I know that many on here have gardens and thought that a topic about members gardens and favorite varities of veggies they grow would allow us to share pics of gardens and veggies grown by members around the world along with introducing us to varities that others recommend. I just made a video of my garden in it's current state to share and hope others will share theirs. I consider anything from a flower pot with a single plant on up to be a garden, so lets see some pics and videos of veggie plants and gardens. :)
https://youtu.be/66oraEkem5w
Oh My, what a showplace. 8)
Talk about bringing a gun to a knife fight. ;D That looks good. I plant the wife's herbs in a raised bed. Each bed is over a rock,have to mow around the rock so might just as well move around a raised bed. I only plant one kind of herb in each bed. Some herbs can be a pest if they are left to grow on thier own.
ummmm I'm speech less :) looks awesome 8) 8) 8) 8) my peas are only about 8in tall cucumber are 2-3in tall them and the peas don't seem to be doing to good this year beans are so so the squash, zucinni and maters are doing great should have some ready in a few days I think I over fertilized it some of the seeds never came up is that straw you have around them so the weeds don't grow there is a patch of horse radish down the road from my house that is huge some of the roots are as big as a soda can and hotter than fire its funny how fast that stuff will spread do you have any issues with the deer again looks great a lot of hard work going on there :) :)
Thanks everyone, I am looking foward to seeing others gardens.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 28, 2016, 11:20:15 PM
Talk about bringing a gun to a knife fight. ;D That looks good. I plant the wife's herbs in a raised bed. Each bed is over a rock,have to mow around the rock so might just as well move around a raised bed. I only plant one kind of herb in each bed. Some herbs can be a pest if they are left to grow on thier own.
I think the raised beds are the way to go. Filled with compost they can be planted very dense and take very little maintenence and watering. I know that horseradish becomes a pest quickly. Great way to hide your rocks.
Quote from: coxy on June 29, 2016, 07:05:04 AM
ummmm I'm speech less :) looks awesome 8) 8) 8) 8) my peas are only about 8in tall cucumber are 2-3in tall them and the peas don't seem to be doing to good this year beans are so so the squash, zucinni and maters are doing great should have some ready in a few days I think I over fertilized it some of the seeds never came up is that straw you have around them so the weeds don't grow there is a patch of horse radish down the road from my house that is huge some of the roots are as big as a soda can and hotter than fire its funny how fast that stuff will spread do you have any issues with the deer again looks great a lot of hard work going on there :) :)
We had a problem with the beans and limas. It got damp and cold when they germinated and they turned yellow and were eaten by bugs. I use grass clipings to mulch with. I put it down atleast 6 inches thick so it gets pretty hot when decomposing and helps destroy the weed seeds. We have deer in our yard every night and use a organic fertilizer called milorganite around the plants they like to eat. It is a very strong smelling product that they avoid and has worked so far. Also I don't think they like to walk in the deep mulch either. Skunks seem to be our biggest problem when the tomatoes ripen and I don't plant much corn because the coons get most of it. I hope to see some pics of your harvest. :)
Grapes for wine ;D
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Great looking grapes. You must get alot of wine out of that many vines. I used my elderberries to make a couple of carboys of wine last year that came out great. They say you should age it for 4 years, but it will be gone long before that. :)
Thank you, I could always use more ;D
I took theses 2weeks ago.
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(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36929/image~2.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1467223293) the pole beans are halfway up the poles now. Most of the greens are eaten and will replant in a couple weeks. Getting a few tomatoes and cukes, there's another section of raised beds I didn't take pic of. Been very dry here, lots of watering. Only problems so far is an infestation of squash bugs😤
That is a great looking garden 69bronco. What is the white material that you are using for mulch? We are extremely dry here also. no rain in the last 3 weeks so I am also watering everyday. I can't wait for my first tomatoes. Nothing like a tomato sandwich on fresh Italian bread. :)
seems like I have a green thumb for weeds ;D Lots of water weed here.
Quote from: 21incher on June 29, 2016, 05:46:47 PM
That is a great looking garden 69bronco. What is the white material that you are using for mulch? We are extremely dry here also. no rain in the last 3 weeks so I am also watering everyday. I can't wait for my first tomatoes. Nothing like a tomato sandwich on fresh Italian bread. :)
The white mulch is shredded paper, the pole beans are mulched with planer shavings the onions are mulched with leaves. Everything I grow is mulched with one thing or another except my sweet corn. I've had my fill of pulling weeds, plus it sure helps to hold moisture! Any cure for squash bugs? I'm having a time getting rid of them!
21incher,milorganite? Interesting. I sell that at work as a safe fertilizer around water. I did not know tha deer did not like it. I will have to try it. Do you just spead it by hand around the plants?
I use newpaper or cardboard and than straw as a weed control. Also helps on the garden not drying out so much. Seem like as soon as I do it,everything just takes right off.
I get the squash bugs every year and try to remove the eggs from the bottom of the leaves everyday and pick off as many as I can by hand. I think the only way to get rid of them is chemicals so I usually live with them. I always wind up loosing the squash to the vine borers before the squash bugs can kill them.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 29, 2016, 11:09:27 PM
21incher,milorganite? Interesting. I sell that at work as a safe fertilizer around water. I did not know tha deer did not like it. I will have to try it. Do you just spead it by hand around the plants?
I use newpaper or cardboard and than straw as a weed control. Also helps on the garden not drying out so much. Seem like as soon as I do it,everything just takes right off.
A nursery reccomended it to me years ago and it has worked for me. I just sprinkle it around the plants and shrubs that I want to protect. After a couple of rains I sprinkle a little more on. It has a awfull smell so I do not use it near the house. Another trick that I use is to hang old socks with hair clippings on the edege of my lawn in areas with deer trails.
I wish that I could figure out how th get rid of the skunks that take a bite out of each ripe tomato. :)
Now that's a beatiful garden, congratulations, sir! smiley_thumbsup
Quote from: 69bronco on June 29, 2016, 02:22:54 PM
I took theses 2weeks ago.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36929/image~3.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1467223314)
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(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36929/image~2.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1467223293) the pole beans are halfway up the poles now. Most of the greens are eaten and will replant in a couple weeks. Getting a few tomatoes and cukes, there's another section of raised beds I didn't take pic of. Been very dry here, lots of watering. Only problems so far is an infestation of squash bugs😤
Quote from: 21incher on June 30, 2016, 07:10:07 AMI wish that I could figure out how th get rid of the skunks that take a bite out of each ripe tomato. :)
Here it is the terrapins so the lower fruit is reserved for them. They have to work hard for their groceries. ;D
Quote from: Magicman on June 30, 2016, 07:52:51 AM
Quote from: 21incher on June 30, 2016, 07:10:07 AMI wish that I could figure out how th get rid of the skunks that take a bite out of each ripe tomato. :)
Here it is the terrapins so the lower fruit is reserved for them. They have to work hard for their groceries. ;D
I guess I am lucky that all the turtles in my yard would choose a duck over a tomato. ;D
This is a 3 week later look at my garden. https://youtu.be/iPqMf3EiK5A
We are in a drought with nothing but sunshine so everything has taken off with a daily watering.
That is just beautiful!
Quote from: 21incher on July 19, 2016, 08:03:55 PM
This is a 3 week later look at my garden. https://youtu.be/iPqMf3EiK5A
We are in a drought with nothing but sunshine so everything has taken off with a daily watering.
21, looking good! It's a great year for gardens in the northeast, as long as you can supply water. No tomatoes yet for me, my early corn is about a week out.
I like silviculture. Our growing season here is 90 days. After growing gardens in places like western WA, it seems like a waste of time here in Nevada. What I grow are trees like sequoia, ppines, Austrian pine, aspen, Oregon ash, crab apples, ornamental pear, golden locust, silver maple, ornamental plum, hawthorne, squaw bush, currants, Arctic willow, cottonwoods, western white pine, incense cedar, and Rocky Mtn junipers. I like to prune them, water them and fertilize them once in awhile. With the wet spring some of the conifers have one foot candles on them this year.
Quote from: 69bronco on July 21, 2016, 07:39:53 AM
21, looking good! It's a great year for gardens in the northeast, as long as you can supply water. No tomatoes yet for me, my early corn is about a week out.
Thanks with the current drought my wife & I each spend at least 1 hour a day watering. Every week we get about 5 minutes of rain and high winds that are of little help. I hope my well holds out for a couple of more weeks. The good thing is every day is sunny. We planted 100 day corn so it will be a while for ours. :)
One of the joys of gardening. We had about 2 dozen of our first 12 ounce and up plum tomatoes that were just about ripe yesterday. Went out to pick them this morning and each one had a bite taken out of it by a skunk. Going to set the have-a-heart trap tonight and am wondering the best way to release one if it is caught. Is it better to let them back out or go foward? electricuted-smiley
Phew, glad I don't have skunk issues (knock on wood). I have caught a "phew" as by catch, walk up slowly with an old blanket or something and put it over trap leaving the door end open. When it comes out, the direction will be his choosing. smiley_airfreshener
Try to teach him to swim.
better keep that quiet it is against the law to catch and release skunks to a different place in NY ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Quote from: coxy on July 23, 2016, 11:29:07 PM
better keep that quiet it is against the law to catch and release skunks to a different place in NY ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Turned out to be a squirrel. Caught him munching. Never knew they liked tomatoes. Phew that was a relief. We were going to call animal control if we caught a skunk. Saw a beautiful red fox walk through the yard, that should help controlling the critters. :)
Patti has six raised beds. Every year she leaves one fallow to compost kitchen scraps. As usual, the other five look great but she has to water them almost every night. No ripe tomatoes yet but her plants are loaded with green tomatoes which are growing fast.
21incher,
Would it make sense to install a drip system and save yourself all of that time watering?
Quote from: ppine on July 25, 2016, 10:26:02 AM
21incher,
Would it make sense to install a drip system and save yourself all of that time watering?
I don't think so. We usually can go the whole season without watering once. Hopefully it will not get this dry again so I really do not want to spend alot of money installing tubing. We use watering cans that allow us to target the plants just like a drip system, and we usually find some weeds to pull at the same time. I am celebrating today because we got .17 inches of rain this morning. :)
Started picking beans yesterday. Been canning and pickling for the last 3 weeks. My wife has a freezer 1/2 full of zucchini bread, zucchini cakes, And fried eggplant. digin1
https://youtu.be/sg1D8OfYt_w
Here is what my garden looks like now. Never had plants grow this big before. :)
https://youtu.be/y5-73DW-UI0
I spend time watering with a can,peppers and tomatoes. I fertilizer them at the same time. Tomatoes I may not use so much fertilizer,but feel the peppers need all the help they can get with my short growing season.Peppers are not doing as good as in past years. Most years I pick them just about like tomatoes,alot of them. I did a shallow trench and plant the cukes in it. I lay the hose at the start of it and turn it on and come back in 15-20 minutes and the trench is full. Celery I do the same thing.
Some of her herb beds are looking dry. Most years I don't water them much,I should be watering them more than what I have. As I say,it's on the list. ;D
Been a good year for onions.
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They look good. I skipped onions this year, but everything else has been fantastic. I have to admit that I just go to the public market in the fall and buy my onions and potatoes anymore for about $10.00 for a 50 lb bag of each right from local farms. :)
what is the best way to keep onions all winter if I try they end up as mush and rotten
Quote from: coxy on August 17, 2016, 10:38:07 PM
what is the best way to keep onions all winter if I try they end up as mush and rotten
I put mine in plastic baskets with ventilation holes in my root cellar and they will last all winter. Try and keep the temp in the 40's. Make sure that they are hardended off and there are no wet spots on any of them when you put them away. Then about once a month I will check for any that may be getting soft. Cooking onions will last the longest and the large sweet ones should be used first. Also be carefull what you store near each other. Some veggies can out gas gasses that cause others to spoil faster. :)
Quote from: coxy on August 17, 2016, 10:38:07 PM
what is the best way to keep onions all winter if I try they end up as mush and rotten
You have to keep them cool- 30-40°. As 21 said, the sweeter the onion the shorter the storage life.
I just picked and tried to eat my first sweet corn. It is the worst corn that I have ever tasted. It looked good, but tasted like a old dry starchy rubber tire. I guess it is like that because we have been in a severe drought and I tried to save water by not watering the corn. I was wondering why the coons did not touch it this year >:(
Funny, I'm getting the best sweet corn I've ever grown. Started picking the last week of July, 4 different varieties should run through labor day. Mine is in gravel soil, haven't watered it.
Quote from: 21incher on August 18, 2016, 06:53:49 PM
, but tasted like a old dry starchy rubber tire.
