I was late getting them planted but my Mammoth sunflowers are blooming. 25-30 of them made it!
7 Likes
My Mongolian Giant sunflowers are half the size of usual this year.
Very strange thing this year. I think because some of my seeds washed into the row that had melons in it I got cucumelons… Weird.
2 Likes
I have had cross pollination in the past. I was told not to plant melons, cukes, pumpkins or any squash within 20’ of each other! One year I had zumpkinis!
4 Likes
Ever since May, the temperatures here have been well above normal. Not good at all for fall lettuce. Not sure about the brassicas - after a rough start, broccoli and cauliflower plants look healthy, but will they form heads? They utterly failed this spring in the cold and wet.
I lost about 50 cabbage, cauliflower, kholrabi, and broccoli plants about two weeks ago. It got up to 96 degrees and the haraquin bugs and flea beetles destroyed them all. Very frustrating. Only this week do the fall plants look like they want to grow.
I have mine under netting, and Spinosad has also been useful. The initial assault of the pests caused a lot of damage, but they seem to have recovered.
Bok Choi is worst for the flea beetles.
1 Like
Same here. Odd year from the beginning.
Several years ago I saw the harlequins doing damage to my brassicas - never seen them before that. Murphy’s Oil Soap diluted discouraged them enough to get a harvest, but I threw everything at them before they yielded to MOS. They are tough like Japanese Beetles. Last fall I covered brassicas with some fine netting and saw them on the outside of the netting. Didn’t want to fight that battle again.
The trick I found to controlling these is spraying every 4 days or so for maybe 3 applications with Spinosad. In my garden, the littler pests need several applications with short spacing, like spider mites, aphids and white fly. The last 3 reduce w/ Pyganic.
Wow. It was hot here too, but also terribly humid with no wind. I’ve used shade cover - like 70% blocking - which helps some but the plants still transpire to keep cool. Another tough challenge that weather throws at us.
Next year I think I’ll germinate AND grow my seedlings inside until they get garden size. The striped garden caterpillar did lots of damage to the small seedlings even under the netting I set up. And the small tender leaves are more sensitive to sprays than larger plants are, so they were trying to survive not only the caterpillars and slugs but the crazy gardener’s sprays, LOL.
Fire and adjust. 
2 Likes
Harlequins are stink bugs iirc
I haven’t seen a lot of adult stink bugs in the garden, but more nymphs than I’ve ever noticed before. Except for tomatoes, I’ve not seen a lot of damage from them.
1 Like
I had seen a few harlequin bugs in years past, but they never did any damage so I just left them alone. They must have all hatched at the same time because suddenly one day there were thousands of them and they destroyed all the brassicas in one day. I hand picked and covered the remaining brassicas with row cover and I seem to have the situation under control.
I did spray the flea beetles with Spinosad once. It didn’t seem to do much so I didn’t do it again, but if 3 applications are needed, I will try that. I know I’ve seen flea beetles before, but my plants were able to work past them.
Nature is funny. I had a huge problem with white flies every year before this year. I have not seen a single white fly this year.
Thanks Anne
that word makes me laugh
The best year I’ve ever had for squash, cucumbers, beets, and tomatoes. The green beans and peppers grew lots of leaves, but not much fruit. Broccolini is a winner. Dill was a fizzle. Overall, the best garden I’ve ever had, in spite of dry summer.
2 Likes