Whatcha Up To???

[Rahab222]

WOW! Everybody's getting whacked by the weather. I finally turned the weather radio off on Saturday because the warnings were non-stop. The siren sound of the radio made me nuts. The nephew had his t.v. on and I could hear all the weather warnings coming across. Didn't bother the 15-year-old nephew a bit, as he had headphones on playing computer games. I have GOT to get what I have left to plant in the ground this weekend. This includes going for more supplies and deciding where I'm going to put what remains.

 

[Mike]

I'm hoping it holds up on raining for the next day or two. Need to get a few tons of rock dumped in the back yard for a new shed build but haven't been able to due to all the rain and the yard being soft.

 

[Ibtsoom]

I got 3/4 of my tomatoes and squash in the ground a couple weeks ago and literally have not had a weather break since that so that I can get the rest of the stuff going. Thank goodness for raised beds or I'd have to put snorkels on everything.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Here it comes again... forecast just in, another 1.12" in a couple of hours.

Mixed up a load of soil mix & repotted the 'Genovese' basil (the leaves are huge!!!).

Side-dressed everything in the garden & flowerbeds with 'Ironite'.

Refilled the salt in the water softener system. I'll replace the filter tomorrow.

Fed the cattle.

And I finally found out what kind of animal has been digging into the barn. I opened the door this morning & 'YOWZA'!!!! The smell of skunk was so strong, I was afraid to go in there... I do believe she has a litter as I thought I heard squeaking... Oh well they can't stay in there & need to vacate the building ASAP, so I put out some special cat food for her to help that become a reality...

 

[Rahab222]

Yeah, our rain is back, too. Started on my way home from work. Heavy thunderstorms are expected in Houston from tonight through Saturday, lightening on Sunday.

Sorry about your skunk family. My neighbor had a nest under her front foundation. We soaked some rags in ammonia and stuffed them WAY down in the hole. They left, but apparently the same skunk came back the next year. Did a repeat of the ammonia on rags and she hasn't been back since. I smell them a lot at night when I take my Lily out before bedtime.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Re-potted the spider plants.

Planted a flat of cilantro.

 

[Mr_Yan]

There was patchy frost as I drove to work today. Expect more tonight - low of 30° F. I am a little worried about my peach as it is in full bloom right now. The Clemson extension site I read relayed a Washington State paper testing frost tolerance of Elberta peaches. According to this 10% frost kill is expected at about 27° F and 90% kill at 24° F.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Tied up the tomatoes & peppers again. Looks like more bad weather coming...

Severe thunderstorms will be capable of producing strong wind, large hail, heavy rain, and the possibility of tornadoes into the evening.

Harvested the rest of the onions (before they rot) & laid them out on the picnic tables in the party barn. There will be no 'lunkers' to brag about this year...

Replaced the water filter in the well house (I forgot to do it again yesterday).

Clean all the tree 'bubblers' (irrigation system).

Made a pot of pinto beans & tossed in the rest of the smoked pork, then made bread.

 

[ErnieCopp]

This should have posted yesterday. Not sure yet who forgot to click "ost". E
I found my first phosphorous deficiency on one tomato plant this morning. Googled to see what it was, so will take care of it in the morning. All tomato plants have been growing so well i have not fertilized but once. I will foliar feed them all, with tomato fertilizer, and may even use some of it on the melons, to see if they like it. Not had any insect problems to speak of this year, but may add a little Malathion to the spray just in case.

Did some weeding, and small jobs. Not much to do now. Will have my helper come pick the onions, big enough now and some of the tops are falling, so i will get them out of the ground and dried.

Picked and put up some loquats yesterday. May do a little more, but had about three containers left from last year. Going to be a huge Black berry crop, but will have to wait one more year it looks like for Raspberries. We had that second summer last fall, and the canes that should be producing this year produced berries last fall, so are not doing much this year. Sprouts are coming up strong so should have a lot next year. And so it goes.

Ernie

 

[Rahab222]

Okay, I got a spider bite in the garden last weekend on my forearm. At first, it was just the hole where it bit me. On Thursday, I woke up to find a raised spot about the size of a dime around the bite hole. The raised area was hard. By the time I got home on Friday, the interior of the raised bump was filled with blisters. It doesn't itch or hurt. It's just raised, red and filled with blisters with the original spider bite in the middle. I put some Calydryl lotion on it to see if that would dry up the blisters. Any idea what I should doctor this with?

The weekend is going to be VERY busy. If I don't do anything else, I guess I'll pull my lettuce and put my blackberry bushes in that 4' x 4' box. OR, build another box. Have to make another trip to my favorite nursery to get some more supplies. I also still have peppers and a few tomato plants to get in the ground, even though I'm out of space. I will try to take some pictures of my garden this weekend and post them.

I'm also going to buy some Amdro and try to get rid of as many ants, snails and slugs as I can. I'm wondering if going all organic the past two years has enabled everything to multiply to the point of infestation? At any rate, I'm changing this up this year and they're gonna be dead; especially after the spider bite and killing the copperhead.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Received another .75" of rain last night. The wind must have been pretty strong as my porch chair was out in the yard & plants where tipped over.

Cleaned the back porch, the table & chairs, windows & the shutters. Then put it all back together.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
If we combine the rain you got and what i got, we would have 7 3/16". We got justt about enough to irrigate the fungi and molds. And too much to allow me to spray the tomtoes, and another Romano plant is turning purple for lack of K.

