WARNING for those as totally inexperianced as myself.

wanna get rid of moles? Sprinkle fertilizer with iron in it. Moles HATE it. We did that to control moss in our north facing front yard in Seattle (I myself liked the moss but DH who insisted on walking on it & slipping on his keister down the yard) did not. We had a concomitant mile problem that was rapidly solved for the next four years with just 1 application.
edit : mile should actually be "mole" - makes more sense

This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 6:25 PM

Thanks for that advice about the way to get rid of moles, Stormy. That's an easy enough "fix".

I have never grown tomatoes before this year. I was sucessful with the plants and they did not have any bugs or problems. Now I want to grow some for the fall and winter months but don't know how to do that. Can anyone give me some advise. I have a heated greenhouse.

If you have a temperature controlled place to grow them, I would think you can do things exactly the same way-I don't think shorter days will keep them from responding to heat and sunshine.
Good luck

marsue - you know that mole is acting like a little underground rototiller, right? Aerating your heavy soil, doing good things? Felt I just had to add that after dreaming about miles rubbing their little moley eyes - woke me up in fact.

Kamikid, how are your plants? Mine are still going strong, and I expect them to produce until frost, they did last year. They did quit setting fruit during the hottest time (like now:)) but started again in the fall. If you want to grow new varieties, it's may be a bit late to start new plants, but you could try suckers from the plants you have. Then again, if you have the seed, why not try some in a 15-20 gallon containers, so you could protect it if need be?

Stormy: our mole seems to have disappeared without any help from us. I don't know where he/she went but it doesn't appear to be making any more "trails" in the lawn or flowerbeds.

I wish I could grow tomatoes successfully. I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to growing tomatoes. :o((

Here you go marsue help yourself.

Dyson I probably resemble that resemblance of the frustrated project manager lol. I have spent far to much growing tomatoes but at least now I have it and it;s been automatic since I got mad and went to war against the cool elaments of the maritime Pacific NorthWest with it's fog ,rain and 40 degree nights

hey eweed, we will swap some of our 107 in the shade for some of your PNW cool elements

are you growing Moretons this season

Stormy, more info on the fertilizer, please? Moles are running rampant on at least 4 acreas of our place. Yes, they are mini-rototillers and I do appreciate all their hard work, but it's time for them to move on.

Fiddle no thanks it was hot hot hot here in high 70s thats hot enough for me. I would die at 100 and surely would at 107. Yep I am doing the big M again this year and they are spanking Big Beef and Big Boy and mortgauge lifter and brandywine red and yellow and and and and even Prudens purple.Most are just over a pound and an ounce. Just look up Fiddle there they are. Here is a different plant or plants.

eweed: shame on you for making me drool over those luscious-looking tomatoes! I can taste them now and feel the juice dripping down my chin! LOL

We planted late, so ours are just starting to come in. I've got Big Boys, German Johnsons, and several heritage types that are getting there, but slowly. I also bought another dozen plants from the local farmers market and we got those in Sunday. They are all acclimated for my area and all heritage types. The gal that saves the seed is a true tomato freak and asks you share your opinion on the taste and their growing habits.
I have cukes and squash coming out my ears. They taste soooooooo good!

Msrobin - there are fertilizers with added iron (prominent on front of packaging not just fine print) & simply bags of iron - my fav garden center (Zone * Gardens in Wilmington, NC) has 5# bags of it. Spread no heavier than packaging recs - byebye moles. Probably burns their little moley eyes or messes up their little moley sense of smell.

Thanks, Stormy, I'll look for it this weekend.

Oh Dyson, I didn't want to laugh, but you tell a good story. We would have starved if we depended on my garden this year too. I start my own plants in the spring, and only ended up with 2 tomato plants. One doesn't even have tomatoes yet. I container planted kohlrobi, radish and turnip. Nothing grew well and it's all in the compost pile. I only planted 16 hills of potatoes. Not enough for winter, and we decided we don't care that much for swiss chard. I don't think I have enough green beans to can. The cabbage is good, but my brussels sprout leaves look like swiss cheese. The peppers are just setting on and the eggplant has one blossom.

