Worth's 2017 Accidental Garden. - Page 26

Worth1 · June 8, 2017

Everything is doing great in the tubs and have been doing some experimenting with the additives in the soil.
One was one pepper plant would just not get away from being light stupid green.
I took some wood ash from the outdoor grill and put it on the soil and watered it in with ironite liquid feed.
Nothing else worked.
In about two days it greened up as well as the light green cucumber plants.
The tubs were about an inch lower in water than they were this morning.
Really all I have to do it wet the top of the containers down when I come home from work every day.
Not a chore to me I like doing it and most of the time do it before I come in and let Smokey out.
I also have some watermelon vines on the ground now.

Worth.

Worth1 · June 10, 2017

Up at the crack of dawn with a paint brush pollinating cucumbers what little there are right now.
Soon the red wasp will find them I saw a scout yesterday.
Maybe the bees will come back after the stinking crape myrtle stops blooming down the street.

I tried to pollinate a watermelon and it might take, the first one didn't.

Maybe some sugar water will bring the bees in.
Worth

Worth1 · June 10, 2017

Great News!!!!

I was sitting outside and saw a bumble bee working the cucumbers in the tubs.

I just had to come back inside and announce it, soon there will be more.

They and wasps have been my number one pollinators for some time now.
Best of all they are native to the Americas.

Worth

Worth1 · June 10, 2017

Weekly tub update.
Worth
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matereater · June 11, 2017

lookin good !

jmsieglaff · June 11, 2017

Nice stuff Worth! We have a good number of bumblebees in our garden, I see them on cucumbers and squash, but by far their favorite flower in the our vegetable garden is tomatillos.

Worth1 · June 11, 2017

If you guys look at pictuer number one the middle vine reached the top wire last night.
I was waiting for that.
I have went around and cut off a ton of leaves on the lower vines to allow sunlight to reach the peppers.
The test okra in this tub was also cut down it was just an experiment for transplanting.
Did the same thing in the other tub too and cut off the lower leaves of the two remaining okra plants in one tub so the basil can see some light.
The main okra patch has had half of it's okra cut down this morning too, every other one.
Not gonna happen as thick as it was, should have done it a long time ago.
Needless to say I have a pile of green in the pile of dead leaves I am cold composting.

Then I went around with the paint brush pollinating everything I could find.

Worth

Worth1 · June 11, 2017

Hand pollinating a tender sweet watermelon.

I will keep doing it till the flower closes.
Worth
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Worth1 · June 11, 2017

Well it looks like the bumblebee didn't think I did a good enough job.

She came in behind me and redid everything.

Worth

Gardeneer · June 11, 2017

To hand pollinate a cucurit , I pick a fresh male flower, trying to hold the face up and not shaking. .
Then I bent down/remove the petals. Then bring it to the female flower and give them a gentle kiss. ( ie they kiss each other. I just do the ceremony . ).
I learned to do this years ago when I was growing some Bottle/birdhouse Gourds. Their flower open at the dusk (after sun does dow ) and they close at the dawn. That is the window of time that bees have called it a day and gone to their hives.

Worth1 · June 11, 2017

Okay lets see if you guys can make sense of this babble.

I took a soil reading in my raised bed in direct sun light as deep as the probe would go, about 6 inches.
It was I think 85F but I watered the devil out of them this morning.
The tubs in the sunlight are 90 in the middle.
The temps in the shade on the porch are 89.
The temps in the tubs right at the edge are around 98.
If you go 2 inches from the edge they drop back down to 90.
So yes they are warm but nothing is ((((COOKING))))) in the black tubs.
I did this with two thermometers calibrated with ice water to read 32F.
I did that calibration right before I did the testing.
Insulation would help but to what end.
Then you would be insulating heat in the evening as well not letting it escape.
The yellow and red stripped container is just as warm as the black container with the tomatoes in them.
Most of the sunlight at this time of year is going directly onto the soil on top not the side of the tubs.

AlittleSalt · June 11, 2017

You made me curious, so I checked soil temperatures. Our two thermometers go in the ground 4-3/4".
In our raised beds that are now shaded 81.
In the full sun out in the main garden 87.

Gardeneer · June 11, 2017

Well, I think that when a container has a lot of exposed (outer) surfaces , per unit of volume , and sitting in direct sun it will get warmer or at least as warm as the air. Now add to that direct sun and black color which will absorb every bit of the heat and will radiate none.
If you paint it shiny white or wrap it with a thick white plastic then it should help.

BTW: I have such a container/situation myself. Now you reminded me to do something. I will pile up lots of pine straw loosely around it.

Worth1 · June 11, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Well, I think that when a container has a lot of exposed (outer) surfaces , per unit of volume , and sitting in direct sun it will get warmer or at least as warm as the air. Now add to that direct sun and black color which will absorb every bit of the heat and will radiate none.
If you paint it shiny white or wrap it with a thick white plastic then it should help.

BTW: I have such a container/situation myself. Now you reminded me to do something. I will pile up lots of pine straw loosely around it.

The cascading cucumber melon and other plants are keeping mine shaded.
The tomato plants have vegetative shade on them too.
One container the top of the soil is being shaded with the basil.
I have been wanting to do this experiment for years and am now kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

I just went up the street on my motorcycle and everyone else's plants in containers look like the atomic bomb went off.
You simply cannot keep them watered enough here with all of those drain holes.
I have tried and you would have to stand there all day.
Nor do they keep bad leaves cut from the plants and spray.

On the other hand in downtown Bastrop there are some folks are growing one hell of a crop of sweet corn in containers.
I mean the stuff looked fantastic the other day.
But if you look at the place you can tell they are plant people.
I think they must have ten ten gallon containers stuffed with corn all grouped together in the driveway.