Enjoy reading about the gardening. But I did get curious as to how you know what that tastes like!! :D :D
Quote from: Grizzly on August 19, 2016, 12:36:34 PM
Quote from: 21incher on August 18, 2016, 06:53:49 PM
, but tasted like a old dry starchy rubber tire.
Enjoy reading about the gardening. But I did get curious as to how you know what that tastes like!! :D :D
I know that I have had that taste in my mouth before. I may have been a goat in a previous life. :o :o
I am shocked that you guys know what an old starchy rubber tire taste like. :o
Among other things I will stick with Grits and Boiled Peanuts. :D
Quote from: Magicman on August 19, 2016, 04:52:16 PM
I am shocked that you guys know what an old starchy rubber tire taste like. :o
Don't eat the ones in the can. :D :D :D
Anyone know where the 'off' switch is on a cucumber vine? I picked 10 this week, from ONE plant! I like the occasional pickle, but this is ridiculous. :D
All is looking good guys.
I might only have a few more weeks of growing here. Never know. Last year did not get a frost until mid Oct. Might get one the first week of Sept. Seems like we may get one frost then it will warm up and not get another for a month,which would be Oct. I cover up what I want to keep and get it by for a month more of growing.
Quote from: scgargoyle on August 20, 2016, 05:55:26 AM
Anyone know where the 'off' switch is on a cucumber vine? I picked 10 this week, from ONE plant! I like the occasional pickle, but this is ridiculous. :D
When life gives you cucumbers get a crock and make pickles. I was getting about 30 lbs a day from a couple of plants and finally stopped watering them. I really enjoyed watching them shrivel up and die. ;D
Quote from: thecfarm on August 20, 2016, 06:16:10 AM
All is looking good guys.
I might only have a few more weeks of growing here. Never know. Last year did not get a frost until mid Oct. Might get one the first week of Sept. Seems like we may get one frost then it will warm up and not get another for a month,which would be Oct. I cover up what I want to keep and get it by for a month more of growing.
I thought Maine would be burried in snow by Oct1. :D
Yesterday, wife made gazpacho from tomato's, cukes, onions and peppers from our garden. Last night we slaughtered some roosters and this made a fantastic chicken noodle soup. The garden has done pretty well this year. However, the okra didn't work this year. I love fresh okra right off the vine. It pickles up real good too. Better luck next summer
We have had great luck with okra this year, I like it grilled and fried. :)
https://youtu.be/brF9sW47BhI
Good video 21.Good idea on the Okra.
Quote from: 21incher on August 20, 2016, 07:59:26 PM
We have had great luck with okra this year, I like it grilled and fried. :)
https://youtu.be/brF9sW47BhI
Never thought to grill okra. I bet it's delicious.
When you grill it all the slime on the inside sets up and changes the tetxture. Grilled is the way that I really like it. We have so many okra this year that I do a grill full every couple of days. :)
The dill
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Tomato plants are well over my head.
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broccoli and some herbs
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Straw and newspaper and cardboard is used as a weed control. Helps to keep the mositure in too. Good thing this year with keeping the mositure in. Been a real dry year. Keeps the dirt off your feet too.
Wow thecfarm you have a great garden with a fantastic view. Where are you hiding all the rocks? :)
In that last picture I can see 2 stone walls. One on the right and one on the left,just above the green stuff. There is a gap beween the 2 walls. Those rocks are not going anyways unless I win the lottery. :D
And on that last picture,look what is peeking out on the lower right. That is one that I till around. Than on the other side another one resides and I planted rhubarb on one side of that one.
Well the last of the garden is out and the root cellar is full. Was another good year even with the drought.:)
https://youtu.be/1b21h4KYiHY
21...I honestly really enjoyed your video and all the work y'all put into your canning. Such a NEAT setup. :)
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on October 25, 2016, 08:29:59 PM
21...I honestly really enjoyed your video and all the work y'all put into your canning. Such a NEAT setup. :)
Thanks. It is a lot of work, but well worth it. It also is the only way to know what you are eating any more. I am glad it is done for the year and I now have some time to saw some lumber and start making christmas presents. :)
It all looks good!!
I got hungry looking at all that canned food great job 8) 8) 8) 8) wish I knew how to do it have you ever figured out how much you save on food doing your self than buying it
Quote from: coxy on October 26, 2016, 05:50:00 PM
I got hungry looking at all that canned food great job 8) 8) 8) 8) wish I knew how to do it have you ever figured out how much you save on food doing your self than buying it
Thanks, It is real easy to can veggies. If you include the time spent for growing all the food and processing it I would say it costs you 5 times more to grow and can your own then it does to buy it. But we don't count the time. The biggest expense is initialy buying the jars and equipment, after that you just have to but new lids every year that just cost about 15 cents each. Once you get used to the flavor of the heirlooms that you can grow, you will never buy a can in the store again. :)
Wife pressure cooks her soups. They are good. Just open and heat. She has also done chicken. Man that is good. A whole diffeant flavor.
Very easy to can. The main thing to remember,if the lid comes off easy,DO NOT EAT IT. The jar did not seal right and the food is spoiled,but may look fine and smell fine.
Keep the rims clean, and hot. Well,really every thing clean and hot. ;D
my mom use to can deer meat that was good hot or cold out of the jar
We still keep meat, chicken, & soups in the freezer. Next year we are going to try and can some. thecfarm it is so important to check each jar as you say. Botulism can form in a improperly sealed jar with low acid content and make you very sick, or even kill you. :)
Quote from: 21incher on October 25, 2016, 07:03:23 PM
Well the last of the garden is out and the root cellar is full. Was another good year even with the drought.:)
https://youtu.be/1b21h4KYiHY
Nice looking pantry/cellar. I'm a bit envious.
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Here is a pic of one of my giant veggies I grow for entry in the state fair. we really are able to grow some giant stuff here with our cooler summers and really long days. This is a rutabaga that weighed 54 lbs. I'll post a pic of my giant cabbage row as soon as I download all my pics from my phone to the computer. I grew seven cabbages this year and five of the seven weighed 50lbs or better.
WLC Wow it is hard to believe you can grow veggies that big with such a short season. I once grew a 20 lb cabbage and thought it was a giant, can't wait to see what a 50 lb one looks like. :)
Quote from: 21incher on November 16, 2016, 07:41:17 AM
WLC Wow it is hard to believe you can grow veggies that big with such a short season. I once grew a 20 lb cabbage and thought it was a giant, can't wait to see what a 50 lb one looks like. :)
It looks like cabbage. :D :D :D running-doggy
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This is the one I wound up taking to the fair for the giant cabbage weigh off. It weighed 51.55 lbs Not my biggest this year but the one I had to take. My others that went over 50 and up to 65lbs decided to split open after a rain we had about two weeks before the fair.
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This is my Giant Cabbage Row. This pic was taken about a month before the fair. The four nearest ones went 55-65 lbs when I cut them and the farthest two both went over 40. For some scale, the frames they are growing on are 6'X6'.
Makes my garden and veggies "tiny" by comparison.
Right now, I have cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and a hundreds of onions growing in my winter garden. Still picking sweet peppers and tomatoes, though with the colder temps they don't do nearly as well. Had a big windstorm come through 2 weeks ago. My tomatoes were all strung up 7' to 8' tall with rope on 10' 2x4's sunk 2' in the ground. Snapped those 2x4's right off at ground level, now I have a huge pile of tomato vines which makes it tough to find the ripe tomatos.
One season ends, and another begins.
Things are just starting to warm up here. :D
Got my Chili seeds sprouting on the window sill. Jalapeño in this tray.
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And this one is some Thai Birsdeye that I saved the seed from last season. Small but tasty. ;D
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How well they grow depends on the season. Being higher up near the Mt it's a bit cooler in the spring, but once Summer really kicks in we get some nice warm days, away from the coastal sea breeze. So there is usually enough time for the chilies to ripen before things cool off.
WLC,those are are bigums!!!
Ianab,I grow my peppers on black plastic. You mentioned cooler temps. The temps here can get up in the 90's for a few weeks and the peppers do fine. I built some cedar sides,4 inches high and a foot wide,no bottom.I bury them into the ground first,even with the top of the ground.The sides I dig out some dirt too.I mix up some fertilizer and I can fill up each side with water. Each side will take quite a bit of water. No reason to water a little,than water another and wait for the water to soak in.Then I lay down the plastic. I use a bunch of rocks to hold down the plastic,in between the rows too.I cut an X in the plastic where each plant will go. Probably you know all this already. At one time I did not.This will double your yield. I could not believe the difference it made. I get stocks the size of mine thumb and they are woody too. I can almost pick peppers like tomatoes. I use Ace peppers for the ones in the states. The hot ones do good too.
I have laid down plastic for the tomatoes and noticed no difference in yield. Just helps out on weeds.
WLC wow they are big. Looks like you have a great garden. From the looks of that fence, you must have some big critters you are trying to keep out. :)
Inab looking at your seedlings makes me want to get out my seed catalogs and start ordering for next years garden. I used to like hot peppers, but no more. I switched to the TAM jalapeno's because they are only about 1/2 as hot. :)
Quote from: 21incher on November 19, 2016, 07:19:07 AM
WLC wow they are big. Looks like you have a great garden. From the looks of that fence, you must have some big critters you are trying to keep out. :)
Inab looking at your seedlings makes me want to get out my seed catalogs and start ordering for next years garden. I used to like hot peppers, but no more. I switched to the TAM jalapeno's because they are only about 1/2 as hot. :)
Yes, I do have a good garden. I'm pretty proud if it, Thanks! Just wish the weeds didn't grow as well as they do. Sometimes they grow better than the veggies and it is hard to stay ahead of them. The fence is to try and keep out the neighborhood moose. Those critters can destroy a garden in a matter of a few minutes.
It is that time of the year again. We have had record rains and late frosts so everything is off to a late start.
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The tomatoes, peppers, & eggplants are started. Peas, spinach, lettuce, & radishes are popping thru outside. My favorite time of the year. fred_head
Way behind last year. Peas have been up a couple weeks but standing still. Spinach, chard, radishes and stuff are up. Last year i was eating salad from the garden by now.
I cant even get my garden rototilled I'm afraid to loose it in all the mud
We generally put out a garden, I've gotten tired of weeds and crabgrass overtaking so this year I'm going to build a couple small raised beds and only grow a few plants. Probably just a few tomatoes, a few peppers and some basil, garlic and onions. If I do plant anything in the ground this year it'll probably just be a few zucchini squash.
On a side note, this isn't a garden but I grew a few oyster mushrooms from a indoor grow kit. Never had grown mushrooms so I thought I'd give them a try. I plan to make a few mushroom logs in the back yard later on so I can get a fair size crop.
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Quote from: coxy on May 13, 2017, 09:21:56 AM
I cant even get my garden rototilled I'm afraid to loose it in all the mud
We have the same problem here. Record rains that hopefully will let up this week.
Woodcutter_Mo I say that I am cutting back every year also, and then the seed catalogs arrive. ::) Adding more raised beds this year. You can grow a lot in a couple small beds. :)
Quote from: breederman on May 13, 2017, 08:41:53 AM
Way behind last year. Peas have been up a couple weeks but standing still. Spinach, chard, radishes and stuff are up. Last year i was eating salad from the garden by now.
Very little sun to get the plants growing this year. Lets just hope we don't have another drought this summer. :)
We had alot of rain again yesterday . With the full moon past we should be past the last frost ,but this year who knows ?
Well, we have finally warmed up enough that I am confident that frost is over so I spent the better part of the day and evening planting in my garden Saturday. Got about half my planting areas done before I ran out of steam. Wish I had been able to finish up as we are getting some rain this week which is a good thing. I can probably get the raised beds planted in between showers, but need a dry day or two so I can finish up my smaller patch in the ground.
We are over a month behind here because of rain.Last years garden is too soft and wet to till so I tilled a 40x50' patch on higher ground. Planted 9 rows of Floriana grain corn,6 rows of sweet sorghum ,6 rows of peanuts and a couple hills of cantaloupe and 60 hills of spuds.
In the smaller garden I planted two weeks ago, 20 beefsteak tomato plants that I started indoors on March 15th. Also a couple of rows of onion sets which should yield around 30-40 lbs.
The spinach, peas, and lettuce are about gone. Finally got everything else started. This is very late for me due to the weather and the tomatoes are not in very good shape. Seems like every year has it's challenges.
https://youtu.be/a-BNFjb-gO0
:)
thank you so much 21 for sharing this very nice video. I've accumulated quite a few stakes through the years of sawing, and always hated busting them with the small sledge. Now your soil is quite a bit more advanced and clearly loamier than our Ozark rocky clay, adding to the fact we moved the garden spot, not sure why, I did not argue, and it is slowly getting back to more desirable growing conditions. For now we have a very limited variety, lots of early season rain, coupled with limited mobility on my part, we have several brocs, 4 heirloom tomatoes, okra very slow starting, but the heat has finally warmed the soil. Now the cukes, big learning curve going on here. These heirloom gerks, have to be in-determinant, they are reaching for the stars, and my trellis is clearly too small. Deer having there share of the green beans, as usual. Corn, laughable. not sure what happened. May be time for one more late planting, and the Japanese beetles are coming forth again. Wishing all you guys a very successful harvest this year.
