Season of Shadows Blog

12 Responses to “Halloween Garden: Update 6”

1. Goldie Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 11:48 am

   A turtle???!!! What? LoL…..a turtle…LoL, where on earth did he come from John??? That’s no baby turtle either, it looks full grown. Given the lay out of your land there and the concrete walls that make up your back yard, how in heavens name did a TURTLE get into your back yard? Couldn’t have flown in, or did it? This baffled me most of all upon seeing your updated video, as you could imagine. I would have loved to see your reaction the morning you found a TURTLE in your backyard. I would have been blown back. Poor little thing, wonder where it came from. If someone dared to drop it off over your fence there, that’s just straight messed up, but I would rather someone as kind and loving as YOU to find him and not something or someone else. Thank you for taking care of him and finding him a new home when you did.

   That corn shot is amazing John, as is all of your corn in the garden. I get the giggles when I see new shots of your garden John and with this time around there was more greenery than brown Can hardly see the patch of land anymore which is just beautiful to see. Your lettuce looks like it’s getting close to pickin’, what do you think? Moreover, how great is the feeling of growing your very own vegetables that you grind up daily for your meals?

   I also agree regarding the immense size of the tomato plant!!! Good heavens, what did you feed that thing I, too, have never in all my days of living seen a bush that large for tomatoes. Your toms are still very much green my friend. However your little pumpkin is indeed orange with what looks like green stripes towards the top. The insane larger pumpkin is actually the color of a lemon cuke, it’s a nice soft yellow color. I suspect it’s on it’s way to transforming to orange but dang that gourd is big. You weren’t kidding John!!!

   There were/are many jewels in this latest update my friend. Excellent video Lastly, not sure about where you live, we’ve been having remarkable weather lately, only in the 80′s and down to the low 50′s at night!!! I’ve noticed the daylight change as well now beaming through my windows; it’s not as hot and it’s at a different angle. I was so cold this am that I actually had to put socks on. I find myself saying more and more now, “Ahhhhh, smells like fall in the air!” Hard to believe we just had 4th of July celebrations and already I see leaves falling from trees and October is right around the corner. My FAVORITE time of year!!!!

   Sorry So Long, excellent posting and congratulations sweetie!!!

2. Ethan Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 2:25 pm

   Turtles will eat your tomatoes, strawberries and any other good source of water. This is especially true in dry conditions. You garden over all looks great by the way. Kudos! You are a true farmer. I don’t think that I knew you were color blind. I myself have a very weak scene of smell because of a chemist assisting job where I stood over a vat of mineral spirits for four months. You are very interesting and, as always, you continue to surprise.

3. John Wolfe Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 2:34 pm

   Goldie,

   I’m not positive, but I think she probably crawled under the front gate entrance to my porch/side courtyard. It does have some clearance on the bottom. Between the garden in the back and our recent rains filling up a hole I’ve dug, she was pretty content. I’d love to have kept her outside, but I’m sure she would have fed on my plants, plus I’m guessing it gets too cold in the winter here for a turtle to be outdoors without some sort of shelter. Shoot, you know me, I’m always a sucker for animals and am way too sensitive to have let anything happen to her under my care. I was happy to try and relocate her and thankful when it all worked out as it did.

   Glad you liked the corn. It was such an AMAZING feeling to remove it from the stalk and see those kernels come shining through as I peeled back a little of the husk! I get a joyful feeling from removing tomatoes I’ve grown, too, but it was pretty awesome to actually know a cornstalk I started from seed produced a nice looking ear like that. Just imagine how giddy I’ll be when it’s time to pick the pumpkins! Speaking of which, the little pumpkin is probably about ready to come off — thanks for letting me know about the color. I’ll keep it in the fridge until October.

   You should see the newest pumpkin today! When I recorded the vid, it was around cantaloupe size. Three days later and it’s probably getting close to the size of a basketball! I’m hoping it keeps growing for a while before it starts to change color. Being that it’s only a little over a week old now, it should still have some growing to do.

   It’s a great feeling to be able to go out back and bring stuff right into my kitchen that’s clean, organic and ready to eat! But, what’s been even more rewarding is giving a lot of what I’ve grown (tomatoes and that first ear of corn as of right now) to family. I love being able to provide them with fresh produce. And, of course, if you lived closer, I’d keep you supplied as well… at least in tomatoes! For me, my favorite parts are lending a hand to help the plants grow and passing on what they produce to other people, but I am thankful for what the garden provides me to eat too. I think you’re right, the lettuce is about there. I think I’ll pick some of the smaller romaine and leave the larger ones for a little longer to see how they respond.

   Yeah, the German Queen was maybe 6 inches tall when I planted it and now it’s over five feet tall and appears to be heading for six feet! Since it spent most of the summer without a single tomato growing, I think it’s been able to devote all the nutrients to the plant itself maturing. That’s my best guess, since I didn’t do anything different to it than I did to the other two.

