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Blueberries are starting to come in:

As far as the garden, I have a small to medium-sized garden--about 40 feet by 50 feet. I am growing purple hull peas, Kentucky wonder green beans, silver queen corn, baby lima beans, squash, okra, potatoes, two types of tomatoes, three types of peppers, butter peas, cantelope, watermelon, cucumbers, giant sunflowers, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and (still in peat pots) giant pumpkins. (I will probably plant the pumpkins in the corn to save space.)

In the past I have very well with purple hull peas and green beans, but reasonably well with most of the rest. I gave up on leafy vegetables, mostly because of bugs (cabbage) or bitterness (lettuce). Turnips and collards did fair. I no longer grow things that were interesting, but nobody liked (parsnip and salsify). I haven't done all that well with peanuts in the past, but will probably try them again some day.

I have tried fruit trees in the past, but diseases and insects wreaked havoc on most of them. I decided to try again, but, to be honest, I have yet to take time to give them decent care. In addition to the blueberries, I have peach, apricot, nectarine, apple, cherry, plum, and pear. I have done well with the blueberries, and have gotten a small bit of usable fruit from the pear and cherry. I have had the most trouble with peaches, apricots, and nectarines.

One item that I have added to my arsenal this year is pre-merge herbicide. I like it--a lot.

I had to do some replanting this year with the corn. Crows kept digging up the little seedlings. I finally installed some string and aluminum pie plates.

The butter peas (no, not butterbeans) are a little more difficult item to find nowadays and are somewhat of a heritage item from my grandparents garden. My grandparents died about 45 years ago. We still use the same line of seed.

The garden is looking decent. Potatoes will probably be the first thing ready to harvest (except for the asparagus).

Thanks for the thread.

Gardening is good for the soul.

One more addition to the garden list: Two things that we have grown in the past but don’t have this year are strawberries and rhubarb. We’ll probably plant them again at some point. We really enjoyed the strawberries, but when you have a lot of them they become a lot of work.

One of my favorite things from the garden was during a year in which we had strawberries and rhubarb both ready for harvest at the same time. My wife fixed a strawberry-rhubarb pie, complete with the little cross-hatch dough top (whatever you call it). It was a gem.

I’m getting ready to try Blueberries again.

Due to poor research and basic ignorance, my first attempt was a disaster. I basically killed the plants. I stuck them into 15-gallon pots filled with potting mix. What I didn’t know was Blueberries are acid loving plants.

This time around I’ve bought two Sunshine Blues which is a dwarf variety that do not need other varieties for pollination. The growing medium will be one third peat, one third compost and manure, one third potting mix and a cup of Espoma Holly-tone to lower the ph.

In another 15-gallon pot I have an Avocado tree which has yet to produce an Avocado. Not really surprised. I was told at the nursery they do not do particularly well in San Antonio. First, it is in a pot, not the ground. Second, it does not like a lot of wind and sometimes the wind really whips through the backyard. I bought it just to see what might grow. So far, nothing.

But, my Mexican limes, Mandarin oranges, and Meyer lemons seem to like their pots and have given me a lot of fruit.