Garden thread

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  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    I wound up repotting my poor zucchini and I lost at least 2/3 of the soil in the process, all full of roots. I clipped off everything that wasn't healthy and gave it about an inch of compost on top of the soil, and it actually looks a lot happier. Fingers crossed that'll do the trick.

    My eggplant was covered in blossoms, but it got too cold one night last week and every single one died and fell off. We're heading back into the heat so hopefully it'll perk up again. There are 7 fruit on it that look good though - 2 almost ready to pick.

    I missed watering the raspberries for a few days and a ton of the unripe ones shriveled, but there are more buds so maybe I can coax a second wave. They're so good this year!

    I have a ton of tomatoes, but they're all still green. Kale and Swiss chard are ready to pick in earnest. And I should have green beans by the end of the week. The beets and carrots need more time.

    My outdoor tap is beside the raspberries and it drips when it's running. It makes me so happy to see all the bees coming to drink!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    @mtaratoot Your variety always amazes me. :) Thank you for sharing so I can live vicariously through you. :)
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    I have a feeling I'm not going to dare plant tomatoes again next year. In the beginning of the season, I had tons of spotty leaves on all the plants so I'd pick them off, and changed my watering routine. They seemed to thrive for awhile but now all the bottom leaves/stems are discoloring and I have to pick bottom stems off each plant daily. :( I'm just hoping my tomatoes ripen before the whole plant dies. I've got 6 plants and some of my cherry tomatoes are ripening now but the Big Boys will be awhile. :/ But that's okay, dh will get his 1 seasonal tomato out of it. Lol

    Some zucchini are rotting but that's okay because well you know, they're zucchini and still getting more than plenty. Can't keep up with my green beans, peppers are growing like crazy, as are the onions and cucumbers. My sweet potato plants are vining nicely. Can't wait to see if they actually do anything; our growing season isn't that long and this year started off hot/sunny but now we've had our fair share of rain.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    @ReenieHJ

    I get things on my tomato leaves. I don't worry too much about it. I'm kind of silly for planting San Marzano; they always get blossom end rot. I'm just hoping to get a bunch anyway. I can cut out the bad parts if it isn't extensive. Just to get on my nerves, the very first fruit (out in a pot in the driveway) got rot. It is hard to keep it evenly watered unless I water it twice a day - it got toasty during the heat wave. I bet it will be OK. I actually need to go out and prune some of the lower leaves to increase air flow.

    Later in the season, there WILL be powdery mildew on the grapes. Just happens. Probably on the tomatoes too. The beets do great.

    One of my normal challenges is that I am often traveling during harvest season so I don't get to enjoy some of my bounty. This year I'm doing better. Keep planting what you like; the weather will do what it does. Maybe soil amendments would help your tomatoes?
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    Ugh! Looks like I'll be tearing out at least a third of my green beans tomorrow. Bean blight.
    :s
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    MsCzar wrote: »
    Ugh! Looks like I'll be tearing out at least a third of my green beans tomorrow. Bean blight.
    :s

    😟
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    edited July 2021
    MsCzar wrote: »
    Ugh! Looks like I'll be tearing out at least a third of my green beans tomorrow. Bean blight.
    :s

    Oh dear. :( Feels discouraging doesn't it. :(
    Seeing my tomatoes stems all turning spotty and needing to be picked of daily, your post got me worried about my green beans as well, so while I was picking them this morning, I kept an eye out. I found a bunch of plants that have fuzzy white mold near the ground and some of the leaves are turning black. :( The beans themselves are fine. I need to go strip all the moldy plants out but I have a feeling my whole garden is going the way of too much moisture this year. And a lesson I now learned is to space everything out more. :(

    But my question is are the beans still safe to eat because they don't seem to be affected in any way?
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    Pretty sure it could be two different monsters. Mold can be tamed or prevented by spraying milk on the all leaves, Blight is bacteria and depending on type, can live on the plants and/or soil. Bean blight stays on the leaves and I am kicking myself for not immediately pulling the first infected plant. Now I will likely lose the entire bean bed. Copper based treatments are available to treat blight.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    I snacked on the first carrots and zucchini last night, but I didn't think to get photo evidence before digging in. And a crazy wind storm knocked over the tomato, so I have a collection of green ones that came off when it fell tossed into the fruit bowl to ripen. There have also been more eggplants, though a cold night caused blossom drop so the 7 that are on there now will probably be the last of them. Our high temperatures are still high for the most part, but the nights are starting to get cool. Today I'll be picking beans, kale, and Swiss chard.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Picked my first tomato and cucumber yesterday; this is when I really appreciate my garden. There's nothing better than garden ripe tomatoes and cucumbers. :)

    Still getting zucchini by the truck loads, beans are done, onions are looking good, sweet potatoes are vining well; we'll see how those play out. Still getting enough lettuce for salads. :) Happy camper. :)
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited August 2021
    Heat done did away with my lettuce and spinach, so I've been subbing in Swiss chard. Will plant lettuce and spinach seeds roughly two weeks from now and try for a fall crop. Mercifully the zukes are wrapping up just in time for the Attack of the Butternut Squash.

