Tomatoes back outside

Moved the tomato plants back outside this evening. Most seem like they'll bounce back in a few days. One or two are gone. Cucumber vine is completely dead.

So, need to get more cucmber seeds going tonight. 

Zone 1 still needs some revision for the tomato plants. Was going to get that done tonight but ran out of daylight. 

Still waiting for the shade fabric and garden staples to arrive. 

Had good luck with plastic buckets this evening. (Guess it doesn't take much to make me happy, eh?) Got 7 buckets from the grocery store, varying sizes. Those will come in handy! 

Since starting this post I got the cucumber seeds started. Six containers, three varieties, two seeds each container. 

Seeing more things coming up inside. Strawberries aren't looking so hot. I may have planted them too deeply. If the crowns are covered even slightly they die off. I removed some soil from them today. If not looking better tomorrow, may have to pull them up and replant. 

Zone 2

Zone 2 of the irrigation system is up and running now. May have to replace one sprinkler. I think there's not enough pressure in this zone because the zone is too big. Either that or there's a pressure leak somewhere. I'm letting the system run for a few hours tonight, so hoping any leaks may be more visible tomorrow.

Letting it run to flush the system and the soil to leach off any surface salt. Also to get any remaining grass and weed seeds or roots to start growing so I can deal with them. It also wakes up earthworms and microbes for the spring, bringing them closer to the surface.

Installed the metal straps on the compost tumbler, so the door will stop warping in the sun. It's showing good results, composting much, much faster than the compost pile. In 2-3 weeks I think this batch will be useable. I do need to tumble it every day or two, now that the door will stay closed. I do have air holes drilled in the sides but if I don't turn it, the stuff on the bottom goes into anearobic decomposition, which smells pretty bad. More air mixed in speeds up composting, too. 

They referred to frost last night. In my area, it came closer to a hard freeze. The grape vines lost all their green leaves. Glad they hadn't flowered yet. I managed to avert damage to the apple and most of the plum tree with wrapping them. 

Lots of stuff

I think I'm just going to keep this saved as a draft and add to it during the course of the day. Gives me something to do when I take a break.

Last night I applied glyphosate to the garden. This morning I followed up with sulfuric acid.

I have gone full toxic this year to wrestle the weeds and unwanted grass under control.

I'm using full strength acid with no added water. The one thing I am adding is pure household ammonia. I applied pure acid one day and an acid/ammonia mix another day. It seems the mixture is much more effective. And then that effect is compounded if applied in direct sunlight. I applied acid one evening and had some effect but not quite enough the next day. This morning I applied the mixture in direct sunlight and was seeing the effects on the first section before I was done with the last section, so about half an hour. I'm hoping the whole garden is black by late afternoon. 

Right now it's 10 AM. 

My plan is to get the irrigation system partially running this weekend. Water the soil and apply clear plastic sheeting to the tomato section, then put tomato plants in containers out to weigh the plastic down and install irrigation to them. In 2-3 weeks the glyphosate should be dissipated/inactivated, so I can cut holes in the plastic, plant the tomatoes in the ground and anchor the plastic around them for a few more weeks. 

Right now I need to go drill holes in more stumps and apply Epsom Salt and acid. From what I can tell so far, it seems to be working. I am re-applying the acid every couple of days, to fill the holes I drilled. No signs of growth on the two stumps I've treated so far. I may just maintain that procedure through the summer, until I'm convinced I have killed off the roots.

However, I also need to trim smaller invasive trees and go get more glyphosate. Ran out. 

I had been letting the dog run around without the invisible fence collar. However, couple nights ago he turned over several tomato plants in containers. I think I managed to save all of them this time. He was eating the potting soil. So I powdered to op of the soil with cayenne pepper. Not good enough. This morning I went out to feed him and he had gotten out of the yard. He came back but I have a new cable run and put the collar back on him. He's laying around, looking guilty. He knows he did wrong and he knew it before he did it. Dogs know when they're doing something wrong but do it anyway. I am in no way sold on the whole poor short term memory for dogs theory. If they are getting into something and walk away from it and/or look guilty as soon as they see you, they understand completely but it doesn't stop them. In addition, eating the potting soil gave him diarrhea. Good! Hope it gave him stomach cramps, too!