There's always next year, as I'm fond of saying.

LOL I am so glad I found this thread..
This is my first garden, and well I wish it had gone better.. Rabbits got all the corn, so I re planted, they got them too and the third planting well the story remains the same. Dont know how they got in there, but I gave up on the corn and green beans. Then some kind of yucky worm got my jalapenos and yellow peppers and green bell peppers and yellow bell peppers. So squash was growing good, all three kinds, went on vacation and the person who was watering was not watering enough. The lemon cukes all two plants have taken over with no fruit showing. I have a pumpkin plant that is holding on, I hope so Billy can have a pumpkin this Halloween. Dont get me started on the tomato's, out of 8 plants I bought at 4 bucks a plant, only two are still growing.
Today I harvested a lemon cuke so small it would fit in Billys hand..

But I am not giving up, and there is always next year..

Thanks for the laughter and I know that I am not the only one with garden issues.

Dyson, LOL - I loved your story.

Personally, I'm far from a "beginner gardener" - I began when my mother moved into the house she still lives in waaay back when I was eight years old - I'll be 65 this month. We used to do experiments - she would plant something, and I would plant the same variety next to hers - mine would live, hers would die! She proclaimed one day that I could make dead sticks grow, and from then on left me to do all the planting!

I had tears in my eyes, ROTFLOL, your story was so funny I read it out loud to my DH, who said he thought you may be making it up, but after reading the rest of the post to your thread we both know that you have a true, but very funny sense of humor about your garden. We're in our 2nd year of gardening and I'm" proud" to say I'm getting "very little" from the garden as far as vegetables I planted, but I am getting a few of this and a few of that. Example: 8 tomatoe plants, so far I have had 3 little tomatoes, to eat, green bean bushes, I have 8 total, I think I picked 2 handfuls of beans, not enough to even boil the water to cook any, I chopped them fresh into a salad, the different types of peppers, I had little ones mature too soon, so i had a handful to chop into salads, yes, I even grew my own lettuce too, and between the itty bit of stuff I got out of the garden, we were able to have a nice salad each nite for dinner, without the tomatoes, but here again, I'm lucky I guess, I at least got something out of my plantings. And I'm going to try even harder on the fall garden, and get an early start, as soon as I feel the temps going back down I'll be out there, either planting by seed, or else doing the HD thing and putting already rooted plantings in, I want a garden, and fresh vegetables. I will keep trying till I have no more in me, and yes, I have a titanium plate in my cervical spine,( c-3 through c7, with 8 screws) so doing what I love to do can be painful, I still get enjoyment out of it. And you've made my day after reading your story. Keep up the good work, and keep us all posted, you'll get it right sooner or later, the fun is in trying!! And it keeps us doing things, that if you quit now, you'll never do it again :) see my pics of the bounty LOL

here's another pic of a different batch from an earlier time, talk about little fruits, I didn't even get a picture of the tomatoes I picked, I was in such a hurry to eat them , I forgot to take the pictures LOL

oh, BTW, I've traveled and never had a problem with my cervical spine plate, even went to the Dominic Republic and no problem, they say new body parts aren't picked up by the x-ray machines and I guess there correct?? anyone else have an experience??

