# The 2019 Garden Thread



## Supe (Apr 29, 2019)

Last of the peppers went in this past weekend.  This year's pepper crop:

-Jalapenos 2X

-Habaneros 2X

-Mad Hatters

-Cayenne

-Ghost Peppers

-Hot Bananas

-Ancho Chiles 3X

-Carolina Reapers 2X

-Couple of sweet/milder for Mrs. Supe

Almost didn't get the reapers in this year.  Puckerbutt didn't have them in stock - woman at the register said they only sell the seedling in store if they have extras, which they didn't this year.  Gave me the name of a nursery in South Carolina, so drove down there yesterday with Junior.  Place was SLAM PACKED with horrible parking, but easy to tell why.  Selection/quality of plants across the board is 1000X better than any of the big box stores or local places, AND cheaper.  Thankfully, they had about a dozen reaper seedlings left, so we went and grabbed two of them.  The two reapers and a trio of the ancho chiles only cost of $7.  Going to get as much as possible there next year, including the flowers for the front of the house, but will definitely go on a weekday.

Also, bought two larger pots for the reapers this year.  They were in a 12" pot last year, and the root ball took up the entire thing - you couldn't even shake the dirt free.  Moved them to I think a 20" pot that's considerably deeper.


----------



## wilheldp_PE (Apr 29, 2019)

A buddy of mine grows peppers and tomatoes every year, and usually gives me a couple of "salsa kits" throughout the year.  He grew some reapers last year.  I put 1 pepper, seeded, in a whole batch of salsa and it was too hot to eat.  WTF do you do with 2 plants worth of reapers?


----------



## Road Guy (Apr 29, 2019)

We don't usually plant until after mothers day, (its actually snowing today)

But were  doing the normal, tomato's, cucumbers, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers.

Last year we didn't get any cucumbers, not sure If I just bought two duds but we did get a shit load of jalapeno peppers, I think I still have 2 bags in the freezer (I normally cut up the jalapenos and bag them for use throughout the winter in soups and such.

I was told that we could plant lettuce here in CO towards the end of winter put I never got around to it


----------



## Supe (Apr 29, 2019)

wilheldp_PE said:


> A buddy of mine grows peppers and tomatoes every year, and usually gives me a couple of "salsa kits" throughout the year.  He grew some reapers last year.  I put 1 pepper, seeded, in a whole batch of salsa and it was too hot to eat.  WTF do you do with 2 plants worth of reapers?


Freeze or give them away.  I still have a bunch from last year that I plan on dehydrating in the oven and then turning into pepper flakes.  It's more something for us to do as dad/daughter than to actually eat!  They do work really well in a fruit/sugar heavy salsas, but you need to halve them or make a BIG batch.


----------



## ktulu (May 2, 2019)

I have our garden in the ground and things are growing well. Had an outstanding crop of lettuce this year - think I had 8 different Romaine varieties, broccoli did well, cauliflower so-so. Grew bok choy for the first time this winter - love the flavor so will definitely grow more this Fall. Have cabbage under row cover now. Hoping they head before the 90F heat sets in. 

Have multiple varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash/zukes, cucumbers growing in plots spread around (my yard, the neighbor's yard, AU community garden). Also have a few okra plants growing. Watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings getting close to planting.


----------



## Supe (May 2, 2019)

Something is eating one of my habanero plants and I don't know what.  Seems insect-related but I haven't seen any.


----------



## Road Guy (May 2, 2019)

do you put some type of insect spray on it?


----------



## Supe (May 2, 2019)

I use that "Sevin" 5% powder that you shake on/around it.  Guess I'll need to put down a second round.


----------



## FLBuff PE (May 2, 2019)

We've been using a commercial compost system that is offered around us this winter, and the compost giveback is this weekend. I'll be picking up a load of it on Saturday, then tilling our garden so the wife and kids can plant it in the next few weekends.


----------



## envirotex (May 2, 2019)

I got some container tomatoes.  Can't really do anything else while we're in the rental...


----------



## Road Guy (May 2, 2019)

so i put out some type of spray for my apple tree that you put on when the leaves bud out that keeps worms from growing on the apples, the label peeled off and I cant recall the brand, but I was told the spray was "live organism" - we have gotten below freezing since I put the spray on and I wonder if I should spray it again?  But I think were supposed to get another snow next week? 

Not even thinking about the actual garden yet!


----------



## Supe (May 2, 2019)

Snow, LOL.  My car temp gauge showed 90 ambient on the drive home yesterday.


----------



## Road Guy (May 2, 2019)

In laws and parents are coming in next week for kids graduation- they should have fun coming from Florida and North Carolina!


----------



## leggo PE (May 2, 2019)

You all are making me wanna grow some veggies! We actually have access to a small amount of back years at our new spot. For ease, I think I'd probably want stuff to grow in pots.

What's a potentially good crop (i.e. easy to grow, hardy, and can grow in a pot) for beginners?

Also, if you Google search "when to put seeds in SF" be prepared to only get results about the best cannabis seeds out there!


----------



## Dexman PE PMP (May 2, 2019)

We've done a few veggies in the past here in NZ (cucumbers, watermelon, jalapenos &amp; tomatoes).  Only thing we're currently growing is a large planter box of strawberries. They had fruit last spring, but nothing but runners since (resulting in at least 2x as many plants). Not really sure what to do with them as it gets more into winter here.


----------



## Supe (May 6, 2019)

leggo PE said:


> You all are making me wanna grow some veggies! We actually have access to a small amount of back years at our new spot. For ease, I think I'd probably want stuff to grow in pots.
> 
> What's a potentially good crop (i.e. easy to grow, hardy, and can grow in a pot) for beginners?
> 
> Also, if you Google search "when to put seeds in SF" be prepared to only get results about the best cannabis seeds out there!


Any type of small pepper.  Tabasco, Thai chiles, etc.  Those are practically idiot-proof.  Larger, "fruitier" peppers are a bit trickier, at least in the south.  It's hard to keep them watered enough with the temps down here during the daytime - watering 2x a day is just barely enough.


----------



## leggo PE (May 6, 2019)

Thanks!

We got some sort of pepper (don't remember the name) starter plant as well as a starter tomato plant over the weekend. Here's to hoping we remember to water them enough! They're out on the little balcony outside our living room.


----------



## Road Guy (May 6, 2019)

And they do actually sell different plants for containers versus "garden" and it will make a difference, we usually buy 2 plants of cherry tomatoes for containers and they do really well.


----------



## Supe (May 6, 2019)

Just make sure your container has holes in the bottom for drainage!  We bought one of those over-the-railing type planters for the deck last year, not realizing that it didn't have holes drilled in the bottom.  Sure enough after several days of heavy rain (and ignoring the garden because there was no need to water) we came out to all the herbs in it dead from rot, and the entire ball of dirt/plant remains floating in the top of the container.


----------



## leggo PE (May 6, 2019)

Yep. we got pots with holes in the bottom.

We also got starter plants that aren't meant for pots...

So I guess we'll see.


----------



## Supe (May 6, 2019)

If the pot's big enough, it'll be fine.  If its too small, you'll usually just end up with a smaller crop.  Carolina Reapers are pretty small peppers, and we got a pretty good yield last year, but when I went to yank the dead one out (has a very woody stem to it) to prep the pot this year, the root ball took up the entire pot.  I'd have never known they'd do so much better in a bigger pot, but there was nothing wrong with those.


----------



## ktulu (May 8, 2019)

My Early Jalapeno's are starting to produce. Won't be long now. I plan on making a bunch of pickled jalapeno rings.


----------



## Supe (May 8, 2019)

Everything but my reapers have just about doubled in size already.


----------



## Road Guy (May 8, 2019)

haven't even turned my sprinklers on yet!


----------



## FLBuff PE (May 8, 2019)

^Nor have I. We are supposed to get some snow starting this afternoon through tomorrow night. Last weekend I got some compost, mixed it into our garden, and hand-turned over the soil. I have my FIL tiller, but after replacing the carb on the tiller, gas is coming out of it, due to the float in the carb being mis-adjusted. I didn't have the time to open it up and adjust it, so I decided to just muscle it.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 10, 2019)

I don't think we've ever grown veggies where my parents are.  Too much clay/silt and not enough sun.  Good potato growing.  I have been helping with weeding/trimming back stuff!  It's the only thing I am good at, lol.  I kill everything else.

Someone in my office did bring in a huge bag of chocolate mint for me to bring to my mom/let her plant.  Hopefully she likes it!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

Boyfriend does hydrophonic growing in his basement - he started 6 things of lettuce awhile back. 4 made it. 

We just started more lettuce and some herbs ("I'm an idiot who can't write TIME!", sage, chives, and rosemary).

And then I've started some seedlings in an egg crate: cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini. We have green beans we need to start and I want to do strawberries as well. His plot outside is only 4x8 I think? 

He's got the set up to do 12 more plants inside too, he says he'll figure out how to grow asparagus for me. 

I have no green thumb so thoughts &amp; prayers for these poor tomato plants


----------



## Ble_PE (May 10, 2019)

Yea, "lettuce".


----------



## Road Guy (May 10, 2019)

Now I can grow shrooms in my basement!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

Ble_PE said:


> Yea, "lettuce".


"Lettuce" is legal in our city but he is growing actual lettuce


----------



## JayKay PE (May 10, 2019)

@LyceeFruit How did you boyfriend set up his hydroponic?  I've been thinking about maybe dabbling to start doing some leafy green stuff during the off-seasons, but I don't really know where to start?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> @LyceeFruit How did you boyfriend set up his hydroponic?  I've been thinking about maybe dabbling to start doing some leafy green stuff during the off-seasons, but I don't really know where to start?


I will ask him tonight and get back to you. I'm curious too but I have no luck with plants (or space at my place) so...


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> @LyceeFruit How did you boyfriend set up his hydroponic?  I've been thinking about maybe dabbling to start doing some leafy green stuff during the off-seasons, but I don't really know where to start?


He says to google "deep water culture" and thats set up below.


----------



## wilheldp_PE (May 10, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> We just started more lettuce and some herbs (*"I'm an idiot who can't write TIME!",* sage, chives, and rosemary).


LOL...Is that a carryover from when Ble (I think) kept writing time with a hy all the time?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

wilheldp_PE said:


> LOL...Is that a carryover from when Ble (I think) kept writing time with a hy all the time?