A big problem with the apple tree last year was ants. I tried treating the ant piles but to no avail. Today I applied fly paper strips to the trunk. If I have to replace it that shouldn't be a problem. I get them at Dollar Tree, so they're 4/$1. One strip will treat up to 2 trees but if the problem is too severe I can use a full strip for each tree. I didn't see as many ants on the plum tree but I still treated that one as well, just in case. Think I lost most of the plums last year just because the tree was too young to deal with the winds. Still not quite developed enough but maybe have a few more plums than last year. The apple tree put out a few apples last year but most fell prey to insect damage. 

Now 2 hours after acid application and seeing a big difference. If not enough to my liking by late afternoon (while still in full sun), I'll do one more application. 


3:30 PM. Seeing a lot more effect that I wanted to see. It even has something of a burned odor, which I wasn't really expecting for some reason. Just because there's no actual combustion. However, I am going to do one more application.

I'm dragging butt. However, I went to Walmart and got more glyphosate. Cut down the nuisance trees behind and next to the shed and sprayed what was left liberally with the glyphosate, including the trunks but especially at the spots where I cut because that absorbs fastest, from what I understand. 

Like I said, dragging butt. I think it has to do with gastric problems. Took something for it and going to take some creatine in a little bit.

Okay, I did the last acid treatment. It is seriously looking like this is going to work! One of the best things about this is that it only takes a few hours to see where you need to apply more. It took 3 gals to bring things under control right now. I think all it should take the rest of the year will be spot treating. I hope it soaked down to the roots, as it appears to have done. 

I can part of the irrigation system running tomorrow. Need to order some new parts because Home Depot stopped carrying my preferred micro-sprinklers and never did carry replacement parts. Going to try out some new sprinklers that have a wider range. They cost more but with a wider range I would need fewer of them. 

Done with the garden for today. Need to get a few things done inside the house.

Long road

This year it's a long road to planting in the garden. Getting problems under control before planting anything outside. I am getting closer, though.

Got the unwanted trees cut down to size, drilled some holes and applied some Epsom Salt and sulfuric acid. Have to wait a while to see how effective it is.

Transplanted most of the tomato plants into large containers this evening. Only one which I have doubts will survive. Let them get a bit larger before I take any cuttings. 

Got two more blueberry plants, small ones for now. Plus a seedless green grape vine. All three are looking good so far.

Cuttings from blueberry bushes and plums seem to be taking. If they form roots, I'll be up to as many as 11 blueberry bushes. I'm actually more hopeful that the apple cuttings will take than the plum cuttings. They look hopeful but not certain just yet. 

After several days of strong winds, it finally died down today. I was able to get out and spread acid in the main garden. Diluted acid has not been strong enough to bring weeds and grass under control, so this time I used straight acid. Risky process and can even feel the fumes on my skin but no actual direct exposure or burns. Spots where I had applied acid to the tree stumps a few days ago turned black, so hoping to see the same in the garden now. The strong but still diluted solution I used a few days ago worked on some random weeds. I also sprayed some of the full strength acid during lunch and could see some effect by this evening. I'm applying this before tilling or planting anything this year. Going to try and avoid turning over surface soil as much as possible this year. Acid on the surface should kill seeds while foliage application should kill weeds and grass to the roots. 

So, just used the last of the 5 gals of acid I bought last year. I'm expecting to go through more than that this year because I'm going to apply it very heavily this year to wrestle control of the garden. Once things are under control, just keep applying with irrigation water to help soil acidity. 

The plum and apple trees have had lots of flowers this year! Hoping that means lots of fruit!

Finally got something which fits to plug the hole left by the broken gauge in the well pump. Could not find a replacement gauge or a bolt, so found a pipe nipple and cap, used pipe tape and it worked fine. The pump still works well, the only problem was the gauge. None of that means the irrigation system is up and running yet. That's going to take a lot of work, thanks to the dogs who chewed up a lot of parts. 

Winds have stretched out the solarium film. I have to get on the ladder and stretch the film tight again. I also need to order some shade fabric to control the temperature, now that weather is warming up.