Logan's Urban Desert Garden

[MissS]

I do have a canner and a dehydrator too but I must say that my best investment was a freezer. I hate heating up my house and then having to pay to run the A/C to cool it down. The freezer is no work and no heat. I can just throw them in the freezer whole or run them through a blender, then bag them. I will wait until winter to cook them down and warm my house. I can make anything that I want with them once they are thawed out.

[JayneR13]

I do freeze most of my vegetables, this is true. After blanching of course, so for me at least there is work and heat involved. The Blue Book has many instructions for these techniques.

[leftylogan]

I think I've been convinced to go for a pressure canner first. Presto or spring for the All-American... probably Presto first and then I can upgrade or have a second one be better. I will definitely be picking up anything from Ball to make the most of it. I have some excess freezer space that I'm sure I'll take advantage of too. I've always wanted a chest freezer but there's no room for that in this place and I think my gf would kill me so that'll have to wait until I have a real house. My main thought on the dehydrator was for gifts since I know my family would use various powders or dehydrated stuff but the utility of the canner wins out initially.

One of the reasons I hadn't picked up any tools, even the 99 cent ones, was because my parents have more than they need and told me to take whatever next time I'm visiting. That just isn't going to be until the end of April so I had to cave on a few things. I know I'll still be needing a knife so I'll take a look at some hori hori's, thanks!

[leftylogan]

Weather got nice for the weekend after getting a decent chunk of rain on Friday and the high staying below 60!?! I got a decent amount done and worked on my tan . Another weird week of rain and cold weather is coming though and I'm looking at another projected high of 55 this coming Friday after the storm blows out.

Started with all of this



Was left with this



Which made my plant pile look like this



I've been pinching Tomato and pepper flowers but I let the squash/melons/cucumber throw their first sets of flowers to do an initial attraction of pollinators. It apparently worked because I have some cucumbers...



and a watermelon!?!



All the cucumber flowers are probably bad news since they are a bush variety. I'll start a second batch here when my pinetree order arrives (Wednesday). Excited for the watermelon even if it doesn't end up being much considering they are $9 at Walmart right now.

[TX-TomatoBug]

I used mushroom compost in 2023. This was my pot of radishes.

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[JayneR13]

Why do you pinch the first tomato flowers? Is it to encourage plant growth in the beginning?

Free tools-I can see it! And 99 cent tools are good in a pinch but overall, they're worth what we paid for them. Buy the hori hori. I found a few on Amazon slightly cheaper than the Red Pig that appeared to be of good quality. This is the replacement I purchased and it feels good in my hand.

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[worth1]

Why do you pinch the first tomato flowers? Is it to encourage plant growth in the beginning?

Free tools-I can see it! And 99 cent tools are good in a pinch but overall, they're worth what we paid for them. Buy the hori hori. I found a few on Amazon slightly cheaper than the Red Pig that appeared to be of good quality. This is the replacement I purchased and it feels good in my hand.


Screenshot 2025-03-11 at 9.14.52 AM.png

Through experiments and Carolyns vast knowledge I've found that if the plant is below around 12 14 inches or so it can stunt the plant.
I've had plants stop growing to put out energy for one tomato.
That the tomato off and the plant starts growing again.

[leftylogan]

Why do you pinch the first tomato flowers? Is it to encourage plant growth in the beginning?

Free tools-I can see it! And 99 cent tools are good in a pinch but overall, they're worth what we paid for them. Buy the hori hori. I found a few on Amazon slightly cheaper than the Red Pig that appeared to be of good quality. This is the replacement I purchased and it feels good in my hand.


Screenshot 2025-03-11 at 9.14.52 AM.png

In my cart for my next order, thank you!

Worth beat me to it but that's essentially my reasoning. A lot of my first sets of flowers felt like stress flowers instead of happy flowers so I had to remind them that they aren't stressed and to grow instead of reproduce. Add in this weird inconsistent weather and I just don't need them to be trying to fruit and grow at the same time through it.