Veggie Magic in a Bottle

Source:http://pickleinabottle.com/gallery.html

Have you ever seen the cucumber in the bottle magic trick?

I was a child when my dad showed me a cucumber in an old glass milk bottle. I was dumbstruck. How did that thick cucumber get through that narrow neck? I never did figure it out on my own.

It is time to pass on that mysterious veggie in a bottle trick. I will show you how it is done. If you prepare now you, too, can accomplish this before the end of the growing season.

You will need a few items before you begin. If you are growing cucumbers vertically you will need a bottle(s), wire and wire cutters. If growing on the ground just a bottle.

Choose a tiny to small size cucumber as a target. As it grows, the cuke will need to be directed into the opening of the bottle.

Cut some lengths of wire. Each length needs to be long enough to circumvent the bottle, the support structure and still have enough to twist the ends together. Once you have that length calculated, add more for later fine adjustments.

As you can see from the photograph above the cuke is a small distance from the bottle. Adjustments in bottle position will be made as the cuke grows. That is were the extra wire will be needed.

Don't limit yourself to one size and shape bottle. I will also be using a 1.75l gin bottle. I am sure the results of one or the other will be to my liking.



Don't limit yourself to one vegetable either. This can be done with any growing fruit or vegetable. Think of the possibilities- apples, pears, peaches, tomatoes, squash, watermelons, pumpkins. Get out and have some old fashion fun in your garden.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

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Made on a Mac

Drip Watering System for Lazy Vegetable Gardening

I am, what I call, a lazy gardener. I don't mind working hard in the spring but when it gets hot, I get lazy. Therefore, I try to do as much work as I am able in the spring to sit back and enjoy the garden through the summer.

In the mail this week, I received the drip irrigation system for my raised beds. Over the past 7-8 years I have been using a 1/2"/ 13mm soaker hose cut to the needed length and joined together with regular garden hose using plastic fittings. However, last year the 1/2"/ 13mm fittings I need were no longer available on the market. Neither in the brick and mortar stores or on the internet. All the available fittings were 5/8"/ 16mm. My old system was not repairable, it was finished, kaput, done. I needed to move on to a new system.

 

From Lowe's, I purchased a Mr. Landscaper Drip Irrigation Vegetable Garden Kit. This is not a item my local Lowe's stocks. I had to make the purchase online at Lowes.com. Over a period of two weeks I experienced problems completing the purchase. Lowe's system just wouldn't complete the sale. I had to call their customer service number listed on the website. To make a long story short, the kit was purchased in Texas and sent via UPS. Way to go Lowe's.

The above tubing included in the kit is 1/4"/6mm inside diameter with one 1/2gal/1.9L per hour/ emitter spaced every 12"/30cm along the hose. This works perfectly with the square foot garden method I am using for these raised beds. How does it work perfectly, you ask? Let me explain.

Each raised bed in divided into 16 equal 1'/ 30cm squares.

                                       

Four 4' lengths of emitter tubing, each with four emitters spaced 12" apart are placed on the bed 12" apart. Thereby having one emitter for each sq ft space. On average over the growing season, each sq ft space will need 1gal of water per week. By isolating the water supply to this drip system for two hours per week, the plants will obtain their needed gal/wk.

I started by installing the emitter tubing, opposite of the manufacturer's installation instructions. I cut the end of the tube 6"/15cm from the first emitter. Starting at one side of the raised bed this measurement placed all the emitters in the center of each delineated sq ft area.

Since I had the plastic mulch already atop the raised bed, I needed to thread the tubing under the plastic. To keep out any foreign matter from the hose, which might stop the water flow, I placed a plug into the leading end of the tube.

If you look closely you can see the leading end on the left side of the photograph as I feed the tube under the plastic. If the end wasn't plugged there would undoubtable be some foreign matter in the tube.

Above you can see the tubing exiting at the next plant. Continue feeding the tubing through until you reach the other side of the bed.

