Garden thread.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

It will be really pretty one of these days.  Right now the house looks a little sad and tired and needs some sprucing up... a new roof and some paint on the eaves and the ends and the porch posts would make it look completely different.  And the downed trees really need to be dealt with.  Another dead one fell in that last big wind storm, and there is one between the house and barn that scares me because I'm afraid it is next, and the kids play out there all the time.  The woods are really pretty.  Wild edibles everywhere, which is nice.  Will be really glad to get the garden plants good and established so that I don't have to fight the weeds tooth and nail as much.

[Alasdair]

Wow! Homegrown - you sound very professional!
We are the proud parents of one lonley new stalk of asparagus!

Shame it'll be 3 years before we can start harvesting any!
Our pear trees are in bloom too - but I forgot to take a picture.

[Sassy]

Congratulations, Alasdair!    

[PEG688]

 Started to harvest lettuce this week , radish's will be ready soon along with strawberries. Ah, Summer!

 


 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I'm replanting a lot of stuff this weekend.     Dadgummed rabbits, deer, gophers, etc. have eaten way more than their share this  year and our geriatric canines are too hard of hearing to notice them a lot of the time.
The snow peas are finally setting peas, and the wax beans are blooming.  Corn is a foot tall and needs to be thinned... I think every single kernel sprouted.  Tomatoes seemed a bit stunted from all the rain, so they're kind of puny but getting better.  We have a few Korean melons that seem to be doing pretty good.  Black-eyed peas and potatoes and sweet potatoes are also doing well.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yay!  We picked a few snowpeas today.  Kids and I just stood in the garden and ate them, but they were yummy.  Over the next few days there should be a lot more.  I am so glad that something is doing well.  I have a cherry tomato plant that can't be more than about 8" high and has at least 10 blooms on it.  It is short, thick-stemmed and stocky.  I hope that it actually produces fruit.  Most of the tomatoes are much larger, of course, but that one is especially stunted, it seems, but is blooming more thickly than a lot of the ones twice the size.

[glenn kangiser]

I have been so busy working out of town I haven't had much time to help Sassy with the garden.  

It is time to do it though.

Yours is looking great, PEG.  

Cherry tomatoes seem to always be one you can count on, Homey.

[Sassy]

Yep, we have a bunch of volunteer cherry tomato plants.  Some of the other tomato plants I put in this year are doing pretty good.  Our artichoke plants are multiplying like crazy & the big plants have lots of chokes on them.  There's lots of apricots & plums on the trees - the rest of the fruit trees don't have too much fruit or any as we just planted them this spring.  Lots of the plants are going to seed.  We do have some cabbages & broccoli, did have lots of celery but that is going to seed.  Looks like the gophers have chewed up some onions & beets.  Strawberries are doing well but I can pick them unless I climb a real tall ladder & walk on a really sloped roof where they're growing.  Glenn's been too busy to pick them     Our pepper plants Glenn rescued from the garden last November & put in the uphill patio greenhouse are starting to get a lot of blooms. 

We have some friends who have a bunch of starts of different veggies for me to pickup when I get back from work next week. 

The rose bushes have been covered with roses - all different colors.  Shasta daisies, calendulas, bachelor buttons, alysium & a few other flowers are blooming right now.  One of my orange trees was full of blooms but it doesn't look like any of them set...  seems like something eats the blooms 

I spend a couple hours a day watering by hand & always weeding of course...  seems like the weeds do the best 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Whew, I know what you mean about the watering, Sassy.  In every place we've lived before, the soil was really rich and held moisture fairly well, but this place has really sandy soil, and the garden isn't any better than anywhere else in the yard (it is either really sticky clay or sand all over our place, so I guess at least the sand is easier to deal with, though not as good.)  I spent most of today babying our garden and trying to convince everything but the weeds to grow.  Corn looks really good.  Peas and beans and squash are doing well, and the cukes that didn't get eaten are doing really well.  Something keeps digging up my watermelon seeds and eating them before they have a chance to sprout.  I've planted twice now, and both times it has happened.  I really want some watermelons.

[muldoon]

our little container garden just seems to doing fine.  I have not taken pictures since march, and it's blown up since then. 



I have 9 tomatoe plants nearing 7 feet tall, some are heirloom varieties, some just off the shelf, some are gimmies from other people whom I traded with earlier back in the season.  Even have some tomatillos and of course cherry tomatoes in there.



