View Full Version : 2016 Gardens
So anything happening with your gardens yet? Mine are still asleep.....although I need to think about snow peas soon. I have to pre-sprout them so the mice don't eat them.
Going to a mostly all-stock tank and trellis garden. Right now I'm plugging up some of the ridiculous number of 3/4" drainage holes I drilled in them, when I first started stock-tank gardening. I can't believe I drilled 25 in the first 6' one I bought. How silly of me!
Now I have 7 6' stock tanks and 2 4' ones. Thinking of making a 16' cattle panel into an arch for my butternut squash. Using the swingset for cucumbers and galvanized electrical conduit with cement reinforcing wire for several varieties of pole beans. I will use a string mower and weed eater to keep the weeds down. I feel bad not planting directly in the ground, but my arthritis/fibro has gotten so bad, it makes more sense to do it this way. I've put all the stock tanks up on cement blocks....so I don't need to lean clear over any more. I was tired of my stomach ending up in my chest, and my brains ending up in my ears with all that leaning over!
I'm even moving my herb containers in the back yard to the garden. That way, we can focus on just the small water gardens/flowers/bushes in the back yard.
I sure hope the weather stabilizes for the summer......and none of this 70 one day and 32 the next.
Some of the things I'll plant:
sugar snap snow peas
roma and san marzano abd rutgers tomatoes
Kentucky blue and Blue Lake pole beans
County Fair cucumbers
grape and cherry tomatoes
red, orange and yellow bell peppers
spinach, swiss chard, lettuces
Butternut squash
zucchini........maybe......if I feel like dealing with tons of squash bugs.
Sorry about talking about it so much. When I can't do it yet, I have to talk about it. :)
What's in (or going to be in ) your gardens this year?
iris lilies
3-25-16, 10:03am
It is not even April 1 and my home garden is completely mulched. I have hauled 150+ buckets of mulch in and spread it. Yay for me!
One reason why this is so great is that I didnt break off any lilies in my mulching efforts because they hadnt poked up,their heads yet. This is a FIRST.
I am fat and very out of shape, and I can only do two hours of mulching at a time these days. ugh. But it is one of my favorite activities, spreading the sweet smelling wood chips. I need to work up to 4 hours of work.
Now, on to the rest of the gardens...
rodeosweetheart
3-25-16, 10:14am
Oh, I think I am going to steal the stock panel idea. I LOVE it. WE grow a lot of squashes. I had a blue hubbard hanging off my privacy fence.
We will grow, per usual, lots of squashes--blue Hubbards, pumpkins, yellow summer, cushaws, and zucchini. I have more luck with winter squashes up here in N Michign and just am eating the last of them--so they have lasted us through March.
I had great lettuce last year growing Grand Rapids and Black Seeded Simpson so will probably repeat those. Will do the Dragon purple carrots again and lots of herbs.
Will put out my collard that I have kept alive since Christmas of 2014, when I took it in and stuck it in front of a window. It's in a container and went with us to SC and back. I kept several plants live in front of the picture window this year so they can go back and enliven the garden, including a really nice pineapple sage.
I do like your tank garden idea but will stick to our bed systems which has been building the soil now for 3 years; it's kind of cross between Ruth Stout and John Jeavons.
Right now it all sits under a foot of snow, although last week it was 60 and I cleaned out a few beds and put new straw down. Am using the straw that we surrounded the house with, the bales that kept the house insulated. I did put straw back over the foxgloves that were starting to grow, and the tulips. Hopefully they will be okay. It's 40 now, so the new snow should melt, but there is a lot of it and it usually snows here in April.
IL.........I don't know how you do it. I have a couple little sections of irises and they get crowded soooooo fast.
rodeo...........I saw a Martha Stewart show a long time ago and she was visiting this lady who grows tons of squashes and she had them all growing up a very strong wire/stock panel tunnel and all these squash were just hanging everywhere!
I've grown mine on the ground, but have had a long cattle panel a couple feet away from where the seed is planted. They don't seem to want to climb it until they are older......but you can gently tie them to the panels to encourage them to grow upwards/sideways on the panel. If they are big squash types, you can support them when they get large with stuff like nylon hose material.
