The Gardening 2014 Thread - I just spent 2 hours in a garden center.

[MoochNNoodles]

Something has been nibbling at my basil and sage.  My cilantro is TALL!  And in flower.  The parsley is next to it looking nice and bushy; but the cilantro shot up instead of out.  

I trimmed a bunch of leaves from all 3 of my tomato plants tonight.  They are in the buckets on the patio.  All last week was gloomy, humid and then rainy.  I'm hoping it's simply over watering.  I'm starting to get tomatoes on all 3 of them!

I'm also finding yellowing and drooping leaves on the summer squash plants. 

  I snipped one low like my Grandfather suggested and no sign of a borer.  Last year something similar happened and I lost my plants. They are starting to produce too; but nothing for harvesting yet.  My beans are growing too.  The cukes are starting to vine and flower too. 

When I lifted one leaf on the summer squash to look at the yellow one directly under it I did notice a TON of ants on the leaf!  It was about the size of my hand and it must have had 20 ants on it.  We have tons of ants in the yard; but I thought they were good for gardens?  Could they actually be part of my garden problems?

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Spent the morning at one of our local nurseries and came home with:

• 6 asparagus plants (we're creating a small asparagus bed next to the strawberries....it's going to be one large perennial bed with the strawberries and the asparagus, so we want to keep it all together...we shall add asparagus as we go. Those 6 plants are to start with for right now)
• 6 broccoli plants
• 2 yellow squash plants
• 2 zucchini plants
• 6 butternut squash plants
• 12 green pepper plants (we've always had a lot of luck with Lady Belle peppers)
• 2 sweet heat hot pepper plants
• 12 roma tomato plants
• 3 cucumber plants (not planning on any pickles this year)
• 2 packs of corn seeds
• 2 packs of lima bean seeds

Some flowers, mostly annuals, but some perennials, too

Then we went to Lowes:

• 100 feet of galvanized steel 5 foot tall fencing
• 10 posts for the fencing (we have a ton of posts, so we think ten will be all we need)
• A bag of mesquite chips (for the pork shoulder tomorrow in the grill)
• 2 bungee cords
• And a new push mower

Rick also found the gate that he wants for the garden (no way can I climb over 5-foot tall fencing!), so we'll have to head back down after we get the fence up to buy the gate. Rick is ready to wage battle on the deer and raccoons. I'm ready to give up at this point. It's a war I honestly don't think we'll win.

i'm late reading this post, but marigolds are good at deterring rabbits and deer. the marigolds can be planted near the veggie plants or around the edges of the veggie garden.

also, i had good results last year when i planted my carrot seeds close to my tomato plants. we have lots of rabbits here, and i had no carrots or the tops/greens of them nibbled on at all last year. so it might help to consider planting some of the veggies that the deer/rabbits tend to go for interspersed with tomato plants.

 

[mani]

I've been out while it's cool (winter here!).

My garden is basically sand.. I'm forever adding manure/ mulch etc but nutrients leach through so quickly.

So I have mainly Australian Natives, succulents and broms as they thrive and the birds, frogs and lizards have a good ecosystem.  I'm about to plant this gorgeous bottlebrush.. It will grow to about 2 metres:

flower2.jpg

• mani
• Jun 20, 2014
• 1

Otherwise it's pots.  This gorgeous petunia has done brilliantly, flowering year round in my old strawberry pot.  They're called 'lemon slice' and they're a miniature variety.  I really recommend them.

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• mani
• Jun 20, 2014

 

[nurseangel]

I'm so excited to talk about gardening!  Except I'm very tired and read that Pam bought a Rottweiler.  We moved the garden to a new spot this year and the tomatoes are going wild.  That's all we've planted; a mix of hybrid and heirloom tomatoes.  Here's the run down:

1 Cherokee Purple

1 Early Girl

1 Defiant (I had to have it; a tomato with a name that describes my own personality?  Never heard of such.  It now has over 35 green tomatoes, so it was a happy choice.)

