Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries. Sunday, February 11 View Page Fall/Winter Amendments for 4,000 sqft patch 15 yards of Garden Soil (1/3 topsoil + 1/3 Compost + 1/6 Manure + 1/6 Sand) 2 yards of “Elm Dirt” spent materials (1/3 Kelp + 1/3 Worms castings + 1/3 Misc) Ripped in with 14” Depth Subsoiler then 2 yards of Alfalfa Hay (8 small bales) used as winter cover Soil Profile is good soil down to 12”, then decent 12” to 18” W/Med rocks and mostly clay, then Clay/Rocks(Limestone)below 18”.   Sunday, February 11 View Page Trying to leverage more bacteria/fungi solutions in the garden this year and worried about Chloramine in my tap water. I use tap water for irrigation(drip/misters) and spent some time testing different chloramine filtering solutions. Still going up the learning curve, but here's some of the data. I also plan to use acid(asorbic, maybe Humic) as a chemical remedy b/c the tap water also has a high pH (~8.5)   Friday, March 1 View Page Trying to get end result of pH of ~6 and 0ppm of Chloramine, starting with my tap water (9.4pH/3ppm). I'm looking around $1.00/100gal at this point...   Wednesday, March 6 View Page Johnny’s Spring Green Manure (Peas/Oats/H Vetch) with Exceed inoculant ~4lbs/1000 sqft planted with push seeder into the lightly/recently tilled. Also broadcast 5lbs/1000sqft of sulfur.   Wednesday, March 13 View Page Haney Soil Health Analysis. Still learning what the variables are/mean. Looks like I need to add a little Zinc, and find a way to increase WEON to get my Haney C:N to drop to ~12. Maybe my cover cop will help with that. The SHC(Soil Health Calc) is above 30...so I'll take that as a win   Friday, March 15 View Page Got the control panel set up for all the sensors and equipment(heaters, fans, valves) Using an IoT integrator called Home Assistant, it allows all the data feeds to go to one place…and all the equipment to be controlled from a common dashboard. It also allows automation/scripting…like when temp drops to 45…kick on the heaters.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Seed starting mix for this year.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Going with eight ~1000sqft plots/plants this year. Here’s the line-up.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Mixed a tsp of the following into a zip-lock bag and coated each seed after soaking for 3hrs.   Sunday, March 31 View Page Didn’t have time to get a weed fabric approach worked out, so it’s time to sharpen the weed weapons.   Thursday, April 4 View Page “Feed the soil, feed the plant” strategy is off to a rough start. Cocktail of fungi/bacteria I caked onto seeds…not the right mix. 1/2 germinated, only 4 of 16 plants came out looking normal. Started backup batch without cocktail, and their ~5 days behind initial batch. Going to remove bacteria from next try at cocktail seed inoculation.   Thursday, April 4 View Page Hail event from last year. Shade cloth did an okay job, and no long term damage   Monday, April 8 View Page 6 plants in last Monday…into 3 mini hoop houses. Next batch (5 more hoop house )will likely get planted this Mon/Tues pending weather. 2239.5 Marintzer, 2424 Casper, 1904 Sperry, 2054 Strickler are the strongest out of the gate.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Still working on the biological approach, brew foamed up after adding some Biomin Zinc. I’ll be using a 4 gal backpack sprayer to apply to garden.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Compost brew at day 4 @ 70F with bubbler, I think the jointed lines are bacteria splitting(?)   Saturday, April 13 View Page Rachio and LinkTap for irrigation, EcoWitt for sensors, Arlo for cameras, Kasa for smart plugs, and Home Assistant for integration. Everything is up and running, but still needs work..ie…fans aren’t moving enough air/etc.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Plants on the top seem to have an initial lead after 10 days. All else being equal, the bigger plants got: 1/2 Promix and 1/2 potting mix/w compost vs just Promix So: So I have it written somewhere: Soil mix noted above + 1 cup of Myco + 1/4 cup of Azos Seed soak(4hr) with rain water diluted Elm Dirt PJ + HuFu Acid + Rootshield+ Piranha…soaking cup liquid poured into 1gal container w/seed Heat Mat at 88 with 9in domes and 4 containers per 1020 tray 300-400 PPFD…lights about 6-8 in above plant Watered lightly w/rain water + 500PPM of 21-7-7   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Latest dashboard…added camera feeds   Monday, May 6 View Page Starting to vine/run. 2266 Kisamore main twisted/kinked, so had(?) to terminate main and switch to a secondary. 2239.5 Marintzer is also running, but need to replace the camera.   Thursday, May 9 View Page Cover Crop looking decent in the Driveway patch. Oats/Peas/Vetch. Mowed it down, and it’s growing back. Planning to till some of it this weekend.   