What's Going On With Your Veggie Garden: Part 4

Steph,
I was given some seeds for the HCR, but the germination has been real spotty. We're continuing to try to get some seedlings in the ground. I think I managed to get about two plants in.

Could you post a pic of what your HCR are looking like on the plant, so I'll know what to expect?

Thanks!

Here are the 8 plants that are planted. We only planted 6, but put 2 seeds per hole. Mark can't stand to let anything go to the compost pile, so he transplanted 2 of the multiple germinated ones. I did soak the seeds overnight in a hydrogen peroxide-water solution.

Harvest pic from 7.11.12 (Did you get your free Slushee at 7 11 yesterday?)

Another harvest pic showing various sizes of pods.

Pods on the plant. The tips turn red and are very pretty.

Those are pretty, Stephanie!
I'm loving the 'burgundy' this year, it's pretty too, with long narrow tender pods. The funny thing is I can't get anyone to buy them at our little farmer's market..too weird for them.lol
I got some seeds of another Hill Country okra, 'Beck's Big Buck'. I desperately want to sow them now, but already have enough of the burgundy and clemson. I guess "next year" is what always keeps a gardener going.lol

Stephanie very nice havest pics.

Thanks! I took some cucumbers to work to share with my co-workers. They quickly took the 'regular' cukes, but left the lemon cucumbers. Some brave soul took one and came back the next day and told everyone how wonderful they were. The next time I took cukes, both kinds went like hotcakes! People are just so skeptical of "not normal looking" produce. One of the wonderful things about growing your own veggies is that you can grow all the "weird" but good tasting stuff you want!

I just Googled "Lemon Cucumbers" for images, and they are ADORABLE!

I could seriously grow some of those next season. Do the vines go very far?

Yes. They are very vigorous viners!! Of course, I had about 5 plants in a very small space, so I'm sure that didn't help matters!

Thanks!

My cucumbers are starting to produce as I am picking every other day. As soon as the ones on the long section of trellis staert to produce, I should be swimming in cukes.

I found 4 nice red ripe tomatoes on my BETTER BUSH so I picked those and will be having one on a sandwich or a hamberger later.

But mainly what is happening here is making room so that I can plant more in the future. I have a very much cottage garden with lots of flowers and this year have found that by re-arranging or moving plants forward I can fit veggie areas along in back. That would work especially well for vertical gardening and for planting tomatoes. This year I have Juliet Grape tomatoes in back of one of my daylily beds. That is working out so well, I made space in back of another section of daylily bed and can have tomatoes here also next year.

Then yesterday and today, I changed an area from two rows of daylilies and a row of tall lilies in back with emplty spot between to one row of daylilies forward, left the lilies and now have enough room for veggies in between.

I am thinking I will plant my fall peas of which I already ordered lots of seed in those two new empty spots. I just love garden freash sugar snap and snowpeas.

oh snap and snowpeas fresh from the garden are so yummy, gosh yall are making me so hunger for my own garden but I won't be getting started until later this month.... so I have a long wait.... but do keep up the discussions as it just keeps making my seed order list longer and longer....lol I just received an order of seeds today and man they were fast, I just order the first of this week and got them today. I really love that they have smaller size seed packs and you can't beat the price 40 cents a package. Artistic Garden, St Johnsbury Ctr VT www.artisticgardens.com no GM seeds.

Jan

NyRita, that sounds lovely. Cottage gardening is my first love and the only way I used to grew veggies was mixed into the flower beds. Somedays I think I had far less problems among the flowers then a I have now with a dedicated veggie garden. Not to mention, my flowers beds have now suffered from neglect. I would love to see pictures, if your up for it :0)

Meadwyk, thanks! I haven't seen that seed company. Nice to know they're fast. I'll have to do some window shopping!


I got the okra tended to this morning, I hate to waste food, perhaps I can use these older pods as fire wood.lol
Finished canning the toms, 30 quarts, plus 5 quarts juice. Still have a gallon of juice left, but ran out of steam. Decided to cook a roast in the juice tonight instead.

My makeshift shade cloth is holding up, no more sun scald on the peppers. Got a lovely picking this morning. It's all going on the smoker for some salsa making.

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Nice peppers, Cocoa! What variety are they?

Gosh, those peppers sure do look good!

I picked more cucumbers today and a few tomatoes. Main crops of tomatoes not ripening here yet. Had afew Juliet tomatoes so that I got a taste of them and I do like them. Good thing as the plants are growing like weeds and have green fruit just everywhere. I wasn't sure when I planted them this spring in back of my daylily bed if they would like it there and do well but apparently I need not have worried. They are thriving and I more or less negrect them. Will take some pictures to post in the next few days.