1 Better Bush

1 Juliet grape variety (She was almost dead at Lowe's; it was a "pity" buy.  She, too, is weighted down with fruit.)

1 Big Boy

1 Park's Whopper (Golly Jeepers, Creepers, he's taller than me!)

1 Beefmaster

1 Atkinson

1 Celebrity

2 Black Krim

I can't take credit at all for how well the tomatoes are doing.  I've babied them and given them Epsom Salts, powdered milk and "Mater Magic" which came in a little plastic container shaped like a tomato.  I even saved a Granddaddy spider from being squished in the back door and took him out to do some of his serious organic pest control in the garden.  But the weather has been kind in our area of North Carolina this year, ideal growing conditions.  It's a blessing.  The last few years, we've had hail storms, excessive rain, and droughts.  

My strawberries have came and went.  Daisy and I had a blast while they lasted.  As many of you know, my girl loves strawberries.  The grape vines have broken the arbor, but we won't get fruit until the fall.  The only thing I've left to plant is the Watermelon radishes.  

If anyone is looking for a great tree to plant with virtually no pest problems and a huge fruit production, I would recommend Asian pears.  If I can grow them, they must be easy to grow.  And they're pretty trees, too. Though I don't really care much for the raw fruit, you can make "apple" pies with it.  One year, I gave loads of them away to a talented woman who does canning and such. 

Everyone's pictures are beautiful.  Thank you all for sharing.  Mani, I love that bottlebrush.  It's breathtaking.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i haven't planted much this year, compared to previous years. this year i planted from seed, alyssum, aubrietta, and dianthus in a new garden bed that has two hardy hibiscus in it already.

currently i'm catching up on weeding all my flower garden beds. last summer and fall i didn't get much weeding done (after our mickey crossed the bridge, then snick's continuing medical issues). i'll probably be planting the last in the packets of the aubrietta and alyssum seeds in the handful of spots where plants didn't come back this year, as i move through the weeding.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I was away for the weekend and came home to some sadness in the garden. The tomatoes are still turning yellow.  I'm doing some reading and it looks like it might be a water/nutrient deficiency.  My house sitter didn't do a good job watering; I'm guessing she only did it once. 

  My big pot of calibrachoa was bone dry. (Next year I'm getting it a self watering basket!  The ones in those were fine!  I was watering before I even went in the house last night.  I'm still seeing yellow leaves come up on the summer squash and zucchini too.  I'm starting to wonder if that isn't also a nutrient deficiency.  I'm going to get plant food for them both tonight when my parents come to watch the kids.  I'm way too tired from the weekend to take these guys along grocery shopping!  

I should be harvesting beans any day now and I'm pretty sure I'll be picking my first tomatoes today or in the next day or so.  I see lots of flowers on the cucumbers so hopefully they will be ready for picking soon too!!!!  

 

[kathyfromcanada]

 
I was away for the weekend and came home to some sadness in the garden. The tomatoes are still turning yellow.  I'm doing some reading and it looks like it might be a water/nutrient deficiency.  My house sitter didn't do a good job watering; I'm guessing she only did it once. 

  My big pot of calibrachoa was bone dry. (Next year I'm getting it a self watering basket!  The ones in those were fine!  I was watering before I even went in the house last night.  I'm still seeing yellow leaves come up on the summer squash and zucchini too.  I'm starting to wonder if that isn't also a nutrient deficiency.  I'm going to get plant food for them both tonight when my parents come to watch the kids.  I'm way too tired from the weekend to take these guys along grocery shopping!  

I should be harvesting beans any day now and I'm pretty sure I'll be picking my first tomatoes today or in the next day or so.  I see lots of flowers on the cucumbers so hopefully they will be ready for picking soon too!!!!  

That sucks. I had a bad experience once with a pet sitter. Food bowls were all empty and the water dish dry as a bone. Fired her on the spot! Have a different pet sitter now. Also paid my B-I-L to look after our gardens while we were away. He did a great job! Sorry you had this experience..

