Misc/Chat How's your garden doing this year?

[moldy]

Mine is rather, meh. Cukes, squash, melons, and pumpkins are doing great as usual. Tomatoes look like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Out of 50, 4 look decent. All the cherry types, that I hate to have to pick, of course. Row crops (carrots, beets, green beans, and cabbage) I had to replant and they are still not taking off. Peppers seem to come on and over-ripen in a day.

All in all, not a fantastic year.

 

[imaginative]

I am having the best garden ever. Everything is literally exploding.

 

[TerriHaute]

It's a good garden year here. We have had more rain than normal, so keeping the weeds down has been a challenge. The tomato avalanche has started and we wired the sweet corn yesterday to keep the raccoons out. Beans, herbs, swiss chard, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, corn....everything is growing like gangbusters and ready to harvest.

 

[ambereyes]

This year it is just tomatoes and peppers. We moved from central Texas to west Texas, 20 miles from the border. Love the area but now I have to start over with a new garden area. Hope to get a small fall garden in, usually they do best anyway.

 

[SusieSunshine]

I am finally able to start gardening, sort of. The first few years here all of my time and energy was in care-giving. This year I am working on landscaping. Flowers, bushes and trees planted to attract butterflies and hummers. I was able to plant some ginger, rosemary and lavender. Next year I hope to plant more herbs and a few peach trees. It is a slow start, but better late than never.

 

[Wise Owl]

Bought really good compost full of cow manure this year and I have had great results with "some" things. I also had help planting and that turned out ok with some things but not others. Not all my beans came up. Just some. Didn't have energy to replant those myself and considering the kids who did the planting may have planted the seeds too deep, I just let those go. But,

Swiss chard, broccoli, tomatoes, and calendula are all going gangbusters. I have tomato trees this year. The plants are huge and full of babies and blossoms. I think I will get enough to can some this fall. The calendula is almost 18 inches tall! Never had them get this big and I bought a ton of the plants so I should have more than enough for tinctures.
Swiss chard is actually very nice so far. Had a meal or two. If I could get the slugs to leave it be I would be even happier. Bad hip doesn't allow me to pick them off like before so I need to get some more Sluggo today. Hate picking leaves with holes in them.....blech.....(reminder to put that on my shopping list)

All in all with all the rain, it's been a better year here. Last year and the year before it was either try to water or save the well and the well won that battle. (drought)

Looking forward to fresh maters tho.

 

[WalknTrot]

Slow. Too much rain and cool weather. Just in the past few days has it felt like a decent stretch of summer. Still, all in all, it will be fine. As usual, some stuff is good, some not so good.

 

[BinWa]

My garden is doing very well! Tomatoe plants are about 7ft tall and loaded with tomatoes and filled with new flowers. I've had to drag out the ladder to secure the plants twice now at the top.. they are growing so fast. I have 16 plants so I am going to have an abundance this year! I have spaghetti squash, onions, potatoes, peppers, carrots, lettuce, spinach and peas growing. Everything is growing and producing very well! My garden sits next to a field of wild blackberries so I'll be picking again this year & filling the freezer for the year

 

[Dennis Olson]

The one year I tried to grow tomatoes here in the Austin area, I got very little fruit and it never really ripened. The nursery told me (after I'd spent all that time and money) that it's pretty much too hot down here to grow them. Thanks a lot...

 

[summerthyme]

It's been a weird year... very wet and rainy, although we've missed the worst of the rain/flooding/tornadoes that have gone just north and south of us. We're spraying potatoes and tomatoes weekly with copper to try to prevent blight. My peaches and plums are likely lost... sob... I had at least 2 bushels of peaches on that tree, but they're slowly succumbing to black rot.

The strawberries were amazing... I picked several gallons just before Memorial Day. When I came back after being at my son's for a couple days for the birth of my granddaughter, we'd had a couple inches of rain, and for every good berry, I had to throw three out due to rot. Good thing I had more than enough!

