Question Of The Day, Friday, June 30

[Winchester]

Good morning! And Happy Friday!

I'm not sure how many people put out a garden this year. We did not, simply because, here in the northeast, our spring was really cold and wet and we couldn't get into the soil with a rototiller right away. Til we were able to, it really wasn't feasible, so we didn't bother.

Which actually might have been a good idea. Last month, we were finally told that our drought watch is over. Here in central PA, we spent last fall and even the winter and most of the spring in a severe drought, even with all the rain we had. We finally managed to get beyond it, but now, we're not getting nearly enough rain again and the farmers are already starting to complain about the lack of rain.

Did you put in a veggie garden this year? If so, what did you plant? And is it raised beds? Tell us about your garden.

 

[scraggles]

I rent so I can't do as much with the garden as I'd like to. However, I grow a lot in pots with the view to being able to transport them should I ever have to move. I don't grow vegetables but everything I do plant is edible - I also try find bee friendly plants.

It's mainly herbs but also edible flowers. These photos are from last year - I must take some more up-to-date ones.

I also enjoy making a cup of herbal tea from the garden and enjoying it out there when the sun shines. I pick and mix the herbs and put them into a coffee plunger. I use lavenders, sage, chamomile, feverfew, mints, lemon balm, lemon verbana, marjoram...

I call it my bee/butterfly/herb garden.

 

[Mia6]

Those are amazing pics!

Mia

 

[MeganLLB]

I have an herb garden planted in a large pot with basil, parsley , mint, and cilantro. I also planted something called a pineapple tomato. I can't eat tomatoes because they are too acidic, but this tomato is supposed to be not as acidic. I keep getting buds on it, but then they wither away and I never get a tomato. I 've had it since end of May and still no tomatoes, only flowers that come and go . I can't figure out what Im doing wrong...

 

[mokapi]

Those pictures are so beautiful!

I'm an aspiring gardener, but haven't had much time this year to do anything veggie-wise. I moved into my boyfriend's house in February, and he lives on 4 acres...and the house needs SO much work (built in the 50s, only bachelor men have ever lived there...I'm the first woman, so perhaps you can imagine the MESS??). I'm an interpretive naturalist by trade, and am particular bee-obsessed, so when I did finally get the chance to put things in the ground a few weeks ago, I just tried wildflowers. We have a little meadow, and I sowed a few packs of wildflower seeds out there, and then I was able to do some actual planting on the side of the house. We rototilled, and then I planted bee balm, foxglove, goldsturm, black-eyed susans, coreopsis, pink sundrop primrose, columbine, and asters. I broad-sowed another pack of wildflowers, and WOW, are the baby plants doing a lot! I'm very new to gardening, but I hope that everything lives. It's been so hot and dry here.

There are three tomato plants on the back deck, one of whom has decided to grow about 3 feet tall after just a couple of weeks. Across the street, the boyfriend's uncle has a garden, and he's successfully grown lettuce, beets, beans, onions, and carrots, so far!

I hope I can plant more next year...I'm saving up to build and fill some raised beds. I love being able to go outside and pick things. I try to do some yard foraging, but it's mostly wood sorrel, blackcaps, and plantains. Not many morels so far this year, but lots of ramps earlier in the spring.

 

[rubysmama]

A couple years ago I grew peas, beans, carrots, cucumbers, corn & tomatoes. It was fun, but only semi-successful and I missed my flower bed. So last year I switched back to annuals, and the same this year.

I also have perennials, but the annual bed is the sunny one and the only one that would work for veggies. Course I could start a veggie-only bed. Maybe next year.

 

[Kieka]

OWe have a lot of fruit trees (orange, tangerine, lime, lemon, apricot, plum and peach plus avocado). Its what happens when you live in the home of the navel orange in California. While we had a very wet winter it's warmed up and we are already seeing high heat. This year we do have a garden and the cats have really taken on the task of protecting it from the squirrels.... or the squirrels are distracted by stealing avocados. We have tomatoes, jalapeño, squash and zuchinni.

 

[Freedom]

Scraggles, thank you so much for those awesome photos!

 

[bbdoll22]

Even though we rent our land lord is awesome because he lets us plant a garden. My husband made a large raised bed. We planted 8 tomatoe plants, 8 cucumber plants 2 red pepper plants and 1 eggplant.

