Author Topic: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017  (Read 105633 times)

Blissful Biker

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #400 on: June 23, 2017, 10:09:35 PM »
Tomatoes are doing OK. Peppers are slow (don't forget to top yours if you haven't done it yet).

Thanks!  I had not heard of topping peppers.  Googled it and now heading out to cut off those tops.

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #401 on: June 24, 2017, 04:07:02 AM »
We (Chicago area) seem to have zero to none flying insects to pollinate cucumbers. They look complete shit. They start blooming, growing a bit and die off. I'm trying to hand pollinate them with male flowers but it doesn't  seem to work at all, may be one or two.

Tomatoes are doing OK. Peppers are slow (don't forget to top yours if you haven't done it yet).

Hey Ferrumb5 -- there are some cucumbers that don't require pollination (gynoecious/parthenocarpic). You could try those.    One that I had great luck with was Corinto.   Seed is expensive though.

I had the same pollination problems as you before I switched.  I remember being out there with a Qtip trying to hand pollinate them, until I had enough of that.

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #402 on: June 24, 2017, 11:48:38 AM »
Trifele, those are great tips. I will put it in my garden logbook for next year. I was not aware of self-poll cukes. Thanks!!

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #403 on: June 24, 2017, 05:08:18 PM »
I didn't see this thread. Been less active on the forums recently...

Anyways, we've picked off a bunch of Japanese beetles in the past few days. No real obvious damage (just a bit on the peas?) which is good, so hopefully either they have better food or our garden is so prolific that they can't do much damage. Anyone have good ideas for this? Internet seems to suggest just manually plucking them.

Some pictures of our adventure this year. If you have slow internet I'm sorry.

Here's the garden map. Had we planned better it would have been a lot more organized, particularly with the peppers. I don't think we anticipated so many this year, but that's my fault for spontaneously buying more constantly :-)





Next our peas/beans and a row of peppers (and the rhubarb):



Looking nice!

Tomatoes are more or less doing well. We've picked a few cherries already (top) and have a few ripening Early Girl tomatoes:





Translated raspberry roots (from inlaws) seem to actually be doing well enough to fruit this year. They had them quite a few years with none... turns out sun is important?



Obligatory "lol zuchinni" pic:



Some ripening peppers!

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #404 on: June 24, 2017, 05:15:18 PM »
Tomatoes are doing OK. Peppers are slow (don't forget to top yours if you haven't done it yet).

Thanks!  I had not heard of topping peppers.  Googled it and now heading out to cut off those tops.

Same. I'm not sure we can do it now as multiple of our plants are already producing fruit, but it seems like a crazy good benefit!

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #405 on: June 24, 2017, 08:08:36 PM »
Oh yes! You will love it next year. I made an experiment last year - left a couple just as is... and the ones that were topped were like a huge fat fur tree with plenty of fruit while the ones that were not topped - just a plain ok pepper (still got fruits from them of course). DO TOP YOUR PEPPERS folks!

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #406 on: June 24, 2017, 08:13:43 PM »
Ah! Basil tips:

Tips for good basil (applies to peppers too) - when a plant develops at least 2 (3 is better) sets of true leaves, TOP it right away (and don't be scared - it's really good for the plant!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jhmOC5uVjA

Tip number 2: NEVER EVER let basil bloom - it ruins the taste of the WHOLE plant immediately. It just turns to bitter grass. If you see flowers starting to develop - cut this part quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOW--OqJo8M


Cressida

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #407 on: June 24, 2017, 10:58:54 PM »
This topping business - is it just for hot peppers, or is it for sweet peppers too?

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #408 on: June 24, 2017, 11:13:18 PM »
All peppers. Just do it when 3 true leaves grow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3EZYcjyyI

Cressida

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #409 on: June 25, 2017, 07:29:50 PM »
All peppers. Just do it when 3 true leaves grow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3EZYcjyyI

Oh, quite a bit too late then. Oh well. Hopefully they did it at the nursery!  :)

Thanks.

