Garden thread
Replies
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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.
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.
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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.
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 -
Mmmmm.....
Grapes.
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from the garden after the rain
granny smith
elderberry
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Even though there's still a Marketmore cucumber and what I was told was a delicata out there, I cleaned/prepped part of one of the beds yesterday and planted my fall lettuce/salad greens. I hope it wasn't too soon.
I need to get more beet seeds, but I'm just minimizing my shopping trips.3 -
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So, what does everyone plant for fall? I have never done fall plantings
I want to get some cold frames set up on the south side of the house, against the brick. My husband is worried about bugs (currently surrounded by pea gravel), but our old house had mulch up to the foundation? Really wanting to do garlic again this year, I did it years ago and it was a satisfying harvest. 2 -
Wow, first we were over run by green beans. Now that they're done, we've got cucumbers coming out our ears. Lol
I picked 12 of them just today.3 -
I've never done fall planting either, but maybe this year I will.1
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moonangel12 wrote: »So, what does everyone plant for fall? I have never done fall plantings I want to get some cold frames set up on the south side of the house, against the brick. My husband is worried about bugs (currently surrounded by pea gravel), but our old house had mulch up to the foundation? Really wanting to do garlic again this year, I did it years ago and it was a satisfying harvest.
This year I am planting fall blooming crocus. These are the ones that produce saffron. The closest to fall planting I do is second plantings of spring crops like lettuce and spinach4 -
moonangel12 wrote: »So, what does everyone plant for fall? I have never done fall plantings I want to get some cold frames set up on the south side of the house, against the brick. My husband is worried about bugs (currently surrounded by pea gravel), but our old house had mulch up to the foundation? Really wanting to do garlic again this year, I did it years ago and it was a satisfying harvest.
I cleared out part of a bed a couple days ago and planted greens. I need to get more beet seeds, and then have to figure out what gets torn up to plant them, or what I can plant them under. I don't even bother trying to grow fall carrots anymore.0 -
no fall planting.
got one tomato. i've got a few peppers ripening and a few more tomatoes. i had green beans and blackberries. wildlife got those
not a plant but i do like my birds and refilled my bird feeder and set up a suet feeder
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