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Post by jolovespiggies on Aug 10, 2016 9:56:31 GMT
Won't be long now Baz, I am so excited for you.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 10, 2016 23:35:46 GMT
In 11 days, we start pestering you for pictures, Baz The tomatoes should do okay in the pots, even if they aren't bred to be patio tomatoes, as long as the pots are big enough, and have the right nutrients and drainage. It wouldn't hurt to feed them a basic tomato food, just to give them a jump start. We followed the instructions the first time we bought patio tomatoes, and they didn't do well. After that, I treated them as if they were planted in dirt, and they did fine, even in pots. Good drainage, a time release food, and they should do great. I've also grown tomatoes during cold, rainy summers, so they really don't need a lot of heat, or even the greatest amount of sun. There's a lot of sun or UV rays coming through the clouds, so they do get a lot of sun. There are nets to put over tomato plants to keep them from getting too much sun. There's also a cover for tomatoes, if you need to give them more warmth. www.americannettings.com/product/tomato-greenhouse/
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Post by Bean on Aug 11, 2016 8:02:47 GMT
They look good but mine aren't going to get any pampering this year - it's just about whether they can hold their own in whatever weather we get (which is a real variety over the next week!). I gave them some feed though as I had that in, and managed to move them pretty cleanly in terms of not disturbing the roots, so fingers crossed.
I definitely need to put a bit more work in with whatever I grow next year though - my lax approach is seeing birds, squirrels and slugs do far too well!
How are your tomatoes doing Shades?
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Post by shades on Aug 11, 2016 8:12:02 GMT
Not very. Too many gardeners maybe drowned them Harvest is disappointing. But my grass is growing well! Pigs are chuffed with that
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 11, 2016 19:33:59 GMT
Despite growing veggies my whole life, I only learned a few years ago that tomatoes do their best work at the end of their lives. That's when the last gasp of fruit appears and ripen. Not sure if that's your problem,but if you've had a lot of really high heat and humidity, they may be forced, and coming to the end more quickly than they would in less extreme weather. That tomato looks great
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Post by shades on Aug 12, 2016 0:18:23 GMT
A cicada has found its way onto my balcony. It's calling out for its mates all night and day. Need to put a stop to that! In a humane way, if course. It can't get over the balcony barrier. I'll pick it up and let it fly away.
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Post by bazookagoof on Aug 12, 2016 1:38:30 GMT
In 11 days, we start pestering you for pictures, Baz 9 more days! Wish me luck, I'm going to go straight for the shelter where I got Theodore from; it's a bit of a drive but word on the street was that they usually get swamped with unwanted pets. The last time I went, they had a gorgeous selection of sows, but I needed a male, so I had to narrow it down.
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Post by Bean on Aug 12, 2016 9:01:37 GMT
Can you take Oscar with you to perhaps try him out with a friend or two? Make sure there isn't an initial reaction of loathing!
Nice tomato, Shades, but a shame if it's the only one from all those plants! Mine are still quite small and green - waiting for a bit of heat I think! Glad your grass is doing well at least.
We don't get cicadas over here, but I've heard them abroad - hope you managed to free it for the sake of a good nights sleep. If it can fly away, why can't it fly over the balcony?!
We found a MASSIVE spider in our room the other night. Fella's normally cool with spids, but when it scuttled out from under our bed, from his reaction I thought we had a mouse. He was going on about how enormous it was, so I was rolling my eyes thinking he was exaggerating and it had just made him jump, but then leant over to look and had to concede 'Yeah okay, that's pretty blooming big...'. We managed to move him outside and tried to ignore the fact he'll probably have climbed straight back in. We get massive ones in the shed (one in each corner and they fight viciously if one ventures into another's territory) but this was the biggest we've seen indoors.
