Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 07/29/2011 5:22:39 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. This past week here in East Central Mississippi has been great, weather wise. There have been numerous and very beneficial pop-up T-storms almost every day, which have helped keep the temperatures down and my garden watered.
I hope TS Don will give some relief to those of you in drought stricken Texas. Forecasts are for it to dissipate in about 36 to 48 hours after landfall.
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
I hope all your gardens are flourishing.
Weekly Gardening Thread
I hope all of you will stop by.
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Send seeds? Befriend seeds? Just want 10 seeds?
If you have garden seeds you can offer other FReepers for free, for a SASE, and/or in exchange for other seeds, please send me your info. (Private Message Mrs. Don-o) and I will add you to this list, which I will post on the garden thread from time to time. Please also Private Message me to be removed when you no longer have the seeds to offer. FReepo-seedoholics can contact each other by Private Message to arrange any transactions. Remember that old seeds may have reduced germination. (Although I’ve had great luck with them. And for free, you can’t lose...) If possible, list year and variety. Mrs. Don-o I CAN OFFER a few of these seeds (say, 10) for free to anybody who wants to send me a SASE: Basil (“Genovese” 2010) Beans (“Jackson Wonder Butterbean “2011) Broccoli (“Bonanza” 2011) Chard (“Bright Lights” 2010) Fennel (“Florence” 2011) Kale (“Redbor Hybrid” 2010) Squash (“Acorn 2009”… and I had really good germination with it, this year!) Squash “(Georgia Candy Roaster” 2011.. a terrific winter squash!) Tomato (“Brandy Boy” 2011) INTERESTED IN Seeds for Fall Anything (surprise me!)
Dozens of large ripe “Better Boy” tomatoes and lots of “burpless” cucumbers in Virginia Beach. life is good!
From the forecasts, TS Don will not bring much needed rain to Texas. SIGH.
I hope so. Even if TS Don hits the right area of S Texas, some of the runoff could get into Lake Travis, since the S Llano River runoff area starts near the border.
I've harvested lots of red, ripe tomatoes, by the way. Mine came in relly early. But now the plants, which still have a few pink-turning big tomztoes n them, are looking poorly, and there's very few blossoms and no new fruit-set.
I'm wondering if "wrecked" or “exhausted” tomatoes could be cut back at this point, resulting in renewed growth and increased production until the first killing frost. I'm thinking you could cut them back pretty far, leaving some foliage, esp. branches that are still looking good. Then apply a good dose of balanced fertilizer and water to renew growth and increase production.
Is that worth a try, especially on a sprawling indeterminate plant that still has a good root system?
Alternatively, could you bend down and re-root your better branches via layering?
I am open to any suggestions, and I suspect other gardeners have similar interests right about now.
Has anyone had any luck growing Okra in the Northeast? I’m here in (M)assachusetts.
Getting tons of green beans, summer squash, and my first red tomato. My acorn squash and butternut squash are going nuts!
I'm in Massachusetts too and don't have any red tomatoes yet, but more cukes than I know what to do with so I've been canning like crazy and will do more this weekend. My peppers are starting to look better, but are still in trouble.
Our garden is growing nicely, and we have noticed something we have never seen before. . . or at least something we never paid attention to before. Our potatoes have seed pods that look like little green tomatoes. I had to look it up on the computer to learn more. I’m sure this is a well known fact and we are the last to know, but we think it’s pretty neat!
What variety are your tomatoes? Some very early ones are determinants. They make, then they’re done. If they’re determinants I’m not sure anything other than rooting cuttings will fix it. Curious to see if anyone has any other advice.
Maybe it’s hot where you are? Mine have just now started making. With temps above 95 for several weeks it was a task just keeping them alive.
After a slow start, I am getting some big, beautiful tomatoes. My pink Brandywines are just lovely. I also have the regular, and they are my standby tomato plant.
Corn is so-so - has been too dry, and hopefully it will come through. For some reason my squash did not do well this year, but I have enough friends with gardens that I still have plenty.
After some rain (not enough but we'll take it) forecast looks hot and dry - sigh!
Stay cool!
I’m up in Harrisburg and we grew okra this year. I wish I had planted more I love them pickled.
There are varieties of okra that are supposedly more tolerant of cooler temps. Can’t recall any specific names right off hand but IIRC Burpee and maybe Johnnys had some?
My squash are ‘large and in charge’ with all the heat units we’ve had this summer. Keeping them watered has been a task as RD232 seems to have gotten all my rain. If you’re in the heatwave part of the NE you may find female blooms aborting before and/or just after they set if temps are 100ish. Hopefully not though. With either of those. One of my compost volunteer squash (cross between musquee de provence and long of naples) is ripe. We’re going to pick it this weekend. It’s longer than a regular pumpkin but has turned very bright orange over the last week. Long of Naples are usually more dark green when picked.
The water lines are in to four points in the backyard...the vegetable garden raised beds, the rose garden and fire pit, the chicken coop area and the pond/waterfall area. Jack will finish filling in the trenches today.
The yellow cherry tomatoes are ripening and sweet. We have some blossom end rot on our Romas. Next year, we will do a better job with our vegetable garden...we may have to with the current economy and administration!
Our hopes of any moisture here in the Hill Country are rapidly evaporating this morning as we find Don speeding due west into deep south Texas ....
I guess that is our next best hope.....it’s a long shot, but nothing else seems to be on the horizon....
My acorn and other winter squash have not done well at all and my zukes have slowed down quite a bit. I have never had much luck with any type of squash. My pepper plants are doing well. My tomato plants are done for. I will be transplanting some more paste tomatoes either today or tomorrow they are all right around 15 inches high and really need to be planted in the garden.
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