Cambiums Garden 2021 (Pics) (containers, worms, front yard, south)

[lookashiny]

Those tomatoes look like they're going to be good!

[nuts2uiam]

Tomatoes budding here but the weather has been so cool the cherries look like pits right now. I suspect the heat this week will pop them.

[Threerun]

The garden looks good! Better eat that lettuce!

[penlady61]

im going to grow kale next year since I now know you can grow it in pots .i will also grow some swiss chard also .

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by lookashiny

Those tomatoes look like they're going to be good!

Having the best tomato year since 2015 I think. And I don't see any squirrels around. Last year the entire neighborhood had an issue.

Originally Posted by nuts2uiam

Tomatoes budding here but the weather has been so cool the cherries look like pits right now. I suspect the heat this week will pop them.

I assume you got that pop? Was a nice hot stretch.

Originally Posted by Threerun

The garden looks good! Better eat that lettuce!

I had to pull the lettuce. Got bitter during that heat wave even though I watered them twice a day to try to keep them cool.

Originally Posted by penlady61

im going to grow kale next year since I now know you can grow it in pots .i will also grow some swiss chard also .

Kale is easy to grow. I'm not a big fan of it but I started using it in my smoothies.

[Cambium]

Sunday July 4, 2021

Interesting week weather wise. Weather is never boring in this region. Always changing since forever.

• 90s & nasty humidity Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
• Rain & Clouds Thursday, Friday, Saturday 3.27" of rain in 3 days from a stalled front off the coast and an LP.
• Record cold day on Saturday not even passing low 60s! It was afternoon in July and only in the 60s. Like May...or October.

Soil temp dropped to 60s now but shouldn't be long before it pops into the 70s.

Tomatoes are loving this! Hot Humid then breaks of cool weather. I watered them deep during the afternoon during that 3 day heat wave. This was taken yesterday morning before I pulled the lettuce.



Can't wait! I'll let you know which variety they are once I start picking them. They all look the same right now. lol. Or maybe I'll do a separate post on that. Hmmm.



Still early. 1st ripe one doesn't come till after mid July which is crazy. Only 2-3 months of picking tomatoes.



Hot peppers in pots loved that heat wave!





Onions did too



Cucumbers did too but I think I messed up with the type I grew. I forgot which one I planted. They seem slower than the others I used to grow. (National Pickling, Straight 8)




If you look in the above Cucumber post you'll see what I use to measure rain totals. It's an awesome gauge and recommended by NWS.




Drove 10 minutes down to the beach (I only go when its cool or cold). It was raining on long island across the sound here and moving towards me.

[Cambium]

Only 5 Types of Tomatoes I grew: Kept it simple this year.


2 in front right here are Cherry Tomatoes. Close-up and seed packet below





I'm not a fan of the super sweet ones. First time growing these, hope they taste good. Looks like amazing yields already





Celebration Hybrid on left, Tasty Treat on right





Celebration close up and seed packet. Medium size





Tasty Treat close up and seed packet
Not pollination as well as the cherry





Homestead





Homestead close up. Its from saved seeds from 2014. No packet





Last one.. Steak Sandwich. Loves more sun then the others. The one on left growing better than behind it. Also, slow to grow. Large tomato so takes longer to ripen





Steak Sandwich close-up. No packet since its from saved seeds.
interesting how different it grows being separated from the leaves and hanging separately.





I plan on doing this again when they are ripe

[lookashiny]

That looks like a nice selection of tomatoes!

[nuts2uiam]

Yummm.

My cherry tomatoes did pop with the heat, but then we have had a lot of rain the past two days so we are kinda doing a lot of nothing right now.

[Cambium]

What is Cambium up to now?




Soil test time. Last time I did this was in 2016:

From Colorado State Extension: PDF: https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/214.pdf

I skipped step 5.

Spoiler

1. Spread soil on a newspaper to dry. Remove all rocks, trash, roots, etc. Crush
2. lumps and clods.
3. Finely pulverize the soil.
4. Fill a tall, slender jar (like a quart jar) a one-quarter full of soil.
5. Add water until the jar is theee-quarters full.
6. Add a teaspoon of powdered, non-foaming dishwasher detergent.
7. Put on a tight fitting lid and shake hard for 10 to 15 minutes. This shaking
8. breaks apart the soil aggregates and separates the soil into individual mineral
9. particles.
10. Set the jar where it will not be disturbed for 2 to 3 days.
11. Soil particles will settle out according to size. After 1 minute, mark on the
12. jar the depth of the sand.
13. After 2 hours, mark on the jar the depth of the silt.
14. When the water clears mark on the jar the clay level. This typically takes 1
15. to 3 days, but with some soils it may take weeks.
16. Measure the thickness of the sand, silt, and clay layers.
17. Calculate the percentage of sand, silt, and clay.

So after 1 minute this is what settled... I'm not too sure this is all sand. I will wait a couple hours until I see the silt level.




Couple hours later this is what settled. I think in 3 days when the clay settles down I will know. I may not have any sand at all and that would make sense to me since I don't get good drainage.