Garden thread
Replies
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saltysparkle wrote: »I am just a beginning gardener, and I'm moving to a place soon where the only gardening I'll be able to do, at least for a year, is in some elevated beds. I'd really like to grow some veggies. Anyone have some easy/foolproof veggies or fruits that will grow okay in elevated beds? (I'm in US gardening zone 6a.)
Editing to add: The large bed is 8x2', and then there are two 1x2' planters.
I have lots of veggies and herbs in 6" deep beds. Tomatoes and root vegetables would like deeper beds.
Here in Massachusetts, Swiss chard is foolproof. Bugs and woodchucks leave it alone. You can plant it in April and while it will stop growing when it gets cold, it has to be super cold (and wet) to kill it, so I'm usually still making Swiss chard casserole in Nov/Dec. In warmer months I put it in smoothies. You can also substitute it for spinach in most recipes (it does not cook down quite as much.)
As a beginning gardener, you won't make this mistake, but this year I bought what I thought were Swiss chard seedlings without looking at the tag and they turned out to be beets. Fortunately, beets greens work just as well in smoothies and steamed/sauteed.
For easy perennials: strawberries, chives, scallions, oregano. Thyme can be invasive. Anything in the mint family is SUPER invasive - best to quarantine it.
If you join a local FB gardening group you will likely be able to pick up lots of perennial plants for free from gardeners who are thinning. If something needs to be thinned, that generally means it is easy...which might be synonymous for invasive
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At the moment, I have a green bean forest in my garden. Good grief, what am I going to do with them all???? They don't freeze that well, do they?
I've been planning for my upcoming green bean explosion by stocking up on recipes
https://whatscookingamerica.net/Appetizers/GreenBeanPate.htm (Someone at a vegetarian yoga center used to make a very yummy green bean pate. I doubt it had eggs like this recipe. I don't have her recipe, but this one looks close. I think I'd use more beans and less onions.)
If you like Asian food, LMK and I will get you the recipe if you can't see this. It calls for a pound of green beans to 4 oz ground pork - I also add 4 oz ground turkey to up the protein and serve with rice for a complete meal. https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/stir-fried-pork-oyster-sauce-green-beans
https://food52.com/recipes/81711-pesto-pasta-with-green-beans-potatoes-from-nancy-harmon-jenkins I like my beans crunchy so add the pasta and give it a few minutes head start before adding the beans. I think I double or triple the beans. Sometimes I use a can of white beans instead of the potatoes.
Similar recipe as above; different cooking method. Uses pre-made pesto and adds yogurt: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/69446/pesto-pasta-with-green-beans-and-potatoes/
(In my case it is actually purple pole beans. They are easier to harvest because of the color and height. They turn green-ish when cooked.)
https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/beans/bean-pole-purple-king--prod000595.html
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@kshama2001 Thank you for sharing all those links!!1
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tomatoes and pumpkin bloom
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I potted 4 rosemary seeds today. I won't over water this time. Lavender is looking great, no flowers yet but thriving, and parsley is growing.
In just 30 days, lavender is flourishing. I have a rosemary seedling and hopefully more coming.
I had to rip out the cherry tomato plant. Animals (possibly birds) got to it and bent it and it was suffering. I'm using that vacant space to grow sweet potatoes as soon as my slips are ready. Jalapeno pepper plant is doing well. Bell Pepper plants are growing. I only started the seed in May so I'm way behind but in Texas it stays hot most of the year. Even chilly is still warm in my opinion, having been raised in the north. I'd like to grow some cayenne and habanero peppers plus eggplant somewhat soon. I have some pots to work with if need be.
I'm growing sweet potato slips.
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@lovelychar How did you get your sweet potato slips going?? I tried to do that a few months ago and all they did was rot? Did you simply get a regular sweet potato from the store? When I looked for the how-tos online it said you could either do a whole potato or cut it in 1/2 so I did the 1/2. Not sure if that's my mistake? Also, I didn't buy an organic potato or anything?
I still really love(!!) your corner space and have the perfect corner for something like that, even picturing in my head what I could plant there. But I also picture having to buy 100 bags of gardening soil. 
