Gardens 2020

[Socalman]

This year I have not seen a folder or thread for our home veggie gardens. Let's hear what sort of things you are growing for you home use.

We have a number of fruit tress - 2 avocados, 1 each of the following: apricot, peach, orange, apple, and lime. In addition, our neighbors pomegranate and lemon trees hang over our wall and we get some of those. They do the same with one of our avocados. We have some blueberry plants, several boysenberry vines and about half dozen grape vines.

Thus far in veggies the only thing we have is some green onions up and a recent planting of edible pod peas. First planting of green pole beans will go in when we get a break in the weather. We have a few peppers and tomatoes that need to be transplanted.

So for now, that is all we have. I should have gotten in lettuce and radishes sometime back but didn't. Not too late.

[bacpacker]

Hey Socal. Good to see you on.
We've got 5 apple trees, 1 pear, 2 pawpaws, & 8 blueberries blooming right now. I was pretty sick from Dec until March and was very late getting anything started. I had 7 1 gallon pots of onion's growing, 5 bulbs each, 4 pots of lettuce, & 2 spots of spinach. So far I have planted some taters, parsnips, radishes, cucumbers, & okra in the ground. I've got 10 pepper and 16 tomato plant I just transplanted in gallon pots. Those will go in the ground late April/early May.

[Socalman]

Great garden you will have! I won't say I am jealous, because you have done the work!

Did the tornados get close to you? My wife's cousin lives in Monroe, LA. Monroe got hit the other day, Sunday I think, we have not been able to get in touch with her, but like in many natural disasters, communications suck.

[bacpacker]

We are over an hour away from where it touched down. It was near Chattanooga. Lots of destruction in the area, but last I heard only 1 death. Mississippi, Alabama, got hit much worse. Hope the family is ok. Comms is first thing to go down and last thing to come back typically

[Socalman]

One thing I should have mentioned is that in my April 9 post is that I purposely planted the remaining OLD peas, from 2005! It appears that I have about a 70% germination rate on those. I don't recall the particular species of edible pod peas. The first planing of my Kentucky Wonder pole beans were from 2010 and they are just showing up, it could be close to a 100% germination!

The next bean planting should go in the ground in about a week and are all from the crop harvested in 2018.

[bacpacker]

I've got a bunch of old seed of all kinds of stuff. I try to plant something old every year just to see if anything comes from it. Sometimes yep, sometimes not enough to fool with.

[Socalman]

Update on older seed. The exact germination rate on the old peas was 67%. Yes I counted. This morning I filled in the missing gaps with seed from last year. I also planted the rest of my Kentucky Wonder pole beans. I also have some great tasting beans called Sultan's Crescent that I am going to find a space to plant. Apparently it is an older variety that sort of fell out of favor for whatever reason. Since I have so much time on my hands during house arrest, I am getting the garden back to good production. Even the wife is making suggestions about what to plant.

[bacpacker]

67% isn't bad for old seed. I love finding old Heirloom types that work here. I try a lot of different stuff, some works here, some don't. But when you find one that does, the taste is almost always so much better than any hybrid you can ever find.

[Vodin]

Hello. It has been awhile since I was here. Planted 2 (20’ rows) Russet potatoes, 1 (20’ row) White Onions, Seeded Carrots, 2019 Garlic, Rhubarb, Asparagus, Grapes, Black Raspberries and then I have 2 Aquaponics systems in the basement.

I should not plant anything outside until Mother’s Day. Possible freezes can occur.

I am setting up 12 (5 gallon buckets) on water troughs.

[Socalman]

67% isn't bad for old seed. I love finding old Heirloom types that work here. I try a lot of different stuff, some works here, some don't. But when you find one that does, the taste is almost always so much better than any hybrid you can ever find.

A great place to find some of the old heirloom seeds is a company called SEED SAVERS. They are dedicated to preserving as many varieties of seed as possible. That is where I got my Sultan's Crescent beans. About 50 years ago my brand new wife and I visited her grandparents in New Mexico. Their garden had the most delicious tomatoes. Her grandfather called them German tomatoes. He gave us some seed that we continued for a few years but then when we moved I lost it. I tried a few times with things at local nurseries or from Burpee, Harris and other seed companies but never was the product the same. About 10 years ago an old friend mentioned SEED SAVERS and I got online, and found a variety called German Pink. If it is not the same variety, it certainly is a close relative! Worth checking out.

