Today is a day of great beauty.
By seven AM, the sky was already clear, bright, blue. Even so, a heavy fog bank hunkered down at the Admiralty Inlet. Whidbey Island was completely obscured. Ships blared their great fog horns.
"I am here!"
"As am I!"
"As am I!"
It is now past eleven. The day gets brighter and brighter. Time to water the chilies and tomatoes in the greenhouse. Then, the workshop in the garage for attention. I plan to answer. I look forward to it.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Greenhouse Update
Chilies are mostly thriving. The poblano chilies are especially big and plentiful. The "Super Chilies" are prolific. The jalapenos are so-so: good looking fruit but not so plentiful. The bell peppers are coming along.
The heirloom tomatoes are progressing nicely; although I still don't know if we'll get enough sun for them to thrive (even with the greenhouse!). The tomato plants (there are four) all look very good though, and all the plants are starting to get fruit.
The eggplants are struggling. They are the hardest hit by aphids, and the infestation seems to have weakened the plants. They are getting blossoms, but so far I haven't seen any fruit.
The whole "aphid thing" is interesting. Sort of the way a root canal is interesting: it's annoying and uncomfortable, but it definitely focuses your attention. I've heard several people complain about aphids, so the problem is widespread in the area. Outdoor plants as well as greenhouse plants are under siege.
It turns out that aphids don't like tomatoes. I have yet to see a single aphid on any tomato leaf. Recently, I read in an organic gardening magazine that tomato leaves contain a chemical that's toxic for aphids and that you can even make a spray of the ground-up leaves and it'll kill aphids. Haven't verified this, but the little suckers (literally) do seem to leave the tomatoes alone.
The aphids get on the chili plants, but the chilies seem able to tolerate the infestation. The smooth texture of the leaves makes it pretty easy to spot the aphids and wipe 'em off, so that probably helps the plants too. I've been manually removing aphids on a daily basis for a few weeks now (not that much fun, but I want those chilies).
In contrast the aphids are ruining the eggplants. I've tried a few "organic" control strategies and while the plants are still alive, they are not doing well at all. Also, the fuzzy, mottled texture of the eggplant leaves make it harder to remove the pests by hand. Go figure. I worry a little that the aphid infestation on the eggplants is serving as a "pest vector" for the chilies, but that might just be my imagination.
I tried to buy some ladybugs at the local garden center. Aphids are ladybugs' favorite food. Well, actually I did buy some ladybugs. Trouble is, they keep ladybugs in a refrigerator at the garden center. The ladybugs get cold and hibernate or something like that. Then you don't have to feed them. Allegedly, you just warm them up, they start wiggling and then they're ready to chow down on the aphids.
Trouble is, these ladybugs spent too long in the 'fridge, so most of them weren't hibernating. About 90% of them (maybe more) were just plain dead. Dead ladybugs do nothing to address an aphid infestation. I got maybe eight or ten ladybugs out of the whole batch and only about four of them are really, actively cruising the plants and eating aphids. Admirable, but insufficient.
The good news is that we have a customer-centric, honest garden center here at the edge of the continent. Yesterday I collected as many dead ladybugs as I felt like messing with and returned them to their little container. I took my container of dead ladybugs and my receipt back to the garden center. The nice people at the garden center apologized (several times) and refunded my money: $10 plus tax... bugs are expensive!
The people at the garden center have ordered a fresh batch of ladybugs. It's late in the "ladybug season" so they're not sure they can get any, but they offered to call me if some come in. I still may pick some tomato plant leaves, whip them into a froth with the blender and try spraying them on the other plants, but I haven't decided if that's a good idea or not.
Stay Tuned.
The heirloom tomatoes are progressing nicely; although I still don't know if we'll get enough sun for them to thrive (even with the greenhouse!). The tomato plants (there are four) all look very good though, and all the plants are starting to get fruit.
The eggplants are struggling. They are the hardest hit by aphids, and the infestation seems to have weakened the plants. They are getting blossoms, but so far I haven't seen any fruit.
The whole "aphid thing" is interesting. Sort of the way a root canal is interesting: it's annoying and uncomfortable, but it definitely focuses your attention. I've heard several people complain about aphids, so the problem is widespread in the area. Outdoor plants as well as greenhouse plants are under siege.
It turns out that aphids don't like tomatoes. I have yet to see a single aphid on any tomato leaf. Recently, I read in an organic gardening magazine that tomato leaves contain a chemical that's toxic for aphids and that you can even make a spray of the ground-up leaves and it'll kill aphids. Haven't verified this, but the little suckers (literally) do seem to leave the tomatoes alone.
