Tootfinder

Bonus points for the person at the allotment who covers their water buckets so that mosquitoes don't leave eggs. #mosquitoes #allotment

Here's my tomato waterer in action. The screening attached to the wine-bottle funnel prevents insects and garden debris from getting trapped inside the PVC tube. #tomatoes #water #gardening #allotment

This morning I prepped the spots at my allotment where the tomatoes will go. The soil becomes rock-hard clay at approximately 6", so I use a posthole digger to make an 18" hole that gets filled with compost. And to make watering easier and more effective, I have PVC pipes, capped at the bottoms, that have 1/8" holes along their lengths so that I can quickly slosh in a bunch of water and let it slowly percolate to the roots. A bit of work to make these watering funnels but the tomatoes develop very deep roots and are fine if ignored on a hot day. #tomatoes #gardening #allotment #soil #vegetables #wine #roots

Dug a new weed pit at my allotment this morning. The victims spend a week or so drying out, then get buried. I've been doing this for years and the soil is slowly getting better. #allotment #gardening #weeds #weeding #composting #soil

From the archives but resharing because it's that time of year: my blog post on protecting pea plants from birds. And soon I'll post pics of my new and improved pea cage. #peas #gardening #garden #pisum #birds #allotment #blog #VegetableGardening https://colinpurrington.com/2024/05/birds-are-eating-my-pea-plants/

Watering the tomatoes. The white PVC tube is 24" long, capped at the end, and has 1/8" holes every 4". If I had to remake I'd probably make the holes 1/16" so that the water was released a bit slower. #tomatoes #water #garden #allotment

Yesterday I found a squash vine borer (Eichlinia cucurbitae) egg on one of my zucchini. I highly recommend examining stems, leaves, and flower stalks several times per week so they can be removed before the larvae emerge. Swarthmore, PA, USA. Zone 7b. #zucchini #squash #garden #allotment #sesiidae #lepidoptera #pests

My 12 tomato plants are now in. Each gets a deep hole filled with compost, plus a root waterer made from a cut-off wine bottle and some PVC pipe that has holes drilled along one side. Now hoping weather cooperates. Zone 7b. #tomatoes #allotment #garden #gardening #watering

Sharing my solution to squash vine borers (Eichlinia cucurbitae), the larvae of which burrow into the roots and eventually kill the plant: inject Thuricide Bt into stem wherever you see frass accumulating. This is easier to do if you train your plant vertically so that lower parts are visible. I also regularly police for eggs. #garden #gardening #squash #zucchini #vegetables #allotment #insects #lepidoptera #moths

One of the shelling peas grew up on the wrong side of the bird netting. Sad, but a nice reminder that all the effort setting up the structure was worth it. #peas #sparrows #gardening #pisum #birds #allotment

From the archives, here's a drip-irrigation device I made for spot watering at the allotment. Because watering is just a drip or a trickle (you choose), it goes fully into the soil rather than running off to the side. As a bonus, fewer weeds around the plant because they never get water. #garden #gardening #water #artichoke #allotment #wine #bottle #diy

Every spring I reread this article on how tomatoes respond physiologically to even a single night below 50 °F (season-long reduction in yield). I'm always left wondering whether planting them out now (lows in upper 40s) might allow an earlier harvest, albeit at the expense of total productivity. Because I'd be OK with that. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. USDA 7b. #tomato #tomatoes #garden #biology #circadian #gardening #temperature #weather #allotment #philadelphia https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/1996/oct/tomato/