Too soon to talk about gardening?

Winchester said:

 
By the way, newspapers are great to put down in between your rows of veggies. The newspaper really help to cut down on the the weeds. We are also working on planning another flower bed, trying to figure out where we want to put it. This fall, we'll plan it on the ground and then will lay down thick layers of newspaper and weigh the paper down with rock. We'll keep it that way over the winter. By spring, the weeds and grass should (SHOULD!) be pretty much dead by that point and we can work our compost into the area. And then plant.

We are also using some newspaper in our composting barrel. I'm saving the newspapers from our department and my sister is saving her newspaper for us.

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We used the ground cloth this year. It really holds in the ground moisture but don't do much on the leaves. We seem to be getting enough rain not to water everyday but I would like to water if we don't get any rain for a few days if for nothing else than to moisturize the leaves of the plants. My tomatoes are the only ones that seem to be suffering.

I use a wand to water so I can reach the base of the plants.  It prevents most of the leaves from getting wet.  We mulched the rhubarb (those and the strawberries are the only thing directly in the ground) because our soil is SO sandy.  I need to find a better method for the strawberries; they were a last minute decision so we didn't find anything to cover the ground there.  They are growing ok (and we've had a couple) but I'm trying to keep the weeds out and help protect the fruit.  The birds have gotten a few berries before we have.

Since I'm using raised beds I was told a soaker hose won't work for me.  They are each made of 2 4x4' sections connected at once side; so there is a hump in the middle it would have to cross.  .  The soakers need more level ground to work.  

I also read that rhubarb leaves are great in between rows of plants.  My plants aren't going to be ready for picking for a while; so I'm saving that idea for down the road; if we expand into the ground.  It seems the bulk of th weeding I do is early in the season before the plants get big enough to keep things from growing around them.  I've had a couple surprise me this year; but then I'm usually more diligent with the weeding!  One weed was so big I just broke it off as close to the ground as I could so it wouldn't disturb the roots of the beans!

I keep thinking; I would like to just fence off my garden area and do away with the grass around the beds.  I'd rather walk on pea gravel than have to keep mowing around them.  DH uses the weed-eater there a lot because it's gotten too narrow for the mower.  So things blow into the garden that way.  Then I could also plant some flowers around the outside of the garden fence.  It would look nice; although i wouldn't be able to see my gardens from the house so well. 

Draco said:

I discovered my very first tomato growing!! I am excited because this is my first garden and.. well.. yay!

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Good for you.
I once planted 2 halves of a cherry tomatoes in a small pot on my windowsill. I got one tomato out of that and a very nice tomato it was too. ;-)

Norachan said:

Have you tried cactus? They're pretty much indestructible. Just put them in a pot, put them near a window and then forget all about them.

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I've managed to kill cacti!!!!!!

I think we planted the cucumbers too close to the tomatoes.  The cucumber vines are sending out little tendrils that try to strangle the tomato plants.  The tomato plants are looking good, though.  Our first tomatoes should be ripe within a week or two, if all goes well.  

@MoochNNoodles  any chances of sending rhubarb pie my way?  

nurseangel said:

I think we planted the cucumbers too close to the tomatoes.  The cucumber vines are sending out little tendrils that try to strangle the tomato plants.  The tomato plants are looking good, though.  Our first tomatoes should be ripe within a week or two, if all goes well.  :cross:

@MoochNNoodles
 any chances of sending rhubarb pie my way?  

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Gosh I sure hope so!! Im told i have to waitva few years to pick any so the plants can get established. I can already taste the pie!!

Do you have supports around the tomatoes? The cukes might climb that too!

Garden is looking pretty good. I mentioned in the Name Three Things thread that we did some considerable weeding again over the weekend and it looks nice. Weeded among the onions, peppers, squash plants, broccoli, tomatoes, and sunflowers. Basically, we need to hoe along down the corn rows. I'm going to start putting newspaper down the rows of plants tonight; we'll see how it goes for a while.

The poor strawberry patch looks dreadful though. It definitely needs to be weeded again.

