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It’s almost time!

2K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  Mad Trapper 
#1 ·
I’m getting excited. It’s almost seed starting time. I’ve been studying seed catalogs for weeks now and carefully selected the varieties I want to plant. I’ve inventoried my supplies, potting Soil, fertilizers and chemicals. I’m almost ready to go. Just a few more weeks and the sweet pepper seeds will be going into the dirt. I’ve also decided to plant two more pear trees. These will most probably be the last fruit trees I ever plant. I’m also deciding on what I need to try planting potato towers and zucchini in straw bales.
And I have one final hair brained idea......... I have a spring and water cistern at some distance from the main garden. I’ve also scrounged up a spare solar panel and a 12 volt water pump. I’m thinking of putting these odds and ends together to be able to pump irrigation water to wherever I need it instead of hauling a watering can around.
 
#2 ·
I'm getting excited. It's almost seed starting time. I've been studying seed catalogs for weeks now and carefully selected the varieties I want to plant. I've inventoried my supplies, potting Soil, fertilizers and chemicals. I'm almost ready to go. Just a few more weeks and the sweet pepper seeds will be going into the dirt. I've also decided to plant two more pear trees. These will most probably be the last fruit trees I ever plant. I'm also deciding on what I need to try planting potato towers and zucchini in straw bales.
And I have one final hair brained idea......... I have a spring and water cistern at some distance from the main garden. I've also scrounged up a spare solar panel and a 12 volt water pump. I'm thinking of putting these odds and ends together to be able to pump irrigation water to wherever I need it instead of hauling a watering can around.
I have to inventory seeds. Peppers and tomatoes will get started early March along with some early frost hardy (broccoli, cabbage, lettuce) .

I have apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes (from last years cuttings) and blueberries to put in for fruits.

Is your cistern above garden? If so a garden hose using a siphon will work. I do that with my rainwater collection and move the water to 275-gal totes, just above the garden.

My potatoes just go into rows that don't get harrowed after I plow, I have plenty (hundreds) of "seed" taters in the root cellar. Most will still get eaten.
 
#3 ·
My main garden is maybe 10 to 12 feet elevation below the cistern but it’s a good 125 feet away. A siphon effect could be an option. The potato towers and straw bale experiments will be close (but above) the cistern. I currently have a few 55 gallon water drums hooked into rainspouts. I’m thinking of getting a few totes located up high, pump them full from the cistern as needed, and irrigate from them.
 
#4 ·
My main garden is maybe 10 to 12 feet elevation below the cistern but it's a good 125 feet away. A siphon effect could be an option. The potato towers and straw bale experiments will be close (but above) the cistern. I currently have a few 55 gallon water drums hooked into rainspouts. I'm thinking of getting a few totes located up high, pump them full from the cistern as needed, and irrigate from them.
12 feet is plenty of head to siphon/gravity feed from cistern to garden. I don't think I have that much head from my rain collection (275-gal totes) to my garden?

Even with 3/4" hose it will be slow, and you will have to prime the hose to get things started, unless cistern has an outflow you can plumb to, then no siphon needed and just open a valve, that's what I do with my garden system. But it's free and gravity will always be available.

I plan ahead as my collection system fills and/or I need water in the garden. Set up the flow then spend time tending garden as gravity does it's thing.

55-gal barrels are handy, but unless the tops cut off/removeable, hard to use the water. With tops off can be a mosquito hatchery. I do set up several open top barrels in the garden. I either use up the water, or put a piece of mosquito dunk (BT) in the barrel. My main storage just above the garden is more 275-gal totes. These have hose adapters and I can get water anywhere in the garden and/or fill some barrels as needed.

Concerning the BT dunks for mosquitos, don't use a whole one. Break off a little chunk, once the skeeters start breeding, the BT bacteria will reproduce and innoculate the water. Check water every few weeks for larva.if left standing.

I'm glad you got me thinking on this! I need to order a few lamps for my lights I use to get starts going. They are the small dia 4-ft florescent that do all the wavelengths of light that keep plants happy.
 
#5 ·
I have the ground prepared for where I plan to murder my tomatoes and peppers again this year. A couple more weeks. Also have the containers and soil ready for strawberries.
 
#6 ·
Was -5 F here last night. We can't bank on a late frost not coming until late May. When can you transplant to soil?

Tomatoes/peppers are not hard to grow here. Need an early start, put down leaf mulch to avoid blights and conserve water.

To Chiefster I need to check tomato pepper seeds, I've been doing open pollinated. I didn't save seeds last year, will have to check saved seed. I have a few favorites/heirlooms, what are you growing?

Where are you in elevation in PA? Weather growing/season might not be too different from me?
 
#8 ·
I’m at 1800 feet up in the Allegheny Mountains, Laurel Highland region. I’m supposed to be growing region 6A. Our average last frost date is may 15.
I’m constantly searching for “the best” varieties so my peppers and tomatoes varieties change year to year.
Tomatoes this year will be San Marzano for sauce, Big Rainbow yellow low acid for the wife, and Super Sauce hybrid for canning and table use.
Sweet peppers will be California Wonder and a bulls horn variety. I let my peppers ripen to red. Green peppers are a bit too bitter for me.

Late blight plays hell with tomatoes around here so I’ve been trying different varieties for years. I’ve even tried blight resistant tomatoes but I haven’t really seen much improvement. I’m pretty lucky as I always seem to harvest ‘enough’ before the blight finally kills off the vines.

This year I’m starting pepper seeds way early. I would like to get the sweet peppers and sauce tomatoes to ripen at the same time so I can use the peppers in my home canned sauce. Every year is a new experiment in my on going garden adventure.
 
#12 ·
FYI...... years ago I did a test of tomatoes. Same variety, same dirt, same fertilizer and chemical spray. Just some planted in buckets and others in ground. The ones in ground produced tons more fruit than those planted in the containers. But that was just my experience. Your milage may vary.
 
#13 ·
I'm not organic certified, but have only use OG approved sprays.

For tomato fungicide it's only copper and only when VERY needed. What works best for me is to get transplants started in the ground, and when ground warms a REALLY heavy hardwood leaf mulch. That mulch has anti-fungal properties and prevents splash from rainwater that takes fungi spores from the ground. Then stake/trellis them off the ground. With a heavy enough mulch, 4-5" even those runners with fruits don't get much blight.

Downside in bad mice/vole years they will live/hide under mulch. They love tomatoes. Nothing worse than grabbing a big slicer for a BLT and find the bottom half chewed off.

For tomato sauce, Amish Paste (really big paste the best!) and Romas. But everything ripe gets thrown in if ripe, with onions, garlic, peppers, spices, wild mushrooms (process 40 + mins).......

Best year I did 15-gallons of pasta/ T-sauce. I have a few jars left (2008), and it still tastes fine.
 
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