Dave Bross

Reading May's post on getting down to very low PH got me thinking...

Last summer I accidentally overdosed some Sunshine Blue dwarf blueberries growing hydroponically (Kratky style hydro) with acid.

That took the PH of the water down to 2, the acid used was sulfuric intended for lead acid battery usage (36%).

I was sure I had killed them, but, no, they started looking way better than ever.

Makes me wonder if the big bag of citric acid I have to clean out my steam water distiller might have some use to acidify soil economically for those plants that are fond of low PH.

Something I like for sharpening whatever edged tool needs it is called a Speedy Sharp.

It looks like a carbide lathe bit soldered into a handle.

WAY quicker than a file, less effort than a grinder, and you can carry it in your pocket, which I do all the time.

Having it right there all the time encourages my lazy self to tune up those edges frequently...and then it's such a pleasure to work with a freshly sharpened tool.

https://speedysharp.com

Easily found on Amazon or Ebay also.

One more...my girlfriends Dad was a stone mason and he had the sand/oil bucket and also a large pipe stood on end and fastened to the wall full of food grade oil to soak the handles in while not in use.

DMSO is very good for burns and a lot of other things.

Rather than go into dosage and technique here (There's a LOT to know)  I'm going to suggest  reading The Midwest Doctor, A forgotten Side of Medicine for all that.

The index to all the articles is here, where you can find all the DMSO articles.

https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/an-index-of-the-forgotten-side-of

Zone 9 here.

Comfrey only does well in the shade here due to the brutality of our summers.
Does well in the woods or under big trees particularly.

Mine never gets tall enough to tip over.
Seems to stay lower and spread.

A few links:

https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2022/04/new-findings-further-the-study-of-dynamic-accumulators/?

https://www.interdependentweb.com/web/content/does_comfrey_really_improve_soil?

https://www.permaculturenews.org/2019/07/26/all-about-comfrey/

https://veganorganic.net/comfrey-wonder-herb/

https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/what-is-comfrey-and-how-to-grow-it/

https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/comfrey-leaves-zmaz74zhol

https://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/russian-comfrey/

https://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/comfrey-report-the-story-of-the-worlds-fastest-protein-builder-and-herbal-healer/

This week has certainly been a reminder on prevention vs. cure on giant fires.

Some GREAT advice in these two, particularly the what to do if you're about to get caught in a big fire:

https://planetschooling.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/perm05-firecontrol-millionairs.pdf

A few resources on this:


https://drillyourownwell.com

This one is Florida oriented. Which is to say depending on your geography you get different challenges.
Those I know who have tried say the biggest problems were the sand collapsing and sticking the drill pipe. In sand you need to use bentonite clay slurry when drilling  to prevent this.


the how-to


These will not drill rock.

These folks claim theirs will drill rock..but very slowly

https://www.drillawell.com/full-catalog

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/how-to-dig-a-well-zmaz70jazgoe.aspx

http://www.fdungan.com/well.htm

Thanks for that!

Was recently having to employ old mechanic skills on some nasty, oily stuff and was thinking I should look this up as I hung the oily rags over the edges of a carboard box.....Oooops, wrong on that.

While we're on weird fires...

In yet another lifetime I had a glassblowing studio and a few other artists studios had gone up in flames for no obvious reason.

One of my glass buddies was an ex fire inspector and knew exactly what happened.

Wood in the walls exposed to temps over 150 or so F over time,  which isn't much and could easily happen with a woodstove or other source of heat.

Glass furnaces too close to the walls in the case of those studios.

https://fireinvestigationindustries.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Pyrophoric-Carbon-and-Long-Term-Low-Temperature-Ignition-of-Wood.pdf

The other glass related weird fires is anything like a glass paperweight or similar acting like a lens and igniting whatever it's sitting on once it heats up enough.

First thing coming to mind is to discover what other gardeners have had great success with locally.
That list will vary a lot depending on where you are.

Go for low maintenance fruit trees, as per the book Tree Crops by J. Russell Smith.
In my area that gets down to mulberries, figs and persimmons.

https://archive.org/details/TreeCrops-J.RussellSmith

I'm currently experimenting with dwarf versions because I'm working with less than an acre.
Best so far are World's Best Mulberry and Fignominal fig.
Persimmons are a bit trickier to get going. If you want dwarf varieties you'll have to raise American Persimmon rootstock and graft on Asian scions...or buy them ready to go.
I have access to a REALLY good American Persimmon (they are quite variable in quality, some need cross pollination and some not)  but they grow huge and I just don't have the room and I'm old so the time to grow out rootstock and select doesn't appeal.

https://floridafruitgeek.com/2019/11/28/the-turkey-lake-american-persimmon-free-fruits-scionwood-are-available-in-gainesville/

Root crops would be the second thing coming to mind.  Everyone else covered that very well. Again, good local stock makes a difference here, and so does experimenting with different varieties.

