Planting and growing your own 2023

[Frugal Lizard]

@Linea_Norway What I am observing in my summer squash is about 10 days of only male flowers. One of the plants is just starting to set female flowers.

It was only 13 here overnight - pretty low for July, especially since it was 30 during the day. I don't think this suits warm season or cool season plants!

[SotI]

Just chiming in to report that we have  had quite a successful cucumber harvest this year, 3-4 cucumbers per week since mid of May, and still going.
Tomatoes are also fruiting well, still green though, but plenty. Capsicum, not so much this year.
Chives, mints/herbs and salads are also plentiful, though. So, summer food is all well.

Not sure about the potatoes, but that's DH's job ....

[tygertygertyger]

We've got lots of cukes starting to come in. My winter squash are flowering a lot, but no fruit yet. I saw a tomato just starting to turn red, which is exciting! (For now. I have way too many tomato plants, so one day the excitement will turn to dread.)

In other exciting news:

My shiitake mushroom logs work! It's been raining a LOT here (not as much as in New York, but still...) I'd been starting to think they were duds, but now I feast!

We went on our trip that had me worrying about plants. There were a few quite hot days, but shockingly we ended up with multiple people watering and it rained. I think my plants were twice as large when we got home.

Here are the things I tried:

*I bought terracotta spikes for indoor plants, and use old wine bottles to keep water available. These work very well.

*I bought an official terracotta olla for my thirstiest indoor plant. It's constantly on the verge of giving up... but the olla was just a bit too big for the container, so I used it outside instead. It works wonderfully and was somewhat expensive, so I doubt I'll buy more.

*I tried to DIY plastic versions of slow-release watering. On half of them, I drilled holes around the top and tipped them over, following Frugal Lizard's advice. I think the holes I drilled were too big though, because they emptied in under 5 minutes. (I drilled using the smallest drill bit that we have... but still too big, I guess.)

*I also tried drilling only a few holes into the bottom of some plastic containers. Per instructions online, I pulled old nylons around them to keep dirt from getting into the containers. I buried these nyloned-bottles in the ground up to their caps, and filled them with water. And they released all their water in like 3 minutes. We tried adding coffee filters and sand to the insides... which maybe slowed the water flow down about 10 seconds. Big fail.

Good thing I don't have any other long trips away this summer.

[Linea_Norway]

@tygertygertyger

Here is described how you can make a cheaper olla.
https://www.ruralsprout.com/olla-for-irrigation/

[tygertygertyger]

Yes! I am willing to give this a try in the future... terracotta pots seem like a better alternative! Unless I can get a smaller drill bit to work with my free plastic containers...

 

[Rosy]

@tygertygertyger

Here is described how you can make a cheaper olla.
https://www.ruralsprout.com/olla-for-irrigation/

Thanks  @Linea_Norway - definitely will give this a try. Those Ollas are outrageously priced.
I came across a plastic version on youtube that looked feasible too - just need to find it again:). I'll post the link if I can find it and I can make it work.

The same website also had an article about why not to use coffee grounds in the garden - so now I'm rethinking my use of coffee grounds in the compost since it said that coffee kills the worms and all sorts of other bad things...ugh!

LAST GARDEN UPDATE 2023
TOMATOES and PEPPERS
My tomatoes are mostly done, but the peppers are still producing, they don't mind the heat as long as they get enough shade protection from my red passion flower vine. I'll need to fertilize with fish emulsion if I want to keep up the bumper crop.
I'm so very pleased with the tomato harvest and no tomato worm this year - wow - that is hard to believe since I garden totally organic.
It was a lot of fun to grow different varieties of peppers this year, some for snacking and some for freezing or sauces.

CHINESE SWEET BASIL - LOVE - My newest find and total obsession!
I grew it from seed and it is doing fine in our heat and humidity - amazing!
I found the seeds online and OMG - it is bursting with sweet citrus-ey flavor, a bit like Lemon Verbena.
Great for drinks and all sorts of salads - haven't tried it with chicken or fish yet since the leaves are rather thin-walled. Supposed to be great with Asian dishes - we'll see.

BASIL EXPERIMENTS
You know it's funny - I tried at least ten different culinary basils in the past year and the three successes (great flavors >>> (Italian pesto - Citrus - Peppery-Spicy)  were all bought on a whim as I was searching for other things. The basils I researched, planned on, and ordered at the best online nurseries could not handle our climate.

HOLY BASIL
The medicinal holy basil(s) do not taste like basil at all and good, correct information turned out to be hard to find in the US. I did stumble across the real thing and got good seeds but with little to no information I was not happy with it nor did I think it was safe to make tea until I had proper information.
But, FWIW I now know which medicinal basil I want so that is on my list for next year.

TREE BASIL
I liked the tree basil (one of the holy basils I tried) so I'm growing a "mini forest" of it just for fun while I'm looking into more reliable information on it.