 

[foxxycat]

I don't have an answer for the one with the flowers that fall off-my first thought is some kind of fungus or other infection=did you Google search it?
I have been growing perennials for years and have figured out what likes what. As far as vegetables-in NH it is very short growing season so I usually buy the plants already grown. This year I have a pot of acorn squash and a six pack of cherry tomatoes-I had these side rock gardens that I never use-this year I pulled the dirt out and dumped in bags of potting mix and stuck the tomatoes and petunias in there-the void is like 2 feet deep so it's plenty deep enough for roots...it's been a few days and so far they seem happy to be there. There's also a mystery tomato plant in a red cup I got from work-someone left them on the café tables-so I took one-it's getting bigger-got to find a spot to stick it-I think I am going to pot it in a 2 gallon pot I haven't planted...still have one bag of dirt left.

I used to do all kinds of veggies until Jon wouldn't eat them so I gave up. We used to have a ton of cucumber plants-they are fairly easy to grow-but there's only so much cukes you can eat! I enjoy learning the different soil types required for plants.

I try to find acidic loving plants because I have pine trees on my land and tons of wild strawberries-so things that need lime I don't bother with. Or I just dig a big hole=pull out the dirt and dump a bag of potting mix in the hole and mix it with the sides to make a better dirt there. I just plain love digging in the dirt..weeding is a pain but I slowly started doing it again...Can't believe tomorrow is July 1!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I have my usual garden in. I will add a few pics from my phone later.

I have 3 raised beds plus some things in pots. In the raised beds are cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, Italian Bush beans, more peppers and eggplants. I had peas but the weird spring made them taste awful. So I replaced the peas with more pepper plants and the eggplants. I don't even like eggplant at all; but I figured it would be fun to grow.

I have tomatoes, summer squash and zucchini in pots. The tomatoes (pots included) are now taller than my 6'2" husband!!! I literally made him stand in front of them so I could take a picture.

We are also working on some flower gardens and landscaping finally. I haven't been able to sit properly for the last 3 days thanks to the landscaping work. My quads are like .

 

[neely]

When we moved to our present house I found out the hard way I couldn't grow too many vegetables because of all the clay in the soil. I did however have some luck with perennials, e.g. black eyed susan, day lilies, peonies, hostas, and up until now clematis.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I'm not sure which is prettier, the gardens, the butterflies, or the cats!

I have a fairly large raised container garden, all herbs and vegetables. We plant in early March and anything that isn't in by mid-April has a lot of catching up to do. We usually start harvesting in mid-May.

I have six fantastic Sweet Million grape tomatoes that are ripening faster than we can eat them. My husband brings in about a pint every other day, and that's about half of what he picks. The other half gets "sampled for quality". The other four plants are also churning out large tomatoes.

The three varieties of jalapeños are going crazy, with Mariachis big enough to stuff. We also have five hot varieties of habaneros plus some no-heat ones. Then there are the super-hots that almost melt their pots - Carolina Reaper (arguably the world's hottest), Trinidad Moruga scorpion (a rival to the reaper), and several others.

I also put in (Texan for planted) cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and green beans. They've been a bit slower to make, but the flowers are really pretty.

I love having fresh herbs to harvest. I have four varieties of mint because I'm a mint freak. I'd probably have a couple of dozen kinds if I had room. I made an incredible mint chimichurri sauce a while back. Of course, I have to have four big bushy basils (try saying that five times fast), oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage, Mexican mint marigold (Texas tarragon) because the real thing doesn't do well here, garlic chives, parsley, and of course, lots of catnip.

All in all, there are 72 plants and we have a timed drip system to water them. It's easier and more efficient.

I have a dozen Earth Boxes that are the bee's knees for apartment dwellers or those who want a lot in a little space. They're self-watering (you fill the reservoir as needed) and soak up the water from the bottom as needed. You fertilize once a season and there is a cover that goes over the soil to keep weeds out. They're cheapest from the company and worth every penny. We have the grape tomatoes in them, and the plants promptly shot up over 8' tall.

I think those #$%!!! leaf-footed bugs have found my tomatoes. They can destroy a plant overnight. Tomorrow we do battle!

These are mostly from May 30.

 

[scraggles]

I've always loved the idea of the garden being an extention of the house - another room to enjoy. Unfortunately, where I live we don't always have the weather for it - but doesn't stop me trying!

Have loved seeing all your posts and photos - really inspiring!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I have an herb garden planted in a large pot with basil, parsley , mint, and cilantro. I also planted something called a pineapple tomato. I can't eat tomatoes because they are too acidic, but this tomato is supposed to be not as acidic. I keep getting buds on it, but then they wither away and I never get a tomato. I 've had it since end of May and still no tomatoes, only flowers that come and go . I can't figure out what Im doing wrong...

it sounds like it could be that your pineapple tomato blooms aren't getting pollinated. here's an article i found online that gives instructions for hand pollinating tomatoes -- Hand Pollinate Tomatoes: How To Pollinate Tomato Plants By Hand i've never needed to hand pollinate tomatoes, but i've done it with zucchini plants. for those, i just used a cotton swab, gently rubbed the swab to collect the pollen, then carefully rubbed the pollen onto the end of the flower/bloom stigma. that year, i had a 'bumper crop' of zucchini!



no veggie garden here this year! i'd really love to have a raised bed veggie garden, like MoochNNoodles ! i may end up doing that in upcoming years. i've done that before, many years ago, and really liked it.

