Whatcha Up To???

[w_r_ranch]

Wolffman, how bad was the 2nd round??? Totals???

Here is a picture looking east towards your place at sunset. At first I thought it was a big grass fire but there was no smoke... it's actually the reflection of the sunset bouncing off the back wall of your rain storm.

 

[Mike]

I'm a big fan of mulch in the garden. Have you watched the Back to Eden Film? Cool idea about no till gardens with a lot of mulch use. I do think that they gloss over a few important points in his garden system but over all the mulch use is really cool.

I have not but will certainly watch it.

 

[wolffman]

Ranch, we got lucky with round 2. The rain was less intense, but it lasted for a few hours. We got another 2.5" yesterday total. Looks like we have a week of no rain in front of us now.

I'm going to try to build a homemade mosquito fogger, they are going to be out of control in a few days.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Yan,
I do not remember much about other books i read 65 years ago, but if you want to read one of the best early books about mulching and sheet composting, I suggest you read Malabar Farm, by Louis Bromfield.
He had seen composting done in India, so when he came back to Ohio, he started using the same methods on his farm, The results sounded astounding, but the only problem was he went bankrupt.
I still recall how excited i was at the time i read it, but I was living in an Asphalt Jungle, and working every day to lay more asphalt and make that jungle bigger, so i never really had a chance to put his ideas to a test.

But i have been fascinated by the ideas ever since.

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

I had my helper come in and help me do some cleanup. He does the work down on the ground floor and i do the work from the waste up.

What i have learned this year, is different varieties of tomatoes require differerent amounts of water, so will plant separately next year. And i am leaning more heavily to just planting two varieties, instead of trying several new ones each year, hoping to find that perfect one.

Early Girl keeps doing better for me than the others do, and it did well for me in Idaho, so i may make her my steady, and stop looking around.

Then, i have not had good luck with the Romanos this year as they need more K than the indeterminates do here on my place, but i will try them again and plant them off by themselves next year.

Have a new variety of melon, and have never seen so many blossoms in my life. So, we will see what kind of melon it produces.

Ernie

 

[Ibtsoom]

Picked 3 cukes & 36 peppers from the garden.

Made stuffed jalapenos & baked potatoes for supper.

Also made a small batch (about a quart) of jalapeno sauce.

OK man what's jalapeno sauce?

 

[w_r_ranch]

Jalapeno Sauce

I use it as a condiment or as a marinade.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Trapped another brush rabbit, and thought i had taken the last one that is inside the rabbit proof fence, but was just out side watering the Wildflower bed, and flushed a baby rabbit. So will try to teach him to eat carrots so i can trap him, too.

Seeded some Blackberries for Puree, and chopped some onions for Soup.

Ernie

 

[Mr_Yan]

@ErnieCopp I started looking for that book then decided I'd be better off going to sleep for the night. Anyway you mentioned he wrote that after getting back form India which makes a lot of sense. Modern, scientific, composting was started by the work Sir Albert Howard did in India in the early twentieth century.

I've been a big fan of mulch in the garden for several years now and have found free sources around here. My only problem with this is I drive a chevy cavalier not a pickup. I have learned how to get about a yard of mulch in the back of the cavalier though - it's not pretty.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Started 'refurbishing' another old shovel that has been outside for years. Sanded & sealed the wood handle, sanded & sharpened the head on the grinder before treating it with acid. It needs to dry for a couple of days before painting it.

Started spraying RoundUp around the home site.

Picked 3 more cucumbers & the first of the 'Baby Corn'... The funny thing was I had a dream about baby corn last night... I kid you not. Picked 18 ears, enough for 2 days worth of salads.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I didn't do much in the garden yesterday but I did start about 200 more seed starts. These soil cubes make succession planting really easy.

More importantly I taught my 4.5 year old daughter how to ride a two-wheeled pedal bike. She's been on a balance / glide bike for a year now and the transition to pedals took about 20 minutes and no training wheels were involved. After a two mile ride and dog walk ice cream cones were in order.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made our quarterly liquor run to the big city of Brenham.

Picked 7 more cucumbers today... average length is +15". VERY small seed cavity & would make excellent pickle spears (we already have plenty here). I wished someone here lived close by... they're starting to really produce now, LOL!!!

 

[ErnieCopp]

I cannot get anyone interested in picking blackberries, so I am sure i could not give away fresh cucumbers. But maybe, if i made Jam and you made pickles, then people just might be glad to get them.

But i am not that desperate to give them away, so i am going to let the birds have them. At least the birds are willing to pick their own.

I picked another half gallon today, and will puree some more for ice cream topping, but there are far too many.

Ernie

 

[wolffman]

Managed to find a few cucumbers in the flooded out mess of a garden. They're deformed, wife says she's going to make some fermented pickles out of them. Anyone else make those funky pickles?

 

[Ibtsoom]

Is that the old barrel style pickles you see in the general store on western movies?

 

[wolffman]

Is that the old barrel style pickles you see in the general store on western movies?

Yes, pretty much the same. They are fermented in a brine for about a month or so. My mom used to make them when we were very young and we loved them.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Picked 15 more jalapenos (that will be stuffed), more baby corn & the first 3 tomatoes. Most of this will be served at supper time. Also picked 10 more cucumbers that I gave away.

Made bread.

Grilling pork chops (marinated in our jalapeno sauce 24 hrs) for supper tonight. Mrs. Ranch is baking an apple pie.

Cut the grass.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Maybe solved a problem that i have had. My main difficulty growing tomatoes here with the cool afternoon breeze has been getting blossoms to set fruit. I have been keeping my vines clean of old growth and tied up neatly, and that may have made my problem worse, allowing too much cool air in.

I got behind on the pruning and staking of some of the vines, and have seen a tremendous increase of fruit set down in the dense growth. So next year i am going to space them wider and let them spread out, similar to melon vines, but maybe a foot or 18" deep, and see if that warmer more stable microclimate near the ground will repeat what i am seeing this year.

Ernie

 

[Mr_Yan]

I finally finished building the bucket for my wheelbarrow. The small and cheap metal bucket rusted through and was only attached at two points where it had been four.

This thing is not pretty but should work much better then the little four cubic foot thing I had.

The compound angles were a little tougher than I hoped they'd be.

After I let the wood dry a little more I'll paint it with a good primer and bright yellow enamel.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Yan,

That looks like a pretty good job. That will last you a long time.
I started losing air from the wheelbarrow and trailer tires, as they got older, and put some of that SLIME stuff in them, and seems to be working real well. Never used it before, but it seems to be doing a fine job.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Sprayed ;'crabgrass killer' on the home site.

Spot sprayed 'Grazon P+D' on all the wild roses in the front & middle pastures.

Finished re-furbishing the last old wood shovel, as it is well dried. I started by spraying the wood handle with a base coat of white enamel, followed by 2 coats of florescent orange. When that was dry, I sprayed 2 coats of clear enamel for additional protection. Since this is the shovel I use for the BBQ coals, I then sprayed 3 coats of 2000 degree black paint on the head. Hopefully it should be good for at least another 10 yrs. of service.

Built a 'boomless 3' broadcast spray assembly' to attach to the tailgate of the Gator so I can apply herbicide on the ranch roads more efficiently (3 or 4 passes).

 

[wolffman]

Here's something that survived the flood.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Stunning!!!

 

[wolffman]

Ranch, what are you using to kill crabgrass this time of year?

 

[w_r_ranch]

A 'cocktail" with 2-4D as a base & a couple of restricted herbicides. Do you have a state permit???