[bacpacker]

Welcome back Vodin. Missed seeing you on here. Sounds like you've been busy. Hopefully you don't have another freeze or frost.

Socal, is this the site you buy from? Seems to me there are 2 seed groups like this, I'll try and find the other. I have purchased some from both in the past. They have good stuff.
I grow a heirloom tomato called German Queen. Pink tomato that gets so large 1 slice will cover a slice of bread. Makes one hell of a tomato sandwich or BLT. Let me know if you'd like to try some seed, I think I have some put back. There are several pink types. Check out Totally Tomatos. They have many many types of tomatos.

[Socalman]

Backpacker, I guess I should not be surprised that more than on such company would exist. Here is the one to which I was referring:

www.seedsavers.org

[bacpacker]

Sorry I forgot to attach the link. That is the one I was referring too.

[Katrina]

Hi all, Hope you're all safe. Garden boxes/ beds are planted and growing well. DH has his flowers all most done too. We've got 2 kinds of tomatoes, peas, carrots, peppers going. We're trying green onions, acorn squash and musk melons this year. Oh and a regular onion,one from store sprouted, so I had DH put it in the garden as an experiment.Planting marigolds and other flowers for bug control and to help the bees and butterflies. Glad to hear helo is home safe, hopefully none the worse for the wear. The skeeters are out in force thanks to all the rain past weeks.Guys came by last week and sprayed the apple trees, DH is going to spray them again per instructions so maybe this year we'll get edible apples.We replaced the sump pump this year. Old one was on it's last legs (we get tons of water) but it lasted 8 years so we're hoping to get at least that with the new one.During the rains it was going off every 28-30 seconds, I timed it. The old one would have died so I'm glad we did it before it started the weeks of rain. Hope we all have good harvests this year to put up.

[bacpacker]

Since my last post I built 2 4'x12'x2' raised beds, filled almost halfway with old limbs wood chunks, etc then topped it off with mushroom compost. Put some peatmoss and very rich organic potting soil on top. I filled one with onions and peppers, plus 1 tomato and a couple purple coneflowers. The other one has beans, peas, parsnips, carrots, more onions, a couple summer squash, and some cantaloupes. So far everything is doing good. I installed a drip irrigation system over the weekend.
In one of my garden spots we put out 26 tomatos more peppers, okra, & cucumbers. Okra never came up so replanted it this weekend too. My other spot I have tater, cabbage, kindey beans, great northern beans, & this weekend peaches and cream corn, sugar baby watermelons, & butternut squash.

[Socalman]

Quick report on late spring/early summer harvests:

We have a bounty of avocados, giving many to friends and neighbors. The same with oranges, though many people do not like fresh aqueezed orange juice. I can not believe that! Our apricots are finished and we got a decent number this year. Last year the animals, birds, squirrles and bears got the majority. Eating fresh, froze some and dehydrated some. Same with peaches that are just ripening. We gave some peaches to the neighbor across the street, last evening she brought fresh peach cobbler over to us! Great cook, she recently graduated from the Pasadena Culinary Institute and does some catering. Recent hot weather in the mid 90's pretty much ended the lettuce crop, we harvested the few remaining plants before it bolted. The edible pod peas did not have a good germination rate but got a few handfuls to use in soup and chinese food. My wife is not supposed to eat peas now anyway so it works. Lesson was learned on those, do not use old seed! My string beans, kentucky wonder p[ole beans are starting to produce. Picked the first few yesterday and checked this morning. Should have a nice little amount tomorrow! Tomatoes are growing like, well, tomatoes. One is a variety called Better Bush. It is very compact and dense but has several good sized fruits on it. Just waiting for those to turn red! The other vines are starting to set fruit. I was late to the party this year, we usually have fresh ones by mid-June. Zucchini plants are doing well, looking fine. Will plant a few more soon to insure a longer harvest time.