Legit dont even remember typing that  i think my cursor moved, idfk


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 10, 2019)

Ok... so it isnt me. I've tried to edit my post twice. And it autochanges the herb name to that phrase. Idk what the phrase is even from


----------



## ChebyshevII PE PMP (May 11, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> Ok... so it isnt me. I've tried to edit my post twice. And it autochanges the herb name to that phrase. Idk what the phrase is even from


I guess it’s safe to say this happens all the thyme.


----------



## Ble_PE (May 11, 2019)

wilheldp_PE said:


> LOL...Is that a carryover from when Ble (I think) kept writing time with a hy all the time?


How dare you confuse me with NJMike!


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

Yay!  Thanks @LyceeFruit!  I'll def look into it later this year.  Spring/summer harvest season is just starting now for the farms near me, so I won't have to worry about fresh veggies for a while!  Yay!  Forced veggie consumption due to enrolling in a CSA!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Yay!  Thanks @LyceeFruit!  I'll def look into it later this year.  Spring/summer harvest season is just starting now for the farms near me, so I won't have to worry about fresh veggies for a while!  Yay!  Forced veggie consumption due to enrolling in a CSA!


I'm doing a CSA too but still going to attempt to grow things since he has space.

He finally put more nutrients in there on Sunday, after mentioning needing too on like Thursday. It's supposed be around 700 but it was at 250. No wonder some of the lower leaves were brown


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> I'm doing a CSA too but still going to attempt to grow things since he has space.
> 
> He finally put more nutrients in there on Sunday, after mentioning needing too on like Thursday. It's supposed be around 700 but it was at 250. No wonder some of the lower leaves were brown


Ah!  Where are you (I'm just curious on CSA pricing across the country/how big your share usually is).  On LI/NYC area, shares are usually around $650+ per season, but I feel like you do get your money's worth since the season is usually around 25-weeks/pickups plus a bunch of extra stuff.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Ah!  Where are you (I'm just curious on CSA pricing across the country/how big your share usually is).  On LI/NYC area, shares are usually around $650+ per season, but I feel like you do get your money's worth since the season is usually around 25-weeks/pickups plus a bunch of extra stuff.


I'm in southern ME. The farm I get it through is a micro-farm, they grow on about an acre of land. It's 400$ for the "small share" with forage added on. It's enough veggies for 1-2 people. 25$/week. They are also organic but not certified. And all of her produce lasts so much longer than produce I've gotten in other CSAs or even at the farmers market.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> I'm in southern ME. The farm I get it through is a micro-farm, they grow on about an acre of land. It's 400$ for the "small share" with forage added on. It's enough veggies for 1-2 people. 25$/week. They are also organic but not certified. And all of her produce lasts so much longer than produce I've gotten in other CSAs or even at the farmers market.


Ah!!!!  Maine!  I wish I could move up there, so I'm not locked-in an island.  I've tried a couple of CSAs out here, everyone is certified organic which might be why the prices are a little more?  I'm interested in the one I'm most recently enrolled in; they have something where you're allowed to choose what is in your share.  Maybe this means more of a veggie or something when they post what is harvested?  Trading in parts of your share?  Either way, I'm hoping this will force my family to eat more veggies (I've always done a half share or a every-other week share for me/single person, and it's a tonnnn of veggies.  Lots of Bok Choy!)


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Ah!!!!  Maine!  I wish I could move up there, so I'm not locked-in an island.  I've tried a couple of CSAs out here, everyone is certified organic which might be why the prices are a little more?  I'm interested in the one I'm most recently enrolled in; they have something where you're allowed to choose what is in your share.  Maybe this means more of a veggie or something when they post what is harvested?  Trading in parts of your share?  Either way, I'm hoping this will force my family to eat more veggies (I've always done a half share or a every-other week share for me/single person, and it's a tonnnn of veggies.  Lots of Bok Choy!)


I also get a 10% discount since I've been a CSA member before.

I've seen CSAs around here that do something like that. I believe my farm is doing that at the farmers market that they frequent, you get X dollars to spend each week and you don't end up swimming in kale and kohlrabi (2 things I'm not too keen on)


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> I also get a 10% discount since I've been a CSA member before.
> 
> I've seen CSAs around here that do something like that. I believe my farm is doing that at the farmers market that they frequent, you get X dollars to spend each week and you don't end up swimming in kale and kohlrabi (2 things I'm not too keen on)


I think my breakdown is around $27/week if you do the whole season.  Ah!  That's an interesting method with the X dollars each week.  I think my CSA is going to be like "You get BLANK amount of items, feel free to exchange and get 2 of one item" or something like that.  As for kale and kohlrabi....I love both of those things so much, tbh.  Kale chips/kale with eggs and kohlrabi sticks!!!  yum!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> I think my breakdown is around $27/week if you do the whole season.  Ah!  That's an interesting method with the X dollars each week.  I think my CSA is going to be like "You get BLANK amount of items, feel free to exchange and get 2 of one item" or something like that.  As for kale and kohlrabi....I love both of those things so much, tbh.  Kale chips/kale with eggs and kohlrabi sticks!!!  yum!


It's going to be a challenge to get boyfriend to eat those...

In the 7.5 months we've known each other, I've introduced him to:

green beans

asparagus

beets

parsnips

summer squash

lamb

cauliflower

cantaloupe

And I think a few more things. I've also had him eat NON-FIRED fish! GASP


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

... @LyceeFruit...Is your boyfriend okay?  I mean, I get parsnips, they're kinda weird to people who didn't grow up on root vegetables (aka; I can't say no to a turnip encased in wax), but the green beans?  Cantaloupe?  Was he one of those kids who only ate 'white' things, as my mom calls them: chicken nuggets, white rice, bread, french fries, etc.?  I'm seriously curious.  I'm assuming bf is around 25+?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> ... @LyceeFruit...Is your boyfriend okay?  I mean, I get parsnips, they're kinda weird to people who didn't grow up on root vegetables (aka; I can't say no to a turnip encased in wax), but the green beans?  Cantaloupe?  Was he one of those kids who only ate 'white' things, as my mom calls them: chicken nuggets, white rice, bread, french fries, etc.?  I'm seriously curious.  I'm assuming bf is around 25+?


He's 29. His dad owned a pizza shop when he was growing up and his mom died when he was 11 (cancer) so it was a lot of fried foods. He isn't anti-veg, he's just a major creature of habit. Like buys the exact same snacks every week (peanuts, green apples, green grapes) and makes the same like 4 things. And his ex wouldn't let him cook or grill. So IDFK lol 

In his defense, I didn't eat certain things growing up (tuna, parnsips, brussels sprouts) because I was raised by my grandmother and she didn't like them so she didn't make them.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 13, 2019)

@JayKay0914 he's willing to try any recipe we find at least once. So at least he's expanding his palate.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 13, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> He's 29. His dad owned a pizza shop when he was growing up and his mom died when he was 11 (cancer) so it was a lot of fried foods. He isn't anti-veg, he's just a major creature of habit. Like buys the exact same snacks every week (peanuts, green apples, green grapes) and makes the same like 4 things. And his ex wouldn't let him cook or grill. So IDFK lol
> 
> In his defense, I didn't eat certain things growing up (tuna, parnsips, brussels sprouts) because I was raised by my grandmother and she didn't like them so she didn't make them.


Nah, that totally makes sense.  When you're not exposed to something growing up, it does make it kinda difficult to start trying/jumping into the deep end spending money on food that you may or may not like.  The willingness to try is really good, as well as want to trying and cook!  I didn't realize how much stuff I didn't know about cooking until I was living on my own and was like, "I want chili" and then realizing how much work technically went into it.


----------



## ktulu (May 14, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Someone in my office did bring in a huge bag of chocolate mint for me to bring to my mom/let her plant.  Hopefully she likes it!


Plant it in a pot and not in the ground. It will take over.


----------



## ktulu (May 14, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> @LyceeFruit How did you boyfriend set up his hydroponic?  I've been thinking about maybe dabbling to start doing some leafy green stuff during the off-seasons, but I don't really know where to start?


The Kratky hydroponic method seems to be the easiest for beginners.


----------



## mudpuppy (May 14, 2019)

ktulu said:


> Plant it in a pot and not in the ground. It will take over.




This!  Mint will spread everywhere.  I've seen a house where the whole back yard was mint.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 14, 2019)

ktulu said:


> Plant it in a pot and not in the ground. It will take over.


My mom kinda alluded to that when I gave it to her, she was like "Ah, yes, I have the perfect pot for these monsters" and then she kinda shook it and cackled while running into the backyard.

I assume this is what she meant.  That it spreads if not potted.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 14, 2019)

my egg crate starters are sprouting!!! 

Zucchini is the middle 6, top 6 are cukes (no sprouts), and bottom 6 are tomatoes.

Still havent started green beans. Just got some small starter pots for strawberries


----------



## leggo PE (May 14, 2019)

Our tomato plant seems to be very happy! Thankfully, my fiance is doing a good job of watering it basically every day.

The pepper plant isn't visibly growing so quickly, but I know it's also not ever going to get as big as the tomato plant will.

I still wish we had gotten a bigger pot for the tomato plant, but the fiance says the one we got is plenty big enough.


----------



## leggo PE (May 21, 2019)

The tomato plant is growing like crazy and has, I think, at least doubled in size since we got it 2.5 weeks ago. It has four little flowers buds already. 

The pepper plant is growing much more slowly, but I expected this as it's goal is not to be as big. It is showing new growth though!

And we just moved them to spots where they will actually get more sun, due to the arrangement of the little balcony we have them on being more shaded at one end than the other.


----------



## Supe (May 21, 2019)

I've tried a new Spectricide liquid product to see if I can stop whatever the hell is decimating my plants.  They're growing, but leaves are all chewed to shit!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 21, 2019)

I still haven't started my green beans, I had to give up my pots for the zucchini which is taking off - it's basically outgrown the egg crates but we can't transplant outside yet.

I also got strawberries to start. Boyfriend is attempting to salvage some of what sprouted in the hydrophonic cage things, algae grew. Still no cukes either. I think I'll try again tho, the little pickling cukes are my fave.


----------



## mudpuppy (May 21, 2019)

Meanwhile in MI, it's almost time to plant.  I think this morning was the last threat of frost.  Wife is planning to pick up some plants this week.

We did have a bunch of collards come up, and the rhubarb and strawberries are doing excellent.


