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A cold sliced meat salad. Perfect for the day, the heat. And it was mixed, various greens, cucumber, cherry tomato... Just a touch of blue cheese dressing and it was off to the races. I am spoiled this way.
The garden is getting watered. It is about time to turn that off, take a shower, and head to town. I looked over advice regarding peppers and what I kept running into was the notion that a mix of fertilizers was best. The big tomatoes will get bonemeal, the peppers and smaller tomatoes will get a mix of fertilizers. I am guessing Miracle Grow will be fine for almost everything, along with an extra dose of bone meal for the big plants. I just recently aerated, so that should help. Though I think I will continue to split my time in the garden between aerating and weeding. Along with fertilizing and keeping up on watering I am hoping to get something going.
On the good side, it looks like my rookie year of seedling production, other than maybe it being later than it could have been, was stellar. The only plants I had some trouble with were the habanero plants, but that is not only typical, what I did get was fantastic. So, what was my trick? Other than soaking the seeds overnight, there was no trick. The room might have been too cool though, which might have stunted the plants. Then again, I am not really sure about that. I am not sure they would have even germinated if it was too cool? Next year I will be planting earlier, and in the spare bedroom, with lights on a timer, and probably with some sort of heating pad for at least some of the day, possibly on it's own timer. I want this to work, I want to get vegetables, especially peppers and tomatoes. Next year I will use the other part of the garden for cucumbers and squash. Personally I think watermelon, pumpkins, and other large items would take too much water, so I will be skipping that sort. Carrots require daily watering too, but then so do the turnips and kohlrabi I suspect, which they are now getting.
Yes, turn off the water, take a quick shower, then head to town for just a bit more shopping... and to get out. It's been a weak day. I didn't have much to put in. I became tired easily and yet kept at it. Medicines, stats, the garden, and the girls, have all been tended. A little sun was had as well. I'm pleased, if I am hoping for a bit more tomorrow. I need to hit the weeding hard, and I could apply fertilizer in the evening before officially watering, which means I can cut back on the regular watering time a bit. I am doing what I can.
Hmm, looking at SiteMeter and... Not sure how that is possible, but I do believe it. It's looking like a lot of visits. The high this week was last Friday, with 140 and perhaps change. The low was Thursday and yesterday, with only 42-44. Sure, I don't write to be read, almost literally. And yet it is fascinating to see that I have a few readers. Odd.
Later, perhaps good night.
If you plant them in "hills" and then only water the "hills", you can get by with a lot less water.
ReplyDeleteBy "hills" mean literally the opposite. Plant them in depressions that you prepare in advance with a generous quantity of dug-in manure, and you will be handsomely rewarded.
The easiest way to water such, is drip irrigation. Run the "hills" in a line, string a 1/2" poly tube down the center of the line, and insert 4 gph emitters at the location of each "hill". Then water once a day for an hour or two and you're only using a scant minimum of water versus what overhead sprinkling would require.
Let's say you had a fifty foot row with "hills" spaced every five feet. That's ten hills times 4 gph times one hour equals forty gallons. Compare that to an overhead sprinkler that uses about 5 gpm times sixty minutes, equals closer to three hundred gallons.
Also the space between and adjacent to the hills remains dry, which minimizes weed control headaches.
Whatever you do, don't let the weeds in unused areas go to seed. You will thank yourself in subsequent years. If you stay on top of weeding, at least to prevent seed set, you reduce the load of viable seed in the ground, and your weeding headaches are reduced in subsequent seasons.
Well, the notion looks good on paper. From what I have seen those trickle systems are notoriously finicky and problematic. Plus, that is a heck of a setup and take-down load over hoses. Which would be fine if I could afford replacing if I can't get to it before the first hard freeze. Yeah, that is heavy in operator performance. Not only am I a one man band, but if my legs aren't lame, my mind/focus is, assuming they both aren't on the blink at the same time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll have to just use the hoe and cut them before they begin seeding. I can't otherwise do it I think. I might even use the weedwhacker. Depends on when it happens and what else I have on the menu at the moment. If I am trying to harvest, can, gather seed, and other things, all on top of hitting the weeds, technology will be the only way.
I realize it isn't the prepper way. But I am think in a grid down there will be more available helping hands. No cell phones, no games, no television, and empty stomachs. I will have help in exchange for produce. Especially since I have the seed and will have experience and tools for the garden. Assuming I can figure out water. We have a dam just two to three miles upstream and the overflow just three hundred yards away, as well as the water table being no more than thirty feet deep, so...