Drobertson glad to hear you are able to spend time in your garden. My old stakes got all beat up hammering them in and this is a easy way to drive them in without a ladder. Takes years to get the rocks out and build the soil in a new spot. We had record rain and a late freeze so everything is way behind here also. Still no Japanese beetles here yet, but they're my worst enemy. Good luck with your garden and post some pics from time to time.
it figures always has to be someone to rub it in on how good there garden looks :) :)mine got drowned the day after I planted it I got 4 bean plants 2 cucumber plants 4 maters 15 peas 4 potatoes that must have got lost last year 1kail 2brocc and 3squash3zucchini that's all that came up I think next year ill plant grass and mow it and buy what I need btw nice looking garden 21
Quote from: coxy on June 23, 2017, 09:21:48 PM
it figures always has to be someone to rub it in on how good there garden looks :) :)mine got drowned the day after I planted it I got 4 bean plants 2 cucumber plants 4 maters 15 peas 4 potatoes that must have got lost last year 1kail 2brocc and 3squash3zucchini that's all that came up I think next year ill plant grass and mow it and buy what I need btw nice looking garden 21
It is all about time. Some people go to work to make money, some people grow food to save money. Been a bad year up here also, but that is where the raised beds help to keep the plants from drowning. :)
Tough year up here also, worst looking tomato plants I've ever had! Had to replant a lot cause of cold/wet weather. Greens are about the only thing doing well. 21, I made a post pounder like that years back. Still use it, welded handles on it and a piece of 3" shaft probably 5lbs worth. Works great on ground rods also.
About the first of May I bought 4 tomato plants and was leaving them outside during the day, forgot one night, they got snowed on and froze, in May :-\. That's as far as I got so far.
well, we are getting some heirloom gerks,, had to ditch three pints of pickles, Aunt Bee's kerosine pickles :D! belly laughing, well we used the Mrs, Wages mix to the letter, not sold on this recipe, we did 7 jars of the kosher mix, using half the brine mix, time will tell, we tasted before the covering and sealing, so, hopes are up. I am now testing a blue ribbon recipe, an old fashion style. So my post is this if any of you folks have a good brine recipe, and feel inclined to share, we will try it. I have some killer gerks on the vine,,crazy,, thanks.. david
I went very small scale this year. 4 tomatoe plants, a couple Bell peppers, and a couple habanero plants. All in buckets. For the next couple years I plan to just work on the soil in the garden as I plowed it too deep a few years and pulled up some clay. The only thing I might plant in the ground this year is zucchini and a big patch of sweet basil for making pesto. I make some basil tea also from time to time also as it helps a little with asthma. Right now the garden patch is just full dandelions, lambs quarter, dock, purslane, broad leaf and narrow leaf plantain, wild mustard, red clover (wild greens that we do eat sometimes ;D) and some crabgrass that I'd like to eliminate and never see again.
Plant some cover plants,buckwheat,kinda pricey,winter rye is cheap.Clover will add nitogen to the soil.
I have a big garden,use to sell veggie. I planed on planting half and than working on the other half. Wife has strawberries now and a bunch of herbs going in half the garden.
Well everything is finally growing. I am hoping the hailstorms are over for the year and we start to see some more sun to get things growing. Been a crazy weather year so far. Hope we have a late frost so things have time to mature. Glad I got a fence up around the raised beds because I have never seen so many fearless deer as this year. :)
drobertson I just use the brine recipe in the ball blue book and eat them all fresh at different stages of fermentation, I never had great results canning the crock pickles. For canning we just use the blue book recipes also. :)
We mostly grow cucumbers but a few beds are dedicated to tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, and garlic.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/42235/WP_20170707_10_49_33_Rich.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1499607500)
This year has been challenging with the cold nights and heavy rain.
Everything is starting to grow pretty good now. A couple weeks late due to a crummy spring. :)
https://youtu.be/XSggm5KX3zA
SPDM, are the row covers for the cool nights or bugs? Do you take them off for pollination?
Can I grow lettuce under shadecloth in hot weather?
21, very nice layout and gardening practice, that had to come by lots of work,, our jap beetles are on the decline now finally, made the mistake of using traps for them last year, they only brought in more. Our okra is now coming on, gerks are slowing just a bit, and I did come up with a good recipe for the gerks, both kosher and regular dill. waiting for the few corn to fill out and tomatoes to ripen. A bonus on the maters was a volunteer cherry tomato, its making a ton of fruit. We too use the Baker Creek Heirloom seeds, and had a great time at their spring festival this year, lots to see and some great deals on various things.
21.....I really enjoyed that. Good video.
21incher,nice plants and raised beds you have. My beans are not even blossomed yet. We are not selling,so I took my time putting the garden in this year. Got most of it done by mid June. Most years,mid May I am done. I see you have your peppers stacked. I put down black plastic for all my peppers.I use tomato cages for mine.They really like the heat. My Father use to grow melons. He would feed 'em,as he use to say. I am using cattle panels for my tomatoes this year. I have no idea how that will work.
Quote from: thecfarm on July 13, 2017, 09:33:13 PM
21incher,nice plants and raised beds you have. My beans are not even blossomed yet. We are not selling,so I took my time putting the garden in this year. Got most of it done by mid June. Most years,mid May I am done. I see you have your peppers stacked. I put down black plastic for all my peppers.I use tomato cages for mine.They really like the heat. My Father use to grow melons. He would feed 'em,as he use to say. I am using cattle panels for my tomatoes this year. I have no idea how that will work.
They are just a few early beans. The canning ones are just starting. I put the peppers in the raised beds filled with compost and stuff as many pepper plants as I can fit so they don't need weeding. Everything is coming in about 3 weeks late so I hope we have a late frost. Last time I grew melons some critter took a bite from each one when it was ripe and ready to pick. :)
Quote from: drobertson on July 13, 2017, 09:13:34 AM
21, very nice layout and gardening practice, that had to come by lots of work,, our jap beetles are on the decline now finally, made the mistake of using traps for them last year, they only brought in more. Our okra is now coming on, gerks are slowing just a bit, and I did come up with a good recipe for the gerks, both kosher and regular dill. waiting for the few corn to fill out and tomatoes to ripen. A bonus on the maters was a volunteer cherry tomato, its making a ton of fruit. We too use the Baker Creek Heirloom seeds, and had a great time at their spring festival this year, lots to see and some great deals on various things.
That must have been a fun festival. Glad to hear you were able to spend some time in a garden this year. :)
Quote from: trapper on July 12, 2017, 10:15:30 PM
Can I grow lettuce under shadecloth in hot weather?
I find romaine grows ok in hot weather. A shadecloth should help. :)
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on July 13, 2017, 08:11:34 PM
21.....I really enjoyed that. Good video.
I just wanted to share the seeds that grow best in my garden. :)
Been harvesting head lettuce (Great Lakes), pole beans almost ready(3-4") to pick for the 1st time (Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder cross), Blueberries finished, tomatoes (pole type)4-5' tall, filling in nicely with "fruit". Amish paste tomato - a really good variety! Tomatillo's have their lanterns now. Peppers are slow, just now warming up at night sufficiently. Onions ready, garlic drying, more lettuce and carrots coming up. Fall peas in the ground. And our water bill...it's growing too! Live in town - no well. Oh well.
Quote from: 69bronco on July 12, 2017, 08:01:13 PM
SPDM, are the row covers for the cool nights or bugs? Do you take them off for pollination?
We use the row covers to take the edge off the cold nights and reduce the stress on the plants from the wind. They are removed after two weeks enabling pollination.
Almost time to start my little vege garden. Last season was useless for growing chilli, too cold in the spring and it was basically Autumn before they flowered. :(
But I'll try again, maybe with a little mini-greenhouse. Anyway I was wandering into the supermarket this morning and glanced at their display of plant seedlings. Woohoo.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Ghost_Chilli.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1506470162)
While these aren't listed as the hottest chilli in the world any more, they are used as Elephant repellant and the Indian Army makes tear gas grenades from them :D
We had a cold and extremely rainy summer. The sweet peppers were a bumper crop, but there was not enough sun for the jalapenos. Frost will be upon us soon. Our season is almost over and the root cellar is almost full. :)
It is an okra only cutting for us,, bags in the freeze, the gerk pickles turned out great, tomatos not that good, what we got was not bad, just small, beans went to the deer, oh the corn was good! not enough of it, planning for next year's soil improvement currently.
My coastal Virginia winter garden has been going for a while, as you can see by the bolting lettuce. We grow way more than the two of us can eat and try to give away the rest to the neighbors and the folks at my nearby fire department. I try to garden as organically as is reasonably possible. This years attempt at keeping bugs at bay has been these mosquito net tunnels. They have worked very well, so far.
Broccoli
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/33949/IMG_4280_-_Copy.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507136612)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/33949/IMG_4282_-_Copy_28Medium29.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507136696)
Kale and Collards
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/33949/IMG_4288_-_Copy_28Medium29.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507137632)
Endive, BokChoi and various kinds of lettuce.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/33949/IMG_4300_-_Copy_28Medium29.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507136944)
They are some nice looking beds. I have fall greens coming in now, but the bok choy is bolting with all the hot weather we have now. I think it will be the latest frost ever this year for us. :)
Not sure if this is good news or bad news. Carolina Reaper chillis have fruit. :-[
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180208_171728.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1518065670)
The Carolina Reaper began 6 miles from me but I don't eat it. :D
Planning to make some chilli sauce, maybe ONE chilli to a big pot of tomatoes?
I'm not dumb enough to simply eat one of these things :D :o
Ok David, I tried this once and it didn't take (that I know of) I gotta ask, did your horns grow or what ??? ;)
Quote from: sandhills on February 09, 2018, 01:18:36 PM
Ok David, I tried this once and it didn't take (that I know of) I gotta ask, did your horns grow or what ??? ;)
I don't eat HOT stuff. They developed the Carolina Reaper in Fort Mill, S.C. right down the road from me.
Look up the video of CATFISH COOLEY eating them and drinking Fireball to wash them down on You Tube.
I cannot post the video because of the Wood Shed language he uses after eating them.
I'm surprised it didn't kill him. :D :D :D
This year I am trying the new Habanada Sweet Pepper.https://www.rareseeds.com/habanada-sweet-pepper/ It is supposed to have the flavor of a habenero without any spice. I just can't eat the hot peppers anymore but love the flavor. :)
Weather is holding up remarkably well this year. Chilli plants are looking good.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180215_142622.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1518685075)
Not huge plants, but the weather has been kind this year and they are looking good.
We have a plan to roof over some old pig pens at a friends place with plastic, put in some planters, an irrigation system, and some trial plantings. Probably go with something less lethal if we want to sell them locally of course. :D
Looking good.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180312_161801.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1520830695)
Time to make some sauce. This pot had 3 Scorpions in with the tomato / onion / capsicum. I think it's "nice and tasty" but it's about as much as the rest of the family want to tackle. :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180312_140723.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1520830632)
Got plenty more ripening so I'll make up a tastier batch next time smiley_devil
Quote from: POSTON WIDEHEAD on February 10, 2018, 11:04:39 AM
Quote from: sandhills on February 09, 2018, 01:18:36 PM
Ok David, I tried this once and it didn't take (that I know of) I gotta ask, did your horns grow or what ??? ;)
Look up the video of CATFISH COOLEY eating them and drinking Fireball to wash them down on You Tube.
I cannot post the video because of the Wood Shed language he uses after eating them.
I'm surprised it didn't kill him. :D :D :D
LOL!!!!! This video was a hoot! Is that Catfish Cooley some of your kin Poston?
It'll be nice to see some summer stuff growing. We knocked 6" of snow off the high tunnel yesterday but it has been producing greens all winter. She lost the first planting of peas to voles but it looks like the organic pellets either got them or ran them out, the second batch is growing. Maters are started and about 4" tall indoors.
Once we get the "greenhouse" set up I will see if I can grow some of these chilli as perennials. It wont be heated, but we only get brief frosts below freezing so the plants should make it through winter inside, even if they aren't growing.
I'm going to grow strawberries this year.
Does anyone have any tips/advice?
I ordered 25 plants from burpee.com.
I'm looking forward to it!
I'll also be growing the basics...sweet corn, greenbeans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, and basil.
