2022 Garden Thread

serviceguy said:
The groundhog and the squirrels have attacked our icebox watermelons. We lost 3 so far, looks like Bailey scared the ground hog for good(He somehow managed to squeeze under the chicken wire), but the squirrels can not be stopped effectively. Not too worried as one of the one we harvested tasted like poop, the second one we tried was meh...probably switching to something else next year.
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Haven't seen any groundhogs getting in the garden, but I know they're around. Lucky I guess. Most of my critter damage comes from birds, squirrels and rodents.
 
qclabrat said:
Can you show your drip system? Also how is it that you have zero weeds?
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I found the drip irrigation plan. I needed about 100 ft of 1/2" tubing to run from the faucet on the back of the house to the garden fence. Inside the fence, I needed about another 50 ft of 1/2" tubing for distribution to the boxes. Inside the planting boxes, I used 1/4" dripline tubing with 0.5 gallon/hour emitters spaced every 12" along the tubing.

At the faucet, I added, in order, a backflow preventer, filter, pressure regulator (25 PSI, same as in my rear tire), and female hose adapter to connect to the 1/2" tubing going to the garden.

Also bought the tubing tees, crosses, elbows, plugs needed to connect tubing together. I added 1/4" valves at the start of the 1/4" dripline so I could shut off / turn on water supply to each line individually.

To run the 1/2" tubing to the garden, I used a flat spade to slice the ground/grass down a few inches and lifted to make a gap. Then, I shoved the tubing in and stomped it down. Simple. In the garden I decided to run the 1/2" tubing under the side of the boxes and then come up inside to supply the emitter tubing.

Actually, I didn't take that many photos during installation. Here's the best one of install and two of the finished 1/4" emitter tubing. Only three per box in the photos but I ended up adding two more per box for a total of 5 lines of emitter tubing per box. That gave me about 40 0.5 gal/hour emitters per box for rate of 20 gallons water/hour/box. So, theoretically, if I run it for 15 min I add 5 gallons of water to each box.

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You can see the shut off valves on the emitter tubing in this photo.

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rottin' said:
@SAM do you sell your produce at markets? that is a legit setup and space for a variety of veggies. Interested in your carrot experience...did some last year in pots and they were little nubs after like 5 months...how are you producing yours?

Also this year our cucumbers were absolute trash, as well as our stringbeans...I think because nether on I started indoors this year like I usually do. Bur Beefsteak tomatoes and green peppers have stepped into their own.
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Nah, don't sell anything at farm markets. Just give excess away to family, friends, and neighbors. I'm thinking of cutting back on some things I'm getting to much of (read zuchs here).

I've had good luck with carrots in the raised garden boxes. Night and day versus trying to grow in the crappy red clay soil around here. I like nantes type and a variety called little fingers. I sow six rows two feet long space about 4" apart (can get away with dense spacing in raised beds) in early to mid-April. After they sprout and have their first leaves, I thin to about 1.5 - 2" apart (tedious).

For feeding, I add slow release fertilizer to all the boxes before planting. Sometimes, I dig in a layer of compost or composted cow manure before planting. Sometimes, I supplement with a little miracle grow every two weeks.
 
SAM said:
Nah, don't sell anything at farm markets. Just give excess away to family, friends, and neighbors. I'm thinking of cutting back on some things I'm getting to much of (read zuchs here).

I've had good luck with carrots in the raised garden boxes. Night and day versus trying to grow in the crappy red clay soil around here. I like nantes type and a variety called little fingers. I sow six rows two feet long space about 4" apart (can get away with dense spacing in raised beds) in early to mid-April. After they sprout and have their first leaves, I thin to about 1.5 - 2" apart (tedious).

For feeding, I add slow release fertilizer to all the boxes before planting. Sometimes, I dig in a layer of compost or composted cow manure before planting. Sometimes, I supplement with a little miracle grow every two weeks.
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Mental note to self, must not show under any circumstances your super awesome setup to my wife.
 
SAM said:
Wait to you see the setup for starting seeds early indoors, but I'll save that for the start of next season in February.
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Right, like we don’t have enough UV lights and seed pods all over the house and every windows sill already!
 
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serviceguy said:
Mostly tomatoes and cucumbers, you have a dirty mind!
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Seems You are doing squirrels and weed. Perfectly normal in PA, but you are NJ!
😁

Luv u Leo! Hope you 2 are feeling better. I have that fatigue thing too. We'll all shake it soon enough.
 
Patrick said:
Seems You are doing squirrels and weed. Perfectly normal in PA, but you are NJ!
😁

Luv u Leo! Hope you 2 are feeling better. I have that fatigue thing too. We'll all shake it soon enough.
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LOL, I didn’t get it but I LOLed out of trust…

Well, I thought I was fine, besides the occasional nasty cough…then I decided to ride to TM…obviously it could be my being more out of shape (MOOS) or even the heat but I’ll stick to Covid. Wife physical activities were already to a minimum so there’s no way to know.

How about you? When are you taking (M)OOS for a boat ride?

Back to veg gardening…probably going to be building the new enclosure in a different location because the plan is now to switch to winter veggies…don’t ask what ‘cause I’ve no idea what she’s plotting.
 
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Mid September Tomatoes Update:
Sungolds and grapes coming in hard, Beefsteaks mostly small and green. Good year tho, plants took off.

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Other (East) side of fence:
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Today’s adder to the kitchen pile: <happy>

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Picked these watermelons last week. They weren't getting any bigger but I wasn't really sure if they were ready. I just went on time since planted and it is September after all. Turned out great. Very sweet. First time I've gotten watermelons to work.

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With the return of some rain and cooler nights, the tomatoes really started to take off again.
 
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