Three weeks ago it was maybe 6 feet tall and had nice ears all over them.

Worth1 · June 12, 2017

Got home in the middle of a hellish heat wave and full blasting sun.
Tomato in container not sunk in soil, just showing signs of needing water.
Tomato plant with container that has soil up around drain holes no signs of needing water.
Both raised beds in bad need of water.
All tubs looked like it was no big deal.

June 10, 2017	#378
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Great News!!!! Great News!!!! I was sitting outside and saw a bumble bee working the cucumbers in the tubs. I just had to come back inside and announce it, soon there will be more. They and wasps have been my number one pollinators for some time now. Best of all they are native to the Americas. Worth

June 11, 2017	#380
matereater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: S.E. Michigan (Livonia) Posts: 1,264	lookin good ! __________________ Steve Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

June 11, 2017	#383
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Hand pollinating a tender sweet watermelon. I will keep doing it till the flower closes. Worth IMG_20170611_44984.jpg IMG_20170611_55685.jpg Last edited by Worth1; June 11, 2017 at 10:41 AM.

June 11, 2017	#385
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,920	To hand pollinate a cucurit , I pick a fresh male flower, trying to hold the face up and not shaking. . Then I bent down/remove the petals. Then bring it to the female flower and give them a gentle kiss. ( ie they kiss each other. I just do the ceremony . ). I learned to do this years ago when I was growing some Bottle/birdhouse Gourds. Their flower open at the dusk (after sun does dow ) and they close at the dawn. That is the window of time that bees have called it a day and gone to their hives. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

June 11, 2017	#387
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	You made me curious, so I checked soil temperatures. Our two thermometers go in the ground 4-3/4". In our raised beds that are now shaded 81. In the full sun out in the main garden 87. Last edited by AlittleSalt; June 11, 2017 at 05:52 PM. Reason: gramnra :)

June 8, 2017	#376
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Everything is doing great in the tubs and have been doing some experimenting with the additives in the soil. One was one pepper plant would just not get away from being light stupid green. I took some wood ash from the outdoor grill and put it on the soil and watered it in with ironite liquid feed. Nothing else worked. In about two days it greened up as well as the light green cucumber plants. The tubs were about an inch lower in water than they were this morning. Really all I have to do it wet the top of the containers down when I come home from work every day. Not a chore to me I like doing it and most of the time do it before I come in and let Smokey out. I also have some watermelon vines on the ground now. Worth.

June 10, 2017	#377
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Up at the crack of dawn with a paint brush pollinating cucumbers what little there are right now. Soon the red wasp will find them I saw a scout yesterday. Maybe the bees will come back after the stinking crape myrtle stops blooming down the street. I tried to pollinate a watermelon and it might take, the first one didn't. Maybe some sugar water will bring the bees in. Worth

June 10, 2017	#379
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Weekly tub update. Worth IMG_20170610_37983.jpg IMG_20170610_2789.jpg IMG_20170610_16214.jpg

June 11, 2017	#381
jmsieglaff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Southern WI Posts: 2,742	Nice stuff Worth! We have a good number of bumblebees in our garden, I see them on cucumbers and squash, but by far their favorite flower in the our vegetable garden is tomatillos.

June 11, 2017	#382
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	If you guys look at pictuer number one the middle vine reached the top wire last night. I was waiting for that. I have went around and cut off a ton of leaves on the lower vines to allow sunlight to reach the peppers. The test okra in this tub was also cut down it was just an experiment for transplanting. Did the same thing in the other tub too and cut off the lower leaves of the two remaining okra plants in one tub so the basil can see some light. The main okra patch has had half of it's okra cut down this morning too, every other one. Not gonna happen as thick as it was, should have done it a long time ago. Needless to say I have a pile of green in the pile of dead leaves I am cold composting. Then I went around with the paint brush pollinating everything I could find. Worth

June 11, 2017	#384
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Well it looks like the bumblebee didn't think I did a good enough job. She came in behind me and redid everything. Worth

June 11, 2017	#386
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Okay lets see if you guys can make sense of this babble. I took a soil reading in my raised bed in direct sun light as deep as the probe would go, about 6 inches. It was I think 85F but I watered the devil out of them this morning. The tubs in the sunlight are 90 in the middle. The temps in the shade on the porch are 89. The temps in the tubs right at the edge are around 98. If you go 2 inches from the edge they drop back down to 90. So yes they are warm but nothing is ((((COOKING))))) in the black tubs. I did this with two thermometers calibrated with ice water to read 32F. I did that calibration right before I did the testing. Insulation would help but to what end. Then you would be insulating heat in the evening as well not letting it escape. The yellow and red stripped container is just as warm as the black container with the tomatoes in them. Most of the sunlight at this time of year is going directly onto the soil on top not the side of the tubs.

June 11, 2017	#388
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,920	Well, I think that when a container has a lot of exposed (outer) surfaces , per unit of volume , and sitting in direct sun it will get warmer or at least as warm as the air. Now add to that direct sun and black color which will absorb every bit of the heat and will radiate none. If you paint it shiny white or wrap it with a thick white plastic then it should help. BTW: I have such a container/situation myself. Now you reminded me to do something. I will pile up lots of pine straw loosely around it. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening ! Last edited by Gardeneer; June 11, 2017 at 06:03 PM.

June 12, 2017	#390
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Got home in the middle of a hellish heat wave and full blasting sun. Tomato in container not sunk in soil, just showing signs of needing water. Tomato plant with container that has soil up around drain holes no signs of needing water. Both raised beds in bad need of water. All tubs looked like it was no big deal.