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Help i have questions! Ok; just a silly one... When are banana peppers ready to pick?

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• MoochNNoodles
• Jun 29, 2014

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• MoochNNoodles
• Jun 29, 2014

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• MoochNNoodles
• Jun 29, 2014

I've got lots of smaller ones on there too. And a baby bell pepper growing plus another "snacker" size one. We harvested 3 zucchini and 2 summer squash tonight. I added those to the few already in the refigerator. Ive got a good bunch of beans picked too. They caught me by surprise and some have already swelled up. My bush beans are looking like a crazy, tangled mess right now; so they were really hiding in there!! I have picked a few tomatoes. They were fantastic. I see quite a few cukes growing in there too.

I picked up more liquid fence from lowes today. The bunnies have been nibbling on the beans and i think possibly the flowers of the summer squash and zucchini in the connecting bed. I see the blossoms on the ground and the flowerless stalk with just a clear snip from the looks of it. I've been putting DH's hair out there after I cut it. Wonder if he needs a trim? :lol3:

 

[Winchester]

Judging from that top picture, that one is ready to be picked now. That's a nice size for them. At least, I'd pick the ones around that size. You know, I freeze banana peppers in long slices. That way I have them for pizza toppings. What are you going to do with them?

We aren't even close to picking anything yet. I'm not allowed to walk up there, but I mow slowly around the garden on the riding mower, just so I can gawk a bit.  

 The early corn did nothing, hardly any ever came up (we had that happen last year, too, so no more early corn, I think); the later corn is doing well. The peppers are starting to flower. Rick got the cages around the tomatoes on Saturday night. Lima beans have some flowers on them, too; they look great. We didn't plant any green beans this year. Asparagus looks well. The broccoli looks really good. Everything looks fairly well. We've been getting fairly steady amounts of rain this year. So far. 

Except for the poor strawberry patch. The plants really suffered through the past winter and, even with the netting, the bunnies did a number on the fruit. We (well, Rick) picked as much fruit off the plants as we could, trying to force the plants into caring for themselves instead of the berries. Rick wants to dig a one-foot row of space between the plants as it's getting to be this huge patch of strawberry plants in the garden and we need to do something. It will help us to get into the patch easier, too, with some space between the rows. 

I never did get any horseradish to grate. Started having trouble with my foot and then it bolted. It's not any good once it bolts. Hopefully next year.

We had bought some snow peas, but never got the seeds planted. I think we're going to wait til around mid-August or so and plant them then. Til they're ready to bear, it might be a bit cooler by then.

Still looking at compost bins. Mantis has one that gives about 12 cubic feet of compost about every 2-3 weeks or so. It's a smaller one, but it still turns. We're looking at that one, but I don't know if we'll get it or not. Kind of waiting to see what for sale they might come up with around the end of the summer. I need to buy some bales of straw, too, for the strawberry plants for the winter.....I don't want them to go through that again. (I can't believe I'm already thinking about winter and those cold days! 

)

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
Judging from that top picture, that one is ready to be picked now. That's a nice size for them. At least, I'd pick the ones around that size. You know, I freeze banana peppers in long slices. That way I have them for pizza toppings. What are you going to do with them?

Honestly... I don't know! 

I usually buy the jarred ones for sandwiches.  I've got a recipe for a grilled turkey,bacon, tomato, cheese sandwich and I've been adding those too.  I thought it would be fun to grow peppers this year and the banana pepper came in a 4 pack.  I have done pizza toppings too.  I really need to research don't I! 

  I've got 6 pepper plants total.  One has stayed very short but it's producing fruit.  I think it's the "snacker" one.  "Someone" rearranged my stakes that told me which were which. 

We never got the peas planted this year either.  I'm hoping to do a fall planting.  By then my trellises should be free of the cukes.  Unless I get a long season out of those too.  I'll have to see where I can fit them I guess.  

