Posted on 07/15/2011 5:13:42 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
We have been dry in the Dacula, GA area for sometime (months)
Last night we had light showers hang around for several hours. It was raining this morning when I drove into work.
I am dead-center in the middle of Texas. My garden looks pretty nice, but I am watering often. My tomatoes didn’t even make enough to mention. I am getting black-eyed peas, okra, watermelons and zucchini, but my green beans & pinto beans are not making any, even though the plants look good & they have lots of flowers. My husband fertilized with lawn fertilizer & I’m wondering if that’s why.
I have a new 18 X 14 film-covered greenhouse that actually has tomatoes inside that look pretty good. I have most of the roof covered with a silver tarp. No fans or misters inside. Mites took the tomatoes down after an awesome spring, so I cut them way back & now they have new growth. I’m hoping to get a fall crop out of them. They are in wooden plastic-lined beds that I water the heck out of once a week. Some are in self-watering containers.
I’m pinning my hopes on a good fall garden, if it ever gets cool enough to get out there to plant.
I get some FReepers location mixed up too, but know the screen names of many in the Austin area.
We had one wet year a couple of years ago that filled up Lake Travis from almost record low level. That was when Marble Falls had that rain bomb planted over it and they got something like 20” in 12 or 15 hours.
Does anyone have a suggestion for wasps? I don’t know where their nests are, but I am constantly being driven from picking okra and black-eyed peas because of them. They are in the garden all day. Yesterday I counted 5 different varieties. I’m wondering if it’s because everything else is dead, all the bugs (and so the wasps) are in my garden.
Not to mentions the ground hornets! Now THESE scare the crap out of me! Any suggestions?
Yep, hot & dry.
We have had 1” of rainfall since last October. No precedent in my lifetime for that. Possibly in 1895 it might have been that dry here.
But, I have a pretty good garden. Getting squash and okra about every other day, and watering everything heavily after I pick.
Peppers & tomatoes are blooming, but do not appear to be setting much fruit. Think it is the heat.
Blackeyed peas are going crazy. Just getting to the stage where we are picking them.
It is still a struggle with my new trees. About 2/3 of my 29 new bare-root fruit trees have survived. The hot dry winds have blasted them since day one.
Strawberry plants have absolutely taken the bed.
Blackberry plants are developing but require daily watering.
Blueberry plants are still alive but struggling.
Never worked as hard keeping plants alive, but looks like a pretty good garden year to me.
Nitrogen:
I just talked to a neighbor and checked the garden. I turns out that we had quite a storm last night. We got a lot of rain quickly. We had leaves piled up around obsticles in the path of the water, so I know it was big, and I had about half my mater plants blown over. I am on my way out to cut some more stakes and try to stand our maters up again and see if they will be OK.
Good to hear you got some rain.
I’m in a D1 - Moderate drought region, but we’re getting rain this morning!
Still getting cucumbers and hoping the tomatoes start to ripen soon. I’ve gotten one tangerine beefsteak and about a dozen red cherry tomatoes. The rest are still green. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Were your tomato plants staked, or in cages? And they still blew over?
My garden is insanely lush, but no (or very little) fruit yet. I have herbs to cut. I had a lot of green tomatoes, but I have so many leaves that I can’t find the green ones any more. They are successfully hidden so I won’t find them again until they turn red. The tomatoes (planted by the square foot method) are a tangle.
There are 14 tomato plants in a 4 x 8 space. They are in a raised bed, so they are about 18 in off the ground, but they are now taller than I am and have topped all their cages, or supports. I’ve used a combination of tomatoe cages (the square kind) and spiral supports. Whatever I had on hand.
I did bring in my first zucchini last week, but it was very small. I’m waiting for more (stil on the vine) to get bigger so I can make a meal.
Am finally 'over the hump' as I call it, got everything planted and the weeding under control. Starting the fall garden now, planting some grains, dry beans, and root crops next week. This until the snow flies is my favorite time of the year.
Pics!
Purple coneflowers in bloom. One of my favorites.
Black Hungarian pepper. Slightly hot and nice flavor. Good for drying and frying.
Albino Bullnose pepper. Small sweet pepper.
Rye ready for harvest.
Chives, oregano, and basil doing very well. Have made several servings of pesto already.
That garden had my cucumbers, squash, several tomato and bell pepper plants. I also had onions in that garden, and they literally cooked in the ground.
We got quite a few tomatoes early on, but few since the heat set in this year. We got a lot of jalapeno peppers too.
My neighbor has a sprinkler / soaker system for his raised beds. He has a lot of tomatoes, okra, onions and other veggies. He has one cantaloupe plant that is loaded. Some of the cantaloupes are the size of volleyballs.
Glad you got some rain. Don’t worry about your mater plants - they will be OK.
I am finding time to renovate about 20% of the Raspberry patch and a flower bed that had been consumed by Speedwell (Round-up kills it). First I cut off the old plants at the base, then spade, then add compost, steer manure and Dr Earth and water well. I must get out in the garden as we are having rare morning sunshine...
Ten day forecast for Benderville
We have a basket full of ripe tomatoes sitting on the table. That will probably be the crop for the summer, but I’m hoping for a good fall crop.
We’ve had a few days of pleasant weather in Central Missouri, but the heat is back and it’s going to get worse.
The squash bugs killed all of my zukes, one yellow straight-neck and one white pattypan. So far the cucumbers and melons don’t seem to be affected.
Still no ripe tomatoes other than the grapes, but the vines are loaded to breaking and covered with blossoms. I planted four Purple Cherokees this time and they really look nice. The BrandyWines are incredibly lush as well. I think they like living in the spot that receives the duff from my chicken house. LOL
The sweet corn that got flattenis standing proud and starting to tassle.
My brassicas are all doing really well too. I dind’t get one head of cabbage that was fit to eat last summer. This time every one of them that I set out has made a nice head. I’m going to have enough for a batch of home-made sauerkraut. :-)
It has been years since I grew Shallots and have a question. I used sets I purchased in a super market and they are doing fine except they sent up thick seed stalks and I wonder if that is normal? The plants are still green and Mrs Bender has been pulling a few to cook with...
Ground cherries.... It’s no wonder to me that they give the seeds away - if you plant them once you’ll never have to plant them again. LOL I’ve never seen anything that comes volunteer like a ground cherry. They’re tasty little things for sure. I’m thinking they might make a pretty good jelly.
I am really going to get hit with tomatoes this year...they are all loaded with blossoms/green 'maters...everything I have planted is kicking *ss. I have a 'volunteer' black cherry that will go over SIX FEET tall this weekend, and I didn't even plant the darn thing on purpose. It is growing right up some tomato twine that I attached to the eaves. I will get several hundred off that plant by itself...as for the other 100 plants...
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