official veggie gardener's thread

[spidey07]

It appears that the bird is either a woodchuck, chipmunk, else raccoon. Regardless, I'm a good shot. I might aim the spotlights on the back of the house in that direction & keep my eyes open late at night. 100 yard shot, give or take. I can make that shot from where I'm sitting right now.

5.56 from the porch, it's the only way to be sure.

 

[craftsmaster]

Don't mess with it instead give them a food, their fave food (racumen), at the end of the day, it'll be a good fertilizer for you garden.

 

[meltdown75]

i wasn't aware they sold actual "garden" twine... it's green

didn't get a chance to do level 3 of my weave last night but tonight for sure. they definitely need it... they are huge and getting bushy. i'm excited. i will finally post an updated pic, i promise.

 

[TraumaRN]

Well my cantaloupe have started flowering and looks like I'll get at least one melon out of the deal, there is one tiny melon at the moment

Picking my first two cukes today.

I'll post some pics soon

 

[troytime]

hey guys!
This is my 2nd attempt to garden. Last year i had two tomato plants in containers that both died any early death after producing a single marble sized tomato.

This year I made three self-watering containers out of 18gallon storage totes.
one container has 6 pepper plants
one has 2 tomato plants (roma)
and the third has a single pepper plant and about 10 sugar snap peas.

from the 7 pepper plants, there are currently 20 peppers growing.
Should I limit the number of peppers per plant to make sure that they all mature and ripen? Or is it ok to just let all of these peppers grow. I saw a video where the guy mentioned not allowing peppers on the stems, only on the main plant and it confused me

 

[craftsmaster]

Hi Troy,

Sounds a great come back. The only thing that would completely remove the doubt or if not, at least to lessen it, is to try it by your self. Besides, you'll never get into it without risk. So keep trying until you learn from it. Because if you ask and advise, experts will give you a totally different idea.

 

[spidey07]

On peppers I just let them go. Never had a problem and plenty of fruit. My habeneros and chilis are going insane right now.

 

[TraumaRN]

First cucumber of the year...probably picked it a day or two early but it looked so damn good. Me and the wife quickly peeled and devoured it. Should have at least a half dozen more by next week.

My first cantaloupe is about the size of a 4-5cm ball bearing.

 

[eplebnista]

So far tomatoes have been ripening 4-5 at a time which is just about perfect timing for none to go to waste. Been having way too many cucumbers though, about three dozen so far(2/3 reg, 1/3 burpless), let a few escape being picked that grew way too big to be edible too.

 

[meltdown75]

i have baby jalapenos <3

 

[JTsyo]

First time we're trying to grow anything. Too much deer and not enough land to put down an actual garden, we're just planting about 8 pots worth of peppers, tomatoes and beans and placing them on the deck. The beans we'll probably move to under the deck and them climb up.

 

[spidey07]

Holy moly! My tomatoes are going nuts! The brandywine has been super productive and believe it or not my best mater. I was worried it was doing too much foilage and not enough fruit as there were blossoms everywhere. I lifted up the leaves to find some 30 tomatoes on a single plant hiding underneath the leaves about the size of baseballs. It was like christmas all over again.

That's good for maters, you don't want full sun on the fruit and the plant loves to hide them from you. The VERY high heat (high 70s low temp, 95 high) is still giving me some problems with fruit set but overall everything is very happy.

The zucchini isn't liking the temps though, the leaves are constantly dieing. I've got good fruit set but the plant is abandoning them when they get a few inches long. Not enough water to support the plant/fruit.

 

[BoomerD]

I thought I had killed a couple of my tomato plants with some soapy water spray for aphids...but no, they're coming back. <phew>

Looks like the hot weather has ended the radish harvest however. Instead of growing fleshy roots, they're growing big green tops and flowers. :| I'll get a couple of dozen smaller radishes out of the current crop, but that's it until fall.

Now to figure what I can grow in their place...:hmm:

 

[spidey07]

Boomer, I've got mater plants growing where I let fruit rot from last year. The are about impossible to kill. It's getting them to produce plentiful fruit that my tlc comes into play.

 

[meltdown75]

I have a full-sized green pepper on one of my plants. Well it looks about full-size to me anyway. I might need to stake these to give them support. They aren't falling over, but they're certainly leaning.

My tomatoes were too close together again this year. Looks like a wall of tomato plant. Lots of foliage, quite a few flowers. Just gonna let em grow I guess.

Anyhoo, a lot of fun again this year. Great hobby.

Any recommendations for a late crop of something else? What veggies will grow ok if I plant them now? Anything? I wouldn't mind putting in some onions - I have some room left for those.