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #410 on: June 26, 2017, 04:53:17 AM »
It was a beautiful weekend full of gardening challenges here.   

The GD deer browsed down my new blackberries to nothing.  Why???   Last year we moved from the upper midwest down to our new place in the southeast.  We had lots of deer up north, so we are no strangers to them, but the northern deer didn't go after plantings like these southern deer.   These deer eat everything -- trees, shrubs, garden plants they are not supposed to like, like tomatoes.  (In 20 years of gardening, I have never had any animals eat tomato plants, yet these deer do.)  I cannot figure this out. We have several acres of beautiful meadow, as do our neighbors.  The deer are not hurting for food.  Gah!  Getting really tired of this.   

Also the slugs have been eating the leaves off my peppers something fierce.  I'm going to have to get after them.   And a rabbit or woodchuck got under the garden fence, walked right by the chard patch, and ate about half of my Red Russian kale.   Whatever it was has good taste, at least.   :)  But we won't be getting any big harvests this year. 


Fishindude

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #411 on: June 26, 2017, 07:05:04 AM »
Great looking garden pics !
Thus far, we've only harvested radishes and some lettuce, but cucumbers are now about 5" long and baby peppers and tomatoes are taking shape on the plants.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #412 on: June 29, 2017, 09:48:40 AM »
Tips on supporting really tall tomato plants that are too heavy for their cages? Went outside last weekend and two of my tomatoes that are in big containers were practically horizontal, cage and all. I added a stake to each, and tied the main stem to the stake. Went out yesterday - horizontal again! The plants, cages, and stakes were now all tipped over.

What else can I use? I can't get a better cage on it at this point; the plants are too big. Stakes all the way around the plant, maybe? The ground that the container is sitting on is very hard and dense and full of tough tentacle-like roots that I haven't been able to identify or entirely dig up, so I think maybe the stake wasn't deep enough. I just don't know how to get it deeper. I need someone with upper body strength, I guess, haha.

I mean, seriously, these only have a few baby tomatoes on them (and they're heirlooms that produce big tomatoes) so this is only going to get worse. And I've been pruning them diligently so that they don't spread; they're just really, really tall. And it's only June! In Chicago! This is only the start of our tomato season!

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #413 on: June 29, 2017, 12:51:48 PM »
All peppers. Just do it when 3 true leaves grow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3EZYcjyyI

Oh, quite a bit too late then. Oh well. Hopefully they did it at the nursery!  :)

Thanks.

I mean, when at least 3 sets of true leaves grow. Not earlier, but it definitely can be done later, unless your peppers already producing.

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #414 on: June 29, 2017, 01:21:08 PM »
I have a green pepper plant that I bought and had 2 peppers on it.  That was over a month ago.  These peppers are probably 1/3 the normal green pepper size and don't seem to be growing at all.  Should I just pick them?  The plant seems healthy otherwise and has set a lot of other flowers and is growing one other pepper now.

Are there any other flower buds forming on it? Is it inside/outside? Bed/container?

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #415 on: June 29, 2017, 03:02:17 PM »
It's growing other flowers and has one small new pepper growing.  It's in an outside raised bed.

If the stem is already the "V"-shape (or "Y"), it's probably too late. If not, go for it :) watch some you tube videos on it.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #416 on: June 29, 2017, 05:20:33 PM »
Can you build some sort of support structure outside of the bin?  A simple example is 2 stakes in the ground on either side of the container with a string tied between them that will support the plant.  You can expand with more stakes and strings running between them at different heights.  It may not look great, but it will be functional.

Maybe? Or maybe several stakes all around the pot, with rope going all the way around? Sort of making a secondary "cage" around the outside? That could work. I just have to figure out how to get the stakes deep enough into the very unyielding ground so that the entire thing doesn't tip.

