Planting and Growing Your Own -- 2021

[Roots&Wings]

I read through “practical permaculture” by jessi bloom in the PNW and appreciated her approach, too.

I really enjoyed seeing Jessi Bloom's garden, she was featured on Growing a Greener World along with Erica at NW Edible who used to post here: https://youtu.be/iSUpB67uTzw?t=115. Visual examples are helpful for me!

Rosy one of the more local syntropic farms is Peace River Organics (https://youtu.be/9axoEci-s9w?t=161) he has both food forest and syntropic row systems, uses canna lily, ginger and galangal as biomass "grow your own" mulch/fertilizer. I'm at the point where I'll need to "get rid" of perfectly good plants that are too dense (bananas mostly) and will try this out.

[Rosy]

@Weisass -

Thanks @Rosy ! Gaia’s garden is sitting on my side table, actually. I read through “practical permaculture” by jessi bloom in the PNW and appreciated her approach, too.

I do like Jessi Bloom but she's the perfect example of my zone frustration.
Worse, it reminds me of all my old favorites back when I gardened in Germany and believe me - gardening in zone 6-7 is a cakewalk compared to zone 10.

LOL - the Jessi Bloom interview, you bet I'm gonna copy the trick on how to dry Rosemary in one day in the back window of your car on a metal cookie sheet:). Free car freshener:).
I have three different new Rosemary's all planted in different parts of the garden which I generally use fresh, but sometimes bundle up and hang to dry.

I own and love Jessi's book "Creating Sanctuary"
I particularly liked the section "Fifty Sacred Plants for the Sanctuary Garden"
Overall great step-by-step plans from habitats to labyrinths to layers along with pure lifestyle chapters on meditation and herbal medicine.

@Roots&Wings
Thanks so much for the link to Peace River Organics - that is exactly what I'm going for.
My new tropical area actually does look a lot like that already. Mine is only 1.5 yrs along so I'm still adding and deleting and puzzling out which combinations of herbs and veggies will work best together. I want to add a few ornamentals and scented plants to the mix.
My biggest challenge so far is watering during the intense summer heat. I do it by hand for now.
I keep going back and forth on what fruit trees/bushes to add - I fear I've become obsessed.

Garden Update
Mulch and compost - I've been holding off on adding the big stack of palm debris as mulch over the leaves that I've been collecting from the big avocado and our big oak. The neighbor gave me a couple of bags with leaves from her oak and invited me to come over to get as much as I wanted.
So today I will add all my current compost, then the leaves, then the (chopped) palm debris.
That's it for mulching for the next three-four months.

Lessons learned
Pulled up and cooked up the last of the Savoy Cabbage - note to self, I should have pulled it all by April 1st.
Red Russian Kale - pulling up the last of it today - should have pulled it all by about March 15.
Both were easy to grow and we enjoyed the taste.
I will grow more this fall and this time I will try some in the ground.

Shisoo spinach (thx Roots&Wings), finally found a source at Green Dreams in Spring Hill.
I may try other perennial tropical spinach varieties in the fall.

Passionfruit
1. We have our first tennis ball size fruit - can't wait for it to turn purple so we can have our first taste.
2. I discovered passiflora quadrangularis - a giant granadilla, I'm adding it to my wishlist...

Cherries - WOW!
Our three over 50-year-old cherry bushes are full of cherries. I can't believe it, generally, these old Surinam Cherries have at most a handful of cherries.
Not sure what changed, but this year they are full of fruit.
They are in the shade beneath an old oak tree - my best guess is that one of the huge branches that broke off is giving it just enough light to produce.

Since I don't care much for their taste fresh off the tree I'll harvest them for jam and dessert this weekend, they look too good to leave them all for the birds. Amazing to see all three full of cherries.
I left them alone when I moved here over twenty years ago since they work well as a privacy screen and they are a pretty, evergreen big bush that never needs trimming.

[Roots&Wings]

Oh Rosy, you'll have a blast at Green Dreams in Spring Hill (dare I say gummy worm fruit - cecropia tree - gorgeous tropical leaves, fruits in shade too). One thing with sissoo, it can collect the tree snot that the oaks drop so prolifically in the spring, wish I'd put one patch further away from the oaks.

And your cherry crop! If you wait until they're an intense dark maroon red, the taste is transformed into this amazing juicy flavor burst; otherwise, absolutely disgusting fresh off the tree. Have fun making jam that sounds delicious! 

Happy gardening all!