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 12, 2016 19:00:39 GMT
We don't have cicadas here, either, but they have them in the southeastern part of the US. I've heard them down there, and they can be really annoying. We do get crickets, here, and they can be almost as annoying, if we can't get them out of the house. Good luck finding it and helping it on its way. That's the only tomato? That's so sad, as it's a great one! The plants could have born lots of fruit. Too bad they didn't I agree with you taking Oscar, if you know there are other guinea guys there, and they can set up a meet and greet space for you. Just knowing they will get along is a great first step. I have to admit, though, that my best boar pairing was totally my doing, and they boys had nothing to do with it. I did get a baby to go with an adult, and that helped a lot. Also, Dallas was a cool, laid back guy, which worked well with Zippy constantly earning his name in and out of the cage Two days of temps in the high 90s, and humidity levels running in the Florida range. It is hot and soupy. It might be bothering Noodles, I'm not sure. I posted a picture and some information about it in my Coppola Piggies thread. For some reason, nothing I do gets the posts listed as NEW?
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Post by bazookagoof on Aug 13, 2016 16:54:12 GMT
I did take Oscar along when we first got Deo, but we all know they didn't get along when they got home- which brought me to this wonderful place. Since they'll be in separate cages anyway as neighbors, I'll just let my daughter choose one and we'll be fine.
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Post by shades on Aug 14, 2016 9:19:21 GMT
Nice tomato, Shades, but a shame if it's the only one from all those plants! Mine are still quite small and green - waiting for a bit of heat I think! Glad your grass is doing well at least. We don't get cicadas over here, but I've heard them abroad - hope you managed to free it for the sake of a good nights sleep. If it can fly away, why can't it fly over the balcony?! I've just done a tomato count - I can see ten tomatoes on fourteen plants. Too many flowers not giving any tomatoes. Some plants don't have any flowers. A little disappointing after all the effort but it's my first try at using seeds, so maybe not surprising. Earlier posted tomato is now red: Some others: I'm glad I took these photos first thing this morning. This afternoon it's dark and raining very heavily. You'd think that the cicada would fly away but I have a theory that it doesn't because it's about to die. It has left the tree and somehow got on our balcony for its last days. Other than that, maybe it's just not very bright and doesn't understand how glass works...
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Post by jolovespiggies on Aug 14, 2016 13:10:17 GMT
They are beauties.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by shades on Aug 14, 2016 14:07:02 GMT
Our new pet; to be more accurate, my wife's pet 50-day old kitten Don't worry, piggies are safe and secure
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 14, 2016 20:28:22 GMT
Aw, gotta love kittens Since the piggies are already there, the kitten should grow up knowing them as belonging there, so shouldn't give them any trouble. Those really are gorgeous tomatoes. I'm sorry you didn't get a whole lot of them, but what you got is quality! Did you feed the plants during the growing season? I use a time-release fertilizer, after giving them an initial feeding with a fish fertilizer. That just keeps them fed for the whole growing season. For the first year of growing them from seed, and growing them in extreme heat, I think you did really well!
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Post by shades on Aug 15, 2016 2:04:31 GMT
Aw, gotta love kittens Since the piggies are already there, the kitten should grow up knowing them as belonging there, so shouldn't give them any trouble. Those really are gorgeous tomatoes. I'm sorry you didn't get a whole lot of them, but what you got is quality! Did you feed the plants during the growing season? I use a time-release fertilizer, after giving them an initial feeding with a fish fertilizer. That just keeps them fed for the whole growing season. For the first year of growing them from seed, and growing them in extreme heat, I think you did really well! When we brought the kitten home, the pigs were in their floor-level enclosure. Guess who was most scared? That's right, the kitten! Now that the pigs are back up in their normal living space, they're out of reach; although I put the lid on to be doubly sure. I guess they can smell each other but won't ever worry about each other. They'll never be together. For me, it's like the guys who keep dangerous pets. 99% of the time, it's safe but the remaining 1% is when sth goes wrong. I'm not gonna take that risk. Thanks for the positive notes on my tomatoes. It's definitely disappointing but I'm hoping for a late harvest... I didn't add any tomato feed, just used soil with added nutrients. Probably that's not enough. Next year, I'll do it differently. At the end of the season, do the plants just die? Or can they be kept over the winter? I've forgotten about what to do with them
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 15, 2016 19:16:07 GMT
Yes, the plants die at the end of the year, but the tomato seeds apparently don't die. If you get a lot of winter sun on your balcony, try planting the seeds from a healthy tomato, and see if they'll grow over the winter. It can get very cold here, definitely below freezing, and the ground is frozen for several months of the year. Yet the following year, we've found tomatoes and squash growing out of the compost heap? I have no idea how they made it. Maybe it's being in the compost, buried enough to not be totally frozen, or maybe the seeds froze and started to germinate once they thawed. I don't know. If I had a sun room, I would try to grow some over the winter, and they would have to be from seed, because tomato plants are only available through mid July here.