I have a green pepper plant that I bought and had 2 peppers on it.  That was over a month ago.  These peppers are probably 1/3 the normal green pepper size and don't seem to be growing at all.  Should I just pick them?  The plant seems healthy otherwise and has set a lot of other flowers and is growing one other pepper now.

What's your weather been like? I've found that when we've had cooler summers, or wildly swinging up and down temps, my peppers will just kind of halt where they are until it gets hot again. They seem to really need the heat in order to grow and ripen the peppers.

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #417 on: June 29, 2017, 05:31:32 PM »
Anyone have good suggestions for getting rid of Japanese beetles?

Been crushing many a day here...

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #418 on: June 29, 2017, 05:44:37 PM »
Anyone have good suggestions for getting rid of Japanese beetles?

Been crushing many a day here...

Call Mr President and get them deported. I'm sure they don't have visas or green cards :)
Having same issue here. Just bought bug-in-a-bag kit, will try this weekend

horsepoor

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #419 on: June 29, 2017, 10:42:08 PM »
I have a green pepper plant that I bought and had 2 peppers on it.  That was over a month ago.  These peppers are probably 1/3 the normal green pepper size and don't seem to be growing at all.  Should I just pick them?  The plant seems healthy otherwise and has set a lot of other flowers and is growing one other pepper now.

You can eat them as green anytime if you want.  As far as I know, all bell peppers will turn another color when they ripen, so you could watch for some yellow, red or orange to appear.  That is a signal that they aren't going to get any bigger.

Tris Prior  If you have a sledge hammer, some t-posts with rope between them might be the answer for you.  It should be possible to pound them into the ground where it's too hard to dig.

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #420 on: July 01, 2017, 01:31:15 PM »
This Prior, all IL residents. What's going on? Most of my cucumbers just died. And the ones that are still alive are all yellow leaves, nevermind producing any fruit (literally no bees here). AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #421 on: July 01, 2017, 02:43:11 PM »
Too much rain, maybe? We had some pretty serious downpours here.

I've never had success with cukes, zukes, or anything in that family, and have since given up.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #422 on: July 02, 2017, 08:30:53 AM »
We have been able to eat 6 of our strawberries per day.
The tomatoe plants have been collapsing, so we have tied them around a stick. The peppers plants are still tiny.
My avocado plants is growing well, getting many big leaves. I just put it in a bigger pot. Unfortunate that it will take about 7 years before it will grow avocadoes, if it does at all.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #423 on: July 02, 2017, 09:59:59 AM »
I found one of those foldable zigzagging tomato supports in the "free" pile at the community garden! Score! I put it around the most horizontal tomato, outside the pot, in sort of a triangle shape. It wouldn't connect at the sides as the pot's too big, so I strung rope in that area. The plant has now stayed vertical since yesterday afternoon!

Also bought some stakes and did essentially the same thing with another tomato and that seems to be holding as well. Fingers crossed.

KMMK

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #424 on: July 02, 2017, 08:56:14 PM »
First harvest!



I also plucked a bell pepper but it was inedible. Will try leaving them for longer.

Threshkin

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #425 on: July 02, 2017, 10:10:43 PM »
I am late to this thread but not late to the party.

So far we have finished off the bok choi, spinach, radishes (2 kinds), strawberries and peas.  The peas were my favorite.  I would eat a few raw every day while watering/weeding plus we added them to many meals.

Currently we are harvesting sour cherries.  We have a bumper crop this year from our two small trees.  The first batch we cooked into sauce that we have used in baking and makes the greatest addition to tea.  For the second batch we will try making some wine.  After talking to friends and some internet searching we have a very simple recipe (4lbs cherries, 2.4 lbs sugar, wine yeast & water to make a gallon.  Mush up the cherries a bit, dissolve the sugar, dump it all in a clean bottle, attach an airlock and wait.)

Growing strong are dozens of tomato plants, peppers, egg plant, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, brussels sprouts, grapes and other assorted goodies.

