bttt
I’ve got enough tomatoes on three plants to supply the town I live in. But, I’m looking forward to a Fall crop of “something” but I don’t know what.
Any suggestions—maybe onions, peppers or anything that will grow in the Fall.
My Minnesota Mini cantaloupes are ripening...and I have to eat two a day to keep up. But they are mini....and perfect for one person..size of a grapefruit. 8 plants in a 10 x 10 space will yield at least 30. What a great picnic gimmic they would be.
My tomatoes ahve been ripening beautifully and I’ll be canning some up in a couple days, when I have enough to make it worth it.
The potatoes look like they are recovering some from the hornworm infestation.
I ordered some Bacillus Thuriniensis to spray on them, and in the meantime, I mixed some DE and cyanenne pepper and dusted the pants and the ground around them. Haven’t seen any hornworms in 2-3 days now.
I’m hoping I got most of the suckers but any that may have escaped to breed will probably get taken out by the Braconid wasps.
However, the basil did not like the cayenne pepper very much. it burned the leaves where it landed.
My onions are doing OK and I should be ready to pull and cure my scant garlic crop.
Once this stuff is all harvested, I’m going to spend the fall setting up some raised beds and getting the garden under a lot more control for next summer.
Just got done watering (Southern California) - the weather report is for temps around 100 today and up to 103 tomorrow.
This is my least favorite time of year as we go into saving our gardens instead of planting or maintaining them. When the hot winds come up, that makes things even worse. Some of us water twice a day.
I’ve learned through trial and error which plants survive this intense period of heat and hot winds and which don’t - mostly bougainvillea, vinca, cactus, aloes and a few others.
Can’t wait for it to be over, but it’ll take a few weeks.
I’m going to do a test dig on a hill of potatoes this afternoon when I get back from having coffee and pastries with a few friends from the 50s & 60s...
Greetings from southern New Hampshire, where we are having cooler weather for the first time in I can’t remember when!
Barb and I have been bustin’ hump out in our garden area, and as usual, getting out of control. Thirteen of our 16 raised beds have been de-weeded and forked by yours truly. Barb has planted...responsibly...tomato, summer squash, pole beans and herbs. Also, she has worked on her strawberry bed, which is responding favorably and given us a nice desert of strawberry short cake.
In the center of the garden, is a large pergola we built about three years ago. There is a pond with a pump and cascade filled with parrot feather and a few, local frogs. The planter bed around it was also de-weeded and forked by yours truly, and Barb has covered it with landscape fabric and black mulch. It looks wonderful.
As to getting out of control, after we moved that tall, garden shed from the northwest to the southeast corner of garden, we were left to cogitate that newly emptied area, and the paucity of covered storage for garden carts, tools and equipment. Bang! Enter phase one of our backyard improvement plan. I had gotten three 4’ by 10’ dock sections for free. Last week, I dug and poured nine footings for three 12’ four by four, pressure treated beams...during that hot, hot weather! They are now secured to the footings, ready for the dock sections. They may go on, tomorrow. Once secured, I will start stick-building a 10’ by 12’ garden shed.
Long term, we are considering a large pole barn to form a “T” across the back of the new shed, a place for our garden tractors and maybe a boat. It will go a long way towards cleaning up our backyard clutter.
Lowe Midwest container gardener here. I am getting ready to start spinach and Arugula inside and will transplant outside mid September.
With the sun moving south again, my lavender is getting a lot of late afternoon sun. I am hoping for some more blooms be fore winter.
Does anyone grow small fruits/veg indoors. I have two French doors that face full south and am thinking about putting an open bookshelf with plants in front of one for the winter. I had an office plant there when I came home for the great confinement and it went so nuts, I moved it to a larger pot outside.
I know herbs won’t be a problem, but I am hoping for some small peppers, strawberries, etc. too.
Sigh .... enviously reading about the wonderful gardens of everyone else. WE, on the other hand, are pretty much under water. This WAS the 10th wettest August on record a couple of days ago & moving up. Now, after days of downpours from T-storms that just sit overhead, I think we’re headed for #1. So far this month, we’re at 12.4”. Wednesday, my rain gauge showed 1.5”, yesterday 1.75” and thus far today, 1.5”.
So how does all this rain translate to the garden? Tomatoes are cracking, even though I’m harvesting early. The tomato vines (3 of the 4) are dying. Peppers (bell/jalapeno) are still producing - I have enough red ones for one batch of jalapeno pepper jelly & I think I’ll get at least a 2nd batch. My petunias got so soggy (blooms are mush) that I pulled them up & planted something else. On the postive side, the zinnias I planted a week ago are “up & at ‘em”, growing like weeds. There are many puddles & low places are inundated - local flooding in many areas nearby. The ground is so soggy, it’s “squishy” - cannot drive any equipment (mower being one of them) without making muddy tracks or getting stuck.
When does it end? Tomorrow (Sunday) still has am showers. Monday & Tuesday should be “drier” - Wednesday through Friday have popup showers. No real “dry” weather until next weekend. Temps are ‘cool’ .. upper 70’s, into the mid-80’s, but humidity values will be fairly high.
While I do not like to complain about rain, too much is just too much & that’s where we’re at right now. On a nature note, the rain is not stopping the birds .... the hummingbird feeders are as busy as can be & the regular feeders have birds just hunkered down, sitting on the perches, grabbing a black oil sunflower seed now & again.
Hi Diana, we had our garden tomatoes tonight in Caprese.. home grown basil. Fresh Mozzarella & quality balsamic glaze. YUM. my favorite salad.
My first two tomatoes went into my first batch of fresh salsa this year...each year, I tweak the recipe to see if I can make improvements, but I may have finally hit the ceiling with this batch...YUM! There is a commercial kitchen nearby, so I could put it in local stores, but other people just aren’t worthy.
Returned from an 8 night vacation away from garden.
My son left after I did so he was able to water the garden before he left....result was 4 nights between watering.
Came back to a healthy garden last night and a 30 min watering session using a flashlight in the dark.
Harvested my 1st two large tomatoes......a 7 Oz Black Krim and a 6 Oz Cherokee purple.
Only took a tiny bite/sliver for myself.
Harvested the seeds for next year. Hoping a couple of years more of harvesting the 1st ripe toms for seed will allow to get the date to harvest down 5-10 days.
We have a pretty short season up here in the Seattle area.
By the time I get it down a few days I hope to eacape this beautiful but God forsaken place full of communists.
Zillow and gardeing are my stress relievers.
That’s good because I love tomatoes!
