Growing on in May!

It has been a while since I've made any updates. I've been busy with daily gardening and research. So for everything is growing well. The plants are doing wonderful, but as it is still early not much in development of vege's. I won't get to worried for now as I believe I started everything early enough to get the most development out of my plants before it's too hot to produce the fruit.

As for successes and failures. For the success, I've been using compost tea, and using the new compost I make compared to the store bought has been a huge difference. I'm trying to apply the tea on a weekly bases, but with the rain fall, it has been more about every week and a half. Also adding mulch is seeming to keep the soil went and keeping watering even and less frequent during the hotter days. For the most part the weather has been in low to mid 80's with occasionally hitting 90. This will soon change I am sure! :)

As for the failures, once again I failed to grow cucumbers. I have had about two small pickling cucumbers but that's about it. The leaves were also getting a spotty, mildew look. So after some research I add some baking soda and water. Unfortunately I added too much baking soda and also kept the leaves wet when the heat came. Needless to say, I totally burned my leaves to the point, I had to remove a good bit of them. They are starting to come back, but very slowly and not a lot of cucumbers as of yet.

I do see the starts of jalapenos and tomatoes in the making, and I'm hoping to have a descent growth for these. Next year I would like to add the mix that Ronnie from the Small Town Gardener, added to each plant during planting.

Soil Admentments, foilage spray and compost tea!

Now that I am really trying to build up my soil and not flush out the good nutrients with synthetic fertilizers I really needed some professional help. Ronnie from The Small Town Gardener sent me a message with what he does, and I could see it being useful in my garden. Here is what he wrote me:

RONNIE: OK here is what i do to my beds I also buy store bought compost and buy manure from local farms ( you can find them pretty easy on craigslist just search manure) but do not use wood chips in the soil only on top of the soil when it started getting hot because wood chips need nitrogen to break down and they will rob your plants of it if it is in the soil..as for the amendments I use in the bed I use
dolomite lime I buy mine from the farm and feed store but you can find it most places but make sure its Dolomite lime and not Hydrated lime Hydrated lime .. is the wrong stuff I have seen people use it but it is for your yard Trust me I did that before I learned the difference please never use hydrated lime in the garden ... it causes more harm than good.....put that bag far away from your garden beds. use it on your lawn and it will be great for that but not your veggies

the thing with lime in a vegetable garden is you need a 2:1 ratio...2 parts lime : 1 part magnesium..... that's what dolomitic lime is. It's that combination that works properly for a garden /plant situation. always keep in mind you always need magnesium to break the lime into a plant happy form. That’s why so many people think that adding Epsom salts to the soil is a great idea ... what they don't realize it's the combination of whatever lime or calcium naturally present in the soil that really does the trick...it's not just the Epsom salt alone that is showing results... most soils have plenty of calcium present ... even the worst soils have natural calcium present . that does not mean you don’t need Epsom salt I am just saying that its not the only thing working its magic