Here's a pic from them growing up the cattle panel several years ago. They still liked to spread all over the ground too. maybe I just didn't encourage them enough to climb.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/IMG_8891_zps9abac2be.jpg
rodeosweetheart
3-25-16, 12:32pm
What a great photo, Cathy! I have had Cinderella pumpkins climb a chain link fence. I like your idea of the panel so much.
If you used it on ground, you could put chicken wire underneath it and help discourage rodents.
All I have going right now is vit (mache, corn salad), lettuces and spinach. My herbs are ongoing and I've seeded my annual ones. Transplanted some anise hyssop that I'd started last fall in a pot. They're thriving beneath a window. I'm hoping they'll provide a view of butterflies and bees to watch from inside.
I posted on the gripe thread about this---last weekend we got temps up to 70. I worked all day outdoors cleaning up winter debris, freshening beds. Then I planted 2 smallish beds of carrots and parsnips toward the end of the day. Guess I was tired and not thinking about covering them with chicken wire---the next day they'd been destroyed by squirrels frolicking around in them and planting peanuts the !#%@# neighbors feed them.
rodeo......I don't have trouble with mice and the squash.......just the danged squash beetles. I do have trouble with them eating the snow peas........but they go underground and get them that way. I have thought of crumpling up chicken wire just underground, but I've discovered that just pre-sprouting the peas first works great. I don't know why........but I'm glad it does! What really ticks me off is when the mice chew the bottoms of the pole beans, and it kills the entire length of that bean stalk. If that starts being a problem, I do put a chicken wire fence around things.
I wonder how the mice will feel about these raised beds? I do have some feral cats around......so maybe they'll help me out. The squirrels don't seem to bother the garden, since there's so much other stuff out there for them. The birds sometimes peck seeds out.
Thanks for the compliment about the photo. Sometimes I can't get any work done around here, 'cause there's so many things to take pictures of! haha
Kay.........sorry about your loss. Get that chicken wire on your next batch. You should see all the extra chicken wire, utility wire, cattle panels, concrete reinforcing wire, hardware cloth we have in the barn! haha
Every time we plant a tree or a bush, we have to wrap it up in wire.......from the deer. We have a great garden fence now.........4' Utility wire with 1" chicken wire along the bottom. The deer could easily jump that fence, but there's so many stock tanks and trellises in there, they probably wouldn't chance it.
We have to try to outsmart those waskely wabbit-types constantly, don't we?
Oh rodeo.....forgot to mention that those 16' cattle panels can be a challenge to get home. Our local Tractor Supply Co. doesn't deliver.......but when I got a bunch of them, one of the employees had a truck and I paid him to deliver them. But they can really scratch up your truck bed. Before I found that guy, I tried to think of all different ways of getting those panels home..........dragging them behind the car, having DH and I drive 2 cars and hooking them together with the panels half on each car........and my favorite one was just putting them over my van with them sticking off the front and back of the roof........and they might get to bouncing so hard that it would bounce my car up and down off the road, the whole way home. hahahaha
Thanks goodness I found someone to bring them home to us.
I made one into an arch one year to grow some pole beans up, but the beans didn't seem to like the thickness of the "wire" on the panels. The squash liked them better.
I did make my son a fort by arching them together and covering them with a tarp and anchoring them down with metal stakes. He enjoyed it for awhile, until a big wind lifted it and blew it down.
Do a search for "cattle panel" trellises and you might get some good ideas.
Some of the places that sell cattle panel near me will cut the, in half, easier to put on the roof of a car that way.
I didn't put in any plants this spring since we are moving but currently, loquats and lizards are everywhere in the yard. DD lives close by and has a large garden. She has snap peas, chard, lettuce, kale - all at their peak. T
Birdie.....I've heard that they let the customers cut them themselves at the store........So you really need to take big bolt cutters, in case.
Also...I've cut a few, but if you want to use them as an arch, they need to be left whole.
They also make great immediate/short term fences when someone drives their car through your farm fencing. :)
We use the 8 foot lengths to trellis melons or sometimes a lot of cherry tomatoes plants They work great.
Some of the places that sell cattle panel near me will cut the, in half, easier to put on the roof of a car that way.