That's it.

By the way, if rioters come to your area, please do not litter, pick up your brass!

[bacpacker]

Sounds like a bountiful spring for you. Wish we could grow avocados and oranges here.

We are a ways behind you. Lettuce and spinach have bolted, but produced well till it did. Been eating some small onions, several different herbs, Mulberry trea was pretty good this year. Garpes are growing off well. Blueberries are just getting started, we may have harvested a pint over last 2 weeks. But next 2 weeks we'll be pickin that every other day for a little while. Most of the Apples tress has some apples, a couple is loaded. 1 pear has a good amount on it as well. Still a few weeks out for harvest.
The raised beds are doing great, got a few peppers so far, plenty more to come. Snow peas are just starting to make and are still blooming. Onions are growing like crazy and parsnips and green beans look good. In the ground the tomatos and other peppers, okra, and cukes are coming alomg. Will be harvesting maters and cukes in the next week or two.
My other spot I got a row of kidney beans blooming and great northern's growing well planted about 3 weeks later. Already harvest 3 cabbage and will pick 3 more tomorrow. Still have 6 heads of red cabbage just now forming up. And my taters are in full bloom and so far no tater bugs. Watermelons and butternut squash are coming up. Damn crows picked all my corn. All in all I'm happy with it

[gm2]

Well it was a shaky year for my garden. Lots of ideas and new things. Some worked and some didn't, and even more are still in process.

Horseradish, asparagus, rhubarb and chives are all doing great.

I had a scare with my tomato plants and the frost but they survived and I have my first little tomatoes coming in.

Snap peas are really slow this year but I believed to properly prepare a bed for them and just kind of threw something together.

Brussel sprouts are doing well,

Carrots got drowned I think

Onions are too hot to grow right. Should have started them sooner.

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[bacpacker]

GM sounds like over all your doing pretty good. I wish I could grow brusell sprouts here, way too hot. But for onions, I don't think heat is your problem. We've been in the 90's a good part of the past month and our onions are doing really good. THey do require regular deep watering and need lite fertilze every 2-3 weeks.
I get my onion slips for here. If you look around they have an outstanding section on growing tips.
https://www.dixondalefarms.com/

https://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionguide

[gm2]

What fertilizer do you use? I just grabbed a 10-10-10 for general use

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[bacpacker]

When I first plant I use 6-12-12. After the tops start growing I go with all nitrogen. I've got some 46-0-0 i used this year. But I go light with that stuff. But spread a little every 2-3 weeks until the bulbs stop swelling. The info on DixonDales site explains the fertilize part really well. This is the first year I have fertilized and watered like they are suppose to be. Seeing good results so far.

[Katrina]

Hello all, we're back. Garden did okay with the watering system DH put in. We may have lost all the pea blossoms while we were gone, got a doe that showed up about 2 weeks ago and we only have a couple of blossoms on the peas stalks, DH thinks she nibbled the plants. Tomatoes are starting to look good, got the peppers showing quite a few bells. Green onions, carrots, cantaloupe and the squash are going like crazy and my one lone onion looks like it took and is growing well. As for the salad greens we told our cat sitter to take what she wanted, if she didn't, guess the deer got that too, LOL so we're waiting for the next bunch to get big enough to harvest. If all goes well we should get 4-6 more cuttings on the salad greens. No problems traveling but a whole lot of people with OUT masks out there. Due to DH's and my health, we took the precautions and wore masks when we stopped, hand sanitizer was used A LOT LOL. Most of the trouble was south of Son1's area and most people around town wore masks and there was no trouble or problems. He said they are okay as most of the town is decent so they haven't had any trouble there. On the way home we may have seen a drug? bust go down at a rest stop, pulled in and there were two sets of state troopers by this car (two female troopers)and they had the woman out talking to her, the K9 was going a bit nuts in the one troopers car so they got the dog out of the car and he went right to the front right tire well and stood there barking. We didn't stick around and the other two cars of old folks that we had followed in, did our business and got out of there as quickly as we all could. Well we are anxiously waiting for the "crops" to be ready Hope you all had a good 4th.

