What's going on with your Veggie Garden Today?

Lightning's part of the equation too, isn't it?

TX_gardener -

Yup, where there's thunder, lightning's sure to follow. LOL

I think the onions are starting to look a little taller, which means they are growing. YAY!

The garlic is enormous! I gave them some blood meal yesterday. If they keep growing I'll have the largest cloves ever!

I don't think the peas like this hot weather, and it doesn't look as though it's going to get cooler anytime soon.

We slept with the windows open last night. We've never done that in March before!

What do you use to fertilize your onions? Can I use blood meal for that?

BONE MEAL, NOT BLOOD MEAL!!!!

MY BAD!!!

HIGH PHOSPHORUS!!

This message was edited Mar 21, 2012 5:39 PM

I thought they needed high nitrogen and blood meal is high in nitrogen.

Today ten 16" dia tomato cages were made from the roll of concrete reinforcing mesh. Got the Kozy coats off the cukes and found another mater plant with a tomato, Indian Stripe.

Tomorrow the wood burning iron comes out to burn holes in the 13 gal and 27 gal black plastic pots the tomatoes are planted in then the cages will be anchored to the pots.

Root crops usually need high Phosphorus. Nitrogen is great for foliage Phosphorus encourages root growth and blooms.


What is a wood burning Iron?

What is a wood burning Iron? It's a craft tool for kids. I had one as a kid and my boys had one that I still use for burning holes in plastic.

Like a soldering (sp?) iron or wood-burning tool (people use them for burning designs in wood).

When I went to a gardening class, the guy said the basic effect of each on plant growth was:
Nitrogen - UP
Phosphorus - DOWN
Potassium - ALL AROUND

Yep.

Nitrogen for what grows "above the ground" - leaves, branches, flowers

Phosphorus for what grows "below the ground" - root crops, bulbs

Potassium for "all around" plant health.

http://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionguide

High middle number when you set out onion plants, then nitrogen every two weeks until bulbs start to form. The more onion leaves the bigger the bulb.

That's what I was looking at, T-Rock. So I need nitrogen. Today we have rain, so probably won't be able to do anything outside.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh...I see now!

So we wanna make it grow lots of leaves "above the ground"...

Thanks, TRock!

Gymgirl - I may be wrong, but I think for every leaf there is a layer of onion. So the more leaves, the larger the onion.

I purchased myself a new onion chopper so I don't have to borrow my daughter's this year.

I need to be weeding in my onions today. I can only get so close with the scuffle hoe, and their are weeds right around the onions. First, I have to get another load of laundry done, unload and reload the dishwasher, and sweep the kitchen. The non-fun chores have to be finished before I do the gardening. That was a deal with my wife, who works all day--since I am home, I have to do some of the chores when I feel like working. : )

When I don't have enough energy to do chores, I read and post on Dave's Garden!

I have to make deals like that with myself, about my own housework. Otherwise, it looks like it looks now!

So. I have until tomorrow night to get it together, in order to spend the weekend OUTSIDE!!!

I like that arrangement, dreaves! Sounds like it works well for you.

If I understand the onion thing correctly you do need a high middle number at first then you add N to encourage leaf growth which makes more leaves that make energy to allow a nice bulb to form.

That's my understanding. I bought some Ammonium Sulfate for the side dressing.

Quoting Dixondale on some of our topics here:

== To stop weeds for up to six weeks, rake a pre-emergent herbicide, such as Treflan or corn gluten meal, into the top inch of soil before you plant. Don't worry, the herbicide will not affect the onion plant roots.

== Controlling weeds is critical to prevent competition for nutrients. An application of Treflan or corn gluten meal raked into the top inch of soil every six weeks during the growing season will prevent weeds from returning. Mulching with a light layer of straw will help control weeds and preserve moisture. Be sure to push the straw back when the plants start to bulb so they'll cure properly.

== If your soil is too acidic, mix in ground limestone, available at your garden center. If it's too alkaline, add peat moss.

== For the best growth and yield, onions need fertilizer right from the start. Use a fertilizer with the middle number higher than the other two, such as 10-20-10.

== Nutritional needs are different during the growing season. Every 2 to 3 weeks after planting, fertilize with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) in alkaline soils, or calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0) in acidic soils. Sprinkle it on top of the original fertilizer strip at the rate of ½ cup per 10 feet of row. Water the onions after every application. Stop fertilizing when the onions start to bulb.

Now to see how many miles away sources are for corn gluten meal, 10-20-10, and straw!

I don't want to use ammonium sulfate, so I will use blood meal. I didn't fertilize at planting so maybe I'll throw some bone meal or dry molasses out, too.

