Claud The Backyard Farmer (self proclaimed)

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Perfect. ? I had several plants that said full sun but couldn't take NC full sun.
Not only was last summer our hottest on record, it was one of the driest. Watered almost every day for months. Glad you got a handle on it.

-Dee
 

Claudiusx

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Hey Dee :)

Well I hope I got a handle on it. We will see how the plants do I suppose. When I went to check on the beds at like 3 or 4, the sun was in a position that the shade wasn't doing anything, and the surface of the beds was back up to 130... idk if I should also put some cloth on the side to block the later afternoon sun too..

Soil is staying moist though and inch or two down, so I don't think I should water more than I am even with this heat. Thoughts?

-Brandon
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
That late afternoon sun is a killer. I have to close up my drapes on the west side of the house to conserve the AC. If I had more shade cloth, I'd put a piece on that end.
-Dee
 

Claudiusx

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At this point the whole bed will need to be encased in shade cloth lol.

Do tomatoes typically do well in your full sun dee? Trying to plan what would be best to plant in these beds for next time

-Brandon
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
My big sister and her partner ( the farmers ) live not far off the Tropic ( Capricorn ) in rural mid Queensland.
I emailed her ( asking about the tomato varieties they've grown successfully that handle tropical heat and extreme UV ). She recommends summer taste, scorpio, tracer, grosse lisse, futura and cherry varieties.
She grows her's in full sun .

Can I make suggestions regarding cooling the soil .

1) lay loose hay mulch over the soil ( will shade it and keep it cool and keep it moister , and will eventually break down and can improve the soil carbon and nitrogen contents and it's structure ) . My sister uses sugar cane straw mulch on all her bed ( is very cheap for her as she's got lots of sugar cane farms near her ,all she needs do is give a cane grower a call, and she wakes up next morning to find a load has been left for her ( often right next to her garden beds , best price = $0.50 , the price of a phone call ).

2) or modify the emissivity of bed top surface so it's more reflective in the IR range.
This is a recent study
Soil emissivity and reflectance spectra measurements
José A. Sobrino, Cristian Mattar, Pablo Pardo,Juan C. Jiménez-Muñoz, Simon J. Hook, Alice Baldridge, and Rafael Ibanez
APPLIED OPTICS / Vol. 48, No. 19 / July 2009
https://www.uv.es/ucg/articulos/2009/Publications_2009_5.pdf

and this

Estimating the broadband longwave emissivity of global bare soil from the MODIS shortwave albedo product
Jie Cheng, Shunlin Liang
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres JAN 2014
VOL119, p614–634
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/2013JD020689
winter-soil-surface-emissivity.png

Northern winter soil emissivities

summer-soil-emissivity.png

Northern summer soil emissivities

Can instantly modify the surface emissivity by applying a shallow layer of exfoliated vermiculite ( like many reptile breeders use to incubate their eggs ).
Has a low emissivity value e = 0.60 ==> it is very reflective in the IR region. [ r = 1- e ]
https://www.vermiculite.uz/index.php?l=en&s=teploprovodnost_vermikulita
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Claudiusx":2mspnqx3 said:
At this point the whole bed will need to be encased in shade cloth lol.

Do tomatoes typically do well in your full sun dee? Trying to plan what would be best to plant in these beds for next time

-Brandon
The only thing that did well last year was my roses and basil. Both planted in the ground. Basil got too big for its pot. I've concluded that soil in pots gets much hotter than in beds or directly into the ground. Most plants prefer their roots cool even if they like full sun on foliage. If I was going to attempt gardening again, I'd go to the Ag office first. I busted my butt and my pocket last year and had literally nothing to show for it other than a great tan. ?
Your county Agriculture office is the perfect place for info about what plants grow the very best in YOUR area. Wish I had taken the time to talk to them last year.
I'm betting half of America's produce comes from CA. You've got to have a good environment. I'd get up with your local Ag office.
-Dee
 

Claudiusx

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Yeah I do think not mulching has been a contributing factor too. I just haven't been able to find anything suitable every time I go out. And I don't want to use my grass clippings as I do spray chemicals and fertilizers on my lawns.

I have see a decent improvement since putting up the shade cloth, mainly with the onions. They seemed to be in limbo for a couple weeks but now they are shooting up new growth again.

My grandpa swear that the issues I was seeing in that bed were still from over watering and NOT from the sun... kind of hard to test that now. I did cut my watering back a little bit. Hate changing two things at once though because you never figure out what was the actual issue.

Cherry tomatoes are definitely something I'm going to try next year though. Haven't heard of the others.

I hope my beefsteak tomato produces. It's an heirloom variety so I will be able to save the seeds from the fruit to replant next year.

Yeah Dee that's a good suggestion too. I'll have to look into it!