I think I was fortunate there is a field that has been idle for more than 20 years next to our house.I smiled to myself when I could see the dirt was fine, it did not keep standing water anytime of year and was soft and easy to shovel and didn`t need much done to it. Someone years ago must have gardened here already! I was given permission to lay down strips of plastic mulch that is breathable allowing moisture and nutrients in yet it kills weeds to make about a 12 by 60 foot garden. That was about 70 dollars worth of plastic and stakes to pin it to the ground but it is supposed to last it said 20 years and I have extra material for spot repairs. At first I worried the wind would blow the plastic into the lake and it would be done with before it got started but in time it settled down and it took a lot of garden stakes to pin down places that kept coming lose. I waited a while until the grass died underneath and cut holes in the plastic and planted stuff. Now the plants are growing like there is no tomorrow. I did work in a small amount of vegetable fertilizer in each spot where I planted. So far for bugs I have used pyrethrin spray which comes from the pyrethrin daisy and is a natural insecticide not harmful to mammals and also soap spray every 7 days and it is working. I don`t use a lot and concentrate on getting the spray under leaves more than anything else. This years garden has been a blessing after years of just growing flowers! I said I was cutting back on some of the flowers and my husband said,"Yeah!!" :)

What started out the perfect year for growing has produced nothing, for a lot of people. Everyone I ask in my area is in the same boat.

I picked 5 of my drying tomatoes last night and set them on the table by the door. It's the only tomatos getting ripe. Next thing I know my grandkids had a mouthful and ate them all up!

I am still laughing over all the stories!

I just discovered this thread. It is sooo funny because it is so true. The amount of money I have sunk into my veggie garden this year (screened topsoil/lumber/fencing/mulch/compost/organic fertilizer/etc) could have bought me a small island.

Drooling over those seed catalogs like a crack addict and buying every possible vegetable seed under the sun in the hope that 'I must be able to fit it all in SOMEWHERE' is definitely not the way to go.

33.00 per pound for tomatoes is cheap. Mine are probably closer to 50.00. In the end, I tossed about 20 or so perfectly good tomato plants in my composter as I'd grown them from seed and had nowhere to put them. And whoever invented tomato cages obviously has never grown any, as they still take over the world regardless.

This message was edited Jul 22, 2009 10:22 AM

where or where have my tomatoes goin, hubby went for a ride today and brought home 5 big maters from a road side stand, and I had a great time slicing one up, and salt and peppering it, and than putting mayo on it, than eating it, wondering what happen to my own maters in the back yard garden!! Nothing happening back there, 8 plants, with 2 new ones added make 10, and not one tomato! I'm disgusted but am hoping that after the heat, they'll produce, God willing! help me survive this, I want my own tomatoes!! And I'm jealous of the pictures on here.

Jamibad, having gardened in FL for many years, this is probably not your time for 'maters. I grew them in Lauderdale and Loxahatchee, and you want to be planting them in the fall and early (like January) spring. I never had much luck with them producing after the summer, but occasionally I did get a few tomatoes in the fall. Those were plants that had been growing for many months before the heat, so they may have just been tired.
When were your 8 (the earliest ones) planted? The "new" ones should do fine after it cools down (which is a relative term, for FL *G*)
Your best bet is to head over to the Tomato Forum, and look for the FL bunch. Haven't been there for a while, I'll see if they're posting now, and let you know.

thanks catmad, I planted in early May and than after only 1 plant produced 2 tomatoes, little ones, it stopped, I used my homemade compost, egg shells, coffee grinds, and fertilizer to no avail. I went out and bought 2 plants that were very bushy, and actually put them into their own big buckets, I planted them according to the directions I read on here, and am hoping they produce something before the snow falls, lol, so far no flowers are blossoming on them, and as for the other 8 their standing tall, but here again, nothing going on. So I wait and buy when I want a good tomato to eat, I can say 1 thing that is growing in my garden, jalapeno's, they are popping out so quick, I can't do enough to get them picked and either stuffing them with cheese, or making relish with them, I planted 8 of them and I wish my tomatoes produced like them, lol and i have basil, and mint, and rose mary, all growing fine, squash and cucumbers are yuck too, I got 1 cucumber out of 4 plants, lot's of blossoms, and yes, I went out and tried to hand pollinate but no luck. I picked 1 acorn squash and have 2 still growing, and the cucumber plants look healthy, but nothing growing. This is my first time growing a garden here, I hope it's just a fluke, but I'm going to keep trying. I'm hard headed and I want fresh vegetables !!So feel free to give me advise, I think I'm going to go to Ace and buy there soil tester, maybe to much salt in the ground, since I live 3 blocks off the ocean ? I have the garden on the west side of my shed so it keeps the winds off the plants, but yet everything looks healthy, just no fruit on the vines?? Crying:( OK, give me some advice, thanks