The aphids get on the chili plants, but the chilies seem able to tolerate the infestation. The smooth texture of the leaves makes it pretty easy to spot the aphids and wipe 'em off, so that probably helps the plants too. I've been manually removing aphids on a daily basis for a few weeks now (not that much fun, but I want those chilies).
In contrast the aphids are ruining the eggplants. I've tried a few "organic" control strategies and while the plants are still alive, they are not doing well at all. Also, the fuzzy, mottled texture of the eggplant leaves make it harder to remove the pests by hand. Go figure. I worry a little that the aphid infestation on the eggplants is serving as a "pest vector" for the chilies, but that might just be my imagination.
I tried to buy some ladybugs at the local garden center. Aphids are ladybugs' favorite food. Well, actually I did buy some ladybugs. Trouble is, they keep ladybugs in a refrigerator at the garden center. The ladybugs get cold and hibernate or something like that. Then you don't have to feed them. Allegedly, you just warm them up, they start wiggling and then they're ready to chow down on the aphids.
Trouble is, these ladybugs spent too long in the 'fridge, so most of them weren't hibernating. About 90% of them (maybe more) were just plain dead. Dead ladybugs do nothing to address an aphid infestation. I got maybe eight or ten ladybugs out of the whole batch and only about four of them are really, actively cruising the plants and eating aphids. Admirable, but insufficient.
The good news is that we have a customer-centric, honest garden center here at the edge of the continent. Yesterday I collected as many dead ladybugs as I felt like messing with and returned them to their little container. I took my container of dead ladybugs and my receipt back to the garden center. The nice people at the garden center apologized (several times) and refunded my money: $10 plus tax... bugs are expensive!
The people at the garden center have ordered a fresh batch of ladybugs. It's late in the "ladybug season" so they're not sure they can get any, but they offered to call me if some come in. I still may pick some tomato plant leaves, whip them into a froth with the blender and try spraying them on the other plants, but I haven't decided if that's a good idea or not.
Stay Tuned.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Summer?
Well, we had two glorious days. One of them was even hot! This AM, however, is foggy. I can hear at least three foghorns out on Puget Sound. Condensation is dripping down the roof of the greenhouse.
Yesterday was the annual, Jefferson County "solar tour." This was the first year I participated (Angel was off visiting her mom, so I was on my own with the public). Unlike today, yesterday was bright and sunny -- perfect for people to come and look at the PV array and hear about things like efficient windows; closed-loop, ground-source heat pumps; extra insulation in the attic; and so on.
At least I won't have to water the outdoor gardens today!
Yesterday was the annual, Jefferson County "solar tour." This was the first year I participated (Angel was off visiting her mom, so I was on my own with the public). Unlike today, yesterday was bright and sunny -- perfect for people to come and look at the PV array and hear about things like efficient windows; closed-loop, ground-source heat pumps; extra insulation in the attic; and so on.
At least I won't have to water the outdoor gardens today!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Locust Queen's Feast Now Live on Amazon
Well, it seemed like it took forever, but the novel is finally available on Amazon. It was a fun project. Tons of work, but definitely one of the most fun things I've ever tackled. I hope everyone who decides to buy a copy loves it, but of course that's not a realistic wish. But then neither was the wish that led to the novel.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Season's First Potatoes
Note that these beauties are piled on a platter that's significantly bigger than a typical dinner plate.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
LQF Update
2nd iteration of proof ordered today. Just rec'd email from company indicating that proof has shipped, so I'm hoping it'll arrive by next Thursday or Friday (July 1 or 2). If it's okay -- and I really hope it's okay at this point. It should take but a few minutes to "throw the switch" and make the book available on Amazon.com.
Fingers crossed. Not holding my breath, of course.
Pollinating Chili and Tomato Plants
The white plastic pipe things are some of my experiments at under-surface watering my potted plants. The verdict's not in on that, but my idea is that by watering just beneath the surface, I can keep the soil more uniformly moist in a hot greenhouse.
To the left are some pots containing "super chilies" (whatever those are). They're thriving and beginning to put out blossoms.
I spent quite a bit of time searching around for advice on pollinating these plants. Do you need to help? What's a good technique. After reading several articles and watching some funny and slightly strange videos, I've reached the conclusion that if you're growing these plants in a greenhouse, you should definitely get into the pollination business.
On the right is my poblano plant. It's easily the largest so far!
The best videos (IMO) were from a couple of guys who, from their accents, I assume to be in the UK. Here's a link to a vid they've posted on YouTube. The vid talks about chilies, but I think that the technique will work just as well for tomatoes and eggplant. These guys have a YouTube channel called The Chili Guys, which is worth a visit.
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