I was able to uncover the surface of the bed to place this row of tubing rather than fishing it under the plastic. Much easier doing it that way.

The next step was to pierce the 1/2"/13mm supply tube. 

Insert a connector and push the end of the emitter tubing onto the connector. Do the same for all four of the emitter tubings.

You will notice in the above photograph, the supply tubing tends to keep its curved shape from all the time it spent coiled in the packaging. That needed to be addressed, next.

I found the above items in my garage. Plastic pipe strapping, hex washer headed sheet metal screws and a magnetic socket to drive the screws. I had both phillips headed and these hex headed screws. I chose the hex screws because I knew the screws would rust outdoors even thought they were coated. The hex headed screws would be easier to remove once the rust got to the screws.

I cut the strap so there were three holes to each length. I chose the length after conforming the strap over the black supply line. 

I placed one strap/clamp on each end of the raised bed frame which left some curve in the supply line near the center of the frame.

To take out that hump in the supply line I added another strap/clamp.

Some supply line needs to extent past the raised bed frame to use the double over clamp you see on the red plastic to the left of the pepper plant above. I am leaving the end of the supply line open until it is connected to the water supply. Just before installing the double over clamp on the end of the line water needs to be flushed through the tube to get out any foreign matter that might clog the tube.

Everything fit perfectly and I have more emitter tubing to extend the drip system to other parts of my garden. With the drip system, the plastic mulch and the raised beds, I am almost ready to a lazy season of vegetable gardening.

Late First Planting New Square Foot Raised Beds

Here in the Philadelphia area, it is customary to plant peas and onions on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March. My two new raised beds were still in the planning stage on that date. I finished constructing, mixing the planting medium and filling the beds 15 April. Too late to plant peas and onions. Not to late for tender plants if they are protected from frost.

Lowe's had these Bonnie tomato plants on sale 20 April. Besides being on sale, they were tomato varieties I wanted to plant. One thing about Bonnie plants I have learned over the last few years is that the variety you want may not be available if you wait to make your purchase later in the season. For those two reasons I purchased the following four tomato plants.

Red Beefsteak-My wife's request

Mortgage Lifter - A huge tomato with great taste

Mr. Stripey - A buttery sandwich size tomato

Tamy G Hybrid Grape Tomato- I have never grown it but will give it a try

In the past I have failed to get the newly purchased plants into the ground before they suffered damage. I tend to procrastinate. Therefore, as soon as I got these plants home from Lowe's, I prepared the grid and started planting the tomatoes.

Each tomato plant got its own one foot square. I cut an X in the center of a square. I folded back each triangular flap to form a square. I then dug down to near the bottom of the raised bed, putting the displaced growing medium on the plastic mulch near the hole.

Using my thumbnail I removed branches about 6"/ 15cm up from the bottom of the stem. Why do this? Tomatoes sprout roots along the buried stem. The extra roots add support for the fruit. Plus, the tomato will access moisture deep in the soil that doesn't dry out as readily as soil near the surface.

Next I removed the label and pot from the growing medium and tomato roots.

If the roots are dense and growing in a circular pattern, 

they must be loosened, straightened, freed from that circular pattern. If you don't, the roots will continue to grow in that same circular pattern and not stretch out for support and access to more moisture.

Place the plant into the hole, roots first, of course. The bottom branches of the plant should not touch the plastic mulch when the plant is standing straight. If they do, remove those lower branches.

Return all of the displaced growing medium into the hole around the plant and firm it down a bit. Move on to the next plant and repeat. 

Besides the tender tomatoes I also planted seeds of several varieties of lettuce and several varieties of carrots in the raised bed.

The four squares on the bottom row are each planted with four lettuce each. The two squares on the left side of the next row each has 16 carrots spaced equally.