[Trifle]

Trifele congrats on the flowering grafts! I didn't know it's unusual for them to flower right away...3 years sounds a lot stranger than first year flowering. Cuttings are probably different, but I just got a Thai mulberry cutting that is loaded with fruit on the new growth, no willpower at all, I couldn't pass at the garden center.

Right!?  I don’t know much, just that the 10 graftlings I made several years ago ALL waited three years to flower.  But this time around I put that same one year old scion wood (from the exact same tree no less!) onto these two host trees and it’s flowering right away.  Now I’m thinking it’s a cooperative decision between the scion and the host(?).  Or the scion can somehow tell how old its host is?   That’s what’s so dang interesting!  :)

So the question is, why would the scion wood wait three years to flower on young rootstock, but would flower immediately on an established tree?  I heard back from Cummins Nursery about this, and this was their answer:

"A more powerful root system.

You basically installed a program into a supercomputer and you watched it boot up immediately. 

As opposed to installing that same program onto a used Gateway desktop computer, which still works fine - it just takes more time to load the program, because it does not have the same well-spring of power."

Love it.   

[Frugal Lizard]

Aaaah you folks.....We are dipping down to near freezing tonight and the next six nights.  Last night was below freezing.  But with the sunshine, it is lovely today.

I threw floating row covers over the asparagus so that it doesn't turn to mush again.

[Trifle]

Continuing with the great permaculture discussion, here's one of my favorite perennial garden plantings -- comfrey.  I'm still learning about this amazing plant, and so far I've only used it as mulch and a compost-booster.  I know others use it medicinally, and also as a great animal fodder.  Supposedly it can produce an amazing amount of biomass. 

I love how dark, dark green it is and how much the bees love it:

[Weisass]

Continuing with the great permaculture discussion, here's one of my favorite perennial garden plantings -- comfrey.  I'm still learning about this amazing plant, and so far I've only used it as mulch and a compost-booster.  I know others use it medicinally, and also as a great animal fodder.  Supposedly it can produce an amazing amount of biomass. 

I love how dark, dark green it is and how much the bees love it:

Awesome! I have comfrey seeds but held off casting them because the instructions said fall was the best time to sow them. For now i content myself with its cousin borage.

[the_hobbitish]

Do you have trouble with it spreading?

[Trifle]

Do you have trouble with it spreading?

Great question @the_hobbitish -- Not so far!  The variety I put in is Russian Comfrey, which is supposed to have sterile seeds and not spread.  So far that looks true -- no baby plants that I can see.  The five I planted are getting gradually bigger and wider is all.  They look to be growing kind of like big hostas . . . Like if I wanted to propagate it I would dig up an edge of it. 

I bought them from this place:  http://www.nantahala-farm.com/comfrey-root-bocking-14-s.shtml

ETA:  There's a whole permaculture trend of planting comfrey with fruit trees, but I haven't tried that out yet because I'm worried the deer would be drawn to the comfrey.  We're trying to keep the deer OUT of the orchard.  They browse the young trees something fierce.   

[Trifle]

Continuing with the great permaculture discussion, here's one of my favorite perennial garden plantings -- comfrey.  I'm still learning about this amazing plant, and so far I've only used it as mulch and a compost-booster.  I know others use it medicinally, and also as a great animal fodder.  Supposedly it can produce an amazing amount of biomass. 

I love how dark, dark green it is and how much the bees love it:

Awesome! I have comfrey seeds but held off casting them because the instructions said fall was the best time to sow them. For now i content myself with its cousin borage.

I love borage!  It did really well for me last year (inside the deer-fenced garden) and I'm waiting to see if it reseeds.  Outside the deer fence it was eaten to death.  Must be too yummy!

[Weisass]

If yours is any like mine, it will pop up anywhere.

Also, it is able to recover quickly from transplant when you decide you don’t like it in the middle of your pathway !

[Weisass]

The garden is getting really going. Combo of regular rain and warmer days has been enough to really put the growth on overdrive. The beds are currently at what will be capacity in a month, with all cool season crops, beans, perennials in place (front bed is greens, cardoon, and garlic with herbs interspersed, long beds have more greens, beans, dukes, tomato, eggplant, pepper). Side garden is our main fruit trees, which have set fruit. I’m spraying surround to control for curculio damage, and am hopeful that this will be a good fruit year. In the back yard our strawberries, asparagus and root veg are all popped up and going. All this to say, hopefully a good year!