   We have cooled down a bit. I think we’re still hitting the low to mid 90s, but that beats the heck out of one-hundred degrees! I love your description about smelling and feeling fall in the air! I’m looking forward to that coming our direction soon, too! We are starting to get a little fall here, at least in terms of a New Mexico fall because the green chile has been harvested from the southern part of the state and it’s arriving in our area. Smelling chile roasting throughout New Mexico always signals summer is dwindling and fall is around the corner.

   No worries on the length of your comment. I always love seeing what feelings my posts elicit! In fact, I encourage long responses.

   Ethan,

   I wasn’t sure, but I sorta thought she might have had her eye on all that greenery. Thanks for letting me know. Glad she’s got another place to do her thing now. Thanks for your kind words about the garden, too.

   I’ve had problems identifying colors pretty much ever since pre-school, kindergarten or whenever it was I started trying to learn them. Scientists/doctors used to think it was an issue with the eye, but I’ve heard they now think it’s an issue in the brain. That doesn’t surprise me, though, since I’ve never been quite right in the head anyway!

   Sorry to hear about your sense of smell. I never had a job working with chemicals, but I can certainly see how that would mess with your nose. Once, in fifth grade, some kid brought hydrochloric acid to school for a science project. We were messing around with it and mixing up a bunch of stuff we shouldn’t have been. Being the genius I was at that age (said very sarcastically), I decided to smell the concoction… big mistake! My nose burned for days on the inside and my sense of smell was pretty shot for a while just from one quick inhale.

4. Pam Morris Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 9:03 pm

   your garden looks great…I love the little punkins’ …re the turtle…good for you for finding him/her a new place to live…they are becoming endangered due to global warming…heat determines the sex of a turtle and pretty soon, we will have all one sex and thus, no reproduction…gotta keep things goin’ for as long as we are able…

5. John Wolfe Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 10:06 pm

   Thanks, Pam! About the turtle: I’m happy to do my part in helping out. I have a soft spot for animals and believe they all have just as much right to be on this planet as I do. That’s an interesting fact about what determines the sex of turtles, I didn’t know that. Unfortunately, it’s also a sad thing, because of global warming, just as you mentioned. The guy I gave this one to already has quite a turtle collection and was really knowledgeable. He picked it up and immediately said she looked to be female. So, hopefully she will help bring a few more turtle babies into the world.

6. ssflipo13 Says:
   August 6th, 2010 at 10:48 pm

   Wow a turtle!? Wonder how it got in there. Glad to hear it went to a nice place . Your garden looks great so far . It does seem like your pumpkins are taking up less room than when I grew them years ago. But hey you got pumpkins. I`m growing what I call blood corn because it has the red kerrnels and so far they are only 3 ft high and still growing. No cobs yet. My tomatoes have been giving tomatoes all summer so far but look to be dieing and turning yellow. i thank them for what they have given so far. Best of luck with your garden . And congrats to the winners of the haunted history giveaway.

7. GHFans Says:
   August 7th, 2010 at 4:13 pm

   Congrats to the winners of the contest! Very nice garden, it is fun to see it evolve as time progresses.

   I also wanted to ask you about something Halloween related. I was wondering if you have any advice regarding fog chillers? I wanted to have one this year but I’ve seen so many different ones on the internet that I’m not sure what is the best design. I’m hoping that you might have some valuable information!

8. John Wolfe Says:
   August 7th, 2010 at 9:10 pm

   ssflipo13,

   I can’t be certain, but I’m guessing someone in the neighborhood probably had her as a pet and just decided to turn her loose. My pumpkins may be needing a bit more water, I’m not sure. Early on, I over-watered a lot of my plants and learned to back off a bit by really getting my hand in the soil and checking for moisture. Though that hasn’t changed and I still go by feel, watering only when the soil no longer feels damp, the pumpkins may be wanting more as the fruit starts putting on.

   Congratulations on your corn! I’ve never seen blood corn before… sounds pretty cool. Sorry to hear about your toms, but like you said, they’ve been good to you. That’s how I’m looking at my Celebrity, too — just appreciating what it’s given me. Maybe mine is going through a similar phase as yours, it’s just sort of tired and almost finished for the season. Thanks so much for watching and for your kind feedback.

   GHFans,

   Great to hear from you and thanks for your nice comment. When it comes to foggers, I can’t say for certain which ground fogger/chiller will be a good one, but I can tell you which ground fogger to stay away from. Though I adore the Spirit Halloween Superstore, I am not at all happy with their ground fogger/chiller. I bought two in 2008 (around $55 dollars each), using them only once, on Halloween night, and following the manufacturer’s recommendations to a “T.” Then, a day or two after Halloween, I cleaned them as suggested and stored each one away in their box. I got ‘em out in 2009 and neither one worked at all! Thankfully a couple of mini-foggers I purchased at Walmart several years ago bailed me out on Halloween night last year.

   I’ve also owned several other foggers in recent years that conked-out after only using them once or twice. Personally, I’m of the opinion you can’t really find a good fogger nowadays. The best fogger I ever bought was purchased in 1996 and lasted me until 2007, but it was very heavy-duty. Unfortunately, the foggers of today are loaded with plastic parts. Wish I could help you more, but foggers seem to be throw away items nowadays. You might get lucky and find one that lasts for a few years, if so, please let me know what it’s called!