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I must be losing it. I bought 2 packets of cucumber seeds and planted them in a garden bed and in the corner of my garden. I have some great looking plants coming(sorry no pictures) with tons(uhoh) of baby cucumbers on 3 of the mounds. But 1 of them is growing something else, maybe pumpkins. Lol I had no clue or memory of planting pumpkins. But they're taking over some of my garden. Oops.1
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Could have been mixed in with the cuke seeds or maybe just a volunteer.....either way,,,Happy Haloween.4
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Cucumber seeds are very different from pumpkin. Could be birds or squirrels or something like that accidentally planting it?1
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@lovelychar How did you get your sweet potato slips going?? I tried to do that a few months ago and all they did was rot? Did you simply get a regular sweet potato from the store? When I looked for the how-tos online it said you could either do a whole potato or cut it in 1/2 so I did the 1/2. Not sure if that's my mistake? Also, I didn't buy an organic potato or anything?
I still really love(!!) your corner space and have the perfect corner for something like that, even picturing in my head what I could plant there. But I also picture having to buy 100 bags of gardening soil.
I did buy an organic sweet potato. Also I would recommend not cutting it. You can reuse the same sweet potato over and over to grow slips. I'm only going to use maybe 7 or 8 slips because I don't have much room left. if I lived closer to you, I'd give you the majority of what this will likely produce. It's grown even more today!1 -
@lovelychar How did you get your sweet potato slips going?? I tried to do that a few months ago and all they did was rot? Did you simply get a regular sweet potato from the store? When I looked for the how-tos online it said you could either do a whole potato or cut it in 1/2 so I did the 1/2. Not sure if that's my mistake? Also, I didn't buy an organic potato or anything?
I still really love(!!) your corner space and have the perfect corner for something like that, even picturing in my head what I could plant there. But I also picture having to buy 100 bags of gardening soil.
I wanted to add two important things: I change the water every Thursday, same day every week whether it looks like it needs it or not (I just use city water out of the tap). And two, I read a blog this woman wrote about her experience with sweet potato size and their slips and the outcome in size of the potato and she said that the big and the small both produced small so she uses a medium and it works best for her to produce nice sized sweet potatoes. I used a medium size, four toothpicks (3 would work) to elevate potato, a mason jar and potato half in water and half elevated above. It takes a month or so.1 -
Evidently my corn is ready - the squirrels are stealing it!! Grew some blue corn for blue cornbread, just for fun. The stalks are pitiful, but at least they grew a few ears. Going to go ahead and harvest them... not sure to just pull up the stalks and hang dry? Or individual ears and lay them out?2
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@lovelychar How did you get your sweet potato slips going?? I tried to do that a few months ago and all they did was rot? Did you simply get a regular sweet potato from the store? When I looked for the how-tos online it said you could either do a whole potato or cut it in 1/2 so I did the 1/2. Not sure if that's my mistake? Also, I didn't buy an organic potato or anything?
I still really love(!!) your corner space and have the perfect corner for something like that, even picturing in my head what I could plant there. But I also picture having to buy 100 bags of gardening soil.
I wanted to add two important things: I change the water every Thursday, same day every week whether it looks like it needs it or not (I just use city water out of the tap). And two, I read a blog this woman wrote about her experience with sweet potato size and their slips and the outcome in size of the potato and she said that the big and the small both produced small so she uses a medium and it works best for her to produce nice sized sweet potatoes. I used a medium size, four toothpicks (3 would work) to elevate potato, a mason jar and potato half in water and half elevated above. It takes a month or so.
Thanks so much I'll need to keep this info for next year. For some reason sweet potato plants are hard to come by in our region and I couldn't find any by the time I knew my potato wasn't going to sprout forth and multiply. 1 -
OK my people, out of curiosity if you got a package of seeds from China wouldn't you be tempted to keep a couple and try growing them in a pot to see what they are? I've read enough to know it's probably not smart but I'd be so tempted!1
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I have thought the same thing! One guy in Arkansas(?? Can’t remember for sure) did, before he knew what was going on. I think they dug up the plants... he said they looked like a type of cucumber.OK my people, out of curiosity if you got a package of seeds from China wouldn't you be tempted to keep a couple and try growing them in a pot to see what they are? I've read enough to know it's probably not smart but I'd be so tempted!
Sounds like they have started identifying some of them, and it’s different plants, likely being sent just for bogus online reviews. My copy and paste isn’t working right, but it’s searchable.