[Trifle]

This morning I noticed that my yarrow and rue are flowering for the first time!  Fun.  Last spring I planted a bunch of medicinal herbs, and it's been fun to watch them.  The deer don't touch those two, so that's good.  I believe rue is quite poisonous if ingested in any significant amount.  I read that early settlers in this area used it medicinally to kill intestinal worms. 

I also picked the first ripe strawberry this morning!  I planted a dozen plants last year, and I kid you not they spread to cover an area 15' by 20'.  Kind of scary, 'invasive' almost.  :)  I have to keep my eye on those guys.  Gotta dig the crowns up this fall, give em away. 

[Rosy]

That's a great problem to have Trifele - strawberry patch gone wild:).

I just came in from watering the garden
Today's lovely surprise is that the gloriosa lily (climber) is up and running:).
I was worried that the bulbs I separated last year and planted in a new bed might not come up.

Fennel is starting to spread out and looking happy.
Six or so plants about two feet tall right now  - I really like their lacy look.

[the_hobbitish]

I'm jealous. The voles decimated my strawberry patch this year.

[Weisass]

Yea, I hear you @Trifele .  Y patch started as 6 discount bin strawberries... I gave at least as many babies away last year as I kept.

[Trifle]

My currants and gooseberries are looking good this year.  Lots of little fruit developing!  In this picture, currants are on the left and gooseberries are to the right.

[Rosy]

Trifele, I love currants and currant syrup and juice. Alas, no chance of survival in our climate.

This morning we planted some shade lovers under the tropical Jasmine tree - four tropical blackberry jam fruit (not the same as blackberries at all).
The usual dilemma - tag says part sun/part shade, for Florida that often means primarily shade. Poor things suffered in our near 90-degree heat.
Of course, I forgot one in a pot that I'd already moved to another shady area.
Sheesh...

Planted eight Spanish Lavender that I grew from seed - four more to go tomorrow. Fingers crossed they will do well, they took forever to sprout - I'd almost given up. Then it took two and a half months for them to get to 8 inches tall, but they do look promising.

The Zinnias are beginning to bloom - so so pretty. I'm transplanting the last zinnias from various pots into the garden.
All different varieties, transplanted six today so maybe 4-6 more to go, the rest will stay in pots. 
I still have one more seed packet of zinnias that I haven't tried before and a new and cool cosmos I came across that I will seed out, hopefully this weekend.

Diseases - yuck!

Persian Lime Tree
Dang - whitefly! Grrr!!!
Otherwise, it is doing better than ever, we counted twenty baby limes this morning not counting new flowers.

Mammolo - Basil
If you need a basil that tastes like Italian Genovese Basil, full-flavored - this one is a winner.
Bigger plant, bigger leaves and can take more heat, does better in bright shade in our climate.
Definitely sharing some plants with my neighbor whose Basil keeps dying in the heat. It isn't totally without issues,
unfortunately, it attracted some new insect/disease (causes tight whirlygigs of leaves) but pinching off the affected leaves and new growth seems to work - it is doing better. It also seems to do better with less water.

I find that patience pays off, eventually, new predators will move in and snack on the new insects. It's what happens when you garden organically.

Both the new Meyer Lemon and the new Tangerine are getting attacked by a mini, striped, worm-looking thing that I've never seen before. Eats holes in the leaves. I sprayed it off with water, guess I'll have to do that for a while.
I'm guessing that it is something they brought with them into my garden because this morning I saw the same critter on the Persian Lime leaves. UGH!

Hope your garden is staying disease-free...:) 

[Frugal Lizard]

Big weekend of gardening

We (drafted DH, DS and DD into helping) planted four bare root plum trees, nine jewel raspberries, one thornless blackberry and three saskatoon berries at the farm garden.  It involved a cardboard held down by manure weed control as the area is over run with thistles and twitch grass.  Hopefully this will work out.  There was water on site so at least that part was easy.

They back ordered the two Chicago figs.  And I was kind of happy.  I did get 15 asparagus crowns which I planted in my borrowed garden in the trench that was already prepared.

I did a whole bunch of tidying and sorting around the greenhouse so that there is room for the bee hives.  Both hives died this past winter.  The master bee keeper is a different neighbor and is coaching the landowner.  They had set up on the west side of the house so the hives weren't visible from the street.  But there is no shelter from the west or north.  I proposed an out of way spot between a stone barn/coach house, the neighbours dark brick house and the greenhouse.  The rhubarb nearby comes up so early there and it is completely out of all the wind.  I had to move the compost bin to complete the screening from the street.  I leveled it out so it should be ready for the transfer when the new hive arrives.