Can't help with growing them but have been eating the first flat of strawberries of the year. The plants are started here, go down to FL to grow out then some of the berries come back up when our southern neighbors return to work in the Christmas trees. Not a summer berry but they sure are welcome this time of year.
This is a pic of one of the plant stands in the living room with maters, greens and peppers... and snow in the background. Michelle was up every couple of hours last night checking to see if we needed to go knock snow off the high tunnel, happily the brunt of the storm went north of us.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10017/plants.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1521669904)
Which lights are you using for your plants? Looking good! ^^^
Thanks. The living room is tile on a slab so spills are no problem, I've told her I don't mind if we just push the furniture to the sides and grow stuff in here all winter. The high tunnel is full and stuff needs to go out but winter is hanging on this year, it's white outside still. We're still on fluorescent in the plant stands, part of them are the older big diameter tube shop lights, then we started switching over to the newer small dia tubes. These work but with 2 plant stands going it does run up the electric bill a bit. As we replace this time I'm thinking of the led rope strips, they are getting pretty cheap and with lower voltage are safer. I think they need to be higher than 5500K to work well for plants.
I have had good results using the 4 foot Phillips Alto 6500K T8 bulbs in shop lights. They are fairly low cost at Home Depot and only 32 watts. :)
Quote from: burtle on March 21, 2018, 01:58:44 AM
I'm going to grow strawberries this year.
Does anyone have any tips/advice?
I ordered 25 plants from burpee.com.
I'm looking forward to it!
I'll also be growing the basics...sweet corn, greenbeans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, and basil.
The first year I pick off all but a few of the blossoms to let the plants get stronger and allow them to make a larger crop the second year. I usually remove all the runners also. :)
To whom it may concern....
My dad planted 8 acres of Sweet Corn today....we will see if it takes. :)
Quote from: 21incher on March 30, 2018, 06:54:24 PM
I have had good results using the 4 foot Phillips Alto 6500K T8 bulbs in shop lights. They are fairly low cost at Home Depot and only 32 watts. :)
I've been using the T8 shop lights also with great results, was wondering if anyone has been using LED?
8 acres of sweet corn will feed a lot of goats :o :o. I live in the middle of corn country but my family doesn't plant anywhere near that amount. Of course we also are not selling it or feeding the entire county either, just our families and give some away. Love me some 4th of July sweet corn :)but in our climate it would be too early here. I usually shoot for about mid April on the early planting but I've had that freeze off a time or two or just not get a good start because of the conditions. Your father should be in tall corn long before the 4th of July if all goes well.
I just saw this thread. I just planted 11 of the worlds hottest peppers. I don't know what I will do with them, other than make a sauce or dry them. If anyone has any tips/advice I would love to learn from it. This is my 1st time growing these "superhots" as they are called.
well i guess the only thing ill be growing this year will be snow peas :D
Quote from: LaneC on April 08, 2018, 12:44:19 PM
I just saw this thread. I just planted 11 of the worlds hottest peppers. I don't know what I will do with them, other than make a sauce or dry them. If anyone has any tips/advice I would love to learn from it. This is my 1st time growing these "superhots" as they are called.
You can make a TON of "hot sauce" with just a handful of peppers. Or make some crazy hot sauce with a ton of them. ;D
We are in the process of setting up a greenhouse just to grow chillies. Polycarb roof on an old pig pen, automatic watering etc. All on a budget / hobby / experiment at this stage. We are going to grow a selection next season, "mild" up to Trinidad Scorpions. Once we see what grows, and sells, we have about an acre of concrete shed space that could be re-roofed.
Only advice, treat them with respect. I grew 2 plants this year. A handful of chillies has made a couple of bottles that have been labelled "Danger Sauce".
Or...
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180409_215151.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1523272288)
That's 3 ghost chillies in a bottle of vodka. smiley_devil
:D Dangar, danger, danger. I hope you have good luck. Sounds like a great endeavor. I am probably growing too many to start on my journey. I have the Carolina reaper, Butch T Scorpion, Trinidad scorpion, Apocalypse scorpion,Big red mama, Naglah Brown, Ghost, Yellow ghost, Yellow Scotch Bonnet and a couple more. I figure if I can grow 4 out of all of these I will be doing good. I will treat them with respect. As of now they are about and inch tall. I still have a long way to go, and I think I will keep them in pots in case of bad weather I can protect them.
They will probably all grow and, although some will prefer your particular conditions more than others. We have a couple of hardier varieties that handle our cooler local climate better than others. Last year was complete crud and if never really got warm enough for them to take off. I had some plants only just flowering at this time of year (early Autumn). Another just never grew, and spent the window on the kitchen window sill, about 2" tall. Repotted it and put it out in the sun in the spring and it actually took off. It's back in the kitchen tonight as it's almost snowing outside, but it's got dozens of fruit ripening.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180411_172214.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1523424318)
It's a medium hot dwarf variety we call Thai birdseye. Small but tasty fruit. Probably not as hot as Habanero, but for a tiny wee thing they pack a kick.
This year has been brilliant with "tropical" temps over summer, and warm nights. Even the exotic ones have grown well, but to get a consistent harvest here I think we need a greenhouse.
I can't eat those hot ones anymore but like the flavor so I am trying Habanada's this year https://www.rareseeds.com/habanada-sweet-pepper/
It is supposed to have the same flavor as an Habanero but be a sweet pepper. Can't wait to pickle them and fool people. ;D
Not everyone is into the really hot varieties. That's why we are going to test growing various types, from the tamer ones through to the crazy hot ones. :)
I think this is what your Ghost Chilli crop is supposed to look like
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180422_163438.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1524379539)
2 plants, years supply of hot sauce :D
Transplanted my tomatoes into 6 packs yesterday, garlic is just breaking ground. Finally got a break in the weather, going to plant our onion plants today.
I wish mine were that big. Right now they are about 1-1/2 inches tall. Out of all the top variaties of superhots, the Ghost for me seems to be the biggest challenge to grow. My Reapers and scorpions are doing fine but the ghost, not so much.
Quote from: POSTON WIDEHEAD on March 30, 2018, 10:09:48 PM
To whom it may concern....
My dad planted 8 acres of Sweet Corn today....we will see if it takes. :)
POSTON, hows that corn looking? Did it get to growing?
Quote from: DPatton on April 22, 2018, 08:03:24 PM
Quote from: POSTON WIDEHEAD on March 30, 2018, 10:09:48 PM
To whom it may concern....
My dad planted 8 acres of Sweet Corn today....we will see if it takes. :)
POSTON, hows that corn looking? Did it get to growing?
Its barley busting the ground now. Lost 1 row of maters due to frost but have all the plants out now.
I planted muscadines in our little backyard garden last fall. I am tired of the tomatoes breaking my heart. Last two years they (maters) got nice and tall and loaded down with fruit, and then the vines would just die with in two or three days. I did a autopsy on the vines and they were hollow. Nothing left but the outside shell of the vine. Muscadines are just starting to bud a little bit. I ordered $50.00 worth (seven vines from a dude in Ga.) and hopefully in three years I will have some fruit. 8) Deb said she was going to plant some tomatoes, I'll see how that goes. Banjo
I picked corn one summer. He would cover a couple fields of corn with crop cover to get it early. Than plant other fields every 2 weeks or so. I picked corn until early Oct that year.
And then that corn was ground into Grits!!! :o You sneaky rascal. :)
Quote from: Magicman on April 23, 2018, 08:54:45 AM
And then that corn was ground into Grits!!! :o You sneaky rascal. :)
Thecfarm is safe, sweet corn is not ground for GRITS. ;D.
GRITS are ground from the corn they grow for cows and pigs. :D
I think someone has forgot that someone does not eat veggies. ;D
Banjo, I asked the boss about your maters. She said that sounds like a soil borne bacterial wilt or canker, a real bugger. There are wilt resistant varieties but it might be better to grow in pots of commercial soil. Cornell has a good plant disease key online.
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/PhotoPages/Tomatoes/Tom_BactDiseases/Tom_BactPhotoList.htm (http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/PhotoPages/Tomatoes/Tom_BactDiseases/Tom_BactPhotoList.htm)
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_Bacterial.htm (http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_Bacterial.htm)
Thanks for posting the links. I will pass the info on to the wife about using store bought soil. Here is a picture of the area in question. Might have been the first year we set it up. Its a raised bed thing. I brought about a foot of sand from the creek bank and topped it off with about 8 inches of composted horse manure. I have growed tomatoes in the composted horse manure in a different location and they did alright. May have been something I brought up from the creek. I just hope whatever it is won't bother my muscadines. Banjo
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/Deb_Garden.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1338644638)
Banjo,you got an Extension in your area? We have one at the college and can be a big help to problems like that.
Hey Banjo, this might satisfy my own curiosity more than it helps you, but what are the chances that the horse manure wasn't as composted as you thought? I'm asking only because of the things I've heard about horse manure being hot and having to be very well done. I'm also going to +1 what Ray said about the Extension Service. They're usually pretty slick
Yes we have an Extension here, we call them the county agent. ??? He is a neighbor that lives close by. As to the horse manure being too hot, I don't think so. It had probably been in the garden spot for three maybe four years the last time I tried to grow tomatoes in there. I believe that is tomatoes in the picture of Deb with the squash. I tend to think I got some infected plants somewhere. The article Don P linked to referenced not growing any tomatoes for like three years in the area. If the muscadines do what they should, they won't be much room for anything else anyway. Banjo
Get me going on growing tomatoes!!!
Years ago it was easy. Plant them and they would grow and produce and produce some more. We never staked them,tied them up. Just let them grow on the ground. Yes,I get tomatoes,but not with out pruning them,adding certain stuff to the ground,put cages around them. ::)
But last year they did good. Must of been the calcium I added to the soil. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14445/20180424_142208.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1524603617)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14445/20180424_142153~0.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1524603851)
Baby pineapple.
I lost all my tomatoes to blight last year. Over 90 plants were gone in a week just before the tomatoes turned red, never seen something spread that fast. It was a common problem around here due to the constant rain and lack of sun. :)
Late blight is our biggest problem, it is airborne, the same blight that caused the potato famine in Ireland. Resistant varieties and the high tunnel helps some. It needs liquid water to spread on the plant so by using drip tape irrigation and closing up the high tunnel at night to keep dew off, the plants get it but it spreads slower. They can look fine one day and be mush the next. I made some more new tomato stakes this afternoon, we burn the plants and stakes at the end of the season and rotate planting areas not planting any of the nightshades back to back on the same ground. Serenade fungicide, organic approved, also helps slow it.
Our tomatoes get blight every year, even in a pot on a deck 10' off of the ground. This year, I bought a dumptruck load of dirt- so-called mix of topsoil and compost. Nothing's growing, though- not even weeds. The spinach is about 1" tall after a month and a half. What do I do with bad dirt? It's not like I can scoop it up and return it.
I guess this fall I'll get a trailer load of manure and till it in. Hopefully I can salvage this very expensive load of dirt and get something out of it.
I planted peas and they're growing, but it's turned too hot now. Beans are coming up. We'll see what happens with the lima beans, okra, and squash.
Could have a soil test done,the Extension does that here. But than they is a list of stuff you need to add to the soil to make it right. One person needed so much done,he could not afford to do it all in one year. I hoped it worked for him.
Must be something in the soil if the weeds won't grow either. :(
Same problem here with tomatoes, some years worse than others. Cfarm, I know what you mean about years ago. Biggest problem was an occasional horn worm. I wonder if it's the tomato itself partly to blame? Years ago we all grew determinate varieties - short plants, no stakes each plant ripening pretty near all at once. Nowadays it's mostly a indeterminates bred for season long production, tall plants and perfect shaped fruit. Wonder if anyone has studied disease resistance of the two varieties?
Horn worms. :o I saw my first one about 4-5 years ago on my plants. No idea what it was. I try hand picking. Each day get 40-50 of them things. BT will thin them things out.
Finally got this years garden started. It went from a long cold spring right into summer.
Planting The Garden 2018 First The Raised Bed Area - YouTube (https://youtu.be/zsq4moNkf00)
:)
What did you use to make the round beds?
Quote from: 69bronco on May 26, 2018, 07:45:00 AM
What did you use to make the round beds?
They are old epoxy coated aluminum pool wall extrusions that I cut down and recycled. I wish I could find a source for them because they work great, are easy to assemble, long lasting, and can make any size bed. It is hard to find them anymore with the scrap value of aluminum so high. :)
I transplanted summer squash, cukes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and red romaine into my sorta raised beds on may 8th.
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The corn was seed left from last year and i didnt have quite enough compost so its in thin ground.
Its all done pretty decent so far
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Harvesting nitrogen from my pokeweed mound for another batch of compost. This is how i get rid of my sawdust and noodles from firewood processing.
