Journal November, 25, 2015 - Completed Fairy Garden

Ava was here today and she completed her domed fairy garden.  We have a layer of gravel for drainage,  landscape fabric to prevent the soil from getting into the gravel, soil with charcoal for odor control, gravel to maintain moisture and prevent fungus gnats.  In addition, we added Osmocote timed fertilizer, so it is a very low maintenance garden.

She is really really really proud of her project, and well she should be.  As for me, it made my day so see her  so enjoy working with plants.

Grandchildren are the best!
 

Journal November 24, 2015 - Fairy Garden Started

On her last visit my granddaughter Ava wanted to speak to me in private, so I knew something was up.  She wants to make a present for her parents for Christmas, with of course my help.

We have kind of settled on a Fairy Garden, so the above photo shows the preliminary arrangement.  On hand, I had the container, ground cloth and figurine, however, it was necessary to purchase the plants, activated charcoal and cacti and succulent planting mix.  Making a short trip to the local reservoir, I was able to collect several niece pieces of drift wood for accent pieces, so on her next visit we will put the finishing touches on the garden.

At this point the olive and fig trees are still in the greenhouse getting their chill, and last night they got a good one, as the temperature went down to twenty degrees F.  Even with the heat on low the water in the watering bucket had ice on it this morning.

Last Thanksgiving we had a snow storm, but this year the forecast is for the temperature to be a mild fifty degrees or so.

We  have had several calm sunny days, which were ideal for getting in a few more drone flights before the weather turns nasty.  

I wanted to take a photo of my drone in flight, but when I returned home and was putting the drone away I found that while I was photographing the drone, the drone was photographing me.

Below is a photo of the Hudson River valley looking west.  The photo was taken at the Frear Park golf course in Troy, New York.  Just about the lake, slightly to the right of center, the large waterfalls at Cohoes, New York are just visible.  They were a major attraction in this area in the 19th Century.

Journal October 16, 2015- As the season end

The weather service is forecasting overnight temperatures in the twenties in the coming days, so I thought it prudent to place the olives in the greenhouse today.

To keep the daytime temperature to a minimum, I plan on opening the vents and doors.  The goal is to give the trees about four hundred hours of chilling, with an average temperature of 50 F or so.

Yesterday, in anticipation of the frost, I picked the last of the green beans and pulled the plants.  Today, the raised bed was replanted with Italian Purple and Canadian Music garlic.  All of the bulbs planted were from the crop we harvested this year.

Journal October 14, 2015 - End of growing season is almost here.

The weather service is forecasting frost this coming weekend, so it is time call a halt to this year's outdoor gardening.   To that end, I picked all of the fruit remaining on our one eggplant, removed the plant from its container and stored the planter for next year.

The plant was in a planter called: The City Picker Patio Garden.  All in all I found that the planter performed exceptionally well.

Several years ago a man sent me an email telling me to come to his house and pick up his hydroponic equipment, which he no longer wanted. The equipment was practically new, but he had given up on hydroponics. I offered to help him, but he insisted that I take all of the equipment.

One of the items was a 400 watt HPS grow light, that I have never used, until now. I have decided to try it to grow a Tropic tomato in one of tents to see how it compares with the big LED grow lights. First, I ordered a 400 watt MH conversion lamp on eBay for ten dollars, delivered. MH is for the vegetative stage, when the plant has at least two trusses in flower I will replace the conversion bulb with the original HPS bulb to get the fruiting process underway. 

My intent is to only let two or three trusses develop, then remove the growing tip, as I have limited height in the tent. That, and the bulb is very hot, as opposed to the LEDs, so the plant can not get too close to the bulb.

To dissipate the heat I have had to run the ventilator throughout the entire photoperiod. If worse comes to worse, I'll simply replace the light with an LED grow light.

Journal October 10, 2015 - Autumn Display

This post has absolutely nothing to do with gardening, sorry to disappoint you.

Right now the foliage in New York is coming into peak color, so I thought I would share some images of Mother Nature's finest work.

Off the beaten path, Martin Dunham reservoir, Grafton New York, October 6, 2015

First Pond, Grafton, New York, October 10, 2015

 First Pond, Grafton, New York, October 10, 2015

First Pond, Grafton, New York, October 10, 2015

This is one of the big weekends for leaf peeking, and there is an endless stream of traffic on nearby route 7; with people heading to Vermont to "see the leaves."  Go figure.

Journal October 3, 2015

I purchased a pineapple at Aldi's for a little over two dollars,  as I wanted to see for myself just how difficult it would be to start my own plant.  

Today I removed the top of the fruit, stripping off the bottom leaves to expose an inch or so of the core.  The top was placed in a jar of plain water, with the water covering the exposed base of the core.

The jar has been placed under a LED grow light, along with the plant purchased on Ebay, in a warm environment.  

The plant purchased on eBay came from a nursery, so it was most likely grown from a slip or sucker.  It is my understanding that plants propagated this way will produce a pineapple about a year sooner than plants propagated from the crown.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Journal October 1, 2015 - Another tropical

On one of the gardening forums that I belong to a woman posted photos of a beautiful pineapple that she had grown in her greenhouse.  She also posted that she has been growing them successfully for several years.

When I posted that I thought it was a great idea and wanted try one, she replied that it would take patience, which I have in abundance.  

That said, to speed up the process I looked on eBay for pineapples and ordered one for $5.99.  I expected a tiny plant, however, I was shocked by the size of the plant when I opened the box today.

Still, I plan on starting my own plant from a store purchased pineapple within the next few days.

For a scale reference, the black pots next to the pineapple are three gallon nursery pots.

Even with the cooler temperatures the soil garden is still producing.  Today I picked these green beans, a few peppers and two eggplant.  The beans are still flowering, so I think they will be producing until the first frost takes them out.  The single eggplant has at least six or seven more good sized fruit on it.  It is hard to believe how many eggplant we picked from that single plant this season.   The tomatoes still have some green tomatoes, a few of which are starting to ripen.

The beans are in the raised beds, which have really been productive.  This is their second crop this season, as we used them for garlic, onions and cucumbers earlier in the season.  When the beans are finished, I will replant them again with garlic bulbs.  Ya gotta love it!

Yesterday we received a tremendous amount of rain in just the matter of a few hours.  Locally, several streets were under water, with people stranded in their cars.  As the olives were still outdoors on the deck, they really got soaked by all the rain.  As more rain is forecast during the coming week, I moved the olives into the greenhouse to keep them from drowning.  Hopefully,  I will be able to move them back outdoors to get their 400 hours chill.