JAP69's Blog

Yesterday I went out and put protection over all the ground boxes to see if I can prevent the critters from digging in the dirt. The ground boxes are about 16 x 16 inches square. I took the window screening I had on hand and cut it about 20 x 20 inches square. Then I took some poultry netting I had on hand and made a dome about five inches square and about two to three inches high leaving a lip extender around the bottom for the window screening to hold it in place. I then took the window screening and cut out a square about five inches square. Set the poultry netting dome over top where the seeds are planted, placed the window screening over that laying flat on top of the ground box. Took push pins and pinned the screening down onto the ground box in each corner. The flap that was hanging over the ground box edges I took my fingers and made a downward fold. The window screening holds the dome down.

From there I made up the soil mix for the last ground box and set the plastic container where I wanted it and filled it with the mix. Put in my seed starting mix in a center cavity and planted the zucchini seed. Prepared my dome and screening the same as the ground boxes and held it in place with clothespins around the edge.

When the seeds come up and the plants get tall enough I will remove the poultry wire dome. I can also remove the push pins and raise it up to work in the ferlizer.

Went out this morning for a look see and seen no dirt dug up.

Containers all prepared, plants are in, seeds in the ground, flowers all planted.  Still need to make my plant chimneys and was thinking about making a shepherds hook to hold more hanging pails.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-in-x-2-ft-x-10-ft-Poultry-Netting-308400EB/205960867

A few days ago I took a watering can out behind the fence to water the ground boxes. One box had a hole dug in it with dirt piled on top of the seeded are. smoothed it out and watered it. That particular box is behind a board fence as I only have half the page fence with a board fence.

I just went out again to water and the same box was dug into. Found some cat scat on top of the dirt in the box.

May need to think of something to keep the critters out. Next thing you know if anything grows back there some critter will come along and eat it.

Wellll, I ventured out today and done the transplanting. Mixed up enough potting mix containing 20% vermiculite ratio for 10 flower pails. Transplanted rest of flowers I had and the spinach and kale my daughter gave me. Plus I put the 6 pack of lettuce she gave me into my 3x4 foot bin. Then I topped off my six remaining container boxes with container mix with vermiculite and then added ferlizer {ironite 12-10-10] watering it in real good afterward. Let that set for awhile and then transplanted my two tomato plants and four pepper plants.

Only thing I have left is to do is the one ground box for the zucchini in back of the fence. Plus I need to do something about the four pails with no place to put them except on the deck. Hang them or build a rack for them.

I will water the container boxes a couple more times where my tomato and peppers are to give the ferlizer time to soak around in the container mix before I do another fertility test.

One other thing I did was redone a flower pail from last year where I had put burlap on the bottom and sides and then added the potting mix with no vermiculite. I wanted to see how the root system was on the flower plant so I carefully tipped the pail into my mixing tray removing the contents without damaging the flower plant. I then removed the burlap and carefully removed the potting mix. The plant root system was not developing very well beyond the original potting mix. No wonder the plant was not doing well as it appeared it was still root bound from the original purchase container size. I did not break the original container mix up and loosen the roots like I did this year on my transplanting from original container to new container. I took the plant when I removed it and loosened up the root bound system tearing away some of the root bound roots and the original container mix. Then I took a hose and washed out most of the old container mix and then loosened the roots some more. Took it down to the bare roots you might say. Then I opened up a deep hole in the new container mix with the vermiculite letting the root system hang down and then filled around it with more fresh mix. Put ferlizer around it [ironite 12-10-10] and then set it where I wanted it and watered it in real good. See if the plant survives this episode.

That ironite 12-10-10 seems to work real well for my flowers as they seem to be doing quite nicely.

49 degrees and wind blowing with a chilly nip in the air. Do I want to go out and do some transplanting! Extended forecast for the coming days will be pretty much the same as today with temps in low to mid sixties.

Maybe I will put on warmer clothes and give it a go. Get that potting mix and vermiculite mixing done with the transplanting before it gets beastly hot. The transplants may do better with the cooler temps. Cut down on the shock trauma for the plants.

Looks like I will not need to worry about the tomatoes and peppers.
The squash and cukes are a different story for me as I see no bees around.

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Gardening: How To Hand-Pollinate Fruits and Vegetables

https://www.thekitchn.com/summer-gardening-handpollinati-57513

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Mother Nature may need help to pollinate squash and cucumbers

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/mother-nature-may-need-help-pollinate-squash-and-cucumbers

Just checking on different things to encourage a better harvest from just a few plants. I only have the soya cukes which are a climber which I have planted next to the back page fence to climb on plus the cuke I have in the container box which will have a chimney for climbing.

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How to Trim Cucumber Vines

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/trim-cucumber-vines-24091.html

Did not do any transplanting today.

I did go to the garden center and purchased a soil testing meter. Followed instructions and found the following results.

Container boxes on deck. PH 7.0, Fertility level @ low mark ideal. Will do the ferlizin when I do the transplanting.

Ground boxes PH 7.0, Fertility level @  high mark too little. Will do the ferlizin  when the seeds come up.

http://www.tomatodirt.com/blossom-drop.html

More decisions

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https://www.reference.com/business-finance/ideal-ratio-tomato-fertilizer-25d6e27ef02b7545?aq=tomato+fertilizer+ratio&qo=cdpArticles

Looks like a decision between higher nitrogen at the start of the pepper plant development or a balanced formula.

Has a recipe in this article on how to make a magnesium spray. I had the blossoms drop on my pepper plants last fall. They budded out and dropped off. Probably need to check the ferlizer I am using for magnesium content. 

More knowledge gained with this article.

