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Anyone doing a garden?

LHorn said:
Oof....it's that time again. Even with this the plants are still loaded with smaller ones and a lot that just need to turn red. Dunno how long I got with the temps dropping into the 40's at night already.

The box on the upper left has defects that need trimmed away then smoked. I'm pulling about 5 per day with BER...bad year.

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Where did you get the tiny Pepsi can??? :):)
 
peterp1 said:
Where did you get the tiny Pepsi can??? :):)
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Ha...that's one of those mini cans. :rflmao: No really I do that so I can look back and compare the sizes. I was using parchment paper with the 1" gridlines but it didnt show up in pics very well. If the plants had that size on them now they would be breaking branches...which I have had a few do anyway. Never again will I not top the plants when transplanting to the outside.

@mkane ...Sometimes that's all it takes to hit the spot. :thumbsup:
 
I made a modified structure over my raised bed that you can see part of here.

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It's a good thing I did because I've had to string up several branches that are loaded down with peppers. The second pic is from a month ago and they've all grown a lot since then.

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IMG_0563.jpegIMG_0562.jpegIMG_0561.jpegHere in NC we started our fall season. It’s so nice to have an extended growing season.
so the cucs petered our and I started new ones inside. After 3 weeks I popped them outside with a new soil mix with fertilizer, Happy Frog potting mix and a shot of bone meal. Blossoms galore, first cucs are 3” long now
its starting to look like the fall growth will outshine the early season.
i grow Parthenoscopic? Cucs because the bee population around here is sketchy, but we do get fire ants….
i grow Swing and Ancash cuc, the leaves on the Swing plants are 11” across, great for sun protection, easy for fruit to hide.
 
Ha! Got the SMALLEST tomato in my life. It's ripe too! My wife said excitedly "Come here honey look at this". I drop what i was doing and took a look. At first I didn't see it then she pointed at the bowl of tomatoes she had picked. Cute. Afraid to eat it. Lol.
 

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The Fall garden is dead. The raised beds got 2 feet of Charlotte Harbor water over them. I had pulled the seedlings into the garage for safekeeping and put them on a picnic table bench. Something floating in the garage knocked half of them over.

Next year.
 
This is Wyoming. We have a relatively short growing season with little rain and blistering sunshine due to the lack of humidity. After leveling a spot shovel by shovel full a 10x8 patch to work on I began building a soil bag by bag full. We have sand or clay which grows weed and prairie grass. Anyhow , what a disaster the 2 years I went that route! So I built 3 40" by 10" Built automatic irrigation out of pvc, I lined the beds with plastic, weed cloth didn't work, which provided good drainage. Boy, could I grow tomatoes! I provided the entire place where my wife worked at,(4 Dr.s and surgical staff, office staff, etc.) with the best tomatoes you could wish to grow. My ex-wife got great joy providing everyone so for years I always grew lots of tomatoes. Other crops where always hit or miss, depending on the weather. Seasons change fast here , one day is spring nex day is summer, little to no transition form season to the next, it happens overnight. This year, I planted 6 weeks late. That didn't work out so good. I knew enough not to expect much and that's what I got , not much. Of course my potatoes did fine, though I still need to dig the rest out , purple and Yukon gold. They are like eating mashed potatoes in a potato skin . I hope the rest aren't ruined but the forest fires on the west coast are providing us with bad air quality. I need to water the bed , it was hard as concrete on top! We have had fire danger for 3 months and a warning about air quality often suggesting to stay indoors. I love getting my fingers in the dirt, a great way to connect with mother earth.
 
Welp...finally closed out the 2024 pepper season. Totals of peppers roasted, peeled, seeded and diced was 33 lbs. For the smoked paprika it was 5.5 lbs...that's 55 of the bottles in the store at $7 a pop...so about $385 worth. Plus the flavor difference is insane.

So now my 3.5cf freezer in the back room is packed full of nothing but peppers...which includes about 40-50 lbs from last year. I think I'll be taking a break from growing next year. Maybe find something else to grow in the pots.

EDIT: OK..I just rearranged my freezer and found I didn't have what I thought I had due to not keeping it updated as I used it. So I actually have only 18 lbs left over from 2023 and added 42 lbs this year for a total of 60 lbs of peppers. I only have a half of a pint jar of smoked paprika from 2023 that I'm using now. I'll need to reevaluate next years growing season. :idea:

This was the last of the crop after pulling everything. Actually found some nice sized ones hiding in the mess.
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And this was the last pickin's of the peppers for paprika...plus the four one gallon freezer bags cut up and waiting to be smoked in the freezer. This batch I smoked using hickory and cherry wood.
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Also found a LOT of grubs in the pots this year with many of the plants root systems very shabby at best. They got my yard too and the damned skunks have been tearing it up looking for them.
 