I took four more banana peppers and two nice green peppers over the weekend, too. Had to cut the broccoli heads as they were getting pretty big, so I made some broccoli salad to go with out dinner last night. We have tomatoes, but they're still really green. The onions are looking nice; I don't know how big the bulbs are, but the leaves are nice and big; I'm anxious to try the Red Zepplin onions , but we have a while for those. We have tons of squash flowers and just teeny little squashes right now. The squash plants are just enormous! Even the butternut plants are huge and everything is crawling and tendriling all over the place. I had to "rescue" a little banana pepper plant from the leaves of a butternut squash plant that was shading the pepper plant too much.

Our sunflowers are about a foot tall so far; they look nice. They're dwarf sunflowers, so they'll only get about 3-4 feet high.

I asked Rick about planting rhubarb and got a resounding NO! He hates the stuff. Won't even eat strawberry-rhubarb pie. If I'm going to be the only one who eats it, it's not really worth planting.

I just picked about 2 quarts of peas; still in the shells.  I had just run out to water the tomatoes and flowers and brought along a container to grab a few.  There were so many I had to bring it in and dump it on the counter so I could finish picking.  Some might be too big to taste any good but oh well.  

We've had a few tomatoes and we should have peppers and summer squash any day now.  The peppers are getting huge; I'm just waiting for them to ripen!  The zucchini is just a bit behind the summer squash; but those plants grew slower than the SS so no surprise there.  I'm watching the baby beans grow too.  Soon!    

So far we haven't had any more tomatoes split.  I'm trying to water twice a day like @sivyaleah  said to and I'm picking a little early.  They've been ripening inside ok. 

Wow! All of your gardens are so far ahead of mine! Still lots of lettuces here. :lol3:

I'd love to see photos of the gardens now!

I have lots of tomatoes growing, so excited!

I have lots of peppers that I have already picked. I will be getting them ready to start pickling them once I get a few more. I don't have quite enough to fill the jars I have.

Draco said:

 
I'd love to see photos of the gardens now!

I have lots of tomatoes growing, so excited!

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Once it's not 90million degrees outside I will take some pictures.  It's nice to look back and see how things grew previous years!

kntrygrl256 said:

 
I have lots of peppers that I have already picked. I will be getting them ready to start pickling them once I get a few more. I don't have quite enough to fill the jars I have.

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How do you keep your peppers until it's time to pickle them?  I had problems last year because some things would spoil before I was ready to pickle.  (Last year was my first year pickling and canning.)  I also felt like I never had enough show for all the time it took to get the water bath going to end up with just 5 jars! 

I just put mine in the bottom of the refrigerator. That's what my parents always did. Just keep them cool until it's time to pickle them.

Here is a recipe I found to put up a couple jars at a time. I'm going to use this one. I've never put anything like that up so this will be my first time so it's trial and error.

Pickled peppers

2 pint canning jars

peppers to fill jars (I'm using pepperoncini peppers right now)

2/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup water

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt, divided

Instructions

1. Sterilize jars.

2. Wash the peppers and set aside.

3. Combine the water and vinegar in sauce pan. Heat until about to boil.

4. Add one garlic clove and salt in the jar and fill with peppers. (Peppers can be sliced or left whole.)

5. Pour heated vinegar/water mix over peppers and put on lids.

6. Process the jars in boiling water for 5 minutes.

7. Remove from water and set to cool until lids seal.

8. Refrigerate once opened.

MoochNNoodles said:

Gosh I sure hope so!! Im told i have to waitva few years to pick any so the plants can get established. I can already taste the pie!!

Do you have supports around the tomatoes? The cukes might climb that too!

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DH just put up the stakes for the tomatoes.  We have fewer tomatoes on the vine so far this year, but we've had some fierce weather.  Blazing hot and bad thunderstorms.  Maybe we should stake the cucumbers.  I've never grown them before and am not sure how to tell if they're ripe.  I should have one ripe Amelia tomato by the weekend.

kntrygrl256 said:

 
Here is a recipe I found to put up a couple jars at a time. I'm going to use this one. I've never put anything like that up so this will be my first time so it's trial and error.