This morning I picked spinach, dill and parsley from the green house and half a pound of asparagus.  Once the new row is producing, we should have enough to get sick of asparagus.  Right now, there is not quite enough.

[RetiredAt63]

Frugal Lizard, that sounds like some great gardening.

I have been planting the onion seedlings while waiting for nights to be warm enough for the warm weather crops.  I started way too many onion seeds.  I also bought big onion varieties.  I bought some really big onions at the grocery store and realized I don't like really big onions, they give less control/choice on how much onion to prep compared to ordinarily large onions.  So I am planting the seedlings in pairs, hoping to get slightly smaller onions.  And if they have a flat side even better, they won't roll around on the cutting board.   
Does it show I have never grown onions from seed before?  Sets were easier but the results were not great.

The peas are finally growing, they just sat while we had the cold wet weather.  I hope they grew great roots while they were not growing stems.  The asparagus and rhubarb are doing well, if they continue this way I should get harvests next year.  Friends gave me a gooseberry bush (wow they have thorns) but I want to plant it where the garlic is now, so it gets to sit in its pot a while longer.

I thought I had the weeds well under control last fall.  Dreamer.  The seedlings are easy to weed, but there are perennials showing up again, I guess they still had some energy in their tap roots that were buried deep enough I didn't find them.  And the grass, grass never gives up.  Oh well, the big stuff is more green for the compost bin.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

The squirrels ate my bok choy, and attempted to dig through my basil, so I've put the netting back up & am hoping they stay away. I don't like to use the netting, because last time we did, a snake got stuck in the netting & died, which was pretty unpleasant for all involved - especially the snake.

We are currently harvesting: spinach, radishes (I've planted so many, & love how quickly they produce), basil, mint, cilantro, parsley & oregano. Our squash has probably 15+ squash on the plant, and our tomatillos look great with lots of flowers. We've never grown tomatillos, so I'm excited about the possibility of homemade salsa verde.

[Frugal Lizard]

@RetiredAt63 - maybe watch the MI Gardener video on how to grow big onions and do the opposite?

I am hardening off a bunch of tomatoes, tomatillos and all the peppers.  They are on the front porch about four feet in and shaded also by a redbud in glorious bloom.

The greenhouse is pretty much full.  I find it is hot and sunny enough in there that plants don't need too much hardening off if I plant them out on an overcast day or even late afternoon.  I have a fan going in there because it is darn hot. 

[RetiredAt63]

@RetiredAt63 - maybe watch the MI Gardener video on how to grow big onions and do the opposite?

I am hardening off a bunch of tomatoes, tomatillos and all the peppers.  They are on the front porch about four feet in and shaded also by a redbud in glorious bloom.

The greenhouse is pretty much full.  I find it is hot and sunny enough in there that plants don't need too much hardening off if I plant them out on an overcast day or even late afternoon.  I have a fan going in there because it is darn hot.

I watched his segment on big onions and bought the Utah variety.  So next year will be a smaller variety, Patterson. The seeds finally came and I threw them in the freezer, I know onion seeds don't keep all that well.  Plus I am planting the excess Utahs really close together to get sets.

The tomatoes and peppers are going onto the balcony - it faces southwest and gets hot, with some breeze, but also shaded part of the day.  I looked at the 2 week forecast and we will be going back to low 20s in a week or so, but not back to really cool nights.  So I figure that will be a good time to do the planting, less heat stress.  They were certainly having heat inside, the apartment was 25C last night.  I have given in and turned on the AC, all the way down to 23.

Last year and this year we had a long cool wet spring and then boom.  Not the spring/early summer I am used to. 

[Rosy]

Loving the gloriosa lily blooms - so exotic. They bring a smile to my face every morning as new blooms open up daily.

Success
Purple echinacea is turning out to be my flowering herb success this year. It likes my garden - yay!

The last transplants
Almost every herb I grow is now growing in the ground instead of in the pot. We'll see if they survive the summer.
Transplanted the last eight zinnias into the garden this morning.
Now it is time to seed more Zinnias directly into the garden to keep the flower succession going.

I think next summer I might skip the Zinnias in the garden and just stick with two large pots of my favorites instead.
It was fun to experiment, but as the garden is changing, I find other plants more rewarding, cheaper, and less time-consuming.

