DELICIOUS WITH THIN SLICED SWEET ONION AND ITALIAN DRESSING! HAD IT WITH SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS LAST NIGHT. HAVING THE OTHER CUCUMBER IN A FEW MINUTES....
Will Be Setting - up My EBs Soon AS Weather Allows? Part II
Great, glad you enjoyed them.!!!!!
Bob
JUST FINISHED EATING THE LAST ONE. BURP!! EXCUSE AS THEY ARE BURPLESS BUT I'M NOT. LOL
I too love to slice a cumcumber, throw it in with some onion and water and vinegar and sugar. Let it sit and yum, soooo reminds me of my grandmother. She always had them on her table.
I recieved some cucumber seeds and intend to plant them in the big 20 gallon immitation cedar containers that I have. They are a heavy duty plastic and don't rot out like the wooden cedar containers. I will be using Bob's coco coir but will put screen wire down on the bottom first to prevent any loss of the mix as it is so fine. I do this with all my container plants anyway so this is not unusual. It allows for proper drainage without the loss of the mix! The cucumbers are from "Seeds of Change" and are Armenian cucumber and Mideast Prolific cucumber. I like the self sealing containers that the seeds come in but first I must rake up the clippings from the neighbors shrubs that grow through my fence. That will only take about an hour. Beautiful weather today!
"TPlant: I had thought about growing some shrubs; but, at the last minute decided not to; maybe that was a blessing in disquise? LOL I know what you mean about people talking about rats, as my brother and my neighbors were alarmed when I put in beds all round my house and planted canna lilies, one saying they had rats the other saying that my cannas would attract snakes. Upon research I discovered snakes are attracted to rats if you have them, and I think I saw a field mouse coming onto my property and running under the ramp to my deck yesterday and guess where it came from? My neighbors. My neighbors aren't gardeners; they have junk all over the place, like they are too cheap for garbage collectors, they want to burn their trash in fires so high they scare half the neighborhood. I garden but clean up my place and that is the first mouse I have seen and will be the last. LOL Rats go more for potato peelings, egg shells and all the junk people lay around more so than veggies behind a 6 foot privacy fence that even bunnies can't get under, I would think.
joy112854
My helper quit for the weekend because he is going to see his Nana, my ex-wife whom lives with her husband in Punta Gorde, or however it is spelled, as she had some surgery to remove a benign tumor. She is fine and I gave Alexander some of my roses to give to her from him. She always loved roses.
Did a lot of trimming and clean-up today and the place is starting to look real well.
This cart is real handy for me as it holds all my tools for my gardening and with the balloon tires it rolls real easy as long as they remain inflated to thirty pounds. The sides fold down when necessary and a lot of times I sit in it as I work. The garden scooter is great for close in work when there isn't enough room for the big cart. If there is an easier and more enjoyable way to do my work --I will find it !
It works great in combination with my garden scooter with the swiveling tractor seat as all I do is roll them along with me and plant the seedlings in their specific EBs.
Seems like Boca Bobs coir is something to consider. My eggplants did not look to well a couple of weeks ago but last week I took one of the worst looking ones and planted it in the coir and sprinkled my 10-10-10 around the sides of the bag in a very fine strip just like I do in my EBs but this is a noticeable difference. The plant in the coir looks terrific and I would not have given it much of a chance a week ago.
Another comparison in the same EB.
Here is a view of the entire group. They were all started togeather in the same way as always but they were not responding as they usually do so for an experiment I took the worst looking one and put it in the coir. You have to be here to really appreciate the difference in quality? I must say that I am amazed and very pleased.
Here are my tomato plants which recovered very nicely in their three year old Jungle Growth with dolomite lime added but I must add that the irrigation system is also a big help. The combination of all three does make the difference.
This is another view taken from my driveway same plants just different angle.
