[Red_Devil 232]

Weekly Gardening Thread

Weekly Gardening Thread

[Red_Devil 232]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Ping List.

I hope all of you will stop by.

This is typically a low volume ping list. Once a week for the thread and every once in a while for other FR threads posted that might be of interest.

If you would like to be added to or removed from the list please let me know by FreepMail or by posting to me.

[cripplecreek]

Lillies are beginning to bloom in Michigan.

[who knows what evil?]

Pollinating pumpkins this morning...helping the bees out where I can...

[OpusatFR]

Watermelons, melons, eggplant, peppers and beans doing very well.

Still fighting the thrips from Hades along with nasty black and brown catapillers on my tomatoes.

Gave in and used Biocide last evening late so the bees wouldn’t be around and impacted.

I’ve never, ever had such a severe bug problem as this year with the abnormally cold wet Spring, and now middling temperatures and high humidity and rain.

[fatnotlazy]

Our weather guys were griping all month about how little rain we’ve had. Well, within the last week, we’ve had nothing but rain (except for yesterday).

I don’t garden as much as I once did, but I have one tomato plant in a pot on the front porch. No red tomatoes yet, but at least I have some green ones. For a while I had a lot of flowers, but no tomatoes.

Things could be worse. I could be in Seattle where it was 103 yesterday.

[TurtleUp]

It’s been a good year for my gardens, good but everything is late due to the cool weather. My berries were 3-4 weeks late but had a great crop, and a late frost wiped out my tomatoes (oopsie, I used the calendar to move them outside rather than common sense.

I’m expecting August to be cooler than usual for the East Coast, but that’s based on nothing more than the rest of the year being cool.

[Eagle50AE]

Good Morning RD,

no sunshine, only overcast and rain here all week,

cukes are lost.. most corn blown down, blight setting in ..

thankfully have cabbage,squash, 1 unaffected tommytoe plant, 2 pods of okra and couple of peppers..

half runners soon..

[Will88]

Have grown Brandywine tomatoes in Alabama for about fifteen years. Usually get a good crop from first few weeks of fruit set, ready to pick in early July, then that’s the end of it. This variety does not set new fruit in mid-90s weather. But this year, due to an unusually mild July (mostly mid-80s to low-90s), I have vines full of new fruit set and tomatoes from dime size to couple of inches in diameter. June was fairly hot, so I have full size tomatoes ripening and those small ones and nothing in between.

First time in fifteen years to have this mid-summer, new fruit set.

[metmom]

I finally got the garlic in. The bulbs aren’t huge but they look nice.

The tomatoes flowered nicely when we got some warm weather and while none are ripe yet, I’ll be pretty busy when they are.

[4everontheRight]

Good morning! I didn’t know there was a regular garden thread so I am so glad to see this. If possible, can I be added to the ping list?
I have small container garden due to too many dogs and their desire to have veggies too :)
I grow hot peppers and tomatoes every year but for some reason, this year my plants have not done as well as years past. I put the plants in new rich potting soil, etc. but am not having the luck I thought I would.
I have tried to grow strawberries in pots as well and that was the only plant that was producing well but I can’t keep the birds and chipmunks out of them. The chipmunks laugh when they see me they are so bold!!!

[incredulous joe]

Thanks for adding me to the list.

I have cukes and tomatoes, as well.

We are doing potatoes for the first time this year ~ actually, the second. I tried them about 15 years ago, but didn’t turn out a crop.

Hope to do better this time out.

In the tree department, my Black Walnuts have shed their first fruits, whic is rather early for this time of year. We are also having trees drop their leaves a bit early.

Norwegian Maples are dropping the helicopter seed pods.

Again, seems early. I guess the result of the cool June and July??

[MtnClimber]

It has been quite a cool summer here at 8,500 ft in the Colorado Rockies. My composted garden area has been used for fill-in with leaves, weeds, pine needles and kitchen scraps for many years. The soil is quite dark and loose and I am sure is better than the normal rocky soil up here on the mountain. In this area I am growing three varieties of potato, rutabaga, turnip, carrots and about four types of beans. The chipmunks can get in through the 1-inch chicken wire and in one day completely eliminated any trace of the carrot greens. Everything else seems to be doing very well. The potatos are very big and flowering now. My second garden area just has rows where rocks were screened from soil where trenches were dug and compost, top soil and composted manure was worked in. These rows have tomatos, squash and peppers. They are not too happy with the cool weather and are growing alittle more slowly. I added some larger tomato and squash starts from Walmart, but the ones I started from seed have recently taken off and overtaken the starts I planted.

