Anyone doing a garden?

[toxcrusadr]

Sounds like you might need Photobucket. :scratch2:

 

[mulester7]

Sounds like you might need Photobucket. :scratch2:

.....I need something, that's for sure.....

 

[www.records]

I noticed yesterday that I had some small white bugs crawling around on my maters. (Aphids?) I bought some Sevin Dust and gave them a good powdering. Those pesky little bastages. Die Die Die!!!

 

[spartanmanor]

The garden continues to go crazy. I really need to thin it out now. I noticed yesterday I now have cucumbers about 1 inch long. I think I am going to pick them before they get two big and try some fresh pickling. I have plenty of tomatoes coming in all no bigger than an inch around at this moment in time. The basil is still slow off the bat. I think it is all the rain we are having.

 

[HatchetJack]

Garden update - Tomato plants looking great and most are climbing above
the cages now. Lots of golf ball size maters and plenty of full size grape
tomatos but no ripe ones yet. Small squash 1-3" and picked 5 small cucumbers this evening-yum. Few small peppers starting to appear and
some bush beans.Its taking off now finally since we have some sun and heat.

 

[toxcrusadr]

We got 3-1/2" of rain in a Biblical deluge. At least things aren't drying out.

 

[www.records]

We got 3-1/2" of rain in a Biblical deluge. At least things aren't drying out.

Tox, I noticed yesterday morning you had some pretty large boomers passing thru your area. We got a pretty nice little rain this morning, guessing 1.5" or so. I filled up a couple of 5 gal. buckets with fresh rain water for the maters after the sun comes back out. I need to think about getting some BIG rain barrels.

Plants sure seem to respond to rain water better than feeding them that fluoride crap we are supposed to drink. But I have never seen a tomato with a cavity.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I have noticed that too about rainwater, but there is not enough fluoride or even chlorine to do anything once it hits the soil. I suspect there is extra nitrogen in the water from thunderstorms. It's like fertilizer.

More rain today - I was up at 2:30 and there was a thing coming from KS that covered several counties and showed 4000 lightning strikes per 15 minutes. They had a running counter. It just went through here and moved east, dropped 1.5 inches, which makes 5 in the last 2 days. Freakin' soaking!

 

[spartanmanor]

We have an older wooden barrel used for aging wisky next to our garden. This year it has stayed full with rain water. On the days that we have not gotten rain it has come in handy for spot watering.

 

[chillwolf]

Here are some shots of my container planted tomatoes and pepper plants. Planted about two weeks ago and are now about twice the size. One tomato plant has a couple of little tomatoes on it. We have been getting rain almost every day so I haven't had to water them too much. I have given them a little fertilizer and sprayed em with some stuff to keep the bugs off. I have three pepper plants growing, 1 Jalapeno, 1 hot Banana and 1 Sweet pepper. If these turn out good I might move the dog kennel and plant a proper garden next year.

 

[mulester7]

We have an older wooden barrel used for aging wisky next to our garden. This year it has stayed full with rain water. On the days that we have not gotten rain it has come in handy for spot watering.

.....Yessir, the natural.....

.....just took a couple pictures of the bucket tomatoes....I'll say this....I don't think having three Bradley Heirloom plants in one bucket is a bad thing....it probably is a bad thing though, with these Big Boy plants....the Bradley tomatoes are supposed to be 6 ounces when mature....I've already got about 10 at that size, or right at it, with smaller ones everywhere, and MANY yellow flowers at the top of the cage systems.....

.....in this shot of the Big Boy plants, the tomato you can see up higher in the cage system, is as big as any on the 3 plants, and there's not nearly as many small ones as per Bradley....the Big Boy tomatoes are supposed to be able to get to 16 oz's....they better get moving.....

.....will probably have nothing but Bradleys next year, but may fine-tune that statement with one other type.....ain't ruling out the Big Boy's yet....their days might be longer for maturation, I don't know.....

 

[mulester7]

.....Bravo, ChillWolf....plenty of summer coming to make them huge....buckets will dry out quicker than you think....nice shots.....

 

[HatchetJack]

Looking good Mule.I had some big boy's planted next to the house last year
and they were a late summer early fall deal.They were also up against the
gutters and floodlights.They get huge!! I like the rutgers the best taste wise
but they only get 3 or 4 ft and tend to play out in August. I have really been
impressed with the grape tomato variety. 1 plant will produce I dont know
maybe a thousand in season,seems like it anyway and the kids love em.I have
at least a half dozen planted around here.Should be overrun soon with those.

