Nite lites

     Well, it's been 8 days since the tomatoe seeds went in. I've had about 40-45% germination. Those aren't very good numbers, but it gives me enough for everything I want to do - with lil extras to share. The Tim's Black Ruffles I had close to 100% germination, yest the Amish Gold Romas I have had ZERO ! I've taken the remaining seeds and did the wet paper towel in a Ziploc bag trick...If the Amish Gold's don't germ I've got some Jaune Cote de Pigeion's chasing behind... Also got a lot of Purple Russians that germed. Makes me very happy.

 

 

Bosque Blue ( Now I know why they are called this )

 

 

I love this....

 

     I repotted the Chocolate Bells yesterday. For now at night time this is where I let them hang out...

 

Tomatoe Seeds !!!

   Everybody who grows loves this day. I plugged in the Heating Mats, filled the trays with starter soil...and "let's get planting!"  96 seeds all together...lets see what we get for germination. I'm only figuring on about 25 -30 plants for myself. Give away about 40-50. I'd hate to kill the unwanted ones, but hey it is what it is.

 

I've had really good success with Tomatofest Seeds. Look forward to another season of funky fruits from these seeds.

 

 

 

 Blue Fruit seeds

 

 

I love this time of year. I get anxious and nervous with anticipation.

Making Amends

      Of course I had to call it this...today was the day I added nutrients to the soil. Let it break down of the next few weeks. I'm not sure if it was overkill, but I saw this video on Youtube awhile back and it kinda struck in my head. So for this season I'm gonna treat it as gospel and see what happens. Check it for yourself ( seems reasonable to me anyway ).

 

 

     Over the past few months I've put together what I needed Cottonseed Meal, Kelp Meal, Bone Meal and Fish Meal - all from Dr. Earth. I started things out by adding Peat Moss and Vermiculite...then loosely turned and raked the entire bed. ( Hoping to correct the Alkaline levels in the bed ). Then added all the nutrients....and raked and tilled them in. Will soil test again in about 4 weeks to see the progress ( Hoping to plant in 6 weeks or so ).

 

 

Various Meals pre-turned/tilled

 

 

Finish dressing on the bed. Cucumber trellis is done too.

     

Damage Control

     This week was lil interesting. I was noticing a lil problem with the Macro focus on me Samsung EX2F. So I contacted them and they issued me a repair ticket. I had to pay my own postage there. But here's how it went....(a) UPS it to NJ on Monday...(b) received and repaired on Tuesday...(c) return ship to me on Wed...(d)...in my hands on Thursday afternoon. So there you go! We all have our personal preferences, but hard to complain about customer service like that!

     During this time I double dug the garden bed ( double digging is digging 2 shovel depths deep ) and screened and loamed it. Last fall I layered the top of the bed with a couple of inches of cow manure from Wright's Dairy Farm...free for the taking, just bring your own shovel and buckets. After sifting thru and removing old weeds and root balls I added 250lbs of Coast of Maine - Lobster Compost. So...then bed is all turned and now onto the critter fence.

 

 ( nice bird bath huh? )





 

     Fencing is all made with 3/4 inch PVC piping cut and painted with Krylon Fusion paint. Last year I only put fencing on 3 sides ( figured the chain link was my 4th ). But watched daily at the end of the season as a chipmunk did the end around and robbed me of tomatoes. So this season it's 4 sided approx 30 inches high. Anything that can get in higher than 3 feet I wasn't gonna be able to stop anyway.

 

     Last year I SERIOUSLY underestimated how high my cucumbers would climb. I had them at over 7ft and was tying anything to the top of the chain link to hold them up. What a cluster fuck! So, now the back wall of my trellis is made of PVC that runs 7ft high...tomorrow we string the rope trellis netting across this structure and tie it off to the chain link.

 

 

     I also did a quick/cheap soil test. I know that until the soil warms up most of the fungi/bacterias  don't start really doing their thing. However the tests show that my soil is WAYYY Alkaline ( Green ) Nitrogen ( Pink ) is very low, Phosphorus ( Blue ) is low and Potash ( Orange ) is normal. 

  

  

 

       As it stands I was going to add Vermiculite and other additives ( all organic ). But to offset the Alkaline levels I am going to add Cottonseed Meal and Peat Moss as well. But hey, tomorrow is another day. Just glad I got my camera back for today.