Oh good. I am done gardening for the day. Watered all my tomato plants with liquid Neptunes Seaweed Fertilizer. I really like this stuff. You can just water in ground, which is what I did today, or you can folliar feed. Never used it on my veggies before but use it on my roses and daylilies each year. What makes the stuff so good is that the seaweed is just full of all the micro-nutrients that plants need.

Linda, I wasn't sure if I could grow bell peppers here, I didn't invest in a lot of ordered seed. I grew mostly those pre-mixed Burpee packs (hot and bells). I also planted, 'sweet ruby' bell, cubanelle, anaheim and sweet banana. My favorite is the Cubanelle, will be growing it again, but have a list of seeds I want to try next year.

Good job, Rita! I intended to fertilize today, just got to hot, too quick...spent too much time picking off squash bugs. yuck!

I love the Neptune brand liquid fertilizers. I use them on my roses all the time. I just never tried them on my veggies, I don't know why not.

I dilute fish emulsion, molasses and liquid humus by half and use it every two weeks instead of monthly. Kelp products have become outrageous around here, a 50lb bag of kelp is 80.00 and my feed store has to order it. Someone here mention a liquid kelp concentrate, I need to look into that.

I know Netunes Harvest has a Kelp Meal but I have never tried it. Never heard of it liquid, just the Seaweed. But I know that Neptunes Harvest has great products,

http://www.neptunesharvest.com/products-for-all-other-customers.html

I always chuckle when I slow down long enough to read through the days posts.

Cocoa ~ I ordered Cubanelle peppers for next season. They were recommended as a smaller stature plant working well for raised beds or containers. I wondered how large the peppers are and you are the perfect person to answer that question please?

Kristi, my cubanelles get 6 - 10" long and about 2" around on the stem end.

Here is a photo with my clippers for reference.

-Vaughn

I found the Burpee bell seed pack. 'Carnival Mix' hybrid seed, contains California Wonder, Diamond, Golden California Wonder, Orange Sun, and Purple Beauty.
Really hated Purple Beauty, its been consistently thin walled for me.

Kristi, my cubanelles are not getting that big. I wish, nice job, rwaterspf1!
They have been 4-5", The first few were probably around 6", but they were close enough to lay on the ground and got soft spots with bugs. Is that why it's recommended to cull the first few fruits?

Thanks to you both. Looks like you've had good luck with them.
The fruits sound a bit larger than I had in mind. I may plant them in raised beds instead of containers.

This morning I harvested a bowl of the Gardenville Big Buck okra. Those are some humdingers. The poor stalks were having trouble holding up the harvest after so much rain. Kristi

I pulled out the zucchini -- they were pretty much played out -- and the patty pan squash, and pulled the weeds that had come up underneath. Not many -- I am finally getting the worst perennial weeds under control. I hate to do it since the bees loved the blooms so much, but it's time. I have 3 empty beds there now and 1 is slated for carrots which should be seeded in a week or so and the other for turnips which need another 2-3 weeks.

I have a Kazakh melon plant which is rambling absolutely everywhere, up and over the fence and into the straw for my potatoes and the luffa gourds. Despite plenty of blooms, male and female, and lots of bee attention they are not making fruit. If it doesn't do something soon, it's coming out. The Rich Sweetness melons got wilt and died and I just don't think the ones I reseeded are going to make it. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Midget melons are coming in strong and I know from growing these before that they all get ripe nearly at once and then the plant is done. I'd prefer something that spaces out more, but I love the small plant and personal melon size and that they come in so soon, so I guess I will stick with MN Midget as my regular melon. Those three beds are needed for peas, and they should get seeded in about a week.

Meanwhile 2 of my potatoes, Carola and Rio Grande, are up and doing well. The Yukon Golds are not rotted and still have eyes, but no greenery. I did plant potatoes early so they have time. Hopefully they come in, but clearly the other two are winning the contest for what does well here.

Tomatoes are coming in well (German Striped, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine) -- it's been a bang up year for them. Best maters ever. I severely pruned them yesterday and started new plants around the landscape to see if I can get a fall crop that everyone says they do. Muncher cucumber as tasty and reliable as always; the first plant is playing out a bit and the second one is starting to bloom. It's been a good year for peppers, too, and they are just getting going.

The Honey Nut mini butternut started slow but is setting a lot of fruit now and a few are turning yellow. I have high hopes for these. Waltham Butternut has always been a sure fire winner for me but they are so BIG, and since I'm the only one that eats squash I end up wasting a lot. The Honey Nuts are definitely small. Also in squash, I replanted the Sweet Reba acorns I lost to SVB and they are getting ready to bloom. Nice compact bush plant with regular sized acorns. (I got one slightly immature fruit before the original plants died; haven't eaten it yet.) The Bon Bon survived me removing the main stems and just getting by on rooted vines, but it looks like I will only get one squash off the plant.