Our seed cost this year was ZERO!  We went to a local seed exchange and collected more seeds than we know what to do with.  For example we are growing about ten different kinds of heirloom tomatoes and still have more varieties that we have not tried yet.  (Note: We also brought seeds to that swap, it was not just a grab and run)

For future enjoyment we are adding a trellis to about 22 feet of south facing fence and will put in more grape vines.  There are some varieties that are supposed to very well in our cold winter climate (Zone 5).  I will get the details from our local extension office once the bed and trellis are ready.

I FIREd last October and we cannot travel due to my mom's health condition so this is the first year that I can really focus on the garden.  It is tons of fun!

Rural

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #426 on: July 03, 2017, 05:54:43 AM »
I have tremendous enthusiastic wall of tomato vines on the southern exposure, but all the tomatoes are staying green for an extended period, probably because it's been cool and rainy. I'm impatient.


Of course, given that I picked my last tomatoes in December last year (!), I really don't have any room to complain.


Basil has recovered from The Great Grasshopper Scourge of 2017 and is growing well, no doubt in part because all the grasshoppers have decided it's more fun to come in the house. I keep finding them.


For some reason, my marigolds won't grow, but the mystery mums are blooming.

pekklemafia

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #427 on: July 03, 2017, 08:44:03 PM »
We are currently over run with greens! I just plucked all the bok choy this week, and we've got lots of lettuce and kale coming along. I've attached a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #428 on: July 05, 2017, 04:43:21 AM »
Soon we will leave for our 3 week vacation. We have some pepper plants and tomato plants inside, plus some grape twigs that are finally developing roots. They will have to be able to survive those three weeks without getting water. We plan to set them out in the garden, like we did last year with the plants. But than we didn't have tomatoes and peppers, just normalt living room plants.
We put the plants outside today to get used to that, just not where the rain could fall and also on the east side of the house (only morning sun). My avocado plant was getting a hard time in the hard wind with it's big leaves. So I put in in a more wind shielded area.
When we go on vacation we will put them in the open where they can catch rain.

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #429 on: July 07, 2017, 10:09:57 AM »
Came back from a ~5 day vacation and got the first major harvest of the year. We're going to get a kitchen scale and try to keep track of how much we get for reference point since it's our first year gardening.



My wife guesstimates she only picked about 1/2 of the beans compared to the remaining ones and flowers. Think that'll be enough for the next year...

We're going to have an insane crop of tomatoes which is great and the point (want to freeze enough for a year) and zucchini is doing its thing already (well you always get a ton from a single zucchini plant). Our cantaloupe plant that has looked anemic all year is looking better and better now and has about a dozen flowers. So we'll see.  Tomatoes on the left are early girl, the right are defiants. All those plants started pretty big compared to the others.

Pruned a TON off our tomato plants. I probably pruned 50 branches off of one plant which was insanely bushy. Hopefully that helps. Most of the dozen tomato plants we have now have about a dozen flower clusters on them... so that's great :D

Our peas are getting hit with powdery mildew. Though at this point.. even if they all die I guess we got plenty of peas haha. Just will have to watch that spreading to the other plants. Luckily the beans are a buffer and those are going to all come out in a few weeks or so as they are in their peak harvest now.

About half our peppers have peppers on them now. Have 3 giant flavorburst ones going right now which are turning already colors. Next year I think we'll start peppers (bought them all this year) and start them to be ready to go much earlier than we did this year.

The spontaneous "oops forgot to eat them" potatoes we planted in a spot that gets poor sun are all flowering, soooo... might actually get some of them too?

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #430 on: July 07, 2017, 11:08:49 AM »
Very nice, Ender!!  Hard to believe that's a first year garden!

Elderwood17

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #431 on: July 07, 2017, 11:34:40 AM »
This week the last of the raspberries got picked just as the first of the blackberries were ready!  We have a lot of blackberry vines so should be set for them for at least four weeks.   The blue berries should be ready about the time the blackberries quit but the birds seem to really be liking our limited blue berry bushes this year, so they may not yield much (we have one early variety bush and it was picked clean).