Picture of the greens bed, mostly beets for pickling. These were sown around the middle of January.

Yesterday 15 tomato cages were attached to nursery pots growing tomatoes.

I added some aged compost to my beds and then planted my cucumber seeds today. It's already hot out there!

Im so busy potting up plants, for an order, that I cant seem to get in my own garden. Yes, it is hot out there. Did you sow the cuke seeds right after adding the aged compost?

The coming week doesnt look too busy hopefully Ill have time for my own garden.

Lisa, I tossed in some cotton burr compost with the other dirt and stuff that's in that bed. Then I planted! We'll see what happens.

Thats what I wanted to hear!

Yesterday I mixed 40 gallons of Medina Hasta Grow for Plants and applied it to the tomatoes and some other veggies.

Today I came home from San Marcos with a load of composted horse manure and other stuff. A generous 2 to 4 inches is applied in the furrows between the peppers, peas, corn, okra and onions. I'll water daily to keep it and the soil beneath moist. Later when the plants begin to stress from heat I will cover the compost with old oak leaves to level with the tops of the rows.

texasrockgarden - by next year, I'm hoping to have my garden look more like yours (the last photo on the right.) Because our garden is on a slope, I plan to enclose the whole area with 2x12x12 pine boards. This way I can eliminate the individual raised beds I have now and have nice, deep soil. I measured the area and it's 24x48.

Then I'll start on the other area where hubby is removing the running bamboo. I do plan to set some squash plants there in about a month. They can spread out and be happy!

Peas and beans are sprouting like crazy at my place! I really think it's too late for peas, but we'll see what happens.

HoneybeeNC, sounds like a good plan.

My rows are on a south facing slope falling from right to left in the photo. I can lay a soaker hose in the right most furrow and leave it on until water comes out from beneath the last row on the left usually about 24 to 36 hours. This method pulls the roots of whatever is growing at the time deep to reach the water. Doing this has worked well for me since I started gardening this spot in the early 80's.

stephanietx, If you are talking English peas it is probably too late for our area. If you are talking Southern or Cowpeas you should be good to sow any time between March 1 and around the end of July.

TRock,
What do you do about crop rotation in that one spot since 1980?

Surprised that the purplehull peas are peeking through today! Second planting of corn isn't shown.

Not that much, but there are five rows + I plant different veggies on the ends of the rows where the furrows are filled making a dam so to speak. So there is some room for crop rotation.

In the early years I added large amounts of sphagnum moss and rice hulls. I worked for a rice mill for 18 years so the rice hulls were plentiful and free. From the late 90's to 2006 I took a break from gardening so it lay fallow. Most years since I have add large amounts of compost and oak leaves. So the large amounts of organic material being added may have something to do with a low rate of diseases.

Using the above pic my main focus is to plant tall veggies to the right so as to provide morning sun on the left most rows and some late afternoon filtered shade for peppers growing in the left row. Except for last year on half the left row where onions were planted, peppers have been planted with no apparent problems. Between each pepper plants I dig a hole with a post hole digger the size of a large tomato juice cans and fill it with rabbit pellets. Pepper plants seem to really enjoy this diet.

So far I have not had any disease problems. Maybe it is the organics added every year.

Glad your peas are coming up. With this heat they will grow like Jack-in-the-Bean-Stalk.

There is still plenty of time to replant corn. I am new to corn but I read somewhere that corn seed does not have a long shelf life. Perhaps your seed was not all that fresh.

Was your corn in the ground when it rained? Did you dig up the old corn seed to see if maybe it rotted?

TRock,
How come you don't just get lush, green leaves and no peppers with all that nitrogen concentration from the pellets?

Are you talking "bunny poo" or alfalfa pellets?

Big diff!

The "bunny poo" pellet is low NPK, i.e., all numbers are around the 1-2 range. I try not to get too much of the manure that is urine saturated in any one hole between the peppers.

Glad you mentioned alfalfa. Last season I bought 50 # of alfalfa meal and distributed it throughout the dirt garden and the raised beds. This year when I did all my tilling I forgot the alfalfa meal. The alfalfa is supposed to contain a chemical that promotes plant growth.

So, you do mean bunny poo in the holes?

bunny poo! I'll have pictures in a few days, OK?

That's it, basically. The other reason for adding more phosphorus (the middle number) early is that it's less mobile in the soil. Even the "water soluble" types tend to "stick" to spoil particles more than the nitrogen or potassium, so phosphorus applied after the plants are well up may not get all the way down to the plants' feeder roots.

By the same token, some types of soils that have been fertilized for a number of years (e.g.: clay loams) can accumulate quite a bit of phosphorus and may not need much added after a while.

-Rich