SQWIBS Urban Garden Adventure 2017

[sqwib]

Saturday I grabbed another Queen Annes Lace for the pond and dug up a few Blackberry plants I found in a parking lot at the industrial park. These things were growing through asphalt and there was barely any soil it was all shale and rock.
 


 

• I don't have much hope for this one.

• Just to make sure it's a Blackberry plant I ate a few!!

 

• Hopefully this one will make it. There was Blueberry plant there but it has never bloomed.

 

[sqwib]

Saturday Sam painted underneath the Bar Roof on the deck, thank you Sam , I hate painting and just couldn't do it, it took her all day, anyhow she said, "We need a new ceiling fan". So as she was painting in the 90° heat, I went down to the Air- Conditioned Mancave, popped on Netflix and ordered a new fan.

• I Installed the ceiling fan last night and Sam loves it. I think it looks good too!

 

• This fan has paid for itself, considering its not an outdoor fan and must be 10 years old, it still worked but was looking a bit nasty.

The tomatoes are starting to come off quicker and I keep chopping the basil. I actually sent a box of Basil to my wife's work for some of her co-workers.

I have one basil plant that smells a lot like anise, I am letting this go to seed to harvest the-seeds, I thought it smelled really interesting.

• Brandywine Red left and my first Cherokee Purple.

 

[gary s]

Nice my friend.  Looks like a lot of canning is about to take place at your house.

Gary

 

[sqwib]

July 21st, 2017 -  July 23rd, 2017
 

• Brandywine red, these are doing real well this year, there is a little bit of splitting at the tops.

 

• Wing nite with Stephen on the deck during a monsoon lol.

 

 


 

• Starting to clear up.

• The garden is getting near its peak and is getting a bit out of control, I really need to get in there and try to clean it up a bit.

• I stopped at the recycle center Saturday morning and picked up some more compost then stopped over Moms and topped off her Hugelkultur bed and planted some broccoli, I also picked up another flat cut piece of wood. I needed a path in front of the new Hugelkultur beds and figured this would be nice for a few years before it rotted out, plus I save on buying mulch!

 


 

• The Cherokee purples are doing well, I just need to pick them a tad earlier, they develop splits on the top and the ants are getting in the splits. I have been freezing the split maters and will roast them later for different things.

 

• Dinner Last night, Brandywine Margherita Pizza.

 


 

• Eggplant, Green Pepper, Black Olive, Onion, Mushroom Pizza.

 

 

[ab canuck]

Awesome garden And love the Pizza.... Point for sure....

 

[sqwib]

July 26th, 2016

It has been a while since I have updated this page, I have been extremely busy and have had hardly any time for gardening. I'll do a quick recap.

• Enjoying a break in the heat wave.

July 27th, 2016

• My leek garden is doing well

• I also can't get over the flowers, I guess they really like the drip irrigation I installed.

• I stopped at the trailer to do some maintenance and battle some ants For dinner I enjoyed some stuffed peppers, fried eggplant, sausage, some happy juice a few beers and banana bread for dessert.

July 28th, 2017

• Well, I found out why my Zucchini wasn't producing, nasty little B@STARDS!

 

 


July 29th, 2017

• Started a fresh batch of Sun-Dried tomatoes

• This is a rogue Matts Wild Cherry, the one I grew from seed died, I think. It's kinda hard to tell because it is growing like a weed. Tasty Little buggers, I think these and sweet 100's are my wife's favorites.

• And something for dinner!

August 4th, 2017

• Our company moved, we done the move in three days.

August 6th, 2017

• We went on vacation to OC MD. for a week.

 

• Nature always finds a way.

• Harvested a bunch of maters and eggplant to take with us, ended up roasting most of the maters and we really enjoyed the eggplant and stuffed poblanos.

 

• When we got home I unpacked and headed out to the garden to see what was going on, my neighbor had stopped in and picked some maters to head to Wildwood for a few days while we were on vacation. I marked what not to take.

• I picked mostly tomatoes I have some poblanos and bells to pick but needed to get the maters picked right away, I ended up tossing a dozen or so. I had my better half run a bunch to the neighbors.

 


 

• Spot the critter

 

• Many moons ago, I had a butterfly bush planted next to the Butterfly House. The bush got very leggy and Gnarly so I removed it, this has to be 10 years ago. Anyhow I found this growing in the same spot, I'm pretty sure it is a Butterfly Bush. I wonder if there were some dormant seeds or something that got kicked up when I redid this garden?

 

• The Rosemary is doing great.

• Harvesting some Dill Seed, once all the heads start browning I'll cut back the dill.

• Leek garden is doing great, hopefully I'll have plenty for some Leek Soup in September.

