veggie garden 2014

[EL34]

Things are off and growing


Broccoli, lettuce, onions, spinach, sugar snap peas, Tomoto, Cucumbers, Sweet peppers, eggplant.


Here's some pics

[sluckey]

Looks like you've been busy! Me too. The asparagus is done and now we're just letting the sprouts mature. I've got tiny tomatoes and peppers. We'll start picking snap beans next week. My stuff looks about the same as last year.

Left to right... 1/2 row of giant sunflowers for the squirrels. 6 rows of snap beans. 1 row crookneck squash. 1 mixed row of peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The asparagus and garlic are outside the fence where you see the white pvc pipes.

[EL34]

looking good

You are way ahead of me weather wise
My toms, cucs, peppers and eggplant are only 4 inches high

[tubenit]

Guys, those gardens look incredible!  Fantastic!  Thanks for sharing the pictures.  I'm impressed.

Jeff

[EL34]

Where's your veggie pics Jeff. You usually do a few items don't you?


I have those Golden Gem tomatoes this year. last year I did not do them


http://parkseed.com/golden-gem-hybrid-tomato-seeds/p/05409-PK-P1/

[tubenit]

Where's your veggie pics Jeff. You usually do a few items don't you?

Well .................. I only have 3 tomato plants this year.  One of them is a black cherry tomato which I am interested in trying.  I'll post some picks when I get some tomatoes.  I did grow a cherry tomato last year that was even better then the Golden Gem which I also grew last year.
The plants are growing incredibly fast this year for some reason? 

My wife grew up on a wheat and dairy farm and ironically we've kind of gotten into Sat morning dates where we go to the Farmer's Market and then use the fresh food to create a gourmet-ish type meal for Sat and Sunday night.  She likes buying straight from the farmers & I'll admit that I do also.

Jeff

[Refugee]

I have had a huge problem with slugs this year and am only just getting on top of the problem.
We have all had trouble with them in UK this year.
Small yellow ones have been the worst.
An old pair of scissors and a torch each night has been going on for several weeks now. Not many snap beans have pulled through and I have had to start off more seeds for all the pumpkins. The runner beans were a huge battle but are now getting going.
Elephant garlic proved to be slug proof as did ordinary garlic.
I have tried chile peppers and they are on a go-slow so perhaps we will not get anything.
We have lost the black currants due to ants infecting the plants with pests. It took over 2 pints of white spirit down the nest to stop them. The ants came up early this year.
The red and white currants are fantastic and the plants are sagging under the weight of the fruit.The dissert gooseberries have done well too.

[Ritchie200]

Refugee


Sprinkle some diatomaceous sand/earth around the plants and that will keep them at bay.  Re-apply after significant rain or over time as it gets worked into the soil.  You can also bury a pie pan sized container level with the soil and fill it with beer.  Seems a terrible waste of beer, but it beats nightstalking!  Your neighbors are probably wondering what your are doing out there....


Good luck!
Jim

[Refugee]

They are not like the ones we have had to deal with in the past and have taken to operating like "wolf-packs" like submarines did in WWII. This is something I have never seen before. They just move in and destroy a small area completely and protecting that area will do no good as they will appear in another place the following evening.
I got a "wolf-pack" of about 8 or 10 this evening on a plant that has been attacked several times over the past month. It has been all right for at least a week with little or no trouble until this evening.
I have occasionally used covered poison bated traps with some success but the best traps have been orange peel left on the ground.
Provided bird watchers do a good job of protecting the blackbirds nests from cats these will empty all the traps and use the slugs to feed there young.
These are not like the blackbirds seen in the US and are fun to watch while they empty the traps as they throw the bits of peel all over the place.
http://www.ispotnature.org/node/392519
They are territorial song birds and will not take very many slugs if there nests are destroyed.

[terminalgs]

I've lost 25% of my tomatoes to slugs.  really sucks! I might try the diatomaceous sand trick, but the problem is I've planted them in straw bales, and its not really an even flat surface like the bare the ground.


In the past, I've done the beer in a saucer trick,  but I decided I was killing 10-15 a night per saucer, but it was drop in the bucket and there were many many more going straight to the plants.


the saucer only needs a couple of ounces of beer.  I recommend the last 2oz. of a bottle of beer, as apposed to the first 2oz.s.

[EL34]

My garden is doing along nicely this year
Glad we don't have slugs here, or if we do, they don't show up here

Put a bunch of green beans and sugar snap peas in the freezer
Cucumbers are producing a bunch every day
This year I am picking them and stashing them for later
The first batch of sweet pickles came out great

[tubenit]

Doug,

Your garden looks fantastic!   I've gotten a lot of cherry tomatoes this yr off my two plants.  One of the variety is a black cherry tomatoe which I find to be quite tasty.

Jeff

[EL34]

yeah, it's a very good year this year
Still waiting on my Juliet and Golden Gem tomatoes to ripen up
Should be a week or so

[Ed_Chambley]

Guys, I am so Jealous I could not do anything this year.  Save me some maters and Steve that asparagus sounds wonderful.  I have about a 1/2 acre I normally fill in.  The wife and I are visiting local friend for fresh veggies.


Thanks for the photos.  I cant wait till I am back to feeling like 100 bucks.

[sluckey]

My snap beans, squash, cukes, and asparagus are done for the season. We froze 32 quarts of snap beans and 14 quarts of squash. And we had all the grilled asparagus we could eat for about 6 weeks. Been eating tomatoes and Jalapenos since mid June. I love grilled pepper poppers! The four Celebrity tomatoes are 8 feet high and still producing well. This is a mid size tomato that I remember my dad growing when I was a kid. The eight peppers are about 4-5 feet high and loaded down. The wire cages have a 6x6 grid so that will give you an idea of the size of the peppers. We'll be freezing lots of these soon.

