The Vegtable Garden Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter rusty_tlc
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I'm a surveyor so some of this stuff is tough for the typical home owner. First I survey the property corners and tie the site down to the path of the sun. I extrapolate the sun's path from a moment in time... for example. Jan 1, 2012 10:30am. What this gives me is the angles of the sun during the year. Then I locate trees, houses, etc.. objects that cast shadows. I put these objects onto the map and extrapolate their shadow lengths and angles from their height. You can map the shadow over the hours of sunlight. From that you can know the hours of sunlight on a particular square foot of land. Next if you want to split hairs, you can take this info (they have these for all of america, this one is for rusty).. http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/PDFs/NV.PDF and figure the solar "power" on that square foot of dirt.
A rough basic way to do this manually over the period of a year is... at morning, noon, and evening on the winter solstice, summer equinox, and spring solstice. Take wire flags and put them along the edge of the shadow in your garden. Make a map of this shadow line with a tape measure and a few reference points. Maybe put two big stones for reference markers. That way you can always pull a tape measure from the stone if you want to locate the flag locations again.
I could write 200 pages describing this method.... i hope those two paragraphs made sense.
You could buy a solar pathfinder, it's sort of a "toy" but it does the same thing as the flag method. Solar Pathfinder - Solar site analysis In my opinion the latitude band sun-path diagrams used by the solar pathfinder are too wide for exact results. It has been used as a tool in a few academic papers, but they always comment that the results cannot be reproduced. I think the wide latitudinal bands introduce that error. But for a garden, it's perfect.
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rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
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- #43
Let a few raddish plants go to seed and try eating the seed pods fresh or pickled. They are a treat.man, those radishes are like superplants. 4 days after sowing they were out and now after 12 or so days I'm seeing red stuff already...
just sowed some mixed baby lettuces. First time on those.
I'm moving away from the small potted seedlings to actual seeds. More fun, more reliable, and I suspect the latter probably catch up in the end anyway.
rusty.. do you know what time of day this photo was taken.. morning noon evening
A hobby of mine is shade mapping for gardens
That was probably around mid day, early spring. We planted tomatoes in the bed that was just going into the shade in the picture and they did great. The rest of the garden is in full shade by late afternoon which works out well here.
One of the reasons we picked this location was the exposure. The house not only blocks the hot afternoon sun but it acts as a wind break. One of the toughest things about gardening in the high Sierra desert is the hot afternoon winds. My wife and I constantly watch the garden and keep track of the shade at different times of the year and day. After nearly 30 years here we can tell what is going to grow well in any part of the garden at our new house.
I get the 30 year part.... mapping the shade cuts the live and learn time down.
I worked for a huge nursery years ago... they seemed to use the philosophy of keep re-planting until something works. That was great for their billing department, but expensive for the homeowner. I've noticed a few nurserys now approach it with a replacement warranty, but that usually comes with a yard maintenance package. six and 1/2 a dozen.
always wondered about those free replacement of dead plants warranty. OSH has it and we took advantage of it already a couple of times when the death was not our fault. Odd they would be willing to do this since they have no control over the life or demise of the plant once sold. Goes to show you that they must have a huge markup on these things (or that few people take advantage of the guarantee).
(does homedepot have something comparable to OSH?)
(does homedepot have something comparable to OSH?)
I don't know what the markup was... but the nursery I worked for had a gigantic farm. Their retail store was always throwing away trees, bushes, etc... if the smallest blemish appeared on the plant. I always took the trees, 25 years later they are all still kicking.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
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- #49
AFAIK all the big box home stores have the free one year replacement policy. Most people probably can't find a receipt after a year so i doubt they have to honor it all that often.
@beaufort-fj60, I worked in nurseries when I was in collage. The small Mom & Pop places let me set up a hospital section where I could get damaged plants back into sale-able condition or sell at a reduced price. Big retail places wouldn't go for it.
@beaufort-fj60, I worked in nurseries when I was in collage. The small Mom & Pop places let me set up a hospital section where I could get damaged plants back into sale-able condition or sell at a reduced price. Big retail places wouldn't go for it.
Me and the girls planted all my peppers yesterday. One of the fun things about having kids is teaching them how to do things.
Planted 3 Tai Chili plants
2 Poblano
1 cayenne
1 Pepperoncini chili
1 Anaheim chili
1 jalapeno
Then we planted some sweet basil and cilantro and scallions in another bed. Finally go the drip irrigation back working again so I don't have to worry about watering daily. I'm looking forward to some fresh hot pepper vinager.
Planted 3 Tai Chili plants
2 Poblano
1 cayenne
1 Pepperoncini chili
1 Anaheim chili
1 jalapeno
Then we planted some sweet basil and cilantro and scallions in another bed. Finally go the drip irrigation back working again so I don't have to worry about watering daily. I'm looking forward to some fresh hot pepper vinager.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
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- #52
I like the freedom to leave the garden for days at a time to tend itself. I can also water at the time of day that is most effective, which happens to be when I'm getting ready for work and while I'm at work.been toying about the idea of reinstalling my drip system too, but I do get a peaceful quick out of watering with a can. Very zen...
I'll post pictures of the system I use when I get a chance.
I only did Jalapeno M's from seed... boy are they slow. I moved them to full whammy all day sun and they started to grow faster.
I don't have any current pics but here is one from last year. We have a ton of deer here so everything has to be protected.
I should have taken some pictures of this thing at the end of last year. I had okra plants in that 4th bed in the back that measured, I believe, 9'8" tall. I have a lot of different things planted but so far we are eating a couple of different types of radishes, some small snow peas, baby Romaine Lettuce and some turnips.
I can't wait to try the garlic scapes because I've never tried them. I planted 49 garlic plants last Fall.
I added some good garden soil to all of the beds and tilled it in about 2 months ago. Fingers crossed on how everything turns out this year......so far it's looking good.
I should have taken some pictures of this thing at the end of last year. I had okra plants in that 4th bed in the back that measured, I believe, 9'8" tall. I have a lot of different things planted but so far we are eating a couple of different types of radishes, some small snow peas, baby Romaine Lettuce and some turnips.
I can't wait to try the garlic scapes because I've never tried them. I planted 49 garlic plants last Fall.
I added some good garden soil to all of the beds and tilled it in about 2 months ago. Fingers crossed on how everything turns out this year......so far it's looking good.
Thank you. It gives me something to look forward to when I get off of work every evening.
Here are a couple of photos from last year's garden. We planted tomatoes, onion, squash, peppers, tomatillos, beets, lots of herbs.
To much pretty stuff in that picture.