CLOVE BASIL
Another favorite find, the clove basil, a pretty little mini bush with lovely blooms, didn't survive the end of summer because I neglected to water it. So I'm definitely giving clove basil another chance in a different spot where this time I can keep an eye on it. I think it could very well be a perennial in zone 9b-10.

PINEAPPLE
I'm nervous about moving my pineapple plant from a pot into the ground - maybe I'll wait until cooler temps in November.
It is my first time growing my own pineapple. So far - one year in - it is looking fat and happy. It should be ready for harvest by May of next year.
(Pineapples take two years to grow to maturity.)
My neighbor shared her sweet bounty with us this year and told me her plant had little sprouts for three more plants - that would be oh-so-cool.

PAPAYAS - AVOCADO - BANANAS
are all doing exceedingly well - we will have a (continuous) good harvest.
Still learning to deal with the bananas...

LIMES
YAY - we have limes again!
My dwarf Persian Lime died last year and we really missed not having any more limes for drinks and cooking, desserts.
There are three little limes growing on my new lime tree and I'm hoping the Meyer lemon will produce soon too.

TURMERIC
My first time growing turmeric ever. Looks promising.
I picked up tubers for a medicinal and a culinary type at the local Plant Festival in April not expecting anything until fall
but here they are, a foot and a half tall now.

SHAMPOO OR PINECONE GINGER 
The flowers are like red pinecones - you just squeeze the cone for a moisturizer for your skin and shampoo for your hair.
This is year three and it has finally come into its own - looking forward to a good crop of free, organic products.
Smells truly delightful too.

More sharing with my neighbor, sort of:).
I picked up a dwarf variety of shampoo ginger at the rare plant sale but the leaves look so different from mine. I gave the pot to my neighbor since she really wanted some shampoo ginger and I didn't think mine was ready to be divided yet, it took a while for it to do well in the ground.
So now we are both looking forward to seeing how the dwarf variety will turn out:).

CULINARY GINGER - year three - may be a failure
Looks like it hates my garden - I will dig it up and plant it in a different spot that hopefully it will like better.

SUNFLOWERS
Let's just say I have a new sunflower obsession ... who knew there were so many - ornamental or edible or for the wildlife.
The first two are blooming and I seeded a second batch - ten or more different varieties, we'll see how it goes.
For now I have two small patches, different heights, and varieties and I am trying for two more small patches. 
(none of the seeds I put in the ground made it - only the ones I seeded in a pot and then transplanted).

Apparently, sunflowers have a long tap root so they do not transplant well. It is better to grow them directly in the ground but that did not work for me. I'm guessing the birds found the seeds. Anyway, my transplants got singular pampering for three weeks before I breathed a sigh of relief. They all made it.

DAHLIA - EXPERIMENTS
I found some interesting varieties online to grow from seed which will make their own tubers in the fall. I didn't know that was even possible.
Of course, I started too late to seed in the garden which meant I could only try two of my four different seed packets - one was a great success and one a total failure.
I'm always thrilled to find a new flower, herb, or veggie that will survive and thrive in our extreme summer heat and humidity.

Now I can't wait to see what colors my dahlias will have - the seed packet came only as a color mix.
Fingers crossed they will look as pretty as in the picture...
The one that didn't come up at all had purple almost black leaves and had a tropical look to it with intense colors, exactly what I had in mind.
So I will order one more packet and try again next year.

I'M DONE WITH GARDENING
We are now in the full heat of summer, in the 90s with a heat index of 103 to 110 degrees.......
So no, I'm not doing much other than barely maintaining, watering in the (very!) early morning.......

HAPPY GARDENING to you! Always fun to get a peek at someone else's garden:).

[Frugal Lizard]

It is so interesting reading about gardens in such different climates.

My garden is really just starting while some of you are completely done for the season!

I picked another tomato! I wiped it off and ate it right there in the garden. Before I could drop it and step on it. I didn't share it with anyone. Just quietly savoured the physical manifestation of sunshine.

The melon / summer squash experiment on the front lawn is doing so well. The first yellow summer squash will need picking later today.  First plant of peas are being devoured. Beans are coming on strong. Tomatoes are looking good. Potatoes are flowering now too. Sweet potatoes have been unhappy until yesterday. They are at the top of the garden that is better drained.

I should toss a good bit of fertilizer around out there.  The squash and raspberries are quite yellow which I have always thought was a nitrogen deficiency.

Yesterday we (DD, DH and I) picked 21 quarts of raspberries. The day before, SIL picked 17 quarts. We brought them home and processed them immediately. We went from almost no rain to so much rain. The raspberries are plump and juicy. They turn into jam before your eyes. Four quarts were gifted to very appreciative neighbours. A lot are on trays in the freezer. DD and I are going to bag them up this evening. We have enough for the winter. 16 jars of raspberry jam is also enough.