Tomatoes
Harvested about twenty tomatoes, basil, garlic chives, parsley, green onions, and celery for another tomato sauce this morning.
Disposed of three of the tomato plants - they are done for the summer. We are at 90 degrees during the day, barely cool (70) in the morning.
Surprise - one of the mystery tomatoes from the compost pile is still producing big juicy tomatoes even though it is struggling in full sun.
The two Roma's are getting shade from the red passionflower vine and are doing relatively well and might produce until the end of May.

I'm hoping for two more good harvests - one of our best tomato years ever.
Maybe the basil will be big enough to make homemade salsa with the last tomato batch.

Passionfruit
Frederick, the purple passion fruit vine is now up to over twenty fruits, twelve of them already full tennis ball size.
Not sure yet if the other variety will set fruit this year - we'll see.

Dwarf Plantain
Produced a baby (plug) - sweet!

Persian Lime is producing a bumper crop of limes and my Mojito mint is now big enough to harvest for Mojitos.
Life is good in the garden.

[Anette]

Rosy, your garden sounds amazing.

Regarding the cat poo in my flower beds problem: Recently started spreading used coffee grounds onto the beds and so far this seems to work. I doubt it will for much longer as it keeps being rather cold and rainy and the rain will wash out the coffee (smell). I might do it once more but am worried about what it might do to the soil if I put on too much.
We have put up raised flower beds and I am growing tomatoes, rocket, radishes, coriander, strawberry, zucchini, carrots, red beets, red and green basil, spring onions, bulb onions, potatoes, salad (red giant), pimientos, parsley and lots of peas, some for shoots, some for pods
Wow now that I wrote this out this seems a lot. Everything was from seed (except the potatoes and some of the onions) it has been fun this far.
Happy gardening everyone and happy Pentecost in case this is celebrated in your area or religion.

[Rosy]

Well, true gardening is now over, the heat and humidity are on full blast.
Gardening time is now reduced to 7am to nine thirty to ten thirty at most. Mostly watering, a bit of clean up/organizing, fertilizing and the occasional project and the odd planting.
That's it until November - then it is fall gardening into spring.

We'll see what survives our brutal summers.
Time to sit back with some juicy watermelon and a Mojito - we'll re-evaluate the plan in autumn.

Happy summer gardening to all of you:)!

[RetiredAt63]

Well, true gardening is now over, the heat and humidity are on full blast.
Gardening time is now reduced to 7am to nine thirty to ten thirty at most. Mostly watering, a bit of clean up/organizing, fertilizing and the occasional project and the odd planting.
That's it until November - then it is fall gardening into spring.

We'll see what survives our brutal summers.
Time to sit back with some juicy watermelon and a Mojito - we'll re-evaluate the plan in autumn.

Happy summer gardening to all of you:)!

Speaking of Mojitos - I just bought some Mojito mint.   ;-)  It is not hardy here, and I let last year's stay on the balcony too long.  I don't need to grow regular mint, it is growing wild in the grassy areas at the community garden.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I'd love any tips on maintaining my parsley & cilantro, so it can grow year round as much as possible. I'm clearly not doing it properly.

Our mint grows like crazy, and we have it growing it what used to be a fire pit (we can't use the fire pit anymore due to regulations).

[Frugal Lizard]

look at this frigging forecast:
A high of 6 tomorrow!  But please, bring on the rain.

[Roots&Wings]

Some crazy weather for sure.

Australian finger lime is blooming here, persimmon fruit are still holding. Peaches didn't make it to ripeness again this year (probably squirrels), went peach picking at the local orchard instead, such a heavenly smell!
      

@Weisass your instinct with natives was probably right on, I'd also gotten away from native plants, but the biodiversity that supports the food/pollinators is equally important.

Mary Reynolds latest project & book is the ARK (acts of restorative kindness) recommending 50% of your garden (or balcony) for food and 50% for natives, which makes a lot of sense given the massive loss of biodiversity. To give gardens back to nature, become guardians instead of gardeners (her talk is about 30 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trlwPiMlwWw&t=135s).

@Rosy, The Garden Awakening is a beautiful book, thank you so much for mentioning this.

Have a lot of invasive removal ahead & more grass to replace, thinking of native sunshine mimosa (mimosa strigalosa) lawn. Always more to learn!

 

[Trifle]

Haven't posted in a while, but the garden is in full swing here.  My tomatoes and cukes are smaller than they normally are this time of year because I started seeds late, but hopefully they'll catch up and we'll have normal production eventually.