Yeah, I couldn't survive a grid down, solo, as is. Then again there won't be any medicine. I would have to hope I have enough to ween myself off it, as cold turkey... is iffy. Just the reality of things. Life will be hard, people, including me, no matter intent or prep, may simply die. Either that or get better from living harder and eating much leaner. Who knows.
On paper. Right, because I am such a purely theoretical kind of guy.
ReplyDeleteSetup is no more than punching a hole every five feet and sticking in an emitter. Takedown is rolling up the poly tube like a hose and setting it aside. The next year it is just laying it out again in a line.
The finicky part, in my experience ("experience" ahem) is only after the poly tube has sat in the Arizona sun for five or ten years, it gets brittle and begins to crack. That's when it is time to throw it away and get new. But again, that is after five or ten seasons of value extracted.
Speaking of water tables, you might want to get around to inquiring eventually about whether it is permitted to drive a sand point for a hand-operated well for irrigation, or potentially a larger well that can be equipped with a solar electric well pump for irrigation. Some municipalities will (grudgingly) allow your own source if it is for non-domestic use.
ReplyDeleteI just don't trust it, fully. It's a new concept. I don't trust new concepts, even ones I come up with or find and then implement. The thing with this is that, out of the box, as is, it doesn't work for my system. It could be tinkered with, in theory, but I don't have the knowledge to do that. As well, it would require a decent extra outlay of absolutely unknown expense, further, it would only work on some things, like peppers and tomatoes for sure. Which would leave some other system, possibly row tricklers to pick up the slack, again another unknown. And working those systems together would also be another potentially complex unknown. All this for 20x40, mostly peppers and tomatoes with a side of corn with a few rows of root vegetables? I'm not going to do calculus to shoot pool! :p
ReplyDeleteImagine if I told you all you had to do to simplify and cheapen your travel and lower your expenses for such by buying a sort of vehicle you had never heard of, didn't know the expenses for fuel or maintenance, it was your first year of driving, and you had just bought a different vehicle. While it isn't in that range of expense, given my financial reality, it almost might as well be. More so this summer.
Oh, I'll look into it. But I wouldn't dive cash into it until I start having system failures, probably starting with hose failures. All of which save three (though I have one extra for replacement of those already) are new this year. As for weeds, I just have to manage those as is.
I'm an early adopter in my areas of tinker/experience/expertise/interest, or if the potential loss and the greater upfront expense is either warranted by this or that, offset by this or that, or would plainly pay for themselves in time. This is not my area. And I am becoming extremely unsure about any kind of piping, plumbing, valves, and anything else in that area, after having owned a home for just a few years. All such are becoming notoriously notorious in my book. And expensive, even under the sink, from what I have seen. Ugh.
Oh, I'll look. But the diff between 4 and 5 gpm? I don't even know what that will save. Weeds I can see, but... that gives me something to do, anyway. If being able to do it all and easier would be nice. I'll look into it... for a few years down the... pipe.
Oh? I will definitely have to check into the well possibilities! I hadn't thought that possible, but... yeah, I can see where they might keep that a secret. The law is one thing here, the truth about it is quite another. I have already run into that on other issues. When backed in a corner they will, eventually, tell the truth. Of course I might have to ask several different sources. Or find a source that isn't protective and willing to lie. Regarding water and taxes, many will lie their asses off.
ReplyDelete4 gallons per hour is a typical dripper rate. 5 gallons per minute is a typical sprinkler output. The difference is hours versus minutes.
ReplyDeleteNot that you were planning on planting cucurbits this year anyway, right? But gosh man, I could whip together a fifty foot punkin hill irrigator for you for maybe twenty bucks. Screw it on to the end of a hose and let it run while you sprinkle the other part of the garden.
Oh! I didn't see the min. v. hr. thing. Well, there is that. Just woke up, when I was replying. The answer is always "no", even to my girls. :p Then again, the answer is usually "no", upfront... I come around to maybe or yes later on.
ReplyDeleteStill, this year is out. Even at $20 for 50', I would have some serious expense. Might have to consider it for next year though, if the water price makes it worth it and I see it plainly. Or even just planning and buying parts of the system for the next year.
Of course, that would mean rethinking how I have my garden set up, the layout. That goes without saying though. This year was a first, an experiment, and the beginning of a long somewhat steep learning curve, innit.
No matter. I have learned to germinate seeds indoors, and have some/most of what is needed for that. I have watering, weeding, aerating, and etc. in the queue. And I may learn canning and seed preservation yet this year. That... ain't bad, for a noob.
Always room for more, but my answer will almost always be no, up front. It's my nod to the feminine. *laughs*