There is one EB up front that is not doing to well as the JG is four years old and I guess I'm pushing it so tomorrow I'm going to dump it and plant the coir. There is also another, out of this picture, that I will also re-do. For those of you using JG I would say three years is enough! I'll take before pictures and the after pics will come latter. Remember I will not be using any dolomite with the coco coir. The white EB is one of them. I used to get four years but I forgot I grew corn and I'll bet they are the ones that the corn was planted in and corn just pulls every nutrient out of the mix. I totally forgot about that fact so for those of you that intend to grow corn remember to use the EB s that have two year old mix so you get the most out of the mix and then destroy it! Either that or the mix was just getting to old. You can normally tell when you mix is used up when you get a sour smell from it when you dig down into it. Guess I just got careless !!!
What a great production, Tplant! You definitely have the space.
I am wishing for EBs this Christmas and saving up as well. I'm shooting for 15 EBs to grow my tomatoes in. Some will have to be grown in regular pots this year, and I will try some on the ground, too. Only because I cannot buy all the EBs I want and need in one season.
I hope everybody had a great weekend.
Ok, Paw.
I went out of town for the weekend, and this morning I checked on my plants. The DH managed to sprinkle (and I DO mean sprinkle) some water on everything while I was away. They've grown HUGE in 3 days! BUT:
I have white flies hovering over the mustard greens in particular
I have Stinkbug nymphs setting up camp on the one volunteer tomato plant that managed to come up after the summertime.
Please tell me what I should do immediately to preserve my crop of greens that are growing so beautifully, so far. I bought all the products you posted pics of in a previous? thread, but not sure of the application or schedule. I don't see any wormholes on the collards, yet, but I hear they're on the way. Please let me know how to apply that "dust" I bought, what it's for, etc. Also, what should my spraying regime be?
P.S. Thar 'be carrots growing in them thar' containers, maytee!
This message was edited Nov 10, 2008 11:00 AM
TPlant: I have a question here. Where do you dump the old Jungle Growth? I was thinking, as I only used mine one year and then dumped mine in my flower beds. Is the JG totally useless for everything after 4 years? Could I continue to dump mine in my beds after 4 years or just dump it period. Corn does deplete all the nutrients in the EBs, you seem to have quite a collection of them.
joy112854
Good question Joy, I have at least 6 out of the 14 that need to be refilled this season. Since I don't have flower beds I was going to repot most of my house plants then put the rest in trash bags and offer it up on freecycle.
I just keep dumping it in my beds or compost heap as it will rejuvenate itself but not to be used in EBs again. It is never wasted!
TPlant: Aha, a good addition to the mushroom compost I intend on adding to my beds tee hee.
joy112854
Just never use mushroom compost in an EB as claimed by the EB company! Don't know why as they never explained.
TPlant: ???? didn't know they said they had done it. I thought it might make my beds better for my canna lilies. Question though, while we are talking about this, as I'm a beginner remember? Here is what I thought I'd do: Wait til Spring as my cannas will need dividing then anyways, dig up my cannas, then spread the mushroom compost on top and roto till it into the bed, then replant my cannas. The mushroom compost mixed in with the soil in the beds shouldn't burn the roots should it?
joy112854
No! I am only referring to EBs not your soil in canna beds..
TPlant: Just wanted to ask if compost will hurt vegetation roots, now that should be a pretty normal question rather it be tomatoes or cannas right? And I think that if I dump the used and old Jungle Growth into my canna beds won't that improve the soil in the beds themselves, does it matter what I'm growing in those beds? I just don't want to put in compost and burn the roots? And I don't use anything but Jungle Growth in my EBs, you know that. Of course I might change up to Coconut Coir if it works well this Spring for me.
joy112854
There is just about nothing you can dump into this sand in FL that wont help. Dump away, use your grass clippings especially. If you dont have them, go do some leaf rustling when people start raking. There is a lot of peat in the jungle growth, the sand loves any of that orgnaic matter, Anytime.
Joy ? Will you please enter your zone # on your heading? It would be a big help for answering other questions. Don't know why people omit this important fact?