I'll go pick that pepper and maybe one other later.  I was wondering if there is a color difference between ripe and unripe peppers; like tomatoes.  Or if they are something that is ok to eat at any stage of growth; like carrots.  It's exciting to try to grow something new!  I have another zucchini to grab today or tomorrow too.  I'm waiting for it to get a tad longer.  DH is already requesting zucchini bread.  I might pick up some blueberries to go in that.  I already have lemons.  Lemon-blueberry zucchini bread is amazing!  

I used some plant food on the garden and tomatoes last week.  It's too early to tell; but I think that may be part of the issues I was seeing with the zucchini and summer squash.  Maybe the tomatoes too.  From what I read they were either over or under watered, the nutrients were being washed out from needing frequent watering or its a fungus.  

  I picked up some neem oil along with the liquid fence at Lowes yesterday.  Walmart's garden center was looking barren when I went to look for it.  I hope they aren't done carrying garden supplies for the season.  It's June!  (For another whole day!)

 

[Winchester]

Banana peppers, at least our banana peppers, are a much lighter green than regular peppers. Sometimes they'll turn red, but the ones I've always had remain that lighter green. They can be hot or mild....mine are like a cross between the two. We had some hot ones a couple years ago and they were really hot; didn't bother me, but the spice bothered Rick. I use them anywhere any other kind of pepper would be OK: chili, casseroles, pizza, omelets and other egg dishes, pasta sauces, in pasta dishes, etc. I slice some of them and freeze for pizza. Others get chopped and then frozen for other things. I like to just munch on them, too. You can pickle banana peppers, if you're into pickling stuff.

Would you share your recipe for lemon-blueberry zucchini bread, please? 

 

Our cucumbers seemed to have turned brownish on some of the leaves. I was a little frustrated, but the spots have gone away, so maybe it was just a bit of water needed. No cukes yet, though.

Mani, that bottlebrush is gorgeous!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Hm.  The ones I got are supposed to be mild.  I hope they are. I like a little heat; but too much heat doesn't like me!  

My Mother said she was just in a deli that had stuffed banana peppers for sale.  i think they had prosciutto and cheese inside them and then they were pickled.  

I'd love to learn how to pickle them and then can them for winter.  

This is the recipe I used for the Lemon Zucchini bread: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-zucchini-bread/detail.aspx; I just added blueberries and made a lemon glaze for the top.  My notes said to add 1 TBSP Lemon zest and 1/2tsp vanilla.  The glaze was 1/2cp sugar, 1/4cp lemon juice boiled till melted and then brushed on repeatedly till it was all absorbed.  

I think it was in the reviews I read how to make the glaze.  It's so yummy that way!!  (But not necessary of course!) I did the same for summer squash bread with them.  So much yumminess!  A few years ago I had them coming out of my ears.  We picked 2 that were as long as DD's leg.  She was 18 months or so at the time.  I guess because I baked with them; they weren't bitter. 

 

[Winchester]

Thank you. Printed! I saw the note about the glaze and printed that out, too. 

I have some shredded zucchini in the freezer from last year that needs to be used and this would be perfect for that. I'm thinking to add maybe 1-1/2 to 2 cups of blueberries to the dough. Sound good? I'll definitely go with the full tablespoon of zest and a full teaspoon of vanilla, too.....I really like vanilla.

I'll have to be careful....frozen shredded zucchini has so much liquid when it's thawed. I'll squeeze it well in paper towels to get as much water out as I can.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I was thinking of shredding and freezing some of the zucchini I'm getting now.  Also the beans!  I don't have any experience with doing that so I'll have to look it up.  I should have freezer bags in the pantry that I bought last fall.  I don't have a ton of freezer space; but I'm thinking I can rearrange to dedicate the top to freezing a few things.  

I brought in 2 banana peppers last night. There are a lot of little ones on the plants and a few long, thin ones.  I hope they'll plump with time.  The smell of the ones I brought in is heavenly! 

