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I use a lot of lime and only manures and topsoils. No fertilizer at all after I plant. I think the dolomite lime makes a lot of difference.
2018 Gardening, Landscaping, and Plants
- Thread starter 22-rimfire
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I spread yard type granular lime on my garden just about every year. I am always concerned about putting too much down. I seldom use granular fertilizer in my garden. It is mostly used on house plants or other plants like my amaryllis. I do the mushroom compost thing about every other year to condition the garden soil and that is mostly horse manure. The downside is weeds that are brought in with the compost.
Jill, what county in KY are you in? I used to live in Eastern KY.
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Water is the main reason they crack. You can't add too much dolomite lime either. It's ground rock and has a ph of 7 won't burn like other types of lime. I till and hoe until the plants are big enough to smother the weeds out.
https://www.thespruce.com/why-do-tomatoes-split-2540002
https://www.thespruce.com/why-do-tomatoes-split-2540002
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Seems to always start with a soil test for pH. The application rates always seem to me to be almost nothing for the lawn and I assume the same would apply to the garden area. The last link (above) was useful. Thanks.
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A couple pepper shots; Yellow Bell, Red Bell, Green Bell and Pimento. Decided to make the pictures smaller for a quick look.
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Ah... August and September (until frost), we're all harvesting the bounty of our gardens. My peppers are doing better this year than in years past. Seemed like they just sort of grew leaves until September (with the occasional bell pepper), and then peppers and more peppers. This year is different. Maybe it is the shade due to planting the plants too close to my tomatoes? Maybe its the store bought manure? Maybe it's just a good year?
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The porch has grown to a cool oasis of foliage and flowers and water pots for the pups. Beans are showing up along with lots of blossoms for more.
The wildlife may be getting a little too comfortable lol
And then all are welcome to the snacks. Watching me watching them ...
The wildlife may be getting a little too comfortable lol
And then all are welcome to the snacks. Watching me watching them ...
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Livingstone Daisy from seed - planting this succulent is like trying to plant dust ... but the blooms are worth it.
... and the harvest is just right - just what I need and not all at once - better boy & sweet million tomatoes and potatoes .
Sliced and drizzled with olive oil or butter, sprinkled with garlic and parsley - microwave or bbq to bake,
and easy
... and the harvest is just right - just what I need and not all at once - better boy & sweet million tomatoes and potatoes .
Sliced and drizzled with olive oil or butter, sprinkled with garlic and parsley - microwave or bbq to bake,
and easy
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Big changes Taldesta. You have certainly been making the place "yours" again. I love the hummingbird shots and the Livingstone Daisy are fabulous! I'm not familiar with that one.
Been trying to figure out how to size my photos to the size you use.... big enough, but not too big. I don't really want to do them one by one.
Been trying to figure out how to size my photos to the size you use.... big enough, but not too big. I don't really want to do them one by one.
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I do size my pics individually to 750 pixels wide (used to do 650 wide as the 'before' in post 310 above). This is to compress their size just to get them uploaded from dialup here. I.E. my first connection to post this message was at 4.8 kbps so I disconnected and reconnected a couple of times to get a snappy 21.6 kbps. Yup.
Like you, I bracket photos and wind up with quite a batch to pick from ...
Maybe there is a simple way ... In my system there is a way to compress a number of them at a time without a photo program. I can open a file and select a number of pics (CTRL click to select only what I want). Menu at top - select email ... choose size option (800 x 600 is one option I am offered). When the email opens I can save compressed photos that are attached ... to the desktop, not wanting to overwrite original with small file.
If you right click either of these photos, save it to your desktop and right click it as saved and take properties ... you should be able to see details and that the size is 800 pixels wide. With any luck at all
Here goes ...
Baby jay
Visitor to 'chipmunk launch' watering can by the birdbath ... who now has a safer watery home where birds shouldn't find him
Like you, I bracket photos and wind up with quite a batch to pick from ...
Maybe there is a simple way ... In my system there is a way to compress a number of them at a time without a photo program. I can open a file and select a number of pics (CTRL click to select only what I want). Menu at top - select email ... choose size option (800 x 600 is one option I am offered). When the email opens I can save compressed photos that are attached ... to the desktop, not wanting to overwrite original with small file.
If you right click either of these photos, save it to your desktop and right click it as saved and take properties ... you should be able to see details and that the size is 800 pixels wide. With any luck at all
Here goes ...
Baby jay
Visitor to 'chipmunk launch' watering can by the birdbath ... who now has a safer watery home where birds shouldn't find him
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Thanks Taldesta. I don't bracket so much but rather just take lots of pictures. The focus is the main thing I pay attention to.
