Anyone doing a garden?

[peterp1]

I have a mystery with our garden. Last year, we grew Rosemary, Thyme, Perilla (Korean Sesame leaves), Korean Peppers, Jalapenos, Cherry Peppers, Basil, and all of it grew well and we harvested all of it. The 4 Perilla (Korean Sesame) grew so fast that I was making salads with it and basil daily.

This year we are growing the same, in the same location, but the Perilla, Korean Peppers, Cherry Peppers, Jalapenos are getting eaten by something, leaving almost no leaves and just the stalks of the plants. We do occasionally have deer, groundhogs and rabbits in our back yard, but that has been the case for years, this is the first time the plants have been eaten. The Rosemary, Thyme, Basil isn't touched at all. The only thing different is I did plant a Citronella plant last year just for kicks, thinking it might help with mosquitos, but maybe that helped keep away the animals? We've grown the sesame leaves in prior years without Citronella, and they weren't eaten then.

It's a very big mystery when we are having this issue this year. If anybody has any idea why, I'd love to hear them.

 

[CT Jim]

Each year we have a period when the Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars eat the parsley, dill, and some other things that way. Once they leave the plants bounce back so we don’t try to control it.

 

[RickeyM]

Each year we have a period when the Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars eat the parsley, dill, and some other things that way. Once they leave the plants bounce back so we don’t try to control it.

I'm growing some dill in a couple of pots. It seems to be doing well. Next year I'll plant lots more. I got some parsley but I think it's a bit late for that now but next year...
The second day of 95+ high temps here and more to come. Yesterday the tomatoes were showing signs of heat induced leaf curl. Up went the shade cloth late yesterday afternoon and up again this morning. Protection for the peppers and tomatoes.

 

[CT Jim]

One y fav lite lunches, sliced tomatoes with virgin olive oil and garlic, such a simple way to enjoy the garden bounty.
later today will sauté a mess of different peppers to go with a grilled big pork chop. Sometimes I grab one of the larger style peppers and grill it same time as the chop!

 

[LHorn]

Mango tree #2, the fruit is starting to ripen. Second round of Surinam cherries. Didn't make any jam so far. The cacoa bean pod, I bought at the farmers market for the beans. Hopefully in a couple years I'll be able to make some chocolate.

View attachment 3241452

That cacoa bean pod would be fun to experiment with...never saw any available around here. Why a couple years to make chocolate...do they need to ripen or something?

@peterp1 ...Sounds like an animal eating your plants...if they are hungry enough they wont care whats around the plants.

I pulled these from the plant that was supposed to be Lesya's yesterday (pic below). So far this plant is doing better than the rest of the plants. Just wish I knew what it really is. There were four more this size on the plant but this was all my bro wanted while stopping by on his way home to MD.

Spitfire's.....never again...still nothing but BER no matter what I do with them.

My last year seeds from Piquillo and Boldog definitely look like a cross breed from the original. They are both growing well though so we'll see how they turn out. I just dont have the space to keep each type 500 ft apart to prevent crossing.

 

[peterp1]

@peterp1 ...Sounds like an animal eating your plants...if they are hungry enough they wont care whats around the plants.

It's just crazy that nothing has changed this year from last, garden-wise or animal wise. I've not been idle. I dumped some not fully decomposed compost from our (fruit/vegetable) bin around the plants. That was a risky move -- seemed as likely to draw them in as ward them off, but little to lose since they have been eating the plants to the nub. That seemed to have helped -- haven't seen anything be eaten since -- though too short of a time period to be sure since they are just starting to grow back.

Yesterday I planted two Citronella plants in each of the two garden areas. Not sure that will help (though did have last year), but nothing to lose. I also installed a solar-powered security camera (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKRFS2WT?psc=1&ref=product_details) above the garden area, so now hopefully I will be able to see what is eating them. This is a pretty amazing camera considering the cost - no power source required (just mount the solar panel), you can rotate and aim the camera from your smartphone, it captures motion alert video, and it seems to be fairly serviceable from the app (CloudEdge) and local microSD without upgrading to the subscription cloud service, excellent video quality, and the video at night (in pitch black) is still very clear (though black & white).

I also picked up some diatomaceous earth (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q0DM82?ref=product_details&th=1) that I'm going to put around the periphery of the garden later today (won't help with the mammals, but should help if bugs are partly to blame).

I'm going full Bill Murray on these critters!

 

[peterp1]

I pulled these from the plant that was supposed to be Lesya's yesterday (pic below). So far this plant is doing better than the rest of the plants. Just wish I knew what it really is. There were four more this size on the plant but this was all my bro wanted while stopping by on his way home to MD.


View attachment 3245341

These look exactly like the Korean peppers we are growing. I can post pics if you want to see what the chewed nubs of the plant look like . If so, the peppers vary randomly on the same plant from pretty mild to very hot. Can be picked/used green, or can wait for them to turn red, though that takes a while (we normally wait for them to turn red for the ones my wife uses to make Kimchi).

 

[RickeyM]

It's just crazy that nothing has changed this year from last, garden-wise or animal wise. I've not been idle. I dumped some not fully decomposed compost from our (fruit/vegetable) bin around the plants. That was a risky move -- seemed as likely to draw them in as ward them off, but little to lose since they have been eating the plants to the nub. That seemed to have helped -- haven't seen anything be eaten since -- though too short of a time period to be sure since they are just starting to grow back.