Some of the bushes have just gotten started so there will be more picking this week. Hopefully it stay dry enough that they don't mold on the canes. If I get inspired, I am going to try making some fruit leather. It is a bit of effort to mash enough raspberries through a sieve for a meaningful amount of fruit leather. But it is so tasty!

Next berry to source and process: blueberries.

[gaja]

Sunshine? What is that? There is only rain. Sometimes it is warm and rain, sometimes colder. Sometimes there is a short periode where the rain stops puring down, and there is only a drizzle. Sometimes it feels like someone is pouring a big bucket from the sky.

The weeds are in heaven. This year, I think the stinging nettles will reach 8 feet. The giant hogweeds are growing so fast and high that even the chickens are not able to destroy them fast enough. Or maybe they are enjoying sheltering beneath them in the chicken run?

The tomates had a few weeks of heat before the rain came, so they are actually producing some green orbs. The squash plants have only seen rain, so they are about 20 cm in diameter. The peas have set flowers, and the potatoes are growing. The beans are less happy.

This will be a very strange growing season.

[Linea_Norway]

Today we ate some of my own tomatoes. I had put all the half coloured ones in a jar in the west facing window. My "Window box yellow" plant produced a red and ripe tomato. But also some half ripe yellows. I filled up the window jar again, but only with dark and yellow tomatoes. All the bushes with red ones have only entirely green tomatoes.

The artichoke is still hving a smallush flower bud that hasn't opened yet. So it is looking good to be picked in the next week or two.

My yellow climbing beans are producing tiny beans. The purple bush beans have been under attack from caterpillars, I think. The leaves look just like the lettuce plant a week earlier.

The chili peppers are producing lots of fruits and new flowers. I think I will take away the flower buds and tiny fruits and let them focus on getting the rest done in time.

My squash still doesn't have fruits. But the pumpkin has a pretty round fruit. I hung it outside of the pot. Today I cut away all flowers, also to let it concentrate on finishing that one fruit. We still have one month left before we move...

Tonight I can pick up Josta berry cuttings from a private person, against donating some alpine strawberry plants. Those Josta berries are suppposed to tolerate all sorts of diseases that berry plants usually get. Getting those berry plants from a gardening center is expensive, according to a gardener on a Swedish tv program. So this seems like a good deal for me. We only need to move those cuttings as well.

A few days ago I harvested my first potatoes. Maybe I will check the other potato plants if I can harvest some there as well. So far, the plants all look healthy and blossoming.

[FLBiker]

This week I started harvesting berries -- our blueberries and raspberries are just starting.  I can typically get a mug or so full each morning.  In a week or two, I'll be swimming in them.  We've also got some white currants which are very close to ripe -- it's a new plant, and pretty small, but it has a lot of berries on it.

Next up will likely be our hardy kiwi.  I love these things, but once ripe they don't last long on the vine (they fall in the wind and get eaten by our animal friends).  We've got a bumper crop this year, though, so I'm hoping to get a bunch.  It's a pretty brief window between ripe and overripe, so I'm out there gently pinching them daily. :)

We've got tomatoes and peppers that are moving along, too, and some nasturtium as well.

Perhaps my most ambitious goal, though, is to grow katuk.  That was my favorite plant in Tampa, so I'd like to try to grow it (wintering it indoors) here in Nova Scotia.  I found a place on Ebay (in Sri Lanka) that sent me 30 seeds for ~$5.  I've planted about half of them, both indoors and outdoors.  I've never grown katuk from seed, but it's a notoriously slow germinator (like 2-3 months).  We'll see!  I couldn't find any place in Canada that would ship live cuttings (which is a much better way to propagate it).  If this doesn't work, I've talked my wife into smuggling some in the next time she visits her folks in Florida.  She's much more rule abiding than I am, but she also loves katuk.  :)

[gaja]

@FLBiker How many years did it take before you got flowers and fruits on your hardy kiwis, and did you do some sort of pruning or other tricks to get them to start fruiting? Mine are only growing greenery so far, but seem very happy.

[LifeHappens]

Perhaps my most ambitious goal, though, is to grow katuk.  That was my favorite plant in Tampa, so I'd like to try to grow it (wintering it indoors) here in Nova Scotia.  I found a place on Ebay (in Sri Lanka) that sent me 30 seeds for ~$5.  I've planted about half of them, both indoors and outdoors.  I've never grown katuk from seed, but it's a notoriously slow germinator (like 2-3 months).  We'll see!  I couldn't find any place in Canada that would ship live cuttings (which is a much better way to propagate it).  If this doesn't work, I've talked my wife into smuggling some in the next time she visits her folks in Florida.  She's much more rule abiding than I am, but she also loves katuk.  :)

This is a fun experiment. I hope it works for you. Katuk is delicious.