I have a free downsizing program that I use for work stuff which allows me to dump an entire file for re-sizing all at once. The free part is not really important to me as I use it A LOT for work photos simply because the photos are reproduced at about 3" or two per page wide and three tall. I would pay for it. Anyway, it's called MIR or Multiple Image Resizer.net. Been using it for years and it has the option to set height and width (pixels versus inches or mm/cm), but really never knew what to set it at. The program can add an "ed" automatically to the file name so you never over-write the original. Going to try that on my next ones at 650 and 800 pixels wide and see what the size comes out. Till now, I have been just using a percentage (25%) but that refers to the file size and not the size of the photos as they are still quite large. I don't want to post any photo that someone might grab and use commercially. So the file size has to be small and way less than a meg. I'm still learning on the forum posting.
Added: I have a report template that I use. Photos are VERY important with regard to the effectiveness of these reports. A picture tells a thousand words.... Before I started to resize the photos, I often had Word documents that were over 20 megs in size which were reduced or compressed re-saving as a pdf. The size is such that in essence I am saving the original photo multiple times at its original size and filling up the storage space on my computer(s).
I just started to go back and look at reports that I prepared and archived/saved. Sometimes they come in handy to use as a template if there is something particularly special about the document format. Anyway, I have started to simply delete the original report that was prepared as a MS Word document and only keep the pdf version which are much smaller in size. I don't maintain or maintain as few actual paper files as possible any more. Used to keep paper copies of everything because that was the way things were done.... Now, everything is scanned and saved digitally. There are only a few things that require my filing an original paper copy. If I lost my files, I would be in a world of hurt....
Sorry for the divergence from gardening topics. You read how to post pictures, but it doesn't tell you sizing that is more appropriate.
I have a free downsizing program that I use for work stuff which allows me to dump an entire file for re-sizing all at once. The free part is not really important to me as I use it A LOT for work photos simply because the photos are reproduced at about 3" or two per page wide and three tall. I would pay for it. Anyway, it's called MIR or Multiple Image Resizer.net. Been using it for years and it has the option to set height and width (pixels versus inches or mm/cm), but really never knew what to set it at. The program can add an "ed" automatically to the file name so you never over-write the original. Going to try that on my next ones at 650 and 800 pixels wide and see what the size comes out. Till now, I have been just using a percentage (25%) but that refers to the file size and not the size of the photos as they are still quite large. I don't want to post any photo that someone might grab and use commercially. So the file size has to be small and way less than a meg. I'm still learning on the forum posting.
Added: I have a report template that I use. Photos are VERY important with regard to the effectiveness of these reports. A picture tells a thousand words.... Before I started to resize the photos, I often had Word documents that were over 20 megs in size which were reduced or compressed re-saving as a pdf. The size is such that in essence I am saving the original photo multiple times at its original size and filling up the storage space on my computer(s).
I just started to go back and look at reports that I prepared and archived/saved. Sometimes they come in handy to use as a template if there is something particularly special about the document format. Anyway, I have started to simply delete the original report that was prepared as a MS Word document and only keep the pdf version which are much smaller in size. I don't maintain or maintain as few actual paper files as possible any more. Used to keep paper copies of everything because that was the way things were done.... Now, everything is scanned and saved digitally. There are only a few things that require my filing an original paper copy. If I lost my files, I would be in a world of hurt....
Sorry for the divergence from gardening topics. You read how to post pictures, but it doesn't tell you sizing that is more appropriate.
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My first attempt at the 650 pixel width. Not garden related, but you can see the sizing.
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Wow. Just checked in to find these photos ... great blade by the way ...
I had tried early on but wasn't able to view the bear photos in the Outdoors thread here on dialup because of the size of the files, but here all photos loaded on the page very quickly. Amazing natural shots in their element ... both the bears and buck. The diffuse purple in back and tall grasses in foreground ... proud animal ... speaks to why the treks into the wild are so worth it. Wonderful captures - both critter pics.
Are the wildflowers called lady slippers ... ? What I have done with verticals is to size the width at 650 or 750 pixels and go with more length ... but whatever works visually for your application ...
Filesize has always been a huge issue for me all along, while working from home office and now even retired because images are a big part of the enjoyment.
I finally have the canoe, Waterpup, marine decals on and hand lettered (oh so kitsch) and just may post up a couple of pics of joe pie weed and other river wild plants that are blooming now.
Meanwhile, here's Daisy smiling beside the best boy tomatoes on the porch, our shady oasis under the decrepit canopy, protected from the sun by scarlet runner pole beans.
... great blade by the way ...I had tried early on but wasn't able to view the bear photos in the Outdoors thread here on dialup because of the size of the files, but here all photos loaded on the page very quickly. Amazing natural shots in their element ... both the bears and buck. The diffuse purple in back and tall grasses in foreground ... proud animal ... speaks to why the treks into the wild are so worth it. Wonderful captures - both critter pics.
Are the wildflowers called lady slippers ... ? What I have done with verticals is to size the width at 650 or 750 pixels and go with more length ... but whatever works visually for your application ...
Filesize has always been a huge issue for me all along, while working from home office and now even retired because images are a big part of the enjoyment.
I finally have the canoe, Waterpup, marine decals on and hand lettered (oh so kitsch
) and just may post up a couple of pics of joe pie weed and other river wild plants that are blooming now.Meanwhile, here's Daisy smiling beside the best boy tomatoes on the porch, our shady oasis under the decrepit canopy, protected from the sun by scarlet runner pole beans.
