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Showing posts from March, 2015

18 basins of various melons sown

Today, I sowed 18 more basins of melons in a third row. The melons sown were: Sugar Baby Watermelons Ancient Watermelons Charentais Gaucho Melons Afghan Honeydew Casaba - Golden Beauty American Ananas I used only Agronomic Partners IQ - Amino-N to prep the soil.

18 more basins of Israeli melons sown March 30, 2015

I sowed 18 more basins of Israeli melons. I used seed saved from my best melons last year. For soil prep, I used only Agronomic Partners IQ Amino-N.

Basil harvest

Today, I harvested half of the trial hydroponic basil. The weight was just under 2.5 pounds. I delivered the basil samples to a potential customer for evaluation.

Israeli melons started

Today, I planted 18 basins of Israeli melons, old original. I sprinkled Agronomic Partners IQ Amimo-N into each basin and planted about 8 seeds from a 2012 bag. I will plant another 18 to 36 basins in the next few weeks. Additionally. I will install 20 bato buckets of melons started in February and March (10 from each month) to determine if I can hasten a harvest by starting melons early and growing them hydroponically.

Large Swiss chard row germinates

Last week before rainy weather began, I planted a row of Fordhook Swiss chard as a trial to see how well mass plantings of it will work in the field. The seeds have now germinated.

Hydroponic melons moved outdoors

Lows at night are in the 50s and highs in the day are in the 70s at this time in March. I've now moved to the outdoors the melons that I started in hydroponic buckets back in February. After about a week of hardening off, they will be spread out in the field.

The mulberry trees have budded

It's only been a little more than two weeks since temperatures at night were freezing. Now that warmer weather has arrived, our mulberry trees have bloomed and budded.

Hydroponic basil update

The hydroponic basil that I started in January has taken longer to mature than I expected. I've also discovered that stacking the tarys on shelves will necessitate artificial lighting as the basil on the bottom shelf is growing the slowest, and on the top shelf the fastest.

Parthenocarpic cucumbers and squash progress

The greenhouse varieties of cucumbers and squash that I planted last month continue to progress nicely. These  parthenocarpic plants need no pollination to set fruit, so they are perfect for growing in a greenhouse where no bees will be able to visit their flowers. Partenon squash Corinto cucumbers

More hydroponic melons started

Bato buckets of melon starts. Today, I sowed Israeli melons in 10 more Bato buckets. Unlike my previous starts in Oasis cubes, I directly sowed the seed into the medium in the buckets. The medium is composed of about half and half perlite and coconut coir. I've placed the buckets in the greenhouse to keep them warm, as nights are still chilly in the 50s. In the greenhouse, lows stay in the upper 60s, so the melons should germinate faster. If the starts are successful, then I should harvest melons from these buckets about two weeks earlier than melons sown directly in the field at the first of April. As for the melons started in February, they're growing slowly after having dehydrated. I was unaware of how dry perlite can be, and when I transplanted the seedlings into the perlite, I did not water the buckets thoroughly enough. They are recovering, but I think I've lost some of their potential advantage. Melons started in early February in Oasis cubes, transpl

Plum trees have bloomed

Two plum trees are in full bloom, and one Methley is about to as well. The native plums have not bloomed yet, and they show no sign of doing so anytime soon.

Warmer weather finally arrives

For the past several days temperatures during the daytime have reached into the upper 50s and only gone down at night to the lower 40s.

Ground begins to be saturated

For two weeks now winter precipitation and light rain fall has been frequent. slowly the moisture has penetrated the soil and is now beginning to saturate it, which should provide some relief from the continuing drought this summer.

50s today, 20s tonight

Today's high at 50 degrees was a welcome relief from the bitter cold of the last week. The low tonight will be in the 20s, though. The weather forecast calls for a general warming over the next few days. The direct sunshine today helped seedlings in the greenhouse put on more green and stand up a little.

Winter snow melts, high in upper 30s, low in 20s

Last night's snow has melted away today. Some still lingers in the shadows of trees and buildings. Today was in the upper 30s, and tonight will be in the mid to lower 20s.

Winter precip continues

A carrot grows in the snow. For the last week, temperatures have barely been above freezing, and some days haven't been out of the 20s. Keeping the greenhouse warm for seed starts has been more challenging, as several times the propane bottles have run empty. The propane heater in the greenhouse has been able to keep interior temperatures in the 60s even when it's in the 20s outside, but pepper seeds and similar crops needs temps in the 70s or 80s to germinate. No-show's and damping off have been the result of the cool, wet climate indoors. Most of all, the days have been cloudy. The lack of direct sunlight is leaving the seedlings that have come up a little stunted. Basil has almost ceased growing at all. Two trial hydroponic tomato plants are almost dead, and a trial eggplant that has had a fruit growing for about 3 months now is just remaining static, and the eggplant is turning yellow, not purple.