 

[Winchester]

Great pictures, guys! I'm green with envy!
Kieka , your furkids are just gorgeous!

scraggles , you take wonderful pictures. Those butterflies are beautiful!

mokapi , many of the flowers in our flowerbeds are planted specifically for the bees. They love the lavender especially, but they also love the coneflowers and the Shasta daisies. When we looked for flowers, we looked for those that are drought-resistant and those that the bees were really love.

MeganLLB , I had that happen with acorn squash. The plants produced flowers, then buds, which should have been the squashes, but the buds would fall off. Beautiful squash plants....no squash.

bbdoll22 , that's great that your landlord doesn't mind a garden. Good job!

rubysmama , I understand about loving flowers, too.

MoochNNoodles , I love your garden. Rick keeps promising me raised beds; at this point, I just say, "Yeah, yeah" and let it go. And wow, those tomatoes are tall!

Mother Dragon , great job on your planter garden! We grew Mariachi peppers, but ours never got that big. I would end up throwing the peppers in with other peppers, chopping them all up, putting them into containers for the freezer and calling them Mixed Chopped Peppers. I love Mariachi peppers. Good luck doing battle to save your tomatoes. I love going out and picking whatever herbs I need for the night's dinner; fortunately around here, most of them are perennial, but I do have to replant basil every year.

neely , our soil is clayish, too, and it makes it difficult sometimes. We kept adding horse manure for several years in a row, and, in fact, we're about due to throw in another couple truckloads of manure. Fortunately, there are plenty of Amish and Mennonites who are only too willing to give us all the manure we can possibly use. We throw it into the garden area, rake it all out, the Rick tills it in. I am constantly going around picking up rocks from the garden....we keep saying that we're going to use them to build a small rock wall somewhere in the yard.

foxxycat , I was able to grow fabulous cucumbers for the first year or two that we started gardening again. Now, I can't anymore. I moved the plants to another area of the garden, thinking that would help, but nothing. The plants just wither, no matter how careful I am. And I need cukes to make my pickles! We are completely out of canned pickles now and zucchini relish as well. I won't buy cukes to make pickles this year, but will have to buy zucchini and peppers for the relish.

Hopefully next year, with Dear Richard retiring, we'll be able to find the time to have a nice garden again. We really miss gardening, but it just seems that things didn't work out the last couple of years.

 

[di and bob]

We have an acre in the middle of town, and it is covered with extensive flower and vegetable beds. I'm glad I'm retired now, the weeding and watering keep me more than busy! We had a cool, wet spring and then the rain shut off like a spigot, less than 15 hundredths all of June!I have thirty five tomato plants, doing very well, shoulder high and full of little tomatoes, 10 hills of canteloupe, a raised bed full of green beans (the things I hate to pick the most!) , green peppers, jalapenos, onions, and ornamental gourds. Something new this year is Indian Corn, those colored ears for fall decorating. With our 250.00 water bills I 'm growing extra for the farmer's market to help pay for it. I got into it last year and made a couple of hundred dollars for my excess gourds. It got me hooked. The deer have sampled everything, I'm at war! I also have every kind of flower imaginable, well those that grow around here, and the flowers are exceptionally beautiful right now. I have color and beauty everywhere, and butterflies galore. Life is good!

 

[AbbysMom]

We did plant a vegetable garden this year and have herbs, lettuces, kale, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, string beans, pumpkins, zucchini and pumpkins. I know I am forgetting something.

 

[rubysmama]

We planted 8 tomatoe plants, 8 cucumber plants 2 red pepper plants and 1 eggplant.

I've grown tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers. The red peppers need sun and heat and took a long time to turn red. Tomatoes and cucumber plants produce a lot, so plan to be begging your neighbours to take some of both. Especially the cucumbers which can grow oversized, overnight.

I try to find acidic loving plants because I have pine trees on my land and tons of wild strawberries-so things that need lime I don't bother with.

I've got a million wild strawberries in my backyard grass that I'm trying to dig out. I need to put more lime down this fall.

When we moved to our present house I found out the hard way I couldn't grow too many vegetables because of all the clay in the soil.

You could do what foxxycat does and dig a hole and replace the dig with the store bought soil.

 

[Mother Dragon]

April 17, 2017

These were late-arriving pepper plants I ordered. They're full-size now. This s the newest section of the garden.