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Has anyone had blossom drop in your tomatoes? I planted 4 plants: 2 Rutgers (heirloom red slicers), 1 yellow pear, and one Lemon Boy (yellow slicer). My plants have all thrived but the Lemon Boy has not set a single fruit. All the rest are setting lots of fruit and I have just started harvesting so I know the problem is not the soil, water, or nutrients. I am wondering if the Lemon Boy was just not the right variety for my space. I have never had this issue in 40 years of growing tomatoes (off and on depending on where I was living). I pulled it out yesterday. If it hasn't set fruit yet, it is not worth it.
Any thoughts?0 -
Very emotional as a first time gardener to walk out to see your first tomato, ever, growing!!! This was also one of my first seeds I planted.
@earlnabby Wish I could help you but I'd hold on and see what happens. Maybe it's just super slow.7 -
Having our 1st cucumber out of our garden for dinner tonight and it's so much better than store bought. Been eating cherry tomatoes too. I wish I could have a garden year round. 3
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Has anyone had blossom drop in your tomatoes? I planted 4 plants: 2 Rutgers (heirloom red slicers), 1 yellow pear, and one Lemon Boy (yellow slicer). My plants have all thrived but the Lemon Boy has not set a single fruit. All the rest are setting lots of fruit and I have just started harvesting so I know the problem is not the soil, water, or nutrients. I am wondering if the Lemon Boy was just not the right variety for my space. I have never had this issue in 40 years of growing tomatoes (off and on depending on where I was living). I pulled it out yesterday. If it hasn't set fruit yet, it is not worth it.
Any thoughts?
Welllll . . . it still could be weather-related, or nutrient related. Usually blossom drop is a stress reaction of some kind, and it's absolutely the case that different varieties have different heat preferences, different resistances to diseases, different sensitivities to nutrient deficiences or other sub-ideal conditions, etc. Plants are weird.
ETA: Could try hand pollinating, if you can catch 'em at the right time.1 -
Has anyone had blossom drop in your tomatoes? I planted 4 plants: 2 Rutgers (heirloom red slicers), 1 yellow pear, and one Lemon Boy (yellow slicer). My plants have all thrived but the Lemon Boy has not set a single fruit. All the rest are setting lots of fruit and I have just started harvesting so I know the problem is not the soil, water, or nutrients. I am wondering if the Lemon Boy was just not the right variety for my space. I have never had this issue in 40 years of growing tomatoes (off and on depending on where I was living). I pulled it out yesterday. If it hasn't set fruit yet, it is not worth it.
Any thoughts?
Welllll . . . it still could be weather-related, or nutrient related. Usually blossom drop is a stress reaction of some kind, and it's absolutely the case that different varieties have different heat preferences, different resistances to diseases, different sensitivities to nutrient deficiences or other sub-ideal conditions, etc. Plants are weird.
ETA: Could try hand pollinating, if you can catch 'em at the right time.
Does that happen with pumpkin plants too? I noticed tons of blossoms, lots of bees, but the blossoms drop off and...nothing. I have a couple pumpkins growing but the majority of blossoms produced nothing.
And as far as tomatoes, my plants look like bushes, but some plants have as few as 2 flowers while some seem to be growing several tomatoes of quite a good size(none turning red yet though, soon). All 6 tomato plants came in the same pack; I did have to transplant 3 of them because they were dying when I first planted them(in a hot place where the soil wasn't that good). It's weird because my sister's tomato plants are skinny and scraggly but have tons of tomatoes growing. 0 -
@lovelychar How did you get your sweet potato slips going?? I tried to do that a few months ago and all they did was rot? Did you simply get a regular sweet potato from the store? When I looked for the how-tos online it said you could either do a whole potato or cut it in 1/2 so I did the 1/2. Not sure if that's my mistake? Also, I didn't buy an organic potato or anything?
I still really love(!!) your corner space and have the perfect corner for something like that, even picturing in my head what I could plant there. But I also picture having to buy 100 bags of gardening soil.
I wanted to add two important things: I change the water every Thursday, same day every week whether it looks like it needs it or not (I just use city water out of the tap). And two, I read a blog this woman wrote about her experience with sweet potato size and their slips and the outcome in size of the potato and she said that the big and the small both produced small so she uses a medium and it works best for her to produce nice sized sweet potatoes. I used a medium size, four toothpicks (3 would work) to elevate potato, a mason jar and potato half in water and half elevated above. It takes a month or so.