 

[mulester7]

Looking good Mule.I had some big boy's planted next to the house last year
and they were a late summer early fall deal.They were also up against the
gutters and floodlights.They get huge!! I like the rutgers the best taste wise
but they only get 3 or 4 ft and tend to play out in August. I have really been
impressed with the grape tomato variety. 1 plant will produce I dont know
maybe a thousand in season,seems like it anyway and the kids love em.I have
at least a half dozen planted around here.Should be overrun soon with those.

.....thanks, HatchetJack, can you give me some info to work with researching those Rutger tomatoes?....also, have you ever tried the Bradley Heirloom plants?....maybe you said earlier in the thread, I don't remember.....

.....EDIT....found the Rutgers Heirlooms.....

http://www.stargazerperennialscatalog.com/product.sc?categoryId=101&productId=1307

 

[HatchetJack]

An old timer who had been gardening all his life told me about the rutgers being the best tasting probably 25 years ago.I think I planted a couple this
year.They are very good but tend to die out on me in the heat.I always plant
better boys, big boys and grape as my standard tomatoes and try a few new
varieties every year.Last year I tried celebrity and they did really well.I also
tried german queen and didnt like them at all.Too viney and took too long for
fruits to develop and bugs/worms got in em. This year I tried some parks whoppers and they are kicking right now and are just as big or bigger than
the big boys.

 

[mulester7]

An old timer who had been gardening all his life told me about the rutgers being the best tasting probably 25 years ago.I think I planted a couple this year.They are very good but tend to die out on me in the heat.I always plant better boys, big boys and grape as my standard tomatoes and try a few new varieties every year.Last year I tried celebrity and they did really well.I also tried german queen and didnt like them at all.Too viney and took too long for fruits to develop and bugs/worms got in em. This year I tried some parks whoppers and they are kicking right now and are just as big or bigger than the big boys.

.....wow, so many types of tomatoes....HatchetJack, I can see the Big Boys and other varieties that produce large tomatoes needing to be in the ground, I think, but I'm liking this bucket thing, the conditions of which I totally control....past sunlight, of course.....

 

[www.records]

A guy I work with swears by Celebrity tomatoes. He said they produce like crazy and are good eaters. I planted a Parks Whopper last year on the recommendation from my uncle. The plant got huge and bloomed like crazy but never put on any fruit. I don't think it got enough sunshine where I had it planted. Which is why I decided to try containers this year. Much more flexibility on stickin them where the sun DOES shine.

 

[mulester7]

.....I've looked at different heirloom tomato types online, and they usually come in at around 6 oz's mature....it would appear, heirloom plants are the way to go with buckets, considering what I'm experiencing with the Bradley Heirlooms....3 in a bucket are working very well so far....I see no reason, at least at this point, for there to be only one heirloom tomato plant by itself in a 5 gallon bucket....I mean, do you want 25 tomatoes, or 75?....hey, you never know when you're going to be tempted to throw some tomatoes at cars with their windows open, know what I mean? .....

.....when I was about 14, I stood behind a big tree one night on our block, and put a grapefruit-sized water balloon right in a cop's left ear as he drove down our street in his cruiser....truth....I watched the thing explode, then turned to run....he slammed on the brakes to a stop, threw it into park, slung open the door, and the chase was on....I knew the layout of the land better than he did, and when I looked back after hopping the third backyard fence, he was leaning on the first fence just staring into the dark....he walked back to his car and left....these days, a policeman would probably call in 12 cars to help him catch whoever....but back then, I guess the cop remembered being a kid himself, and probably wasn't nearly as fearful of losing his life being a policeman, like they surely are today....young Guys, it was a better time back then in ways, but we're ALL exactly where we're supposed to be today.....

 

[chillwolf]

.....Bravo, ChillWolf....plenty of summer coming to make them huge....buckets will dry out quicker than you think....nice shots.....

Thanks mulester! This is my first time trying to grow any vegetables. I got an experienced friend giving pointers on what to do.
Yours are looking mighty good! What are giving them, steroids?
I got three different ones, a Big Boy, a Bigger Boy and one Husky something, that's the one that has some tomatoes on it already.

 

[www.records]

Great story mulester7. I can remember as a kid stealing some tomatoes off of neighborhood plants, waiting in the dark for a bunch of men that met on Tuesday nights in a garage apartment. They walked outside and I let about 6 ripe ones fly and took off running. This would have been in about 1964 or so. Come to find out they were the first AA meeting in town and that is where they met once a week. To make a long story short, I ended up becoming a drunk myself and AA really helped save my ass and taught me how to live life sober. One of these days if I catch a ripe tomato in the ear I will figure I deserved it. True story!