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Nice garden Mike! 8)
Thanks man.. My first successful one thus far. Its quite fulfilling and i aim to expand until i run out of places to mow.
This guy i knew back in my old industrial/metal based life thought moving to TN was crazy and he summed it up by saying "youre gonna be a poor dirt farmer" to which i kinda took offense to, i was planninng a fab/machine shop. He was right though.
What neither of us knew at the time was how much happier id be in dirt and fiber. Counting my blessings.
I'm just a poor rock farmer
I have about 9 tomato and 5 pepper plants in pots sitting in the yard. Already getting little green tomatoes. For some reason the branches want to grow straight down from the stalk. I have them in cages now.
That's a good use for Pokeweed there Mike, not much else a guy can get from that stuff.
I aim to make use of every scrap the lord brings me. Its a decent poor mans food plot. Deer and turkey like the berries, i need to transplant some under my stands soon. They used to come eat it before the fence got fixed.
I turned that pile during a break in the rain today.. First time since i layered it up 4 days ago. Its already steaming and the pokeweed looks like boiled spinach, sawdust is starting to turn black. Reckon about 10 days ill screen dirt out then start the next pile with the coarse throwbacks. gets the next batch fired up quick.
Today I planted about 100-125 onions, they are a purple onion that is to be harvested in the Fall when the tails dry up and fall, as the weather starts to turn cold! They should be 3 - 3½ inches in diameter! These were given to me by my latest sawmill customer!
I also planted 3 tomato plants, they are called Striped Tomato's, given to me by my new Amish neighbors!
I planted them in a 6' x 8' plot under an overhanging roof, off the end of my deck. Gravity water hose right next to the plot, so they will get watered every couple of days!
I have 4 of those Mr. Stripey tomato plants from a mennonite garden place. Theyre doing great so far.
Wife bought a few singles tomatoes plants.Large Italian,Stripe German,Bloody Butcher,Bobcat. Planted 5 six pack of tomatoes yesterday,probably still have at least 2 more to do. I am almost out of cages.
Ace peppers are next. I like them the best. They will have some medium size ones and more will be coming.
The garden finally got going. We've had almost 12" of rain in May, most of it in the last two weeks. Most things are doing well, but the string beans are puny and pale. Never had trouble growing beans before. The heat got the spinach before it could get very big, but we ate what we got. Zucchini is going nuts, and starting to set fruit. Tomatoes look good, but not setting fruit yet.
New bees for the garden. Built some a couple of years ago from plywood and suffered bee colony delamination.
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So rebuilt them from plastic wood. The stuff is supposed to last 25 years outside
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Happy bee whirlygigs watching over the garden again
Whats the story on the mail box. I know you can't be getting mail with those huge bees so close by. They are bound to be aggrivated with their brothren being delaminated and all. Banjo
I have the old style mailbox down at my garden. The kind that is rectangle,opens at the top. Handy to keep small stuff in there.
Quote from: Banjo picker on June 17, 2018, 03:40:19 PM
Whats the story on the mail box. I know you can't be getting mail with those huge bees so close by. They are bound to be aggrivated with their brothren being delaminated and all. Banjo
We use it to keep the hand tools, garden gloves, and rolls of plant tying string in. Used to always have to hunt to find the stuff laying around and having a place for it helps. When you remove something the flag goes up to remind you to put it back. It is a real time saver. ;D
Boy thats a tidy operation.
I pulled my first picklin cuke today. Hoping the tomatos hurry up. Bush beans and cantaloupe went in this afternoon.
Tomatoes were a total fail. We've had very bad results for 7 years in a row, but this is the first time we didn't get any. They got wilt and died overnight. The only successful crop so far is zucchini, and they're producing like crazy. There's a fair chance that the veggie garden will become lawn- I'm gettin' tired of the failures.
Dont quit man. Last year i put in a 40x8 garden by hand and it produced zero.. All 20 odd varieties just died mid summer and i tried everything. I was so incredibly aggravated.
Rip out what you got, put wet cardboard over and start laying grass and leaves ontop of that. You need to just eliminate that dirt 100% and build compost that youll lay right over it. Also dont use city water, its full of chlorine that kills critical fungus, bacteria and bugs. I leave all bugs alone and have zero problems, the good ones eat the bad ones. Bugs are a sign of deficient soil anyhow.
What i described is what i did and its done a complete 180. Im so glad i didnt throw in the towel. Fresh pickles are amazing.
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I prune a box of leaves off this garden every few days, theres just too much foliage to see the fruits. That cuke is like 4 days old.
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Dont give up.. Just fix your dirt! If i can do it you can do it. Next time out, buy a jar of raw molasses, epsom salt, bone meal and blood meal. Other than that its just grass, weeds, leaves, sawdust, eggshells, food scraps, punky wood humus, muddy water and pee in a box you stir a lot. That batch came out in 13 days
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I don't have much choice on the water- we go from floods to drought a lot around here. In May, we has 11.9" of rain- nearly a foot. So far in June? Zero. A well and associated equipment would be thousands.
We have a compost pile, but it's gonna be a long time to produce more than a few buckets full. The new garden is a mix of topsoil and compost that I bought- a whole dumptruck load. It's weird- some stuff grows; some doesn't. The string beans were a near-total fail as well. How can you fail at green beans? Right next to them, the zucchini are going full bore.
In the fall, I'm going to aggressively work the soil. I'll get some manure and work that in, as well as compost. I'm pretty well convinced that tomatoes just aren't worth it, though. Even the one I tried in a pot on my deck, 10' off of the ground got blight. I think it would take a really resistant variety and a lot of chemicals to keep 'em going.
Not sure about the pee, has potassium nitrate, not good for plants. Old story about school boys killing a tree over a period of time peeing on it.
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Onions
Beans
Carrots
Radishes
Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
My little garden patch is only 6'x8'
scgargoyle,that's too bad. That blight is nasty stuff,or whatever you have. :(
I would send out a soil test. But than it would cost $1000 to make it right. :o I know of a guy that happened too. Seem like it was more than that. He did it it about 3 years. Could not afford it all at once.
I take my old tomatoes plants and when I trim the leaves off,I take all that to the burn pile. Last year I tried some calcium,this year too. Seem to help. Ther's a BUNCH of infro on the internet on what tomatoes need to grow. Drive ya almost crazy just reading it. Good luck to ya.
Are you pruning the lower branches off? Blight seems to start from soil splashing up onto bottom leaves. I trim off the bottom 12" or so pretty early on and keep pruning upward as they get taller. Also anything yellow or spotty. I prune a lot of foliage once fruit appears.
Chlorinated water is gonna make everything more difficult. soil biology is the secret ingredient and if you want a healthy, resilient garden it will probably require building a compost bin and rainwater collection. You cant overstate the benefits of miccorhizae.
Sheet mulching over the planted beds with wet paper/cardboard and mulch or leaves, grass, woodchips.. Any sort of sun barrier.. Will work wonders in moisture retention to get you through drought periods. Last year in native dirt i couldnt water enough, the sun would turn that clay dirt to cracked powder in half a day. Now with sheetmulch i can have 3 days of intense sun yet still the dirt under the layer is moist and soil is cool. My root system is fully exposed just under the cardboard and there is tons of mycellium activity.
The ground needs sunblock or itll scald just like us. With moisture gone, the plant has no choice but to die. Blight or insect is just natures way of finishing off the weak.
Quote from: Texas Ranger on June 24, 2018, 08:15:14 AM
Not sure about the pee, has potassium nitrate, not good for plants. Old story about school boys killing a tree over a period of time peeing on it.
Missed this earlier.. Youre right, direct application will burn stuff. Same as chicken manure. But its magic in the compost bin.
i compost lots of chainsaw chips/dust which is very high in carbon and needs a lot of nitrogen to break down. Urine is quite high in nitrogen and really gets the pile warmed up and decomposing rapidly.
I admit I didn't read this entire thread, so if you already covered this forgive me. I grow about 55 acres of bermuda hay for the horse people around me. Through the years of trial and error I have found a couple of good points to consider when trying to grow things. PH is the best place to start first. Money spent on lime will go a lot more further than all the money in the world on fertilizer and other soil additives. The county extension agent had a power point that explained it in a way that made perfect sense to me. The value of 5 for my hay is too low. So no matter how much you try to fertilize, the PH will not allow the plant to take up the nutrients. On the other end of the scale. . . .7 is far to high. So you guessed it. 6 is perfect. It allows the plant to accept the nutrients from the soil. The other thing that helps is Aeration. When looking across the fields, I would see spots where the grass was taller, greener and thicker in spots. When I went to look as to why that happened, I found ant hills. So that supported the aeration idea. Now aerating my fields has made a big difference. Garden spots . . . .sub soil it as deep as you can to really open up the soil to let that oxygen in. Compaction is a silent killer. Gravity, rain and foot or vehicle traffic really takes a toll on the dirt. My first year I cut 107 square bales to the acre. Every year after that it start producing less and less, even though I was doing the same thing. Started aerating and production has started to improve again. Just my .02s worth. Hope it helps someone.
Hard to get enough water on in this heat, sure could use some rain. On the bright side the corn, pole beans and cantaloupe love it! Mulched with everything I had, planer shavings, sawdust and my stash of strawberry straw. Should be fine now. Pics don't want to cooperate.
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There she goes, thanks bt!
We finally started getting rain at the end of June. The zucchini seem to have slowed down a lot- have they reached the end, or are they just taking a break? The okra are starting to produce now, so we're cutting them every day. The sunflowers are up over 8' tall, and getting ready to flower. A few peppers, but nothing to brag about.
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I only grew the pickles and the dill. I have pepper plants growing now but they were late plantings and are still tiny. Timing seems like biggest challenge in gardening. One thing is rotting in the fridge while ya wait for the other to ripen on the vine and you need both for the recipe.
came out great.. Little heavy on the vinegar but with a pretty complex flavor from all the other stuff in there. Kinda sweet and salty with some zest.
I generally do my recipes on that's available at the time.
So I have:
Chilli and Tomato.
Chilli and Feijoa.
Chilli and Pear.
Chilli and Persimmon.
Chilli and Kiwifruit.
Chilli and more Chilli.... (Danger Sauce) :D
Basically the same "relish" sauce recipe, just vary the fruit / vege depending on what you have at the time.
Thats a lotta chilli!
I had squash come ripe that would have been wasted if i didnt cook it now, but was out of oil, egg, milk and cornflour.. So it went into the bacon grease after breakfast with seasalt and pepper. Oh lordy that was excellent. I think that'll be my new routine.
I had saved the remaining juice of the first pickle jar we killed. This morning realized that the half bag of carrots and half onion were also destined for the compost pile for lack of other uses so into the brine they went. Also with a few discs of squash just to see what pickled squash will taste like. Fingers crossed.
I have gone through my squash plant. It was about 6' long and had elephant ears for leaves. I probably got 15 squash off of it. It was yellow straight neck I think. I just use heirloom seeds and have done well with them. I still have 3 tomato plants and they are getting their 2nd wind. I have about 1-1/2 dozen on the counter ripening. You have to pick them when they are real green or these dang Mocking birds will destroy them. I have harvested the green onions a couple of times and have over a gallon cut up. I have 2 cucumber plants (heirloom from around the 1840's I think) and have harvested probably 60-70. This is in a 4x8 raised bed garden (that is all I can manage) I have given away bu-ku to my neighbors. My superhot pepper plants are coming on strong. If anyone needs any, let me know. The Carolina Reapers should be good for making a spray to keep out deer and coons.
Bout had my fill of cucumber sandwiches but they keep on a comin anyhow
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I'm getting a few, but Dang few!
Maybe pick one about every 4 days, but it's something, and the weather we've had ain't helping!
I have sunflower trees this year. They have 4 inch dbh stems and are the size of a tree. There are only 6 plants but hundreds of flowers.(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34694/IMG_4123.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1532969663)
First couple eggplants headed for the freezer.
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Here is a video about how we freeze eggplants.
Growing And Freezing Eggplant - YouTube (https://youtu.be/Yv8ntvCBh1Q) :)
I plant a hybrid variety of beef steak tomato--or so I thought .Planted in a raised bed with a south facing brick wall they usually grow up a trellis about 8 feet tall with fruit that can get as large as a softball .So this year ,4 little midget vines that looked like a bunch of grapes,danged cherry tomatoes got mixed up when I bought them .I'm not a bit happy about that .I do have another 4 plants that appear to be beef steak so all is not lost .It won't be until the end of August before they ripen.
I picked these 2 beauties today!
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Well it turned out to be the biggest harvest we have ever had.