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Those photos in the other thread were all over 1 meg in size. These are much smaller. I may go back and delete them and post resized ones. That whitetail picture was taken in Smoky Mt NP in the fall when the forest fires were ravaging Gatlinburg TN two years ago. The blue is smoke versus fog. The vertical I flipped and resized at 650 pixels on the long side and then flipped back to vertical.
Yes, those are Pink Lady Slipper Orchids taken this spring. That particular day I took pictures of both pink and yellow Lady Slipper Orchids in bloom. That doesn't happen very often or essentially almost never. I used to make a substantial effort to take wild flower pictures during the 35mm days. Now, although I have the proper equipment, I don't go to quite the same amount of effort. The effort relates to traveling to see the plants and obviously the timing of such. I did the resizing using the program I mentioned... all at one time. I have one client that wants all of the pictures I take at a job site (for documentation) and I send to him after I downsize since he reproduces the ones he wants even smaller than I do in my reports. So, I might re-size 100 to 125 pictures all at once which takes a couple minutes versus perhaps a couple hours doing it one by one. I keep the originals in his case for legal reasons.
Do you use the canoe very often? I find that I seldom use my kayak and it was such a big deal to me when I got it.
My tomatoes are petering out now with the heat of the summer. The tops are still green and I'm hoping that they begin setting fruit again later this month as things begin to cool down a little. I believe it is the night time temp that controls pretty much everything and right now our typical low is 72-73 degrees F with highs around 90 F.
The pepper plants are doing really well. I had a couple tomato cages extra and placed them around the peppers.... lots of support and the have gotten a lot taller than you would expect with the support. One plant is over 4 feet tall.
Yes, those are Pink Lady Slipper Orchids taken this spring. That particular day I took pictures of both pink and yellow Lady Slipper Orchids in bloom. That doesn't happen very often or essentially almost never. I used to make a substantial effort to take wild flower pictures during the 35mm days. Now, although I have the proper equipment, I don't go to quite the same amount of effort. The effort relates to traveling to see the plants and obviously the timing of such. I did the resizing using the program I mentioned... all at one time. I have one client that wants all of the pictures I take at a job site (for documentation) and I send to him after I downsize since he reproduces the ones he wants even smaller than I do in my reports. So, I might re-size 100 to 125 pictures all at once which takes a couple minutes versus perhaps a couple hours doing it one by one. I keep the originals in his case for legal reasons.
Do you use the canoe very often? I find that I seldom use my kayak and it was such a big deal to me when I got it.
My tomatoes are petering out now with the heat of the summer. The tops are still green and I'm hoping that they begin setting fruit again later this month as things begin to cool down a little. I believe it is the night time temp that controls pretty much everything and right now our typical low is 72-73 degrees F with highs around 90 F.
The pepper plants are doing really well. I had a couple tomato cages extra and placed them around the peppers.... lots of support and the have gotten a lot taller than you would expect with the support. One plant is over 4 feet tall.
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22-rimfire ...
Mostly I've used my kayak since taking the canoe off the river to paint and apply decals in the fall of 2015 - at my last digs. That summer I had worked a lot from the canoe to trim back a maple tree, an obstruction dropped by spring flooding in 2013. There was a steep incline to the river there so not much point to return it when the kayak was still on the riverbank - also I had to get the landscaping there ready to sell the property. Didn't get the canoe done. Hence my presence here in the gardening thread and absence from the outdoors forums in the meantime.
Now, somewhat sorted out here on a different river, I finally took time to paint the Waterpup - which is an old, clumsy (to some ... but fine for my purpose), alumimum Springbok. Only the outside. The inside is much in need of sanding and painting and replacement of flotation material that runs full length just under the gunwales.
So for a tour of some wildflowers along the shallows this morning ... two passengers only these days, Daisy and Desta. Cardinal flower, joe pye weed, pickerel weed, bullrush, water lily ... basking turtles
Definitely not wildflowers ... but I couldn't leave these guys out
Mostly I've used my kayak since taking the canoe off the river to paint and apply decals in the fall of 2015 - at my last digs. That summer I had worked a lot from the canoe to trim back a maple tree, an obstruction dropped by spring flooding in 2013. There was a steep incline to the river there so not much point to return it when the kayak was still on the riverbank - also I had to get the landscaping there ready to sell the property. Didn't get the canoe done. Hence my presence here in the gardening thread and absence from the outdoors forums in the meantime.
Now, somewhat sorted out here on a different river, I finally took time to paint the Waterpup - which is an old, clumsy (to some ... but fine for my purpose), alumimum Springbok. Only the outside. The inside is much in need of sanding and painting and replacement of flotation material that runs full length just under the gunwales.
So for a tour of some wildflowers along the shallows this morning ... two passengers only these days, Daisy and Desta. Cardinal flower, joe pye weed, pickerel weed, bullrush, water lily ... basking turtles
Definitely not wildflowers ... but I couldn't leave these guys out