----------



## Road Guy (May 21, 2019)

Next weekend garden... next weekend...

(Pic taken last night)


----------



## JayKay PE (May 22, 2019)

Got another bag of mint from my coworker.  I think she is excited that nobody refused her mint.  Going to give it to my mom when they get back from upstate.  My cacti are not doing too well...I feel like I'm either watering them too much, or too little.  I am a horrible plant caretaker.

We're supposed to be getting severe thunderstorms in a couple days, with 40MPH+ winds.  Which means my weekend is going to be picking up sticks, sticks, and more sticks.  BUT maybe my mom will let me use her industrial hand clippers so I can go after that stupid vine that keeps growing!


----------



## User1 (May 22, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Got another bag of mint from my coworker.  I think she is excited that nobody refused her mint.  Going to give it to my mom when they get back from upstate.  My cacti are not doing too well...I feel like I'm either watering them too much, or too little.  I am a horrible plant caretaker.
> 
> We're supposed to be getting severe thunderstorms in a couple days, with 40MPH+ winds.  Which means my weekend is going to be picking up sticks, sticks, and more sticks.  BUT maybe my mom will let me use her industrial hand clippers so I can go after that stupid vine that keeps growing!﻿


don't water until the soil is dry. it's worse to overwater than to underwater!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 22, 2019)

Boyfriend sent me a picture of my plant babies last night. The zucchinis are doing well. Pretty sure we'll be drowning in zukes this summer. Which is fine, I love them. I *think* we're past the frost so we can transplant this weekend - regardless, I'll be cleaning up the area.

I'm really excited about this lol


----------



## ruggercsc (May 28, 2019)

I have a lot of tomato's that will need to be harvested soon.  Earliest Harvest yet.


----------



## Supe (May 28, 2019)

G-danged dogs dug up my ghost pepper plant.  I don't think its going to make it, not in this heat.  I wonder if anyone local has any left?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 28, 2019)

We cleaned up the garden bed and got new dirt. Went to Home Depot after a long bike ride, neither of us did math correctly at first but then I caught our issue LOL ( he said he wanted 3in of depth but kept calculating using 1ft of depth so we would've had to buy A LOT of bags to cover the area lol)

Brought most of the plants outside and bought 2 new ones at the farmers market (pickling cukes and a pole bean plant)

And then, while he was stoking the fire and I was grilling, I went on a tirade of raking his backyard. And I'm not even done and I think I've raked enough for like 6 bags. He never raked last fall and I'm not sure if he raked in 2017 either... But yeah, more raking and planting in my future. I have grand ideas for his backyard and I don't even live there but at least I'm putting in the work so he really doesn't care. The previous-previous owner of his house had gorgeous gardens outback but the last owner didn't do anything with them so there's a lot to clean up from that too. 

Ramble ramble, I don't even have a green thumb


----------



## mudpuppy (May 29, 2019)

Got most of the garden in over the weekend.  The rhubarb, strawberries and horseradish are doing great.  Wife wants to can a lot of tomatoes this year so we have 30 tomato plants.  Several sweet peppers, a bunch of tabascos (so the wife can make pepper sauce since you can't buy it up here), a few cucumbers, squash, zucchinis, onion, kale, collards, eggplant, cabbage.  Still need to plant the peas, okra and green beans.  Probably a bit late for the peas but we'll see what happens.


----------



## Supe (May 29, 2019)

My ghost pepper plant is officially dead.  RIP.


----------



## ChebyshevII PE PMP (May 29, 2019)

Supe said:


> My ghost pepper plant is officially dead.  RIP.


Now it’s just a pepper plant, right? (Gave up the ghost)


----------



## Supe (May 29, 2019)

Now its just a ghost, because there is no pepper plant.


----------



## matt267 PE (May 29, 2019)

ChebyshevII_PE said:


> Now it’s just a pepper plant, right? (Gave up the ghost)


Leave it to an electrical engineer.


----------



## ChebyshevII PE PMP (May 29, 2019)

matt267 PE said:


> Leave it to an electrical engineer.


My plant is doing amazingly:


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 29, 2019)

ChebyshevII_PE said:


> My plant is doing amazingly:
> 
> View attachment 13314


My kind of plant


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jun 3, 2019)

Transplanted everything outside. May regret 6 zucchini plants, didnt think all 6 would sprout. The tall tomato plant is from a coworker of my boyfriends. The beans (far end) are from a local farmer, same with the cuke plants next to it. I also planted a couple more cucumber seeds because I love cukes. 

But last weekend, we turned the soil and got more soil. Got some nice big fat worms in there.

I also went a raking spree in his backyard. He never raked last fall. So I raked maybe a third of his backyard. The previous owner didn't do anything in the yard but the owner before that had gorgeous gardens back there that had been ignored for like 15 years. 6 50gal bags of leaves and plants later, it looks better but still more clean up to do.


----------



## matt267 PE (Jun 3, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> ... May regret 6 zucchini plants...
> 
> View attachment 13334


Yes, yes you will   

those 6 zucchini could easily take over that spot. Not to mention the 72 zucchinis per week you'll be harvesting. You can always save just one of the transplants. Save the healthiest one.


----------



## Master slacker (Jun 3, 2019)

We had strawberries.

The chickens liked them.


----------



## Road Guy (Jun 3, 2019)

installed the garden Saturday, Saturday afternoon we had 1/4" hail for about 30 minutes, lucky I was at home I put some buckets and stuff over the plants, but if I hadn't been home would have been out $55 bucks in plants!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jun 3, 2019)

matt267 PE said:


> Yes, yes you will
> 
> those 6 zucchini could easily take over that spot. Not to mention the 72 zucchinis per week you'll be harvesting. You can always save just one of the transplants. Save the healthiest one.


I expect to pull the smallest plant out soon. Zukes freeze well tho and my fave muffin recipe uses grated zucchini. I didn't expect all 6 to make it through the egg crate process.


----------



## matt267 PE (Jun 3, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> I expect to pull the smallest plant out soon. Zukes freeze well tho and my fave muffin recipe uses grated zucchini. I didn't expect all 6 to make it through the egg crate process.


Fried Zucchini flowers are also really good!!


----------



## leggo PE (Jun 4, 2019)

Tomato plant needs to be staked! And had 27 flowers at last count. The pepper plant is taking its sweet time. I wonder if its pot is too small... It's in a slightly smaller pot than the tomato plant.


----------



## Supe (Jun 5, 2019)

I have four pepper plants that need staked, maybe 5.  Anchos can't handle the weight of their own leaves, neither can the spicy bells.


----------



## Supe (Jun 10, 2019)

My dead ghost pepper plant has made a comeback!  It was literally about 4" of stalk with one dead leaf hanging off of it after the dogs dug it up.  4 days of NC cloud cover and rain, and it's about a foot tall with a bunch of new growth!

The Mad Hatters are coming along slow, as are (really surprisingly) the Tabasco, but everything else is doing real well.  The reaper leaves are getting HUGE - they were definitely constricted by pot size last year.  The struggling habanero finally has its feet under it and is about 2/3 the size of its brother.  Our first ancho chili has made an appearance, as have about half a dozen jalapenos and a sweet snacking pepper.  One of the others has fruited too, I just can't remember which one.

Edit: It was the hot banana!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jun 12, 2019)

Woohoo! The green beans I planted from seed are sprouting which is good since the stalks I bought arent doing great.

Something is also digging, see corner. And we have mushrooms growing on the outside of the boards on 3 sides


----------



## Road Guy (Jun 21, 2019)

with only one day above 90 so far this summer I don't think well have any "maters" this year,  its also snowing in the mountains today so I may just go ahead and buy vegetables at sprouts


----------



## mudpuppy (Jun 24, 2019)

It's been so cold and rainy (barely hit 80, let alone 90) that our garden is doing terrible.  Supposed to get warm (80s) and sunny this week so maybe things will perk up.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jun 24, 2019)

mudpuppy said:


> It's been so cold and rainy (barely hit 80, let alone 90) that our garden is doing terrible.  Supposed to get warm (80s) and sunny this week so maybe things will perk up.


We've had 2 80+ days here so far (one was yesterday lol). Which I'm happy about lol. Boyfriend sent me a pic of the garden, it seems to be doing good even with all of our rain here too


----------



## leggo PE (Jun 25, 2019)

We have our first tomato officially growing, as well as three peppers!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 8, 2019)

I have 2 beans! The pole bean plants I bought from the farmers market are flowering and 2 of the plants each have 1 bean.

We staked them with twine so they could vine and one has taken off - it's twisted up around the pole almost to the top lol

the tomato plant from boyfriend's coworker has a couple of flowers.

And 5 of the 6 zucchini plants( ) are looking good with 2 of them with many flowers and the beginnings of squash.

Pretty sure the cucumber plants won't make it, i think the zucchini plants are overcrowding them.

Already looking at what we'll do for next year - build at least 2 more beds.

Had to rip out all of the hydophonic plants in the basement but he's building a new setup that'll be able to have 72 plants going - I've begged him to not have all 72 but I don't think I've won that. So many salads in our future.


----------



## ruggercsc (Jul 8, 2019)

We are having a great year for the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.  We have already multiple harvests and have brought extras to work.  We tried container  grown zuchinni, but they keep rotting before the get big enough to harvest. 

Any other suggestions for container grown vegtables?


----------



## ktulu (Jul 8, 2019)

ruggercsc said:


> Any other suggestions for container grown vegtables?


Water. Container vegetables demand more water than in-ground. At least that's been my experience.


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 8, 2019)

We've finally had a couple weeks of 80+ degrees and the garden is taking off.  Had some really good strawberries a couple weeks ago and some lettuce last week, but otherwise nothing to harvest yet. . .


----------



## ktulu (Jul 9, 2019)

mudpuppy said:


> We've finally had a couple weeks of 80+ degrees and the garden is taking off.  Had some really good strawberries a couple weeks ago and some lettuce last week, but otherwise nothing to harvest yet. . .


It's been so hot here that I have had to pull out dead / dying plants....


----------



## JayKay PE (Jul 9, 2019)

Not my gardening, per se, but my CSA is amazing this year!  I'm allowed to customize what I get so I've toned down the bok choi this week and really excited for baby leeks!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 9, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Not my gardening, per se, but my CSA is amazing this year!  I'm allowed to customize what I get so I've toned down the bok choi this week and really excited for baby leeks!


