On 10/23/2015 05:09 PM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Do you share the bounty with the neighbor?

How exactly does that work? You do the work,
he gets half? Hmmmmm. :-)

i think you misread what i wrote? i was
combining two gardens next to each other
separated by a pathway. there is nothing
but farm field around us except for out back
which is a field. all of our neighbors are
quite a ways away (quarter mile or more).

(from a few years ago, but this is the
general layout):

http://www.anthive.com/flowers/Way_Up_2013.jpg


we used to have neighbors that would take extra
produce, but they have moved away and then passed
away. some friends get stuff when i have extra,
usually strawberries, the rest of the time we put
stuff up.


songbird


Yes, I misunderstood. I though you had combines yards with your
neighbors for purposes of growing a larger garden. I will
take the zukes and strawberries and you take the Lima beans
and Kale. :-)

On 10/23/2015 5:55 PM, T wrote:
On 10/23/2015 03:24 PM, George Shirley wrote:
We're still getting goodly amounts of eggplant

I got one final greenish yellow eggplant. Something's
wrong with that boy!

What is your trick to growing eggplant? I only
get littles ones and very few at that.
Nothing wrong with green eggplant, we grow one called the "Louisiana
Green" and it is prolific.

Rich soil and lots of water, any kind of eggplant or squash needs lots
of water. We have raised beds and they dry out quickly so everything
gets watered at least daily. Right now by hose and sprinkler as the
soaker hose's sucked and cracked quickly. I'm thinking seriously of drip
lines now.

During the squash season this past summer we harvested green zucchini
that weighed three lbs without a seed in them. At that time we were
getting lots of rain on a daily basis. One day we got twelve inches or
rain in less than 24 hours, lots of Houston and the surrounding area
flooded heavily with more than ten dead from drowning. Weather forecast
for 7am Saturday through Sunday evening is another gulley washer. I'm
just hoping for an inch or two.

We have probably harvested twenty lbs of eggplant off three plants, two
Ichiban and one Black Beauty. Lots of eggplant fritters in the freezer
for later use and lots of family and friends got gifted, some
reluctantly. G

On 10/23/2015 7:09 PM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Do you share the bounty with the neighbor?

How exactly does that work? You do the work,
he gets half? Hmmmmm. :-)

i think you misread what i wrote? i was
combining two gardens next to each other
separated by a pathway. there is nothing
but farm field around us except for out back
which is a field. all of our neighbors are
quite a ways away (quarter mile or more).

(from a few years ago, but this is the
general layout):

http://www.anthive.com/flowers/Way_Up_2013.jpg


we used to have neighbors that would take extra
produce, but they have moved away and then passed
away. some friends get stuff when i have extra,
usually strawberries, the rest of the time we put
stuff up.


songbird

How tall was that tree you climbed bird?

On 10/23/2015 07:02 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/23/2015 5:55 PM, T wrote:
On 10/23/2015 03:24 PM, George Shirley wrote:
We're still getting goodly amounts of eggplant

I got one final greenish yellow eggplant. Something's
wrong with that boy!

What is your trick to growing eggplant? I only
get littles ones and very few at that.
Nothing wrong with green eggplant, we grow one called the "Louisiana
Green" and it is prolific.

Rich soil and lots of water, any kind of eggplant or squash needs lots
of water. We have raised beds and they dry out quickly so everything
gets watered at least daily. Right now by hose and sprinkler as the
soaker hose's sucked and cracked quickly. I'm thinking seriously of drip
lines now.

During the squash season this past summer we harvested green zucchini
that weighed three lbs without a seed in them. At that time we were
getting lots of rain on a daily basis. One day we got twelve inches or
rain in less than 24 hours, lots of Houston and the surrounding area
flooded heavily with more than ten dead from drowning. Weather forecast
for 7am Saturday through Sunday evening is another gulley washer. I'm
just hoping for an inch or two.

We have probably harvested twenty lbs of eggplant off three plants, two
Ichiban and one Black Beauty. Lots of eggplant fritters in the freezer
for later use and lots of family and friends got gifted, some
reluctantly. G

Except that my eggplant are black beauty and the other fruits
were black. All the fruit have been really small, about
5 inches.

Maybe I did not use enough compost or water?

Do you know if your soil is acidic or alkali?

Mine turns my blue garlic red, which means it
is alkali, I think.

George Shirley wrote:
....
How tall was that tree you climbed bird?




that was from google maps satellite pic... a
few years out of date.



songbird

On 10/23/2015 9:29 PM, T wrote:
On 10/23/2015 07:02 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/23/2015 5:55 PM, T wrote:
On 10/23/2015 03:24 PM, George Shirley wrote:
We're still getting goodly amounts of eggplant

I got one final greenish yellow eggplant. Something's
wrong with that boy!

