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

Early June Downpours Pack Punch

The growing season is just getting underway and last night there was a downpour. Followed by another at 13:30. Downpours can deliver a powerful punch. Weather can knock-out a garden before its prime. Between the downpours, I ran outside to assess the damage.

Above is a well established Black Eyed Stella Daylily with petals thinned by a rain beating.

This Clematis x durandii was wet but came through without needing the cut man.

The remaining blooming flowers were down for a technical. So I wondered over to the raised bed rings to see if the vegetables got their ears pinned back.

Lettuce was still holding their heads high. Prepared for what ever nature may unload on them in later rounds. 

The above lettuce is Red Rosie purchased from Johnny's Select Seeds for the 2012 growing season. I have been taking some outside leaves for salads over the last week. It tastes delicious. Nothing better than lettuce from the bed directly to the salad bowl. Except for tomatoes directly from the vine to my lips.

This is Buttercrunch. It, too, was purchased at Johnny's for the 2012 growing season.

The potatoes planted in the lazy bed are showing signs of growth.

After I covered the potatoes with sod, grass side down, I covered the bed with shredded tree leaves collected and shredded last autumn. There are five or six plants that have pushed their way to the sunlight.

On the whole, the garden is in good shape this early June. All one can do is be prepared. And, hope for the best.

I hope it will be a champion season.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Raised Beds Progress

There are two raised beds planted as square foot gardens. Each bed is measured out into 16 squares. Numbering starts with the square on the near left as square #1 and and continues on to square #4 on the lower right. The row above has square #5 on the left and #8 on the right and so on until you get to square #16 in the upper right corner.

Above is bed #2 positioned northerly of bed #1. 

On April 20, lettuce seeds were planted in squares #1-Buttercrunch, #2-Superfresh, #3-Winter Density Green Romaine(Cos) and #4-Red Rosie Red Romaine(Cos). Carrot seeds were planted in squares #5-Kaleidoscope and #6-Scarlet Nantes.

On April 20 the following squares were planted with commercially started tomato plants, #9-Beefstake, #10-Mortgage Lifter, #11-Mr. Stripey, #12-Bonnie Grape.

On May 13, the following squares were seeded with varieties of lettuce, #7-Butterhead #8-Adriana MTO, #2&3-Red and Green Romaine(Cos) Mix.

On May 27 the following squares were seeded, #13&14-Watermelon, Bush Sugar Baby, #15&16-Cucumber, Tendergreen

Above is bed #1 which is southerly of bed #2.

On April 30 commercially started tomatoes were planted, #9-Super Sweet 100 Grape, #10-Black Krim.

On May 7 the following commercially started pepper varieties were planted, #1-Carmen, #4-Sangria, #5-Anaheim, #6-Mucho Nacho, #7-Red Bell and #8-Orange Bell.

On May 13 lettuce was seeded in squares #2 and #3. Unfortunately, I didn't note the varieties. #11&12 planted with Rutgers commercially started tomatoes. 

On May 27, #13 and #14 were seeded with Sweet Burpless Cucumber.

Above planted in bed #1, square #4 is an ornamental hot pepper called Sangria that has buds and blooming flowers visible.

The tomatoes planted back on April 20 have progressed to the point that they need support. I started to rip some lumber to make four more trellises. I hope to have them finished and installed soon.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Direct Seed 29 Days of Progress

The seeds sown directly on April 20, 2013 show signs of progress.

Both boxes were closely sown and needed thinning. The seedlings in the longer box were thinned. Thinning of crowded sown seeds gives room for growth to the strongest looking seedlings.

The radishes have grown tall after thinning.  Now, the smaller box needs thinning.

©Damyon T. Verbo - All rights reserved

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.

Direct Planted Vegetable Seeds Sprouting

Vegetable seeds were directly planted into the growing medium on 20 April, 2013. These photographs were captured on 4 May, 2013, two weeks after direct planting.

  

In the plastic boxes were planted ... 

 

I don't remember exactly what I planted in those boxes. I didn't write any notes about these boxes as I did for the raised beds.

Between the open packets of seeds and the visual clues, I believe I planted bunching onions, beets, swiss chard and radishes.

In raised bed #2 the lettuce was peeking out of the slits I cut in the red plastic mulch.

The started tomato plants are showing evidence of growth. I have already been thinking about supports/trellis for the tomatoes and cucumbers to be planted in early June.

Carrots are peeking through the plastic mulch.

Close up of some lettuce.

Once the secondary leaves are opened I will begin to thin down to a few plants per slit. A little later the space will go to the strongest single plant.

I purchased two more varieties of tomato plants - Super Sweet 100, a grape tomato, and Cherokee Purple, an heirloom. I planted them in raised bed #1.

I try to keep the producer's plant ID with each plant.

I visit the home center often to look for new arrivals of tomatoes and peppers. If they ever arrive, I will round out my tomato purchases with a Rutgers variety and a Marglobe variety.

The Rutgers is suppose to be close to the taste of Jersey tomatoes, a familiar flavor from my childhood. Jerseys were tomatoes grown in New Jersey when Campbell's Soup had a tomato soup canning facility in Camden, NJ.

Marglobe I will plant for its abundance of fruit production. The grower touts 50lbs/22.7kg of Marglobes per plant per season. I will need to keep up with watering to fill 50lbs of tomatoes.

I can hardly wait to bite into one of these beauties. Teeth snapping through the red skin, juice popping into the air and seeds dribbling down my chin and onto the front of my shirt. I'll swoon from the odor of vine ripened tomato as the acid cuts into my sun parched lips. Is there anything better? Well, maybe there is. This has got to be a really close second, right?

Good gardening!

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

US Spring Vegetable Garden Planting Calendar

It is time to start planning and purchasing seeds for your spring and summer vegetable garden. There are some terrific garden tools online. Let me recommend two. Using those two you will be able to create you very own spring vegetable garden planning calendar. Planning season is here. Planting season is near.

National Climatic Data Center - first and last frost/freeze dates by zip code. 
Skippy's Vegetable Garden Planning Calendar - Plan your gardening year by last frost date.

To start you will need the last frost/freezing date for your area.

Source:NOAA

Go to the National Climatic Data Center and choose your state from the pull down menu.

Source:NOAA

There you will see a chart. Above is the top of the chart for Pennsylvania. Find the closest reporting station to your town. As an example, take a look at Bradford Regional Airport. The first column to the right of the name of the reporting station contains three temperatures in Fahrenheit(F), 36, 32 & 28. Beside each of those temperatures is a row of dates. Spring frost date is our concern. The third column from 32ºF is, for all intents and purposes, the last frost date. That column designates the date on which there is a 10% chance that the temperature will descend below 32ºF. Which for Bradford is June19.

If you open another browser window and navigate to Skippy's Vegetable Garden Planner you will see Skippy asks for the latest frost date for your area. Residents of Bradford would enter the date, 06/19/2013, into the field.

You will place your last frost date into the field, then click the "Generate spring planting calendar" button to create your customized calendar.

Source:http://bioarray.us/Skippy's%20planting%20calendar.html

Above is my planning calendar. As you can see I have just about a week to purchase onion seeds before they need to go into the ground. Don't delay, get your calendar today.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved