Watcha Growing

[Banjo picker]

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

[thecfarm]

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

[Raider Bill]

 





 

Baby pineapple.

[21incher]

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.

[Don P]

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. 

[scgargoyle]

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.

[thecfarm]

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. :(

[69bronco]

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?

[thecfarm]

Horn worms.   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.

[21incher]

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 

 

[69bronco]

What did you use to make the round beds?

[21incher]

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.

[mike_belben]

I transplanted summer squash, cukes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and red romaine into my sorta raised beds on may 8th.  



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






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. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Nice garden Mike!  8)

[mike_belben]

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.

[thecfarm]

I'm just a poor rock farmer

[bigred1951]

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.

[Southside]

That's a good use for Pokeweed there Mike, not much else a guy can get from that stuff. 

[mike_belben]

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.  

[Chuck White]

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!

[mike_belben]

I have 4 of those Mr. Stripey tomato plants from a mennonite garden place.  Theyre doing great so far. 

[thecfarm]

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.

[scgargoyle]

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.

[21incher]

New bees for the garden. Built some a couple of years ago from plywood and suffered bee colony delamination.


 
So rebuilt them from plastic wood. The stuff is supposed to last 25 years outside


 

 

 Happy bee whirlygigs watching over the garden again 

[Banjo picker]

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