[FLBiker]

@FLBiker How many years did it take before you got flowers and fruits on your hardy kiwis, and did you do some sort of pruning or other tricks to get them to start fruiting? Mine are only growing greenery so far, but seem very happy.

Sorry, I've got no insight to add here -- we inherited the plants.  Based on how much they've grown, I'd say they were ~5 years old when we got them, but that's totally a guess.  And it's been three years since we've moved in, and I feel like each year they've been more productive.  Some of that could be weather, though, as this year has been very warm and muggy.  We also have multiple plants, a mix of male and female.  I don't do anything to them, other than tuck new growth into the trellis.

[gaja]

@FLBiker How many years did it take before you got flowers and fruits on your hardy kiwis, and did you do some sort of pruning or other tricks to get them to start fruiting? Mine are only growing greenery so far, but seem very happy.

Sorry, I've got no insight to add here -- we inherited the plants.  Based on how much they've grown, I'd say they were ~5 years old when we got them, but that's totally a guess.  And it's been three years since we've moved in, and I feel like each year they've been more productive.  Some of that could be weather, though, as this year has been very warm and muggy.  We also have multiple plants, a mix of male and female.  I don't do anything to them, other than tuck new growth into the trellis.

They are supposed to reach peak performance at 8 years old, so your guesstimated timeline would fit that :)

Thank you for the input, I'll just have to wait and see, then!

[Linea_Norway]

Still building down for our move at the midle of August.

Earlier this week I harvested and dried lots of mostly green chillies. The electricity was very cheap, so I felt good using the big drying machine.

Today I finished the caraway plants that I had at home. We ate the leaves in a pasta dish with spinach and other plants.

Tomorrow I will start harvesting potatoes. Earlier I harvested 2 that I could see from the outside of the 2-layer potato pot. Today DH asked whether I was going to harvest more potato or whether he had to buy some. I have decided not to buy potatoes for the near future.

Inspired by RuralSprout.com, I looked at Gardening Planner and logbooks. They seem nice to have. But sending it to Norway costs more than the price of a book. One Norwegian bookstore will sell a 5-year planner, but they have the choice between one that had very little reviews, so I can't form a good opinion about it.

I decided therefore to make my own. I checked which kind of document DH and I can share on our iPads and landed on Google docs. I made a document with:
- goals for this autumn, next year
- seasonal tasks and projects
- Cost and harvest logging
- DH's log for sweetness in grapes.
- Which plants we have in the garden and their details, sorted in categories.
- Wanted plants.
- Wanted veggies and a sowing logg.
- Layout of the new garden.
- (Crazy) ideas for the furure.

DH mentionded I have a bit if OCD and I probably do. But I find such a log inspiring. Only it has no fun in it (yet), so maybe I should try to make some nice background...

[FLBiker]

We're in peak raspberry and blueberry season now.  I'm harvesting ~a pint (combined) every morning from our 4 blueberry plants and short row of raspberries.  I love this time of year (but it doesn't last that long).  This weekend, I'm hoping to get out to check some raspberry / black raspberry / blackberry patches that I scoped out earlier in the year for some foraging.  We'll see.

And checking in on this thread reminds me that I should check my kiwis again as it has been a couple of days.  Thanks!

[Frugal Lizard]

And the zucchini harvest is off. Picked six smaller ones yesterday.

Raspberries, snap peas, beans, celery, onions, herbs, cucumbers and peppers are feeding us.

Tomatoes, tomatillos and melons are flowering profusely. 

[Linea_Norway]

I have given away most of my microbush tomatoes full of green tomatoes, as I don't think they will turn red during the next week in this cold and wet summer. I keep only 2 a bit longer.

My hokkaido pumpkin has one fruit. I removed all flowers and flowerbuds to focus on that one fruit. It just started to change color so I have hope it will be edible if I pick it a week from now and leave it indoors for a while.

My peppers and chillies are still full of green fruits, although a few have started to darken. Here I have also removed all flowers and flowerbuds. Yesterday evening I also topped all branches, pretty risky to my fingers with barely any light to see.

Today we drive towards the our house with a trailor full of bicycles, grape- and berrybushes. We hope they will survive the trip. We will digg them in the same day we arrive. We take a night of rest at our cabin, positioned halfway.

The rest of the plants will be harvested when we come back in a day or 5 and then I will through/give them away.

[Linea_Norway]

We artived at our cabin, halfway to our new home. There my vegetable garden had to manage alone for 4 weeks.

The potato plants that were big enough that I mulched with wood curls or hay last time, have grown bigger now. Some are even flowering, but only the ones that are covered by the kale netting. Maybe the net provides a warmer climate for them. I found out that the wood curls work best to cover around potatoes. They were still covering equally high, while the hay had compacted a bit. It rained well during the 4 weeks. The potatoes that still hadn't sprouted last time, have all sprouted now and look healthy. I have covered them in wood curls as well now.

