"SQWIBS Urban Garden Adventure 2019"

An amazing amount of effort into your garden ... fantastic!

[taboule]

Everything looks nice, amazing variety that you managed to cram in the space.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the stuffed grape leaves and fig trees. I assume you also do the vegeterian Dolmas, rice and lots of various herbs and seasonings. Reminds me of back home, I wish I could plant fig trees -too cold here- although I've heard that some people do.

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Thanks guys
taboule, we were gonna make the "traditional" dolmathes that you find in Greek diners, no meat with herbs like oregano, parsley, mint, but the last time I had them at the diner they tasted off plus the wife don't like the herb ones so I said make whatever you want and she sort of made Golabki type wraps.

[SQWIBB]

June 6th, 2019

Not much going on in the garden but there's plenty of outside work to do, I did pick a few tomatoes, tweaked the tomato plants in the cages a bit and cleaned out the firepit ashes and put in the raised beds.

I replaced most of my 1/4 watt led bulbs on the hugel beds with the new 2 watt bulbs, I have 5 more to go.

I also started working on the underdeck and patio. Staining the underdeck supports, cleaning the outdoor rug and cleaning up the patio.

It's been a wet couple of months so I wont be able to get the outside and top of the deck done until it dries out a bit.

My pit table was pretty beat up so I sanded it down and clear coated with some Acrylic spray.

My prep table was also looking beat up, so I painted that as well.

Lol, that is RED!

[SQWIBB]

LOL, yes it is definitely red (glossy red), I use gloss on most of my stuff and hit it with steel wool for a satin finish, from what I have read, glossy paint adheres better to surface than satin, well in the oil base world anyway, don't know how true it is, but I can control the sheen by steel wool and buffing

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June 7th, 2019

Random pics

June 10th, 2019


This was a very productive weekend I started staining the outside of the deck, finished staining the under decking, and painted the gutters.
Since I was on a roll, I stained my Koi Pond bench and the fence/bar by the pit. I Scrubbed the hell out of the outdoor rug and cleaned up under the deck.
I decided to run some grape vines under the gutter.



Worked on my Hardy Kiwi vines and trimmed the grapevines.



Setup my Espalier wires for the pear tree.



So far this year I used my drip irrigation one day, I have been watering with the rain barrel. The front yards are getting 25 minutes every other day, once the flowers take hold I'll tweak that to half hour every three days.


And I posted some random shots of the garden.

June 11th, 2019


Completed my first summer pruning on the cherry tree and started training the branches, just hope I didn't screw it up.


I ordered 4 more Texas tomato cages with extensions but ordered the large 24" thinking that was what I already had (I had 20" TTC), my plan was to use the extensions on the Big Beef and Beef masters on the hill and use the 4 new cages in the hugelkultur beds. Anyhow it worked out better as the 24" cages are better suited for the Big Beef and Beefmasters, but I had to slip the 24" TTC over the 20" cages so I wont get to use the 4 (20") cages this year.


The eggplant plants in one of the air pots and one in the planter are out performing my plants in the raised beds and hugelkultur beds.


Posted a few random garden pics also.

Your garden is looking great! Appreciate all the pictures.

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by PlainJane

Your garden is looking great! Appreciate all the pictures.

Thank you.
I do like to post pictures lol.

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June 12th, 2019

I ordered my TWP satin for the deck last week. Started removing everything from the deck and bringing a lot of the deck stuff in the house then begun the tedious task of cleaning the boards, I bypassed the rain barrel and connected the gutter into a smaller barrel and ran a hose to the drain.
Sam and I (mostly Sam) bleached and scrubbed the hell out of the deck, then sprayed the deck down real good with a garden hose, I decided against the power washer because it raises the grain too much. The stain came in but there were two problems, rain in the forecast and the company sent me the wrong stain so I had to reorder the stain.

We're having my family over this weekend so everything is being scrubbed, sorted through and placed back on the deck until I can get a few days without rain, then everything will be removed again, but at least everything will be clean.

While messing with the 165g rain barrel I noticed the screen wasn't really working out to well so I fixed that, I also noticed the 90 gallon tank wasn't filling the Koi pond, the screen filter on the timer was getting clogged every few days. I removed the screen filter on the timer and redesigned the pre filters on the barrel, hopefully this will work.

June 14th, 2019


I decided to plant some red beets so I made a little garden in a garden.

Made some wood labels and started labeling the herbs.
I was inspecting the garden looking for my parsley and couldn't find any... oops! I do have plenty of cilantro, some has flowered and some is growing nicely, I also have a few seedlings to plant out later.
I started some parsley, it's a bit late but I really like my parsley.

We have been getting a lot of rain so the irrigation lines are off.

Something took two of my eggplants, oh well.
Planted some cantaloupe starts, I direct sowed this area three times and nothing! I don't know if a critter was eating the seedlings or not so I started some in pots then planted. I have another dozen as backup.

June 19th, 2019


Still raining and looks like it will continue till Friday, I have been hoping for a break so I can stain the deck. Drip irrigation is still turned off.