first off I add 4-5 cups of dolomite lime to by beds about a week or so before I start planting that way it has some time to start its breaking down process then when I am ready to plant I use espoma garden tone 2 cups(I buy mine at home depot 10 bucks a bag)... a little bit of Epsom salts(magnesium) 1/2 cup ( I get this at Walmart for 3 bucks a bag ,and just a tiny bit of dry molasses 1/4 cup ( this I also get at the farm and feed store it is about 10 bucks a bag here and a tiny bit of rock phosphate 1/4 cup ( I also buy this at the farm feed store its about 20 bucks a bag for a 50 pound bag ... 1/4 cup dolomite lime...and 2 cups green sand ( green sand has many trace minerals and helps keep the soil from compacting read up on its benefits you will be amazed!! this I also get at the farm and feed store it is very cheap at 10 bucks for a 50 pound bag mix all this together in a 5 gallon bucket.... add 50% compost. Put 2 cups of this mix in the planting hole. dig it around a bit this will work with everything you plant them in..... then middle of the year do the same thing just scratch the amendments around the plants into the soil about 4 inches from the base of the stalk as for compost tea I try and use it once a week I have a video on how i make mine and its very simple also when its done brewing sometimes I add fish emulsion I don’t like adding it while its brewing because it stinks and the cats love it and will try and drink it ...also once a week I like to take my sprayer ( one gallon sprayer I bought at home depot for 10 bucks) and mix a few tablespoons of unsulfered molasses and water from my rain barrel and spray the plants with it you can also do the same with Epsom salt and water just make sure its not tap water if you have to use tap water let it set out over night before using it I know this sounds like a lot but its not the amendments are a once a year purchase of about 50 bucks but if you look at the cost of something like miracle grow for the year which is what I used in the past it cost me almost 150 dollars and it didn’t do nearly as well and it kills the soil this way you are adding lots of beneficial amendments back to the soil and you will notice how rich your soil will be and how green your plants are ..and as for things like dynamite mater magic there will be no need for this if you use the things I listed now for things like bone meal and blood meal that is fine to add as well it wont hurt anything it will also add to the soil just read the package on those and add them when you are adding the dolomite lime the week or so before planting........hope this helps you if you have any questions just let me know I am no expert I am just telling you what I use and so far I am extremely happy with how things are growing here.

Last day of March, and in the garden.

From past years I discovered I needed to be planting earlier than I usually do. Well Although mid march would seem to be ideal this year, a week or two behind, I at least have most things planted.

Yesterday Home depot had a 'black Friday' sale weekend, so I got a few half price plants that I didn't start from seed. So today I planted a few things. I planted the rest of the Jalapeno peppers with just a mixture of Moo-compost mixed in with a bit of bone meal. I also got Marla a few Bell Peppers so I did the same thing along with the cherry tomatoes. These cheery tomatoes I wasn't' able to plant as deep as the homesteads, so I will follow these and see which does better. The depth was only a few inches about the root ball

I still have my eggplants and hopefully some Zucchinis. Wish me luck.

How deep to plant Tomatoes?

The last two years I planted transplants that I bought at the store, so they when as deep as the root and that was it. I can't say for sure that this was the reason that I had no success with the tomatoes, but this year I'm changing it up.

With starting from seed this year, I had about foot tall starters. I trimed some of the lower leaves and dug a whole about 8 to 10 inches. I missed out on adding the Moo-Nure, as I said in my previous post, but I added Mater Magic I got on sale from Home Depot that is organic and is suppose to really grow big maters!. I will see if any of this make a difference than the last few years.

Planting with Moo-nure

After planting my Tomatoes I was getting ready to plant my peppers and remembered I had Moo-Nure and Bone meal left over from last year. So I added this to my peppers. We will see how it goes.

Raised Beds!

Oh why, oh why did I add more beds? Probably to have a better chance of a lot of produce. This weekend I had ordered some garden mix that consists of about 30-70% mushroom compost (the percentage depends on who you ask, it was always a different answer), and wood chips, sand etc. It doesn't look completely decomposed, but I will have to keep an eye on it for that reason. But other than that, it seems to be some good quality mix. Which it better since I paid a hefty price for it.

I spent all weekend fighting the rain, and wind to get three more beds filled. Now I just have to figure out how to fill them all.

I only now need to find time to plant the plants I do have and hopefully get the watering system up as well.

I'm looking into some better ideas of compost tea, last year did not do so well in that department.

Mid March in the Garden!

March is here and so is spring. Its been in the 80's for two weeks now, and I am just now getting my plants ready for the out doors. So they have been going in and out for a week and are now out side in the shade, today was the first day for full sun for a few hours.\

I was informed that now my region has changed to zone 8a, and that means the last frost date is ranging from March 1st to March 30th. I knew the for cast from the week of Feb 15th was good for planting. If I had had my plants ready and my new beds ready, I would have planted by now.

New Beds you say? Yes, I am getting my garden mix delivered this weekend, and planting will follow soon after.

If I had to do again, I would start some of the slower plants in mid to early January by seed to be ready for Mid March transplanting.