[Vodin]

Apologies, it has again been awhile. Focused 150% on business. LQ has been closed for 120 days trying to get back into the safety zone.

Have an alert:

Meat.
I read some stories bout the slaughter houses booked for the near future. It is a valid issue every farmer is bringing in their cattle in droves. My provider is needing to wait until May-July of 2021. Still not verified but supposedly the grocers will have empty shelves. I placed my order. It is verified for several states at least the slaughter houses are booked.

[Vodin]

Working fast and hard on the Aquaponics. My gut is tell me something in the food world is building up. Need to be able to supply a good portion of veggies.
Completed 3 more NFT Tubes for my system have 2 more to do for completion.

It is filling out will be reseeding it for the next crops.

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- - - Updated - - -

Working fast and hard on the Aquaponics. My gut is tell me something in the food world is building up. Need to be able to supply a good portion of veggies.
Completed 3 more NFT Tubes for my system have 2 more to do for completion.

It is filling out will be reseeding it for the next crops. Also have (hopefully 10M/10F Tilapia inc for farming purposes.

https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/qLCGVh6gLYv-syoWuOZnJaGzhT8y0c3STQKUojmak1FfDigjTaMDPY3KLjQ/1600x1600/img?static={static}https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/yvuOhCSes4oNE5XYBwq7m9rkb0eHC5PzugrmYCDktZJfEfUEXe MleNeiaLM/1600x1600/img?static={static}

https://img.mewe.com/api/v2/photo/qLCGVh6gLYv-syoWuOZnJaGzhT8y0c3STQKUojmak1FfDigjTaMDPY3KLjQ/1600x1600/img?static={static}

[Katrina]

hi all, Quick check in. Found about 3 pea pods the deer hasn't found yet LOL. She is chomping at the salad greens as well. The wild bunnies, the other day, were standing on their hind legs trying to figure out how to get to our plants, we have them in boxes about 30" off the ground. They's too short,LOL. Tomatoes are starting to produce, got several little greenies on all four plants. Green onions, carrots are hugging along Have a dozen or so peppers almost ready.Squash and melons are just now producing,still have a lot of blossoms though. If they all produce, gonna have a bumper crop this year. Unfortunately DH's roses in one spot are not doing so well, so he's rearranged the watering system to see if that helps..Not sure what's going on in the bird world but they have been attacking the feeder like there's no tomorrow and the two squirrels as well. They normally don't get into the feeder but this year the little red one has been gloming on to the seed.Wonder if that means it's going to be a hard winter this year. At least that's what my grandfather used to say about the amount of birds around his feeders some years. Gonna smack DH , he keeps pulling the purslane out. Keep telling him LEAVE IT ALONE!! but he keeps pulling it out. Can't use the stuff in the lawn as roundup is used so when I spot it in the boxes on the deck, I try to cultivate it. Can I get seeds for it somewhere? So I can plant it in a pot.

[bacpacker]

We've had a bunch of animals going after our feeders as well. Wife keeps suet out for our blue jays and woodpeckers. We've had coons (i've trapped 3), squirrels (trapped one, shot one, got one to go). We also had a hawk on the deck a few times. Been going thru bird food like crazy, and the animals seem different this year. Other than feeding I can't put my finger on it, but something is off.

[Katrina]

We've now got the doe taking the seed as well. this is the second morning we've found the feeder knocked over and all the seed gone. I'm starting to think that we ARE in for a heck of a winter. Last time a deer got into the bird feeder it was a nasty winter. DH cleared out the salad green box the other day, all that's left were the stubs of the plants, doe doesn't let them grow any bigger. He replanted with more early peas, pkg said we could replant in Aug and put the box up on the deck. So we'll see if we get any peas this year. Maters are coming along and we have a half doz or so of the green bells hanging on the plants. My green onions still look good but spindly and the carrots are almost ready to pick. Mellon and squash are doing good too. Our BCBS sent out packets to "help" keep us safe a few weeks ago. A mask, information on how to stay safe, some of those one use strips to take your temp on the forehead AND a packet of parsley seeds of all things, so DH planted some of them and we're starting to see some parsley too. Guess they wanted to keep us busy while staying home LOL. I want to store the rest of the seeds we have, first time doing this by the way. So what would be a good way to do that? Would like advice from those that have been doing it successfully. Do I vac-pac them in the freezer bags(still in orig. packs) and put them in the freezer? or put them in another container, labeled and store in cool dark place? I have been collecting our old amber colored pill bottles to use to put the smaller screws,nails, washers and nuts, etc. in for the workshop (aka garage).