My crazy 'invasive' strawberries are bearing heavily.  These were the 12 plants I put in last year which have spread to now cover an area 10 X 20 -- hundreds of plants.  I was going to thin them out early in the spring but then didn't get to it.  Now I'm glad I didn't because -- yum!  I picked two gallons today, and there will probably be another two gallons before they are done.

I don't remember what variety they are, but they're winners; they're tall and the way they are growing (crowded together/leaning on each other) they are shading the ground nicely, and also keeping their fruit up off the ground.  They just thrived through a three week spell of no rain, which is fantastic.  The bad thing is that they are literally taking over everything.  It looks like they have out-competed some borage and wildflowers from last year, and they are also nearly swallowing my blueberry bushes.  I'm on the fence whether to beat them back, or just let them spread at will.  They clearly like it where they are, and they're producing delicious fruit.  It's a good problem to have, I guess!     

[Weisass]

Haven't posted in a while, but the garden is in full swing here.  My tomatoes and cukes are smaller than they normally are this time of year because I started seeds late, but hopefully they'll catch up and we'll have normal production eventually.

My crazy 'invasive' strawberries are bearing heavily.  These were the 12 plants I put in last year which have spread to now cover an area 10 X 20 -- hundreds of plants.  I was going to thin them out early in the spring but then didn't get to it.  Now I'm glad I didn't because -- yum!  I picked two gallons today, and there will probably be another two gallons before they are done.

I don't remember what variety they are, but they're winners; they're tall and the way they are growing (crowded together/leaning on each other) they are shading the ground nicely, and also keeping their fruit up off the ground.  They just thrived through a three week spell of no rain, which is fantastic.  The bad thing is that they are literally taking over everything.  It looks like they have out-competed some borage and wildflowers from last year, and they are also nearly swallowing my blueberry bushes.  I'm on the fence whether to beat them back, or just let them spread at will.  They clearly like it where they are, and they're producing delicious fruit.  It's a good problem to have, I guess!   

Are you covering yours? I ask because birds have been a persistent problem for us.

[Trifle]

Haven't posted in a while, but the garden is in full swing here.  My tomatoes and cukes are smaller than they normally are this time of year because I started seeds late, but hopefully they'll catch up and we'll have normal production eventually.

My crazy 'invasive' strawberries are bearing heavily.  These were the 12 plants I put in last year which have spread to now cover an area 10 X 20 -- hundreds of plants.  I was going to thin them out early in the spring but then didn't get to it.  Now I'm glad I didn't because -- yum!  I picked two gallons today, and there will probably be another two gallons before they are done.

I don't remember what variety they are, but they're winners; they're tall and the way they are growing (crowded together/leaning on each other) they are shading the ground nicely, and also keeping their fruit up off the ground.  They just thrived through a three week spell of no rain, which is fantastic.  The bad thing is that they are literally taking over everything.  It looks like they have out-competed some borage and wildflowers from last year, and they are also nearly swallowing my blueberry bushes.  I'm on the fence whether to beat them back, or just let them spread at will.  They clearly like it where they are, and they're producing delicious fruit.  It's a good problem to have, I guess!   

Are you covering yours? I ask because birds have been a persistent problem for us.

No cover.  It’s just a wild free for all.  Some of the fruits had beak or teeth marks, but not that many.  Most of the fruit is hidden under the big spreading top leaves, so I guess that helps. 
:)

[Linea_Norway]

Since the weather has improved dramaticcaly with number of sun hours, I put the chili peppers outside. Both are growing peppers, so this is fun. My zuchini on the other hand died after I put them outside. That was in a period with still a lot of wind and rain. I guess that the indoors sawn plant just broke off in the hard weather. The chilis are put befind a wind screen.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

The zucchini has taken over both of my planter box. I was concerned we planted too much, but it was our first year with the boxes, and my husband went crazy. It's covering everything else, minus one tomato plant who is vying for dominance/height. I've picked six large zucchini so far. They are everywhere. I've made zucchini muffins, added shredded zucchini to everything, given a huge one to a neighbor, and plan to make baked parmesan zucchini tonight, as the recipe calls for lots of spices we have in the garden (parsley, thyme, basil, etc).