My 2 rubarb plants that I sowed last year have grown to big plants with about 4 thick stilks each with enormous leaves. They are effectively blocking light for the sorry few veggies that grow behind them. In autumn, I will transfer them to our new home.

I also planted 3 newly sown rubards above the place where I buried the dry toilet contents deep down. I heard that rubarb like that stuff as compost. They all seem to thrive, but they are still tiny plants. In that same spot, I planted an artischoke that I had grown at home. That poor plant has been attacked by a leave eating thing, probably a caterpillar, despite that the artischoke has lots of stings.

I tested one of my hardneck garlics. The bulb has the size of what is normally sold as Chinese garlic.

The flower patch is flowering very nicely with the flowers that I planted out last summer, but that didn't manage to flower last year before autumn came. Those same plants flower now.



The red-veined sorrel that I planted out there has grown really big. According to DH it has a mild lemon taste, but it has a very fibered substance.

[the lorax]

Hi all
thought I might join this thread :) I'm based in the South Island of New Zealand Aotearoa so quite a different season here. I've mostly been starting seeds and eking out the last of the winter crops. This year we are trying to start chilli, tomato and melon seeds early but inside on a heat map and under a grow light.

I've gardened for years and mostly just seen it as a hobby that pays for itself but with the cost of food increasing a lot here due to global factors, but also climate change impacts hitting horticultural areas, I'm now keen to be more efficient and make some good savings!

I read somewhere that fruit and veg are usually around 5-10% of the average families' food spend and over summer I was producing virtually all of our F&V. The challenge is to do that for the whole year now!

[Linea_Norway]

Hi all
thought I might join this thread :) I'm based in the South Island of New Zealand Aotearoa so quite a different season here. I've mostly been starting seeds and eking out the last of the winter crops. This year we are trying to start chilli, tomato and melon seeds early but inside on a heat map and under a grow light.

I've gardened for years and mostly just seen it as a hobby that pays for itself but with the cost of food increasing a lot here due to global factors, but also climate change impacts hitting horticultural areas, I'm now keen to be more efficient and make some good savings!

I read somewhere that fruit and veg are usually around 5-10% of the average families' food spend and over summer I was producing virtually all of our F&V. The challenge is to do that for the whole year now!

That is also one of my motivations for growing stuff, to save money and have a degree of self sufficiency. Although I consider it onrealistic for last all year.

In the garden of our next house, where we will move to in a week, there are many fruit trees: 4-5 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 1 cherry tree amd 2 plum trees. Although I think a number of them have a plague, which we need to find put of.

There are also a lot of black berry bushes, a largevred current bush, as well as a smaller white current bush.

As preparation for our move, I threw out all my remaining plants that were in pots outside. I tried to be unsentimental about it. We just need to start packing the last things soon. I have given away and sold some of the plants and have now 1 last citrus plant left for sale. All can be grown again from seed in one season. I took the last flowers inside the house in improvised flower vases. At least they look nice in the living room.

[Frugal Lizard]

My gardens are now in full tilt growing. Garlic is curing - if it dries out properly it will be a great harvest. Improvement for next year: plant on the higher side of garden, not the lowest. I pulled it (actually lifted it with a shovel it was so wet) about two weeks earlier than the leaves indicated because of how wet it has been.

Pulled red and white onions. The smaller ones are fine, any of the larger onions were waterlogged and starting to go mushy at where the stem meets the bulb.
The yellow ones are still looking ok so I have left them for now.

Snap beans are producing heavily.
Dalvay peas are done. Loved this variety. Plants were laden with long full pods. Using the Jang seeder to plant was a piece of cake! The one row in the big garden produced a really big bucket. We ate them raw, and I shelled enough for two meals. I froze enough to test how they do.
Tomatoes, peppers, squash and popcorn are growing but not a great fruit set.
Potatoes are flowering.
Sweet potatoes are starting to take off.

The great melon experiment is looking good. Lots and lots of flowers, a good number of fruits some are bigger than a softball.

[tygertygertyger]

My cucumbers are slowing way down, and bless them for that. I made several jars of pickles (fermenting), but realized I don't eat them very quickly. So I managed to bring the bulk to a party where they were a hit - yay!

I found about 16 hornworms across two tomato plants, and I still find them super gross but I can't bring myself to drown them. So I clipped the branch they were on and left them at the foot of the driveway - either to be picked off by birds or to make their way in the world, far from my tomatoes. The two plants were goners though, so I saved the green tomatoes that could be saved and chopped the rest off.

Luckily I've got about 13 other tomato plants that seem okay... I will keep checking.

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

[LifeHappens]

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

You can blend basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze the mix into ice cube trays. Just add a cube or two to a recipe for fresh basil taste.

