Let's see those '10 gardens

[shilala]

I made one batch of spaghetti sauce. I'm picking peppers to make red sauce peppers.
Those are the peppers in kethchup and vinegar and stuff that you slather over crackers and cream cheese during football games. They're extremely addictive and incredibly good.
I got too hot and my back was killing me, so I came in to take some dope and put on a pair of shorts. Now I'm gonna crawl around on my belly and finish up. Then I'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning peppers and watching bad movies on Netflix.

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by shilala

I made one batch of spaghetti sauce. I'm picking peppers to make red sauce peppers.
Those are the peppers in kethchup and vinegar and stuff that you slather over crackers and cream cheese during football games. They're extremely addictive and incredibly good.
I got too hot and my back was killing me, so I came in to take some dope and put on a pair of shorts. Now I'm gonna crawl around on my belly and finish up. Then I'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning peppers and watching bad movies on Netflix.

Got any pics of the garden?? Or a video update?

[HK3-]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Got any pics of the garden?? Or a video update?

Video!!!!!!!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by HK3-

Video!!!!!!!

I took some video yesterday. It's lousy, but it'll do.
I'm sending it up to YouTube right now, it says it'll be done in 77 minutes. It's only 10% done.
I have to start cleaning the garden up now. It's time. I need to get everything in the compost bin, but it's slap full. I'm not exactly sure what I'm gonna do, but I'll figure something out.
I'll link up that video if it ever finishes up.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Got any pics of the garden?? Or a video update?

I have no idea where my video taking camera is. I've been traveling all over creation for weeks. I leave here Sunday for Ohio, then Washington Pa, then Pittsburgh, then Nashville. That's over a span of seven days.
All I really have track of anymore is my suitcase.
I think it all calms down after this. All my doctor appointments will be done and all my torture tests will be done. That'll be right in time for frost to ruin my garden.

If I can find my little camera, I'll try to get a video up. No promises though.

[wayner123]

Week 4 of my bucket Garden:

[shilala]

Oh yeah, you can use greensand for potassium, too. It's rock. It's like using limestone chips. It's a one time solution that lasts forever in your garden.

I have lots of compost, worm castings, mulch, etc. My garden used to always get this stuff added every year. I filled the raised boxes with the mixed stuff from a landscape supply. I am hesitant to add ashes because how much it will raise the already borderline high ph. Greensand sounds like a good way. We have kelp meal around here as an organic fertilizer that is high in K but it is also high in $.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

I have lots of compost, worm castings, mulch, etc. My garden used to always get this stuff added every year. I filled the raised boxes with the mixed stuff from a landscape supply. I am hesitant to add ashes because how much it will raise the already borderline high ph. Greensand sounds like a good way. We have kelp meal around here as an organic fertilizer that is high in K but it is also high in $.

It's kinda hard to make suggestions without knowing what your area is like. I lived in a farm community. Limestone is everywhere. So was organic material like leaves, crop leftovers, straw, compost from our half dozen chicken coops, rabbit poop and bedding, stuff like that.
I kept a huge compost pile and trucked home everything I could get ahold of.
I agree completely on the ashes. I don't use them, never did. Lots of people here do use ashes and tons of powdered lime. It's a tempoarary solution to a permanent problem.
If you had lots and lots of limestone chips in the soil you could use all you want. Thing is, it's still a temporary solution, just like commercial fertilizers.
That stuff is money down the drain, literally.

On the organic material and compost...
Imagine that your garden soil is 100% composted organic material. That would be the ideal. Perfection.
Then add the dirt you have to it. Every shovel makes it worse.
That's not a rub, it's just that forest soil (along with lots of other types of soil) is depleted. It's just the way it is.
I said that to illustrate that no matter how much compost or organic material you've added, it ain't enough. It took me a lot of years to kinda get my head around that.
Your test results are what shows that. It's fixable, and you can fix it for good. Just keep working at it.

[wayner123]

Here is week 6:

[shilala]

Are those all peppers, Wayne? They're lookin good!!!

Originally Posted by wayner123

Here is week 6:

[wayner123]

Thanks Scott, it's my first "garden" since I was a kid.

In the second picture, the 2 plants to the left are California Wonder Bell Peppers. I had a problem with some sort of moth caterpillar, but after a night inspection and prompt bug squishing party, they have started to come back around. The other plants in the second picture are White Acre Peas. It's a Southern thang.

The First picture (L to R) is summer squash (2), and green beans (2).

[shilala]

Behold. The last video of 2010.
If you look around 3:19, you can see a couple volunteer tobacco plants.

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by shilala

Behold. The last video of 2010.
If you look around 3:19, you can see a couple volunteer tobacco plants.

Thanks for that. I would love to do that big of a lot, but the nematodes around here are crazy!

If all goes well for my little containers, I am going to scale up production in Feb.

[jjirons69]

Fall update:

I'm down to a few straggler tomatoes. The okra is still doing so-so. The jalapenos and bells are going nuts. I have 20 or so pint and quart jars of pickled jalapenos so far and many to come. My biggest jalapeno is close to 4 feet tall. Our first frost is around the first of November, so I'm going to try something new this year. I'll dig her up and continue growing her in the house during the winter. I'll self-pollinate the flowers (with my hands ). I'll get a picture soon.

[HK3-]

Originally Posted by shilala

Behold. The last video of 2010.
If you look around 3:19, you can see a couple volunteer tobacco plants.

Great video as always man! Your garden is loaded!!!!! I'm still getting a few of the habaneros on mine but not many.

[acarr]

Originally Posted by shilala

Behold. The last video of 2010.
If you look around 3:19, you can see a couple volunteer tobacco plants.

That is nice! What do you use on the ground? The black plastic? Is it a certain type or will anything work?

Well I got me a big steamin' pile of sh!t in my yard now.
About 1 1/2 yards of fresh, watered down horse manure. I'm waiting for it to compost some before I start to add it, after we pull everything up.

[jjirons69]

I bet it's rained 6 inches here in the past two days. It's supposed to rain the rest of the night into tomorrow. Before this weekend, it hadn't rained in FOREVER. Feast or famine...

I'm glad I don't have a big pile of sh!t in my yard.

Big STEAMING pile!
I stick a piece of rebar in it and stir it every day and it steams from inside. Adding chicken and kitchen compost to it this weekend. Next year I will top dress the boxes with more about a month before planting. I don't want a repeat of this year even if the weather is bad again.