We bought at Home Depot. concrete grid panels 4x8. Strap them on top of the car (over towels) and drive home slowly. WE weave rebar through the long ends and stake them in the ground tall. I grow my cherry tomatoes and my cucumbers up them. I can put 16 cucumber plants on 2 panels side by side. And 6 cherry tomatoes on 2 side by side. All grow up to the top of the 8 feet and cucumbers will go down the backside:cool:
Chicken lady
3-26-16, 9:30am
So far I've started most of my "start indoors x-y weeks before last frost" seedlings. Dd1 is getting married in June and wants to use little herb plants as favors. She made pots for them (hand thrown on the wheel). So instead of using my little greenhouse this year, I have dd2's bedroom Full of seed flats. It has two walls of windows and electric heat that is seperate from the rest of the house because it used to be an open porch.
also this weekend I started planting outside - six raspberry canes (which is hard work because I'm stripping out grass and weed turf that hasn't been touched in decades) and 25 strawberry plants.
i have 25 more strawberry plants that are waiting for ds to cut the logs for the sides of the new bed tomorrow evening, and 23 more raspberry canes. Some of them are going in soil that was turned over last year though. Also 4 blueberry bushes that were sort of an impulse buy, and I know generally where I want them, but need to decide exactly, and potatoes - which I'm going to try growing in feedsack "planters" this year because last time the voles ate them.
Birdie...yeah, I've been thinking about just using straight sections of cattle panels. One lady has a great You tube video of the way she grows squash. I forget the link at the moment. But her trellises are about 8' high. You'd really want to stabilize those with some tall metal stakes though. I used a long section of those for indeterminate tomatoes one year, but they didn't seem to like them. Funny how different vining plants prefer different sizes of wire to wrap their tendrils around.
One year I grew bird house gourds. Man, they took over the garden........but had the loveliest blossoms. I think they bloomed at night...?
I haven't even made them into bird houses yet.........and that was about 15 years ago! I'm a little behind in some of my projects!
Chicken lady
3-26-16, 7:13pm
So I planted 10 more raspberry canes and did a lot of weeding. Dh cut the cedar logs for me to build 2 more strawberry beds and when I get the first one done and filled with compost and soil - tomorrow? I can plant the rest of the strawberries.
Chicken lady
3-27-16, 8:57pm
One strawberry bed set up but not filled. 5 more raspberry canes planted. 4 blueberry bushes also planted. More weeding. And I have my first poison ivy of the year.
HELP! I have green thumbs. i can grow anything......but carrots and beets. Not a single harvestable item last year. First time I've tried those.
What did I do wrong? Any sage advice? My soil is awesome and loose. I have drip lines for watering.....I want food this year out of that bed!
rodeosweetheart
3-28-16, 7:23pm
the big snow of Thursday/Friday is melting, and tonight we just moved some straw around and broad forked a bed. Husband sifted compost.
Chicken lady
3-28-16, 8:29pm
I just toss the carrot and beet seeds on clay improved with composted goat bedding, rake, and let God water.
today I finished starting the last of the wedding seeds. Also tied No-no Badgoat (that's her name) to a fence I need stripped of honeysuckle vines. She made good progress.
iris lilies
3-28-16, 8:53pm
The World Daffodil Convention is here next week. This early warm weather is causing early bloom and I am not sure if daffs will be at peak. But the daffodil growers here have hundreds of varieties than span a long time, so perhaps all will be well. plus,exhibitors will break ng daffodil stems from all over the world.
I have a tough time with carrots, unless I get them pelleted. Otherwise the ants eat the seeds. I also have to remember to keep the bed evenly moist until germination.
Chicken lady
3-29-16, 7:58pm
The goat and I weeded some more and I tied the grapevine to the fence.
I filled one bed and planted 30 strawberries (there were extra). Put together the other bed and filled it. It can sit for a little while - I'm splitting strawberries out of a bed from last year.
Also planted two rhubarb starts.
i still have potatoes and 8 more raspberries to plant and it's almost time to start some direct seeding if the ground will dry out enough.
The goat and I weeded some more and I tied the grapevine to the fence.
I filled one bed and planted 30 strawberries (there were extra). Put together the other bed and filled it. It can sit for a little while - I'm splitting strawberries out of a bed from last year..
I"m thinking about pulling out the strawberries. I have a 3x14 foot bed. We get enough for nibbling but not enough for more. I'm thinking this garden real estate can be put to better use.
Thoughts?