My baby jalapenos are awesome and plentiful. I think I will have a very decent crop of jaleps

 

[Jzero]

On a whim I threw some fennel and brussels sprout seeds down in mid-june and to my shock, there is a fennel stalk coming up! At this point the cucumber has overgrown the area where the brussels sprouts would have been....too bad, as I was excited about being able to just cut brussels sprouts off anytime I wanted them.

 

[spidey07]

On a whim I threw some fennel and brussels sprout seeds down in mid-june and to my shock, there is a fennel stalk coming up! At this point the cucumber has overgrown the area where the brussels sprouts would have been....too bad, as I was excited about being able to just cut brussels sprouts off anytime I wanted them.

Careful with fennel. It hinders the growth of most things. It will almost kill nightshade varieties (tomato, potato). I love fennel but refuse to have it anywhere near my garden because of this.

 

[Jzero]

Careful with fennel. It hinders the growth of most things. It will almost kill nightshade varieties (tomato, potato). I love fennel but refuse to have it anywhere near my garden because of this.

Interesting...I was not aware of this. Fortunately it's pretty far from any tomatoes and its nearest neighbors are cucumber and onions which after a bit of googling, it appears they shouldn't have too much trouble with fennel growing nearby. What a weird phenomenon! I never considered interactions beyond one plant overgrowing another...

 

[TraumaRN]

On a whim I threw a russet baking potato that had spuds on it in the ground figuring at least it'd provide some organic matter...well the damn thing grew! It's about 2 inches above the ground. I have no idea how this will pan out but I'm gonna read up on growing potatos. Hopefully it's not sterile.

I put my cantaloupe fence/trellis up. Gonna use wife's old nylons to hold up the fruit as they set so they won't fall over/break.

Also had to transplant my thyme as my cucumber got huge and now is blocking alot of the sun that it would normally get.

 

[spidey07]

Companion planting. Some plants help others as well as harm others.

I know I've said it a few times but I always put marigolds near my tomatoes. Ever since I've started doing this I've had zero problems with hornworms or other worms. The flowers put off a stench that caterpillars/moths/butterflies don't like.

 

[BoomerD]

Companion planting. Some plants help others as well as harm others.

I know I've said it a few times but I always put marigolds near my tomatoes. Ever since I've started doing this I've had zero problems with hornworms or other worms. The flowers put off a stench that caterpillars/moths/butterflies don't like.

Around here, the marigolds won't last overnight. The slugs and snails love them...

 

[spidey07]

Meltdown, any of the cabbage family would be good for fall planting - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. They don't like hot weather at all and are better suited to spring/fall.

 

[meltdown75]

thanks man

 

[meltdown75]

i have pics of jalepenos and sweet banana peppers, will post later for sure. not ready to pick yet but looking great. i need tips on when to pick various peppers.

how's everyone's garden doing?

 

[Kreon]

I don't know how I missed this thread...

This year I've planted the largest garden I ever have, due to the fact that I'm home this summer.

I have:
6 Jetstar Tomatoes
6 Big Boy Tomatoes (1 in pot)
8 Cherry Tomatoes (4 in pots)
6 Jalepeno Peppers (2 in pots)
12 Bell Pepper
~12 sq feet leaf lettuce/Mesclin patch
~20 Trout Brook Lettuce plants (Closest to Romaine I could find this year)
8 cucumber plants (5 in pots)
12 Marigold plants (5 in pots)

I haven't gotten any real harvests yet. I have been pulling the outer leaves off the Trout Brook lettuce and a few of the mesclin leaves. My garden is only partly sunny, so things tend to grow slowly.

Will post some pictures of my garden at some point later.

I do have a problem with something eating my jalepeno peppers. I think its aphids, but I'm not sure. I doused the peppers and the rubarb plant next to it with Sevin. Hopefully that kills them off. Is there a way I can invite predators into my garden to eat them? Like ladybugs? I'd prefer to not have to use chemicals, but its what I had on hand.

I also plant/grow blackberries and raspberries. More than the vegetables, I enjoy these most. I have a blackberry patch that is about 80 sf, with 15-20 mature plants and about 20 immature plants. I need to clean some of the immature ones out (especially the ones growing in the lawn).

My raspberry patch is still a mess, I never got to clean it out this year. I have no idea how many plants are in it right now (though I do know I have 6 raspberry and 2 black raspberry bushes growing next to the garage). From the garage plot I got about a gallon of berries so far, and probably another half gallon still on the bush.

I also have a patch of black raspberries, which is not doing well due to trees growing around it and less sun. About 20 sf, but I only got about a half gallon of berries, which is disappointing as the black raspberries are my favorites.