another view of my plants, this is the acorn squash

if you want to see more pictures go to facebook, and type in my name, jami badala, and see the garden pics,, I keep a lot of pictures posted there so family and friends can view my wonderful hobbies, lol

Volunteer tomatoes in the compost pile :o)

nice sun flowers billyporter, do you keep the seeds? and if so how, I haven't tried it, but am curious, I haven't looked for this answer yet.

Jamibad, you have nice veggies anyway!

Those are Cupplant - Silphium perfolatum, and they reseed like crazy. The leaves clasp completely around it and hold water for small insects and hummingbirds.They are tough as nails to dig, so they stay by the compost pile now till I find a better place for them. We had so much rain they are over 10' tall. When I, ahem, dug them from where I dug them, they were only 4' tall ;o)

Cupplant

Dyson ~ I ran across this thread....I really got a chuckle!

It reminds me of the time I started 100 tomato plants from seed...it's a long story, so I will make it short. The gophers got the bottoms and the deer got the tops along with unripe tomatoes. They would take a bit out of one, spit it out, then try another, and another...even though they did not like them, they kept on trying...well this was years ago. My DH erected a fence around the veggie garden, and made "square foot gardens", 8 of them, with hardware cloth on the bottoms...so now we can grow tomatoes. Now I have started more than should go into those 4'X4' raised beds, so I will probably be giving them away to sr.centers and soup kitchens. They should appreciate them, with the price of tomatoes these days. I may leave some in containers, as there are loads of ground squirrels now...yeah, I know, always something...right?

Oh I remember this... This year I have two gardens, both have chicken wire (Not the cloth kind) and the reason for two you might ask? well last year as the squash was coming in, I would give it to Billy to take to the house and I was lucky to have any left when I got there... His standard response was "I ate them" Seems he would munch on squash, or zucchini what ever he was holding and would pass by the horses and share.. So this year he has both squash and Zuke in his garden with watermelon and cantaloupe and egg plant that he can eat to his hearts content... Cant argue with a 4 year old. He has all but ate 2 stevia plants that have never made it to the garden, he loves the leaves as well as the mint and Thia basil.... He is a big salad eater and loves when I put both in there for him....

MissJestr, he's a boy after my own heart. I grew up an outdoor grazer. Mostly with fruit trees and rhubarb :o) If anyone posts a shrub or tree with fruit, I have to ask, is it edible? How wonderful to start him on his own garden! May he learn early from his mistakes :o)

I love this post. It reminds me of when me and my siblings were kids and my mother tried so hard to grow a garden. We would dig all the new potatoes and eat them right there and then we would sneak the tomatoes,carrots peas,beans etc. She used to put out different things to deter the animals-rodents that were getting all the veggies. All along it was her own little rodents.

ROTFL!!!

Folks, I am going to start a new thread titled "“2010” A Backyard Space Odyssey Begins" in the veges forum soon - be sure to watch for it. (yes there be a link here somewhere).

When I was 12 (my brother was 11) we were accused of sneaking into and consuming my fathers "home-brew" years after that "tail-whipping" it was revealed that our sister (then 7) was the culprit. Time does fly. Thankfully.


This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 3:21 PM

Dyson, your sister is probably still laughing! I hope you and your brother got an apology :o)

Can't wait for the new thread!

This just makes me smile in the AM. Oh and by the way, little sisters never do anything wrong LOL. I am one so I know.