 

[mani]

I've never seen a banana pepper before. I'm thinking they're regular peppers.. it's just the shape?

My Papaya (PawPaw) are ripening.  I have to get to them before the fruit bats.  It's a very fine line...

 

[Winchester]

Mooch, are they green beans? Wash them. Look carefully for rust-spots on the beans and discard any of those. Snap the tips of the beans off, then snap them into thirds for longer beans, halves for shorter beans. Blanch in boiling water for about two minutes (do NOT cook them), then immediately plunge them into an ice-water bath in the sink until the beans are cooled. Drain well, throw into plastic freezer bags, label and toss into the freezer. Use the bags best suited for what you're going to feed your family. I use quart bags whenever I can, not gallons. Some people say the boiling water must be salted, but I don't salt my water.

Mani, banana peppers are kind of shaped like a banana, long and rather skinny on the whole......see Mooch's pictures above. They're a lighter green than regular green peppers. You can get them in mild or hot. I did some hot ones last year and so only planted mild ones this year. Peppers are easy to freeze. I wash them and dry them well, slice or chop, depending on what I want them for, throw them into freezer bags, label and toss into the freezer. I love to have frozen chopped peppers on hand in the freezer. When I'm making dinner, I can just grab a bag, thump it on the counter top a couple of times to loosen the peppers a bit, and throw the amount I need in the pan. It sure beats taking the time to chop fresh peppers when I'm trying to make dinner.

Another really nice pepper to plant is the Mariachi pepper. It's a hot pepper, but not overly so....your mouth won't catch fire, but you'll feel some heat. We planted some of those last year, just to try them out. They're nice. They'll get red if you leave them on the plants long enough, but we picked ours green. They've kind of a triangular shape to them. Nice pepper.

Our butternut squash plants are really tendriling out and Rick is training them to go up the fence. They have flowers, but when the flowers disappear, the little squashes don't come on. The zucchini and the yellow squashes are coming on. We have teeny little squashes! Corn looks really good. We planted early corn and that did nothing, but later corn looks nice. Broccoli plants look nice and so do the Brussels sprouts plants. Lima plants looks good. Asparagus looks nice. Overall the garden looks nice, but that's because we've had enough rain to keep things growing. When I drive around the garden on the mower to mow the grass, I drive by v-e-r-y slowly, so I can see how things are doing, since I can't walk into the garden and check things out.

 

[mani]

I'm growing some peppers that are really prettily shaped.. like a bell flower.  I grew them from seed - a friend has them- and they're not producing yet or I'd put in a photo.. Here's a link that has pictures.

The pepper/chilli (technically a capsicum but it has heat) itself is sweet and yummy but thin skinned.  The seeds blow your head off.  They are really good as an appetiser, seeds carefully removed and stuffed with a cream cheese mix.

 

[kathyfromcanada]

 
Mooch, are they green beans? Wash them. Look carefully for rust-spots on the beans and discard any of those. Snap the tips of the beans off, then snap them into thirds for longer beans, halves for shorter beans. Blanch in boiling water for about two minutes (do NOT cook them), then immediately plunge them into an ice-water bath in the sink until the beans are cooled. Drain well, throw into plastic freezer bags, label and toss into the freezer. Use the bags best suited for what you're going to feed your family. I use quart bags whenever I can, not gallons. Some people say the boiling water must be salted, but I don't salt my water.

Mani, banana peppers are kind of shaped like a banana, long and rather skinny on the whole......see Mooch's pictures above. They're a lighter green than regular green peppers. You can get them in mild or hot. I did some hot ones last year and so only planted mild ones this year. Peppers are easy to freeze. I wash them and dry them well, slice or chop, depending on what I want them for, throw them into freezer bags, label and toss into the freezer. I love to have frozen chopped peppers on hand in the freezer. When I'm making dinner, I can just grab a bag, thump it on the counter top a couple of times to loosen the peppers a bit, and throw the amount I need in the pan. It sure beats taking the time to chop fresh peppers when I'm trying to make dinner.