Jealous!

I had to pawn off some of my CSA on my best friend and mother. 

I'm drowning in leafy greens. But my farmer is amazing and her produce lasts so well, even if you screw up storing it.


----------



## JayKay PE (Jul 10, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> Jealous!
> 
> I had to pawn off some of my CSA on my best friend and mother.
> 
> I'm drowning in leafy greens. But my farmer is amazing and her produce lasts so well, even if you screw up storing it.


Same here!  We have so many leafy greens and I haven't eaten any of it so far, since I keep getting distracted eating the other stuff.  I'm thinking escarole scrambled eggs tonight, just to cook it down and use it.  So much cilantro, I love it, but 3 bunches?  Oooof.  But ditto on the storing: it seems like stuff I get from my share lasts way longer than in the store (like, salad mix lasting for a week or more as opposed to a couple days otherwise).


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 10, 2019)

JayKay0914 said:


> Same here!  We have so many leafy greens and I haven't eaten any of it so far, since I keep getting distracted eating the other stuff.  I'm thinking escarole scrambled eggs tonight, just to cook it down and use it.  So much cilantro, I love it, but 3 bunches?  Oooof.  But ditto on the storing: it seems like stuff I get from my share lasts way longer than in the store (like, salad mix lasting for a week or more as opposed to a couple days otherwise).


Thankfully no cilantro yet.

The mint I got on 1 Jul isn't quite making it. But that's fine. I have a mint plants anyway lol

I'm pretty sure tonight's dinner is going to involve sauteed swiss chard and/or kale with eggs. It's so much.

And now boyfriend is like "I can have 72 plants in my new hydrophonic set up! I'm doing leafy greens!" and I'm sitting here like "save me please" 

He's not being super helpful in the eating of the CSA .


I picked my 2 pole beans yesterday! And saw 2 small green tomatoes on the plant we got from his coworker!!!!


----------



## chart94 PE (Jul 10, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> Thankfully no cilantro yet.
> 
> The mint I got on 1 Jul isn't quite making it. But that's fine. I have a mint plants anyway lol
> 
> ...


I have tried to plant mint, but it wont even germinate.. Everything else has been growing from tomatoes to eggplants but this mint that supposedly spreads like a weed wont grow!


----------



## ChebyshevII PE PMP (Jul 10, 2019)

chart94 said:


> I have tried to plant mint, but it wont even germinate.. Everything else has been growing from tomatoes to eggplants but this mint that supposedly spreads like a weed wont grow!


I guess your experi-mint failed.


----------



## chart94 PE (Jul 10, 2019)

ChebyshevII_PE said:


> I guess your experi-mint failed.


Maybe the plants just need a little more encourage-Mint


----------



## ChebyshevII PE PMP (Jul 10, 2019)

chart94 said:


> Maybe the plants just need a little more encourage-Mint


I certainly never “mint” to offend anyone.


----------



## chart94 PE (Jul 10, 2019)

ChebyshevII_PE said:


> I certainly never “mint” to offend anyone.


No problem! I have a mild temper-mint


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 10, 2019)

chart94 said:


> I have tried to plant mint, but it wont even germinate.. Everything else has been growing from tomatoes to eggplants but this mint that supposedly spreads like a weed wont grow!


I have mine in a container and I got it at the farmers market.

I wouldnt call my mint plant a resounding success even with someone else doing most of the work. It's pretty resilient but it didn't like the 5 days I was out of the office for the holiday lol


----------



## chart94 PE (Jul 10, 2019)

LyceeFruit said:


> I have mine in a container and I got it at the farmers market.
> 
> I wouldnt call my mint plant a resounding success even with someone else doing most of the work. It's pretty resilient but it didn't like the 5 days I was out of the office for the holiday lol


One of these days im hoping for semi-success even.. so you are already way ahead lol


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 10, 2019)

chart94 said:


> One of these days im hoping for semi-success even.. so you are already way ahead lol


so cheat like i did and buy a plant LOL

i was going to try to grow it in a container from a clipping from a coworker but our growing season this year is sooooo behind due to have much rain we've had. And we've just finally hit 80F days like 2 weeks ago and our 1st 90F day was in the last couple of days too.


----------



## JayKay PE (Jul 10, 2019)

I think earlier this thread I mentioned my mom getting some chocolate mint.  It has overgrown both of the huge pots she planted it it.  When I mentioned re-potting she shrugged and said, "Mint is tricky.  It's trying to trick me into thinking it's going to die, but mint never dies.  It just waits."

And then she hummed and started playing with her pepper transplants.

my mom idek


----------



## Supe (Jul 10, 2019)

F*cking slugs/bugs are back and attacking my peppers again!


----------



## akwooly (Jul 10, 2019)

Deep fried a bunch of zucchini blossoms last night.  Yum!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 12, 2019)

Boyfriend says he can see the zucchini blossoms from the back window now. The garden is like 50ft from the window and up a hill!
Can't wait to see the garden tonight!!!!


----------



## matt267 PE (Jul 22, 2019)

My garden has been destroyed by groundhogs. I bought a motion sensor sprinkler which is keeping them away (I think). The plants are recovering, but I don't think they'll produce anything.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 22, 2019)

I've gotten 11 pole beans and 2 zucchini so far.

There'll be another few pole beans and regular green beans to pick soon. One of the cucumber plants has 2 small small cukes on it! And one of our tomato plants has 4 green tomatoes, the others have blossoms. And another zucchini will be able to be picked soon.

But I dont think 2 of the zucchini plants will produce, which is fine, I planted six. And one of the cucumer plants got overshadowed by the zukes. We had to cage one of the zuke plants since it's so top heavy with leaves, it was like starting to unplant itself... And it looks like 2 or 3 of our zuke plants had someone or something cut off some of the leaves at the base of the leaves so there's just a stalk...


----------



## chart94 PE (Jul 25, 2019)

My cucumbers died... i am truly upset. Gone for five days during the heat wave, came back all wilted.. overwatered and root rot got em.  Do you guys think if i replanted new seeds they would grow and produce before the first frost??


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 25, 2019)

chart94 said:


> My cucumbers died... i am truly upset. Gone for five days during the heat wave, came back all wilted.. overwatered and root rot got em.  Do you guys think if i replanted new seeds they would grow and produce before the first frost??




It's about 2 months from sowing to harvesting for cucumbers.  So you might have a couple weeks to harvest cukes in September before it gets too cold for them to produce, but I wouldn't count on it because they don't grow well in lower temperatures.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 25, 2019)

the heat we got last week gave me my first red tomato before August ever here - pretty stoked!


----------



## leggo PE (Jul 25, 2019)

Ugh I'm jealous! Our tomato plant has decided to sprout more tomatoes and not ripen the oldest/biggest ones, which are still not nearly ready for harvesting.

The potential that our first tomatoes will be ripen while we're off on our honeymoon seems likely to me right now. 

The pepper plant is taking it's sweet time, too. But has solid growth on one pepper and is in the process of starting three more!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jul 25, 2019)

I've harvested a bunch of my green beans and my little cucumber is growing! 

I'm so excited to see my garden tomorrow night!


----------



## akwooly (Jul 25, 2019)

have about 20 zucchini and 8 or so summer squash.  cabbages are doing great, lots of coleslaw and sauerkraut in our future!


----------



## ktulu (Jul 30, 2019)

Took some cayenne and Thai chili peppers last night and made up a jar of hot pepper sauce. It might be a tad hot. We'll see...


----------



## leggo PE (Jul 31, 2019)

The very first tomato to have sprouted suddenly has changed color to yellow! Be still my heart!

It's still pretty small though.  One fun thing is that the two biggest tomatoes to be growing right now are very noticeably different shapes!


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 31, 2019)

We've harvested a bunch of cucumbers, a zucchini, quite a few peas and some jalapenos.  Made some refrigerator pickles yesterday.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 31, 2019)

All I got so far....


----------



## Supe (Aug 1, 2019)

Looked at all my pepper plants yesterday struggling in the NC heat, and wished that I could grow pizzas instead of peppers.


----------



## matt267 PE (Aug 1, 2019)

Squirrels are really enjoying the corn in the garden. A family of woodchucks killed my cucumber plants and severely damaged the cantaloupe and zucchini to the point that no fruit are growing. My watermelon looks OK but there's nothing growing on that either. This is my 11th year with a garden at the house and the animals are getting more and more destructive. Not sure it's even worth it anymore. Might just plant all flowers next year or let the raspberry plants take over.


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 1, 2019)

a good .22 rifle can be effective in this situation


----------



## matt267 PE (Aug 1, 2019)

Road Guy said:


> a good .22 rifle can be effective in this situation


Do you know any good squirrel recipes?


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 1, 2019)

squirrel is pretty good with rice and gravy, but you just don't want to eat any city squirrels..


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Aug 7, 2019)

Cucumber #2, zucchini #4 I think. Our tomatoes are starting to turn red finally. And it looks like I'll get 2 more cucumbers and maybe 3 zucchini. But all of are plants seem to be dying... bean plants look ok but the others... 

And boyfriends new hydroponic setup. Lettuce and spinach. Only 1 tray of each is planted right now. He plans to stagger the planting times so we have a constant pile of leafy greens. He built the shelf and I think he couldve modified the plans so the shelves sat closer together and then he'd get his 3rd shelf of plants(his idea for 3 levels)


----------



## Supe (Aug 26, 2019)

Finally did something with that big batch of habaneros.  Made an AWESOME habanero jam.  A big ass batch of habaneros, about a cup of carrot in the food processor with a cup of vinegar, boil with a bag of pectin and another cup of vinegar, then dump 6 cups of sugar in all at once until it came to a boil for about a minute.  Its so good, even Junior and Mrs. Supe who are heat-averse have gone through about half of a jumbo mason jar of the stuff since Friday.

Now that I know how to make jelly/jam, I think I am going to make a strawberry reaper jam.  I'm also going to try drying out the shitload of jalapenos I have in the oven and making jalapeno pepper flakes.


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 26, 2019)

Sounds pretty good! I will have to try them next year..

So last year I had a gazillion apples and they all had worms (have 2 decent size apple trees).. so I found out you have to spray the branches as soon as the leaves begin to bud out in the spring which keep the worms from coming, which I did and yikes that spray was $90 bucks!