The blueberries were doing wonderfully... we spent the time and effort (and money) to put posts and netting over them all. Kept the birds out- but not the Japanese beetles. Damn, I'm sick of illegal immigrants!! Seriously... between the Emerald Ash borer wiping out all our ash trees (hubby is frantically trying to cut the ones which are still alive to save them for firewood.. once the beetles get into a tree, it essentially turns to sawdust in about 6 months), and the verdamnt Japanese Beetles, I'm thinking that "world trades" isn't worth it! Not to mention the damned English Sparrows and starlings!!

But if blight doesn't hit, we should get plenty of tomatoes, and everything else looks pretty good. Going to be busy canning and freezing shortly.

Summerthyme

 

[Melodi]

We just have tomatoes and squash in the conservatory but boy are they starting to go gangbusters - no serious tomatoes yet (lots of flowers, we had to plant late) but the squash, especially the yellow squash are having their best-ever year since we got to Ireland. I have always wanted "the problem" of too much Summer Squash and this year I may get my wish if things continue lol.

We think the difference was that instead of putting them against the more protected stone wall; where they did get even more heat but also more damp, this year they are in pots near the borken (screened over) window panel so the wind blows in and wicks off some of the humidity. That along with an unusually warm Summer (for Ireland) may mean a lot more squash for the freezer and the dehydrator.

 

[phloydius]

The one year I tried to grow tomatoes here in the Austin area, I got very little fruit and it never really ripened. The nursery told me (after I'd spent all that time and money) that it's pretty much too hot down here to grow them. Thanks a lot...

In Austin I can not grow large tomatoes well, but Roma size and cherry size I do something unconventional. I plant my small plants deep on Feb 14th every year. You WILL get one more free after that which will kill tomato plants before Easter, but they are small enough to be well protected to survive. They won't look like they are doing much for a while, but they will put in deep roots (if you deep water). When most people are just putting in their plants (a couple weeks after the last frost date), I am already getting my first tomatoes (although they are not red yet). When it gets really hot (over 82F at midnight), they stop flowering & producing. Many people pull them out at this point, because the heat kills them (they just can not get enough water). I continue to water mine, and the deep roots keep them alive. Then in the fall, they start producing again. Assuming I can protect them thru any frosts (some years this just is not possible) I get fresh tomatoes for my Christmas meal as my last SMALL harvest. I pull those plants up, and plant a winter crop. Then on New Years Eve, plant new tomato seeds in trays to start the process over again.

 

[Dennis Olson]

The nursery ppl told me that in order to flower and germinate, nights must be colder than about 70°. As you know, that doesn't happen here in summer. Lows are in the upper 70's for over six months. So I gave up. It's hard to believe that down here, you need a greenhouse to keep your plants COOL.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Tomatoes are scraggly looking, now that it's cooled off and the rain has dried up (got an inch plus yesterday) I will remove some of the dead, or dying branches, and the suckers. My kale and broccoli rabe look great, as do my leeks. It's time to pull the yellow wax bean plants and plant some more kale and chard, or some green beans. Onions are a bust and I think after this year I've finally given up on growing onions. Eggplant and peppers are stunted and I doubt they will recover from the heat damaged they experienced early on in the summer.

And btw THANK YOU DENNIS for our very own gardening forum!

 

[Rabbit]

The nursery ppl told me that in order to flower and germinate, nights must be colder than about 70°. As you know, that doesn't happen here in summer. Lows are in the upper 70's for over six months. So I gave up. It's hard to believe that down here, you need a greenhouse to keep your plants COOL.

You might have better success with a winter garden. Broccoli, cabbage onions, but especially carrots. It's too hot to grow them here in the spring or summer but the carrots that I plant in late fall and pull in mid December are excellent. Grocery store carrots don't even come close. Even if you didn't want all the work and trouble of a full blown garden just a flower bed with some carrots would be worth a try.