Final Garden Update 9 /10 /18 The Best Season Ever - YouTube (https://youtu.be/jyhwwCOS0aQ)
What a busy last 8 weeks we had trying to put everything up, now the clean up starts
What's up with my lima beans? We are growing a variety called 'Christmas'. The plants are huge, and have flowers, but no beans.
Meanwhile, the okra is still going full bore. I planted some collards for the fall, and they're looking good, although rain has been scarce. Fixin' to get a bunch of rain soon (Florence), though.
Never had collards before but i grew some this year. Now what do i do with em?
Find you a Granny or a Mamaw and have her cook them for you!
Put them on the compost pile. :)
Thought I would post some pictures of this years garden. Switching over to all raised beds this year and everything is finally started. Just wish that we would get some rain soon. Anybody else have pics of their gardens this year?
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That garden is a masterpiece.
I would, but you brought a gun to a knife fight. :D :D
That garden look mighty good.
Quote from: WDH on June 17, 2020, 09:16:44 PM
That garden is a masterpiece.
Thanks. Finally getting around to finishing the area up. Our soil is so muddy in the spring that I decided to switch to all beds this year.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 17, 2020, 09:20:43 PM
I would, but you brought a gun to a knife fight. :D :D
That garden look mighty good.
I got tired of dealing with mud. I bet you have a beautiful assortment of rocks around your garden and should post some pics. Been a crazy spring here and got started real late.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 17, 2020, 09:20:43 PM
I would, but you brought a gun to a knife fight. :D :D
That garden look mighty good.
Perfect response! :D ;D :) Those gardens are something for a fancy magazine, holy cow. Few can hold a candle to that.
I sure would not call them DanG things beautiful. ;D Best place for them things is up in the bog so I don't have to mow around them. ;D
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The picture below is below the house. That is my land across the road to. Oh yea, can't forget the time it takes to trim around them Dang things too. I say I have a mile of stone walls to trim around. Some walls I own on both sides, so I have to do both sides.
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That arbor you see for the grape vines need some attention this year.
I was hoping that was a scuppernong/grape arbor and not a raised Indian burial platform. :D
@thecfarm (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=436)
Like me I guess you have found out Maine grows rocks better than a lot of other things!! ;D :o
thecfarm you would be a very rich man with rocks like yours out here. They sell them by the pound for landscaping 😉.
I will give you 10% of all sales. :D Than give the FF their share too.
This is old farm land land here. There are stone walls out in the woods. I know of where there was two houses on my land.
Blackberries.
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Debs hand holding one. Natchez thornless. Muscadines and strawberries in background. Banjo
I use to grow a variety of veges but now its just Bodacious Corn and Beefsteak variety Tomatoes. I can grow enough of these to get through the winter and following summer.
Insects, plant it and they will come, Squash bugs ,Cucumber Beetles, Potato Beetles etc can wipe you
out before you eat any. Not fond of chemicals in the garden or hoops and coverings so i give up. I will pick hornworms from the tomato plants though.
Some veges like potatoes ,squash and carrots come fall are <.50 lb. so I stock up on those and cold room cellar them
before winter sets in .
And my Asparagus beds provide about a months worth of fresh greens com mid May - mid June.
Have I said I'm sick of Asparagus already ? Asparagus Omlets, Asparagus pizza, baked, fried ,boiled ,steamed and grilled Asparagus .
We've got cultivated Blueberries, Apples and planted 5 Hazelnut trees this spring so will have some Filberts down the road a bit. Good crop of Rhubarb too, i like Perennials .
I've been using Captain Jacks on my garden for 3-4 years now. It's organic and suppose to be better than some of the stuff to keep the bugs away. I dusted my tomato plants about once every 2 weeks and that kept away the horn worms!!! This does not work on ticks, ants and those squash bugs. Works on the bugs I get.
That Bonide captain jack(natural) with spinosad worked real good on Potato bug larvae back when I
grew a crop of Potatoes. If it works good on soft bodied critters then i expect it would work on young Hornworms,
just never tried it on Tomatoes. Heck we never had Hornworms until about 10 years ago.
Thanks for the tip.
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My son installing a sign over our tomatoes. my wife must of read @thecfarm (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=436) post. I think she is trying the "jack" and coke now. she may try the "captain" later. :D
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lots of tomatoes and peppers.
Looking good Doc.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 19, 2020, 07:10:08 PM
I've been using Captain Jacks on my garden for 3-4 years now. It's organic and suppose to be better than some of the stuff to keep the bugs away. I dusted my tomato plants about once every 2 weeks and that kept away the horn worms!!! This does not work on ticks, ants and those squash bugs. Works on the bugs I get.
I am going to try that. I have been using neem oil because my eggplants are getting eaten up by flea beetles. It worked for about 2 weeks but now the beetles are eating them again like I am putting their favorite gravy on the leaves. Nothing else is being bothered yet but I know the Japanese beetles are not far off. Thanks for the info. do you mix it at the 2 ounce per gallon they call for.
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close up
I use the dust only, but saying that I would follow directions.
I forgot when the hornworms came here, I think more like 15 years for me.
Went out till my garden this spring. It's about 200 yards from house thru the woods. Was cleaning up the soil and kicked up a turkey hen in the weeds on a nest of about 15 eggs didnt have the heart to kick her out so I put 3 raised beds at the house. 4 by 8 beds. Had a 60 ft by 60 ft garden before. Always next year lol
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Im gonna have to blanch and freeze a bunch of swiss chard today.
Lost a very vigourous tater plant to a blight or bacterial wilt. Im hoping i can rescue some baby taters off it. It got hip high in no time then croaked in a day.
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That blight sure happens fast. I lost over 100 tomato plants in 3 days a couple years ago. We plant that rainbow chard now. My wife likes it better then swiss chard for some reason.
Well, i thought it was fungal or bacterial but when i pulled the tires down it was insects.. There was no stem at all in tire 3! The root system was fully infested with 2 different color bugs half the size of fleas that went straight into the fire and that seems to have controlled it.
My entire garden has become infested with a host of trouble. Cucumber beetles, aphids, flea beetles, japanese beetles, potato leaf hopper. Its surviving and im doing my best not to bomb them all with imidacloprid. really trying to stay 100% organic .. Just compost and rainwater. I want the kids to understand how hard life was 300yrs ago, how one bug or fungus could starve you to death and to appreciate being born on easy street.
There is no question that the longer you garden the earlier and more intensely these SOBs show up every year.
Well on the bright side those Japanese Beatles will only be with you about a month. Banjo
It's coming along .The cucumbers that I grow on a trellis are climbing up and just started to bloom ,Green beans are starting to bloom .If conditions are right both the cucumbers and the beef steak tomatoes will be up to the eaves,8 feet or so .South facing brick wall .raised bed .Neat thing about a trellis is no bending over .With just two of us we really don't need much,just some fresh stuff in season .
I said, Captains Jacks is all organic. ;) Have to remember too there was not the bugs we have not even 50 years ago. My Father planted a bunch of apple trees back in the 70's,he was born in 1923. He was just a swearing at the bugs. He told me we never had to use spray to get good apples.
I can remember picking potatoes bugs by hand. We only a few rows, so it was easy.
There is or was a book called companion plants that told of certain plants that helped each other .If I'm not mistaken it was egg plant with potatoes .They didn't stop the bugs they just prefer egg plant over potatoes making them easier to be rid of .It mentioned hemp too but for reasons I won't go there in this conversation .
I use Sevin myself from a water applicator .It will make tomato worms fall like a lead balloon .Gone .You stop applying it a certain amount of time before harvesting .I think with cucumbers it's no more than 6 applications during the growing season .
Eggplant, radish, and marigolds with your cucurbits. I had radish but they bolted to seed in the hot weather so i pulled them to free up space in my tiny crib.
I kinda think the radish just shows them where to find the cukes and squash.
I'm gonna try DE and neem oil when i have some cash. After that its no more mister nice hippie. I will oxypropane that whole thing to the ground and start over.
Some of that stuff is tricky .I like young yellow crooked neck squash fried which is easy to grow and they come on so fast from one hill you could feed a family of five .Mrs Smith my sweetie who just happens we share the same last name likes acorn squash. Which try as I may have had no luck growing or sweet peppers .I can grow the kind that will get to coming and going without going into details----come on ice cream----
My wife and a friend have an unofficial contest every year, Michelle got to make the call Sunday "Would you be needing any ripe tomatoes?". Of course there was just the one :D. We've been having blueberry pancakes and whupped cream as well, and blueberries on pound cake. It's rough but one does what one can. Need to refill the propane bottles, back porch canning season is about on us.
Quote from: Don P on June 30, 2020, 10:05:00 PMWe've been having blueberry pancakes and whupped cream as well, and blueberries on pound cake. It's rough but one does what one can.
Oh man, I feel your pain. Glad you are bucking up through this time that has to be oh so tough. :D ;D
I've got tomatoes too. Just not ripe yet. :D Sounds like you are eating well.
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Last night's supper; corn, saute' squash, green beans, tomato, & cuke.
Quote from: Magicman on July 01, 2020, 08:46:20 AM
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Last night's supper; corn, saute' squash, green beans, tomato, & cuke.
Magicman you are battling hard against Jeff for best presentation on the food. 😂😂. Looks tasty 😋
Quote from: mike_belben on June 29, 2020, 11:00:42 PM
Eggplant, radish, and marigolds with your cucurbits. I had radish but they bolted to seed in the hot weather so i pulled them to free up space in my tiny crib.
I kinda think the radish just shows them where to find the cukes and squash.
I'm gonna try DE and neem oil when i have some cash. After that its no more mister nice hippie. I will oxypropane that whole thing to the ground and start over.
I started using neem oil last year and it helps a little. The flea beetles have been working on the eggplant and neem helped for about 2 weeks then all of a sudden it was like I was putting gravy on the leaves and the flea beetles came by the thousands for a meal. I have some of that captain Jack's powder on order to try now and hope it works better if it ever arrives. Hopefully the Japanese beetles won't be bad this year. First time ever a deer jumped my fence and had a 5 course meal 😟. The farmers around me all use nasty chemicals that send the bugs and animals to my organic feast.
Magic obviously has a growing season that starts a wee bit sooner than here in the frozen tundra .I'm just now getting flowers and a few tiny pickelets on the cucumber vines . Fact I just back from a run to Lowes with a bottle of some kind of copper fungicide to try and get the jump on the cucumber blight I always seem to get .It might be nice to still get a fresh cucumber up until the last of October instead of the middle of August when the blight seems to cut it short .
The yellow and black cucumber beetle brings the blight from other peoples infected crop.. Kill them!
I got about 15 Japanese beetles yesterday out of probably 30 that were on 2 potato plants!
Imidacloprid or other neonicotinoids will kill all of these pests but it kills the bees and causes birth defect in the deer so I really don't wanna do it. Aggravating.
Pyrethrins are your organic friends my friends. From the chrysanthemum family.
It's moving along slowly .I've got little tomatoes on the early girls.The larger beef steak variety will be along later .
A few years ago where I bought the tomato plants had mislabeled beef steaks and I got those pesky little grape tomatoes .They keep coming back like weeds and every year they get smaller .A few more years they won't be any larger than a BB .
Harvested my garlic today. The mild winter gave us the largest bulbs we have ever grown. Hanging in the root cellar drying now.
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Awesome!
Im troubleshooting an aggravating chlorosis in my cucumbers this year. And a bit of general stunting and slow growth in otherwise good looking yellow squash. Yet the zuchini squash, lettuce, potatoes etc is going good.
I invented this for dinner last night. onion, zuchini and swiss chard fried in bacon grease and garlic with salt n pepper.
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I did notice I have some green beans coming along .I'll take a look in the morning before it gets hot .Might be enough for a nice mess for two old folks with some potatoes and ham chunks or bacon ,onions of course .Funny.I hated those things as a kid with 6-8 100 foot long rows but I like them now .
About all of our veggie crops will be gone very soon because mid July is usually the limit.
Quote from: Magicman on July 07, 2020, 07:49:47 AM
About all of our veggie crops will be gone very soon because mid July is usually the limit.
I am still 2 weeks away from my first tomato and cuke :'(. We are in the start of a drought now and have been forced to water every night for 2 months now. Thanks for sending up the heat.
It is dry as a bone here also .Water about every two days . Cheap soaker hose don't last real long .I've got more money in hose clamps in a 75 footer than the thing cost new .I've also got a slash pile that's going to blow black smoke about the time the growing season is over .
have been getting tomatoes and peppers from the garden. some of the romas are getting this. we plan to harvest sooner.
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any other ideas. some cherry tomatoes are splitting. lots of water and heat.
Usually having a dry spell followed by excessive rain is what causes splitting. the tomato plants overcompensate and drink up excessive moisture causing the splits. I have never seen white mold like that before.