[bacpacker]

I've just kept my seed either in their packets or use medicine bottles. Keep them in the basement so temps do flucuate. But they are kept very dry. I've had good luck with most seed. Some seed just isn't viable for long periods, some is good for a long time.

[Katrina]

Thanks bp, appreciate the info. however it looks like we are losing two of the tomato plants, they have been sprouting yellow leaves. From the information we've received, they are suffering from root rot. The melons have tons of flowers but no melons so far. Got 3-4 acorn squash doing good. My green onions are looking strange, some of the bulb parts are peeking out of the soil with spindly green tops. they don't look like the ones I get from the farmers market. as we've never grown these, how do I know when to pick them? OH and I think we have some orphan corn growing in the box we didn't use this year. We have the bird feeder near it and it looks like some of the corn from the feeder has sprouted from it. We're going to leave it growing and see what the plants do. My question is IF it does grow into stalks of corn , will the corn be edible?? Anybody have an idea if bird seed is treated with noxious chemicals or not?

[bacpacker]

Bird seed likely is not treated, but the seed is probably inedibile. But you could grow some of your own bird food.
Green onions I will start pulling them when the green top is close to the size of a pencil, maybe 2/3rds the size. But sometimes the onions will bulb anyway, and the bulbs will start showing as they increase in size. Assuming the onions are not a pure type of green onion just let them go and see what size the bulbs will get to. Any onion can be picked as green at any time, so just enjoy.

[Katrina]

thanks again bp. The green part (tops)of the onions are like string, very thin. Think I'll pull a couple and see how the root end is doing. For all I know they could be developing into regular onions, (surprise to us LOL). Finally, got DH to look for and NOT yank the purslane. He found a couple of plants near his flowers so he's going to let them grow for me.Have been looking to see if I have any plantain (the plant not the fruit) but no luck so far. The Echinea flowers are doing remarkably good this year but the roses this year aren't doing so hot. May not get any hips this year.But he's planted a couple of new roses this year so maybe next year.

[bacpacker]

Pull a onion or two, Only way to see for sure what you have.
I've never done purslane, need to try sometime. I have plantain all over our yard. I cut a big pot full back in the spring and we made a tinqure out of it. Just about time to strain it and put in dark bottles.
We some herbal medicine books and trying to start doing that a little bit.
I planted a couple echeneisa plants this year in one of my raised beds. They are blooming out real nice. Our roses have done ok this year, lots of plant growth, but not heavy blooms.

[Katrina]

Will do, The roses had some good blossoms but I think the deer got the hips. She was at the bird feeder again tonight, I kinda talked to her, told her to leave the seed for the birds.Don't know if that will work LOL. It was worth a try though.

[Katrina]

Well garden is still hanging on. Got a few pearl onions and 4 little carrots today. Put them in the crock pot roast with the store bought carrots, they were yummy. Looks like we'll have more soon. We figured out why we lost the cantaloupes, DH had hooked up a soaker hose to one spigot in the underground system and put it under the weed cloth. Worked good while we were down south but we found out the connection got knocked off when this morning it was spewing the water towards the pine trees about 6 ft away and not going thru the soaker hose. We think the doe knocked the connection askew when she perused the bed and it completely disconnected this morning when the water went thru it and while the acorn squash plants got water the melons didn't get a lot of water for the last month.Got 6 acorns but SOMEONE??? chomped 2 of them. DH replanted the peas (again) and we have sprouts, yeah!! As for the tomatoes, we may get a few more of the small ones but there's nothing left on the two bigger plants. Now that we know what happened this year, DH is going to fix the connections for the hose and we'll try again next year. Only 2 peppers left ripening, makes a total of about 15 peppers this year from the two plants. Better harvest this year than last. Orphan corn is still growing, we may get some corn before the first frost(I hope)DH is not so sure. the apples still have spots on them. They got treated but not sure if we're going to get anything edible this year.
Has anyone heard anything on Iowa's crops and the deracho? Niece and family live there, they said they didn't get hit too hard but nephew in law has family that farm and he believes ALL the crops were destroyed. But I haven't talked to her mother since last week . Haven't seen really anything on the news MSN or Alt news about it other than Iowa got hit hard.