 

[Freeholder]

We have no garden this year. We left Oregon in late May for a six-week road trip, so I knew better than to even try to plant anything other than the sweet potato in a big pot in the living room (which actually survived the trip!). However, next year, we'll be gardening in Tennessee, so I'm going to start a thread looking for advice on that. It's a new climate for me.

Kathleen

 

[Rabbit]

If I had to categorize this year's garden I can sum it up in one word, bugs. Our winter last year was just about nonexistent and the insects have gone wild. I've seen worms this year that I've never seen in thirty years of gardening.

I plant in early spring and that's it, no summer garden. Everything out there now is just hold overs from spring.

I tried a new variety of tomato from the Seeds of Italy Catalog and was mostly underwhelmed. For the number of plants I put out I should have been overrun with tomatoes, but wasn't. I still managed to put up a fairly decent amount though.

I did try one of their Italian pole beans and they were so good I doubt I will ever grow another kind. Smeraldo, a large flat bean, tender and delicious.

I still have a few weeks to plant if I decided to do another crop of pole beans or peas, but it's so darn hot and like I said, bugs.

I think my efforts would be better spent in cleaning it up and getting ready for fall planting.

 

[phloydius]

The nursery ppl told me that in order to flower and germinate, nights must be colder than about 70°. As you know, that doesn't happen here in summer. Lows are in the upper 70's for over six months. So I gave up. It's hard to believe that down here, you need a greenhouse to keep your plants COOL.

I do not think that 70F is right, but I am not sure about my measurement either. I am no expert, for sure.
I am in Houston, right now, any my tomatoes have flowers them still, but just a few... Probably the last ones. But it is high 70's every night (at least). Maybe one of our experts here know them right temp?

I know some folks that use shade cloths (on the green house) for their tomatoes, but I never have, but want to learn how.

 

[CarolynA]

Mine is a jungle right now. Best tomatoes I've ever gotten but the ants are attacking them. The ants love the sweet heirloom types. I pick slightly before ripe & let the ripen indoors. My cucumbers suck, as usual. Good crop of bell peppers & squash. I do Earthbox gardening - too many gophers to plant in the ground!

 

[ioujc]

Our garden is doing fairly well. We have lots of green beans and okra and some tomatoes.....
We have canned 63 quarts of green beans, 14 quarts of pickles off of three cucumber vines, and the tomatoes I eat as they ripen...only 4 plants and they are volunteers.

For the very first time we have had success with onions!!

Someone on here suggested we use onions from Dixondale Farms in Texas and we are VERY pleased!! I wish I knew who it was that recommended the place because I have gotten onions as big as baseballs and VERY sweet! we will NEVER buy onions anywhere else again

We also got a good crop of taters....red and Yukon Gold.

Now we are waiting on the sweet potatoes.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot all the broccoli and cauliflower we got and we were trying to get Brussell sprouts but it got too hot too fast.....they were starting to form, but just kept turning to leaves and spreading out...Boo, HISS!!

I was going to post pictures but the 'puter is being stubborn tonight, maybe tomorrow.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I do not think that 70F is right, but I am not sure about my measurement either. I am no expert, for sure.
I am in Houston, right now, any my tomatoes have flowers them still, but just a few... Probably the last ones. But it is high 70's every night (at least). Maybe one of our experts here know them right temp?

I know some folks that use shade cloths (on the green house) for their tomatoes, but I never have, but want to learn how.

I put mine under shade. Didn't help.

 

[Yarnball]

DFW area. Our blackberries were outrageously abundant and we just planted them last year. Our tomatoes were decent. Squash and watermelon are a bust. Tons of onions and garlic. We have a chard plant in a pot that we've had for 3 years! That sucker is Amazing. We planted 12 fruit trees just last year. Two figs have little babies on them just now. There is ONE pear on the pear tree and it is soooooo cute! Nothing on the apples or peaches but we did not expect any this year. Sweet potato vines look kinda meh.