I dont even know what to do with all the peppers anymore.  I have a ziplock baggie in the freezer near full of serranoes, and they just keep blooming those little white flowers and producing.  The bells are doing nice as well, and between the three plants I always seem to have 2 or 3 ripe at any time.  different varieites but I like that. 






This is the first year for doing squash, and I have had decent luck - but not spectacular.  I believe I need to read up on the plant a bit as they dont really seem to love the soil I put them in.  Same with the strawberries, maybe I did something wrong.  (pH, sun/shade, trellis?  I dunno)..,  anyway, they are still alive. 




and no matter how much I use this rosemary on chicken, steaks, salmon, or lamb - it just keeps getting bushier and bushier. 

[Sassy]

Muldoon, your garden is looking good.  I cleaned out a bunch of plants that had gone to seed (the broccoli, cauliflour).  The slugs had eaten through all our cabbages    And the aphids like our artichokes & always get on the broccoli & cauliflour...  anyone have some good, natural remedies?  I've tried vinegar & soapsuds spray - doesn't seem to faze the aphids... 

Some friends gave us a bunch of plants I have to ge in the ground today.  The weather is still partially cloudy & cool - low 70's - VERY unusual for this part of the country.  I do have a lot of cherry tomatoes putting on fruit & my fruit trees are doing great.  The lettuce & Swiss chard have bolted so waiting for the seeds to mature & then I'll save those & pull out the plants. 

[glenn kangiser]

I extended the terrace below the cabin to add another peach tree our friends gave us.  Maybe corn down there soon too.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Muldoon, nice looking garden.  I pulled up the rest of the onions the other day in ours.  They might have gotten a little bigger had I left them, but didn't have the energy to do the remedial weeding they needed.  Instead, I just pulled them all up and am going to turn it under a  few times to help with the weed issue.  The snow peas and wax beans are producing more than we can eat fresh.  I love the snow peas and have decided to plant more in the fall.  Corn is taller than me, which isn't saying a heck of a lot.  The tomatoes are just absolutely loaded, but none are ripe yet.  Jalapenos and some other peppers (no idea which ones actually survived, but I think everything that is growing is hot) are doing really well, and the ones I have in the container are just loaded with fruit.  New batch of lettuce coming up in the container if it doesn't cook in the heat wave we're having.  Also have Thai basil and oregano growing in a container.  By the end of this week, we'll be swimming in squash and cucumbers and beans and peas.  Hopefully by the beginning of next week we'll start getting some tomatoes so that we can put those onions and jalapenos to good use and make some salsa.  Next year, we WILL plan a little better.  The soil here is incredibly sandy... worst garden soil I've ever had to deal with.  We're watering constantly just to keep stuff alive, but hopefully with the addition of lots of organic material over the next few years it'll get better.  I've mulched as much as I can with grass cuttings, and because of the size of the yard, there isn't really a shortage of clippings to use.  We're having trouble keeping weeds down in the paths between the garden beds... the path is wide enough for me to mow with the riding mower, but now the cucurbits and the sweet potatoes are creeping into the paths, so we need a different solution.  What do y'all think about tilling the weeds in the paths under, and then covering the path in grass clippings to keep them from re-sprouting?  Eventually, I would like to use something nicer looking, like wood chips, if/when we rent a chipper/shredder to dispose of the kindling we're sitting in.  Hopefully by next spring, we'll have installed drip irrigation in the garden beds.

[glenn kangiser]

I have been so busy with this contract that I haven't had near the time I need to keep after the garden. 

Sassy works it a lot. and I guess anything you can do to improve it for the future is worth it. 

I got some chicken manure out yesterday.  If I don't burn something with it, it ought to give it a kick.

[MountainDon]

Well, we have an experimental garden in the works. 8800 feet. Altitude, that is. Garden approx 3 x 4 feet. Those are radishes and there is also some lettuce coming up. Chives and green onions are invisible. There's some potatoes in another area behind camera position.



I'm not sure if this will be a garden or a deer feeder for the game camera.     (Scouit Guard 550 just arrived.)

[Windpower]

Micro garden doing well

right to left

Zuchini, Hubbard Squash, Egg plant, pole beans (toward back) Tomatoes ('Trophy' an heirloom variety that did really good last year and tastes wonderful)

[glenn kangiser]

Nice. Windpower.  

We are slowly expanding our garden.  I just tilled up about a 6'x8' area between our new fruit trees with the Bobcat teeth on our lower terrace and mixed in alpaca manure to make a plot for corn.  I used the square foot garden method and planted about 4 seeds per square foot along with rows of beans between to grow up the corn.  They say it will work.  Not out much if it doesn't.  I need to add squash around the perimeter also.

