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Anyone doing a garden?

My peppers had a lot of leaf damage probably from slugs. I put down slug bait and spread some coffee grounds and the peppers are showing new undamaged growth. The peppers that are still in their starter pots are now as big as the ones in the raised bed so they may get swapped out. Onions from seed were a bust so I planted some starts which are growing nicely. We had a lot of rain the past ten days so warmer temps and some sunshine should trigger a lot of growth. Slugs have been a big problem this year. Many times I went to pluck a strawberry to find the slugs beat me to it. The solution was to put planters out of their reach. Some salvaged lumber, a few new 2x4's and some short pieces of copper pipe later...The planter is supported by 1/2" copper pipe used as feet because I read that slugs don't like to cross copper. It's been a few days but no new slug bites so far.
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The season is late this year but I finally put in 25 tomato seedlings that sprouted quite well for us. Champions and Early Girls, 5th generation. The garlic is very nice this year and butter crunch. it's time to prepare for the deer.
 
I like to have the garden in by May 24th every year but am running a bit late again this year. All I'm growing this year are tomatoes as I get tired of feeding the deer carrots, onions, beets, etc. every year. The deer don't bother the tomatoes too much until they start to flower. Just before that the wire covers come out and I turn the Scare Crows on at night. Two of the twenty four plants in the garden are cherry tomatoes while I have three more in pots up on the sundeck. Just gotta keep the racoons out of those ones now.

There is one empty row of tilled soil left over so I think I'll also plant some sprouting Russet potatoes I found in the cubbyhole. That seems a better idea than throwing them into the compost.
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Mumbles said:
I like to have the garden in by May 24th every year but am running a bit late again this year. All I'm growing this year are tomatoes as I get tired of feeding the deer carrots, onions, beets, etc. every year. The deer don't bother the tomatoes too much until they start to flower. Just before that the wire covers come out and I turn the Scare Crows on at night. Two of the twenty four plants in the garden are cherry tomatoes while I have three more in pots up on the sundeck. Just gotta keep the racoons out of those ones now.

There is one empty row of tilled soil left over so I think I'll also plant some sprouting Russet potatoes I found in the cubbyhole. That seems better than throwing them into the compost.
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Last year raccoons came in one night under the deer fence and ate 60-80 repining tomatoes. That's the first time that's ever happened.
 
I'm going the easy way this year and employing Jobe's spikes to fertilize the tomatoes instead of my usual hand feeding individually with concentrate solution. we'll see.
 
I need advice. I started a vegetable garden 3 years ago with basil, rosemary, perilla, Korean and Jalopeno peppers, and a few other things.

It was hugely productive the first year and I was eating salads daily with a lot of it coming from the garden. The 2nd year it grew slowly and was also largely eaten by animals. This year I put up some fencing and ultrasonic motion sensor that seems to keep the animals away, but it’s still growing slowly.

Is there any reason why it would grow slowly? Is it possible the soil is depleted from that first year and I need to fertilize? I did use some organic fertilizer flakes last year, but it didn’t seem to help.

I’m trying to figure out why the garden was so successful that first year when I was a newbie, and now everything grows very slowly.
 
peterp1 said:
I need advice. I started a vegetable garden 3 years ago with basil, rosemary, perilla, Korean and Jalopeno peppers, and a few other things.

It was hugely productive the first year and I was eating salads daily with a lot of it coming from the garden. The 2nd year it grew slowly and was also largely eaten by animals. This year I put up some fencing and ultrasonic motion sensor that seems to keep the animals away, but it’s still growing slowly.

Is there any reason why it would grow slowly? Is it possible the soil is depleted from that first year and I need to fertilize? I did use some organic fertilizer flakes last year, but it didn’t seem to help.

I’m trying to figure out why the garden was so successful that first year when I was a newbie, and now everything grows very slowly.
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Sounds to me like you need to replenish the soil. Perhaps it had just enough nutrients for only 1 year. Of course, the weather has a lot to do with it too...some years are better than others for sun/rain. Plant things in different locations every year, if possible.
I throw a bag or 2 of manure in my garden every spring, before planting, as well as a little composte. I also have a bag of an organic fert. called TomatoTone that does a good job of giving the plants a boost when they look weak.