What is your trick to growing eggplant? I only
get littles ones and very few at that.
Nothing wrong with green eggplant, we grow one called the "Louisiana
Green" and it is prolific.

Rich soil and lots of water, any kind of eggplant or squash needs lots
of water. We have raised beds and they dry out quickly so everything
gets watered at least daily. Right now by hose and sprinkler as the
soaker hose's sucked and cracked quickly. I'm thinking seriously of drip
lines now.

During the squash season this past summer we harvested green zucchini
that weighed three lbs without a seed in them. At that time we were
getting lots of rain on a daily basis. One day we got twelve inches or
rain in less than 24 hours, lots of Houston and the surrounding area
flooded heavily with more than ten dead from drowning. Weather forecast
for 7am Saturday through Sunday evening is another gulley washer. I'm
just hoping for an inch or two.

We have probably harvested twenty lbs of eggplant off three plants, two
Ichiban and one Black Beauty. Lots of eggplant fritters in the freezer
for later use and lots of family and friends got gifted, some
reluctantly. G

Except that my eggplant are black beauty and the other fruits
were black. All the fruit have been really small, about
5 inches.

Maybe I did not use enough compost or water?

Do you know if your soil is acidic or alkali?
We don't have soil, we garden in raised beds with Mel's Mix from Square
Foot Gardening. One third vermiculite, one third peat moss, one third
compost, we use the "Black Cow" compost. Black Cow is composted cow
manure from feedlots, so far it is pretty good. In addition we have a
compost barrel that gets emptied maybe twice a year. All garden throw
aways get chopped with a machete or the mower, all the grass clippings,
kitchen vegetable scraps, etc. Occasionally I will sprinkle a cup of
"compost booster" into the barrel to keep it ginning. Mel's Mix is
basically neutral as far as my tests have shown.

We do use some commercial fertilizers but sparingly, particularly after
heavy rains. So far this morning we're just getting a drizzle but the
weather heads are bleating about lots of rain soon. We shall see,
weather forecasting is, at best, an educated guess.

Mine turns my blue garlic red, which means it
is alkali, I think.

On 11/3/2015 12:32 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Rich soil and lots of water, any kind of eggplant or squash needs lots
of water. We have raised beds and they dry out quickly so everything
gets watered at least daily. Right now by hose and sprinkler as the
soaker hose's sucked and cracked quickly. I'm thinking seriously of drip
lines now.
In 2009, I began gardening in pre-existing beds using soaker hoses
that are fabricated from tires. Mistake; enough said ;-) At any rate,
2011-2012 I made the transition to 1 gal/hr/ft @15psi (non-compensating)
dripline. Wish I'd done so sooner.

Unsolicited Totally Anecdotal Tips:

Up to 20-25 feet, non-compensating emitters provide more evenly
distributed flow with a 15psi supply at both ends of the tube;

Filtration is an absolute necessity;

A small supply of individual barbed ½ gph (red&black) emitters is
useful;

Low priced handy homeowner hose-end pressure regultors work well
individually but are more effective in tandem;

Dividing beds into at least two zones adds flexibility to the watering
schedule;

Locate dripline _under_ coarsely textured mulch but it may be in or on
top of finely textured mulch;

A hose-end countdown timer is a great convenience;

Some kind of timer or alarm is necessary to minimize the effects of OFS
and "hereafter".

Thanks Derald, first hand help beats the hell out of ads on line. Was in
the local Lowe's this morning and they seem to have all I need in the
way of emitter gear. Starting to cool off so probably will start on that
and the new fence project plus painting the interior of the house. We've
decided that in our mid seventies it is time to hire some hands for the
big jobs and it would take us a lot longer to do the job than hired hands.

On 11/3/2015 4:50 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Thanks Derald, first hand help beats the hell out of ads on line. Was in
the local Lowe's this morning and they seem to have all I need in the
way of emitter gear.
My experience with the 1/4" brown stuff sold by Lowe's (in 2011)
was not positive—markedly uneven distribution. All I remember about it
is that it was purported to be made in Florida; probably have the label
around here someplace. Dunno about the rolls of black PVC 1/4" dripline
seen on my last visit (coupla months past), though. I buy from an
online source at comparable prices.

I usually check the local Lowe's or Home Despot on line and, considering
gasoline and wear and tear on vehicle, go to Amazon and get it shipped
free and, generally, at a lower price.

Right now I'm converting some swivel rattan chairs we bought in Hong
Kong years ago into chairs that don't swivel. Great grands take great
delight in ****ing off their parents by twisting the chairs around and
around. Might make Thanksgiving a bit more fun. G Wiley Chinese put
these thing together with magic but I finally found out how to remove
the swivel part without screwing things up gorgeously.