In my little portable greenhouse on the back patio I have started my seeds:
32 beets (will do 32 every 3w until seeds are all used).
eggplant 2 cultivars x15 seeds each
cucumber 2 cultivars x15 seeds each
15 each: spaghetti squash, delicata, zucchini
Let the growing begin!
I cannot plant until end of May, early June per forecast we can still get frost..
I have spinach, lettuce and vit (corn salad, mache), parsnips, red onion starts, carrots up in my raised beds. I planted 5 raspberry starts about a month ago and they're doing well. My DH decided he wanted to put some lumber around the edge of the bed to keep the grass out of it. I figured from what he was saying that he was going to sink some 1-or 2 x 4s down in the ground just above grass level. Well, was I surprised to come home to see raised boxes around them! 2x12s!! Ugh. I just hope they don't fill up with rainwater. I couldn't say anything, he was so proud of what he'd done.
The tomato and pepper starts have begun to show up at the farmers market, but it is way to early to put them out in my area. I'm disappointed in myself after my success in starting my own last year, I just missed my window of opportunity this year. I actually did start some, but kinda forgot about them somehow and DH is clueless about such things, so no help there. So I'll be buying starts at the market.
iris lily
4-25-16, 12:17pm
1584
Here is a surprise in my garden, Iris tectorum, a species from China and Burma/Myranmar.
This is supposed to be easynto geow, but me, Iris Queen of the city, I was unable to get it established . Now, all of a sudden, I vae got a nice strong clump. Yay!
So here's what is planted in my gardens:
27 tomatoes
14 peppers (bell all the way to habanero, 2each)
16 eggplant
5 zucchini
6 spaghetti squash
6 delicata squash
12 green beans volunteered from last year
12 cucumbers
30 beets (2 didn't make it)
catnip
herbs x6
kale 8
now let the growing begin:cool:
I don't know where my post went, so I'll try it again.
My raised stock tank garden is doing well. I have about 9 of them. I've planted several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, chard, spinach, and 2 varieties of bush beans. In the ground I've planted Waltham butternut squash, 2 varieties of pole beans and cucumbers. The stock tanks, even though I drilled too many holes in them, drain great when there's too much rain. But when there's not enough rain, I have to water every 2-3 days....which I don't really mind because I love watering the garden, and there's a water source close by.
Since some of the garden flooded last year, I planted in the in-ground crops on some built-up hills.
I've used my usual concrete-reinforcing wire cages for the tomatoes, which makes them pretty tall. I might have to figure out a way of securing them in high winds....but I don't think that will be a problem.
Here's a pic of the tomatoes and lettuces. I love not having to lean down so far to garden! I've grown the pole beans up trellises, and I'm growing the squash up a cattle panel that I've bent into an arch. If the weeds on the ground get too high, I'll just weed-eat them with my cordless weed-eater. I love gardening and am glad to have figured out a way to continue it, without so much pain.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/2016%20stock%20tank%20garden%202.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/stock%20tank%20garden-1.jpg
mountianangels
6-7-16, 1:09pm
I have tomato's,cucumbers,beans,green peppers,radishes and a few other vegetables and i have two kinds of watermelon and a blueberry bush and a rasberry also growing my own strawberries and my green grapes as i enjoy gardening,the fruit are patio bushes but,the grapes and rasberry grow from the ground,and i'll be planting a apple tree soon.:)
My garden has gone crazy. I'm now starting to worry that the fairly shallow stock tanks I'm growing things in, might have run out of enough food for the veggies. I'm trying to figure out a way to fertilize them, without buying anything and just using things on my property. Today I collected some used coffee grounds, egg shells, and mixed them with aged compost and put them in a bucket and filled it with water. I know I need to stir it a lot. But I'll start using that in a couple days.
I picked Romano beans and Haricot verts this morning. I have small green tomatoes and cucumbers growing. Lots of cherry tomatoes. The Rutger tomatoes seem small. My San Marzano tomatoes look great, but it's a race against time for them to ripen, before the blight kills them. Don't know why it has affected them so much.
I planted winter squash up a cattle panel arch trellis. They definitely like growing wild on the ground, as opposed to growing up a trellis. I have to constantly guide them.
