Knucklehead's 2022 Prilep and Veggie Container Grow Blog

[Knucklehead]

Finally some rain. It's been so long my lawn was mostly brown. In preparation for predicted thunderstorms over the next four days, I clumped the 13 Prilep together with the 5 grow bags without clay pots in the center and the grow bags inside clay pots on the outside to help weather the storm and prevent further blow downs. So far so good. Each time they blow over I lose a handful of soil. Spacing is ~1 ft. so I am going to leave them that way rather than shop for more clays pots or keep moving them. That's twice the distance I normally space Orientals such as Izmir Ozbas. The tighter spacing may even slow down evaporative loss in some of the grow bags due to shading of the soil, sharing of moisture, and reduced air movement across the soil. We'll see. I'm not happy with the 1 gal. grow bags and I like the combination of 1 gal. grow bags and pure potting soil even less. The 1 gal. bags have no weight or stability and tip easily, the potting soil dries too quickly and is not heavy enough. Next year I will try a mix of 60% Alabama red clay, 20% potting soil, and 20% composted cow manure. The tobacco will be in bigger pots.

 

[deluxestogie]

The clay pots look fashionable and trendy. The clustered Prilep resembles Hosta. It should be stunning when they all blossom. I usually space my Prilep at about 12" in the ground, since they are so much more productive that most other Orientals.

Bob

 

[BarG]

Wow, the rain really does wonders, those plants went to town .

 

[Knucklehead]

Fertilized all plants today.
Picking squash about every four days with the harvest getting larger each picking, they're about to outpace the consumption of four adults and we'll start freezing some. Many of the tomatoes are showing some flowers. A few corn plants are showing tassels. Pumpkins are flowering but I don't see any fruit. I noticed several beans ready to be picked tomorrow. All but a couple of Prilep are 3-1/2' from top of soil to growth tip, no buds yet. Okra are slow growing and small but I may have jostled them around early on. They didn't like it. I see a few tiny buds beginning to form. The two largest okra plants are about 2 ft. tall.

 

[deluxestogie]

How to Dehydrate Zucchini and Summer Squash

Don't let your summer bounty go to waste! Learn how to easily dehydrate zucchini and other summer squash in a dehydrator or oven.

www.thespruceeats.com

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

How to Dehydrate Zucchini and Summer Squash

Don't let your summer bounty go to waste! Learn how to easily dehydrate zucchini and other summer squash in a dehydrator or oven.

www.thespruceeats.com

Bob

That is a great tip. I already have a dehydrator I use for fruit.

 

[Knucklehead]

I was wrong, I do have a pumpkin. It snuck up on me during those few days of thunderstorms.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I have ten 2 gallon pots and was thinking of putting prilep in them in this low part of my paved driveway that collects water.

What kinda dirt should I do. I honestly don't want to go buy a bale of anything. My soil is already fertilized, so I was thinking of adding amendments. What do you think?

 

[deluxestogie]

Any old dirt that drains reasonably well should work. One Prilep per pot will grow well, and be beautiful.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

I have ten 2 gallon pots and was thinking of putting prilep in them in this low part of my paved driveway that collects water.

What kinda dirt should I do. I honestly don't want to go buy a bale of anything. My soil is already fertilized, so I was thinking of adding amendments. What do you think?

What type of pots? With the 1 gal. grow bags, weight and stability of the base became a factor in blow overs with even just a slight breeze once the soil would dry out. They would blow over with wet soil with higher winds. They had a tiny footprint to height ratio, no weight, and tipped easily once the plants got over 2 ft. tall. It would have become even worse with a wind sail of a bud bag on top. I had to put the grow bags inside clay pots while I still had some soil left. I should have paid better attention to the physics involved.

 

[deluxestogie]

Long-followed planting tradition has usually solved the physics issues without even being aware of them. When we introduce new approaches to take advantage of modern settings, it becomes a trial and error process, and always seems to cost more money. I think you're doing great so far. You solved the issue using geometry—the arrangement of the grow bags in relation to one another.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

What type of pots? With the 1 gal. grow bags, weight and stability of the base became a factor in blow overs with even just a slight breeze once the soil would dry out. They would blow over with wet soil with higher winds. They had a tiny footprint to height ratio, no weight, and tipped easily once the plants got over 2 ft. tall. It would have become even worse with a wind sail of a bud bag on top. I had to put the grow bags inside clay pots while I still had some soil left. I should have paid better attention to the physics involved.