From what I've seen the big tomatoes like beef steak are more prone to splitting than the smaller like early girls .I can also see it being more of a problem in some cases unless you irrigate .It's July now and the early are just starting to come on and I have the soaker hoses in operation .Of course I' m talking a raised bed not a half acre of them .
I've never seen that either. End rot most times is black. Could be end rot? Lack of calcium? May need lime? Water problems as was posted too?
You don't compost your tomatoes plants do you? I have a OWB so all my trimmings and plants get burnt.
Use to plant tomatoes and that was it. Now you have to prune them so the leaves don't touch the ground and make sure air can get around them. I try to keep about 6 inches of bare stem. Cages are a must now. I don't have too much problems. I am using a cooper powder as a prevention to help out. It's a Bodine product. I sell it at work.
for fun we plan to throw the egg shells in there. we prob overplanted in the new raised beds. great soil that had been composting with grass clippings for 4 years. maybe too hot. many are looking good, so I hope it is just the early ones. the peppers are looking great.
Finally fresh picked peppers for the grill
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This is a video showing the peppers I grow
YouTube (https://youtu.be/oGDItreh_5s) digin_2
That is one OCD garden buddy! I cant imagine the hours u got in there.
Doc make sure you dry your egg shells thoroughly then smash them up and turn into the finest dust you can. Some people grind em in a blender, ive used two chunks of concrete before but its tedious no matter which way. Youll get very little immediate relief in there from sidedressing eggshells.. The roots must be in contact and very little will wash in.
I bought some products for troubleshooting today and there are quite a few liquid micronutrient concoctions on the shelf for under $10. You could have issue with calcium, iron, boron deficiency, boron toxicity, magnesium, aluminum toxicity. Theyll all kinda create similar chlorosis thatll take experimenting to cure. Ive killed a few plants on youtube fixes thats for sure.
Ive finally learned my lesson.. Pay the 9 bucks for a soil analysis BEFORE planting and ammend as directed for that specific crop. Way too much of my beautiful looking compost has only grown disappointment. each year the winners and losers are a surprise, just when i think i got it down.
Thanks Mike. it is only the roma and not the cherry and big boy fruits. we are picking them early and finish ripening in the house and that seems to work ok. Yeah, I thought we could throw the shell in the garden as well as the trash.
I am one of those people that use nothing but compost and have always had very healthy plants. The best thing I ever did was switch to all raised beds that are very easy to care for and just basically need sun, water, and compost. I make most of my own with only organic mater and the soil is very balanced. I see comments on my youtube channel from people that had soil tested and added nutrients to lets say grow big tomatoes and their peppers wont grow the next year. It takes months for most additives to become effective and crop rotation is one of the largest part of disease prevention and successful gardening so you really need to think ahead also. I don't grow 4 pound GMO tomatoes and there is no need for them because they must be cut up to fit into a caning jar. I use all heirloom seeds because many of them were bred to prosper in varied soil conditions and if I see a problem with the variety like end rot I try different varieties next year to find what works best in my compost. My only problem so far has been loss of tomato plants to the blight that year it never stopped raining. Gardening should be fun and organic not a quest to have the biggest tomato on the block. Always plant extra for the bugs. :)
This was my first year trying potatoes and i did them in pure compost i make, at 7.0 PH, in tires.
My first stack was very vigorous, 3ft tall in no time, but wilted and died a while back. The stem was crawling in bugs and eaten to nothing. Well my other two stacks did about the same wilty thing overnight so i pulled em today to salvage any taters i could. Some sort of root rot got em this time. Black, hollow stem down at the bottom. There were a few larger spuds but with defects. Little disapointing.
I did have a sorta successful first try at onions. Theyre on the shelf in my kitchen anyways, just a little small. Will worry about pumpin them up next yr.
I got one ripe tomato!!
We bought 2 cover ups from walmart years ago, for over flow for the green house business we had. These are the one with the 2 inch tubing, was cheap to buy than. Have 2 sections up by the house than I took what was left over and put it in the garden. I think 20 feet long,10 feet wide. Kinda like a wind tunnel. We have peppers in it. I forgot how many are in there, maybe 70. I laid down black plastic and water them things just about every day. Them things are booming!!!
we have had some rain and tomatoes have lots of green and we are getting 6 a day or so. picking them orange and finishing in the house. only 1 in 4 roma still has end blossom rot.
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Pulled the shallots today.
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Nothing like eggplant, zucchini, and green tomatoes picked fresh and fried up for lunch
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Then fresh out of the oven Zucchini cake for dessert
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Very tasty looking.
Are those zucchini cakes sweet? I have tried zucchini noodles and they were good but they had a noticeably different "tang" which i'm not sure worked with most traditional pasta dishes.
Quote from: JenLightly on July 20, 2020, 06:30:57 PM
Are those zucchini cakes sweet? I have tried zucchini noodles and they were good but they had a noticeably different "tang" which i'm not sure worked with most traditional pasta dishes.
Yes they are sweet and they freeze great. We enjoy them all winter. we just saute the zucchini noodles and have them as a side dish. Last year I started dehydrating zucchini slices with crazy salt that make an awesome snack like a chip that everyone loves. Welcome to the forestry forum.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, JenLightly!
Picked the potatoes. Didn't get many but the tops were drying so it was time. Drought and wind can sure do in plants. Very sweet and tender
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Picked a batch of yellow squash and zucchini then made our favorite winter treats
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Here is a video about making zucchini and yellow squash treats if anyone is interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLDk6aVxjOk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLDk6aVxjOk)
Well we just finished up a batch of zucchini strips taste really good. We plan on doing some more but have to wait on the zucchini. thanks for the tip. Randy
What kind of pest eats a round hole in my green tomatoes? About 1/4 round, what can I put on them that won't kill my pollinators as they are blooming still? Right now it's only on my one big tomato plant ( came up volunteer) from last years tomatoes. Deb has 5 cherry 🍒 and so far nothing has bothered them. No leaves have been eaten. Just the green tomatoes before they get ripe. Tim
Quote from: Banjo picker on July 27, 2020, 04:57:51 AM
What kind of pest eats a round hole in my green tomatoes? About 1/4 round, what can I put on them that won't kill my pollinators as they are blooming still? Right now it's only on my one big tomato plant ( came up volunteer) from last years tomatoes. Deb has 5 cherry 🍒 and so far nothing has bothered them. No leaves have been eaten. Just the green tomatoes before they get ripe. Tim
Most of the time a hole like that is caused by a worm. The same worm that you find in corn. Don't know an organic way to get rid of them.
Quote from: randy d on July 26, 2020, 08:24:22 PM
Well we just finished up a batch of zucchini strips taste really good. We plan on doing some more but have to wait on the zucchini. thanks for the tip. Randy
It's definitely a great way to use all the extra zucchini. I have the dehydrator full of them again. Glad you like them.
Here is a picture
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I have a cowboy doing an investigation, but he can't figure it out either. Tim
Im gonna say thats tomato hornworm taking a light sample.. They can eat entire maters. Beware that stinger tail. They blend right into the plant.. Look real hard. You can control them by hand in avg sized garden no need for chemicals.
I gave them a good dusting of sulfur. Haven't seen any more holes. Mike, when I've had the horn worms in the past the ate the leaves as well as take a sample or two off the tomatoes. Anyway the sulfur seems to have stopped the damage for now.Tim
In the past 4yrs ive only had 3 hornworms. One was a week ago, caught early. Took a bite out of each in a cluster of cherry tomatoes but i didnt see any other damage.
This is looking to be the best year ive had for maters if it stays this way. And the worst for squash!
I didn't even plant the tomato.... it came up volunteer from one of last years that fell late. It's either a big boy or a better boy. That's what we had last year. May not even follow its genetics. Deb got 5 cherrys from a friend all are in composted horse manure....and looking good, if I can keep the worms off them. I got a private message from one of our members that said it looked like the corn borers type of worm, and I agree with him. I pulled a lot of corn in my younger day's. Tim
Thats funny.. I have a tomato i didnt plant growing in a spot where i planted green bell pepper this year but didnt get a one!
Im terrible at growing corn. I was in walmart today and figured id buy a few ears to cook on the fire with the kids. Peeled it back... Maggots.
Newwwwp.
Dangit banjo ya jinxed me. I had one of these buggers wipe out my 4 biggest san marzanos in 1 night.
Bright-line Brown?eye or Tomato Moth and caterpillar (Lacanobia oleracea) | Wildlife Insight (http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/the-bright-line-brown-eye-tomato-moth-laconobia-oleracea-bf-no-2160/)
Years ago I had a watermelon plant sprout up in my pickup floor board.i had some watermelon earlier in the summer & a seed must not of made it out the window on break time. It was my Logging Hoopdee so there was plenty of dirt up in the corner :D
Quote from: mike_belben on August 01, 2020, 10:14:32 AM
Dangit banjo ya jinxed me. I had one of these buggers wipe out my 4 biggest san marzanos in 1 night.
Bright-line Brown?eye or Tomato Moth and caterpillar (Lacanobia oleracea) | Wildlife Insight (http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/the-bright-line-brown-eye-tomato-moth-laconobia-oleracea-bf-no-2160/)
I have had no more damage since I dusted them with sulfur. Banjo
Quote from: mike_belben on August 01, 2020, 10:14:32 AM
Dangit banjo ya jinxed me. I had one of these buggers wipe out my 4 biggest san marzanos in 1 night.
Bright-line Brown?eye or Tomato Moth and caterpillar (Lacanobia oleracea) | Wildlife Insight (http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/the-bright-line-brown-eye-tomato-moth-laconobia-oleracea-bf-no-2160/)
You never only have one. There are 99 more hiding out waiting for the next batch to ripen.
Dang chipmunks like my principe tomatoes. They wait till they are ripe then sit on top of my fence eating them and leaving half of each one for me 🐿🐿. I think the lack of water this year drives them to anything moist.
Shag bark hickory nuts are falling. Found 5 so far. If I find 20 I am doing good.
Just when i thought i was a decent gardener, old lady from church sends my wife home with a pile of baby seal clubbing zucchini, crate of yellow squash, tubs of blueberries she grew and an incredible zucchini bread that we killed in an hour.
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I hang my head in shame!
Been a busy couple weeks with the daily bushel of veggies. Picked a couple red peppers and made our favorite roasted red pepper spread.
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picked some small potatoes and made the best potato chips ever along with freezing batches of eggplant every couple days
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Smoked up some chicken breasts with crab apple to go with the new potatoes
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Sunflowers are amazing this year.
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Life is good 8) 8) 8)
I need help with eggplant. It vexes me on how to do anything tasty with it.
Probably said the same thing last year, like those baskets!! I just came in from picking a bushel of tomatoes. I have to do the same with the peppers too. Lots of ace variety to pick. I have some ghost ones too.
Nice labels.
Egg plants makes good compost!!
Everything looks amazing
Looks great.
Ive got cukes and tomatoes every day but a week of rain has put them all on the edge of a fungal death. The dill has finished and lettuce is nearing its end, both bolting to seed. Chard still going strong but im tired of it. Vine borer got the zucchini and yellow squash and ill probably get one or two butternut to ripen off the dying vine. Dang blight.
Kale and turnips coming up. Will probably clear out some old stuff and put the cool season fare in soon.
Oh and soybeans were the other surprise performer. Soy and chard were the two i didnt have to work at, they were abundant on their own.
back when we lived in Fort Hays Ks, we had a 50 x 300 foot garden. every year there was one crop that went crazy, and we could not give the stuff away fast enough. it was on a sprinkler system along with the grass. had a 5 acre yard.
Quote from: WDH on August 22, 2020, 08:46:35 PM
I need help with eggplant. It vexes me on how to do anything tasty with it.
First you have to plant Rosa Bianca eggplants. They have amazing sweetness, texture, and flavor. Bread and fry it with a panko and seasoned breadcrumb mixture. Have it with a dish of pasta and homemade heirloom tomato sauce using Paul Robesen black tomatoes. Then just grate a little aged parmesan on top 😋. Drinking a bottle of wine while preparing it will also help if you are not an eggplant lover 😉. Standard black eggplant just don't have much flavor and to some are bitter so toss them in the compost.
Quote from: thecfarm on August 22, 2020, 08:48:28 PM
Nice labels.
Egg plants makes good compost!!
I got one of those cameo 3 vinyl cutters that also makes nice labels fast using print and cut and standard adhesive label sheets. Black eggplant makes good compost try the Rosa Bianca's.
The butternuts, pumpkins, and ugly gourds are finally coming in. Surprised how many there are with the drought we were in most of the summer.
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Good stuff!
Maters are out and in the burn pile but she got plenty. We were the opposite, way too much moisture this year. The high tunnel is about empty and ready for replanting. We're swimming in peppers right now, got a recipe for that spread? The only time we lock the doors is when zucchini is coming in :D
Your bounty looks good!!