• The other day I came home and noticed this plant in the center nearly died, I just thought it was done for the season, later I realized I turned off the water after I used the hose, how long ago? Who knows. Anyhow I remedied the problem.

 

• The garden towers are doing as well as can be expected.

 

• The pond plants are doing well, so are the Ghost peppers and Tabasco peppers, the Bee Balm has been shaded out of existence.

• This year  I have been roasting a lot of tomatoes to freeze.

• These were roasted near 5 hours at 275°F, down the shore I was roasting at 300° for three hours, I like the results of the latter better.

• Dinner

August 21st, 2017


This weekend was productive, as far as gardening goes.
 

• Enjoyed a bit of Rain. Best time to weed!

• A Spice bush Swallowtail?, enjoying my vertical tower.

• The Koi are happy and the Poblanos in the pond are producing nicely.

• I thinned out the Hugelkultur beds and planted some Bush Beans, Broccoli and Lettuce. Thinned out the Zucchini Air pots and replanted some more Zukes, I'm going to order some BTK to try to keep the SVB off the plant.

• The Marigolds were taking over, I thinned them out and just let a few hang over the sides.

• Removed the Patio Princess and Sprite from the front planters and planted some Bush Beans, the Patio Princess was done producing and the sprite wasn't looking good and wasn't worth keeping.

• Corno Di Toro Giallo

• Ruby Red Bell Pepper

• Some Black Beauty Eggplants

 

• Harvested most of my seeds for next year.

• Made 10 pounds of Chili, one sweet and one sweet and spicy. Roasted some tomatoes for the chili, they were mostly Black Vernisssage.

• Harvested some Dill Seed

 

• Hooked up a pond pump to my rain barrel to water the plants

 

[gary s]

Great Pics my Friend. It is obvious that you have spent a lot of time and care on your beautiful yard and garden.

Loved all your pics, always look forward to your postings.

Gary

 

[ab canuck]

I am still thinking this is a project of time and Beauty!!!! Great job....

 

[sqwib]

Thanks guys, it does get addictive.

I think I'm gonna try growing a garden on my roof next lol.

Last Nights Dinner.

Pot Roast beef, eggplant , mater sandwich with barbecue sauce and a side of Old Bay Eggplant Fries.

 

[sqwib]

August 22, 2017

• 
  Tonight was an exciting night for my daughter at the Phillies Game, no she didn't catch a 'Foul Ball', something much more exciting, she rescued a Peregrine Falcon at Citizens bank Park.

August 23rd, 2017

• Rosemary Exploded

• Got home early so started dinner.

• Today Amanda rescues yet another critter, a Great Egret. I have to laugh, every time I sit down to dinner, go on the deck, in the basement or in the yard, I am being stared down by Screech Owls, Morning Doves, Snakes, Gray Squirrels, Flying Squirrels, Raccoons, Canadian geese, Pheasants, Rabbits, Turtles or some type of critter. She gets calls from the police, environmental centers and wildlife officers all the time. She works at the Pennypack Environmental Center and some animals are brought there because they know she is a Volunteer at the AARK Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center and will take them there when she can.
• The dogs don't know what to think when she brings these rescues home.

August 24th, 2017

• This morning was a little cold for this guy, just below 60°, I gave him a little pat to see if he was alive, yep still alive but moving very slowly.

 

[dcarch]

We can probably share many garden ideas.

For instance:

My invisible tomato staking system.

dcarch

no stakes 2.jpg

• dcarch
• Aug 24, 2017

no stakes.JPG

• dcarch
• Aug 24, 2017

 

[gary s]

More great Pictures, and such a great thing to rescue animals 

Gary

 

[sqwib]

August 25th, 2017 - September 5th, 2017

I was jonesing to build another Raises Hugelkultur Bed on the patio, but have been putting it off for a while, because it just didn't feel right, if that makes sense.
Anyhow I threw one together and it seems a bit overwhelming of the patio. I'm gonna give it a season or two and see if it should stay or go.

Since I was cutting back some of my shrubs I asked the neighbor if he wanted me to hack his stuff back. It's so overgrown you can barely get into his back yard and he has some large silver maple trees in there that gotta come out.

After the bed was built I removed the pavers underneath but didn't cut the other pavers, just in case I decide to take the new bed out.

I lined the bottom with Magnolia stumps and on top of that some thin cut Ash logs and then a boat load of Rose of Sharon cuttings, followed by a little of my clay soil, the contents of a planter that contained, peat, sand compost and manure then topped off with compost. In an effort to make it look a Little respectable, I tossed in some flowers and a basil plant then planted some Kale and Spinach.


 


I burnt the a lot of the heavy trimmings and this will be used for Bio Char and potash, I let the fire burn until everything was at coals and then sprayed with a hose.