[RetiredAt63]

The zucchini has taken over both of my planter box. I was concerned we planted too much, but it was our first year with the boxes, and my husband went crazy. It's covering everything else, minus one tomato plant who is vying for dominance/height. I've picked six large zucchini so far. They are everywhere. I've made zucchini muffins, added shredded zucchini to everything, given a huge one to a neighbor, and plan to make baked parmesan zucchini tonight, as the recipe calls for lots of spices we have in the garden (parsley, thyme, basil, etc).

You can always thin plants.  Most people think 1 or 2 zucchini plants are enough.   ;-)

[Frugal Lizard]

Just back from the farm.  DD and I planted out the paste tomatoes, storage beets, squash, cukes and melon seedlings.  This morning, I planted out the seedlings I grew for the herb garden and a few flowers in my garden in town.  The soil is very dry down almost two inches. 
Next week I am going to add popcorn and pole beans to the squash bed and have myself a Three Sisters Garden. 

[the_hobbitish]

I think I might have contaminated compost.



This is a watermelon seedling that's been stuck in this state for weeks. It's living but it doesn't get any bigger and the deformed leaves are really odd. The only cucumber that lived is like this too. I don't think the tomatoes or peas are affected, which is weird if it's the soil.

I haven't been keeping a close eye on things because life is getting in the way of gardening, but I plan to check the rest of the plants tomorrow.

Does anyone know what this could be?

[MaybeBabyMustache]

The zucchini has taken over both of my planter box. I was concerned we planted too much, but it was our first year with the boxes, and my husband went crazy. It's covering everything else, minus one tomato plant who is vying for dominance/height. I've picked six large zucchini so far. They are everywhere. I've made zucchini muffins, added shredded zucchini to everything, given a huge one to a neighbor, and plan to make baked parmesan zucchini tonight, as the recipe calls for lots of spices we have in the garden (parsley, thyme, basil, etc).

You can always thin plants.  Most people think 1 or 2 zucchini plants are enough.   ;-)

My husband is opposed. He's proud of the jungle he's created. After a week of eating zucchini, he's starting to see the error of his ways. Whenever we are outside working in the yard & see a neighbor, he picks a zucchini and forces it upon them.

[RetiredAt63]

The zucchini has taken over both of my planter box. I was concerned we planted too much, but it was our first year with the boxes, and my husband went crazy. It's covering everything else, minus one tomato plant who is vying for dominance/height. I've picked six large zucchini so far. They are everywhere. I've made zucchini muffins, added shredded zucchini to everything, given a huge one to a neighbor, and plan to make baked parmesan zucchini tonight, as the recipe calls for lots of spices we have in the garden (parsley, thyme, basil, etc).

You can always thin plants.  Most people think 1 or 2 zucchini plants are enough.   ;-)

My husband is opposed. He's proud of the jungle he's created. After a week of eating zucchini, he's starting to see the error of his ways. Whenever we are outside working in the yard & see a neighbor, he picks a zucchini and forces it upon them.

That is classic behaviour.   ;-)

Next thing you know he will be checking car doors of strangers to see if they are unlocked, and leaving them zucchini if the doors open.

[Raenia]

Just harvested 3 lovely strawberries off the plants in the stackable planter.  While not a big harvest, I'm quite pleased to have gotten anything at all this year, as I had to dig the plants up and transplant them into pots right in the middle of the growing season.  I wasn't expecting any harvest at all, and I'm quite pleased with the survival rate of the plants as well - only 4 of my 25ish plants died outright.  The real test will be surviving the winter, of course.

Disappointed in the chard, I was looking forward to it since it did so well last year.  Some combination of planting time and a rough heat wave, plus being in pots instead of the ground, seems to have stunted them badly.  I'll have to try a fall planting and see if it does any better.

[Trifle]

I was just looking over my grape vines and my Muscadines have tiny little fruit on them!  The vines are four years old, and this is the first fruit.  Fun!  I had never even heard of Muscadines until I moved here.  They're native to North Carolina, and very different than regular table grapes.  Huge, round, dark, and thick-skinned. 

ETA:  The second picture shows what they're supposed to look like when they're ripe.   

[Roots&Wings]

I recognize those Trifele! They're a bit further along here. In summer, Aldi carries NC muscadines, the golden bronze and purple varieties, they're delicious! Hoping for a decent harvest this year, I'm trying to keep some of the foliage pruned back (about once a month) to promote fruit growth, instead of more leafing.

Planted out some Okinawa spinach and blue porterweed cuttings this weekend. Need to take more cuttings to root to fill in bare mulch. Red malabar spinach seedlings can hopefully go in the ground soon.