Will get some pictures up later. The cucumber plant is huge, and we have 3 or 4 good sized cucumbers on it so far. 1 of them is giant! it seems to double in size almost daily!

Roma tomato been flowering, but still no fruits that I can see.
And our zucchini is flowering :)

-Brandon
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Sounds good! Im not even gonna mess with it this year, will just continue to work on the yard, my bushes and flowers, etc. Things are really looking good and I'm happy. ?
Got to go to Lowe's and get about 10 bags of mulch, need to top off.
Will work on trimming my bushes and just make the yard look nice. Gotta break out the hedge trimmer, shrubs have gone crazy! Lol! ? That's a good thing.
I have to transplant a Wisteria that I thought died last year and is now looking great! I was shocked. ?
Good luck with the veggies! ?
-Dee
 

Claudiusx

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Have picked a couple monster cucumbers so far. The zucchini plants have only been putting off male flowers. There has only been 1 female flower on each plant and they both died for some reason, the flower never even opened.

Onion starting to grow quite big! We had a real bad heat spell this week, caused a lot of the flowers on the Roma to drop, so hopefully we will get some tomatoes soon as it's supposed to cool off for a bit.

it was 28 degrees cooler today than it was yesterday...

-Brandon
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hey there, hope that you are having success with your garden. :) I just posted a new topic here, some people are unaware that the insect poo is a great fertilizer. Check it out and maybe you can incorporate some in to your veggie garden.

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Claudiusx

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Thanks AHBD :)
I actually thought about that when I was cleaning the bins a few weeks back. But I remembered there was probably a ton of eggs in it too, and I didnt want to have to deal with mealworms in my garden ha. your flowers looked great though with them.

Long over due update, things are growing like weeds now. Mainly the cucumber plant.
31715-6828644126.jpg
It has taken over almost the whole bed.
31715-9659145423.jpg
31715-5031767064.jpg
Weve already pulled about a half dozen huge cucumbers from it. but in the past week its produced at least 1 to 2 dozen more cucumbers that are already almost ready.

Peppers are doing good.
31715-1390201431.jpg
31715-4283599393.jpg

Potato plant is doing well also.
31715-6132865474.jpg

Roma tomato plant has probably 3 dozen tomatoes on it but none have turned red yet.

And, we picked our first ripe blueberry today :)
We cut it in half and I let my wife and daughter have the honors ha

-Brandon
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Wish we had warm weather here , but it's dead of winter and we are looking at being hammered by another major Tasman Sea Low ( Winter Tropical Cyclone ),it's been bucketing down since 9pm last night with only a few breaks and glimpses of the blue and that big bright warm yellow UFO.
Expecting a wild ride for the next few days here and gales and storms ( near us likely Tuesday )
Untitled11jul-forcast.png
..

Saw this that you might find interesting , someone else who's taken up the "microfarming" but in the UK.
My allotment was once a casual hobby. Since lockdown, it's become a lifeline
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/opinion/my-allotment-was-once-a-casual-hobby-since-lockdown-it-s-become-a-lifeline/ar-BB16BJha?ocid=msedgntp

People need to be come more self sufficient in our countries , and learn from what our predecessors did in the first 1/2 of the 20th century ie
>> public greens shared by community growing fruit & veg
>> most had a veggie patch in the backyard and maybe a fruit tree or two
>> many had chooks for eggs and meat
>> food miles were much shorter , if wasn't grown locally , it was not available
>> ration card systems
 

Claudiusx

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Well I am glad my garden hasn't become a lifeline in that regard. Me and my family have not had to go without at all during this whole time. At first it was a little iffy because of all the panic buying, but we have been able to get everything we need, and pretty much everything we want.

This garden is more so a distraction, a stress reliever, a fun hobby. I would most likely not enjoy it at all if I had to actually rely on it for my family. It is simply a fun activity for us.

And we'd be in big trouble if we had to anyways ha, can't live well off of cucumbers tomatoes and onions. (mmm just thinking about the "gas" that would be produced by such a diet.. hah.)

Either way, it's been fun seeing things grow, being able to harvest and eat them. We are very much into it. Planning out what and when to plant other items.
Surprisingly, my wife planted some peas a few months ago and we kind of just ignored them because they were on the side of the house. I went over there last week and we had a half dozen pea pods attached to a dying puny little pea plant. Not a fan of peas but the wife is, and she said they were great! So seeing as how they will grow even if you don't care for them at all, they are definitely going to be added to our planting rotation.

-Brandon
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Your garden is looking great and I can imagine the satisfaction + enjoyment of cultivating a bit of food with your own hands and now you can be called a gardener. Whether it's for your sustenance or for fun it's all good. :)
 

Claudiusx

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31715-52111242.jpg
Our cucumber harvest the other day from 1 plant. That's a lot of cucumbers lol. And more and more are growing still.

-Brandon
 

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