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"Pepper plants that lose their blossoms before the fruit grows lack
magnesium".

https://www.reference.com/home-garden/fertilizer-peppers-bd89b8ea886a03e1#

Today I went to Lowes and purchased three tomato plants and three pepper plants about three or four inches tall. Different varieties but forgot what they are. Fill you in on that tomorrow.

Stopped at the DollarTree and picked up eleven more ten quart pails. My daughter came in last night with some plants she had purchased for me. Will put some of them in ten quart pails. Would need to buy quite a few more pails than I purchased today. I have about thirty five gallons of container mix left over from my redo job with the perlite and vermiculite.

Stopped at the Dollar store yesterday and purchased one eighteen quart dish basin about 13 inches x 15 inches x about eight inches deep.

When I got back from shopping today I drilled one half inch holes in the pails. Five on the bottom and three around the outside about one third of the way down. Then I took the dish basin and drilled a hole in each corner of the bottom about one and one half inch from each edge to leave a lip on the ground so when I fill it the ground box mix will hold it down. Then I took my drywall razor knife and cut to each corner on all four sides to remove the bottom making my ground box for the other zucchini to plant.

That was it for today as I was doing other things during the day.

Tomorrow I will be doing mixing up pail potting mix with the vermiculite and doing a bunch of transplanting. Flowers I have left, plants my daughter gave me and my tomato and pepper plants in the six remaining wooden containers I have ready. If I have time I may do the ground box for the zucchini. If I have time to even do all of that. Might get distracted with something else. Of course the next days sun after tomorrow will come up again.  I hope, Might rain too or I could break a leg before then.

Will brush up on the ferlizer requirements before I transplant the tomato and pepper plants. Want to get it right this year.

Worth a good read.

Great section with photos on how to identify the plants needs.

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Peppers

http://www.haifa-group.com/files/Guides/Pepper/Pepper.pdf

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Pepper crop guide: Main functions of plant nutrients

http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge_center/crop_guides/pepper/nutritional_requirements/main_functions_of_plant_nutrients/

Today I changed the deck around the way I mentioned in last post. Took about one and one half hours.

That's it.

Today I loaded up a bunch of tools and took them out to the back deck wanting to do some deck rearranging. On the east side of the deck I have two vertical 2x4s spaced about six feet apart with a  2x4 up about six feet horizontally connecting the two verticals. It was used last year by another family member for those hanging upside down growing containers. They have no current plans for it this year so I intend to move it to the south edge of the deck on the west end. I have six containers on the south end filling that side of the deck and three of the containers on the west end of that side does not get enough hours of sunlight so I am going to move those three containers onto the east side where I am taking down the previously mentioned. Got out there and started sprinkling rain. Loaded everything back up into  my mixing tub which I tote around with my cart.

I also intended to plant my seeds in the five ground boxes. I prepared about one quart or so of seed starting mix which consists of 1/3 garden sand, 1/3 compost and 1/3 vermiculite. Got my seeds out and went around to the back side of the fence where the ground boxes are. Opened up a small depression in each ground box and put some seed starting mix in the depressions. Planted my seeds in each box and covered over with the seed starting mix and watered them in. one box zucchini, two boxes yellow squash, one box soya cucumbers and one box of melons. Need another ground box as I would like two ground boxes of zucchini.

Went back to the deck and planted one container with bush cucumbers using the seed starting mix for that also. I will build a round chimney [cage] for the cukes. Then I messed around and made another small batch of seed starting mix for two three inch pots to plant some seed in just to see how efficient that mix formula is for starting seed I read online. Think I mentioned it before about a week or so ago.

Carted everything back to the garage and that was it for today. Got a few sprinkles during the time I was out there and an occasional light drizzle. No amount of rain that amounted to anything. Suppose to be nice tomorrow so I will do that deck rearranging.

The flower transplants I done last week are doing quite nicely. Did not look like they went into shock.

Did I really have fun today.

Rounded up the tools, lumber, fasteners and screening for the three remaining ground boxes. Worked off of a card table in front of the garage door opening. Sat in a chair to do the work as much as possible. Got the ground boxes all built like I explained in last post.

Carted those out back and threw over the back page fence. Done my calculations to see what capacity was need to fill the boxes. 27 gallons +- for all three. Had a part bag of garden additive mixture that was purchased last year. 7.5 gallons of that and took 2.5 gallons of the garden sand I purchased making ten gallons. Dumped that ten gallons on the deck and then made trips to the pile mixture I removed from the 4x6 foot bin toting 17 gallons to the deck and tossed it on the pile. Then I took my short handle shovel and tossed, turned and flipped that all together doing it in a sitting position. Then I loaded up two buckets at a time and setting the first two over the fence. Went around to the gate and entered behind the fence and arranged my three boxes where I wanted them next to the fence. Dumped those two pails in a box. Then went back around to the other side and loaded up two more pails and took them to the back fence. Grabbed a pail and lifted it over the fence not seeing a thorny vine growing up right where the ground box was set. Dumped the two pails in the box giving my right arm three scratches about one and one half inches long deep enough to draw blood. EEEOOOOOWWWW blood started running down my arm getting it all over my cane handle.Well I just kept trekking on and filled the remaining box. Got everything organized on the deck, loading up the cart to take back to the garage. Got the garden hose charged up with water and washed off the deck. Took everything back to the garage and dumped the trash in the dust bin.

Closed the garage door and was done with today's project. I am also finished making garden containers and filling them with the mixtures. For now unless I want more.

Might better plant the containers I have before I think about more for veggies.

Now I need to make some vegetable cages [chimneys].