The apple, cherry and plum trees I planted seem to be doing pretty well, with no signs of fire blight. The blueberries seem to be struggling even though they have their own beds with soil acidifier added. My yard is about 1 acre that is forested and right next to the Roosevelt National Forest. The pine bark beetles are starting to decimate the lodgepole pines. The trees on the west side of the continental divide have been really wiped out. everything is brown. As I take down infested trees (and burn for firewood before the new beetles can emerge) I have new places where I can plant fruit and nut trees. I might as well make lemons into lemonade!

[goodnesswins]

Morning, all...from Salem, OR.....been eating zucchini (from potted zukes). I have a Bradley Tomato (in a pot) which is a monster, like someone else said...it’s like the plant in the Little Shop of Horrors....at least it was, until we hit 104 here a couple days ago. I’ve been pruning it....never had to prune a tomato before! It’s got several 2”+ diameter greenies on right now. (I read later that Bradleys are grown in the SOUTH....but, we seem to have southern weather this year, so I guess I did good). Got little cukes coming on and a bunch of Roma Tomatoes in the raised bed, and another pot. And my Lilies survived our move and 3 months in our travel trailer last summer...before we bought a house. Now, our YARD...is all ripped up because we live on BRICK, I swear. Putting in paths when the weather cools. Oh and the deer found our back yard and ate what little strawberries I had, and some of my radicchio....Thanks so much for this thread...

[goodnesswins]

Did anyone here see that they passed that “farm bill” in the House yesterday!!!!???

[painter]

Add me to your ping list.

I live in central Mo. and the weather has been perfect for gardens this year.

[sneakers]

My tomatoes died.

Every

last

one

[tubebender]

Speaking of gardening ... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2305282/posts

[tubebender]

A little background on the weather in far north western Calif is probably in order. We get all our rain, 40 inches from appox November through May with a rare inch from from mid May until October. We get some fog drip over night but it just brings on blight and powdery mildew. The mountains just to the east of us get thunder storms, most of it dry lightening that starts numerous forest fires. Here is our 10 day Forecast We use city water that is metered and very expensive for our large property but I have installed thousands of feet of various drip lines with timers on all the faucets.

Meanwhile back here on Humboldt Bay I took a break from garden projects yesterday to cleanup the garlic that has been hanging one on the fence drying for a couple of weeks. 79 pounds of 7 varieties to give away plus seed for this falls planting. The new cages for the strawberries are doing their job as First Wife can start making puree to freeze for jam.

The corn is ready to pollinate but the foggy mornings are not clearing as early as I and the corn would like. Cukes and squash are a little sickly in their tubs. I hired a guy to cut the sucker trees coming up around the Redwoods as they can get out of hand fast. I used to do that every few years but age is taking it's toll on my beautiful body. He is a under employed floor layer and is a member of our Church....

[Tarheel]

Pulled out the last of the zukes this week, the red peppers s/b ready to start picking in a week, the first eggplant will be coming off tomorrow, still picking slicing tomatoes and a few cukes, lots of green peppers.

The cherry tomatoes—saw a squirrel rolling one across the deck the other day. Went out to chase it away and found a pile of five tomatoes in the corner of the deck. Stocking up for winter??

Planted some cukes for a fall crop and they are coming up!

Have had good rain this week and typically hot and humid weather.
,

[greeneyes]

Good Morning. We have taters, bell peppers, onions, and cucumbers. Mellons are not ripe yet. Can’t catch a break with the tomatoes.

Having a lot of trouble with squirrels eating them. We have cages around them, but did not make the diameter large enough, the little buggers can still reach some of them.

Yesterday, we woke up to caterpillars which had stripped the leaves on one plant, and eaten the best tomatoes. Went to walmart to get some BT or something and all they had was something called ECOsense.

The fine print says the name is not intended to imply environmental safety. Contains pyrethrins, canola oil, and mostly botanical insecticides(specifics not listed). Probably going to take it back, but I will research it a little more first.

Any one know for sure what I could use that is a little more friendly to humans, and the environment. We have a well so I am always reluctant to add any pollutant to our soil.