, and much work has been done! I've learned so much this year its crazy. Pretty stoked about my vegetable grow and first garden! Wouldn't have had the same success or even close if it weren't for this community and the commradery to give me the motivation and push to shove to try to excel like so many on this forum! Much love!

P. S.: don't mind the newspaper and cardboard, I've still not decided which of my many plants to put in the last row nearest the trellis so haven't put down my composted straw mulch there yet. Once I do it will look much nicer to the eyes! Lol.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180711/b5adc5070aaa2962cad3fa0ce4d026f0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180711/e5b03c3375b8630bb0887fedc58474c4.jpg

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YAMracer754 · Jul 10, 2018

Check out this humus!!

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PtMD989 · Jul 11, 2018

Welcome back [emoji16]. Looks like everything is blowing up nicely. I’ve had tomatos crack in the past years. I think it’s from over watering, but I could be wrong. I’m trying not to water this years tomatoes as much. My favorite pic is the Walmart grow bag [emoji106]

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YAMracer754 · Jul 11, 2018

PtMD989 said:
Welcome back [emoji16]. Looks like everything is blowing up nicely. I’ve had tomatos crack in the past years. I think it’s from over watering, but I could be wrong. I’m trying not to water this years tomatoes as much. My favorite pic is the Walmart grow bag [emoji106]

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Hahahaha yeah you should see the size of the okra in it!! It's 'huuuuge' lol! Although there's these shiny beetles that keep eating the leaves and mating on it and I swear they bite everytime I squish em! Plus they fly! 50¢ planters baby! They're not nearly as durable as the Chinese smart pita I got and require more water but hey, use what ya got! Once I had purchased bags and bags and bags and was low on money, had yo do what I gotta do! I had over $150-200 in media alone, not including the nice bags!

Yeah It [tomatoes cracking] has to be inconsistent watering and loss of CEC (nute level) after heavy rains and such and not being able to remove my Drip tray as the plants weigh a lot and sketchy to move by myself, according to my reading the flood of water drops the salt level in the media (CEC) and then water follows the osmotic gradient out of the media and into the plant to balance out the salt levels. I'm being careful now with them and so far so good but taking much more note of my watering on the maters'.. Even ones in the garden. From now on I'll let em get their roots deeper, at least they're trench buried-gonna be interesting at end of season to see some of my root systems.

Really need a compost bin/pile setup just don't know where to get a bin on the free/cheap or if it's safe enough from weedseeds to just start a pile on a tarp?

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Greyhound_Gourmet · Jul 13, 2018

wow, what a great garden(s)!!!! Love the Walmart bag idea. I just gave a crapload of older ones to my hubby to bring in to use at his work, wish now I had saved them

YAMracer754 · Jul 13, 2018

Greyhound_Gourmet said:
wow, what a great garden(s)!!!! Love the Walmart bag idea. I just gave a crapload of older ones to my hubby to bring in to use at his work, wish now I had saved them

Thanks so much Kim! They work great but they're not as durable as the nice fancy cloth chins bags off Amazon but aside from that I'm thinkin if I can bury them in the ground partway I'll get some root insulation and stabilization as the size of the okra in it is unbelievable!

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