My peppers are slow too. The big problem I'm having is that my stock tank soil dry out much too quickly....which means having to water them every 2-3 days, if it doesn't rain. I need to figure out what to add to the soil next year, to keep the water in there longer. I've heard crushed pine bark is good. I have lots of pine trees.
I have absolutely loved not leaning over in the garden all the time. If weeds grow on the ground, I just weed-eat them.
Can't wait for the tomato and cucumber marinated salads! And for about the 8th year in a row......a house wren has built a nest and raised her young in the top tube of the swingset (which has snow peas and cucumbers growing up it).
Here's a pic of the jungle..........(I left several of the milkweed plants grow there too...but still no monarch takers).
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/Garden%206-27-16.jpg
Cathy, that is beautiful!!! Coincidentally, I just came from Home Depot where I was looking at deer fencing to trellis my squash, beans and cucumbers. Can you tell me what gauge/size yours is?
And it looks like you have a different kind of trellis in the middle of the garden--can you tell me how you made that? We had a cheap furring strip frame that we strung string on to trellis the cukes a couple of years ago, but DH for some reason was compelled to throw it in the fire pit last year.. We're not growing on that side of the house anymore, so I'm not replacing it, but I am in need of trellis.
Mistake of the year so far: Not spacing the squash far enough apart. One bush is taking over!! But all is well. We're doing cucumbers, jalapeņo, lots of beans, squash, zucchini, lettuce (several kinds), tomatoes, basil, cilantro, parsley, mint, thyme, lavender, chives.
iris lilies
7-5-16, 5:09pm
Cathy things there lk healthy!
Thanks catherine and IL.
catherine, The squash trellis arch (over to the right) is a cattle panel. It is very heavy stuff. That is a 16' cattle panel.
The stuff I lined the swingset and the pole bean trellises with is concrete reinforcing wire. I love that stuff. It has holes between the wire that you can get your hand through.
It's also a gauge of wire that vines seem to really like to latch on to (as opposed to the cattle panel stuff).
What you see towards the middle is the pole green bean trellis. I made a trellis out of 1" diameter (or maybe even 3/4"??) galvanized electrical conduit pipe. I cut the sides the height I wanted (6-7') and the cross bar to the width I wanted.
Then I lined it with concrete reinforcing wire (I just bungeed it to the trellis). You'll need 2 connectors for the tops of the trellis, to attach the crossbar to the side bars. I made mine more stable by driving a 3-4' metal stake into the ground on each side of the trellis and then tying the trellis to it. It needs to be stable and be able to handle wind when it's covered with beans.
I originally bought something like 100' role of the reinforcing wire and made lots of great tomato cages with most of it. (You can sort of see them in the middle, above the tomatoes) But when I built the pole bean trellises, I bought a small panel of it at Menards........which is more transportable and reasonable if you only want a small amount. I think it's 8' long, so it still might be a challenge getting home. I leave all these out all winter and they rust......but they've survived for many years and do fine. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Well, it all started out with a bang, but something like septoria leaf spot is doing almost all of my tomatoes in, while they are covered with green tomatoes. The disease is almost to the top of the plants. What a bummer. I don't think the green tomatoes are even thinking about turning red yet. So disappointing. I'll have to figure out what to do with mass quantities of green tomatoes. I know they can ripen indoors, but they just aren't the same if they are totally green.
At least my cucumbers and beans are doing really well.
I know it's important to rotate where you grow tomatoes, in order to decrease the incidence of leaf spot diseases, but most of my raised stock tanks are for tomatoes. I hope this doesn't happen again next year. I don't use chemicals, so I won't use a fungicide. I'll have to figure something else out. It might just be the wet, hot weather we've had.
Anyone else having tomato problems?
iris lilies
7-25-16, 3:50pm
Harvest is rolling in: onions, peaches, 2nd batch of tomatoes (first batch turned into sauce) and plums. Purple plums are not ripe yet.
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1619&stc=1http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1620&stc=1http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1621&stc=1http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1622&stc=1
Wow Iris lilies! Lots of good stuff!!
I'm freezing probably the last of my tomatoes. I mentioned the leaf spot disease all my tomatoes got.........but they developed tomatoes before this happened, and all those tomatoes ripened!! So I have frozen a ton of them. My orange and red peppers have done well and taste great. And I still have cucumbers out the wazoo. My early pole beans are winding down and my late ones are just starting to make beans. In September, I'll plant some late spinach and lettuces.
