What did you do in the garden today?

[Farmer13]

Thanks for all the info. You confirmed my suspicion that I really need to start the bitter melon seeds early next year. Our average frost date is May 30th, a full month and a half after you.

Frankly, I told Dear Wife that we might not get any bitter melons to grow since our season is so short, but we are getting some. I don't know what variety of bitter melon they are, but I'll have to check out the Indian BM you like so well.

FYI, I started my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants about 1 Apr, which was about 8 weeks before our average last frost date. That really worked out well for me as the plants have never been so strong or tall as they were this year. Much better than the transplants from the big box stores ever were.

Also, and I think this is very important, I started all my plants in 3-inch net cups which allowed the roots to air prune while growing in the house for those first 8 weeks. I had no root bound plants when I put them in the garden the end of May. When I transplanted them into the garden, they just exploded and I have my best success ever this year!

When it comes to gardening, I celebrate any and all successes, great or small.

Last season we moved from two 8' fluorescent lights to two LEDs a modern heating mat with thermostat. After growing under fluorescents & heating cables that twisted & burned in two. We got it after all.

Time to move into the 21st century LOL. Only one problem. When you chose the time to start as always, better look at the lights you have. We had lights that had to be inches like 2" above the plant tops. LEDs we used were set at 14" above plants & turned down to 50 percent. WOW!
Below is what happened when we started them too soon..

By the time we got the plants in ground they were way bigger than we expected.

Bitter melons are vine so provide little sticks in your 4" pots to support them until you transplant them.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Threw an over ripe tomato out of th garden and into the yard and this guy didn’t hesitate. He was loving life

 

[Birdsong 82]

2 bottle neck gourd plants take over! Looks nice on the fence though

 

[gtaus]

Only one problem. When you chose the time to start as always, better look at the lights you have. We had lights that had to be inches like 2" above the plant tops. LEDs we used were set at 14" above plants & turned down to 50 percent. WOW!

I don't know exactly what you mean. I started off my seeds with the LED's only a couple of inches above the top of the soil. As the plants grew, I raised my LED's on their chain. Also, I have more than one shelf for seed starting and growing, so I was able to keep one shelf for seed starting and using the other shelves with the LED's higher for the growing plants.

I did not have any of my LED's 14 inches above the plants, nor turned down 50%. I supposed it depends on what the light output of the LED is? And I just bought shop LED lights on sale for half price, about $10 per 4-foot light, and not the "grow LED lights" that they sold for ~$60 or more per light. I did read the specs on the shop LED's I bought and the lumen output and the color balance were withing the plant growing spectrum. Good enough for me, and evidently, the plants as well.

Below is what happened when we started them too soon..

By the time we got the plants in ground they were way bigger than we expected.

Not sure what you think went wrong with your starts. However, my tomato plants got to be almost 12 inches tall before I transferred them to the raised bed gardens. They were a lot taller than I had expected. But their root system was in great shape because the net cups air pruned the roots and none of the plants got root bound like some of mine did back when I used solid walled pots.

I have become a big fan of using net cups for seed starts because I had great success with them. I plan on doubling my starts next year. I am even considering buying additional sizes of net pots.

I am also of advocate for bottom watering and letting the potting soil soak up the water it needs. This is the first year I did not drown out my seed starts. I think that all the open air around the net cup walls allows the plants to breath even if overwatered for a short period of time. In the past, I have drowned out lots of plants. Maybe it's a combination of experience with past failures and the net cups this year that made everything successful.

 

[gtaus]

Threw an over ripe tomato out of th garden and into the yard and this guy didn’t hesitate. He was loving life View attachment 3614468

I toss my over ripe or damaged tomatoes into the chicken run. The chickens seem to like the tomatoes as well.

I suspect that I have squirrels raiding my garden enough anyways. No need to go out of my way to toss them more food! You may soon regret feeding those squirrels!

 

[Birdsong 82]

I toss my over ripe or damaged tomatoes into the chicken run. The chickens seem to like the tomatoes as well.

I suspect that I have squirrels raiding my garden enough anyways. No need to go out of my way to toss them more food! You may soon regret feeding those squirrels!

squirrels drive me crazy. But in the fall there endless. I have tons of black walnut trees, and some chestnut trees along with oak. Usually I toss overripe vegetables out of the garden thinking the goats will find as usual them because the chickens do get plenty of scraps, but he ran over and took advantage of it before the goats did. It was just funny because when he first grab it, he fell forward because it was so heavy for him. Even though the squirrels drive me nuts, I can’t help but smile at the joy.

 

[gtaus]

We picked our first upo, a white squash of some kind. There are lots of smaller ones on the vines. This one was about 10 inches long and Dear Wife said it was ready to pick...

We also harvested more eqqplants this morning. The longest one was about 14 inches long...

I also picked another ice cream pail full of cherry tomatoes, most of which I will freeze for cooking in the winter...

Washed, dried, and frozen solid as rocks, the cherry tomatoes will be stored out in the garage in the big freezer in quart baggies until we use them this winter...

 

[WthrLady]

Temps dropped to 110F at sunset. Walked the old hen, and I picked the garden clean. Another bushel of tomatoes. Insane.
Hosed the alpacas.
Dh will feed the livestock and change eater and hose them again before dawn.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[gtaus]

Temps dropped to 110F at sunset. Walked the old hen, and I picked the garden clean. Another bushel of tomatoes. Insane.
Hosed the alpacas.
Dh will feed the livestock and change eater and hose them again before dawn.

Rinse and repeat.

Sounds like a lot of work in the heat. Hope DH gets a good hosed down after all that work. IF I have to work out in the heat, I can go through 2 or 3 changes of clothes during the day. But I can't tolerate the heat well and need to take breaks in the house. And I don't like sitting around in wet clothes, so they get changed out.

It got up to 87F here today, not nearly as hot as what you have, but still I worked up a complete sweat just picking tomatoes this morning when it was still cool outside. I think the humidity is high and that makes things seem hotter than the temperature by itself. Stayed inside the house most of the day, expect to tend the chickens and I moved the sprinkler around the raised beds to water them down in this heat. Other than that, I let other things pass for today.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Temps dropped to 110F at sunset. Walked the old hen, and I picked the garden clean. Another bushel of tomatoes. Insane.
Hosed the alpacas.
Dh will feed the livestock and change eater and hose them again before dawn.

Rinse and repeat.

110?! I was already feeling lucky because we got a break from the humidity and heat today but now I feel even more lucky.