TPlant: Sure how do I do that? I think I've told people I'm in zone 8 B though. I am going to add mushroom compost to my canna beds when I divide and transplant them, I just wanted to know if it would hurt the roots of the canna or not, and I was going to dump my old EB mix into the bed also. My purpose for doing this is to enrich the soil in the beds a little so that my plants would grow healthy as could be, and I was just curious as to if that would be beneficial to the flowers in the bed or detremental? I don't think zone would affect the outcome either would it?????? I know fertilizer burns roots; but, wasn't sure if compost would or not is what I'm trying to say?
joy112854
You can dump the mix anywhere as it makes excellent compost anywhere.
Paw,
Please tell me about applying the Dipel? Dust on my greens. I have whiteflies on the mustards only. They don't seem to bother the collards or spinach. Also, where do I get those yellow sticky trap papers? I have bought all the insecticides and fungicides that were in your post. What's my spraying and dusting schedule to be? Thanks!
Linda
The dust won't stop the whitefly. You need a liquid spray like Spectricide or Ortho products but do it now before they lay their eggs and be sure to spray under the leaves. The Sticky Strips are available at ParK Seeds or you can google as they are available most everywhere. Make sure it is for vegetables.
Organic fertilizer wont burn the roots. Throw them some milorganite.. The cannas will love it.
Got my Coir delivered. Already have one block 'melted' and the second is almost done. I was wondering how much you packed it down before planting?
This message was edited Nov 12, 2008 9:14 AM
Garden glory: If you catch the white flies early enough, you might be able to stop them in their tracks by washing down the plants with 2 TB baby shampoo or liquid dish soap per gallon of water. You must make sure you hit the undersides of the leaves though, cause that's where the babies will be.
Or if it is really serious here is a tonic:
1 C sour milk (let it stand out for 2 days)
2 TBSP flour
1 Qt of warm water
Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and spray the mixture over any plants that are troubled with the white flies. You will get your best results by doing this first thing in the morning, before the dew dries and the white flies become airborne. White flies like beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, ageratum, basil, calendula, geraniums and salvias.
joy112854
gardenglory- hat kind of container did you use to "melt" the coco coir? Did you squeeze most of the water out of it when filling the cointainer or just let the excess water drain away? What kind of container is the coco coir going into?
I pack mine gently to keep it airy.
BocaBob
Gardenglory- Here a a few more tips. To get almost every ounce of coir out of the container you are hydrating it in, after getting the bulk of it out, I use a kitchen strainer to skim the water. quite a bit floats on the water. You'll be surpirised how much more you will get. Then dredge the bottom with the skimmer. Some heavier particles sink to the bottom. I bought a $6.00 big plastic cement tub to hydrate the 12 lb blocks and works great. Just drop the block in and fill the tub up with water.
BocaBob
Now back to tomatos! Yesterday was an extremely windy day as it is today so it was a good thing that I went out there and double staked my plants as quite a few of my vines snapped but I taped them them with velcro tape and used additional stakes as they will heal themselves. The wind at this time of year is always above normal so I have to be alert for damage. Tomatos do not like strong wind!
TPlant: My grandson had talked about doing that with some stems once that broke, I thought he was kidding, you can actually velcro broken stems together? I thought you had to prune them off.
joy112854
Perhaps I should have clarified my myself They snapped but did not break away from the vine. As long as they are still attached you can tape them and support them and they will grow as good as new. Some take a broken vine and replant but I have no need to do that as I always have enough plants.
The construction workers are amazed of the rapid growth and quality of my plants and want to know my secret as they never heard of EBs. I asked them if they would help me with the tomatos as far as EATING THEM AS I WILL HAVE FAR TO MANY TOMATOS? They are more than willing to help me!
TPlant: Thanks, my grandson had to show me how to prune properly, embarrasing but I learned. LOL Yeah, men rarely turn down free food, and food is an enticement to get them to do things, you know that right? LOL I've gotten lots of grow light stands put together and other things for a bowl of my homemade soup. LOL
joy112854