Garden thread

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  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Getting tomatoes, green beans, still lots of lettuce, onions and green peppers are growing good and cucumbers are filling up the fridge. Good garden this year! So I'm sharing with my sister who's lost everything, except tomatoes, to animals. :( Next year, if she still has a garden, I'll help her fence it in.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    Lost the last of my raspberries yesterday. Puppy (who is now a gigantic 8 month old) got over the fence and destroyed what was left of them. Everything's trampled and broken, and even with the damage that had already been done we lost easily over a gallon of fruit.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    I spread clear plastic over three of my four beds yesterday. The fourth has tomatoes. There are other beds, but they have perennials.

    Perfect timing. We're having "excess heat" all week. This should kill the weeds and the seeds. I might even be able to move the plastic and kill more weeds. This is to set up for next year's garden. I'll plant some cover crop soon that, I hope, will either live through winter or at least take up all the space with dead stems all winter. Then next May or June I can re-do the whole thing.

    I'm even tempted to dig up the artichoke plants and set them aside over the winter and maybe just redo EVERYTHING except grapes, blueberries, and raspberries.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited August 2022
    I think I am done planting peas! At first, it was just a disappointing leafage and output. Now some are slowly dying off from the ground up. I can't ID any disease or pest; they are just dying. 😡
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    @MsCzar - I'm still thinking heat. The only way I know of to beat heat is to get the earliest possible varieties, and plant at the earliest viable time - they can go in much earlier/colder than a lot of other garden veg. Pre-sprouting them helps, though early damp, cold soil is still more prone to root rot and damping off. They can tolerate temperatures below freezing, even, for some short periods. Even with an early start, though, some weather patterns will not be suitable for peas.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited August 2022
    Hmm... overnight temps in the F 50's-60's and days in the 80's. They are in shade by 1-2pm. Perhaps the building captures and reflects some heat? I don't think I've seen 3 dozen pods this year. :(
    It's possible they were crap seeds.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    MsCzar wrote: »
    Hmm... overnight temps in the F 50's-60's and days in the 80's. They are in shade by 1-2pm. Perhaps the building captures and reflects some heat? I don't think I've seen 3 dozen pods this year. :(
    It's possible they were crap seeds.
    Young pea plants can survive light frosts, and will grow at any temperature above 40°F. Good growing temperatures are between 55°F and 65°F. Once the plants have started to flower and set a crop, frost can be damaging. Watch for any forecast of late spring frost and cover the plants with sheets or row covers if necessary.

    From Minneota Extension Service, https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-peas

    Temps in the 80s are not good pea weather.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    @MsCzar

    Looks like heat damage to me. Peas are early-season or late season. Early season is tricky; they sit in the soil until it's warm enough, so birds can eat them. They sprout, and slugs get after 'em. Late season is tricky because you have to get them to sprout while it's warm enough but not too warm, then they make peas as the cool weather comes.

    I pretty much lost my entire garden this year. Currently under clear plastic. With temperatures near 100 the last week or so, I bet I've killed everything, hopefully including the weed seeds.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,528 Member
    @LoveyChar and other interested in the grow bags, I'm in 9B in the Sacramento area in CA. The tomatoes have done fairly well but the zucchini and summer squash in the grow bags haven't done well, I think it's not holding moisture in enough for the bags as on the over 100degree days I'm watering twice a day which is a pain. They were fine in Spring but the summer's too hot for them even with mulch. It may also be as I grouped the zucchini and squash in groups of 4 whereas the tomatoes are in a solid row of about 40 with a retaining wall behind them. Just wanted to share since it hasn't gone well! The peppers, flowers, and herbs in the grow bags are great though!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Ok all you gardeners. ATM I have 12 cucumbers in my fridge. This is after giving a bunch away and eating a bunch a day. I don't make pickles. Plus I know if I peek under the leaves there'll be more to pick early in the week. I like them plain and in salads but help!! Any ideas what I can do with such an abundance of them?
    I am going to check out our local food shelf and see if they'd like some.
    Gardens and seasons can be so weird. Last year our cucumbers were all but dead. This year, yikes!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    I ate a HANDFULL of ripe Sungold tomatoes. Mmmmm.