Picked a couple more containers of Loquats, so the birds can have the rest of them. Set a trap for a rabbit, and did some other small jobs.

Still dark and drizzly and humid, so at least is is reducing evaporation.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Planted zinnias around almost all the oak trees. Will finish tomorrow & then move the mother-in-laws tongue to the back porch (which is the last plant in the greenhouse).

 

[Rahab222]

This is a rough gardening year. Besides planting around all the rain in Houston, I broke down and went to see my doctor about the spider bite on my forearm; which has now grown to the size of a quarter, the skin on and around it has died, and it's weeping serum. He cleaned the wound out, gave me some heavy duty, oral antibiotics, tetanus shot and a prescription ointment. He's always been one of the recipients of my garden's bounty and I said, "I'm still planting my garden and I have to use composted manure." He said, "Not any more..." Gilda Radner was right, "It's always something..."

 

[ErnieCopp]

Does anyone know what is causing some of my mature tomato leaves to curl in a small amount, perhaps a quarter turn or less? They appear healthy, does not seem to hurt them, but not pleasing to look at.

On the other hand, i am amazed at how fast the purple tint on some of the vines disappeared within two or three days of spraying them with Phosphorous.

Then, it looks like another miracle is happening here. The tree we bought that was labeled a Nectarine appears to have Peaches growing on it. Unless they turn back into nectarines, that will give make two miracles out of 10 trees for an astounding 20% rate.

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

Answer to my own question. Google says there are multiple reasons, but from the list of causes, i believe in my case too much water is causing it. The worst curl is at the low end of the drip line, so i will cut the time down. I watch for chlorosis from too much water and it is not to that extent, but i will reduce the time and watch for any wilting.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finish planting the zinnias & cut the grass.

Made bread.

 

[wolffman]

Amazingly, the potatoes and tomatoes have perked up from near death over the last 2 days. I dug up one potato plant just to see, and I was pleasantly surprised. There may be hope yet lol. Everything is still wet, but there is no rain in the forecast for a while.

 

[Rahab222]

Wolffman; That's WONDERFUL news! So glad to hear this. EVERYBODY on this thread puts A LOT of time and physical labor (not to mention money) in on their gardens. We need you to stay in the game with us so we can give each other advice and check our progress. I haven't been back to see my garden since last week, due to my infected spider bite. The doctor says I have to stay out of the composted manure until he says I can continue. I see him again next week, but when I doctored and bandaged it tonight, it looks worse than ever. It's really GROSS! Anybody else ever had a spider bite? It's bigger than a quarter now, crayon red and weeping. No scab is starting to form yet; the skin around it just keeps dying. I'm thinking that if I wrap my forearm in Saran wrap, I might be able to go out and spray my tomato plants with some liquid seaweed and fish oil with the sprayer this weekend. If anything else needs attention from the weather, I'm out of luck because I really laid the composted manure thick this year and I can't touch anything that's touched it and vice versa. At least Wolffman got some great news! You're still in the game!

 

[w_r_ranch]

While we have good weather & hardly any wind, I went ahead & sprayed the yard with 2,4-D.

Started spraying RoundUp around the home site as well...

Also been downloading apps for the new tablet (Kaspersky, Firefox, CCleaner, Kindle reader & a file manager). The wireless router & a couple of other items should be here tomorrow.

 

[wolffman]

While we have good weather & hardly any wind, I went ahead & sprayed the yard with 2,4-D.

How close do you get to your trees with 2,4-D Ranch? I always stay past the drip line, but I know of other folks around here that spray almost right up to the trunk. Would like to spray a little closer to knock down the crazy weeds all this rain has brought this year.

 

[w_r_ranch]

I spray lightly right up to the trunks... I'm not drenching them, just wetting the leaves of the weeds.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Patchy frost this morning and the high almost hit 70° F.

Continuing to simplify I removed two round planters and used that soil to top off smaller boxes. Something possessed me to put styrofoam packing peanuts at the bottom of a container a few years ago as drainage and I am still pulling those damn things out of the soil. At least they're inert.

Today I:
Direct seeded carrots and more lettuce.
Put onion sets in - I placed these really tightly as I want green onions (scallions) rather than cooking onions here.
Put in 12 feet of snap peas - yes it is really late for that

I also now have the lawn / dirt patch raked and ready for seeding but am waiting for rain to wet and loosen the soil.

Yesterday I used child labor to seed soil blocks. 25 blocks each of colour blend beets, Monstrueux de Viroflay spinach, and Georgia collards

Tomorrow is the spring work day at our community garden. Again forecast for mid thirties overnight and highs near 70° with full sun.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Boned out a Boston Butt & started making 'buckboard bacon.

Received the WIFI & got it configured/working... still have to do some security stuff on it.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Cut/vacuum packed the pork chops... We got 20 of them out of that pork loin (~ 10 ounce ea.). Then trimmed/vacuum packed the 12 chicken breasts. Prime BBQ season is almost upon us!!!



Made bread & hotdog buns, then made stuffed jalapenos.

Mrs. Ranch made peanut butter cookies... YUMMMMM!!!

Took pics of the garden (I'll update the 2015 Spring Garden Thread later) & one of a Killdeer that insisted on laying her eggs in the front on the garage area...