For a continued supply of lettuce, I will plant more every two weeks until the temperature gets hot when the lettuce tends to bolt to seed. I reserved some squares for peppers and other tender plants to be added at a later date.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Raised Bed Growing Medium Recipe

Traditionally the growing medium for plants has been soil, dirt, earth, ground, loam or what ever you to call it in your neck of the woods. The composition and structure of soil can vary widely from place to place. To take the guess work out of the composition and structure of your local soil it may be better to create your own growing medium. Start from scratch. Play God a little bit.

According to the original Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, the growing medium consists of: 

1. Sphagnum Peat Moss
2. Mushroom Compost
3. Vermiculite

Also recommended are organic sources of nutrients. Above you see:

1. Blood Meal
2. Bone Meal
3. Wood Ash for which I substituted Green Sand

In the photograph is enough peat, compost and vermiculite to fill two 4' x 4' x 1' / 1.2m x 1.2m x .3 m raised bed. That is 32cu ft/ .9cu m of material.

To start mixing the medium I dumped two bails of sphagnum peat moss onto the patio. The peat is very dry and light in weight. I then added three bags of mushroom compost to the pile. This bagged mushroom compost is almost wet and very heavy. Then it was time to mix the two together.

Using a square mouth shovel, slide the shovel under the close edge of the pile and place the shovelful atop the pile. Continue that action moving the pile away from you. The clumps of compost and peat will fall from the top of the pile and settle at the edge. Smash those clumps with the flat of the shovel to make small pieces of the large.

Be sure to move all the mixture in the pile and not leave any concentrations of components.

Once the medium is homogeneous add one bag of vermiculite. 

Using the same shoveling technique, mix the vermiculite until the medium is again homogeneous.

Add 1gal/ 3.78L of green sand and mix again.

The next step will take some time. Add water to the medium. Shower the pile with water. 

Both the peat and vermiculite will absorb a great amount of water. Use the same shoveling method as before to mix the water into the medium.

The medium will have enough water when squeezed 

it holds together in a clump. The mixing is finished.

It feels good to create.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Preparing Second Raised Bed Site

The second raised bed was to go on a new area of lawn. That meant much more labor than the first site. My back already hurt, and my right shoulder and both knees. I don't want to complain but, from what I remember of my youth, that is what old people do. I will, however, spare showing you my surgical scars.

I wanted the second raised bed very close to the first. I also wanted a reasonable amount of space between them because, I am big boned. If you know what I mean. So I chose an area just NE of the first bed with 30"/76cm between for the path. This placement will facilitate extending the drip irrigation system, if it ever arrives in the mail.

I started the prep by measuring 5'/1.5m from the concrete patio. As I did with the prep of the first bed. That measurement would include the 4'/ 1.2m bed plus 1'/30cm for a buffer zone between the raised bed and the lawn. That buffer zone would be covered with wood chips or some other material that would make weeding easy.

I measured along the concrete patio 7'/2.1m. That measurement included 30"/76cm for the path, 4'6"/1.3m for the bed and 1'/30cm for the buffer zone of wood chips along side the raised bed.

The next step was to remove the grass/turf from the soil. To do this I used a border shovel. That shovel is flat and cuts a straight line. It also gets under the grass to cut the roots. So I tried to keep square to the patio and I cut into the turf a straight line 5'/1.5m out from the patio. Next I cut a straight line parallel with the patio to meet the cut-out buffer area at the first bed. Then I cut lines the shape of a grid approximately 1'/30cm apart in both directions.

Lastly, I cut the roots under each square of turf and piled the squares around the dug out area.

Reminded me of the turf houses built on the prairie in the mid-nineteenth century when there wasn't much else with which to build.

Last was to level the frame. Above you can see its proximity to the first bed.

I could hardly wait to mix the 16cu ft/.45cu m of soil to get the second bed filled. But first, I had to go inside and sit down. My back was hurting. I fell asleep in the recliner until after dark. Too dark to continue. As my mom always said, "There is always tomorrow." I didn't like it when I was eating cookies but, it works for me here.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved