official veggie gardener's thread

[fatpat268]

And last but not least my giant sunflowers range in height from approximately 5 foot tall to about 8.5 feet tall. The 2 that are 8.5 feet tall are trees, literally.

I'll post some pictures soon.

I had the unfortunate task of digging out a mammoth sunflower about that size (7 ft) at my parents house. Was a pain in the ass.

 

[TraumaRN]

I had the unfortunate task of digging out a mammoth sunflower about that size (7 ft) at my parents house. Was a pain in the ass.

Well these are going to be probably about 10-12 feet when all is said and done and as far as digging up the 10 sunflowers...screw that, I have a chainsaw to cut them down :sneaky:

 

[TraumaRN]

For all the tomato growers in this thread who can appreciate this, my Topaz or Huan U cherry tomatoes are incredibly stupidly crazy productive.

I have 4 plants and was curious because well they appeared to have lots of tomatoes on at a pretty early stage. Well I counted this morning and between 4 plants I have 242 tomatoes give or take 10.

Never in my life have I seen such a productive tomato.

 

[spidey07]

For all the tomato growers in this thread who can appreciate this, my Topaz or Huan U cherry tomatoes are incredibly stupidly crazy productive.

I have 4 plants and was curious because well they appeared to have lots of tomatoes on at a pretty early stage. Well I counted this morning and between 4 plants I have 242 tomatoes give or take 10.

Never in my life have I seen such a productive tomato.

You sure they aren't a determinate variety that produce all their maters at once and then they're done?

 

[drnickriviera]

You find horn worms. You kill on site. No mercy. Evil.

Word. I found one on my tomato plant this morning. He got chopped in half and set on top of the bluebird box. Hope the babies enjoy the snack.

My kingdom for some cooler temperatures. I have quite a few green tomatoes on the plant, but they aren't ripening. Think I could cut off the tomato with a bit of stem and leaves and set it inside to ripen?

 

[spidey07]

Word. I found one on my tomato plant this morning. He got chopped in half and set on top of the bluebird box. Hope the babies enjoy the snack.

My kingdom for some cooler temperatures. I have quite a few green tomatoes on the plant, but they aren't ripening. Think I could cut off the tomato with a bit of stem and leaves and set it inside to ripen?

I wouldn't. Not as good. If you feel you must you can take tomatos and put them in paper bags out of the sun and that will ripen them. It's really a last resort however and I only use it if a frost is coming that will kill the plants if I have maters still on them.

 

[TraumaRN]

You sure they aren't a determinate variety that produce all their maters at once and then they're done?

Negative, they are open pollinated/heirloom indeterminate. The seed packet said they have 'incredible production' for a cherry tomato. Yeah, no shit.

Not to mention they are 6 foot tall, and despite me chopping the tops off daily to cut them back it just laughs grows right back the very next day. I'm pretty sure if I let them they be over my 8 foot privacy fence by now.

Working on posting some pics right now as well

 

[TraumaRN]

Purple pepper

Cherry tomatoes on the left, scallop squash and corn

One of my topaz cherry tomatoes, will ripen to pale yellow with green flecks

Watermelon, pole beans, san marzano tomatoes, asparagus, plus corn in behind the tomatoes

 

[OOBradm]

Too late to plant anything this year? Just moved and have a backyard where I'd like to grow some veggies. I'm in Pennsylvania.

 

[TraumaRN]

Too late to plant anything this year? Just moved and have a backyard where I'd like to grow some veggies. I'm in Pennsylvania.

Unless you've got access to plants that are already started it's too late for most things, you could buy seeds for a fall garden if you want. Pole beans, snap peas, broccoli, cabbage, pretty much any brassica family plant. You could also probably do summer squash if you bought seeds and started them RIGHT NOW.

Other things to consider that are relatively easy to grow from seed would be radishes and carrots provided you really work the soil over where they will be grown so they can push their tap root down easily.

 

[fatpat268]

Negative, they are open pollinated/heirloom indeterminate. The seed packet said they have 'incredible production' for a cherry tomato. Yeah, no shit.

Not to mention they are 6 foot tall, and despite me chopping the tops off daily to cut them back it just laughs grows right back the very next day. I'm pretty sure if I let them they be over my 8 foot privacy fence by now.

Working on posting some pics right now as well

Damn, I'm jealous. Blossom drop has limited the production of my maters... and to think, I actually got excited that I saw 1 (one) new tomato form.

Lol texas.

I've had pretty good luck with all of my pepper plants. I recently also cut each pepper plant I had below it's first fork, and they've all rebounded and produced an incredible amount of peppers.

 

[TraumaRN]

Damn, I'm jealous. Blossom drop has limited the production of my maters... and to think, I actually got excited that I saw 1 (one) new tomato form.

Lol texas.

I've had pretty good luck with all of my pepper plants. I recently also cut each pepper plant I had below it's first fork, and they've all rebounded and produced an incredible amount of peppers.

Well I can give you the link where I got the cherry tomatoes, very prolific and very quick to set fruit. Like 75 days to maturity if I remember correctly. It's pretty much the only place I buy seeds from.

 

[fatpat268]

Well I can give you the link where I got the cherry tomatoes, very prolific and very quick to set fruit. Like 75 days to maturity if I remember correctly. It's pretty much the only place I buy seeds from.

That'd be great.

But the real problem here is the high temperatures. The temperatures aren't dropping below 75f at night, so the pollen is ineffective. I'm planning on starting some tomato plants inside and see if that works. But yea, I mostly buy most of my seeds at Lowes or the local nursery (mostly lowes) so I'd love to check out where you get them.

 

[TraumaRN]

That'd be great.

But the real problem here is the high temperatures. The temperatures aren't dropping below 75f at night, so the pollen is ineffective. I'm planning on starting some tomato plants inside and see if that works. But yea, I mostly buy most of my seeds at Lowes or the local nursery (mostly lowes) so I'd love to check out where you get them.

http://rareseeds.com/

Is the main website.

If you want more specifics regarding tomatoes,

http://rareseeds.com/vegetables-p-z/tomatoes.html

Just a word of warning, there are somewhere around ~250 cultivars of tomatoes on their website. And yes starting indoors will help with your tomatoes setting more fruit even in the heat of Texas

 

[fatpat268]

http://rareseeds.com/

Is the main website.

If you want more specifics regarding tomatoes,

http://rareseeds.com/vegetables-p-z/tomatoes.html

Just a word of warning, there are somewhere around ~250 cultivars of tomatoes on their website. And yes starting indoors will help with your tomatoes setting more fruit even in the heat of Texas

Thanks a bunch... great site, seems like they have a ridiculous amount of selection.

 

[BoomerD]

http://rareseeds.com/

Is the main website.

If you want more specifics regarding tomatoes,

http://rareseeds.com/vegetables-p-z/tomatoes.html

Just a word of warning, there are somewhere around ~250 cultivars of tomatoes on their website. And yes starting indoors will help with your tomatoes setting more fruit even in the heat of Texas

Nice link. Thanks. I may give them a try. We were thinking about trying one of the seed companies. We've bought from Burpee in the past...and with the recent run of mis-labeled plants from Lowe's, I MIGHT go the seed route next year.

 

[zanejohnson]

 

[TraumaRN]

Nice link. Thanks. I may give them a try. We were thinking about trying one of the seed companies. We've bought from Burpee in the past...and with the recent run of mis-labeled plants from Lowe's, I MIGHT go the seed route next year.

Everything you see in my garden is from there and from seed. Even some of my flowers, my marigolds and zinnias in particular are from there.

I do tend to ignore the more political slant on some of their articles just because they honestly have a great seed selection, fast shipping(usually at my door in 2 days normal mail), they always give you a free item of some sort. And their seed catalog is OUTSTANDING, awesome pics and descriptions, full color. And free.

 

[BoomerD]

Everything you see in my garden is from there and from seed. Even some of my flowers, my marigolds and zinnias in particular are from there.

I do tend to ignore the more political slant on some of their articles just because they honestly have a great seed selection, fast shipping(usually at my door in 2 days normal mail), they always give you a free item of some sort. And their seed catalog is OUTSTANDING, awesome pics and descriptions, full color. And free.

Great info. I generally don't care about a site's politics...as long as they have quality products at a fair price. (there might be exceptions to that...if they're ultra-right wing)

I'll contact them for their catalog.

 

[TraumaRN]

First cucumber of the season! These Japanese long cucumbers are delicious and massive, first one I picked was an easy one foot long. Crisp and crunchy not bitter at all. Can't wait until the plants really hit their stride and start putting out 2 footers.

Oh and I have 2 watermelon and at least 5 or 6 cantaloupe set and growing. Corn is now mostly taller then me(I'm 6ft).

Sunflower update, the one is approximately 12 feet tall, maybe closer to 13 feet, anyways it's as tall as the gutters on the front of my house. It's MASSIVE.

EDIT: Here is a picture of my two biggest sunflowers and me as perspective. I'm 6 foot tall, oh and the sunflowers aren't done growing yet.

 

[BoomerD]

Well...I'm awash in cherry tomatoes...I now have 6 of the sunsugar cherry tomato plants...all are at least 5 feet high and covered in ripe tomatoes. They're damned good...little orange sugar balls...but dammit...I don't need 3,246,782 gawd damned cherry tomatoes every week...My neighbors have stopped answering the door...
My roma tomatoes are starting to finally turn from green to red...and I have ONE "better boy" that has fist-sized tomatoes, but they're all still green.

My Fresno chili has 25+ peppers in various stages of ripeness...from pale green to deep red. I threw a couple of the red ones on the grill tonight with dinner. WOW! Nice and hot...with excellent flavor.
The jalapeno plants are covered in 2-4 inch peppers, the serrrano is covered in peppers...and more blossoms. The bell peppers are smaller this year than in the past, but are still prolific producers.
The blueberries are all done for the season, and the strawberries are taking a small break...but have started putting out more blossoms this week.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

well... this year has pretty much been a bust. too hot for the tomatoes. and what I have gotten, half has gone to the squirrels. and the cherry tomato plants are mostly diseased and dying. beans have been eaten to shit by bugs. cucumber is a roller coaster of dying off then perking back up. lettuce was to bitter to eat. the only thing that looks good are the bell peppers, but they didn't grow well and I have 3 peppers between 3 plants. onions did good to. but that's it. the tomatoes I have gotten have been tasty. the early girl was very tasty. gonna do that again next year.
I am giving up on raised beds. I'm going to take all the dirt and make a flower bed in the back of the yard. I'm gettng a tiller and grinding up the soil and planting direct next year. I just havnt had any luck with raised beds. ittl give me more planting space and I'm sure the ground soil has more of the nutrients that I'm missing.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

well... this year has pretty much been a bust. too hot for the tomatoes. and what I have gotten, half has gone to the squirrels. and the cherry tomato plants are mostly diseased and dying. beans have been eaten to shit by bugs. cucumber is a roller coaster of dying off then perking back up. lettuce was to bitter to eat. the only thing that looks good are the bell peppers, but they didn't grow well and I have 3 peppers between 3 plants. onions did good to. but that's it. the tomatoes I have gotten have been tasty. the early girl was very tasty. gonna do that again next year.
I am giving up on raised beds. I'm going to take all the dirt and make a flower bed in the back of the yard. I'm gettng a tiller and grinding up the soil and planting direct next year. I just havnt had any luck with raised beds. ittl give me more planting space and I'm sure the ground soil has more of the nutrients that I'm missing.

Wow. I've had the complete opposite expeirence. I built 2 raised beds this year. My garden is absolutely out of control.

I have 100+ tomatos on the vine right now. a couple plants are problably 6' + in height. I'm pulling cukes off everyday. huge squash. My eggplants plants have multiple fruits each and are about 18" taller than i've ever had before. Pepper plants are about 12" taller than I've ever had. The lettuce is delicious. The broccoli was perfect. The brussel sprouts are coming in nicely as well. Green beans and peas have done tremendously well. The only thing that failed was the cabbage and the cauliflower and tahts because i didn't spray with BT early enough.

overall this is my best year in 5.

 

[fatpat268]

well... this year has pretty much been a bust. too hot for the tomatoes. and what I have gotten, half has gone to the squirrels. and the cherry tomato plants are mostly diseased and dying. beans have been eaten to shit by bugs. cucumber is a roller coaster of dying off then perking back up. lettuce was to bitter to eat. the only thing that looks good are the bell peppers, but they didn't grow well and I have 3 peppers between 3 plants. onions did good to. but that's it. the tomatoes I have gotten have been tasty. the early girl was very tasty. gonna do that again next year.
I am giving up on raised beds. I'm going to take all the dirt and make a flower bed in the back of the yard. I'm gettng a tiller and grinding up the soil and planting direct next year. I just havnt had any luck with raised beds. ittl give me more planting space and I'm sure the ground soil has more of the nutrients that I'm missing.

Where do you live?

It's been pretty much a bust for me this year too. I'm in texas and the heat + lack of rain has screwed up most everything I planted. I got a couple of tomatoes, but nothing noteworthy. I can't seem to keep my cukes and squashes alive... they shrivel up and eventually die in the intense sunlight. My cabbages haven't torn up by cabbage loopers (I even spray BT regularly... but I think I might need to get a new bottle).

My beans look healthy, but they haven't grown. They've been in the ground for two months or so, and they're barely knee high. There's plenty of nutrients in the soil, and they get plenty of water, but they're not growing. Also, my first batch of corn was growing great, but got invaded by some type of pest. My second batch (that I planted early July) is already ~2 ft tall.

The only thing that's really thriving for me is my pepper plants. I've got a few jalapenos and hungarian wax pepper plants... but in hindsight I wish I planted a lot more. Oh well, it's a little too late for that.


Edit:
I've got a few plans for next year though. One of my raised beds is in direct sunlight for 95% of the time. Pretty much everything I put there is guaranteed to die this year. Since I don't really have a better place to put a raised bed, I'm going to make a frame for some sunblock fabric that will block 40%-50% of the sunlight. Also, I'm planning to build a drip irrigation system set on a timer so I know the plants are getting plenty of water.

 

[spidey07]

My bell peppers are out of control. I had to stake/cage all of them because they were so heavy with fruit.