Doug's Garden - A RL Dynasty... of sorts

[Doug5984]

A catastrophe has struck the garden.

The past 2 nights it has gotten really cold, I covered my plants but it does look like the cold had an effect, about half the leaves on my newly planted plants are shriveled. I'm going to do some research to see what I need to do, my guess is just to trim the dead leaves and roll with it. We'll see. If need be I'll pull them all up, throw them away and buy some more- they really weren't that much.

My big dumb boxer also decided that my new bed was a good place to lay down, that probably didn't help. (My guess is that dirt was very warm baking in the sun and he was hanging out in there to warm up)

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by Doug5984

My big dumb boxer also decided that my new bed was a good place to lay down, that probably didn't help. (My guess is that dirt was very warm baking in the sun and he was hanging out in there to warm up)

He decided his favorite sleeping spot is on top of the peppers- I'll have to replant a few plants, and put up a little fence around it for the time being. It's been cool for a few days, hopefully the sun comes out and the plants are able to regroup from the cold damage they suffered

[sterlingice]

"A catastrophe has struck the garden": this just sounded like if you made a game called SimGarden (no not farm) and you had 6 disasters to choose from.

SI

[Doug5984]

Finished through tax day yesterday so hopefully I'll be able to get an update here shortly. I replanted the plants that my dog slept on / ate.

Everything seems to be going great- my strawberry plant is putting out quite a few strawberries every few days. I used some of my onion chives in a red beans and rice last week.

Blue berries and black berries really seem to be doing well, although I need to build a bed around the blackberries and put mulch in there as the grass in that area is taking off as well and I dont want to get in there with a weedeater yet

[Doug5984]

4/23/13 Update:

Everything is well in the garden / back yard. Last night I used some of the green onion tops, and onion chives in a tilapia dish and they were very good.

I've eaten 2-3 strawberries just about every day and they are all very good.

Pepper plants seem to be taking off, I'll need to stake them before long.

Pictures coming soon, hopefully we get some sun in the next few days

[Doug5984]

[chesapeake]

Looking good!

[Doug5984]

An update to the garden- everything looking very good, pics from yesterday 5/19



Added 2 tomato plants




Replaced my old satsuma






















Added a citronella


Something for the wife


Finally made a bed around the blackberries

[Doug5984]

The garden is kicking on all cylinders right now- I'll have to get some updated pics in the next few days.

Last night I picked 2 bell peppers, 1 sweet banana pepper and 2 regular bananna peppers as well as a few jalapeños, and a handful of blackberries.

[Doug5984]

Again, I'm just amazed at how great everything is doing. I'll try to get some updated pictures tonight.

I've been picking a few blackberries per day, all are great. I've picked a few banana peppers, jalepeaons, bell peppers, countlress onion tops, onion chives. All my other pepper plants are starting to produce, and will be ready before long. I have a few squash that are close to being ready.

All the herbs are doing great as well except the lavender which is being choked out by the squash and chocolate mint.

The blackberries have really taken to climbing my swing set.

I'm already starting to think of ideas for covering them next winter to make sure everything survives.

[law90026]

Sounds awesome!

[Doug5984]

Blue Berries / Satsuma



Bushes aren't growing that much, but they have produced... I know these will take time

[Doug5984]

The late addition of tomatoes

[Doug5984]

The main raised bed- producing like crazy... I'm amazed at the progress with this one.


I have a yellow bell (still green) that is larger than a baseball, it's pretty great

[Doug5984]

Where it all began, the potted peppers / strawberries

[Doug5984]

The blackberries

[Doug5984]

Backside blackberries- I've been using garden twine to tie them up, train them to climb

[sterlingice]

How are the raised gardens do for you, maintenance-wise? We're looking at buying a house in the next few months and it's something that's kindof on my radar when I'm looking at backyards but not all that much.

Growing up, my parents had a pretty big garden in the ground but I don't have the patience for that. And, as my dad said, Houston pretty much has the worst of everything except cold. You have brutal and long lasting heat and humidity, summer is a combination of torrential rains followed by multi-week droughts, and the wet times mean that fungus and bugs all proliferate well in our clay soil.

SI

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

How are the raised gardens do for you, maintenance-wise? We're looking at buying a house in the next few months and it's something that's kindof on my radar when I'm looking at backyards but not all that much.