[Trudie]

Weird weather has wreaked havoc on the garden.  My broccoli flowered but didn’t form heads.  It’s been so hot that I think my lettuce will bolt any minute.  Climate change is upending a lot of what I thought I knew about gardening.

Overall, though, it looks great.  I find myself enjoying growing new things ( like Swiss chard) because I think they’re beautiful in the garden, not because I really love them.  It makes me think that next year I will try succession planting of the things I love, but stop wasting my time on growing so many things.

Maybe I’ll just plant more flowers next year.  Feed the pollinators a bit more.and myself a bit less.

[Trifle]

I recognize those Trifele! They're a bit further along here. In summer, Aldi carries NC muscadines, the golden bronze and purple varieties, they're delicious!

That's cool @Roots&Wings!  I had no idea anyone was growing these as a commercial crop, or that they came in so many types.   

[Frugal Lizard]

We got rain.  The heat has turned on. Now the spinach, bok choi and arugula are bolting.  I donated 3 pounds of buttercrunch lettuce to the food pantry last Thursday.  Will likely be able to do that again this week.   Then the garden sort of rests while I wait for peas and beans.   

[Roots&Wings]

I recognize those Trifele! They're a bit further along here. In summer, Aldi carries NC muscadines, the golden bronze and purple varieties, they're delicious!

That's cool @Roots&Wings!  I had no idea anyone was growing these as a commercial crop, or that they came in so many types.

Yes! Black, purple, red, bronze, maybe more. I can't remember the name of the NC farm that supplies Aldi, but they're usually in stock in August. There are some muscadine vineyards around here.

Gonna try making stuffed grape leaves after the next pruning, apparently muscadine leaves can be used like European grape leaves.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Frugal Lizard - so cool that you are able to donate your harvest to the food pantry. I should definitely look into that near my house, because we have *all* the zucchini. I keep giving it away to neighbors, friends, & the random people who come to my door for Buy Nothing. It's great, because it's encouraging me to list more on Buy Nothing, so I can give away more zucchini. ;-)

Our first few tomatoes are finally ready to pick. And, we have a couple of gorgeous jalapenos on the vine. When we get back from our trip, I think it will be pico de gallo time. Sadly, my cilantro doesn't look like it will make it, so I'll have to pick some up. It was my goal to grow everything myself for the pico.

[gaja]

Working on three gardens right now, so they are all rather weedy. They probably would be anyway, since I thrive in chaos. Photos from the homestead garden are linked in the signature, here are some from the city house garden. The goal is to have something flowering all the time, to make the insects happy, and to grow some fun food.

1) The chillis are happy indoors. Looks like only one variety made it from seed to grown plant. The aubergines who got to share the planting space are not happy at all, but I'll wait until they completely die before ripping them out.

2) Many different varieties of mint, and a couple of other things (chives, a small rhubarb, some flower bulbs just for fun and pollination). I'm expecting the mints to wipe out all competition, but it will be fun to see which mint variety wins. The bumblebees loves mint flowers, and having several varieties ensures a long flowering season.

3) Tomatoes and tomatillos are very happy inside a cheap plastic greenhouse. Maybe I should consider staking some of them, but I think it looks fun this way.

4) The peppers are not happy. I think they spent too long indoors in a cold basement under grow lights, and got stunted. The garlic and garlic chives look better, and the aubergines look slightly happier here than indoors.

[gaja]

5) The hobs plant is growing rather slowly. Could be the heavy clay soil. But it is surviving, and could still take off.
6) These are facing south, and should get a lot of heat. They were planted in a rush in the middle of May, so it is a bit random what ended up where, and what is thriving and dying. Some of the tomates look good, and one tomatillo survived in this area. The aubergines here are larger than the two other locations. Peppers are small, but perking up. The peas are very happy - maybe too happy? I think that might be a much taller variety than the trellis allows for. Well, it'll just have to climb on the verandah. I might have sowed too many beets.
7) This was the best area last year, but this year has been colder, so it is going slower. The carrots and lettuce is coming slowly along, the peas are growing nicely, and the broadbeans look good. There are some strawberry plants left from last year (I moved most of them, but a few hid).
8) Very spotty germination on the peas growing by the road, but the strawberries look good. Put in some extra peas, and they are germinating better. I'm very happy with the aquileia that keeps self sowing along the fence. They are outside the property, so sometimes they get picked, but hey, pretty flowers make people happy.