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MLB All Star Game is Tuesday night…
How many days is it until football season starts ????
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I’ve had about enough Derek Jeter to last an eternity.
I hope Joe Buck at least asked him if he likes it with teeth.
TJ has been lighting it up in the summer league. From everything I’ve read, the Phoenix fans are excited as hell, even the ones who thought the Suns made a bad pick.
I didn’t bother to watch the all-star game last night but it was disturbing to read there was absolutely no mention of Tony Gwynn during the broadcast. I loved watching him play ball and hated to hear of his passing. He and Maddux were the two smartest ball players I ever saw play.
… thanks.. Wuf … Dem ‘Maters look pretty good… I see garden spots on them…
Well… Summer is now one half over…
DOG DAYS are here….Monday was the first day of ‘bacca priming up in the Old Belt
and the Allstar game last night was decent…I hope all ya’ll are getting yur barns full before lunch….
’cause it’s gonna be hot and rainy most afternoons during Dog Days…School will be starting before we know it…
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!As it is that time of year – http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/powerful-words-jim-valvanos-espys-speech-remembered-21/story?id=24583801
I never get tired of hearing V speak
Nothing on the tube, so I checked out the internet. Still nothing. Stumbled upon a thread featuring ‘Better Boys’. Damn I miss being young. I used to eat ripe tomato sandwiches all time. Now, not so much.
… thanks.. Wuf … Dem ‘Maters look pretty good… I see garden spots on them…
Yup, indeed you do. Red clay grown (or more often orange mud lately) and everything. Only a few large enough for a single slice to cover the bread tho. Most of those are getting canned and put up for winter.
In fact, that boxful which I photo’d is already canned.
What do you guys amend your red clay with to be able to grow anything? I got two summers of good veggie growth out of my NC garden way back in the early 90’s, then I gave up. Now that I live up here in the Bermuda of Canada, growing tomatoes is nearly impossible for us that live near the straight because it doesn’t stay hot enough. The cool wind blows off the water all the time. I’d need a little greenhouse to have any luck.
As a State fan, I should know that things can ALWAYS get worse. But stupid me was still pretty sure this summer couldn’t get worse…and then this week happened.
We’re all pretty weird here – have any of you ever tried going full recluse? Outside of parenting and the bare minimum office obligations, I’m ready to give it a try.
It’s a bit scary to have this much malaise going on, and the pain of NC State football hasn’t even started yet.
We’re all pretty weird here – have any of you ever tried going full recluse? Outside of parenting and the bare minimum office obligations, I’m ready to give it a try.
In a word…Yes.
And I do always get some benefit from it, but only on a temporary basis. Kinda like hitting the reset button. The trick is to carry the “I don’t give a f-ck” attitude out publicly afterwards. Then the fun can begin.Ply…
For all the “benefits” (i.e. minerals) or red clay or any color clay for that matter… it does have severe limitations…
1. Clay is totally devoid or organic matter… so use lots of compost… and I am trying out something new this season… compost tea which is a liquid…
2. Clay has the highest shrink/swell constants of any soil type… which means when it gets wet it swells and when it get dry it get tight… Plant roots need air.. so if your compost doesn’t solve this … use vermiculite or something equivalent…
I would shoot for a ratio of 30%-50% compost to clay….
3. Clay can have extreme PH values… I had some fields tested one time at 4.5 which is about the same as orange juice… not good for growing anything… I put 3 tons of dolomitic and 2 tons of high calcium lime (two totally different limes) on those fields over two years to get the PH to 6.0
You would like to a 6-6.5.
and you can buy high calcium line anywhere… just get the kind they use to mark the lines on ballfields (powdered hydrated lime).It’s worth mentioning that… IMHO… most all the “books: are wrong about PH… they’re gonna tell you 7-7.5 most of the time, BUT… if you do that… your disease problems will be exponentially higher… and the cost of managing that (chemicals) is alot higher than the extra fertilizer you will need to offset the chemicals…
Try these three things and that should get you 90% of the results you’re looking for with minimum effort and expense… Getting the other 10% will be more complex…
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Most references I’ve seen say most vegetables like slightly acidic soil 6.5ish. Frankly, lots of soil in NC is very hard to get to that range. But quicklime can give plants a good help short term.
Tomatoes have become some of the hardest things to grow in NC. And squash too.
Between viruses and fungal blights, you can lose 20-30% in a year. Some years even more. Just in case you were not aware, NC has one of the most perfect climates for fungal disease development. Always look for resistant varieties.
Ok. So while waiting out the heat waves on the maters, I’ve had cukes out the wazoo. That’s ok…I’m a picklin’fool.
Polish half Sours, Koshers, Bread & Butters…you name it. The sweeter one’s are for SoCal Beach Blondie…not my fave.
There’s a sweet pickle called Amish Wedding that
utilizes Habenero flakes,
so I was thinkin’…tonight,in honor of Beej’s malaise, I’m concocting a sour dill with alotta Habbi and shall call it Irish Divorce.^3P… you’re right about that 6.5 pH for veggies….
I wastypingfastthismorning and was thinking Turfgrass not veggies…Probably ought to add one more thing…
Clay soils have GOTT to have drainage….
Beds need to be high and under no circumstances can water stand in the middle or at the end of your rows…In the backyard…depending on your typography other drainage solutions may be more practical… but you GOTT to do something.
That said… I think our guys should be on the right track now as to how get great veggies on hard ground…
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Back in Wake County… I see the KING OF DOG DAYS finds himself in somewhat of a CONUMDRUM about PICKLES …
Nothing he can’t WIGGLE himself out of … I’m sure….Pickled Peppers
Pickled Maters
Pickle yourself to a Pucker…The Best pickles just might be pickled Watermelon Rinds!!
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Ask and you shall receive….
… from Sampson County…..
Thank You SFN !!!
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
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