 

[summerthyme]

Ioujc... I was probably rhe culprit who suggested Dixondale Onions... their plants sre incredible! Last year, I had Copra onions that weighed up yo a pound and a half each! Granted, it must have been a perfect year for them- They usually are about half that size- but I've never seen anything like that crop! And believe it or not I actually have some still sound bulbs in the fridge that I harvested last August!!

For those in long day areas, Copra is THE best storage onion I've ever seen. Rock hard and pungent, it's not for fresh eating raw, but it's a great cooking onion.

On Brussels Sprouts... About a month before I want to harvest, I top the plants... snip off about 4" of the growing tip. That makes them put their energy into forming sprouts. Always get a great harvest that way. But... Brussels Sprouts are really best as a fall crop... They really need cool weather, and even a nip of frost, to sweeten up. Grown in summer, even if you get sprouts, they're often tough and a but bitter.

Summerthyme

 

[summerthyme]

On tomatoes... temos above 95 degrres in the daytime, or above 75 at night, will prevent pollination. For those of us in the North, temps below 50 at night will cause the same problem. There isn't a lot to do about it, but deep mulch (several inches of straw, for example), put on before the soil gets hot, plus some sort of shade, can help. Shade cloth us sold commercially, and really can help.

Summerthyme

 

[ioujc]

Well Summerthyme>>>>>THANK YOU!!!

We never got anything above large green onion size before. We thought it was the soil but I knew that really wasn't it because I grow in almost solid cow poop that has decomposed. But the onions we got this year were a MAJOR win!! Never again will I buy anywhere else but DIXONDALE!

Here is the link for those of you who want to try them: http://www.dixondalefarms.com/

 

[West]

The wife got a job, I'm busy too. Garden is doing great, if you wade threw the 5 foot tall weeds, you can find peppers, tomatos, onions, and other about dead now stuff...

Eta, the wild passion flower has really done good at taking over the garden too, all kinds of fruit and it's climbing up the giant ragweed, making quite a neat look and sweet smell.

 

[hammerhead]

Mixed results this year.

We had a bad frost at the wrong time, and there are no apples on my tree, though some on the pear.
(The no apples thing really makes me unhappy.)
Raspberries and boysenberries are having a good year, as are the elderberries. Blueberries had good growth and moderate fruit.
The goji berries and honeyberries i planted took well; the lingonberry did not
(I've tried and failed repeatedly with the lingonberry; not gonna happen here apparently).

Sugar snap peas and greens did well. Onions and carrots are looking good. Potatoes are meh, but we'll see what's underground at digging time. Asparagus was sparse, even out in the field where I collect it wild.

Tomatoes, peppers -- killer. Those are my top two performers and coincidentally most in demand. The peppers were slower to take off this year, but they're in full stride now. My early tomatoes are in and I'm waiting patiently for the black krim to ripen.

Flowers -- too many to list or describe. More than half my backyard has been turned into beds of perennials and reseeding annuals. Plenty of bees.

 

[Rabbit]

I also grow Dixondale onions. For me it's an overwinter crop and everything about them is good. I got an abundance of large good tasting onions, very pleased.

 

[goatsrus]

My garden is doing better than usual this year. I moved the Cherokee purple tomatoes to raised beds nearer my back door so I would water them. We have more tomatoes from fewer plants than ever. I think we've had more rain and for whatever reason, the insects aren't as bad this year. My peppers, okra and squash are doing well. The cucumbers look a little blighted.

 

[20Gauge]

We are making concrete planters, (for when we are older and can't bend), each is about 80 sq ft and has a pvc / wire mesh frame so we can overwinter then for the 4-6 weeks of cold weather we have each year. Using this method we were able to over winter our first two pepper plants. With just those two plants, ( the other are just now producing) we have harvested 243 peppers, (spicy bell - size of a child's fist).