So this year I have 5 of the most perfect looking apples you have ever seen but no where near the previous quantity?  I am not sure if it was the extended winter we had or the jump from heavy rain to desert heat? maybe I didn't catch up on the watering, its weird the tree looks perfectly fine but just not "putting out"


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Aug 26, 2019)

So our outside garden is basically toast except the tomatoes

Apparently (according to my gram) you're supposed to fertilize... 

I'll come up with an actual plan for the garden next year &amp; do better research.

Planted the 4th row of the hydroponics last night tho.

The 1st row of spinach is ready to pick but the lettuce isn't. Each spinach plant is like 5 or 6 leaves... and only 3 of them are decent size lol


----------



## mudpuppy (Aug 27, 2019)

We're getting lots of cucumbers, green beans and tomatoes.  Some zucchini and squash.  A couple watermelons.  We're going to have a ton of bell peppers soon, and some okra.  Second round of strawberries are almost ready for harvest.  Eggplant, cabbage and pumpkins have been very disappointing.

We canned 11 quarts of tomatoes on Sunday, which took forever.


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 30, 2019)

We thought about canning some but it does take so damn long!

And you can get some damn tasty canned tomatoes for like .89/ can..

//content.invisioncic.com/r86644/emoticons/default_wink.png


----------



## mudpuppy (Aug 30, 2019)

Road Guy said:


> We thought about canning some but it does take so damn long!
> 
> And you can get some damn tasty canned tomatoes for like .89/ can..
> 
> //content.invisioncic.com/r86644/emoticons/default_wink.png




I know.... and I never fail to remind my wife of that!


----------



## leggo PE (Sep 17, 2019)

Well, our pepper plant is taking its sweet, sweet time. I don't think it gets enough sunlight. Same thing with the tomato plant, which is producing tomatoes like crazy, but they never get more than 1" or so in diameter (I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be that small!) and some are much, much smaller. All of them do taste good! They just ripen and don't get any bigger before eventually falling off.


----------



## Supe (Sep 17, 2019)

All of my pepper plants other than the habaneros are fruiting way less than years prior.  They're getting a ton of son, but I think this year's NC heat may have been too much.  Hopefully I'll get some decent batches as the weather cools some.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 17, 2019)

post up that habaneros jelly recipe sometime!

I think from the extended weather to desert heat this was a blah year for the garden - I'm going to move my area next spring, right now it just doesn't get enough sun. 

I got a shit load of cherry tomatoes from our container plants, but those went straight to  homemade salsa.


----------



## Supe (Sep 17, 2019)

Road Guy said:


> post up that habaneros jelly recipe sometime!
> 
> I think from the extended weather to desert heat this was a blah year for the garden - I'm going to move my area next spring, right now it just doesn't get enough sun.
> 
> I got a shit load of cherry tomatoes from our container plants, but those went straight to  homemade salsa.


Pretty sure this is it (from memory)

1) Buttload of habaneros (I used about 2 dozen seeded)

2) A cup of carrots

3) 4 cups sugar

4) Tsp of salt

5) Two cups of vinegar

6) One box of powdered pectin

Food process the habaneros, carrots, and 1 cup of vinegar.  Add everything into the pan EXCEPT the pectin, stir, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Return to high heat, bring to a rolling boil.  Add in the box of pectin and stir constantly while boiling for a minute.  Once it's cool enough to handle, go ahead and jar it.  

The carrot is largely unnoticeable but keeps you from having to add any additional food coloring.  The key is to not skimp on the sugar, or the dry pectin won't set.  Mine was set fully in less than 24 hours in the fridge.


----------



## Ble_PE (Sep 17, 2019)

leggo PE said:


> Well, our pepper plant is taking its sweet, sweet time. I don't think it gets enough sunlight. Same thing with the tomato plant, which is producing tomatoes like crazy, but they never get more than 1" or so in diameter (I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be that small!) and some are much, much smaller. All of them do taste good! They just ripen and don't get any bigger before eventually falling off.


Are you sure that you didn't get a cherry or grape tomato plant? That's what type we plant every year and you just described the fruit perfectly.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Sep 17, 2019)

ours basically died and we gave up. whomp.

even the basement garden isn't doing so good but I'm sick of nagging boyfriend to check nutrition/water levels. it's his thing so i'm staying out of it. i have more pressing projects to spend my energy/fight on lol


----------



## kevo_55 (Sep 17, 2019)

^^ Wise words. Have you been speaking to Mrs Kevo?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Sep 17, 2019)

kevo_55 said:


> ^^ Wise words. Have you been speaking to Mrs Kevo?


hahahaha


----------



## leggo PE (Sep 17, 2019)

Ble_PE said:


> Are you sure that you didn't get a cherry or grape tomato plant? That's what type we plant every year and you just described the fruit perfectly.


I'm fairly certain we didn't. It's this type of tomato: https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/111073/#b

I wasn't expecting humongous tomatoes, but thought they'd get a bit bigger than they have been. Then again, that very site I linked to says they like full sun, which they definitely aren't currently getting due to weather and also placement.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 17, 2019)

ill snag a pic but I have one mater plant that looks dead (has no leaves or brown leaves) but it has spit out more actual maters than the others that look "alive" - maybe that where the dog shits?


----------



## leggo PE (Oct 2, 2019)

Our pepper is finally starting to turn red! It's been going for a long time, and stagnated at the size it's at now. Also not as big as I was hoping/expecting... But not as small as the tomatoes.

Speaking of the tomatoes, this tomato plant confounds me. It looks like it's dead (i.e. brown, stiff stalks, little branches, and leaves) and then it will still be sprouting new tomatoes. We have some red ones on there right now, all fairly small, and one tomato that's slightly bigger than the largest one that is still very green. So it's like it's feigning itself as being dead while still producing fruit? Granted, the fruit don't get very big, but I've realized to lower my expectations by now.


----------



## leggo PE (Oct 2, 2019)

Haha @Road Guy, reading your last comment, sounds like I'm having the same thing happen! But I only have one plant, so I have nothing to compare it to.


----------



## mudpuppy (Oct 21, 2019)

Had our first hard freeze a couple days ago, so the garden is done now.  Eating the last couple fresh bell peppers now.  Froze some green beans, okra and bell peppers, and finished canning the rest of the tomatoes this weekend (36 quarts canned in total, plus used 3 quarts to make chili on Saturday.)


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Oct 21, 2019)

Just learned it's not too late for me to plant my garlic!

I do have to rip out all of the dead-ish plants... the tomato plant still had tiny red &amp; green tomatoes on it yesterday. I ate a red one and spit it out, it was bad. So this winter will have some gardening research. And boyfriend ripped out of the dead hydophonic garden. He tried doubling the water source to one row to see if it'd do anything. It didn't. And then he didn't adjust the nutrients so they've slowly be drying out. He cleaned it all up yesterday. Said he's going to plant everything at once instead of one row at a time, a week apart since it was slimy in there.


----------



## ktulu (Oct 30, 2019)

Got most of my Fall garden planted this past weekend. Bok Choy, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and spinach. Have lettuce seeded indoors but they're being a pain and not germinating. Have two pepper plants still producing that I left in the garden.


----------



## Supe (Oct 30, 2019)

I have a buttload of ghosts and habaneros to bring in before they rot.  Lots of buds on my reapers right now, if they don't give me something before the first frost, I'm going to bring them indoors and try and keep them alive during the winter.  They will likely get transplanted to the ground next year.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Oct 30, 2019)

Everytime I've had free time, it's be raining so I haven't ripped out the old garden. I have some compost so I can plant my garlic. We haven't had frost yet, which is surprising since the last two years we've had a small snow storm by now.


----------



## leggo PE (Oct 30, 2019)

It's been a little chilly here (mid-40s at night) the past few nights, so I pulled off the remaining itty bitty tomatoes from the plant. I don't think it will produce anything else.

The pepper plant gave up a few weeks ago.

Newby gardener person here: if I leave the pepper and tomato plants in their pots outside through the winter, will they come back to life in the spring? I live in a somewhat Mediterranean climate.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Apr 4, 2020)

Got the garden bed cleaned up and ready. We never cleaned it up at the end of the season last year since I was studying (&amp;tbh Boyfriend isnt always a go-getter). 

We've got a shit ton of roots through it so it took me 3hours to get it to the state its in in the pic. Theres still a boatload of roots but most aren't attached to anything now.

Boyfriend built another bed while i did this. We've gotta fill it in and level it out still.

And start over the hydroponics. Again.


----------



## mudpuppy (Apr 4, 2020)

My wife has some seeds planted inside... nothing sprouting yet, but we can't plant outside until Memorial Day anyway so we've got some time.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Apr 4, 2020)

mudpuppy said:


> My wife has some seeds planted inside... nothing sprouting yet, but we can't plant outside until Memorial Day anyway so we've got some time.


Same here. Havent started the inside seeds yet tho


----------



## frazil (Apr 4, 2020)

I just sorted through all my seeds today.  Hoping to start them tomorrow.


----------



## Supe (Apr 6, 2020)

We don't have any seeds or seedlings, because neither of us think its worth taking a trip to the hardware store to get them


----------



## Road Guy (Apr 6, 2020)

We dont do that here until after mothers day - but this year I am relocating the garden so I was going to try and do that this weekend - but holy shit Home Depot / Lowes is crazy on the weekends - so I am going to venture out early mid week when no one is there to get the few things I need.


----------



## Supe (Apr 6, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> We dont do that here until after mothers day - but this year I am relocating the garden so I was going to try and do that this weekend - but holy shit Home Depot / Lowes is crazy on the weekends - so I am going to venture out early mid week when no one is there to get the few things I need.


It's already crept in the 80's a few times this year.  I haven't been to the big box stores lately, but my understanding is that at least Home Depot on the NC side of the state line is lining up customers outside.


----------



## Road Guy (Apr 6, 2020)

my guilty weekend pleasure is just making a drive to get out of the house - All the places that are "open" are just packed on the weekends, I saw people lined up outside home depot but not lowes for some reason -

we are supposed to be in 70's this week with some spring snow for the weekend :violin:


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Apr 8, 2020)

It's supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow...

I'm able to pick up a worm composter, sans worms, from a friend. 

I have no idea how many worms I need to order...


----------



## snickerd3 (Apr 8, 2020)

LyceeFruit PE said:


> It's supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow...
> 
> I'm able to pick up a worm composter, sans worms, from a friend.
> 
> I have no idea how many worms I need to order...