[FLBiker]

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

You can blend basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze the mix into ice cube trays. Just add a cube or two to a recipe for fresh basil taste.

Speaking of pesto, we grow garlic, and I love to make pesto from the scapes.  I harvested all of ours about a month ago.  No matter how much garlic I plant, I keep wanting to plant more. :)  And, honestly, it's the scapes that drive me more than the bulbs themselves.

[tygertygertyger]

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

You can blend basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze the mix into ice cube trays. Just add a cube or two to a recipe for fresh basil taste.

Oh right! This is reminding me that someone gave me a little herb cube tray? I need to find that and test it out now... appreciate the reminder!

[Frugal Lizard]

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

You can blend basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze the mix into ice cube trays. Just add a cube or two to a recipe for fresh basil taste.

Oh right! This is reminding me that someone gave me a little herb cube tray? I need to find that and test it out now... appreciate the reminder!

These are my dedicated scape pesto trays. Even after 2 washings including through the dishwasher, they are infused with the scent.

[LifeHappens]

These are my dedicated scape pesto trays. Even after 2 washings including through the dishwasher, they are infused with the scent.

It's true. Once you freeze herbs in a tray they are forever removed from other uses.

[FLBiker]

Now I need to start making pesto because I've got heaps of basil. I can dry some too. What else do you all do with basil?

You can blend basil with a bit of olive oil and freeze the mix into ice cube trays. Just add a cube or two to a recipe for fresh basil taste.

Oh right! This is reminding me that someone gave me a little herb cube tray? I need to find that and test it out now... appreciate the reminder!

These are my dedicated scape pesto trays. Even after 2 washings including through the dishwasher, they are infused with the scent.

Love this idea.  Thanks!

[Frugal Lizard]

This week I bought produce to process for storing.

Food basics had local watermelon for 4.98. They were beautiful so we ate most of the first one fresh. The little bit leftover went into the dehydrator. Candy. So the second one got sliced up and dried the next night.

Last night I hot water bath canned 6 pints of apple slices in a very light syrup.

@Trifle  please share with us your pear harvest.

[NaN]

After a disappointing year keeping ahead of the heat, I did come out for the first time with almost 50 store sized onions and two freezer bags full of carrots. I am no expert on why, but they fared better in the heat than other plants.

[Captain Pierogi]

What a bizarre growing year!  I'm sure the weather had almost everything to do with it, but there were other oddities too.  I got literally two zucchini - my plants would otherwise only produce male flowers!  My globe tomatoes are still growing like gangbusters, but my cherry tomatoes and tomatillos are pathetic compared to last year.  Fairytale eggplant have finally started to come in, nearly a month behind last year. 

Rabbits completely destroyed my green beans while we were on vacation.  Potatoes were harvested early due to ongoing rains, so not bad, but could have been better.  Potted herbs lived but didn't grow much.  The big winner was leafy greens -- kale, romaine, spinach, and arugula.  I've got the fall round of these going, and so far, they're doing great!  I forgot to re-plant peas, which I would usually just harvest for the tendrils at this point.  Oh, and garlic was epic.  First year planting it. 

Taking stock and already thinking ahead to next year.

[StarBright]

What a bizarre growing year!  I'm sure the weather had almost everything to do with it, but there were other oddities too.  I got literally two zucchini - my plants would otherwise only produce male flowers!  My globe tomatoes are still growing like gangbusters, but my cherry tomatoes and tomatillos are pathetic compared to last year.  Fairytale eggplant have finally started to come in, nearly a month behind last year. 

Rabbits completely destroyed my green beans while we were on vacation.  Potatoes were harvested early due to ongoing rains, so not bad, but could have been better.  Potted herbs lived but didn't grow much.  The big winner was leafy greens -- kale, romaine, spinach, and arugula.  I've got the fall round of these going, and so far, they're doing great!  I forgot to re-plant peas, which I would usually just harvest for the tendrils at this point.  Oh, and garlic was epic.  First year planting it. 

Taking stock and already thinking ahead to next year.

Not sure where you are- but your user name hints at the upper midwest/great lakes. And my harvest was similar! I usually make a ridiculous amount of green salsa for the winter - I've gotten a measly 8 tomatillos this year :( And my tomatoes are also meh - though honestly, they are producing just enough to eat at a nice clip, without overwhelming me, so that is kind of nice.

My greens were also incredible this year, I just pulled my collards out yesterday, but usually they are done for me by mid July and I had to thin my kale- in late August!

My hot peppers have also done well this year, and I usually have lousy luck with peppers (though I also changed where I planted them).

I planted ground cherries for the first time, but have no idea when they are ready to harvest. So I have a ton of little lanterns, but no idea what to do :)

[tygertygertyger]

I planted ground cherries for the first time, but have no idea when they are ready to harvest. So I have a ton of little lanterns, but no idea what to do :)

They'll literally drop to the ground. When you peel off the papery lantern, they should be ripe when they're fully yellow.