We did peppers in like a cover up, with greenhouse plastic on it, both ends open. We call it The Pepper House. I put black plastic on the ground too. Them things are booming!!! I hand water them just about every day. I put tomatoes cages around some. I ran out of cages and could not get no more. Need about 50 more to make it all work. I keep forgetting how many I have in there,100 I bet is low. I have some that are 3 feet tall. The ace peppers have stocks bigger than my thumb.
I am buying crop cover ahead. I want to grow the cukes under it to keep the bugs away when they first start and for the warmth too. Zucchini too. Seem like those squash-stick bug really sets them back each year. I hand pick the orange cluster of eggs off, but hard to get them all.
Late coming on but the big tomatoes are ripening up some variety of beef steak .The early girls didn't get any size to them .It's been dry but even with soaker hoses it hasn't helped much . It's probably not a big deal because it could be the first of November before we get a killing frost with this climate change thing .Late tomatoes though really get a tough hide on them .
Odd the cucumbers I grow on a trellis,about 8 feet of it and 6 feet high .It looks like a jungle .A zillion flowers but slow to turn into pickles .
Its likely pollination. Cukes put on male flowers in about a 10:1 ratio to females and from what i gather its not a very potent pollen to bees or not their top pick.. Something like that. So the females are probably getting missed.
I started hand pollinating by just plucking a male, peeling the flower back and jamming it into all the female flowers. Poof. Cukes.
Bug problems mostly cleared up but now suffering from too much rain here. Everything is covered in splotches of fungal blight. I prune tons of leaves off the cukes and theyre racing up the arbor but the new growth soon gets splotchy. Still putting out fruit but its another daily chore. A hoop house would be a big help.. Maybe next year.
Made tomato sauce other night for the first time. I probably wont bother including cherry tomatoes for that again.. Too tedious to skin them all. The romas were so much faster. I have yet to get a beefsteak to maturity here. Its either a blight, a dog or stray chicken that always gets em.
Quote from: Don P on August 30, 2020, 08:49:28 AM
Maters are out and in the burn pile but she got plenty. We were the opposite, way too much moisture this year. The high tunnel is about empty and ready for replanting. We're swimming in peppers right now, got a recipe for that spread? The only time we lock the doors is when zucchini is coming in :D
It is the receipe from the Ball Blue Book. Here is a video I made about it
Canning Our Favorite Roasted Red Pepper Spread - YouTube (https://youtu.be/jbDeJo54k20)
Salsa yesterday
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Quote from: thecfarm on August 30, 2020, 09:14:05 AM
Your bounty looks good!!
We did peppers in like a cover up, with greenhouse plastic on it, both ends open. We call it The Pepper House. I put black plastic on the ground too. Them things are booming!!! I hand water them just about every day. I put tomatoes cages around some. I ran out of cages and could not get no more. Need about 50 more to make it all work. I keep forgetting how many I have in there,100 I bet is low. I have some that are 3 feet tall. The ace peppers have stocks bigger than my thumb.
I am buying crop cover ahead. I want to grow the cukes under it to keep the bugs away when they first start and for the warmth too. Zucchini too. Seem like those squash-stick bug really sets them back each year. I hand pick the orange cluster of eggs off, but hard to get them all.
We are done canning and probably have a 100 pounds of red peppers leftover that will become compost. Never had so many peppers. I quit picking the zucchini a couple weeks ago and have some that must be 30 pounds out there now. The plants got borers but the vines developed roots that saved them.
I used some fungicide early on and nipped it in the bud .Bonide brand copper fungicide .I had pruned the affected leaves off and treated it for about two weeks.Never returned again .
Glad to hear that AL. Will pick some up.
It's been a funny growing season .Although late my variety of beef steak tomatoes are huge,like softball size .
I've noticed what appears to be a short season variety of field corn is browning up and the ears have dropped .The soy beans mostly are green and huge .So unless we get an early frost it's more than likely the corn will come off before the beans .Modern farming methods and varieties used have passed me up years ago .I'm out of that loop .
Soy beans has been one of my most successful items this year. I pick them a little early and freeze em then we steam the pods for snacks later. What do you guys do with soybean?
Cherry tomatoes are putting out but fungal issues from the chronic daily rains this month has pretty well killed the plants. No leaves at all. My big tomatoes are all busting open and looking ugly. Only good for sauce. The lettuces and dill went to seed. Butternut vine put out a few before the mildew took it. One yellow squash left that the borers didnt get. Cukes are good, chard has been incredibly easy to deal with and put out all season, probably since may. Kale came up, trying to keep the caterpillars, slugs and flea beatles off it.
I need to ho everything up, dump in another batch of compost and fertilizer then start seeding for fall stuff. I couldnt get cabbage or brocolli sprouts to survive the summer, hoping i can get some ripe by winter with plastic. Maybe another round of onions too. No luck with beans at all this year for some reason.
Any member of the cabbage plant does better in cooler weather .Tomatoes especially large varieties if they don't have enough water later in the growing season will have a tendency to split the skin .The itty bitty little cherry and grape type are like weeds because once they get planted they never go away .I've got some that were planted by mistake 6 or 7 years ago .Unlike many people I don't like them .It would take two dozen for a cheese burger where just one of the giant beef steak hybrids would cover half a dozen burgers all by itself .How about that,a Texas sized tomato grown in Ohio . 8)
Its funny you say that cuz i had my first volunteer plant this year and it was a cherry mater. Cant complain, i like em fine.
I dont get my splitting Romas tho. Theyve had pretty consistent water to prevent busting open when it pours. But they still do it anyway.
I do get why folks build greenhouses now though.
It sure is a busy time. Every day is another load in the back of the cart.
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The sun flowers are amazing and the birds and bees are very happy
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The freezers and root cellar are almost full
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And the gourds are amazing this year
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Finally cool enough to come out of the basement and start clean up.
@21incher (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=24694) I plan on trying your salsa, and or roasted red pepper spread. thanks!
Very nice and colorful
Quote from: doc henderson on September 09, 2020, 12:17:16 AM
@21incher (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=24694) I plan on trying your salsa, and or roasted red pepper spread. thanks!
They are both from the Ball Blue Book and are easy to water bath can. The salsa is best if you add things like black beans and corn when served. I have videos about both if you have any problems. I am still trying to figure out what to do with several bushels of red peppers that are extra this year.
Dang you are doin something right 21!
You have the green touch.
The large tomatoes are coming on so fast now at last .I called the neighbor lady over yesterday and gave her so many she had a hard time just to carry them .Giants,the size of soft balls .Big old beef steak ,Ohio grown are the best .
There is something about the northern Ohio soil and tomatoes .What it is I have no idea but Campbells and others have a number of canneries in the area north of here .
I have no idea how they are harvested today but years ago I remember migrant workers by the thousands working the fields .
Where I actually grew up was about 6-8 miles from the great Scioto Marsh and a neighboring little town was also involved in the growing of both tomatoes plus onions .The difference was the harvest mostly was done by locals .School kids ,women also in droves got involved in it .Anybody old enough to gather were out in the hot sun . A field full of straw hats . :)
Tomatoes are coming to an end. I pulled up about 6 plants that was dead. But I have about 6 more that are just starting to blossom. Remember I got some in late. Canning tomatoes today. Picked about a bushel and a half last night and the canner is on now getting hot. Just about to start coring the tomatoes and get them ready to can.
We could get a frost anytime now. I probably will cover the garden, if I think we might get one. Seem like get by that first frost, than it warms back up for almost a month some years.
Do you eat tomatoes? I thought that you avoided vegetables, but then again, a tomato is a fruit after all ;D.
ready to process some peppers.
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I'm envious of you guys and your gardens!
You really have some nice gardens and VERY nice crops!
Mine didn't do very well this year, cucumbers were hit with some kind of blight, no bell-peppers, a few tomatoes, but nothing like in the past!
There's always next year!
Tomatoes are being canned for stock for the Instant Pot. So I guess I eat them. ??? Flavors whatever she puts in the Instant Pot, be it pork or chicken.
Theres no leaves left at all on most of my tomatoes but probably the last round of fruit is pretty red. We been making cucumber salad with them if not sauce. Chunk up cherry tomatoes, cukes and a block of mozzarella cheese in a big bowl then drown it in balsamic vinagairette and wonder how you ever got by before this stuff.
Cfarm whats your canning procedure? Something im gonna have to learn with next years garden expansion.
Quote from: Chuck White on September 13, 2020, 08:51:59 AM
cucumbers were hit with some kind of blight,
Mine get it every year and i still manage to get cukes, just the plants look like butt. If you grow them up a fence, wire or hogpanel it will help a bit. Theyll race upward and the blight usually starts down low. I just keep pruning the old shrivelled leaves and the new growth raises up.
If you get wierd baby rattle looking curled fruit with a scrawny end and a big bulb end, its pollination. I habd pollinate the female flowers by jamming a male in there and rolling it around. That produces nice straight fruit. Cukes put on 10x more male flowers than female so bees often miss the females and you get wierd fruit.
Wash the tomatoes.
Core them.
Put in pot and get them soft. I put a little bit of water in a big pan, maybe an inch and put on medium heat and stir each time I put more in.
When soft, put in strainer and strain of most of the liquid. Well the stuff that will strain through. You want it to be kinda thick, but not waterer.
We have a Ball Harvest Pro sauce maker. Just about as fast as I can feed it, the finish products comes out the other end ready to be canned. Peelings stay on a cone that needs to be cleaned if doing a big batch.
That gets warmed back up to be canned. We put this in pints jars. I did 21 pints yesterday and have about 4 pints left over, that will be put into the next batch.
One tablespoon of Italian seasoning, onion power, and garlic is put in when it is simmering. This would be enough for 7 pints. Stir often, you don't want it to stick on the bottom of pan. Than a teaspoon of citric acid is put in as I fill the jars. Hot bath for 35 minutes. Than a cool down of 5 minutes, still in the hot bath water. Than when they are removed they sit for 24 hours without being touched.
I started yesterday at 5am, got done at 1 pm.
My cucumbers were on a fence, they started out and climbed to the top of the 4-foot "hog fence"!
Out of 6 plants, I don't think I got over 12 cucumbers! ::)
smoked red and green chili powder done today. started by washing, and cut in half, removing the stems, on the smoker for three hours, then the dehydrator over night, then in the cleaned out coffee grinder made into powder. ordered some sprinkle type containers with lids, for herbs, and should be in in am.
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Something screwy going on here... I specifically ordered the heirloom right hand thread SAE cucumbers but they sent me this left handed metric. Im pithed.
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Saving seeds. After the shortages this spring I want to be prepared. These are the first batch of peppers and now working on others.
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I can't use all my red peppers this year. Freezers are full, Red pepper spread in the root cellar and I just can't eat anymore roasted or raw :o
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You are next level dude.
Guess I need to quit screwin around.
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Quote from: mike_belben on September 17, 2020, 09:46:42 PM
You are next level dude.
Guess I need to quit screwin around.
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I would like to see you peel that one 😲. I didn't have much luck with cukes this year. They just didn't like all the sun we had. 34 degrees last night so it's basically over up here.
Yeah i think i might get one or two more little cukes, ive got 5 jars of fridge pickles left and one yellow squash so i guess summer is winding down.
It was 50 last night. Coldest weve had so far. Trying to decide if its too late to plant broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions etc. Ive never done a fall crop and am feeling lazy about it after a somewhat lackluster summer garden. I guess i could do a plastic tunnel.
Tomato season has officially ended along with other frost tender crops.
Tomato yield was very good despite some drought issues .
Yield from 17 plants was 125 lbs. Weighed them daily as they came in for about a month. Pretty good return on a $10 investment in seedlings.
A few of the tomatoes went two lbs. Most were at least a lb.
If you like large beefsteak tomatoes try Beefmaster. You've probably seen them on display
at the fair with blue ribbons in front of them.
Some have some funky scarring on the blossom end and even two tomatoes joined together from one flower.
2nd crop of corn coming in now, planted mid June. This crop has been more affected by drought
than the 1st with smaller ears common.
My tomatoes got done last night! >:(
We had heavy frost and 28° starting at midnight, and it was still frosty at 8:00AM.
I went out to pick whatever was left, but most of them were FROZEN, so the whole lot was pulled and thrown in the wheelbarrow then dumped off the side of the yard.
Had a "4-ft Log planter" on the front porch, full of flowers so I had them covered with a blanket, but when I uncovered them about 10:00AM, they were all curled up, so now they keep company with the tomatoes!
The blanket used to protect them from the frost, but the continued freezing temps not-so-much!
Just realized id already posted that curly cuke. Forum foul on me.