    I am helping care for a neighbor's cats and garden while they are away. They told me to take cucumbers and tomatoes. I reckon I shall.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Ok all you gardeners. ATM I have 12 cucumbers in my fridge. This is after giving a bunch away and eating a bunch a day. I don't make pickles. Plus I know if I peek under the leaves there'll be more to pick early in the week. I like them plain and in salads but help!! Any ideas what I can do with such an abundance of them?
    I am going to check out our local food shelf and see if they'd like some.
    Gardens and seasons can be so weird. Last year our cucumbers were all but dead. This year, yikes!

    Cold cucumber soup - very refreshing in Summer, usually a yogurt or buttermilk or tomato base, fresh herbs are a bonus.

    Tzatziki used as a dip, sauce, salad dressing, sandwich layer.

    Cucumber boats stuffed with some kind of salad (egg, tuna, chicken, bean . . . - bunches of recipes online). For a picnic, I've made cucumber cups, stuffed them with some kind of salad or maybe cheesy or thickened-yogurt kind of filling - good finger food.

    You can stir-fry, steam, roast or bake them, use in recipes in similar ways to zucchini or other summer squash, too. Good in curries, for example.

    Cucumber water is really refreshing, as a cold summer beverage (some citrus or mint are good adds). There are cocktail and mocktail recipes that use cucumbers or cucumber juice.

    I love cucumbers.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @MsCzar

    Looks like heat damage to me. Peas are early-season or late season. Early season is tricky; they sit in the soil until it's warm enough, so birds can eat them. They sprout, and slugs get after 'em. Late season is tricky because you have to get them to sprout while it's warm enough but not too warm, then they make peas as the cool weather comes.

    I pretty much lost my entire garden this year. Currently under clear plastic. With temperatures near 100 the last week or so, I bet I've killed everything, hopefully including the weed seeds.

    FWIW, for early planting, I had good luck sprouting the peas indoors in paper towels, where I had more control over the environment. Lots of instructions online for doing this, pretty easy but requires careful handling of the sproutlets. (Slugs would still be a problem.) I assume it could possibly be helpful for late plantings, too, but I never grew late peas.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I agree about the cold cuke soup (I use yogurt and dill in mine), and also a green gazpacho. You can do cucumber based salsas too -- I made some last year to use up some things and froze them.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Grateful for all the cucumber based ideas!! <3
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Haha must be a bumper crop year for all our local cucumber growers. :/ I've been seeing boxes and signs with Free cucumbers in front of a few homes.

    Another bumper crop question. What can you do with sage that's taking over? Asking for my sister. :) She's getting a few ideas from the internet but wondered if you gardeners would be able to add more?

    Thanks!!!
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
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  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Haha must be a bumper crop year for all our local cucumber growers. :/ I've been seeing boxes and signs with Free cucumbers in front of a few homes.
    Don't tell them it was me, but one of my neighbors put out a table with summer squash and tomatoes. When no one was looking, I added a dozen cucumbers to the free offerings. :D Sadly after canning 12 quarts of dill spears, 10 pints of bread and butter pickles, 8 pints of pickle relish and eating 3-4 fresh cukes a day, the rest are headed for the compost pile.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,114 Member
    You're too late for an annual gardening event.

    I'm really surprised my neighbors didn't participate again. I think I know why - they didn't grow the dang things. They did give me some cucumbers, though. Their tomatoes are already ripening as they get started early in their greenhouse.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Haha must be a bumper crop year for all our local cucumber growers. :/ I've been seeing boxes and signs with Free cucumbers in front of a few homes.

    Another bumper crop question. What can you do with sage that's taking over? Asking for my sister. :) She's getting a few ideas from the internet but wondered if you gardeners would be able to add more?

    Thanks!!!

    I have some, but I'm not creative about using it. It's good in scrambled eggs or other eggy things, in fall in squash or pumpkin soup, you can make sage butter to use on things (or steep in decent oil to make flavored oil), steep in vinegar to make sage vinegar (I'd put some garlic in there, too, if it were me), I've made lasagna with a either a sage-laced white sauce instead of tomato sauce or a layer of pureed roasted squash and ricotta flavored with sage, quick-frizzle it to crispness (but not burnt) in butter and crumble it on veggies and stuff . . . .

    Fwiw, mine is not nearly as thuggy as my oregano, or past-times plantings of lemon balm, among others. It's pretty easy keep whacked/dug back to a manageable size, IME.

    If she believes in smudging with sage to . . . I dunno, bring luck or drive off evil, or whatever . . . that uses up a lot of sage pretty fast. Not my thing, though.

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