1 pound per square foot of surface area.


----------



## ktulu (Apr 22, 2020)

These photos are from two weeks ago. Things are growing nicely. Sunflowers are about 6-7 feet tall. Everything grown from seed.


----------



## snickerd3 (Apr 22, 2020)

I think the crazy weather this spring delayed my flowers.  these normally bloom in mid-march, it is mid april and these look to be the only ones going to flower of my bulbed plants.  The other are the blossoms from our crab apple tree.


----------



## Road Guy (Apr 22, 2020)

ktulu said:


> View attachment 17325
> View attachment 17324
> View attachment 17323
> View attachment 17322
> ...


damn - we dont even have that on our radar yet - them maters look like they are doing nice!


----------



## ktulu (Apr 22, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> damn - we dont even have that on our radar yet - them maters look like they are doing nice!


Yeah everything is either producing fruit or flowering now. Peppers should be a little larger than what they are but the 6-7 nights in the 40's over the last few weeks didn't help them any.


----------



## Road Guy (Apr 22, 2020)

we dont plant until after mothers day weekend here - But I am going to do some prep this weekend -

I have an old flower bed we dont use that the previous owner had "plants" in   (which have now died cause were not plants people) but its irrigated so I am going to put my maters there since it gets full sun.


----------



## leggo PE (May 1, 2020)

Our landlord (greatest landlord of all time) messaged us today saying he picked up three types of tomatoes for us to grow: early girl, cherry, and celebrity. He's also giving us soil and offered to build a box to either put on our balcony or in our little backyard.

Here's to hoping we have better luck this year than we did last year! And thanks, Vlad!


----------



## ruggercsc (May 1, 2020)

leggo PE said:


> Our landlord (greatest landlord of all time) messaged us today saying he picked up three types of tomatoes for us to grow: early girl, cherry, and celebrity. He's also giving us soil and offered to build a box to either put on our balcony or in our little backyard.
> 
> Here's to hoping we have better luck this year than we did last year! And thanks, Vlad!


*"Vlad the impaler" and Tomatoes = *



"


----------



## ktulu (May 2, 2020)

ktulu said:


> Yeah everything is either producing fruit or flowering now. Peppers should be a little larger than what they are but the 6-7 nights in the 40's over the last few weeks didn't help them any.


The harvest has begun. Have brought in bell, banana, and jalapeno peppers. And my sunflowers are starting to explode. Will have zucchini by the end of next week.


----------



## Road Guy (May 2, 2020)

This is where we at......... corona may be gone before I have a mater sammich...


----------



## mudpuppy (May 3, 2020)

ktulu said:


> The harvest has begun. Have brought in bell, banana, and jalapeno peppers. And my sunflowers are starting to explode. Will have zucchini by the end of next week.


Looks at watch... about 3 weeks until we can plant.


----------



## ruggercsc (May 3, 2020)

We are starting to get buds on the tomatoes and some of the pepper plants here, but it will be awhile until we have anything to harvest (We had a frost about 2.5 weeks ago).  The mint and Parsley plants are growing like crazy.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 3, 2020)

mudpuppy said:


> Looks at watch... about 3 weeks until we can plant.


I think its the same here.

My broccoli seeds have sprouted and same with the microgreens down in the basement. Boyfriend restarted 1 level of the hydroponics - hasnt had success with this set up and it's been 10months...

I also decided to try regrowing celery &amp; romaine from the cut offs. Theyre growing pretty good!


----------



## Road Guy (May 4, 2020)

This is probably bad luck (gardening before Mother’s Day) but I finally fixed some sprinkler heads that had been removed from my system (long story) so figured since I had water I went and put the tomatoes in....

Weather looks clear but I am sure I just summoned something to come down from the Rockies.....


----------



## Supe (May 4, 2020)

I may have to brave the crowds this weekend to get something to plant, otherwise, our garden will be nonexistent this year.


----------



## Road Guy (May 4, 2020)

I try and make little trips during the week towards closing time and usually no one is there to avoid the weekend crowds. 

It is strange I drove into the next county Saturday, which is more opened up and there were no lines at stores- less population overall though but i think when the only stores open are home improvement then that’s all people have to do


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 6, 2020)

Broccoli is.going good so is my mesclun.

My tomatoes (2 kinds), onions, and green beans are just starting to poke thru!


----------



## leggo PE (May 19, 2020)

We're doing this thing right! We have our tomato plants planted in their containers, and also have the cages in. They're starting to flower and it's making me happy! Even if we don't get a bunch of tomatoes, these plants have a much better container set-up than our sad attempt at tomatoes last year. We also picked up two starter basil plants and a starter mint plant. I'd be ecstatic if the basil actually grows, because I had very little success when I last tried to grow basil (granted, it was a fool's errand at the time, since we got barely any direct sunlight through our former's apartment's only north-facing windows).

Mr. Leggo says no more plants for now.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 19, 2020)

leggo PE said:


> We're doing this thing right! We have our tomato plants planted in their containers, and also have the cages in. They're starting to flower and it's making me happy! Even if we don't get a bunch of tomatoes, these plants have a much better container set-up than our sad attempt at tomatoes last year. We also picked up two starter basil plants and a starter mint plant. I'd be ecstatic if the basil actually grows, because I had very little success when I last tried to grow basil (granted, it was a fool's errand at the time, since we got barely any direct sunlight through our former's apartment's only north-facing windows).
> 
> Mr. Leggo says no more plants for now.


Wait, are these all in the backyard or on your balcony?  If they're not, I totes understand Mr. Leggo's request for no more plants.

As for basil, my mom used to have a ton of varieties in one single pot (It was a big pot).  I think she has normal basil, a weird purple basil, and chocolate mint in one huge pot?


----------



## leggo PE (May 19, 2020)

JayKay PE said:


> Wait, are these all in the backyard or on your balcony?  If they're not, I totes understand Mr. Leggo's request for no more plants.
> 
> As for basil, my mom used to have a ton of varieties in one single pot (It was a big pot).  I think she has normal basil, a weird purple basil, and chocolate mint in one huge pot?


On the balcony.

It's not exactly a crowding issue, though the balcony is more full than it was prior. I think it's mainly the fact we got six different plans in the span of two weeks, which is kind of a lot for us (we normally get one or two plants at a time, though admittedly, have never been so ambitious growing anything for food before this).

Alas, the backyard does not get enough consistent sunlight for us to trust planting anything back there.


----------



## JayKay PE (May 19, 2020)

leggo PE said:


> On the balcony.
> 
> It's not exactly a crowding issue, though the balcony is more full than it was prior. I think it's mainly the fact we got six different plans in the span of two weeks, which is kind of a lot for us (we normally get one or two plants at a time, though admittedly, have never been so ambitious growing anything for food before this).
> 
> Alas, the backyard does not get enough consistent sunlight for us to trust planting anything back there.


Having to take care of a ton of new plant babies does tend to overwhelm.  But the balcony does have a lot of sun, so I'm sure you'll get veggies very soon!

My mom grew the basil in the backyard on the deck, which didn't get that much direct sunlight, tbh?  I think it got a solid 2 hours a day (max) and it still grew.  Albeit, much slower.


----------



## leggo PE (May 19, 2020)

JayKay PE said:


> Having to take care of a ton of new plant babies does tend to overwhelm.  But the balcony does have a lot of sun, so I'm sure you'll get veggies very soon!
> 
> My mom grew the basil in the backyard on the deck, which didn't get that much direct sunlight, tbh?  I think it got a solid 2 hours a day (max) and it still grew.  Albeit, much slower.


Yeah, the balcony gets a lot of sun when it's not overcast/foggy. Which, thankfully, it hasn't been that much recently. But who knows what will happen this summer, as summers in SF can often be chilly and foggy (if things are normal, aka not drought-like). All things considered, though, we do get a lot more direct sun in our place now than we got in our old spot.

We've planted the two basil plants and the mint plant all in completely separate pots. The mint got the smallest pot, because I know it will likely grow like crazy. That was the one herb I could grow in my old apartment, but stopped because we weren't using it enough. It took over the pot it was planted in that also had rosemary, basil, and cilantro.

Also, I admit I'm plant dumb, but I didn't realize until I was at the gardening center that there are more than two types of basil and that there were so many types of mint!


----------



## ktulu (May 20, 2020)

The harvest is about to start exploding. The garden photo was taken from my neighbor's back patio.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 20, 2020)

Cucumber seeds didnt take, same with spinach. Jalapeno is just barley sprouting


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 22, 2020)

Boyfriend is building a retaining wall. The lower portion is gonna be a garden bed. Im gonna do strawberries all up in there. He wanted hostas which are toxic to the Moo. Who eats the yard.


----------



## Road Guy (May 22, 2020)

thats a lot of hand digging!

Let us know how the strawberries go! - dont they take a few seasons to get going?


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 22, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> thats a lot of hand digging!
> 
> Let us know how the strawberries go! - dont they take a few seasons to get going?


He dug out from the fenceline. Where the steps are was a small hill so as he unearthed the old retaining wall, he build the steps lol

I don't expect to get anything from them this season since I won't be able to plant until hes' done. Or I can do a partial plant only over by the steps. 

He's gonna dig out all of that area at the corner. He plans on leveling the area around the firepit &amp; maybe putting in pavers - he goes back &amp; forth on it.

I could plant sooner if I helped with the digging *shrugs* I might help lol


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 24, 2020)

Transplanted my beans and broccoli. Planted the 2 tomato plants i bought.

Boyfriend built me a new planter since he won't build the 3rd bed


----------



## mudpuppy (May 26, 2020)

Before and after (I finished putting up the fence yesterday.


----------



## Road Guy (May 27, 2020)

damn now thats a garden!


----------



## leggo PE (May 27, 2020)

And we have our first little tiny tomatoes starting to grow! All three tomato plants are growing well, but the cherry tomato plant won the battle for first to sprout fruit. Neither of the other tomato plants has dropped any flowers (yet), though they both have many flowers in bloom.

I'm excited!