My butternut squash is finally producing female blossoms, so I'll have a few of those this year.....if the season lasts long enough for them to ripen.
I need to rearrange a few of my stocktanks for next year, to utilize the sunny spaces better. That means I'll have to empty out the dirt and move them, but that's not too hard.
I've learned to plant fewer plants in each stock tank.......mostly for better ventilation, which might help with leaf spot diseases.
I have to always add more finished compost to each stock tank each year, so we need to save leaves and grass and kitchen scraps all the time. You wouldn't believe the amount of leaves we have to pick up in the Fall. One year I convinced DH to leave a lot of them down, and of course, it can destroy the grass. But I think he enjoyed the break from collecting them. I know I did! I'm looking into buying a big thing you pull around with your riding mower. It has a small engine on it and it can suck up massive amounts of leaves after the mower shreds them.........which sort of bothers me, since there are millions of insects, etc in those whole leaves. Hopefully after we get that, we won't have to dread the Fall so much! But composted leaves add great stuff to the soil I use in my stock tanks.
Are your gardens winding down?
iris lilies
8-15-16, 10:38am
DH just put in all of his fall crops that nclude beets, radishes, carrots, spinach, strng beans.
I guess you could say that thngs are winding down, but the okra hasnt even started to produce yet. We will have tomatoes through October at minimum. We have several kinds of squash coming on, includng ornamental gourds that DH is growing for me.
I grew birdhouse gourds one year. I haven't even made them into birdhouses yet, after about 8 years! They really almost took over the whole garden. But their blossoms are beautiful!
Well, the gardening season here in zone 5 is winding down. DH and I spent a couple days enlarging the fence around the garden so I didn't have to worry about the one end flooding at times. Plus, I've learned that it's not good to put the stock tanks right up to the fence, since it's hard to reach and you can't get to the weeds. So now there will be room around all 9 stock tanks and some of the trellises. We use 4' utility wire for fencing, with 2' chicken wire at the bottom, to keep out bunnies.
We're going to level a couple of the stock tanks that I just moved. Sounds easy but can be a pain in the butt. The stock tanks are on 4 single cement blocks, with 2 2x6 boards on top of them, to support the stock tank. It can be a challenge to get all 4 blocks even so the boards touch all 4.
I'm still getting pole beans, but I'm tempted to pull them all down, 'cause before you know it, it will be snowing. The Fall lettuces are doing great. The Fall broccoli is getting eaten by bugs, and for some reason the Fall spinach isn't sprouting. I ended up getting about 14 butternut squash, which are on the front porch curing, then I will roast them and puree the squash and freeze it.
Now I need to clean out the water gardens. I always dread that, but they give me such pleasure all summer long, I can't complain. Well, yes I can. hahaha
We are also in garden wind down. Fourdays ago spent an hour digging rest of potatoes and then three days ago it snowed so good timing! I loathe putting the garden to bed but once I get into it feels like a great accomplishment. DH just went out and bought our straw to bed the beds over winter. Ran out into the snow to take down my 7 foot pineapple sage plant and harvest all the leaves and now there are boughs of it all over our mudroom. Will dig th eplant and take him in over the winter as did last year. Getting very cold at night here.
iris lilies
10-29-16, 7:31pm
In the 80's today, and we are still diggn lilies, dividng them, replantng them.we will be doing his theough end of November.
Dh still has a lot of green beans and a fair nimber of tomatoes. beets, peas, carrots are going str Ng, and new crops of lettuces and radishes are coming on. Some acorn , waltham, Butternut squashes are here, but ths wasnt a good year for them. We have a big neautiful Hubbard squash from DH!s dad's farm. Oh, yeah, there are tons fo apples.
Huh, I posted about a month ago asking if anyone does a fall-winter garden, and no one replied. But here you are!
We've recently cleaned out all the beds of dead material (tomatoes, peppers, squash vines, beans were already gone), and brought in 28 lb. of squash to store. Still have some tomato vines hanging in the garage to ripen. The same day we planted a bed of garlic to overwinter.
My herbs are still going strongly...no frost here yet. They stay pretty well if I bring them close to the house under the patio. (They're in pots.)
