I dried a bunch in our dehydrator. Still have jars of salsa from years ago. And then look who volunteered this year. Imagine my surprise.
Second wave of ever-bearing strawberries from Dutch buckets. The plants in the ground? Meh!
Dutch buckets sucking the nutrients fast enough that it’s time to get the low nutrient level warning gizmo setup again.
Cheap attempts to get longer life out of gallon milk jugs in use for hydroponic growing outdoors. First pic shows effect of sunlight. Second, jugs heat wrapped with trash bags 2 block algae. Last, white bag to reflect and keep heat down. Panda-ized on a budget.
I’ve never been able to figure out garden watering. I either add too much or not enough. So I gave up and threw down the cash for this little beauty. After much fiddling, was able to get data into Home Assistant. Showed I need mulch. Spread White Clover seeds for a living mulch that adds nitrogen.
Using the fruit fly assay for ripeness, confirmed their assessment of our patch by squishing a sample and checking the brix. Came in at 12. So the soft berries that come off easy are, indeed, ready and tasty. $4/pt at farmer’s market today!? Selling water on the banks of the river here in Seattle.
Stop it! You’re killing me! Did you give them steroids or what? Ours still look like this pic. Lazy slackers. But boy do they suck down the nutrient solution. Got a real drinking problem that bunch does.
Seattle weeds telling me they’re all ripe and stuff. Brix about 10. Should be tasty. They are not. Sour! Gonna let ‘em bake through these 90 degree days and then see what they have to say for themselves. Still eating 2yr old jam. Need to be good for the effort or the birds can have them.
Every now and then I’m able to beat the winged fruit terrorists to the prize. You should hear the protests from the tree tops as I collect the goods! I shout back telling them to go eat their blackberries before I take those, too! Law of the jungle. Survival of the fittest. #VegetableGardening
Yard is the boss. Grape vine needed to be pruned to stay in our yard. Basil grew tall enough to touch the grow light and burned the top leaves. So now it’s stuffed grape leaves and pesto time. Whether I’m ready or not. Gonna require a beer or two. Not what I’d planned. #VegetableGardening
Just because I left a FEW things on the card table in the patio, the Mrs says there’s not enough space for us to have our dinner out there. Hmmm. #VegetableGardening
Remedial Gardening Lesson Number 5002 Plants STILL require water in order to do their little survival thing. That is all. Thank you for your attention to this matter. #VegetableGardening
The simple backyard garden we all need and deserve. These jokers charge to go there. But it was definitely worth it.
Unintended indicator of successful nitrogen repletion -purslane resurgence. The goal was to get the bolting salad bowl lettuce going again. Worked. Apparent where application spots were missed. #VegetableGardening
Love my grapes. Not fussy. Required pruning leads to stuffed grape leaf dinner. What started out as a wimpy little twig from the nursery is now a backyard monster with 9 ‘children’ infesting the rest of the yard. Candice grapes are seedless and make great raisins. #VegetableGardening
Finally got Romaine seeds harvested. They join the Black Seed Simpson and Bibb seeds already harvested. Salad Bowl plants went into nitrogen depleted soil that set them back. Coming along now. Getting ready for fall planting. #VegetableGardening
Grocery store lettuce crown reborn. This one finally rooted. Will undoubtedly bolt and thereby produce seeds for future generations. Success rate is about one in five attempts. Once roots elaborate a bit more, it goes out in the dirt to do it’s thing. #VegetableGardening
Getting too old for this. Each year I’ve had to dig down on the edge of the raised beds and cut back the current year’s invading tree roots from neighbor’s trees. Solid mat under furthest bed this year. Giving up. Going to containers from now on. #VegetableGardening
Damn. ICE starts infesting and now those algae flinging terrorists have also shown up in Seattle! When will it end?
Seed sources are all around us. Bought an organic red pepper. Enjoyed it for dinner and placed some of the seeds on cotton to sprout. About 50% viability. Not bad. After this stage it will graduate to the Dutch bucket setup to fully mature. Last year’s bell pepper didn’t over winter as hoped.
Why I avoid use of most hydroponic sponges. Unearthed this beauty from the garden that was from a hydroponic start transferred to the garden last year. Zero breakdown and the plant didn’t make it. Some of these things are biodegradable and some, obviously, are not.
Lettuce sprouted on cotton and then floated on nutrient is now big enough to separate and transfer to next stage.
Ok. Squirrels in the neighborhood are: 1. Lazy as all hell 2. Completely clueless as to how burying their booty should be done 3. Offering a trade for the strawberries eaten 4. Messing with me 5. None of the above
Biggest, fussiest baby in the yard! “I didn’t get enough! Where’s the Nitrogen? How does a pile get a drink around here? Pieces too big! Cut ‘em up for me! Now I’m smothered, give me some air!! When’s it gonna be my turn?” Jeez. Give it nitrogen and it smells like it pooped it’s diaper! I can’t.
Harvested some seeds from the Black Seed Simpson lettuce that started hydroponically in the basement and then transferred to garden when it started to bolt. Romaine seeds won’t be too far behind. Getting ready for the fall rotation. #VegtableGardening
More proof of failure to achieve a hot compost pile: volunteer potatoes. Fitting consolation prize for yet another composting failure. Look pretty proud of themselves, don’t they? The earlier volunteer arugula liked it, too.
How big can these starts be allowed to grow before they need to be moved? Depends upon the plant but some get fairly hefty. Anything brave enough to risk our beds needs to be big enough to take on the slugs. Somehow, they survive Sluggo just enough to aggravate.