Thanks so much I'll need to keep this info for next year. For some reason sweet potato plants are hard to come by in our region and I couldn't find any by the time I knew my potato wasn't going to sprout forth and multiply.
At my garden center you have to get on a list for sweet potatoes if you want any chance of getting them
I had pretty good results with Georgia Jets from Burpee one year but I see from my notes to a friend that I wanted to start them earlier next time (but there wasn't a next time because I moved and don't have the room for sprawling plants here):
"A note about sweet potatoes - my Georgia Jets spread like crazy. Burpee said 40" but it was more. I had them in a dedicated bed, so it didn't matter. They were trying to encroach on the cucumber's bed and vice versa, lol.
Next year I will warm up the soil with black plastic and start them a little earlier. I was delayed due to trying to get them locally but finally gave up on Morrison's and got them at Burpees. This is one of those plants that seed companies will only ship when the time is right for you to plant them."
https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/sweet-potatoes/sweet-potato-georgia-jet-prod000945.html1 -
Has anyone had blossom drop in your tomatoes? I planted 4 plants: 2 Rutgers (heirloom red slicers), 1 yellow pear, and one Lemon Boy (yellow slicer). My plants have all thrived but the Lemon Boy has not set a single fruit. All the rest are setting lots of fruit and I have just started harvesting so I know the problem is not the soil, water, or nutrients. I am wondering if the Lemon Boy was just not the right variety for my space. I have never had this issue in 40 years of growing tomatoes (off and on depending on where I was living). I pulled it out yesterday. If it hasn't set fruit yet, it is not worth it.
Any thoughts?
Welllll . . . it still could be weather-related, or nutrient related. Usually blossom drop is a stress reaction of some kind, and it's absolutely the case that different varieties have different heat preferences, different resistances to diseases, different sensitivities to nutrient deficiences or other sub-ideal conditions, etc. Plants are weird.
ETA: Could try hand pollinating, if you can catch 'em at the right time.
Does that happen with pumpkin plants too? I noticed tons of blossoms, lots of bees, but the blossoms drop off and...nothing. I have a couple pumpkins growing but the majority of blossoms produced nothing.
And as far as tomatoes, my plants look like bushes, but some plants have as few as 2 flowers while some seem to be growing several tomatoes of quite a good size(none turning red yet though, soon). All 6 tomato plants came in the same pack; I did have to transplant 3 of them because they were dying when I first planted them(in a hot place where the soil wasn't that good). It's weird because my sister's tomato plants are skinny and scraggly but have tons of tomatoes growing.
How long has the pumpkin thing been going on? Some blossom drop early is kinda normal. The squashes (pumpkin is basically a squash, Cucurbita genus) have separate male & female flowers. It's not unusual for the boys to pop open first, then they get sad because they can't make baby squash, and the girls aren't there yet to make whoopee with (with bees or whatever as intermediaries), so the first round of boy blossoms get super sad and drop off. The girls are sometimes a little later, so the boys who show up later do their pollinating thing, then drop off (still can't make babies), but you start seeing pumpkins so the drop is less evident. However, if it's been a while, and you're pretty sure you've got enough girl/boy mixing for a square dance, then something else is interfering with pollination, possibly weather since you mention ample bees. (You can tell the male & female blooms apart: Google will show you photos, if you ask.)
Tomatoes plants that are very well-fed will sometimes over-produce vines, and under-produce fruit. If you have richer soil, or a more lavish hand with fertilizer, that could account for differences between your tomatoes, and your sisters. But I'm speculating.
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Has anyone had blossom drop in your tomatoes? I planted 4 plants: 2 Rutgers (heirloom red slicers), 1 yellow pear, and one Lemon Boy (yellow slicer). My plants have all thrived but the Lemon Boy has not set a single fruit. All the rest are setting lots of fruit and I have just started harvesting so I know the problem is not the soil, water, or nutrients. I am wondering if the Lemon Boy was just not the right variety for my space. I have never had this issue in 40 years of growing tomatoes (off and on depending on where I was living). I pulled it out yesterday. If it hasn't set fruit yet, it is not worth it.
Any thoughts?
