Yep, we’ve had a rainy week! Cold and windy with rain. Not fun.
Will’s working on building us a tub-style chicken plucker that I’ve dubbed Will’s Chicken Tornado, built out of scraps of this and that; an old snowblower, a plastic watering barrel, an electric motor from the dump. You know, the Clay-Atkinson el-cheepo method. Hey, it works for us.
And I’ve been busy with inside stuff, writing articles, cleaning out the enclosed back porch, and moving our huge tomatoes out where it’s cooler to slow them down. I moved the peppers from the indoor greenhouses to the house greenhouse where the tomatoes used to be as it’s cooler there. In a week, they’ll go out to the enclosed porch too. Cooling peppers often makes them bloom more and set more peppers after they’ve been growing outside. Tomorrow I’m transplanting tomatoes. I put it off, doing other things, but they’re getting pretty big and need to get into styrofoam cups.
In between rainy spells, I’m trying to get the dirt Will deposited in the flower bed shoveled into the depression where the dead tree used to be. There are a lot of grass roots in that dirt so I have to rake and pick them out every few shovels full so I don’t end up with a grassy mess in my new flower bed. I’ve learned that a little prevention sure beats trying to fight grass and weeds later on!
On Saturday, we’re hosting another homesteader potluck at our place. We did this last fall and had a lot of fun. We’re expecting more people this time and I hope the weather turns nicer so everyone can check out what we’ve been up to.
Just a note: We still have some spaces left for our spring homesteading seminar in case you’d like to come but figured we were full by now. — Jackie
Rita and Betsy,
You’re welcome. I want EVERYONE to have the best garden possible!!!
I used the Pro Mix this year and my plants are beautiful. Thank you Jackie for the tip ! I found it at Lowes here in south central PA.
Jackie
Thank you so very much! I’ll get the lamp right away and also the Jiffy pellets. You’re the best!
Rita
Rita,
I HATE Miracle Grow potting soil for starting seeds. I either use Pro Mix, available at most larger greenhouses and nurseries in large bags, or Jiffy peat pellets. When I use Jiffy pellets, I transplant the plant, pellet and all, into styrofoam cups and then use Miracle Grow potting mix or something similar to grow them on until they go out to the garden.
With spindly plants, the problem is usually lack of light and sometimes also lack of nutrients. You can fix the light problem by either growing the plants next to a south-facing window that has plenty of sunlight or placing the trays of plants right under a 4′ shoplight. When you grow in a window, you’ll need to move the trays around every day as the plants will lean toward the light. With the shoplight, just keep the light a few inches above the plants, moving it up as they grow. You don’t need a Gro-lite, just a plain shoplight will do the trick and be a lot cheaper.
You might try watering your plants with either manure tea or fish emulsion or Miracle Gro fertilizer and see if that helps. Give them plenty of light, warmth and nutrients and they’ll sturdy up real quick. Even if they are leggy, you can transplant them to a larger pot, burying the greater part of the stem. Tomatoes will sprout roots right out of that leggy stem and grow like crazy.
Cindy,
The temp in our enclosed porch where our bigger tomatoes are is about 45 at night and 65 or so in the daytime. I wouldn’t worry about the temperature in your outside greenhouse unless it threatens to get down to the mid thirties. (It isn’t far to freezing!!!) Cool temps will slow down growth but won’t hurt the plants unless it gets close to freezing.
I do a lot of plant shuffling this time of the year too. That’s one reason I’m so happy when the plants go out to the garden. I don’t know what to do with all that extra time.
Wendy,
I wish you were here too! We had a great time. I’m glad your plants are doing great; I can’t wait until you get tomatoes, etc. Hopefully the weather will warm up.
Laura,
Yes, it is a cream separator. But although I’ve used one back when we had many cows and goats milking, I find that I don’t use it now as it’s much easier to just hold the milk in the fridge and skim off the cream (cow milk). Cleaning a cream separator after using it takes a lot of time and fussing as there are dozens of discs inside, each of which must be cleaned, sterilized and dried after each use.
I’m so sorry you lost your plants! How sad. I have a friend who also had her mini=greenhouse blow off her deck so now she fastens it to the rail. But I still wouldn’t trust it out without me being there….just in case. They aren’t very sturdy.
Our potluck was a lot of fun. Visited with friends and met some new people too. What a great way to connect with like-minded folks.
Jackie
When I try to start tomatoes they get real “leggy” and spindly. Normally I use Miracle Grow potting soil and plant in styrofoam cups. Am I planting them to close to the top of the seed cup? Any advise is very welcome!!
Rita
Jackie, What is the approximate temperature of both of your greenhouses? I have one of those little greenhouses in the house filled with plants. Plus all of the windows except facing north are filled. I have put the cool weather crops out into the greenhouse. This is not attached to the house. I also have the tomato plants that are transplanted and have taken to their new cup out there. But when it gets under 40 degrees I bring the tomatoes into the garage and start a fire in there.
So with this weird spring we are moving plants all over! I live in central WI .
So do you think the tomatoes and peppers are ok in a greenhouse or should I supply some heat out there at night? They are just growing slower in the coolness! Thanks!!
We’re also getting that same weather here in Michigan. (At least it’s NOT snow!!) Your tomatoes look great. Our Jackie & Will plants are growing like weeds in the greenhouse too. Hope you have a fun potluck. Wish we were there!
Is that a cream separator I see behind your tomatoes?I hope if it is one day you will do a photo step by step using it. This has been the strangest spring I remember. We’ve had little to no rain and the wind just terrible,lost all my Jackie-Will tomatoes,
my little green house,one like yours Jackie blew over and what was left of my plants froze. during freak ice storm,teach me to be gone for the day! There’s always next year.
I’d love to have dirt that looked like yours and some rain to go with it! Amazing what a few hundred miles does to climate and dirt. Enjoy your potluck it sounds like fun
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