The goldfinches are enjoying the sunflowers as have the bees. The scarlet runner beans are probably done.

It's hard to believe the end of summer is almost here.

Nicole - sounds as though your garden is doing well. It's a great feeling when one gathers a good harvest.

The "Monica" tomatoes seem willing to set another round of fruit, which is surprising seeing as they are supposed to be determinates. Hopefully these will not succumb to as much blossom end rot. I gave the flowers a gentle shake this morning.

The tortoises are back! They have eaten two melons, but I gathered another two this morning that they missed.

Now that we've had some rain, the squash have picked up again.

Another sweet pepper succumbed to wilt over night. The other row of peppers still seems immune, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Looks like the second row of "Royal Burgundy" bush beans will be bearing soon. They seem to love the heat.

I'm going to try to direct sow some peppers today. I also need to get some black eyed peas in the ground. I missed growing them this spring. We don't eat a lot of black eyed peas, but it would be nice to have some homegrown ones on New Year's Day!

The whiteflies have moved into the cucumber vines. UGH!! However, the plants are still producing even in our horribly hot temps. I'll have to get out tonight and spray them for the whiteflies.

Okra is going crazy! It loves this heat!!

The tomatoes are still producing. They look horrible tho! Here's a partial tomato harvest from yesterday. Got our first Rutgers tomato!

Kristi, I really can't tell that the cubanelle plants are all that much smaller then the other sweet peppers. I think the beds are a safe bet. Let me know how you like the Beck's, only one review in PF for taste from Farmerdill. He didn't care for the taste, but I love the taste of some of the tomatoes he doesn't care for. May just be the regional difference.

Nicole, sorry to hear about the luffa, I think mine are a bust as well. I got them sown early enough, but planted in an area with no irrigation. Haven't had the rainfall the rest of the state is getting. Tho, I haven't had the a/c on in over a week...that's a fair trade off :0)

Honeybee, are tortoises a common garden problem in NC?

Stephanie, how is your Rutger's look on the stem end? I tried them for the first time this year and they have been the worst about catfacing and cracking on top, but out of all it's our favorite tasting tomato! So, I'm to try again with them next year.

Going to post some pictures of what is going on at my garden. First just some pictures of the Juliet tomatoes. I have four of these plants in back of a row of daylilies in the garden that runs along the side of my driveway.

This is where I was doing all sorts of rearranging. Daylilies now replanted in front. Lillies in back staying put. I now have room to plant veggies in between and plant to put fall peas in there soon.

Next picture is my Superfantastic tomato plant. You can see I just stick things in where there is room!

My SUNGOLD tomato is in a new garden I created by using up lawn space.

Cucumber plants are planted in a pathway I have in the backyard daylily beds.

This area I used to have roses and dug them up and moved them this spring to make more room for veggies. I have room there in front of the tomatoes to put in some more of my planned fall peas.

I have been picking cucumbers already. And here are some tomatoes I picked. The coin is a quarter. From bottom to top. Sungold, Sugery, Fourth Of July, Juliet and Grape

Oh, I LOVED it, Rita! Gives me an all over cozy feeling to see flowers along side veggies :0)

Well, one has got to stuff things in where one can find room LOL!

Lynea, this one's for you!

NicoleC, when is your first frost date? Are you growing the luffa for eating or for letting ripen on the vine for the sponge? If eating then you should be able to get some before you first frost, if for sponge then it might be close.

Jan

Did I get a surprise yesterday between rain storms. Went out to see what could be harvested, and what I thought was a cantaloupe, was actually a watermelon. Identification was pretty easy since it had split in half. No wonder why it never went to the brown, scaly skin. Oh well, learn something new every day.

Got another extension service website & have finally figured that my tomatoes have TSWV. The majority of what coming off the plants now have the big, yellow splotches, plus the cracking rings that radiate around the stem. It's only 10 tomato plants, the whole crop, we're tired of eating tomatoes, & the neighbors aren't taking as many as before. A 100-fold better year than last year, plus VERY educational. A very big "Thank you" for all of those who participated in my education!!

With all the problems with thrips & stink bugs, what would be a plan of attack to "debug" this raised bed?? Plans are to: 1) Pull all the existing plants & trellises out. 2) Scrape as much debris off the top. 3) Cover the entire bed with a weed cloth & then with pine bark mulch. On final transplanting, use this bed to hold the aeration containers for the fall garden, just sitting on the mulch... Another lesson learned from this year...LOL...

Spray suggestions?? Will prep this bed for next spring by removing the mulch & weed cloth, amending with the composted cow manure & replacing the cover & mulch. I plan on using this bed exclusively for cucumbers next year.