Another really nice pepper to plant is the Mariachi pepper. It's a hot pepper, but not overly so....your mouth won't catch fire, but you'll feel some heat. We planted some of those last year, just to try them out. They're nice. They'll get red if you leave them on the plants long enough, but we picked ours green. They've kind of a triangular shape to them. Nice pepper.

Our butternut squash plants are really tendriling out and Rick is training them to go up the fence. They have flowers, but when the flowers disappear, the little squashes don't come on. The zucchini and the yellow squashes are coming on. We have teeny little squashes! Corn looks really good. We planted early corn and that did nothing, but later corn looks nice. Broccoli plants look nice and so do the Brussels sprouts plants. Lima plants looks good. Asparagus looks nice. Overall the garden looks nice, but that's because we've had enough rain to keep things growing. When I drive around the garden on the mower to mow the grass, I drive by v-e-r-y slowly, so I can see how things are doing, since I can't walk into the garden and check things out.

Were growing butter nut squash too. Never grown it before. Looks like it's getting ready to flower, not sure, could just be more leaves. We grew some cayenne peppers as well, beets, several variations of tomatos, more peppers. We also have black berries. The raspberries have fruit. Will probably ripen in another 2 weeks. Bruce is eating hot wings from Zehr's! He would never try stuff like that before! He also ate bacon rapped jalepeno shooters. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
I've never seen a banana pepper before. I'm thinking they're regular peppers.. it's just the shape?

My Papaya (PawPaw) are ripening.  I have to get to them before the fruit bats.  It's a very fine line...

I had a bat buzz by me last night so close I heard the wings flapping in my left ear.  I thought it was a bird but my step-dad said bat!!  

@Winchester; thanks that sounds really easy!  I noticed tonight there really aren't many flowers left on the beans.  I've picked a ton for the last 2 weeks.  The plants have looked healthier too.  I noticed quite a few of those shield shaped bugs (like the stink bugs I think) when i was picking 2 days ago.  Could the rain have paused the flowering?  I'm not sure what to do for them.  They were also on the summer squash and zucchini (same 4x8 bed).  Something is taking the flowers off those as well.  I was assuming bunnies?  The stems for the flowers are there; but the flowers are gone.  The tall stems.  Something has really done a number (not to mention the wind has tangled them up!  Any ideas what to do for that?  I use liquid fence a few times a week.  And once a month I add DH's hair clippings after giving him a trim.  (He needs one tomorrow. 

)  

I've picked a few more banana peppers and a few cukes now too.  Man; that first cuke was so sweet it was amazing!!  It went from the garden to the table in less than an hour.  

I'm waiting on tomatoes to ripen!  I've got a good number of green ones out there!  

My Aunt and Uncle came to visit this weekend.  Uncle was saying I should try some squashes and plant them between my raised beds and the fence.  It's tempting!  My husband would love it if we could do something so he doesn't have to mow around the garden.  I'd like to bunny proof it with fencing.  We have a friend who covered the whole garden in weed block and then cuts holes for each plant.  And he surrounds it with the rabbit fence.  We have such terrible crab grass I'm not sure if that would work for us.  That stuff is crazy how well it grows!

@Mani; I've seen those before. I'm not sure I've ever eaten one though.  My Dad loves hot peppers and as I get older I'm enjoying that sort of thing more.  I'm sure stuffed with cream cheese I'd love them!!

 

[tammat]

A bat! Yikes. MoochNNoodles you are lucky it didn't connect with your hair!!
I planted a new rose yesterday A David Austin Winchester Cathedral and today I potted two flowering plums " elvins". The trees were bare rooted and a little bit bigger than I hoped so I trimmed the roots back and put them into small pots. I hope this stunts them. I will know in a month or two if it works.