Pickled peppers

2 pint canning jars

peppers to fill jars (I'm using pepperoncini peppers right now)

2/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup water

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt, divided

Instructions

1. Sterilize jars.

2. Wash the peppers and set aside.

3. Combine the water and vinegar in sauce pan. Heat until about to boil.

4. Add one garlic clove and salt in the jar and fill with peppers. (Peppers can be sliced or left whole.)

5. Pour heated vinegar/water mix over peppers and put on lids.

6. Process the jars in boiling water for 5 minutes.

7. Remove from water and set to cool until lids seal.

8. Refrigerate once opened.

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That sounds like all I used to do the banana peppers last year.  I watched videos on youtube and bought a book to learn how to do it!  I got some advice here too.  

nurseangel said:

 
DH just put up the stakes for the tomatoes.  We have fewer tomatoes on the vine so far this year, but we've had some fierce weather.  Blazing hot and bad thunderstorms.  Maybe we should stake the cucumbers.  I've never grown them before and am not sure how to tell if they're ripe.  I should have one ripe Amelia tomato by the weekend.

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I like using the trellis for my cukes because it gives me more room in the garden.  Also they hang down so they aren't in the dirt.

We picked a bunch of things tonight!  I got the last of the peas; the vines are drying out now.  I also got a handful of beans.  DH found 2 tiny but ripe strawberries.    He also got 3 zucchini and 3 summer squash.  We picked a bunch of peppers.  I think we got 6 or 7 of the Gypsy peppers and a few banana peppers.  One was so long it was pressing into the dirt.  I picked one mariachi pepper because I'm not sure if they are ripe. They are a good size; but not changing color yet.  I thought they were supposed to go red, orange and yellow/green.  So far they all look yellow green!  

I was speed-weeding after picking so i asked DH if he would take some pictures for me.  Now I need to go steal his phone so I can e-mail them to myself to show you!

Don't they go from whitish to yellow-green, then to red?  I usually pick mine at the yellow-green stage. If I let them go any longer than that, the bugs will get to them before I do. They're still really good; I love Mariachi peppers. I think they're among my favorite peppers. I love to grill or roast them. Yum

Can't wait to see pictures!

Since it hasn't rained much they bugs are in full force. We sprayed for bugs a couple days ago and watered yesterday. I have several things to pick but I wanted to wait until it was watered enough to get rid of the bug spray and grow a couple more days. I have several more peppers that will be ready today so I will get them picked and ready to put in jars by the weekend.

My tomatoes are loaded but nothing ripe yet. They are a few that are quite large and green so I may pick a couple of them and fry. I've been wanting some fried green tomatoes. It would be awesome that my first of the season would be right out of my garden.

We have several watermelon and pumpkins growing but I haven't seen any cantaloupe yet.  Our corn is getting taller everyday. By this time next week it will be taller than me. 

Well here is our garden so far this year. DH took them when the light was fading from the coming storm; so they aren't all clear.

From left to right: Orange Bell peppers, Gypsy peppers and Mariachi.


The summer squash and zucchini. So much for "compact plants!" 
A view from front to back.  And yellow man since I was in too big of a hurry to move out of the pictures. 



The other side of the peppers.  L to R: Mariachi and Banana.  You can also see some of the giant weeds I pulled.  A few were so big I just cut them at the ground!


Yellow man picking peas.  Cukes in the front.  


Yellow ma'am smiling over the carrots and more cukes.  That cuke vine on the right is so far out in the yard it'll reach the fence before long.  The garlic is in the middle looking sad.  it's drying out in spite of watering?  I thought it was supposed to flower and needed all summer to grow.  


A better view of the cukes. 2 varieties; a salad slicer and a pickling cucumber.


Bush beans; 2 varieties.


Potatoes; they got away from me; so much for "hilling" them. You can kind of see the strawberries along the fence line.


The tomatoes!


The Rhrubarb plants.  The bigger one started out with a huge root and it broke into 3 pieces; hence 3 plants. 
You can see in these pics how sandy our soil is and why I wanted raised beds instead of planting right in the ground.  Plenty of people garden around here; but it does seem things dry out faster in the sandy soil.  The raised beds mean I got to start out with good soil to begin with.  

Everything looks so green and healthy!