[ak474u]

We have so many maters we've been giving them away. Our Thai yardlong beans are out of control, more jalapeños and other peppers than I can use, tons of basil, good stuff this year.

[Katrina]

ak, wish I was closer, I'd gladly take some off your hands LOL. I'm gonna have to hit the farmers market and pick up some veggies.
Also We brought the squash inside and put it on the counter, yesterday DH noticed one was leaking some thick sticky gunk from one of them at the stem end. the others are fine, any thoughts as to why that one did that? Not ripe enough or going bad? Thanks in advance for any insights

[bacpacker]

We've been harvesting green beans off and on for couple weeks now. Harvested our kidney and great northern beans. haven't gotten them shelled yet, but I'm expecting a gallon or two each. Dug our row of taters last night, got half a bushel of Yukon golds. Also picked a half bushel of bell peppers, jalapenos, and banana peppers, green beans, okra, cuke, & maters.

[helomech]

We have a ton of cayenne peppers again this year. Wife is making hot sauce today.

[Katrina]

Well we made it thru the first frost this weekend. Carrots, onions and pepper plants did well, DH had covered them. Thought we had gotten all the peppers we were going to get but we have more peppers on the plants YEAH. been harvesting carrots, Son2 came over to help put up the plastics on the screen porch and I gave him a bunch of carrots and what I thought were the last two peppers for the grands. DH thinks the "orphan" corn in the box maybe sterile, so far all I have are stalks. Oh well, at least I'll have fall decor for the porch if there are no ears on them LOL. The apples are ALMOST ready but we are going to have to dehydrate a lot of them. Not sure I'm going to have enough lids for the jars or enough jars this year. Haven't been able to snag more in the stores AND I have been seeing cases of the jars being opened and the lids taken off of them. Crappy people!! Most places on line are out of lids and it will be a month or so before they may have any in stock according to the companies.
Hope you all are having better luck than we have this year. Stay safe.

[gm2]

We got our first frost and my tomato's are just dead as a doornail but now I know what a short growing season is up here. June 1st we got frost and Sept 19 we got frost. So a growing season of roughly 110 days. This will be super important next year.

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[bacpacker]

GM, look into high or low tunnels to extend the growing season on both ends. Also, cold frames to allow a much earlier start if you are starting lots from seed.

[helomech]

My tomatoes are doing great, and we just planted a bunch of spinach and lettuce. Way to much for us to eat, but will feed to the animals.

[gm2]

Backpacker,
I've recently started a new hobby that should make it much easier to start my garden next year.

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[Katrina]

Well, got the last of the peppers, carrots and pearl onions out of the garden yesterday.Time to get the boxes cleared out and stowed for the winter and start planning for next spring.Was able to save the acorn seeds this year and we have a few packets of seeds from this year. Will be storing them for next year as well.

[bacpacker]

We are still picking okra, bell peppers, Jalapenos, & banana peppers. Still got parsnips in the ground. They are growing but still small. Gonna let them go until we get a heavy frost.
Placed 2 orders for my onions for 2021. One batch due in late Feb. The other batch mid April, those are storage onions.
Gonna start placing my seed orders for 2021 as soon as the new seed start showing up in the catalogs. Also if anyone plans to do drip irrigation in the future https://www.dripdepot.com/ has a site wide 20% off sale that runs through October. They run this every year and I picked up my stuff last year and it worked out great. I'm looking stuff over to see what needs replacing and to get some other stuff to add to what I have.