I've grown a purple sweet potato bred by a guy over in St. Augustine FL that seems to be both quite bulletproof and tasty without the involved pre storage rituals. I crate 'em then put them in storage.
Murasaki is another one that does above and beyond here.
Particularly the ones I can buy from the local discount grocery for a little over $3 a pound.

https://martianpotatoes.com

Kuroda carrots do above and beyond here.

The Japanese turnips are tasty little things as well as growing well in winter here.

https://www.rareseeds.com/store/plants-seeds/vegetable-seeds/turnip-seeds

Daikons are bulletproof. They use them locally on farms as a cover crop.

I'm trying this this winter, attempting a cover crop that outputs food. Growing nicely so far but the jury is still out. My mix on this was kale, turnips, chard, sugar snap peas, oats and winter rye grass. If I've figured this correctly it should mostly self terminate once it gets hot.

https://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/cocktail-cover-crops/amp/?

I have an inexpensive 10' x 35' greenhouse built from 8' steel t posts, frames of those carports you see everywhere, fence wire, and inexpensive greenhouse plastic from Ebay.
This keeps me in tomatoes, cukes, peppers, seed starts most of the year (the heat here becomes an issue in the summer) and is just a great addition.
Automated watering happens via buried 40 gallon totes, fountain pumps, timers, and a tubing network of the irrigation stuff I use otherwise.
I hand watered it the first year and that got old in a hurry.
I run hydroponic solution in it but you could do it with organic ferts and water instead of the nutrient solution.

I also grow things in containers and grow bags in kiddie pools to keep them watered.  Mostly kale, chard and onions in these for the winter.

I'm too flat for effective swales but have plastic lined trenches wide enough to hold bigger nursery pots which simplifies keeping all that watered.

Some day I'll try the Bill Mollison's gley  technique, making an anerobic slime to seal trenches and swales to see if I can do away with the plastic.

https://simplingforall.blogspot.com/2015/10/gleying-pond.html

I never did do all the storage rituals and I'm quite happy with the sugar level.
I throw them into crates at harvest time and store them in an outbuilding for the winter.
I'm in N. FL so winters are pretty mild.

Learned something very important this year. The effect of soil temps.
Instead of waiting until after the first frost late Nov. I thought I would dig them at the supposed correct time of 120 days out.
No potatoes.

I had just enough sense to quit digging them and deciding to wait until after frost as usual.
OK, now I had potatoes, almost 200 days out from planting.

It's not the time, it's the temps of the soil.

Here's a cut and paste from my notes:
db - this may tie in to waiting up until frost to harvest. Not cool enough until Oct, to set tubers? wait until well past yellowing? yes, much more yellow and dying back
Temperature and Crop Development
The plants produced a healthy canopy but never produced tubers. They needed lower temperatures to induce tuber development. The optimal temperature for tuber growth is said to be about 59°F, while for leaf it’s about 75°F.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267342035_Temperature_Effects_on_Sweetpotato_Growth_and_Development_Poster_Board_227

The optimum temperature for total biomass production was 30/22 °C (71 - 86 F) - and declined by 9% at 35/27 °C and 27% at 40/32 °C.

Our soil temps by the time you can get slips in June are over 80F
Our temps mid oct are around 72 (fawn)

local soil temp info
https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature
https://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/data/reports/
https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature

I guess from here on in I'll plant them as soon as I can make slips, and plant when frosts are over because those storage potatoes will begin sprouting in Jan. of Feb.  I'll just consider them a nice cover crop for the summer.
I'm fortunate to have a greenhouse so I can get slips going before the last frost.

I have both, a wheelbarrow and a 4 wheel flat garden cart. Love 'em both for specific jobs.

wheelbarrow flaws -  
Had to weld some scrap metal across the legs in the back to keep them from bending/collapsing sideways.  
Most come with a pneumatic tire that is reliably flat when you go to use them.
The more expensive ones do better on both counts but are hundreds of dollars more expensive.
I figure a little welding and buying a solid tire for the generic ace hardware barrows does perfectly well.
I get WAY longer service out of the plastic ones than the metal. The steel fatigues, breaks and cracks/breaks at the boltholes way sooner than the plastic. I do use then hard.

cart flaws -
high center of gravity. I use it sometimes with two plastic 20 gallon molasses tubs for loose stuff like mulch and it will tip if you're not careful.
Too heavy loaded as above to pull by hand so lawn tractor it is to move it.
The one I have was a bare bones Harbor Freight for $100 then and now. Then was 15 years ago.
I did swap out the always flat pneumatic tires for solid ones, keep the rust painted and lube all moving parts occasionally.
I mostly use it to move potted trees/plants, tools and the like for planting projects.

And a third way...yard glider/skid/drag -
here's a website that sells them. I never quite had enough in the budget so cobbled one up from plastic woven landscape cloth clamped between a piece of square tube and angle iron via 1/4 20 bolts through all. Old load tying ratchet straps worked well for the yoke.
This thing is a compost/mulch hauling monster and eliminates having to lift what you're loading into a container.

https://yardglider.com

If I ever need to update mine to hdpe plastic like the yardglider, here's a source for sheets of the stuff at a great price -

https://www.sandhillplastics.com/product/hdpe-sheets/