Our fruit trees on the terrace are doing excellent with some even bearing fruit this year (their first).

[Windpower]

I started to plant tomatoes quite close together a couple years ago -- they crowd out the weeds  -- same with beans and squash

that and miracle grow seem to make a fairly low maintainance garden

[muldoon]

Nice patch of garden there windpower.  No feeling in the world like watching something grow out of the dirt and be green and happy with just the minimal care and attention. 

You have plans to enlarge next year?  It looks like alot of usable dirt still to be worked in the area 

[Windpower]

'doon

yeah there is lots of area there but limited time to tend it

that's why planting close seems to be good -- shades out the weeds

I weed about twice a year with the intensive planting and it works good

can't wait for the tomatoes


the ultimate garden is up at the farm maybe next year (if we can get it together)

!/4 acre of wheat and corn

1/4 acre of veggies

we are planning to kill off the grass with black plastic this year

then fertilize with 10 10 20  for the first year -- then major compost and maybe chicken droppings

Satisfying to eat food from the soil

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Gonna have to start canning this week or early next.

[muldoon]

I need a little help. 

I started an eggplant last year and it was healthy but never produced a fruit.  I kept it alive all this time (even though hurricane Ike), and it's much bigger this year.  I got fantastic purple flowers quite a few times but it never budded out or made fruit.  Anyone have any ideas what's wrong with it?

My tomatoes look fantastic as far as plants go.   Last year I crowded them and while they did generally ok, they were a rootbound mess and I realized later I missed alot of the potential.  This year I used dedicated 5 gallon containers for each - and I have massive 7 foot tall tomatoes.  All kinds, mostly heirlooms - german red, purple cherokee, arkansas travelers, homestead, and on and on.  I have 9 huge healthy tomatoe plants - but they are not producing much. 

Last month I had a repeat of last year - a possum was raiding the garden every night.  He didn't seem to get the fruit as much as he would climb the tomatoes and eat the flower tips and bud sites.  He didnt get them all but he got a good bit.  I think I have ran him off with weekly sprinkles of tobasco sauce near them - he hasnt been back in some time.  What was left fruitwise, (still a few dozen), seem to just get annihilated by birds as soon as they show a hint of color.  They go to an orange, then just a blush of red, and the next day they have been attacked when I look at them. 

I am always in a learning mode with this garden, and I have learned tons over the past two years... but I still feel I am doing much wrong.  If anyone has any ideas on what I can do to improve my situation - this year or next, I would love the pointers. 

Thanks. 

[glenn kangiser]

Tomatoes (indeterminate)take a lot of pruning to produce good fruit. 

When I took care of mine the were great - not so good as I get lazy or run out of time.

Good video

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/videos/pruning-tomatoes.aspx

[Curtis]

These photos are a month or so old, the garden isn't do so good in this 110 degree heat and stuff...





We have four white Pigeons that live in our garden

There are 20, 16X4 garden beds inside that enclosed structure. It was built in the winter by a good friend of mine, and this was the first year it got used. We kind of just grew a little of this, a little of that, to see what would do well in it.

Next time however, I am only going to intensively plant tomatoes, cucumbers/squash, melons, and spinach/lettuce (it did really well earlier in the year).

Our corn, which I was hoping would do well (i'm from Indiana, all it is is corn corn corn back home) didn't do well at all... same thing with beans, beats, radishes, etc. Some herbs did pretty good earlier in the season, though.


The garden is in dire need of a good weeding. After I get that done, whenever I get around to it, i'll post updated photos of the other half.

Its all steel pole and fenced in, with shadecloth over the top because I live on a bird refuge, too many birds were just flying in an eating seedlings initially. Although we do have a couple chickens we let roam around to help control the bugs, and I think next year I may get some praying mantis to further help that problem. I'd also put any King Snake i'd find on the property in our garden to keep the mice population down, etc.

The garden is watered by a drip system, overhead, and IS setup for irrigation, however it sits a little lower than the surrounding area, so it tends to flood if not very carefully watched when we let water flow into the ditches... So we rarely irrigate it. Just drips for a four or five hours each night with a overhead spray a few times a week at night.

[glenn kangiser]

Looks nice Curtis. 

We are getting a bit better on ours - I got more of the drip system going so hopefully it will cut down on the hand watering and keep things growing.