2021 Airscapes Raised Beds

[Shawn]

I know I should wear better shoes ..  however I know I wont.  I am bad

[airscapes]

Had a very nice weekend!  Saturday pulled out all the peas, wound up the pea line, removed the supports and tuned in 3 or 4 inches of mushroom soil in one of the beds.  This morning went to the garden center for another yard of Mush and turned in the other bed.  I also top dressed the garlic and onions in the back bed with the Mushroom soil and tarped the rest to do those beds once the garlic and onions are out.  Then planted the Eggplant and Peppers, caged them and staked the cages as they will grow far taller than those cages by the end of September.  I am tired, bad shoulder hurts, have a farmers tan and am very satisfied with my weekend!  Now if we just get the rain the said we might the pepper and eggplant will be happy as well. 




Didn't do much to the tomatoes other than pinch off some suckers and remove a lower branch from each plant.  

[Shawn]

You had a busy weekend.

[airscapes]

Things are doing well, had some rain yesterday and the inground plants are starting to take the lead over the hydro plant.

I was concerned that the root system of the plant in the bucket would outgrow the bucket volume and I think we are close to that.  The water being pumped into the top of the grow bucket from the fill bucket is no longer flowing back to the fill bucket at the same paces as it is being pumped.  I may eventfully need to adjust the flow rate so as not to over fill the grow bucket.

My 2" inspection hole in the top of the grow bucket reveals healthy looking roots, but they look like  a solid mass.. still can see the air bubbles getting through but water is backing up about a gallon..  If I fill to my normal  7gallon mark with pump running, which was purposely set about a gallon lower than it could be to leave more air space, and shut off the pump, the water level will rise to the next gallon mark on the fill bucket within 30 or 40 seconds..  






Peppers and Eggplant are moving very slow for some reason.. 

[airscapes]

This past weekend I pulled out the Cippolini Onions and some of the Shallots.   I have some onions that are bolting, guess the were too large when I transplanted them and they got too cold making them think they were in their second year.   I am leaving those in the ground to allow the flower to mature and go to seed.. I hope!  I planted about 72 onions and 72 shallot seeds.. I think even after replanting what did not germinate I got about 65 or of each.. The shallots have all split into 2 or 3 and even 4.. Not sure how I am going to cure them all (curing involves sitting in the sun for a few weeks until all the leaves wither and the onion skin forms).. My new onion cart as 4x5' is still not big enough.  I will wait another week or so to dig the garlic they are still on the smallish side and they to need to cure but NOT IN THE SUN.. which is always a problem as I have not cool well ventilates areas.. I typically wait till the leave are fairly dry, bundle them with twine, and tie the twine to a rope.  The rope get hung in the dinning room so they are in the AC and the wife just cuts off what she needs.. keep the vampires away as well!

Picked the first of the tomatoes, Elsa passing by tonight so everything with color got picked so they don't split.  These were all on the vine longer than I tend to leave them as the year goes on.  One good rain storm when you not paying attention and everything orange splits.   Should have a couple turn orange on the bucket tomato in the next couple days.. it is about a week or so behind the plant inside which has it's 2 oldest turning orange.  The inside plant is much more stressed that the outside due to leaf mold and larger swings in the nutrient level being in a smaller container.  Stressing the plant will speed the repining process.

[Shawn]

Wonderful looking onions and shallots

[airscapes]

Thanks Shawn!  We shall see how they hold up.. The onions should only be small buttons ..  I always feedem too much!  When they get big they really don't store as long.  Shallots will store almost a year.. same with garlic.. 

[airscapes]

Did a second cleanup of the first onions and shallots pulled and a first clean up of the ones I left go a bit longer.. few more weeks before they are ready to be bagged in mesh bags to store.. 

[airscapes]

A little update.. Tomatoes growing really well both soil and hydro, as you can see the bucket is keeping up with the inground really well.  It is setting fruit on a daily basis just like the inground not I have the roots cooled down.

Eggplants are kicking it out and I still have lots in vacuum bags from last year.. I love it right out of the frying pan but have not found a way other than fried that I like it.  My Italian Wife does not like it.. go figure.. so hopefully the neighbors are ready for more!  I am going to let the current largest fruit go so I can harvest the seeds.  I had bought these seed off of Ebay some years ago and I want fresh as there are only a few left and no reason not to replenish the supply from my own garden.

If anyone has a recipe for eggplant that does not involve a grill please pass the link on... 
Thanks!
Doug




I have one lady who still comes to buy the tomatoes for $1 per lb.  Sold her 10lb on Thursday and gave 4lb to neighbors a few days before that.    Please note these were all picked at the Breaker point.  The three containers on the lower left were picked  just before the  photo was taken and will be ripe by probably by next weekend.



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[campingcorgis]

Very nice!  

[airscapes]

This year I planted 2 Burpee Tangerine Dream sweet peppers along with my baby bells (what I call them but have no idea for sure what they are called) All peppers have been suffering lack of calcium for an unknown reason.  I did mix the mushroom soil into to bed just before transplanting but included my normal Lime with Garden Tone.. After the flowers all stopped dropping from the early 90+ temps in June, the few fruit I got ended up with bloom rot.  I have since sprayed them all with calcium spray, and then a week or so later watered them with Calcium Nitrate and Magnesium Sulfate in the appropriate ratio (1/2 tsp per gallon of water) for the hydro tomato.. fingers crossed.  The picture is of the plant with the most peppers.. I have had a few that did ripen, not all that crazy about them, prefer the baby bells.  Normally I would have a few Bells  ripe by now, but very far behind this year with 5 more days of high 90s and lots of new flowers to fall off.. first weeks of September I will probably start to get bells ripe..

[campingcorgis]

It is a pretty picture.  Sorry to hear of all the woes!  

[Shawn]

Love the orange in the pic

For some reason this year my crops are not doing all that they usually do either.  I always find that my plants thrive in the fall and winter whereas in the Summer not as well as in past years. 

Sometimes I wonder if it is the seeds or what. 

[Sher]

Unfortunately, I have a slow rural connection, and the pictures don't download for a few minutes so I miss them.

Do you have a way to edit file size, airscapes ? I know the forum resizes them to fit, but it doesn't change the megabyte size.

[airscapes]

Aug 10, 2021 13:53:38 GMT -5 Sher said:

Unfortunately, I have a slow rural connection, and the pictures don't download for a few minutes so I miss them.

Do you have a way to edit file size, airscapes ? I know the forum resizes them to fit, but it doesn't change the megabyte size.

Sorry about that.. I just upload from my phone to my own website and will need to resize them before they leave the phone.  Will try and remember to do that from now on.  

I resized the one above.. does it load better here than above?

[Sher]

I can't see it yet. It is waiting until the ones above it load.

[airscapes]

I resized all images in this thread so the are under 1 meg most about 400k so hopefully it will load much faster.

[Sher]

YES!!!  Thank you so much! Now I can enjoy them even out here in the boonies!

[Sher]

And your garden is amazing now that I can see it. The tomato display is awesome.

[airscapes]

Just a photo update.. Tangerine Dream starting to ripen, baby bells are getting ripe one or 2 at  a time. Eggplant is going wild.. I let one fruit (eggplant) on to over mature and get a fresh batch of seeds.  If anyone wants some just PM me and I would be happy to mail you some once they are dry.