I cleared out the snap beans and squash and have replanted 7 rows of zipper cream peas. Had to replant a lot but finally got a good stand. That accounts for the different size plants. They've been up about 12 days now. Hope we get a good crop.

[sluckey]

While I had the camera out I decided to take some pics of my favorite perennials. The 5 pointed flowers are native Texas Star hibiscus. The flower is 6" to 8" point to point and the plant grows 6' to 8' every season. They die back to the ground in the winter. We got a single plant many years ago from Highlands, NC. Saved the seed pods and now we have them all over the yard. All of our friends and family have them too. They do very well in big pots or just in the ground. Easy to care for them with very little to do if they are in the yard. I always save the seed pods so if any one wants some let me know. We have sent some to Colorado, but don't know how they will do there yet. This plant gave law enforcers headaches back in the '70s!

My other favorite is the fire tower. Don't know the real name. The heart shaped leaves are the size of a large pizza. These do well in pots or in a flower bed, but they can be invasive if not confined. They spread by roots. They get about 4' to 5' high, not including the red flowerets, then die back in the winter.

[EL34]

Your crop looks great Steve.

I am still putting Green beans in the freezer
I blanch them and them vacuum seal them in about 10 ounce portions

My Diva cuc's are putting out huge numbers
I have pickled at least 15 pounds of them so far in big jars

I have one celebrity bush i bought at Lowe's
Never grew them before
I am quite impressed with the tomato's it puts out

My eggplant is just coming on and so are my Juliet and Golden Gem tomato's

[Refugee]

We have finally got the slugs down to a more normal level now.
We have the nasty ones that ganged up down to 2s and 3s and the others below average.
The soft fruit all did well except black currants that were attacked by insects.
The ants were spreading the aphids and had a very large nest that took 4 pints of white spirit to snuff them out. We got them well before they began flying.
15 pounds of soft fruit from 5 bushes. 1 red currant 3 white currant and 1 red gooseberry.
Two black currant bushes produced nothing but fruiting wood for next year.
Runner beans have made a late start after the slugs ring barking them.
I have killed more slugs in the past two months than over the past 5 years.
All British gardeners have had a lot of trouble with slugs this year it is not just me.

[EL34]

That a crazy battle going on over there

[Refugee]

The winter weather was just not cold enough to cut down on the numbers.
We have got over the worst now and the amount of work getting rid of the problem is back to normal.

[terminalgs]

My summer slug issues seemed to subside when I upped the watering.   I'm doing the straw-bale gardening trick, so maybe the soaked bales were too discouraging to the slugs??? 

We planted 4 clemson-spineless okra plants, and we'll plant 6 or 8 next spring.  These did great!!  they are still producing,  and flowering, and we've had nights in the low-40s.  including the bale where there roots reside, these plants are over 6' tall.

this past weekend, I put in some kale, and sowed some spinach for the fall.   When we decide to rip out the okra, we'll plant some lettuce variety.

[EL34]

You guys with slugs should be careful

After watching several episodes of "Monsters inside me", I saw several cases of Rat Lungworm

Slugs and rats are involved and this disease is deadly
Saw cases all over the world, so it's just not confined to one place


Some info here about the disease
http://www.malamaopuna.org/ratlung/needtoknow.php

[MadMax]

Doug,
Since I saw your awareness of current events (under guns anyone?), this may go without asking. Are you using heirloom, non-hybridized seed for your garden? If you haven't found them yet, Seed Savers Exchange (.org) is an excellent source of seeds you can keep from one year's crop to the next. A good idea, since the giants like Monsanto seem bent on controlling the world's food supply.

[sluckey]

I just sowed my turnip patch today. We have been eating Jalapeno peppers since June. We have frozen umpteen pint size bags and now we are making pickled peppers. We have lot's of fresh garlic to go in the jars too! The peppers are huge and are great on the grill filled with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. The garlic bulbs are about 2" diameter. Peppers should last until we have a hard frost. There's probably a 5 gallon bucketful to be picked right now!

It's been a fun garden season this year. Think I'm finally getting used to being retired!   

[EL34]

Nice,


We just hard out first hard frost last week
The remaining stuff in my garden is gone except broccoli and opnions

[sluckey]

Broccoli and Cauliflower are favorites for my family. But I have tiny green caterpillars that love the broccoli too. Almost impossible to get them off until you bite into one! Our winters are just not cold enough to keep the bugs away so I gave up on broccoli.

[EL34]

Probably Cabbage loopers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbage_looper

I get them too

I use a spray made for fruit trees on them that has neem oil base
It has something in it made from the chrysanthemum flower
Works good

No way to raise any cabbage type crop here without cabbage loopers eating all the leaves and hears

I try and not use any chemicals, but sometimes you have to if you want food
I always spray after I have picked everything on the plats and then it will be a while until the next crop

Now I see it has been discontinued, I'll have to find another product
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Light-Fruit-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B000LO0URI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415283280&sr=8-1&keywords=green+light+fruit+tree+spray

[thermion]

My summer maters last until about late July/ early August then a combination of texas sun, no rain (hose water just keeps em from dying), and leaf-footed stink bugs does them in. I did sweet 100, sun gold, and phoenix this year...the cherry varieties seem to do best in my yard. Once they were goners I pull the plants, let the box lie fallow for a few months, and start tossing in amendments. I then planted a mix of collard and mustard greens (champion, georgia, and vates collards and osaka purple mustard) and I am trying a tatsoi as well. The herb box lost its applemint and gained a lime basil. I can't wait til I can make a big pot of greens and salt pork!