   You may just want to use a regular fogger, but look into turning it into a chiller/groundfogger with some enhancements. There are a lot of good vids on You Tube about making your fogger a ground fogger/chiller. I did that last year with some pvc pipe and it worked quite well in keeping the fog along the ground. If you want more details on how I did it, just let me know, either here or send me an e-mail. Good luck.

9. GHFans Says:
   August 8th, 2010 at 2:25 am

   I would love to hear more details about your fog chiller! I’ve also encountered a problem with one of my fog machines. It worked fine last night for a few spurts, then it started to make a mechanical/weird noise that I am not really sure how to describe. It sounded almost like vibration, but I can’t be sure. At first I thought that the machine had run out of liquid, but I checked and it still had a good amount. Along with the problem of the noise, the machine’s fog production has drastically decreased and it barely produces anything.

   Considering your past experience, what do you think is wrong with it? Have you ever encountered this before? Could it just be a problem of a clogged nozzle (some fog juice was stored in the tank since Oct. ’09)?

   Thanks for all of your help and sorry for bombarding you with all my fog machine troubles. At least I found someone else willing to talk about fog machines in August!

10. John Wolfe Says:
    August 8th, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    For the fog chiller: You’ll need some PVC pipe, electrical tape and a drill. The purpose is to try to create a contained means for the fog to cool, and one that also prevents it from escaping very fast.

    I picked up a 2 or 3 inch (diameter) PVC pipe. The PVC opening should measure a few inches larger than the nozzle on your fogger (where the smoke comes out), because the pipe needs to be butted up against the fogger. Be careful in placing PVC against the nozzle, though, as I found out a few years ago that most fogger nozzles get hot enough to melt PVC. As long as you have a fogger with a small nozzle and your PVC pipe’s opening is far larger than the fogger nozzle itself, you should be fine.

    I can’t recall the exact length I cut the PVC pipe to, so you may have to experiment and see what works best. I’m thinking it was around 4 to 5 feet in length. I then used electrical tape (you could probably use duct tape, but I think electrical tape can withstand hotter temps), to tape off one end of the PVC. You could also buy a cap to cap it off, but I sorta did this in a pinch. I then drilled around one-hundred holes (can’t remember the drill bit size, but it was fairly small) throughout one side of the pipe, from one end to the other. After that, you just butt the pipe against the fogger (with the drilled holes pointing in the direction you want to aim the fog) and let ‘er rip.

    Some fog may escape where the PVC is pressed against the machine, but it should be minimal. If the wind is low, you have enough holes drilled, and the pipe length is right, the fog will cool inside the pipe before it has an opportunity to escape out the drilled holes. This should keep it low to the ground. I tried it last year using two pipes and two foggers and both worked like a charm. I painted the pipes black and covered them with leaves so they wouldn’t show. Be careful doing this though as you may want to keep an eye on the leaves for safety sake.

    For the issue with your fogger: I have had that happen before. It could either be the nozzle is clogged or else the tube running from the reservoir container (where you pour the fog juice) into the pump may be clogged. I’m betting it’s the tube as those things can get pretty gunky fast. I’ve never actually taken a fog machine completely apart, but you may be able to take it apart and clean out the tube… I’m not sure. The best thing is to clean them out right away after use by following the recommendations in the instructions.

    I try to clean mine out on November 1st or 2nd. The one I bought back in ’96 required a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water be run through the machine the same way you run fog juice through it. The newer models seem to recommend either removing your fog fluid from the reservoir and simply rinsing out the reservoir with distilled water (without running it through the machine) or else you’re supposed to actually run distilled water through the machine.

    No worries about all the fog machine questions. I love talking about this stuff! Plus, I know very little about most things mechanical, but I do know a few things about foggers… go figure, huh. I hope all of this helps. Let me know if you need anything else.

11. GHFans Says:
    August 10th, 2010 at 1:07 am

    I ran some distilled water through the machine today and the sound immediately stopped. I am so happy that the fix was that simple and I hope that it keeps working until Halloween. I’ve also put together a fog chiller with a cooler and a pipe from Home Depot that already had slits in the sides, which allowed the fog to come out nicely. Even though it was windy last night when I tested it, the pipe helped keep the fog low to the ground. So I end tonight in high spirits with a fixed fog machine and a fog chiller that is good to go!

    Thanks for all of the input and I look forward to talking about more Halloween stuff as October comes nearer.

12. John Wolfe Says:
    August 11th, 2010 at 9:54 pm

    Awesome! Glad to hear the distilled water took care of it. That’s another thing about foggers of today, they seem to be a lot more temperamental than the ones made more than a decade ago. Good on you for getting a chiller put together, too! Sounds like you’re all set.

    It’s my pleasure to help out if I can and I totally look forward to talking Halloween “shop” with you as we get closer to the big night!