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #432 on: July 07, 2017, 11:50:59 AM »
Very nice, Ender!!  Hard to believe that's a first year garden!

Welll technically last year we planted some 50% off veggies August 1st after we bought our house...

my wife won't let me get a greenhouse though unless we have an acreage... hmmmmmmmmmm.

Measured, we got about 4.5 pounds of peas and just under 4 pounds of green beans. And just under 3 pounds of tomatoes.

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #433 on: July 07, 2017, 01:17:57 PM »
rabbits ate our green beans - we got one meal out of them.  the plants were too big, so they ate all the leaves, and any beans, but not to the ground The beans are trying to flower again so I'm just leaving them as a rabbit buffet.

The rabbits also have grazed on the kohlrabi, and beets.  Nervy buggers.

Spouse wanted to create wildlife refuges in the yard - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #434 on: July 07, 2017, 04:54:07 PM »
I saw a hint of color on one of my Sungold tomatoes today! :D

Got a good-sized handful off of my second-year blueberry bush today too, with more to come.

Unfortunately, it looks like my peas are once again a FAIL. Maybe it got too hot? Other beds in my community garden have peas that are still going strong, though. Mine have mostly dried up despite diligent watering, and have produced exactly one pea pod. The same thing happened last year.

I can't figure out whether the tomatoes in the community bed are a bit stunted this year, or whether it's just that the ones in my back yard are SO full and bushy and healthy, that they just look a little spindly by comparison. I've also been diligently pruning them and shoving them back into their cages when they threaten to sneak out of them, so perhaps they are just more contained. I should go look at last year's garden pix and see where they are compared to last year at this time. All but 3 plants are currently making tomatoes. The other 3 have flowers on them, but don't seem to be fruiting. They are all heirloom varieties which I know can sometimes be tricky, and low bearers. (White Beauty, Brandywine, and Gold Medal, if anyone's interested. I was especially interested in White Beauty but so far it's just making flowers that shrivel up. Oh well. Started from free seeds, so I'm only out my time and effort.)

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #435 on: July 07, 2017, 05:03:19 PM »
I saw a hint of color on one of my Sungold tomatoes today! :D

Got a good-sized handful off of my second-year blueberry bush today too, with more to come.

Unfortunately, it looks like my peas are once again a FAIL. Maybe it got too hot? Other beds in my community garden have peas that are still going strong, though. Mine have mostly dried up despite diligent watering, and have produced exactly one pea pod. The same thing happened last year.

I can't figure out whether the tomatoes in the community bed are a bit stunted this year, or whether it's just that the ones in my back yard are SO full and bushy and healthy, that they just look a little spindly by comparison. I've also been diligently pruning them and shoving them back into their cages when they threaten to sneak out of them, so perhaps they are just more contained. I should go look at last year's garden pix and see where they are compared to last year at this time. All but 3 plants are currently making tomatoes. The other 3 have flowers on them, but don't seem to be fruiting. They are all heirloom varieties which I know can sometimes be tricky, and low bearers. (White Beauty, Brandywine, and Gold Medal, if anyone's interested. I was especially interested in White Beauty but so far it's just making flowers that shrivel up. Oh well. Started from free seeds, so I'm only out my time and effort.)

I've grown heirloom Gold Medal and Brandywine and they did OK me. Brandywine produced better, Gold Medal makes BIG tomatoes, and seems to be a bit slow about it. Brandywine are nice big (not huge) tomatoes.  I didn't track weight of fruit from each plant, but have an idea of how many tomatoes/plant. By weight there would be less difference in yield, but I think a Brandywine would still be higher than Gold Medal.

I'm in essentially the same growing area as you (central Iowa).

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #436 on: July 07, 2017, 05:31:47 PM »
lots of us central iowan gardeners here... :o

I don't think peas got too hot, ours get full sun all day and are probably 6 feet tall right now (they only have about a 4 foot fence to grow up, too, kind of ridiculous how straight they still grew after taht).