My garden has 2 cherry tomatoes ( red and yellow ) , string beans, arugula , chard and dill. There are 2 pots of basil on the porch. Very small and mangable.
I used to have a 400 sq ft garden at our previous house that could grow anything, but this property isn't situated well for a garden....unless I want to put it in the middle of the front yard.
 
BillyTheKid said:
Sounds to me like you need to replenish the soil. Perhaps it had just enough nutrients for only 1 year. Of course, the weather has a lot to do with it too...some years are better than others for sun/rain. Plant things in different locations every year, if possible.
I throw a bag or 2 of manure in my garden every spring, before planting, as well as a little composte. I also have a bag of an organic fert. called TomatoTone that does a good job of giving the plants a boost when they look weak.

My garden has 2 cherry tomatoes ( red and yellow ) , string beans, arugula , chard and dill. There are 2 pots of basil on the porch. Very small and mangable.
I used to have a 400 sq ft garden at our previous house that could grow anything, but this property isn't situated well for a garden....unless I want to put it in the middle of the front yard.
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Thanks for the feedback. There’s a place near us that sells chicken manure that a friend says is very good.

Can I add the manure now and just put it on top of the soil or does it need to be mixed into the soil before I plant?

Also does the smell of it have any positive or negative effect on attracting animals (eg groundhogs, chipmunks, etc)?
 
It works best if well incorporated into the full soil bed. But I suppose you can side dress the rows with chicken manure, but it should be completely composted to not burn the plants or introduce weed seeds. Mix it into the soil really well. Better too little than too much.
When you fertilize in the plant cycle makes a difference too. Do it too early and you'll get plenty of foilage and very little fruit. I wait until the plants are starting to send out serious blooms. Right now I'm still picking them off my tomatoes because the plants are too small.
Not a great growing year here in CT, at least not yet.

The most important thing is to have fun with it.
 
BillyTheKid said:
It works best if well incorporated into the full soil bed. But I suppose you can side dress the rows with chicken manure, but it should be completely composted to not burn the plants or introduce weed seeds. Mix it into the soil really well. Better too little than too much.
When you fertilize in the plant cycle makes a difference too. Do it too early and you'll get plenty of foilage and very little fruit. I wait until the plants are starting to send out serious blooms. Right now I'm still picking them off my tomatoes because the plants are too small.
Not a great growing year here in CT, at least not yet.

The most important thing is to have fun with it.
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Thanks - it was a ton of fun the first year when everything was growing like crazy even though I knew nothing about gardening. This year in NJ it’s been cold for longer, until very recently, so that’s a factor but growth is still slow after it finally warmed up. I’ll try the fertilizer/manure in small amounts.
 
peterp1 said:
Thanks - it was a ton of fun the first year when everything was growing like crazy even though I knew nothing about gardening. This year in NJ it’s been cold for longer, until very recently, so that’s a factor but growth is still slow after it finally warmed up. I’ll try the fertilizer/manure in small amounts.
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You can also mix the manure with water and give it to the plants. If you had cow manure it would be called 'cow tea', so I guess yours would be 'chicken tea'. As Billy said wait until you have fruit on the plants.
 
When you save your garlic to use as your seed stock, each year it acclimates so every year it will get bigger. Buying xtra large and jumbo seed stock still needs a year or so to acclimate.
i am to the point where my Lorz Italian sizes up very well but the first year was pretty poor
 
One mango tree with the smaller, super sweet fruit is finished.
The other one should finish in a week or two. Probably picked about 400+, altogether for now. Made mango lassi, ice cream and my friend made some mango bread. The freezer is packed. Gave piles away.
Surinam Cherries are picked. I'm going to make some jam.

One day's pickings.

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N0rt0n said:
Finally a decent harvest of Garlic. I started with Amish Heirloom that were huge. Mine are half the size but more respectable than past years.View attachment 3542587View attachment 3542588
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Nice harvest! But, to be honest, I think you picked them too early. There is much more green in those leaves than a ripe plant ready to be harvested. Your heads would be bigger if you waited for more dying back. The general rule i picked up was when about half of the leaves have died off from the bottom you should check them. I picked my scapes close to a month ago but I have a way to fo before they are ready for harvest.
 
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