Showing posts with label hoop house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hoop house. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Faith, bluebirds and heirloom seeds

Good morning. Got our first "real" cool snap this morning. It was 39 according to the weatherman. Never fear.. it wont last long!! LOL.
Hoop house is doing well.
My sugar snap peas have found the trellis.

I don't know what I was thinking with the mustard seed.
Here in a week or so I'm gonna be thinning big time.
If you look closely on the right there is spinach just coming up.
On the left is some collard seedlings

Collard seedlings on the right
Rows of lettuce on the left.

I ordered seeds from an online company that sells organic heirloom seeds. Meaning they aren't full of chemicals, haven't been genetically altered and I can use the seed harvested to replant. Majority of the seeds on the market right now are hybrids. Which doesn't mean a bad thing it just means you have to buy more seeds next time. Heirloom are the same price and you only have to buy seed one time.

I don't like the idea of the genetically altered foods. Like corn for instance, is genetically altered and has a chemical built in to make the worms that try to eat it die. Well wouldn't it make sense then if we as human eat it in a larger portion that we will suffer some kind of drawback. Id rather flick the worm off, not that I'm a fan of worms... yes i know they wont hurt me.. but i still use my glove to throw their miserable hides to the ground and smoosh. (yea yea yea i know smoosh isnt a word... but it just sounds like something one does to a grub)

Funny story, every evening about 5-5:30 there is a group of bluebirds that sit on the power line next to my house. They swoop down and feed on the crickets in the grass. I like watching them. So the other day i was weeding and planting in the little gardenette and found some grubs, my first inclination was to smoosh them then I had a better idea. I put them in a box then about 5 o'clock I put them on a mat out under the high wire... lets just say they didn't last long. After the feast had been made one of the birds flew down to the mat and was looking all over it... I guess he wanted more. I'm wondering if i can train the bluebirds to come inspect my tomato plants daily????? Not that Ive had huge issue with the worms.. i murdered them before they could get a toe hold, but it would be nice if the birds would just make a pass or two and check them out. Ive been told if you keep a tray of peanuts that it would attract the blue jays... a natural predator of the horn worm. I shall surely try this tip this coming spring.

Ive decided that gardeners have faith. Somewhere in the word it talks about having faith the size of a mustard seed, have you ever seen a mustard seed????? Its a speck, a little round speck. I think it takes faith to put a seed in the ground and "trust" it will come up and produce food or flowers. They also have patience. It takes patience to wait on the plants to produce. I do not have a great deal of patience. This is evident by the fact I don't get turnip or beets because I nibble on the greens. Well nibble is mild ... I'm worse than those caterpillars I battle. Its killing me to leave those tomatoes hanging on the vines until they are plump and red. Right now they are a pretty green and would make wonderful green tomato relish or fried green tomatoes. Sigh.... but I'm waiting... and waiting. Getting all the more anxious all the time.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Garden update 10-24-11

Well its 5 weeks since I planted my little gardenette.
This was taken on Sept 19, 2011. Its actually about 5 days old here.


This was taken this morning. The blank space on the front has more turnips that are about an inch tall now.
Can you believe how quickly it has grown??? Ive got about 25 tomatoes on the vines and bout a collander full of green beens on the vine.


Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!! cucumbers!! I may have to protect them from the frost if they dont ripen in time.

I have mustard, collards and a couple of types of lettuce in the hoop house that have just sprouted their heads up. I'll get a pic next time for you. dont know what i was thinking when I put mustard and collard seeds in there...lol.. Ive got maybe 50 little plants. I'll thin those when they get about 3 inches tall... they make good munching on. And my sweet peas are climbing the trellis. I'll post pics next time.

OH.. wait... ive got something... brb
In this if you can see the little white roots right above the lettering. I plucked these suckers from the tomato vines outside. It is my plan to plant these in the hoop house so that i can have tomatoes in the winter.

These are two small little sucker plants that I have rooting. 3Days!!!! thats all it took was 3 days for little roots to sprout. Im going to put these in the hoop house as well. Soo much easier than seed!!

Have a great day!!! 

Saturday, October 8, 2011

And the battle of the hoop house vs Deb continues

Well.. I am well into the 3rd day of a 4 hour project..LOL. I think I'm winning however.
This was what i started out with. The "hoops are supposed to attach to the base using metal brackets. Thought i would save a 25 cents a bracket and use plastic... WRONG.... metal.. only metal. that was day one.
Day 2 Hoop house 1 Deb 0
Well it started out very well. Got all my pieces cut, connector pieces. Put it all together. The web site said don't worry about using PVC glue.. it will stay together... WRONG... one piece pulled loose and smacked me up side the head. Sent kids to the store for purple stuff and "make you high" glue. NOW... parts all glued together... no more knots on the head.
Day 3 Hoop house 2 Deb 0
Got up this morning.. good mood ready to tackle said 4 hour project again. It went well... got the base all screwed together, hoops attached. Looked good.. looked like the picture.
Hoop house 2 Deb 1
Then the "Ling" gene kicked in. You know that one... if one screw will work then 3 will work better. It just looked rather flimsy to me. So I took it all part.. drove some pipe in the ground, screwed the base to the pipe.. added some 1x6's on the ends at the base. Added a 2x4 frame. A HA... I was on a roll now.
Hoop house 2 Deb 2
Got the base secured to the ground... PVC secured to the base... a few extra 3 inch screws just to make sure.

Tomorrow or Monday I have to build the end walls. Which are mostly door. But 2x4s go up from the ground to the hoops on each end to frame a doorway. Then I can build my boxes on the inside. Should have all this done by the time my UV plastic gets here. If you re thinking the corners are leaning.. they are, they are supported by the end frame when i get it screwed on.
Sigh.... I think i need a glass of wine... oh wait... no that's not good... wine make crime in a city...LOL.. just a little poke at the latest City of Vidor Drama...LOL