They are plastic pots. Maybe they are bigger than two gallons. I'll have to reply when I get into the shed. Anyway, they look big enough. Blow downs would be a problem. We don't get too much wind in the valley so it shouldn't be too difficult to do something.

 

[Knucklehead]

They are plastic pots. Maybe they are bigger than two gallons. I'll have to reply when I get into the shed. Anyway, they look big enough. Blow downs would be a problem. We don't get too much wind in the valley so it shouldn't be too difficult to do something.

That will help. I'm right over the eastern crest of a hill at 800 ft. and sometimes the wind will blow over me if the wind is steady but if its gusty it will swirl around all over the place. Our winds and weather normally come from the west. If we get one from the east it's usually a rough one.

 

[BarG]

If someone gives me a good zucchini recipe I'll quit freezing a few and giving a 100 lbs away.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

If someone gives me a good zucchini recipe I'll quit freezing a few and giving a 100 lbs away.

Shred it, salt it, squeeze the juice out. Casserole dish, layer zucchini, ground beef, onions 'n stuff, and cheese. Bake at whatever.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bake at whatever.

Wow! I didn't know that Canadian ovens have that setting too.

Bob

 

[tullius]

If someone gives me a good zucchini recipe I'll quit freezing a few and giving a 100 lbs away.

Corn and zucchini quesadillas, zucchini and corn fritters, calabacitas con elote, esquites, hey there's a theme here. Or, dump them in tobacco growing buckets as ballast

 

[BarG]

Shred it, salt it, squeeze the juice out. Casserole dish, layer zucchini, ground beef, onions 'n stuff, and cheese. Bake at whatever.

I like that, thank you for that. I've been giving away a 100 lbs of em.

I give everybody corn

The big pile is worm free

I love that combination catfish cleaning corn shucking 6.5 Creed moor Busta bottle cap table.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I make deer sausage with venison, with salted and squeezed shredded pumpkin, plus cooking oil, instead of adding pork.

There's another idea.

 

[Knucklehead]

Prilep are looking good and coming along nicely.



Tomato plants and baby tomatoes. Plenty of blooms.




Corn, beans, and some of the squash. Corn has tasseled and several have emerging silks. Believe it or not, there are about 60 corn stalks there and should pollinate great with my swirling winds.




I found another good use for used 1020 trays without holes. (Cleaned with chlorox) They make good water reservoirs. (Of course) They also prevent the dry, dry ground from sucking the moisture from the fabric grow bags. A barrier between the ground sponge and the grow bags makes a big difference. Now with water reservoirs under the squash, pumpkins, and tobacco, I can water once in the morning rather than three times a day. The plants no longer wilt down to the ground. They stand up better during the heat of day, aren't dried completely dry, and don't look like they're on the verge of death. Here is a 1020 tray under two 3 gal. grow bags, 2 squash plants per grow bag, total of 4 squash plants. They can now stand tall all day. Harvesting plenty of squash. I prefer setting the squash grow bags inside 7 gal. plastic pots (I ran out) because the fabric pots have no support, the squash just flop over on the side and the top of the fabric just lays over with them. The 7 gal. plastic pots are taller and provide support for the squash limbs and allow the squash to stand tall and avoid the insects and disease on the ground. There was more of a learning curve involved in switching to grow bags but I'm slowing learning the good and bad and making adjustments. Next year should be a lot easier. My idea of intentionally crowding all the plants to find out how many plants is too many plants is not working out as well as I thought, they are all thriving. 2 squash per 3 gal. grow bags is working great since they now have structural support from the 7 gal. plastic pots. 2 corn plus 4 pole beans works like a charm and I rarely need to water. I put in enough bush beans to shade the soil and there is very little moisture loss. I water them about once a week. The beans pull nitogen from the air and put them into the soil for the use of the corn, which require more nitrogen. I fertilize all the plants about every 2 weeks and nothing seems to be hurting for nitrogen. One tomato plant per 3 gal. bag was just right. They need water once every morning.