Well, it's about that time to break out the ol' EconoHorse Tiller I inherited from Grafton. The thing just keeps on truckin'. I tilled the leaves under last Saturday and the garden didn't look as nice as I'd hoped it would but that's just because there's so many leaves in some spots and less leaves in others. Today I tilled the garden again and it looks a bit better this time. I'm thinking it's going to need 3 or 4 more tills before it's ready for my plants.
I also planted some more stuff last Sunday. I planted some more tomatoes. Black Krim, Yellow Brandywine, Boxcar Willie, some more Paul Robeson that I saved myself from last year, some Green Zebra, and Orange Oxheart were started and I see they're just now peaking through the soil. That makes my list look like this:
Paul Robeson (true seed)
Tasty Evergreen
Red Zebra
Gold Medal
Yellow Mortgage Lifter
Nyagouos
Japanese Trifele
Black Krim
Yellow Brandywine
Orange Oxheart
Boxcar Willie
Paul Robeson (Chris's mix)
Green Zebra
I also planted some Peppers... a Giant Yellow Monster bell pepper, and another sweet pepper called Macaroni.
I found some seed I saved from a huge watermelon I planted a couple years ago called Carolina Cross, and added to that with a couple plantings of Kolbs Gem and Moon and Stars. I don't have very good luck for some reason planting the Watermelon seed inside as I think it needs higher soil temperatures to get going but we'll see what happens.
So anyway, I tried to make a quick video that highlights the ol' EconoHorse... My movie making skills leave a lot to be desired though ha.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tomato Plants a-poppin'!
They're starting to poke through the soil. I have both flats under a 4 ft fluorescent light out on the porch. Actually, I just let them go on their own from last Sunday till Friday, at which time I added the light over top. I would love to experiment with doing some time lapse pictures of them as they sprout and grow. Maybe I can talk my wife into letting me use her old laptop and I can probably scare up an old webcam (Good idea Diggs)...
So I also helped 'The Neighbor' build another Salad Box. This one was made of 2x4 and some screen. It's roughly 16" x 32" and is put together with 8 screws. Important to note that pre-drilling is a good idea and makes your life easier in the long run. With someone with some knowledge on using a saw and a drill it should take mere minutes to get together and ready for dirt. A metal screen is stapled onto the frame after it's screwed together, making sure to double-up/fold the screen over where you staple it on the sides for extra strength. 'The Neighbor' always uses another layer of 'ratwire' that just increases the strength and makes sure that the screen won't fall through after the dirt is added.
Video shows short clips of the assembly, screening and two salad boxes made from old lumber found in one the many sheds on the compound. Shows that it doesn't take much to grow fresh veggies like lettuce, spinach and herbs inside using some partial sun coming from a window and artificial fluorescent lighting. The lettuce is probably going on 3-4 weeks and the spinach 2 1/2 weeks. There is also some parsley in there as well.
note2uppl: Yes that is a Gen-U-ine miniature ball-peen hammer!
So I also helped 'The Neighbor' build another Salad Box. This one was made of 2x4 and some screen. It's roughly 16" x 32" and is put together with 8 screws. Important to note that pre-drilling is a good idea and makes your life easier in the long run. With someone with some knowledge on using a saw and a drill it should take mere minutes to get together and ready for dirt. A metal screen is stapled onto the frame after it's screwed together, making sure to double-up/fold the screen over where you staple it on the sides for extra strength. 'The Neighbor' always uses another layer of 'ratwire' that just increases the strength and makes sure that the screen won't fall through after the dirt is added.
Video shows short clips of the assembly, screening and two salad boxes made from old lumber found in one the many sheds on the compound. Shows that it doesn't take much to grow fresh veggies like lettuce, spinach and herbs inside using some partial sun coming from a window and artificial fluorescent lighting. The lettuce is probably going on 3-4 weeks and the spinach 2 1/2 weeks. There is also some parsley in there as well.
note2uppl: Yes that is a Gen-U-ine miniature ball-peen hammer!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Tomato planting time!
I don't know if it's late or early for getting my tomatoes started. I always forget the dates that I planted them the year before. Last year I even went so far as to write everything down... who knows where that paper is... ha.
A couple things I wanted to mention. Everyone I've seen uses different mediums to start their seeds in. Some like sunshine mix, some use seed starting mix... I like to use dirt. When I say dirt, I mean that I like to use something heavy, dark, and something that's easy to get AND keep moist. All of those seed starting mixtures out there are mostly sphagnum moss. That stuff is a pain in the butt to get wet for the first time. Last year I had to put a bunch into the wheelbarrow and dump some water in and mix it around forever until it soaked up the water.
This year I'm just using a Miracle Grow potting soil. Yeah, most people probably wouldn't use it... it has weird stuff in it... and fertilizer but you know what? When I'm planting this many tomatoes, I'm going to do what's easy and I know this stuff works. Probably better than all that sphagnum moss, at least in my opinion.
Today I planted 144 seeds. Here's the rundown:
36 Paul Robeson (true seed)
18 Tasty Evergreen
18 Red Zebra
18 Gold Medal
18 Yellow Mortgage Lifter
18 Nyagouos
18 Japanese Trifele
I still have all my Uncles seed to plant as well as some more Paul Robeson that I saved from my own tomatoes last year. I wanted to see if they might be a bit different since they were packed in with some other tomatoes. It'd be cool to see some crossbreeding going on with that one.
My wife and I have been real busy with life in general so I haven't had much time to post. Work picked up, a lot! And it's rare to get a day off that you don't work or plans doing something else. I'm still trying to get lined up to do some of the things I talked about in the previous post.
Hope everyone is well... and yes I know I have 'ham hands'
Tomatoes!
A couple things I wanted to mention. Everyone I've seen uses different mediums to start their seeds in. Some like sunshine mix, some use seed starting mix... I like to use dirt. When I say dirt, I mean that I like to use something heavy, dark, and something that's easy to get AND keep moist. All of those seed starting mixtures out there are mostly sphagnum moss. That stuff is a pain in the butt to get wet for the first time. Last year I had to put a bunch into the wheelbarrow and dump some water in and mix it around forever until it soaked up the water.
This year I'm just using a Miracle Grow potting soil. Yeah, most people probably wouldn't use it... it has weird stuff in it... and fertilizer but you know what? When I'm planting this many tomatoes, I'm going to do what's easy and I know this stuff works. Probably better than all that sphagnum moss, at least in my opinion.
Today I planted 144 seeds. Here's the rundown:
36 Paul Robeson (true seed)
18 Tasty Evergreen
18 Red Zebra
18 Gold Medal
18 Yellow Mortgage Lifter
18 Nyagouos
18 Japanese Trifele
I still have all my Uncles seed to plant as well as some more Paul Robeson that I saved from my own tomatoes last year. I wanted to see if they might be a bit different since they were packed in with some other tomatoes. It'd be cool to see some crossbreeding going on with that one.
My wife and I have been real busy with life in general so I haven't had much time to post. Work picked up, a lot! And it's rare to get a day off that you don't work or plans doing something else. I'm still trying to get lined up to do some of the things I talked about in the previous post.
Hope everyone is well... and yes I know I have 'ham hands'
Tomatoes!
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