Just a lil closer...

     First off ( for the 3 people that read this ), I'm not gonna be on here all the time. While I like sharing gardening stories and bouncing ideas off of everyone, I in no way think my every thought is important. So that being said, keep low expectations of me and you will never be disappointed...Ha!

    I started my Chocolate Bells a couple weeks ago. From everything I've read I expected a germination rate of somewhere between 14-21 days. With those seedling heating mats...I had 7 of the 12 sprout within 5 days. So, in retrospect - invest in heating mats....worth the money! As of this morning I've had 4 more of them sprout making 11 for 12. I was expecting 75% but this is amazing.

 

      Once sprouted, I took the heating mats out and got the lil seedlings under the T5's.

 

 

so here they are 12 days from sprouting...just starting to get the 1st set of real leaves.

 

 

 

 

   I was thinking ( I do way too much of that ) that the openings on my Squash arbor may be a lil too wide to support a rope trellis.... So, I cut the roof apart and added 4 lateral supports.  Measured and painted.. reattached and waiting to bring outside for final assembly. I really hope this works... If it doesn't it will be because of some short sighting of mine... prob wind and storm sturdiness...I'll keep working on stabilizing it for weather.   

 

(BTW - NOT as nuclear red as my camera makes it seem to be).

 

 

And lastly, as I said before my plow guy hit the raised bed back in January. I took it as an opportunity to to upgrade and improve. I re-cut the sides and added and extra foot, also got rid of the OSHA staging plank..not sure if that was treated, so I cut it up and got rid of it.

Old bed was a total of 80 sq ft. (16 x 5 )

 

 

 

 

New bed is 96 sq ft. (16x6) - also turned the layer of cow manure I dressed it with last October.

 

...next is sifting/leveling and amending. See ya soon.

 

Samsung EX2F - macro camera

     Last year I couldn't get the macro shots I wanted ( flowers, insects, etc ). So I looked into the capabilities of my Nikon Coolpix...while it's an okay camera the closest focus point in Macro mode is 4 inches away...NOT GOOD. So I just bought a Samsung EX2F from Adorama. Tons of great cameras in this price range, but this one lets me get within 1cm (.04 inches and still focus ). Fresh outa the box this am, here's a few pix....1st one is of the ever-curious Phoenix.

 

Then some seeds ~ Moon and Stars Watermelons ( very cool close up )

 

 

 

Red Kuri Squash

 

 

and last the Densuke Watermelon

 

 

 

Great camera the Samsung EX2F, gotta play with it alot more. Gonna be a great summer!!!

My affair with Mrs. Wages

     I'm a cheater...it's true. Mrs. Wages and I have a quiet sort of thing going on since last summer. I decided I was going to get into canning veggies last summer. I figured that if the Zombie Apocalypse came along I was gonna have a skill that gets me into someones bunker. ( Yeah, cause a week's worth of pickles opens alot of doors. ) Within that vein of thinking is how I met Mrs. Wages.

     I wanted to get the principles of canning down last year. The times and temps.....working out the kinks. It's not as hard as it looks, but it is time consuming. I noticed that with making pickles there is alot of steps...brining, salting, waiting, washing....Whoa! Sensory overload! One day while getting some jars i see her there in the same shopping aisle ~ Mrs. Wages. She came in both Kosher Dill and Bread and Butter. Hanging out right next to the Salsa ( You had me at "Hello" ). I'm a tard.

    Anyway, very simple to use...pak the jars with sliced cukes...add white vinegar plus this mix and bring to a boil.....pour over the paked jars and set into canner.....and you're done! People keep hitting me up for more Salsa ( I made different types by adding , Mango, Peach or Pineapple ), and Pickles till I'm about out. I went on the website and found all kinds of Pickle Mixes that aren't for sale in the stores, also cheaper direct from the Mrs. Wages site.

  So consider this a ringing endorsment for Mrs. Wages Pickle and Salsa mixes. Figure that you will spend about $4 per session / Mix and Vinegar = 7 quarts vs. $2 pints storebought = $28 for 7 quarts
I'm loaded for the upcoming season,  I got multiple bags of each so I'll have plenty of varieties for sharing. Or, maybe I'm just bettering my chances to get in a bunker.