The garden has done great this year! Hope your all having a good year! So many years we go overboard but this year we are growing about the right amount of everything. Ours is a practical garden with weeds that need pulled and plenty of others things that need done but it puts food on table and leaves us with a satisfied feeling of accomplishment.
12 Likes
i have the same approach to my yard and my garden. my neighbor across the street to my west keeps his lawn / yard impeccably weed free. he’s commented to me a few times that it costs him a lot to keep it that way, insinuating if i kept mine the same way it would make his job easier as the winds blow seeds from mine onto his property. i told him some one needs to feed the bees. 
6 Likes
The garden is doing well this year. It’s interesting seeing how different varieties of cucs, squash, and tomatoes reacted to our wet cold spring. Some varieties loved it while others just sat there sulking until they got some heat.
3 Likes
My containers garden doing OK. I just enjoy growing!
Tony
Cucumbers
Gooseberry cherry tomatoes
Eggplant
Herbs
Flavor bombs cherry tomatoes
Sugarcane
Jasmine for tea
Vietnamese hot peppers
Thai Holy Basil
Big beef tomatoes
Chives
Brown cherry tomatoes
My figs collection are loaded
Hardy Chicago
VDB
Celeste
Figs Cleft grafted in February with main crops right away is the way go.
Black Madeira
I-258
Soccoro Black
Malta Black
Craven’s Craving
Ischia Black UCD
Moscatel Preto
And the rest of the 100 plus potted figs
Finally my potted Tam Kam nonastringent Kaki Persimmons
18 Likes
“100 plus potted figs” …growing figs seems a addiction​:joy:
2 Likes
Mine is coming along better than it has been since I moved into this house.
I’m still picking the occasional few asparagus spears, I figure since the crowns are ferned out it shouldn’t hurt when I pick new spears that are coming up from them.
Eggplant’s getting big, the first tomatoes and peppers are close, the yellow squash is in, the peas are producing more than I need every day, and I finally found some carrot varieties that do well here. The first Costata Romanesco zucchini, which I have never tried before, should be ready tomorrow. I’ve got some pretty good lettuce out there. The biggest disappointment this year has to be the long beans, which appear to be diseased.
2 Likes
Tomatoes are puny and runted, but they have a few fruits turning orange. Pea vines are dying back, green beans just starting to produce in their stead. So it’s beans and tomatoes for the summer. And cukes look promising, tho late.
3 Likes
You’re way ahead of me Lois !
1 Like
My tomatoes were doing well, they had set quite a few fruit on them over the last couple weeks, and some were about 5ft tall. I had mulched some of them earlier this week, and put up a few more stakes for the extra branches.
But then.
We had a storm blow through about 8:00 tonight, didn’t last more than 15 minutes, but the winds were swirling around maybe 40-50mph and the rain was coming in sideways. It sounded and looked bad, but I couldn’t do nothing about it. I had to do some work on the computer, and just went out to inspect things before dark.
We have about 35 tomatoes planted in the patch, and from what I could tell, over half of them had most of their branches blown down onto the ground that hadn’t been staked, and even some of those that were were damaged as well.
I’m so pi**ed that all the hours that we put into raising those plants from seed indoors, then potting them up to cups, then hardening them off, then planting, mulching and staking them is ruined in a brief storm. I fixed what I could, but there’s still a lot of damage, it’s so frustrating. You have to fight the rain, heat, storms, deer, rabbits, disease, etc. It’s like what’s the point. This is my 6th year trying to grow them and it’s a constant exercise in futility.
The good news is that the fruit trees appear to be fine, the thornless blackberries look fairly good, even though some canes are doing some serious listing. The corn looks ok as well, but it’s not as tall as the some of the tomatoes.
5 Likes
Well, I couldn’t give up on my 'maters, so after the sun had slipped behind the hills this evening, I went down to the patch and started to stake up some of the branches that were on the ground.
I think I made four trips to the barn to get the stakes (tobacco sticks) and would get about ten a trip, so I think I staked up about 40-45 branches.
Even tho there’s still some branches down, I made good progress in the patch. There’s a couple plants that are in bad shape, ie split stalks and multiple branches down, so looks like I’ll just pull those. They are Brandywine plants, and we have quite a few, so no big loss.
The others with downed branches got a beating but after they’ve been staked up I think they’ll pull out of it. Thankfully I had thrown down some grass clippings between the rows so most of the leaves weren’t caked in mud.
My Ambrosia sweet corn is starting to tassel, but the stalks are only about 4ft tall, so that’s too early. The Honey Select is shorter, but hasn’t tasseled yet. I hope the 26-0-0 I threw down on them last week will help.
Even tho I was only out there a couple hours, I was soaked, it was that humid. Afterwards I got a shower and sat on the deck and watched a distant looming thunderstorm crackle and flicker with lightning dancing through the cloud. One of the pleasures of the summer, watching nature’s fireworks.
5 Likes
In my experience, tomatoes may actually produce better, after being beaten. Hope yours perk up.
2 Likes
Tomatoes are really weeds, hard to kill
Thanks Rob and Lois.
Yeah, they are tough, but one thing I’ve noticed is that when they get knocked over they don’t do as well. Not many were knocked over, mostly just downed branches. But, all I can do is stake them up and hope for the best. Thankfully the branches were lying on grass clippings instead of mud, so that saved a lot of the plants. We’re supposed to have warm and dry weather this week, so they should recover well. They have lots of blooms and fruit on them already.
Another thing I’ve noticed here is that the weather, disease, bugs and varmits rarely give you a second chance, so you have to be proactive and not reactive.
I don’t like that my corn is starting to tassel and it’s not nearly tall enough. But, nothing I can do about that. Maybe it’s a response to the harsh winds and rain, thinking “I’m about to get blown over, so I need to start producing?”
You may be right Lois. In my tomato row, where the plants are in deep rich soil, plenty of water, light and food, the plants this year are tall, leggy, weak and slow to bear and ripen. I had 1 left-over plant of the same variety that was small, ragged and broken that I just stuck in the ground 20ft away in sun-baked clay with only rainfall. Of course that’s the one that’s tall, dark green and loaded. I am finding some record sized tomato worms this year however. I’m ready for a fresh off the vine tomato!
1 Like
Today between storms, I got out and did some more staking. I think I made four or so trips to the barn to get stakes, so I think I staked up about another 45 branches, plus a couple of the peppers. Also did some weeding. Since it’s been cloudy and cooler, it wasn’t too bad today.
The plants are loaded with fruit, but nothing ripe yet. There was a pink Boxcar Willie tom, but everything else is still green.
Which ones are working best?
Oxheart’s giving me decent carrots. Good flavor, and good size. The ones I’ve been picking are around 3 inches in diameter and not too long. Maybe around 6 inches. They’re not as sweet as the best I’ve eaten from the wet market in the Philippines, but better than anything I’ve had from a grocery store here. Since I posted that comment my Cosmic Purple and Caracas are also maturing and sizing up, they’re all fine. Nothing really stands out in the flavor department, but the Oxheart stands out for its size.
Thinking about it, my switch to unsupported raised beds and my almost daily watering are probably what’s behind my success this year. Still, Oxheart seems like a great variety for our rocky New England soils. Next year Oxheart will be my “main” carrot and I’ll also find 2 or 3 other varieties to trial. Hopefully I’ll find one that knocks it out of the park in the flavor department.
Edit: Or perhaps what I have will wind up being as good as I’d like it to be when the weather cools down.