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I'm not a gardener, I'm a "garden manager."
All the hard landscaping I did nearly forty years ago. For many years it's just been a question of pruning, occasional plant moving and mowing. No bedding plants or hanging baskets, just perennials. Even this is hard enough for my ageing workforce of one... Me!




The only significant change has been the closing down of our 3000 gallon koi pool I dug out by myself in 1986. This developed a leak five years ago, I decided it would be too much work to change the liner. So I had it filled in and paved over and it became our "rose patio." This was always the eventual plan "B" when I was building it. It's the only work in the garden I have not done myself.
The fish went to a good home.

 
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I have a 2 cherry tomato plants that I have been eating off for months. The yellow did really well ( plant on the left ). But the red tomato plant is a monster. It grew over the cage, across the porch, and at one point was trying to climb the side of the house. I started picking the blooms off a month ago to speed the ripening but the plant keeps trying to grow, and continues to bloom.
I've never had a tomato get this big, or last nearly things long. It's November tomorrow !

This is also the first time I've needed to cover plants in case of frost, usually they're long gone before now.IMG_4155.jpgIMG_4156.jpg
 
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My remaining tomato plant the Sunny Boy Hybrid after a slow start this spring turned into a trooper. The smaller tomatoes I left on it have continued to grow. I checked on it and found all the tomato bearing stems had grown so much I had to restring the tie-ups because they were drooping from the fruits. I had to remove many buds that had formed on new growth and even prune back some of the stems hoping to force energy back into the still growing tomatoes. Several of them have the first stage of blushing but have stalled. The biggest bell pepper plant has exploded with new buds. I tried plucking them all to give the few peppers I left after the big harvest something to grow on. BTW, under the leaves of the peppers is where OJ, one of the feral kitties, loves to nap during the day.
 
finished the prep for the raised bed garlic, trying an experiment. I added Huric Acid and Blood Meal to the top of the bed, added half a bale of peat moss and mixed everything into the top few inches. Three months ago I added two bags of composted cow manure so its ready to go.
With the Huric acid and bloodmeal I added a heavy dose of Cayenne Pepper....I read somewhere it will deter Squirrels? Let's hope so because I have one little **** which keeps digging in my lettuce bed, and sometimes the garlic bed. Once I plant the garlic I surely don't want them digging it up. Added a last sprinkle of Cayenne and will see how the next few days go. I'll start planting 100-120 cloves, then put pine needles on top 3-4" thick, and wth, add more cayenne. I will also place some chicken wire over the pine needles. This is the first year I have a squirrel issue.
All-in-all, this was one of the best garden harvests for cucs, tomatoes, basil, peppers and even spinach. Zucc once again was a bust, and this year I haven't been able to harvest ONE GD radish. Oh, well, the onions are holding their own.
Saved 3 types of pepper seeds, and already ordered some seeds for spring!
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I love tomatoes. I love growing tomatoes which is why I usually end up with more than I can use or give away. Next year I cutting back to just one tomato plant out of the three large pots I have. It will be in the center pot with hummingbird friendly flowers flanking it in the other two pots. At the other end of the garden will be early blooming pollinator/butterfly friendly flowers, but for now the garden sleeps.
 
I started the other day cleaning up the garden from Helene & Milton and just ordered seeds. Maybe mustards and collards for Easter. It got soaked twice with salt water. I contacted the local IFAS agent and he sent me the following.

SOIL​

Restoring soil health is one of the most crucial steps to flood recovery.

Soil that has been saturated with floodwater contains both chemical and biological contaminants. In extreme cases, soil may need to be removed and replaced. Gardens located in areas where the risk of chemical contamination is high are more likely to have higher levels of chemical contamination. These gardens should consider replacing soil or created raised garden beds. To restore soil health following a storm:

  • Do not plant or work soil until the top 2-3 inches are dry
  • Aerate the soil
  • Test the soil for altered pH and chemical contaminants
  • Add organic amendments such as compost, leaf mulch, and composted manures to rebuild soil structure and health
  • Monitor closely for fungal pests
It is recommended to wait 90-120 days before harvesting new produce in previously flooded areas.

Saltwater Flooding​

Before and during a hurricane, coastal communities can experience storm surge. The ocean rise in response to a hurricane can create saltwater flooding. This increases the amount of salt in the soil and can severely harm plants that are not salt tolerant.

When flooded with saltwater:

  • Rinse root zone with freshwater (or allow rain to do this for you)
  • Make necessary soil amendments or in extreme cases, replace soil
When flushing out saltwater, avoid oversaturating the soil all at once as this will remove the oxygen in the soil and cause root rot and soil pest issues.
 
Let the planning for next year's garden begin. Onions will go in one of the other raised beds because the "great idea" I got to grow them with the bell peppers failed because the peppers shaded them. Not crowding the bush beans like I did this year. I'll be pulling the Mums that in their second year crowded everything else out in the flower bed. Getting the flowers for the bees & butterflies started much earlier next Spring and hopefully I'll attract some humming birds to the garden.
 
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