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 28, 2020)

i don't think my broccoli is gonna make it

Added a store bought cucumber plants and cucumber seeds to the garden.

still have more plants to transplants &amp; direct sow (carrots, maybe onions).

need to get dirt into the new planter box so i can plant the 2 store-bought strawb plants lol


----------



## mudpuppy (May 28, 2020)

LyceeFruit PE said:


> need to get dirt into the new planter box so i can plant the 2 store-bought strawb plants lol




We had strawberries in our garden that we originally planted 3 years ago.  Wife wants more room in the garden, so we started a second 30x40' fenced plot to put berries and fruit trees in.  Three years ago we originally planted about 20 strawberries, but ended up transplanting over 60 with all the clone plants from runners.  Some aren't going to survive the transplant, but in a couple years we should have a really nice strawberry patch.  Which I'm really excited about because home-grown strawberries are so much tastier than store-bought.

My question is, do you have a plan for the runners?  Strawberries seem to like to multiply like crazy.


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (May 28, 2020)

mudpuppy said:


> We had strawberries in our garden that we originally planted 3 years ago.  Wife wants more room in the garden, so we started a second 30x40' fenced plot to put berries and fruit trees in.  Three years ago we originally planted about 20 strawberries, but ended up transplanting over 60 with all the clone plants from runners.  Some aren't going to survive the transplant, but in a couple years we should have a really nice strawberry patch.  Which I'm really excited about because home-grown strawberries are so much tastier than store-bought.
> 
> My question is, do you have a plan for the runners?  Strawberries seem to like to multiply like crazy.


I do actually! Lol, this season is just these 2 plants (&amp; if I can get anything from the ball of dirt I bought last year).

Boyfriend is redoing the backyard retaining wall &amp; has made it 2 tier. the lower tier will be filled with strawberries when he's done (which will be awhile since it's hand dug)

There's a picture upthread of what will be my strawberry "patch"


----------



## blybrook PE (May 29, 2020)

Meatball out enjoying the sun while the wife worked on the garden yesterday. 

Just wish I could get the phone to rotate the photo correctly...


----------



## leggo PE (Jun 4, 2020)

And a few days later, all three tomato plants have sprouted tomatoes. Woot! Here's to hoping they can make it to full size and ripeness without issue.


----------



## Road Guy (Jun 4, 2020)

mine have barely even shown any signs of growth     

My friends back home are already enjoying them mater sammiches...


----------



## LyceeFruit PE (Jun 5, 2020)

i transplanted my zucchini and onion seedlings last night. i need to transplant my cucumber (just 1), tomato, &amp; pepper seedlings. and maybe sow some carrots and/or more onions (i won't do seedlings for onions next year)

i've got flowers on one of my strawberry plants!

and something has eaten my 2 smallest green bean transplants


----------



## leggo PE (Jun 8, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> mine have barely even shown any signs of growth
> 
> My friends back home are already enjoying them mater sammiches...


Didn't you start growing much later?

We got starter plants about a month ago. They've pretty much all at least doubled in size.


----------



## ktulu (Jun 8, 2020)

Garden is in full production mode.


----------



## Road Guy (Jun 8, 2020)

damn.......


----------



## Road Guy (Jun 15, 2020)

So after moving my garden to a place in the yard that actually gets full sun I went to check on them over the weekend and was shocked to see several in progress green, but decent size tomatoes have started to pop out. This is the earliest we have ever had them here. (its also been low 90's for almost 2 weeks which is unusual and may be contributing)


----------



## Supe (Jun 15, 2020)

If the rain lets up, I may make a Lowes run this weekend and see what they have leftover in the garden department.  I don't suspect anything will do well because it's so late already, but with so much rain this year, maybe we'll get lucky.


----------



## leggo PE (Jun 15, 2020)

We haven't had any tomatoes ripen yet, but our plants are growing like crazy and all have sprouted several tomatoes of various sizes. They got their monthly tomato food stuff today, so maybe that'll spark a few to grow big and ripen!


----------



## ktulu (Jun 19, 2020)




----------



## leggo PE (Jun 19, 2020)

Wowza, tomato goals!


----------



## snickerd3 (Jun 19, 2020)

those aren't tomatoes...those are monsters


----------



## P-E (Jun 20, 2020)




----------



## ktulu (Jul 21, 2020)

Tomatoes are on the way out with the oppressive heat, but watermelon!


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 21, 2020)

Our tomatoes are just starting.

Getting lots of cucumbers and zucchini.  Picked about a gallon of green beans yesterday.

Our everbearing strawberries seem to be dying off, which is concerning.  I'm wondering if they're not getting enough water.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 21, 2020)

nice melon!

Moving my garden has helped but I can tell it is getting strained by too much sun in the Desert Heat - Have the sprinklers set to water it twice a day to keep it from getting fried.

The leaves on the tomato plants are semi dead but it is still banging out the tomatoes. Zucchini is growing crazy.  Jalapenos and Green Peppers are not fairing well this year - must have got bad plants..


----------



## Supe (Jul 21, 2020)

My crop of weeds has really flourished this year.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 21, 2020)

miracle grow?


----------



## ktulu (Jul 21, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> nice melon!
> 
> Moving my garden has helped but I can tell it is getting strained by too much sun in the Desert Heat - Have the sprinklers set to water it twice a day to keep it from getting fried.
> 
> The leaves on the tomato plants are semi dead but it is still banging out the tomatoes. Zucchini is growing crazy.  Jalapenos and Green Peppers are not fairing well this year - must have got bad plants..


I am getting tired of harvesting peppers! Banana, bells, and jalapenos have been a damn bumper crop and are still going strong. 

Will be starting Fall garden seeds this week.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 21, 2020)

Normally I have so many jalapeno's that I can dice them all up and freeze a few bags and use them all Fall and Winter for soups, hashbrowns and such but not this year (unless I get a late push)

But this is the first time I have had maters in mid July.

No Fall garden here, bring on the MF'ing snow!


----------



## leggo PE (Jul 21, 2020)

We have MANY green tomatoes... I'm starting to think they might never ripen. We haven't gotten a good string of sunny, warm days, like we did in June to get them growing, in a long time.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 22, 2020)

someone on here recommended that we NOT plant more than 1 zucchini plant, I did two in case one died, but now I am seeing the error of my ways, no way I will be able to eat this much zucchini..


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 22, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> someone on here recommended that we NOT plant more than 1 zucchini plant, I did two in case one died, but now I am seeing the error of my ways, no way I will be able to eat this much zucchini..
> 
> View attachment 18167




Ha ha, we have like six zucchini plants!  Usually I take all the extra to work, but won't have the option this year.

My wife also went overboard with the cucumber plants.  Three or four is plenty and we've got at least 15.  Need to start making pickles I guess.


----------



## snickerd3 (Jul 22, 2020)

we let the neighbors to do all the work and reap the benefits.  We get fresh eggs and half dozen cucumbers about once a week.


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 24, 2020)

Indulge me in a few photos since we've been spending a lot of time on this:




Tomatoes




Green beans




Cucumbers




Zucchini &amp; Squash




Lettuce, chard and a volunteer tomato




Kale and sweet potatoes (and the rhubarb in the back)




A giant horseradish




Peppers




Peas, collards and eggplant




Pole beans and sunflowers




Black eyed peas




Yesterday's harvest (berries are in a separate garden)


----------



## snickerd3 (Jul 24, 2020)

are you two trying to supply a stand at a farmers market?  When all that starts really producing you are going to be swamped!!!!  great job!


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 24, 2020)

wow!

I wish I had a little more space to garden but not quite that much!

Those beans would be nice to have as well as some corn!


----------



## mudpuppy (Jul 24, 2020)

Gardening is my wife's hobby, and therefore mine as well.  I'm not sure what we're going to do with all this stuff.  We still have frozen green beans from two years ago, and 20+ quarts of tomatoes from last year.  And we can only eat so many pickles.

One sad part is there is no corn.  I've not had any luck with corn in the past so we skipped it last year, and we had a hard time finding any corn seed this year.


----------



## leggo PE (Jul 24, 2020)

Wow, mudpuppy! What a garden. Well done!


----------



## leggo PE (Jul 27, 2020)

Two of our cherry tomatoes are FINALLY starting to turn red! We simply need more sun...


----------



## ktulu (Jul 31, 2020)

Pulling the main garden up this weekend. Going to get it prepped for Fall planting. Have broccoli and cauliflower seed starts under grow lights in the garage. Will start bok choy, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, and turnips soon.


----------



## Road Guy (Jul 31, 2020)

What is this Fall Garden that you speak of?


----------



## leggo PE (Aug 6, 2020)

We got a few warm, sunny days over last weekend and the cherry tomatoes are finally starting to fully ripen! We've got some solid red ones, which makes me very happy!

Our early girl tomatoes have a few solidly orange tomatoes... The celebrity tomato plant is pulling up the rear, with mostly entirely green tomatoes still.


----------



## leggo PE (Aug 13, 2020)

I harvested tomatoes today!! The bigger ones are a early girls and the small ones (that ripened first) are cherry tomatoes. The celebrity tomatoes are still taking their sweet time.




I got a couple tomatoes from the farmer's market too, and want to make a tomato pie! Gotta make some sourdough pie dough...


----------



## snickerd3 (Aug 13, 2020)

minisnick is watering the neighbors garden and flowers while they are on vacation.  He is welcome to eat anything ready for picking they said. On monday there was cucumber about 2.5 inches long and diameter about 2 inches.  Yesterday the same cucumber was 6 inches long and about 2.5 inch diameter.  He pulled it off the vine and ate it for dessert.


----------



## leggo PE (Aug 18, 2020)

I found out what I think was eating out basil and mint plant! Caterpillars. They're hungry buggers.


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 19, 2020)

my neighbor told me she bought some praying mantis eggs? but you have to put them out a year ahead of your garden but she has a fantastic setup! Guess they kill lots of little bugs.

I wonder if my garden is getting too much sun, I always though tomatoes loved the sun, but all mine have lost 90% of their leaves ( but they still produce) - I try and keep them wet. May seem dumb but I was thinking next year try and install some sort of shade above them that might not kill them?   The other plants seem to be doing fine (Green peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini) - maybe they just need more water?


----------



## Road Guy (Aug 19, 2020)

http://www.naturescontrol.com/prayingmantis.html


----------



## snickerd3 (Aug 19, 2020)

Those guys are awesome to watch.  We usually get 8-10 inch long mantis visit the back porch once a year.


----------



## mudpuppy (Aug 20, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> my neighbor told me she bought some praying mantis eggs? but you have to put them out a year ahead of your garden but she has a fantastic setup! Guess they kill lots of little bugs.
> 
> I wonder if my garden is getting too much sun, I always though tomatoes loved the sun, but all mine have lost 90% of their leaves ( but they still produce) - I try and keep them wet. May seem dumb but I was thinking next year try and install some sort of shade above them that might not kill them?   The other plants seem to be doing fine (Green peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini) - maybe they just need more water?