Growing up, my parents had a pretty big garden in the ground but I don't have the patience for that. And, as my dad said, Houston pretty much has the worst of everything except cold. You have brutal and long lasting heat and humidity, summer is a combination of torrential rains followed by multi-week droughts, and the wet times mean that fungus and bugs all proliferate well in our clay soil.

SI

Originally Posted by Doug5984

The main raised bed- producing like crazy... I'm amazed at the progress with this one.


I have a yellow bell (still green) that is larger than a baseball, it's pretty great

This raised bed seems to be working very well, I put down news paper instead of that weed blocking stuff they sell. Seems to be working well, I'll pull a couple weeds every week- but nothing major, and I can do it while watering. If you are building from scratch I'd say go with that system, as opposed to the ones my blueberries are in- as they are full of weeds very often...and really a pain in the ass to deal with.

I water pretty much everyday as we get a lot of heat, and they get full sun as well. I've talked about it in here, and plan on doing some type of automated watering system at some point- just haven't gotten around to it.

I couldn't be happier with the raised bed. The ease of working in it at the height, weed-eating around it, the lack of weeds, and I think it looks better

[Dodgerchick]

What a great dynasty! Your garden looks great, true labor of love.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

summer is a combination of torrential rains followed by multi-week droughts

Rain barrels, possibly more than one hitched together, will help you get through this. I ran a couple of soaker hoses back and forth through my 6x18 vegetable garden. I've only had to water a couple of times so far this year in Northern VA, but all I have to do is hook up the hose to the spigot on one of my 2 chained rain barrels and open the valve. Gravity does the rest.

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

Rain barrels, possibly more than one hitched together, will help you get through this. I ran a couple of soaker hoses back and forth through my 6x18 vegetable garden. I've only had to water a couple of times so far this year in Northern VA, but all I have to do is hook up the hose to the spigot on one of my 2 chained rain barrels and open the valve. Gravity does the rest.

I've been thinking about this as well, with a soaker hose- how much water does it use, how long do you keep it on? On a dry day- I'd hate to get it all set up and only be able to use it a couple times a year because no rain / it runs dry quick?

[Doug5984]

Not a bad little harvest for a Sunday afternoon

[Doug5984]

Need some help from those with more experience, it seems a lot of my bell peppers are getting these soft spots on them...



I assume it's some kind of disease, it's strange they are only affecting the different type of bell peppers, as all my banana, jalapeños, cayenne, tabasco, and even my "Cajun Belle" are doing fine.

Normally as soon as I see they are getting this spot I cut them off and throw them away. I've missed some for a few days and it ends up turning the entire pepper soft. Very strange.


The small red peppers at the top in the previous picture are the Cajun Belle's, I really recommend these to anyone who likes a little heat and good flavor, I grilled some up with some mushrooms last night for a baked potato- and they were great. Just enough kick. However- be sure to wash your hands after cutting them, I didn't and my face was burning for a couple hours.

[Doug5984]

I love looking back at the early pictures and seeing how much progress was made, it's really incredible to think in just that short time how much it has changed, and filled out. At this rate I'll be cutting the blackberries back quite a bit before the end of summer.

[sterlingice]

A cursory Google search points towards Blossom End Rot but I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

SI

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

A cursory Google search points towards Blossom End Rot but I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

SI

Yeah I had looked around at a few things, guess I should also mention that it's plants in 2 different soil sources (a couple potted, and some in my raised bed)...also everything else in that bed is doing fine which was just sort of confusing me. Looks like I'll need to do a soil check just to be sure that's not the problem.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Doug5984

I've been thinking about this as well, with a soaker hose- how much water does it use, how long do you keep it on? On a dry day- I'd hate to get it all set up and only be able to use it a couple times a year because no rain / it runs dry quick?

It appears to use about 1/3 of one barrel in about an hour based on my very limited experience with it. The soaker hose I bought from the Home Depot said how much water it would use in an hour. Doing the math in my head, I think that comes out to about 1/2 gal per hour per foot of hose. I expect seepage will vary based on hose length (I have two hoses, linked), how much water is in your barrel and how much you can bring gravity into play.

[wade moore]

Hadn't seen this dynasty before.

A note on strawberries.

If you have the patience, it's best to "pinch off" the first batch of flowers that come in on your plants. It will make the following strawberries sweeter.

[sterlingice]

We demand updates!

SI