Yesterday I finished the sump pump/french drain work by back filling the french drain. I got a good start on the plumbing for the sump pumps. Today I'll finish that up and start working on the outside ditch. I still have to bury the sump pump plumbing into the drainage ditch.
Spare any pictures of your hoop house? I was browsing the youtubes the other day and came across a video that reminded me of your garden.
I do it a little different then they do but the results are similar. I lay down straw (I can't grow my own) over the complete garden area. When I transplant my vegetables I just move the straw to the side, plant the vegetable and fill in straw around it. My soil looks just like theirs but I do throw on some kelp meal. Here is some tomatoes (Sakura Reds) that I'm watching. I think these might be the first to ripen. Here's a picture of the garden. Everything is getting big. I've been eating peas, lettuce and broccoli out of it.
Yeah it was mainly the copious amounts of hay/straw used. I liked their method of laying down the flakes in mats and fluffing it up, seems fairly minimal effort. It's cool to see how super thick mulch fights soil compaction from walking, too. Man it's crazy to see how far ahead of you we are on the SE. I've had about a month of ripe tomatoes. I got started a little late on the peas but they're starting to climb and the bush beans are putting out, too. I just picked a pretty full head of dill seeds today to start on some pickles. My garden's been all cukes, zukes, tomatoes and peppers as of late, my eggplants had to fight off an early attack of something that looked like flea beetles, but they're budding up now, finally. I hit most of my garden with a MGT about 2 weeks ago and I think it was an accident to give it to my zukes. If I don't check under every leaf, every day, I'm very likely to end up with a 2'-long monster like what I got today...definitely interesting results; my okra really shot up after that tea, as well.
I don't do zukes anymore because of that problem of the hidden monster. If I want them I just go to the local farmer's market. Lots there and cheap.
One of my grow friends brought me some hypnum peat moss from eastern Washington. It looks a lot different than Canadian sphugnum peat moss. It's much finer in texture. I don't know that much about it expect what I've read off of Google searches. It's also called Sheet Moss and is even used as a substitute for lawn. It must be what is growing in my yard. Here is what it looks like compared to Alaska brand peat. Hypnum on the left. I mixed up 15 gallons of soil yesterday. Of the 5 gallons of peat I used half hypnum and half sphugnum. I'll see how it does. I don't think I will use all hypnum in place of sphugnum.
Today is the day that I move the ladies that I flipped to 11 on and 13 off on July 1. They have good bud formation and I'm thinking that the change to 15 hours of daylight and decreasing will not cause them to want to vegetate. I'm doing this to insure they finish flowering before the weather turns to foggy, damp and rainy days of fall. Here are the ladies from flower area #1. Pimp Daddy #5 Pimp Daddy #5 buds Goblin Girl #1 Goblin Girl #1 buds
Gooey is a combination of the following 70s landraces: cambodian, mexican gold, lumbo gold plus 80s Thai stick and to finish it off '72 maui wowie from the breeder. She is on the bubble and may get tossed for some of my pheno hunt girls. I've got seeds from her though and the males seem to be producing some nice offspring.
Good Afternoon! It's looking great in here dude!! It's wicked hot again today here! Try to stay cool my friend!
It has been usually hot here in the PNW. Set a record for the most days over 90 in July. My well I water my vegetable garden went dry yesterday. It's only about 450 gallons when it is full. When I put the pump in i think it was down around 250 gallons. Just means I have to hand water my vegetable garden.
On Saturday when I moved the ladies outdoors I had to shuffle around all my girls. I moved the teenagers into the flower areas and I moved the tweeners into the teenager area. At the moment I don't have any tweeners. My cuttings are starting to show roots and I have at least one of: Goblin Queen, 3M, Old Goblin, Blueberry, Purple Star, Goblin Girl, Gooey and 3Elders. I'm still waiting on The One, Blue Orca and Nocturnal to show some roots. Teenagers: 3 Goblin Girls, 2 3M, The One, Blueberry and Gooey Flower area 2: Nocturnal, Purple Star, 3Elders and Blueberry Flower area 1: Old Goblin, Goblin Queen #1, Goblin Queen #2 and Goblin Girl
It's been raining here in the PNW and I had to tie up more of my branches because of the added weight from the rain. I'm crossing my fingers that this isn't going to rain for days this month. Wet buds make bud rot a possibility.
Is it out of the realm of possibility to make some tarp/lean-to type deal to give them a little break from the rain? Or is RH the main factor?
It isn't the RH, it's the day and night dampness that causes the bud rot. The good news is it cleared up enough today to dry the buds out. It's suppose to be clear and hot tomorrow. I'm thinking about doing a hike but I hurt my toes last Friday on a hike so I'll see how I feel. They're still sore but not the sharp pain I experienced last Friday.