We had this problem with tomatoes last year.  There's a number of things it could be, e.g. not enough fertilizer, too much fertilizer, or tomato blight.  They also need a lot of water, but if you use a sprinkler that can promote fungal growth on the leaves.  Last year we used a sprinkler on them every day and the older leaves turned brown and died though they still produced into early September.  But this year we switched to soaker hoses (with a layer of mulch on top) and so far the foliage is still green (knock on wood.)

That's for the tomatoes in the garden.  Our container tomatoes, on the other hand, are not doing well.  Even though we water them every day, I think the containers are drying out too fast from too much sun.


----------



## ktulu (Sep 9, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> my neighbor told me she bought some praying mantis eggs? but you have to put them out a year ahead of your garden but she has a fantastic setup! Guess they kill lots of little bugs.
> 
> I wonder if my garden is getting too much sun, I always though tomatoes loved the sun, but all mine have lost 90% of their leaves ( but they still produce) - I try and keep them wet. May seem dumb but I was thinking next year try and install some sort of shade above them that might not kill them?   The other plants seem to be doing fine (Green peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini) - maybe they just need more water?


40% shade cloth is typically what's recommended for a garden. Have some being delivered today that I am going to put up when I plant out the fall vegetables. Just have to eradicate the trespassing rabbit.


----------



## mudpuppy (Sep 21, 2020)

First frost came Saturday morning.  We got the tomatoes and peppers covered with blankets and they seem to have survived.

So far we've canned 35 quarts and 8 pints of tomatoes, a couple pints of pickled okra, a pint of pickled jalapenos and three pints of green tomato salsa.  Canning lids are a victim of pandemic hoarding but fortunately we stocked up before they disappeared.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 21, 2020)

do you end up using most of your canned maters?

We had a decet snow 2 weeks ago and it got right to around 33 degrees - but it actually really helped everything  - green peppers, red peppers, jalapeno, etc have all taken off like gangbusters - my cherry tomoatoes, also have put out so many we have been making salsa just for fun..

My regular tomoatoes shit the bed a month back, not even going to give them the decency to be uprooted, going to leave them scrawny looking plants upright through the pending winter..maybe scare the next bunch into acting right


----------



## mudpuppy (Sep 21, 2020)

Hell no, we don't even come close to using all those canned tomatoes.  We use maybe 20 quarts tops.  Giving the rest away.

Hopefully we'll have the same luck with the cold shock.  It's supposed to be up to nearly 80 again for the next couple weeks.  Wife is now on a salsa kick since we don't have much to do with all these tomatoes and there's probably another 15 to 20 quarts worth left to harvest if it doesn't freeze before they ripen.


----------



## snickerd3 (Sep 22, 2020)

canning jars aren't cheap...seems like a break even venture or a loss if you give the jars away.  The costs of the plants, water, canning supplies...can't be cheaper than just buying the food as you need it.


----------



## mudpuppy (Sep 23, 2020)

snickerd3 said:


> canning jars aren't cheap...seems like a break even venture or a loss if you give the jars away.  The costs of the plants, water, canning supplies...can't be cheaper than just buying the food as you need it.


That's correct, and a good observation from an engineer.  My wife is not an engineer!

Hopefully we get most of the jars back though.


----------



## Road Guy (Sep 23, 2020)

The newer mason jars just dont really hold up, we use them for tons of stuff for storage and id say half of them break within a year.. wish I could make a trip to my grandma's old grain bins and get some that are probably still laying on the floor, of course its not in our family anymore and that woudl be stealing, but I bet they are still there!


----------



## ktulu (Oct 9, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> What is this Fall Garden that you speak of?


The one that produces turnip greens.


----------



## Road Guy (Oct 9, 2020)

thats a no from me dawg


----------



## ktulu (Oct 9, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> thats a no from me dawg


My wife doesn't like them either = more for me.


----------



## leggo PE (Oct 9, 2020)

@ktulu, your signature looks like the HTML got messed up to me...


----------



## mudpuppy (Oct 10, 2020)

My wife did a bunch of turnip greens this year, and I have to agree.  I like collards but turnip greens are too bitter.


----------



## ktulu (Oct 12, 2020)

mudpuppy said:


> My wife did a bunch of turnip greens this year, and I have to agree.  I like collards but turnip greens are too bitter.


May try switching up how you prepare them.


----------



## Road Guy (Oct 12, 2020)

I noticed Ive got a decent number of apples this year, need to get my pellet gun ready to keep the GD squirells from taking them like last year!


----------



## mudpuppy (Oct 13, 2020)

Speaking of squirrels, I hear they're good eating so I'm thinking of trying some squirrel hunting this fall.  Sounds like fun with my .17 HMR.  Anyone have a good recipe?


----------



## Supe (Oct 13, 2020)

I hear buttermilk fried is the way to go.


----------



## Road Guy (Oct 13, 2020)

Rice and lots of brown gravy 

as long as it’s not a city squirrel they are not bad - like a greasy leg quarter


----------



## ktulu (Oct 13, 2020)

Road Guy said:


> Rice and lots of brown gravy
> 
> as long as it’s not a city squirrel they are not bad - like are _*greasy*_ leg quarter


This is the key word here. greasy.


----------



## ktulu (Oct 21, 2020)

Joi Choi (full size) and Asian Delight Bok Choi (mini) coming in nicely. Stir Fry for dinner tonight.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 2, 2022)

Not my house, but the bottom picture is my plan for my butterfly garden. I can pre-order flowers from the botanical garden in april for may pickup


----------



## Supe (Mar 2, 2022)

I planted a few butterfly bushes on the side of the garage late last year, I hope they bounce back. Everything on that side always seems to die on me.


----------



## JayKay PE (Mar 4, 2022)

jaykay gardening = I might try to grow cat grass for Odin. I hope I don't kill it.

jaykay mom side of family gardening = let's get a multi-seasonal garden going, with the greenhouse for veggies, and make sure the hummingbirds have a larger setup than last year. I might rotate out some stuff. Where did the tiller go?

...I am trying my best.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 4, 2022)

I am a plant and forget sort of person, so drought tolerant plants that come back every year are more my speed. Crocuses, Daffodil's, Adam's needle yucca, weeds, are the extent of my flowers currently. I have a potter on the front porch that will get a seasonal flower, but I usually forget to water it and it dies. 
THe daffodills are already a couple inches tall. If we get another cold burst they will not flower again this year. no flowers last year, but green leaves due to a last freeze.


----------



## snickerd3 (Mar 21, 2022)

so we started sunflower and milkweed seeds two weekends ago in a tray in the house. both supposed had 7-14 day germination period. The sunflowers were 6 inches tall after 5 days. The milkweed just started peeking out this weekend. I had to cut the cover in half and place it back over the milkweed half of the tray as the sunflowers had lifted it up on their side.


----------



## leggo PE (Apr 14, 2022)

We have round 3 (third year) of tomatoes growing in three containers on our little balcony! This year, the varieties are early girl, celebrity, and big beef. We don’t usually get a say in the type, as our landlord usually picks them up and drops them off for us.

2020 (the first year we did this) was the banner year. We had a cherry tomato plant that produced from July to December. I think it thrives so much because the tomatoes are naturally smaller. Every other variety we’ve have otherwise generates bigger tomatoes (even if not giant) and I think we don’t get enough consistent sun to have a lot of success. But all that said, we’re seeing good growth so far! Big beef is in the lead, height-wise! And all three plants have buds, with early girl and big beef already spotting a flower or two.


----------



## snickerd3 (May 16, 2022)

The Butterfly Garden is in the ground. Can't wait to see how the plants fill out. Had lots of fluttering visitors when the plants were just sitting on the patio.


----------



## Supe (May 16, 2022)

I bought four plastic raised bed planters from BJ's for Mother's Day. Plan is to rip out the existing raised bed which is half gone anyways due to board rot, level it, put down edging/gravel, and plop the boxes on top. This will keep them away from the dogs/rabbits and give them more sunlight, while also having less grass to mow.


----------



## Dothracki PE (May 17, 2022)

snickerd3 said:


> Not my house, but the bottom picture is my plan for my butterfly garden. I can pre-order flowers from the botanical garden in april for may pickup
> 
> View attachment 27140


I'm trying to grow milkweed in my garden, but after one attempt of starting it indoors after artificial stratification and another attempt of starting early outdoors, I'm probably just going to have to wait until fall. Unless by some miracle that the second attempt actually starts growing.

In addition I have roma tomatoes, serrano perppers, and cucumbers that I started from seeds. Then I just bought some basil, oregano, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce. I also bought some strawberry plants a few weeks ago that seem to be doing okay.


----------



## snickerd3 (May 17, 2022)

Dothracki PE said:


> I'm trying to grow milkweed in my garden, but after one attempt of starting it indoors after artificial stratification and another attempt of starting early outdoors, I'm probably just going to have to wait until fall. Unless by some miracle that the second attempt actually starts growing.
> 
> In addition I have roma tomatoes, serrano perppers, and cucumbers that I started from seeds. Then I just bought some basil, oregano, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce. I also bought some strawberry plants a few weeks ago that seem to be doing okay.


None of the milkweed I started survived. The animals ate all the shoots when I placed the tray outside. Same with all the sunflowers. I ended up buying prestarted milkweed along with the rest of the flowers.


----------



## wilheldp_PE (May 18, 2022)

Not a garden, but I got a magnolia tree for my birthday last year (late November). I wasn't expecting much out of it this year since it's only been in the ground for ~6 months. I was mowing the other day and noticed it was losing a lot of leaves, so I was worried that I might have killed it. But yesterday, I noticed a TON of new leaves sprouting, and I already have two giant buds. I definitely was not expecting this thing to bloom in Year 1.


----------



## snickerd3 (May 18, 2022)

I had a magnolia and lilac tree outside my window growing up. They smell was heavenly.


----------



## Dothracki PE (May 18, 2022)

I am sad my magnolia tree did not flower this year. We had a late frost that killed the flowers. On the positive side, less flower petals to rake. It was insane last year. Picture below not from this year.


----------



## snickerd3 (May 23, 2022)

A couple pictures of the new blossoms


----------

