Scorching the Garden 2020 Part 10
This is the third documented grow for us and we are introducing a lot of new things this year. We have more hardware, better software, and the same growing plan that has worked for many years. We are nearing the end of June and the garden is fully established, now we get to fret about how they aren’t growing fast enough.
We’ve had few rains, but they just aren’t enough seeing as we had some very hot days and nights. A lot of our summer is gonna be watering. And you know what? That’s fine. We don’t need any drama with the plants. If the worst thing that happens to the garden is we have to lug a bunch of water around, then this will be the easiest year yet.
The 275 gallon totes are great, but its not like they magically fill up over time. The zen is to not be concerned that its not always full. All it needs to contain is enough for that day’s watering. We can always bring more.
All the plants have taken, even the ones that looked weak. There are a couple stragglers. The plant pictured here, not sure what strain yet, has been voted “Shrimpiest Plant in the Garden”. We’ll be keeping our eye on this one. Maybe it will surprise us and explode with more peppers than we can handle. Maybe it will just be a freeloading waste. Time will tell.
One thing you can tell for sure, is there is a lot of activity going on just below the surface. Look at the mound of mushrooms that popped up. Remember, there’s a few inches of used horse bedding under the cardboard, under the mulch. Who knows what else is happening.
As happy as we are with our plants, in general, we don’t like to see peppers so early on. The bushes need to grow and produce strong branches and lots of leaves to soak up the sun’s energy. Several plants began to flower before they were even hardened off. They may have been started a few weeks too soon. Next year, we’ll start the germination process in mid-March.
Life is thriving in the garden, plants, fungus, and insects. The praying mantis cocoons are empty and we are seeing lady bugs appear. Yes, that does appear to be a ladybug turd in the one photo. I’m glad you noticed it and pointed it out. This year, ladybugs were not in stock when we did our pest control purchasing so we’ll have to rely on the praying mantids and last year’s ladybug colonies to take care of business.
We sprayed our first application of compost tea this week. Only mixed up about 3 gallons which was just enough to get all the plants. This batch was made with mature compost, fresh grass clippings, and sterilized chicken poop for some extra nitrogen. We also fortified it with a scoop of our Mineral Meal Mix.
We mixed and strained and mixed and filtered until we had a deep colored brew. We sprayed every plant, top to bottom, and really gave them a showering on the underside of their leaves. This will bush them up nicely and strengthen their branches so they can hold all those wonderful peppers and not collapse like a lot of the super hots did towards the end of the season.