I usually burn the evergreen stuff, weeds and tomato plants, everything else gets composted. A lot of the yew needles were used as a pathway, first I layered cardboard then the  trimmings then cardboard and mulch will be added in the fall, my hope is that the yew needles are allelopathic.










 

• I added a fridge to my smoking area, love it. My beer would always get warm while I was doing my yard work now it is ice cold.

 

• I planted some Garlic cloves.

• My Jalapenos in the Vertical Tower are really producing rather well.

• I'm very happy with my Leek Garden out front, I may make this a tad bigger next season.

• Moving day for my daughter, we stopped at Uno's to grab a bite after we got her moved in.

 

• Trimmed the Black Vernissage tomato plant, its way out of control. I 'll make some Roasted tomatoes out of this, I may smoke them too.

• Welcomed Guest

I had a few Goldfinches making their rounds on the sunflowers

We were laughing as we were listening to the bullfrogs in the pond and watching the Goldflinches tossing sunflower seeds everywhere.

September 5th, 2017



 

• Been adding to my Tabasco sauce again this year.

 

• Found this Hornworm in the garden, my daughter took it as a little to do project.

 

• Tore out my Black Vernissage and put in some Bio-char, rabbit manure and old potting mix from one of my Air Pruning Pots.

• Another critter found

 

• Planted some Crimson Clover and Oats. I plan on doing a section at a time as the Bio-Char and Rabbit manure come available.

 

• Picked some peppers from the pond and Hugelkultur beds.

 




 

• Roasted some Tomatoes and peppers

 

• Picked up some more compost and topped off Moms Hugelkultur bed and some of my beds.

• Grabbed some wood too!

• Picked up 20 bags of mulch and cleaned up my pathway in front of the Hugelkultur beds.

 

• Transplanted the Calla Lilies, they were taking over the Herb Garden.

• And got some smoking and cooking done. The cooking stuff was posted already.

I'm behind on this page, hopefully I can get caught up this week

 

[gary s]

Beautiful, Just Beautiful  everything looks great

Gary

 

[sqwib]

September 9th, 2017

• Leopard slug.

• Started staining the Retaining wall and top pieces for the wall and fence.

• Boards are flipped and stained on the other side.

• The irises took over the pond and were really messing with the filters so I had no alternative but to tear them out, I'm still debating on what to do with the pond.

 

• Replaced most of the rubber hoses with silicone hoses, the rubber ones always end up splitting on me.

• Decided to put some of the plants back, had to go swimming. I think I am going to remove the shrub in the back before it is too late.

• My plan is to make a ledge from the pond to the wall and place some attractive planters with calla lilies and add some metal wall art. I'll make the planters into Sub Irrigated Planters that are constantly fed by the pond.

• I need to thin out the irises in the back pond and pull the ivy as well as a bit of weeding. The Tabasco and Ghost Chili peppers are kicking butt.

• Eastern Black Swallowtail. There are about half a dozen scattered through the garden.

• Sam laying cardboard for a weed barrier.

• The family helping lay out the cardboard and mulch.

• Sam and Laura staining the new Hugelkultur bed.

• Since everyone is helping, I can take a break.

• Mulch is finished.

• Top plate is installed.

• Two more turtle rescues, these will be let go in a week or two. (Hey what are you two doing?)

• Some stuff from the Garden. Eggplant, Chives, Jalapenos, Cherokee purple. (Grilled Sirloin with Tomato and feta, Sweet potato and brown sugar, Fried Eggplant, Buffalo Wing ABT, Potato pancake).

• One hungry family.

 

[sqwib]

 
We can probably share many garden ideas.

For instance:

My invisible tomato staking system.

dcarch

no stakes 2.jpg

• dcarch
• Aug 24, 2017

no stakes.JPG

• dcarch
• Aug 24, 2017

Well... lets see it!

 

[sqwib]

September 9th, 2017

• Leopard slug.

• Started staining the Retaining wall and top pieces for the wall and fence.

• Boards are flipped and stained on the other side.

• The irises took over the pond and were really messing with the filters so I had no alternative but to tear them out, I'm still debating on what to do with the pond.

 

• Replaced most of the rubber hoses with silicone hoses, the rubber ones always end up splitting on me.

• Decided to put some of the plants back, had to go swimming. I think I am going to remove the shrub in the back before it is too late.

• My original plan was to make a Sub Irrigated Planter that is constantly fed by the pond that is filled with calla lilies, and add some metal wall art.

• Went back a few days later, pulled all of the Water Lilies, cleaned and fed them and placed back in the pond.

• I still need to thin out the irises in the back pond and pull the ivy as well as a bit of weeding. The Tabasco and Ghost Chili peppers are kicking butt.