I had some trouble with the berries not actually filling out the lantern... I'd gently squeeze the outside and the berry would be tiny, despite it being nearly the end of the season. That was a few years ago though... I didn't grow any this year so have no comparison. I hope you have good luck with them!

[Linea_Norway]

We bought two (second-hand) insulated composting bins yesterday. We already had installed a rack for composting branches. But now hopefully, I will have a dose of compost soil in spring when I want to build my vegetable beds at our new house.

DH built stakes and wire for his grapes. We also have some new self produced berry bush cutlings to plant.

[StarBright]

I planted ground cherries for the first time, but have no idea when they are ready to harvest. So I have a ton of little lanterns, but no idea what to do :)

They'll literally drop to the ground. When you peel off the papery lantern, they should be ripe when they're fully yellow.

I had some trouble with the berries not actually filling out the lantern... I'd gently squeeze the outside and the berry would be tiny, despite it being nearly the end of the season. That was a few years ago though... I didn't grow any this year so have no comparison. I hope you have good luck with them!

thank you!

[FLBiker]

I planted ground cherries for the first time, but have no idea when they are ready to harvest. So I have a ton of little lanterns, but no idea what to do :)

They'll literally drop to the ground. When you peel off the papery lantern, they should be ripe when they're fully yellow.

I had some trouble with the berries not actually filling out the lantern... I'd gently squeeze the outside and the berry would be tiny, despite it being nearly the end of the season. That was a few years ago though... I didn't grow any this year so have no comparison. I hope you have good luck with them!

thank you!

Enjoy!  I love those!  I found them very easy to grow (in Tampa) and pretty pest-resistant, until harlequin beetles found our community garden -- they LOVED our ground cherries.  Interestingly, the plants I had at my house (~.5 miles away) were totally untouched.

[YttriumNitrate]

A few years ago I grafted over an ornamental pear tree to few different fruiting varieties and now the first round of pears (Bartlett I think) is really coming in despite having done absolutely nothing to the tree for the last few years. The tomatoes are also doing well, but they are a bit more work with starting them inside and setting up the cages. Overweight cat for scale.

[Linea_Norway]

Today I harvested a lot at our cabin, at the toughest climate zone in the country. Because we were busy moving houses, I haven't visited the cabin for a month. I was a bit affraid that freezing temperatures soon would spoil potatoes, so I went here to harvest. It turned out that it was quite early. Some potatoes were really small. I therefore let some plants stand until next time we visit, probably in the 3rd week of September.

My own planting potatoes from last year produced well. They had been growing long shoots in the dark. The biggest potatoes on these plants were the ones that grew close to a small sugar pea bush. Another potato that I received as mini potatoes, had also been cultivated at home in the dark. It produced well. From the potatoes I received from a local farmer there was one type that produced a big number, but very small potatoes. It should have grown for a longer period. I harvested only one plant and let 3 behind. Another one from this farmer produced a nice size of potatoes.

Otherwise I harvested two types of kale. The black kale did not grow very tall, but had a bunch of leaves. The normal green grew bigger. I just made kale chips with them, which my husband appreciated a lot.

The rubarbs that we planted here last year, have grown very big leaves and were shadowing everything that grew behind it. I harvested some stems from both and made jam. The rubarbs that were sown this year were planted somewhere else and are doing fine. Together with an artichoke that has grown a small bulb.

I harvested most of my carrots, apart from the ones that stood under the rubarb. The summer carrots had a nice size. They also stood in the sun on the south side. The other carrots were shadowed by strawberry bushes and stayed pretty small. I obviously sowed carrots too close together in their milk carton.

The strawberries actually produced a handfull of white strawberries (white by design). The currants are growing full strains of currants, but they are not ripe yet.

The sibirian type of chives grew extremely well. I think it were the plants sown last year that grew so big. The ones sown this year were much smaller. I cut all chives and leeks shorter. The leeks were still very thin.

The 2 sugar peas produced a handfull of peas. If I would have picked them more often, they might have produced more. All the bush bean plants that I precultivated and planted here, never grew big. They also didn't produce any beans.

The thyme plants from last year are already bushy with wooden stems. This year's thyme, was much softer. I cut all thymes a lot shorter, as that make them bushier.

My garlics have been growing small bulbs. But what I thought had become Chinese garlic, turned out to have 2 cloves. That was more than I expected. I guess I will need to keep the remainder (we ate one garlic) for seeding next year. I harvest all garlic scapes. They have grown a bulb, but a very small one. I don't think there is enough season to grow mini bulbs.

Today we ate our own potatoes with own veggies, but unfortunately not with the trout that DH caught. That will be eaten tomorrow.

