Watcha Growing

[mike_belben]

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.

[Banjo picker]

Well on the bright side those Japanese Beatles will only be with you about a month. Banjo

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[thecfarm]

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.

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[mike_belben]

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. 

[Al_Smith]

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----

[Don P]

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.

[Old Greenhorn]

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. 

Oh man, I feel your pain. Glad you are bucking up through this time that has to be oh so tough. :D ;D

[thecfarm]

I've got tomatoes too. Just not ripe yet.  :D  Sounds like you are eating well. 

[Magicman]

 

 
Last night's supper; corn, saute' squash, green beans, tomato, & cuke.

[Walnut Beast]

 
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 😋 

[21incher]

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.

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[mike_belben]

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.

[Sedgehammer]

Pyrethrins are your organic friends my friends. From the chrysanthemum family. 

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[21incher]

Harvested my garlic today. The mild winter gave us the largest bulbs we have ever grown. Hanging in the root cellar drying now.


 

 

[mike_belben]

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. 

  

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[Magicman]

About all of our veggie crops will be gone very soon because mid July is usually the limit.

[21incher]

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. 

[Al_Smith]

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 .

[doc henderson]

have been getting tomatoes and peppers from the garden.  some of the romas are getting this.  we plan to harvest sooner.



 


 

any other ideas.  some cherry tomatoes are splitting.  lots of water and heat.

[21incher]

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.