Hardy Kiwi is growing like crazy

I decided to hold off on spraying the plants, I still have aphids around but they're not hurting the tomato plants. I do have to regularly go out and clean off a pepper plant that is loaded with ants. I'll probably make up a few homemade Terro Baits and put them out.

The grapes are doing great.

I stopped at the recycle center Saturday and picked up some wood chips and compost.
Put in a little garden bed on the hellstrip around the lamp post, dogs pee on this and only weeds will grow around the pole, so I put in some flowers and a Pee rock, lol.

This is the first year that my Japanese Stewartia has bloomed.

I was so sad when I had to leave my Stewartia behind in Massachusetts.
Love yours!

[SQWIBB]

June 25th, 2019


Harvested the perpetual spinach and made some Quiche type things. The round ones were onion, garlic, spinach, egg and cheese then I made a few in the square pan and did a buffalo chicken and a ranch chicken.


Trimmed the neighbors yew plant and used the trimmings for mulch, The neighbor wanted to cut it down and I said I would take care of it, I love the idea of free readily available mulch with minimal effort! Also trimmed my Juniper bush, more mulch.



I finally got around to making my Mini Raised bed for in front of the playhouse, the weeding was getting to be too much to deal with, I used some red oak salvaged from an old pallet and planted a few Nasturtiums with the Okra.


The pond plants all seem to be doing well.


The rain has finally let up long enough for me to stain the deck, I needed a minimum of 3-1/2 days without rain. I got that in just under the wire!



Stained 2/3rds of the deck Sunday morning then after it was dry enough to walk on I moved the grill, table and chairs on the stained part and had the girls finish the deck.
I had Laura help me a few hours in the morning.


Everything seems to be growing well, the peppers finally started showing some serious growth. A few of my stunted eggplants started showing some serious growth as well. I have a few ripe tomatoes on my Abe Lincoln and the Kosovo tomatoes are starting to blush.
I'm still seeing Aphids but they seem to be under control so no spray as of yet.


The cilantro that has flowered has been bringing in a ton of pollinators. My parsley seeds have finally emerged, I just couldn't justify buying a parsley plant from the Big Box Store.


My asparagus has come back to life and overtook my pepper plants. I am still battling ants everywhere, mainly around the house. I think the mouse battle is over, I think the last count was around 30.



Tossed on 20 pounds of Pork Butt for my brother and of course we had to sample it.


It was a very productive weekend!

And as usual, my little buddies are there to greet me when I get home.

[SQWIBB]

July 3rd, 2019


The garden is coming along nicely. Tomatoes are exceptional this year, extremely productive and I haven't had one tomato split this year... fingers crossed!


I have been trying to get out to the garden every day or other day to pick tomatoes. I have a critter that likes them vine ripened, so I try to get them a tad early. The ones that are nibbled are removed and placed in the bed so hopefully whatever is eating the tomatoes will find the half eaten ones more appetizing, so far so good.



I have been giving a lot of the tomatoes away this year but will probably be making salsa and canning later in the season.


Some of the pepper plants have picked up but a few are still struggling.


We had our first eggplant (Rosa Bianca) dinner the other day.



All the herbs, chives, bunching onions and the rest of the plants I forget to take pictures of are all doing well.
Most of the flowers are doing well with the exception of a few.


The fruit trees are all healthy and have put on a lot of new growth. Started seeing some Okra flowers in the front hugelkultur bed.



To my amazement the asparagus has been putting out a lot of new shoots, I'll leave them be and see what happens next year.

[arnorrian]

Really nice.

[SQWIBB]

I tried out the Red Welsh Bunching Onions, I heard they can be fairly pungent so I tried a few on and in an omelet and they were fine. I also tossed in some Green peppers.


This is my first year with Butternut squash so we will see what happens.
I have been mostly In-situ composting this season, haven't tossed much in the compost bin this summer. Doing mostly chop and drop except for the some of the tomato plant trimmings



The apple trees look healthy, I left an apple on each plant to see what happens.


All the eggplants have started producing with the potted ones leading the way, I'm also quite impressed with the Rosa Bianca, I may replace the Listada di Gandia with the Rosa Bianca.



The cantaloupe by the Water tank is growing like crazy but the cantaloupe on the trellis by the back fence is slow growing but healthy.



The Gogi berry, pomegranate trees, and Chokeberry are starting to put on some growth.
Peach trees, Pear Tree, Cherry Tree, Apricot Tree, Grapes and Hardy Kiwi are all growing nicely. The Passion Flower took off and is becoming a bit invasive.
Comfrey is growing nicely.
The cucmbers that I tossed in the hugelkultur bed last minute has been producing.
My beets are a disappointment, I think one survived.

My Fig on the deck and Front of the house are taking off but the two that I have in front of the fence on the hill aren't doing much of anything.


My Lime and Lemon tree are slowly growing but look healthy, especially the Lime tree.
All the herbs and Aliums are doing well.

July 7th, 2019




Fried some Okra for a wonderful garden breakfast, and we had another eggplant for dinner, tomatoes are coming off every day, next year I'm going to have to limit my tomato plants.

Garden Breakfast
Coffee - Mint sweet tea - tomato w/chives, basil and feta - Fried Okra - Eggs over easy with chives - Leftover egg from Okra with chives.