When did you plant them? Did you weed them fairly regularly? We picked about 4 pounds of peas today from maybe 35 feet worth of pea plants...


rabbits ate our green beans - we got one meal out of them.  the plants were too big, so they ate all the leaves, and any beans, but not to the ground The beans are trying to flower again so I'm just leaving them as a rabbit buffet.

The rabbits also have grazed on the kohlrabi, and beets.  Nervy buggers.

Spouse wanted to create wildlife refuges in the yard - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

We have rabbit fence lined with chicken wire. I *think* that has stopped all rabbits from getting in (watching them literally jump through the rabbit fence was quite depressing).

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #437 on: July 07, 2017, 05:41:15 PM »
lots of us central iowan gardeners here... :o

I don't think peas got too hot, ours get full sun all day and are probably 6 feet tall right now (they only have about a 4 foot fence to grow up, too, kind of ridiculous how straight they still grew after taht).

When did you plant them? Did you weed them fairly regularly? We picked about 4 pounds of peas today from maybe 35 feet worth of pea plants...


rabbits ate our green beans - we got one meal out of them.  the plants were too big, so they ate all the leaves, and any beans, but not to the ground The beans are trying to flower again so I'm just leaving them as a rabbit buffet.

The rabbits also have grazed on the kohlrabi, and beets.  Nervy buggers.

Spouse wanted to create wildlife refuges in the yard - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

We have rabbit fence lined with chicken wire. I *think* that has stopped all rabbits from getting in (watching them literally jump through the rabbit fence was quite depressing).

We have raised beds. We'll fence next year - they are not desperate enough to eat the cucumber, zucchini, peppers, or tomato leaves now. 
Fencing makes weeding an even bigger PITA!

We have two terriers - the yard has much evidence of their presence. Bunnies not deterred at all. Damn high productivity reproduction strategy - can afford to lose a few...

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #438 on: July 07, 2017, 05:50:06 PM »
We have two terriers - the yard has much evidence of their presence. Bunnies not deterred at all. Damn high productivity reproduction strategy - can afford to lose a few...

I see 3+ rabbits on a regular basis around our yard and behind our yard. Our garden would get destroyed without a fence, hah.

Today they were munching some weeds from the garden that I'd thrown into our yard..

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #439 on: July 09, 2017, 02:57:50 PM »
lots of us central iowan gardeners here... :o

I don't think peas got too hot, ours get full sun all day and are probably 6 feet tall right now (they only have about a 4 foot fence to grow up, too, kind of ridiculous how straight they still grew after taht).

When did you plant them? Did you weed them fairly regularly? We picked about 4 pounds of peas today from maybe 35 feet worth of pea plants...

I know I planted them late, but it is what it is, because we weren't allowed into our community garden plots until April 22. I planted them (from seed) that day. I did weed; that part of the bed didn't really seem to get very many weeds but I did pull what came up. I watered them regularly. Nevertheless, one by one they became dry and crispy overnight and then keeled over. (like, one day they were fine and the next, nearly dead.) Maybe all that water I gave them still was not enough? Do peas get diseases? Because their rapid death makes me think disease or parasite, but I didn't see anything like that on them.

G-dog, good to know about the Gold Medals, that they are later bearers. It is still fairly early in tomato season here in Chicago; I just now am getting a couple of ripening sungolds. The Gold Medal does have flowers on it, as does the Brandywine. Just no hint of fruiting yet. The plants look pretty healthy though so I'm just going to let them do their thing.

horsepoor

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #440 on: July 09, 2017, 06:58:50 PM »
It is HOT here in Boise, and the squash bugs are out in force.  I will probably harvest all the garlic on Tuesday when it's going to be a blessed 90 degrees instead of 100.I need to get some seedlings started for fall crops this week.