Saturday, May 11 View Page Tilled/terminated most of cover crop, added alfalfa mulch   Thursday, May 16 View Page Hairy Vetch doing its thing   Saturday, May 25 View Page Plants are out of huts…just in time for some severe weather (Wind+ risk) ;) 1806 Sperry plant in pic   Tuesday, May 28 View Page SVB spotted today, heading out this evening to spray Imidachloprid (foliar) 0.1 oz for 2gal applied with blower/mister. Will have cut flowers for the next month re: Bees   Thursday, May 30 View Page Nightcrawlers under walking board   Sunday, June 2 View Page LinkTap has some great data(flow meter) here is the graph of the 4 Zones running for 20min each. The last zone’s flow is much less b/c it’s has much less drip tap deployed. Hoping it can help flag when a drip tape connection pops off, which happens to me a a lot.   Tuesday, June 4 View Page Clonex Rooting Gel seems to be doing the job   Friday, June 7 View Page 2239.5 Marintzer x 2266 Kisamore 19 nodes out   Friday, June 7 View Page 2266 Kisamore x 1904.5 Sperry 20 nodes out   Friday, June 7 View Page 1806 Sperry x 2239.5 Marintzer 21 nodes out   Thursday, June 13 View Page Western Labs Tissue Report. I’ll push the recommendations through the drip spread over the next week or two. I’ll drench supportive biology with brews. After the initial heavy nutrient push, I also spoon feed via drip/drench(brews), and foliar through the rest of the season with a focus on those deficiencies   Saturday, June 15 View Page DAP 8 2239.5 Marintzer x 2266 Kisamore   Saturday, June 29 View Page 1904.5 Sperry @DAP26 Powdery mildew broke out 6/27 on 2266 Kisamore, sprayed patches w/Quinpac(sp) and seems to have halted it. Rot spots popping up everywhere w/dewpoints in upper 70’s. Losing main on 1806 Sperry, which is a bummer cause it was a great looking plant and pumpkin.   Saturday, June 29 View Page 2239.5 Marintzer @DAP22 Looking like it will be ORANGE. Missed the last 8 days in patch on family vacation, so vine bury/weeding will get some attention this weekend. This is the only pumpkin in the patch w/o antithesis.   Saturday, June 29 View Page 2266 Kisamore @DAP16 This plant may be beyond my skill level. Had main twist early, so replaced w/secondary. New main split @10ft after plant was 20ft long. It seems very sensitive to heat, and has had the most rot issues. But I got a nice barrel shaped pumpkin going and hope to get the plant to 1,000 sqft in ~week.   Saturday, June 29 View Page Vine Burying this year: large handful of soaking wet peat moss over Azos/Myco mix w/Clonex on both top and bottom root nodes. I assume the root cluster in pic is good, it at least looks impressive.   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 9in of rain in 3 days last week caused some flash flooding. I grow right on the edge of the floodway so my 1938 Sperry had a few secondaries get washed out.   Tuesday, July 9 View Page Perk of having a vine get washed out is you can see clearly how the rooting WAS going.   Tuesday, July 9 View Page I’m having trouble with getting a pumpkin on my 2054 Strickler. This one(pictured) aborted around day 15. Fingers crossed for a backup currently 10 DAP.   Tuesday, July 9 View Page Surprised my 1904.5 Sperry is cream colored. Oldest/Biggest in the patch ~500lbs.   Wednesday, July 17 View Page Lost the 20’ of main vine on the 2239.5 Marintzer. Unfortunately on a portion with the pumpkin.   Wednesday, July 17 View Page It’s been unbelievably humid. Here’s what a recent cull looks like. We hit a dewpoint over 80 three days in a row last week following the foot of rain we got to start July. We are getting cooler/drier conditions now.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page Enjoying a snack.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page 2266 Kisamore is the current patch leader ~600lbs   Saturday, August 3 View Page Pushed a tad too much Epsom Salt through the drip for a couple of days. All new growth looked like this for ~ 3 leaves/nodes.   Saturday, August 3 View Page Latest Haney test. Was curious to see if Soil Health dropped below 30 due to fungicides, but still doing well.   Saturday, August 3 View Page 2266 Kisamore ~800lbs DAP 50   Saturday, August 10 View Page 1806 Sperry is cracking, but not splitting, yet.   Saturday, August 10 View Page 2054 Strickler is looking solid. Some issues on main near stem.   Saturday, August 10 View Page 2266 Kisamore, two rot spots on main got surgery and fan.   Saturday, August 10 View Page 719 Jacobs is looking pretty, no issues with plant, but it is just hitting D45 which is prime time for issues to start.   Friday, August 16 View Page 2054 Strickler in foreground and 719 Jacobs in background. Both are around DAP 50.   Saturday, August 17 View Page Found a rogue on the 2266 Kisamore, maybe 100lbs. Culled it when I found it.   Saturday, November 23 View Page Bought a cheap mini excavator for ~$3k at an online auction. I’ve named it “Tippy” It can lift about 500lbs, perfect for rock work in the garden.