[the lorax]

We've successfully grown seedlings from saved Carolina Reaper seeds so fingers crossed they do well! I also did a seed swap with a friends so have a few extra varieties of umpkin, tomato anc capsicum to try. This year I also bought small amounts of lots of different varieties of seed potatoes to try so we can see if some grow better/taste better than others. We are into the hungry gap in NZ now though - so just herbs, a little broccoli and bok choi and lettuce coming from the garden now.

[Frugal Lizard]

The great melon experiment worked. We ate the first cantaloupe last night. The vines are almost all dead but there are at least 6 more fruits. They are larger than a softball. 

[Linea_Norway]

At our new house, we have a garden full of fruit trees, 3 apples, 2 pears, 3 plums and a cherry. The cherry we received emptied. But the rest is now starting to ripen. One blue plum already ripened earlier and dropped lots of fruits. Now the second one with small plums is dropping. And today we noticed that the third plum with large fruits is having some ripe fruits. That is our favorite plum so far.

DH grapes are getting ripe. It will soon be time to make some wine.

We made a small raised bed and put som strawberries from the cabin there.

I planted my violet asparges close to the large green asparges that came with the house. Very close to a rubarb with tiny leaves, compared to how big they usually get. I gave the rubarb some compost soil that came with the composting bin that we scored second hand.

[Frugal Lizard]

Picked another cantaloupe for dessert yesterday.

All the paste tomato plants at the farm garden have died from something. I think it is an airborne wilt carried by all the rain and humidity and heat.

The four rows of potatoes yielded 2 bushels.  More than enough for us and all my family.

[RetiredAt63]

Picked another cantaloupe for dessert yesterday.

All the paste tomato plants at the farm garden have died from something. I think it is an airborne wilt carried by all the rain and humidity and heat.

The four rows of potatoes yielded 2 bushels.  More than enough for us and all my family.

My tomatoes on the balcony and most of the larger plants at DD's are all dying.  I think it is what you said, plus the cooler nights we had most of the summer slowed them down.

Whoever grew the paste tomatoes I am processing was fine, the tomatoes are gorgeous.

[Anette]

DD harvested some potatoes today that we didn't plant but must have been left in the earth last year. Made a nice meal for her and her boyfriend.
We are still getting nice tomatoes and zucchini as well as salad. Physallis are still growing and not yet ripe.
I let one of the earlier salads go to seed and harvested those as well as seeds of my Snapdragon, mallow, calendula and hollyhock.

[Linea_Norway]

Yesterday I made mint pea soup with mint that was growing in the garden, planted by the previous owner.

[FLBiker]

I harvested a bunch of hardy kiwis this weekend.  In the previous 3 years we've been here, we've only had and handful or two, but we got a bunch more this year because 1) it was a bumper crop, either due to plant maturity or weather and 2) I learned you can harvest them "hard" instead of waiting until they ripen on the vine.  I really like these, and they're very little work.

I also cut back my fruited raspberry canes and put down a fungicide.  We had a very rainy June, and some of the canes got a fungus.  We had a decent harvest, but I'm hoping not to see fungus next year.

Finally, does anyone have experience growing mushrooms?  I'm interested in inoculating some logs and sticking them in the woods behind my house.  Is that a good idea?  If so, can anyone point me towards any good resources?  I love mushrooms, but I've had no luck foraging.

[tygertygertyger]

Finally, does anyone have experience growing mushrooms?  I'm interested in inoculating some logs and sticking them in the woods behind my house.  Is that a good idea?  If so, can anyone point me towards any good resources?  I love mushrooms, but I've had no luck foraging.

Yes, I've done it. @Frugal Lizard has done it too (she gave me advice on shiitake logs!)

My partner and I have done:
*shiitake logs
*growing mushrooms in bags in the basement
*outdoor beds with hardwood mulch (winecaps)

We've gotten all our supplies from North Spore (US-based), and they have videos and other written resources.

[FLBiker]

Finally, does anyone have experience growing mushrooms?  I'm interested in inoculating some logs and sticking them in the woods behind my house.  Is that a good idea?  If so, can anyone point me towards any good resources?  I love mushrooms, but I've had no luck foraging.

Yes, I've done it. @Frugal Lizard has done it too (she gave me advice on shiitake logs!)

My partner and I have done:
*shiitake logs
*growing mushrooms in bags in the basement
*outdoor beds with hardwood mulch (winecaps)

We've gotten all our supplies from North Spore (US-based), and they have videos and other written resources.

Thank you!  That site looks great.  I'll take a deeper look later, and I've requested one of the books they sell (Farming the Woods) from my local library.  My hope is to learn this winter and start something in the spring.  Thanks again!

[sixwings]

I got a mushroom grow bucket for christmas a couple years ago and grow some really nice oyster mushrooms. I'd say they were definitely not cost efficient. Was fun and novel though.