We are looking forward to the 2nd planter to start producing. We estimate it takes 500 peppers to pay for the each planter. We now have 2 planters with a variety of peppers. Our goal is to keep the plants year to year. This will allow us to increase our yields.

The whole plan was to start growing perennials as our primary food source, so we started with peppers. From what little I have been able to gather they can live for a decade or longer. I have in the past kept them alive, (Southern Cali at the time), for 3 years without any effort. Here in SE GA it takes a bit more effort as there are a lot of things that will eat you plants to the ground. Mainly the Deer. That cost us 3 weeks production and most of one of the over wintered plant to realize we needed a mesh on the front of the planter to stop the deer. As being near the house didn't help.

 

[Zahra]

Same town as caregiver (a bit south of Austin) here and it's been a terrible year for gardening so far. The peach trees failed to produce this year, but the roma tomatoes fared well enough until the temp got up over 100 and stayed there, but then stopped producing. The Acorn & butternut squash started to grow but died, and nothing is growing right now (not even peppers). It's been over 100 degrees for a while now and no rain to speak of, so I'm just composting in the raised beds and going to hope for a successful fall garden a bit later on. Hopefully some fellow central Texans might share their tips on how to grow things here. It feels like the desert here (but without the gorgeous sunsets)!

 

[kyrsyan]

I'm doing okay. The summer squashes exploded and then got powdery mildew. They died back completely except for one that has made a comeback. I got good harvests from the cucs and melons before the same happened to them. The potatoes just died back due to the heat. Tomatoes and peppers are exploding. All in all, decent.

 

[Yarnball]

We are making concrete planters, (for when we are older and can't bend), each is about 80 sq ft and has a pvc / wire mesh frame so we can overwinter then for the 4-6 weeks of cold weather we have each year. Using this method we were able to over winter our first two pepper plants. With just those two plants, ( the other are just now producing) we have harvested 243 peppers, (spicy bell - size of a child's fist).
.

I'd like to learn more about your concrete planters.

 

[marsh]

This is my first real garden year in my new house after all the infrastructure has been placed. I am still figuring out which ecosystems are better for growing which plants.

You would think in the Central Valley of CA that you could grow everything, but that is not the case. This year has been too damned hot with too many days over 100 degrees. I have hooped and shaded some of my raised beds and still learning how and when to adjust that. The squash seem to love the shaded soil for their roots when they can tumble over the sides of the bed and let the leaves spread and collect sun. Once they are over the edge they run and grow like gang busters.

I have had issues with my tomatoes and fruit trees. I live near the Delta and have rats. I caught a bunch with snap and electric traps, but they seem to be wise to the traps now. They didn't touch my blueberries, figs or pears but stripped my peaches, apples and first year grapes. I caught all of my rats using apple pieces. Anyone else have varmint issues and how do they address them?

I have had difficulty planting lettuce for the fall. I think it is too hot. I have shaded the bed and water thrice daily, but nothing seems to germinate.

So, if I can get the rats under control, this years harvest will be mainly squash, beans, cucumbers, mellons, blueberries, figs and pears.

 

[summerthyme]

Marsh... your soil is too hot to germinate lettuce seed right now. However, you can "fool" it by germinating it either in an airconditioned spot in the house (damp paper towels, or in flats) or put the towels or flats in the fridge for a day or two, then bring into the house to germinate. Transplant into a shaded area.

I would wait for a bit, though. Leaf lettuce can be a 35 day crop, and August is going to be too hot for it yet... it will either wilt or bolt.

Hate to say it, but the only way we've ever been able to control rodents in any meaningful way/numbers is with poison. If you have pets which might eat a poisoned rat, that can be a problem.

Summerthyme

 

[marsh]

thanks summerthyme. I spent 30 years in the high mountains and I am not used to this prolonged heat. My seed company said plant fall crops before the end of July, but I had a feeling it was too hot. I had chard left over from spring and had to heavily shade because the leaves were burning.