    Cukes are near done. The peppers both sweet and hot have started coming in and the aubergine crop looks solid. Oh, and I'll soon have enough tomatoes to arm half of Buñol's La Tomatina.
    🍅 🍅 🍅
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Do you get to a point where you're ready to pull it all out and be done with it for the season? :)
    We're getting maybe a cucumber a day or so, which is weird because we were getting 4-5 a day last summer. Tomatoes are ripening little by little but won't have oodles of them to freeze this year. Zucchinis are mounting up like crazy. :/ I've always wanted a few zucchini for the summer but be careful what you wish for. Onions are doing ok, beans got pulled and dumped over the weekend. Green peppers are surviving but not growing. :/ For some reason green peppers don't do well for us. And we haven't had enough consistently hot weather to grow the sweet potatoes (probably) but we'll see.

    IDK, I don't think the weather was great for the garden this year. Well, that plus I tend to plant too much and mold/rot/lack of sun for certain vegetables results. :(

    Yep, by the end of August I'm over the garden and ready for apple-picking. Apple Crisp holds much more attraction for me now then *more* zucchini. :)
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Do you get to a point where you're ready to pull it all out and be done with it for the season? ... I've always wanted a few zucchini for the summer but be careful what you wish for.

    I grate and freeze my zukes in 2-3 cup portions in flattened small freezer bags. They will go into baked goods and chili over the winter. Frozen in chunks (I like to sweeten with monkfruit first) they are wonderful in smoothies and Yonanas 'ice cream.'

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,881 Member
    girlwithcurls2 wrote: »
    I just picked beans yesterday. I have never grown them. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I find them to be a pain to pick? But wow. They are delicious! I had no idea that they would be ready so soon. I was watering and when I pushed the plants aside, beans revealed themselves! I'm pulling carrots, and the lettuce is pretty much done due to consistent heat. But lots of green tomatoes, so I'll have them to look forward to! Sadly, many berries were scorched in the intense heat a couple of weeks ago. Mostly marion and boysenberry, two favorites :(

    I really like my purple pole beans for ease of picking - almost no bending over and the purple is ornamental as well as making them easier to pick. They turn greenish when cooking, but a less attractive green than regular bush beans. And the flavor is not quite as good. Nevertheless, I've been quite happy with them here, but next year when I am at Mom's where there is more room, I won't try to talk her out of her regular bush beans into pole beans.

    I do recommend them highly for people who need to utilize vertical space.

    https://www.burpee.com/bean-pole-purple-king-prod000595.html
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    girlwithcurls2 wrote: »
    I just picked beans yesterday. I have never grown them. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I find them to be a pain to pick? But wow. They are delicious! I had no idea that they would be ready so soon. I was watering and when I pushed the plants aside, beans revealed themselves! I'm pulling carrots, and the lettuce is pretty much done due to consistent heat. But lots of green tomatoes, so I'll have them to look forward to! Sadly, many berries were scorched in the intense heat a couple of weeks ago. Mostly marion and boysenberry, two favorites :(

    I really like my purple pole beans for ease of picking - almost no bending over and the purple is ornamental as well as making them easier to pick. They turn greenish when cooking, but a less attractive green than regular bush beans. And the flavor is not quite as good. Nevertheless, I've been quite happy with them here, but next year when I am at Mom's where there is more room, I won't try to talk her out of her regular bush beans into pole beans.

    I do recommend them highly for people who need to utilize vertical space.

    https://www.burpee.com/bean-pole-purple-king-prod000595.html

    Have you tried the Asian (<=sometimes called) long beans? They grow in vining/pole fashion, are arguably less attractive raw or cooked than a standard green bean, but IMO have a *better* flavor, a little richer or more hearty IMO, but still in the green bean flavor zone. The beans are like a foot long or longer, narrow, small seeds until seriously over-mature. They were easy to grow, here (Michigan), prolific. The only downside I saw was that bees and wasps *loved* them. Might find them at an Asian market (fresh) to try; I can get them from a vendor at my farmers' market who grows other Asian specialty veg.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
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    Came back from vacation to so many tomatoes. It's weird last year was my first year growing them and they got blossom end rot, this year I have literally barely watered them because we have had so much rain and I've been away a lot, and they are growing beautiful. At least a hundred more out there not ripe yet.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Any tips on starting a garden. I have a backyard with some flat area, I was thinking of planting in tubs. My cousin showed me pictures but said you need to drill a lot of holes. Another cousin directed me to Pinterest. I have no clue where to begin, I live in Southern CA. Was thinking spinach, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini.

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