Yesterday I planted two Citronella plants in each of the two garden areas. Not sure that will help (though did have last year), but nothing to lose. I also installed a solar-powered security camera (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKRFS2WT?psc=1&ref=product_details) above the garden area, so now hopefully I will be able to see what is eating them. This is a pretty amazing camera considering the cost - no power source required (just mount the solar panel), you can rotate and aim the camera from your smartphone, it captures motion alert video, and it seems to be fairly serviceable from the app (CloudEdge) and local microSD without upgrading to the subscription cloud service, excellent video quality, and the video at night (in pitch black) is still very clear (though black & white).

I also picked up some diatomaceous earth (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q0DM82?ref=product_details&th=1) that I'm going to put around the periphery of the garden later today (won't help with the mammals, but should help if bugs are partly to blame).

I'm going full Bill Murray on these critters!

Maybe sprinkle some powdered cayenne pepper around the plants. Any mammal that gets a snootful of that stuff will surely rethink things.

 

[RickeyM]

View attachment 3245316

One y fav lite lunches, sliced tomatoes with virgin olive oil and garlic, such a simple way to enjoy the garden bounty.
later today will sauté a mess of different peppers to go with a grilled big pork chop. Sometimes I grab one of the larger style peppers and grill it same time as the chop!

This year I'm growing Sunny Boy Hybrids'. They go yellow when ripe too. Currently there are several fruits growing on the plant. Hopefully they'll mature and ripen so I can enjoy them.

 

[BillyTheKid]

Picked my first 5 cherry tomatoes yesterday. Forgot to take a pic.
I only grew 2 plants this year, a red cherry and a yellow one.
Pickling cukes are about 3/4 inch long at this point.
It's a good year for chard and arugula , but the spinach is starting to bolt. All still pretty small at this point. It's a better growing season than last year.

 

[LHorn]

Well the BER has made it to some of the other peppers but still not as bad as the Spitfire's. The near 100 degree temps and massive insect invasion have not been good...like a 2022 repeat.

Other than the ones I've been plucking with BER and salvaging what I can...I did the official first pickin' this morning. I did manage to get some nice big Spitfire's without BER. (upper left in first pic) The fatter ones below them are the Chargers...they have been a good producer. Second pic is a mixture of Poblano's and one ripe Lesya.

 

[Smitty43]

We have been very lucky so far and when I built the cover over the deck my wife wanted to have some tomatoes so we could just sit outside on the patio and enjoy, So this is today's haul as we have dinner outside.

 

[RickeyM]

I bailed on the Bell peppers I tried to grow from seed and bought plants to replace them. I bought one tomato plant to go with my strongest seedling. After a promising start we had a brief heat wave the tomatoes and peppers go into standby. With temps forecast for days in the eighties and nights in the seventies last week and for the rest of the month, much better for fruiting plants. During the heat I lost some buds on the tomato plants but the peppers just stalled. In the last week the Gypsy Sweet pepper been budding and even started a fruit. The Red Bell sweet pepper has lots of fruits turning, the Bonnie Green Bell has fruits turning a dark burgundy. Some of the tomatoes have good size but none have started to blush yet. Good news is some of the tomato flowers have started to open up which means more fruits coming. The onion experiment is petering out. The way I planted them they didn't get much direct sunlight. There's always next year.

 

[CT Jim]

@Smitty43
Good looking tomatoes! I encourage you to start picking them when they have some color, and allow them to finish ripening on the window sill!
It’s too easy to lose ripe ones to bugs and pests and watering variations. I learned this earlier this year on some YouTube video, and have tomatoes coming out of the woodwork, only loosing one to a boring bug

 

[Cleve]

Last year, we built a 35'x 25' enclosed garden - that's my wife's hobby - I'm just the heavy lift guy - lol - we get squash, cucumbers, tomatoes,potatoes, etc from it. We had so many cucumbers this year we couldn't eat them all - I took about a dozen to the church this morning to give away. I put some wood chips down earlier this year on the walking areas to cut down on weeds.

 

[Smitty43]

@Smitty43
Good looking tomatoes! I encourage you to start picking them when they have some color, and allow them to finish ripening on the window sill!
It’s too easy to lose ripe ones to bugs and pests and watering variations. I learned this earlier this year on some YouTube video, and have tomatoes coming out of the woodwork, only loosing one to a boring bug

Thanks CT, We let them vine ripe as much as possible and my wife will can them asap. It's much more easy for her to cut them up in small batches and put in the crock pot and can a few jars at a time, And our window sills are full also and we have been eating Tomato sandwiches for weeks.

 

[Cleve]

Here is an outside view of the wife's garden. She was a city girl and always wanted to do something like this.

 

[RickeyM]

One of my Sunny Boy Hybrid tomatoes started to ripen but it's fallen victim to BER. It also had started splitting I often lose a few early tomatoes to BER and the splitting has to be due to my watering. From here on out I split my watering between half in the morning and half in the early afternoon. I'm also picking at first blush from now on. My first Sunny Boy Hybrid 'mater sammich will have to wait

 

[BillyTheKid]

This morning I picked my first pickling cukes. They'll make a fine salad tonite.
Also got 4 more cherry,tomatoes, 2 yellow & 2 red.

So it begins. A bit earlier than usual and much better than last year.

 

[BillyTheKid]

I saw this recently. I found it fascinating.
I usually plant them deep, next year I'm going to try ground level.