• Eastern Black Swallowtail. There are about half a dozen scattered through the garden.

• Sam laying cardboard for a weed barrier.

• The family helping lay out the cardboard and mulch.

• Sam and Laura staining the new Hugelkultur bed.

• Since everyone is helping, I can take a break.

• Mulch is finished.

• Top plate is installed.

• Two more turtle rescues, these will be let go in a week or two. (Hey what are you two doing?)

• Some stuff from the Garden. Eggplant, Chives, Jalapenos, Cherokee purple. (Grilled Sirloin with Tomato and feta, Sweet potato and brown sugar, Fried Eggplant, Buffalo Wing ABT, Potato pancake).

• One hungry family.

• More from the garden

• Some of my eggplants are struggling but some have set fruit and are still flowering.

• Moms eggplants wont quit, this is a first year Hugelkultur bed I have no idea why these things have exploded, they have been supplying the neighbors with eggplant off of these two plants, I started these seedlings the same time I done mine and my plants look pathetic.

September 17th, 2017

Well it's about that time of year, the garden is past its peak and some hard choices for the garden need to be made, this is a melancholy time for me. Some fall crops have been planted and some plants are being pulled here and there. I guess I shouldn't be too sad, after all, I did have a great growing season. More Pond work needs to be done also.

 

• Tore out the Laurel behind the pond and planted Calla Lilies. Hopefully the Flowers will take hold and grow in nice next year, it looks so bare!

• Mom wanted to find a new home for her Koi, it was getting too big for her pond.

My first frost is in less than 4 weeks.

The tomatoes have slowed production with the exception of the Matts Wild Cherry, Celebrity and Box Car Willie, the BCW will not stop producing and "0" splits thus far. I do have quite a few green tomatoes and some random flowers. My Cherokee purples split and become bug infested while they're still mostly green, I'll never grow them again, I threw out almost every CP tomato the last month.
 

My peppers plants are doing real well;

• The Jalapeno is on its third huge harvest (one plant). I may try to overwinter this guy.

• The green (California Wonders) and Ruby Red bells fizzled out. I still have a few peppers that need to be picked.

• Poblanos, Anaheim and Corno Di Toro Gillo still have plenty of fruit and some Poblanos and Anaheims are ripening to red, some will be roasted, peeled, smoked and dried, others may be stuffed.

• The Corno Di Toro Giallo in the side Hugelkultur bed (2nd season Hugelkultur) is so loaded with peppers that I had to secure it to the trellis.

• The ghost chili's are starting to ripen as well as the Tabascos. The Tabascos go into my sauce jar thats on its second year resting on charred oak. The ghost Chili's will be smoked and made into a Ghost Chili Salt.

• The flowers out front look healthy, I never did get the "sunpatient" in the center to recover completely. The marigolds are doing great.

• I don't know what I did to this Eggplant Plant but I couldn't bear to watch it suffer anymore so I tore it out and composted it, Thee were about 5 eggplants on it but only one was salvageable. I cut back the other two a few days ago and will let it go another week.

• The Eggplant Plants in the Hugelkultur beds still look OK and have plenty of flowers but I don't see any fruit yet. This one looks a little bit nutrient deficient than the on in the Side Hugelkultur bed.

 

• Side Hugelkultur bed

• Rosemary is looking great.

• The asparagus is going nuts, this is my 2nd year of not harvesting, next year I will harvest it a lot more.

• The sunpatients in the upper veggie filter still look great.

• I had a few eggplants that I dehydrated and made some flour to try in some flatbread recipes.

• I fear my eggplant supply is done for the year, so we made a few Eggplant Dishes.

Yes, there's BACON in there!

20170919105.jpg

• sqwib
• Sep 20, 2017

 

[gary s]

Everything looks absolutely Beautiful  Best yard I have seen Hands down. Love all the great pics.

Points for everything !!  

I got my Fall garden planted last week. The Bush Beans, Snap Peas, Garlic and turnips are popping up already, waiting on the Lettuce, Spinach and Carrots.

Great Job my friend I sure am Jealous 

Gary

 

[sqwib]

 
Everything looks absolutely Beautiful  Best yard I have seen Hands down. Love all the great pics.

Points for everything !!  

I got my Fall garden planted last week. The Bush Beans, Snap Peas, Garlic and turnips are popping up already, waiting on the Lettuce, Spinach and Carrots.

Great Job my friend I sure am Jealous 

Gary

Awesome, I'm gonna stop by there.

My beans never come up but I do have some Kale, Romaine and struggling Broccoli growing. Oh yeah I'm trying my luck at another Zucchini.

Some of my maters have bounced back as well as the eggplants on the hill. All my peppers but the Bells are doing great.