We still have carrots, beets and parsnips in the ground and will harvest them as we use them. The frost will sweeten them.
I also have an elevated bed (waist high, a salad table) where I'm growing a new crop of lettuce and corn salad/mache/vit.
The hysterical thing is, it's been such a mild season here, I still have one zucchini that is bearing little squash. Just for kicks I'm leaving it to see how long it will bear.
We had our first hard frost this past week, so there are beans and peppers that need to be cleaned out. Still have kale, leeks, and herbs. Will be starting indoor salad garden this week.
Final harvest (we had 2 frosts early):
6 # of eggplant
30+ # of tomatoes
3 gallons of mixed peppers
zip summer squash and 2 spaghetti squash-color isn't right but we''ll see if it's edible after baking
Kale-4 plants, I'll harvest when I get home next week and chop/blanch/freeze
Net: 22pints of salsa, 7 pints tomato sauce, 22quarts or ratatouille in the freezer
Sad outcome for investing $200 in organic plant starts......fungus got 8 tomato plants and lack of water stunted the rest (I discovered DH had turned OFF the system after his last repair, the wife was NOT a happy camper).
Next year................:cool:
No winter garden for me.....too busy at the paid employment place.
Final harvest (we had 2 frosts early):
Sad outcome for investing $200 in organic plant starts......fungus got 8 tomato plants and lack of water stunted the rest (I discovered DH had turned OFF the system after his last repair, the wife was NOT a happy camper).
This is why (after 2 years of crop failure) I am not growing "heirloom" tomatoes again. Despite my coddling, they just weren't worth the trouble. I don't think I got one good one---my other tomatoes were awesome.
iris lilies
10-31-16, 5:14pm
This is why (after 2 years of crop failure) I am not growing "heirloom" tomatoes again. Despite my coddling, they just weren't worth the trouble. I don't think I got one good one---my other tomatoes were awesome.
DH with his advanced degree in tomatoes would say "told ya so!" Haha.
these modern varieties were bred to be disease resistant, among other things.
Just checked this morning, Nov. 8, 6:30 a.m., no frost yet--3 zucchini and one blossom. Incredible for SW WA. I'm just tickled, but wary about the frost date looming.
Gardnr.......what do you do with your eggplant?
Kay.....I finally got a tiny zuchinni a week ago. First one! We're supposed to get a freeze Saturday morning. I wonder if swiss chard can handle a freeze?
Kay.....I finally got a tiny zuchinni a week ago. First one! We're supposed to get a freeze Saturday morning. I wonder if swiss chard can handle a freeze?
Probably depends on how mature it is (strong) and how hard the frost. It's pretty hardy, usually. In what region do you live?
So despite the early frost, plants survived. We've been covering them any date predicted below 37.
We continue to get heirlooms-love me some sliced Brandywines:cool: And no frost in site for the next 10 days. My best heirloom year of the last 5!
We made another batch of 10 pints tomato sauce.
yum yum yum!
Probably depends on how mature it is (strong) and how hard the frost. It's pretty hardy, usually. In what region do you live?
I'm in central Indiana (zone 5). I have frost cloth on some things, but not that one. I'm not sure how low my frost cloth protects either. I want to use my lettuce for a salad for guests on Sunday. It doesn't do well picked earlier. I just hope it doesn't freeze.
It's supposed to get to freezing a little south of here, so it will be colder here. If it weren't for the lettuce and swiss chard, I would welcome a hard freeze. Oh....and I do still have some peppers, which are covered also.
This is why (after 2 years of crop failure) I am not growing "heirloom" tomatoes again. Despite my coddling, they just weren't worth the trouble. I don't think I got one good one---my other tomatoes were awesome.
I'm the same way Kay. I tried heirloom, but they all pooped out. I didn't have as good a fence as I have now, and the rabbits went right for them too. I do grow Rutgers every year for my slicing tomatoes....I guess they're heirloom. I would love to grow others, but I'm past experimenting. I want sure things.
Hey Gardnr.......did you see my earlier question about what you do with your eggplants?
Hey Gardnr.......did you see my earlier question about what you do with your eggplants?
Sorry. I use what we don't eat right away, as roasted veg in my ratatouille. I've not tried any other manner of preserving eggplant.
I just made some eggplant parmesan the other day.........but I had to buy the eggplant.
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