Welllll . . . it still could be weather-related, or nutrient related. Usually blossom drop is a stress reaction of some kind, and it's absolutely the case that different varieties have different heat preferences, different resistances to diseases, different sensitivities to nutrient deficiences or other sub-ideal conditions, etc. Plants are weird.
ETA: Could try hand pollinating, if you can catch 'em at the right time.
That is kind of what I was thinking, my conditions are great for the other varieties but not for the Lemon Boy (they are all planted in the same garden bed). I did try hand pollinating and still no fruit set.1 -
Today was the day to pick the Bartlett pear tree. I borrowed an orchard ladder from my neighbor, and that made the job so much easier for me AND less damaging to the tree. I ended up with a nice pile of pears.
The next step was sorting. I don't spray, so it's pretty common for them to have worms. I sort out the best looking ones and put them in a couple boxes, then sort the rest into a few more grades. Some go right into the compost. Others that are mis-shapen, already have frass coming out, or just aren't perfect are in the biggest white box that went out on the curb with a bunch of paper sacks and a sign saying what they are and how to ripen.
I probably should weigh what I kept. I will inevitably give some of them away to friends and neighbors. I will eat some fresh, and I will dry some others. I think I might be able to put some in the refrigerator NOW and then ripen them in a few weeks to extend the short window of opportunity to eat them. They are pretty delicate when ripe, and they are really delicious. I still remember the first year I harvested them after I bought my house. It's a little art and a little science to know when to pick them because they need to ripen off the tree. I remember the first one I ate, and I remember thinking it was the best pear I ever ate.6 -
So, here's the rationale for the "don't buy basil plants, buy basil seeds" suggestion I made early in the season.
I got a late start, planted seeds in a big pot around the end of June (I think it was 6/29). About 5 weeks later, and they've grown in thick, and at a height to start thinning - could've strarted thinning a week ago. A whole seed packet is close enough to the price of a small potted plant, possibly 2. (My seed packets are manufacturer-marked $2.49 (USD) but I think I paid a little less.) I'll have basil to keep cutting in small amounts until frost. I'd get more from the same amount of seeds if in the ground. (I stuck my hand in the photo for scale.)
I thickly-planted dill seed in a similar pot at the same time. It's still small (like 6-8"), but I thinned enough today to use in the pasta with chevre I had for lunch, and it'll keep on coming. Cilantro's a little slower, with a lower germination rate, but it's around 4-6" now, too.4 -
My Lophospermum in its late summer glory. I had a lovely first flush of blooms in late June/early July, then they stopped for a couple of weeks and came back with a vengeance. The longest vines are just shy of 4 feet long. Itis actually a slightly deeper wine color but the sun was directly on it when I took the photo.
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I posted this in the produce thread, but it actually belongs here.
I made a sad discovery yesterday.
I went out to the garden to see what needed to be picked and/or watered. What I discovered is that, apparently, deer like hot chile plants.....
I think the starlings have a year-to-year memory. I used to get to harvest most of my figs. I could keep up with them if I picked them as soon as they were ripe. Once the starlings found 'em, I wouldn't get many more. This year, they arrived early and devastated two of my three trees; they ate almost all the figs before they were ripe. I got a total of four figs.
I have one other tree that slowly ripens, so I may still get some. If we have a long/warm late summer/early fall, I might get some from the second crop. Very annoying.
You can probably see from my current profile picture, I like to grow artichokes. I eat way too many for about six weeks, then none for the rest of the year.
I always let a few fully open for the pollenators and because they are just so pretty.
As the artichokes finished off, it was time to harvest early beets; it's almost time to plant the fall crop.
For now, I'm eating so many lemon cucumbers....
Grapes are just about ready to start picking. Interlaken. So good. Tomatoes are starting to come in. Raspberries on floracanes are producing, but I need to build a trellis for them. I inherited those plants from a friend shortly before she died, and I'm trying to share them with other people who like to grow them.
Marion berries have been producing for a month.
And while I'm not eating these plants, the hummingbirds like the scarlet bee balm
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Since yesterday was August 8, I shouldn't have been surprised to see this on my porch:
It is huge. Silly neighbors....
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Speaking of zucchini, I got this email today:
https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/best-zucchini-bread-recipe-ideas/
I haven't made that particular chocolate/zucchini bread, but that (or chocolate zucchini cake) is my favorite.2
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