I will not plant these purple carrots again.  Most of them bolted instead of forming roots, and the ones that did aren't that great.  There were some nice Nantes carrots in the mix though.   Here is today's haul:
« Last Edit: July 09, 2017, 07:01:39 PM by horsepoor »

Cranky

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #441 on: July 10, 2017, 05:51:50 AM »
Let's see...

We got quite a few strawberries at the beginning of June - a few quarts worth anyway, which is better than usual. I planted these strawberries 20 years ago, and they've sort of wandered around the yard over the years.

The first rush of raspberries is about done. I've picked a cup or two every day for the last several weeks. The next round of flowers is starting. We did have a week of very hot weather that seemed to damage some of the plants this year (we were out of town, so I'm unsure if that's exactly when it happened.)

Dh built a new bed in the front, and the first round of tomato plants were devoured by bunnies so I had to replant them. You can tell it's a first year bed because those plants are okay, but not wonderful. The other bed of tomatoes plants is quite exuberant this year!

Kale is good. Broccoli is good. Squash is good. I expect to start harvesting basil next week.

I had peas planted in tubs, and we actually got quite a few! I pulled them out last week and replanted with some green beans.

Cache_Stash

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #442 on: July 10, 2017, 03:27:11 PM »
We have been able to eat 6 of our strawberries per day.
The tomatoe plants have been collapsing, so we have tied them around a stick. The peppers plants are still tiny.
My avocado plants is growing well, getting many big leaves. I just put it in a bigger pot. Unfortunate that it will take about 7 years before it will grow avocadoes, if it does at all.

Is it a Haas avocado tree?  If it is, I think it is a hybrid and it has been propogated from a single tree back in the 1920's.  You my not get any avocados. It has been propagated by trimmings spliced with tree trunks from other trees.  I might be wrong, but I remember reading about it.

ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #443 on: July 10, 2017, 03:28:44 PM »
Trying to decide what to plant after we rip out our peas/beans.

In Iowa, anyone have suggestions? We could do more of those I guess..

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #444 on: July 10, 2017, 03:55:10 PM »
I'm trying to decide the same thing, now that stuff is dying off in the community raised bed. The peas are FAIL, so they're gonna go. Lettuce is almost done. The garlic greens have all shriveled up - I pulled one to see if it had done anything and got a very small garlic bulb. In general the garlic did really poorly this year; I'm going to blame it on not having had a proper winter with much snow at all. So I'm probably going to pull the rest of that.

I have some chard in a pot at home that is doing OK but it does much better in the ground for me, so that'll take up one square-foot of the bed. Also a dill that's finally starting to grow after being quite stunted for a few months - that can go in the bed too. I have a bunch of basil in pots, but I've also got some in the home raised bed and it's convenient to have it all in one place, given the quantities of pesto that I plan on making with it. So I think I'm going to leave that as is.

Hmmmmm.


ender

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #445 on: July 10, 2017, 03:59:53 PM »
Can you easily freeze pesto? I wonder if I should plant a bunch of basil. Though my wife dislikes pesto immensely I really like it..

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #446 on: July 10, 2017, 05:00:20 PM »
Can you easily freeze pesto? I wonder if I should plant a bunch of basil. Though my wife dislikes pesto immensely I really like it..

Basil turns black in the freezer - so make sure there is enough oil to cover any pesto and I think it is fine.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #447 on: July 10, 2017, 05:05:46 PM »
I freeze it in mason jars with the 2-piece lids and don't put any extra oil on top of it, and haven't had it turn black.

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #448 on: July 10, 2017, 05:06:48 PM »
I freeze it in mason jars with the 2-piece lids and don't put any extra oil on top of it, and haven't had it turn black.

Ah, that's good. Reporting what a friend observed. Ive never made pesto - yet.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #449 on: July 10, 2017, 06:24:31 PM »
Do it! Pesto is soooooo good. Seriously one of my favorite treats. I could eat it out of the jar with a spoon!