Once the plants start to die, which means they don't take a lot of the nutrients, the nutrients go to the fruit, which is supposed to come in really healthy. I've found there's usually a very short window between green tomatoes, and overly ripe ones, but experts say that's how it's supposed to be.
My Dallas Piggy used to bully the fully grown cat out of the living room. I think you know your animals, and the amount of control you can maintain over your animals. The pigs never roamed free with the dog or cat without me present. When they were free range, we no longer had any other animals. Better safe than sorry is always a good choice.
I found the time release fertilizer is necessary if you water the plants regularly, because watering washes the nutrients out of the soil. I have planters with reservoirs in the bottom, and I put the fish emulsion in the reservoir, so it didn't go on the leaves. I sprinkled the time release fertilizer over the soil, so if nothing else, it washed down into the reservoir and feed the plants.
There are plenty of experts, and I've tried a lot of their suggestions, and had very little luck. Now I get as much info as possible, then go with my gut.
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Post by shades on Aug 16, 2016 5:48:55 GMT
it's so cold out in winter, it's impossible to grow fruit and veg. I'm sure I could grow indoors thanks to the underfloor heating.
I'm sure it's not unusual for cats and pigs to get along and freely roam together but I can't even think about how to introduce them to each other.
Two pigs could do some damage to a 600g kitten. It would be cool if they could share some living/play space (even temporarily) but I'm not convinced that's possible. I don't want to have three injured pets on my hands.
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Post by shades on Aug 16, 2016 5:58:58 GMT
Camera-shy kitten
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Post by 3piggles on Aug 16, 2016 14:38:08 GMT
Awww There is an adorable cuteness to baby animals, and I'm a total sucker for that cuteness I let the pigs roam with the dog and cats, because I knew my animals really well. I still stayed right there, just in case, but it was a judgement call based on the personality of my animals. If I'd had a new animal I didn't know well enough, I wouldn't have let them roam together. Our dog was always lying right in the middle of the room. Zippy would come out of the carrier, and go straight to Tequila to say hello. He just lightly touched his nose to Tequila's front paw, so Tequila knew he was there, and Tequila would raise his head in acknowledgement. Then the pigs were off and running, and Tequila didn't even bother to move. There are many studies of mixed species of animals living together in harmony, and I follow some US rescues that have mixed species groupings that work very well. The animals are each others support groups. I think that depends on a lot of variables, and a whole lot of study has to go in to deciding if all of the animals will get along. I don't know if you can access it from China, but there's a rescue in northern Arkansas called Rocky Ridge Refuge. She has a farm full of animals that all live and work together. It seems to bring out the best in all of the animals, and certainly socializes any dogs that will be available for adoption. I think you're right to be careful. The kitten has to get through kittenhood and puberty, before it gets to adulthood and settles down. If they can nose bonk each other through the grids, it's a safe way for them to get to know each other, and if you see the signs that they will get along, you can try a guarded intro. You never know!
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Post by bazookagoof on Aug 20, 2016 19:28:54 GMT
No luck so far getting a rescued cavy- we went to our usual place and the room where they kept them all had only birds & bunnies. I asked one employee, and she said she didn't know if they kept any at the shelter anymore. We asked another employee, and she wasn't sure if they had them in a back room. She vanished, and after waiting about five minutes the receptionist told us they had none, but they sent all their guinea pigs to local pet stores as offsite adoption centers.
So, we're going to hit a few places on the list to see if we can rescue a guinea pig.
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