Anyone doing a garden?

[RickeyM]

Cover me boys, I'm goin' in. See-sawing temps here in the DMV. Waiting for consistent above temps 50* for the peppers. I think the tomatoes are ready for the big time. It's the end of May and we still have the occaisonal nighttime temp dip into the 50's. Screw it, the sweet peppers and tomatoes are going in today. Warm but overcast to ease the transplanting.

 

[BillyTheKid]

Things are starting to grow here. Basil, sunflowers, radishes, kale, chard, arugula all coming along.
I always have a spinach problem. For the last 2 years I couldn't even get it to germinate. This year I got it in early, it came up, grew to about 3 inches, then it curled up and turned brown. Now it's all dead.

 

[LHorn]

@BillyTheKid ...Fusarium wilt maybe?

I had the same issues as last year with my peppers. They were growing fine then suddenly just wilted and died. In the pic the wilted one #7 was doing fine like the one to the right...both Zapotec Jalapenos. Last year Zapotecs never germinated...this year they were the first and all the others lagged behind or died off



I transplanted all to the carport on 5/16 and still had temps sometimes down to the low 40's...I think it actually benefits them. If the leaves...or peppers late in the year...start getting black on them that is telling you its too cold for them. Moved them to the back of the house last Friday under the shadecloth. The red bracket was to show my son his 5 Habaneros.



Ended up with this for 2026...


And my carrots turned into a clustermuck but I dont care...whatever happens happens.....

 

[BillyTheKid]

.Fusarium wilt maybe?

Definitely something like that. I'll pull them out and throw them away. I guess I should have eaten them as seedlings.
No more attempting spinach for me.

Nice pepper plants. Nice to have a big garden !

Do you have another rabbit problem this year ?

 

[LHorn]

Definitely something like that. I'll pull them out and throw them away. I guess I should have eaten them as seedlings.
No more attempting spinach for me.

Nice pepper plants. Nice to have a big garden !

Do you have another rabbit problem this year ?

Ha...no Popeye arms for you then with no spinach!

Oh no...you went there no, no hopping rodents so far but if you just jinxed me I'm sending them all to you!

 

[CT Jim]

Great garden so far. I pulled my first Giant Marconi peppers, they will get about 4” longer if I wait. I have many different peppers coming in strong. Nothing beats grabbing a pepper or two and throwing it on the grill while something is on!!
Garlic is maybe another week or two, and this year I already have squash and zucc. Everything is coming in superbly!

 

[RickeyM]

Something wiped out two of the four potato plants I have going. I'm not sure it wasn't something I did. The leaves and stems wilted and died. This happened after a watering but only on half of the plants in the same bag. Bugger It's now June so I expect the garlic and onions will be ready soon.
The Romain I sowed last Fall has finally bolted. The copy said "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter Garden" so possible heat tolerate? Maybe I'll try sowing another batch to see.
The peppers and tomato look happy in their homes (pots). Leaves & stems up, no droops.
The Scarlet Beebalm is budding so flowers for the pollinators soon? I gave up on the Lavender seedlings. They're just growing too slowly. I bought a Salvia plant that's said to be attractive to pollinators and I sowed a few Borage seeds since I made space for flower pots.
On the Bell peppers I'm giving a try to companion plant oregano with them. Seeds gotta stay moist until germination which can be hard to achieve in pots with other plants growing so I had a idea. I'll let you know if it works

Cut down toilet paper rolls filled with coco coir covered with plastic cups.

​

 

[LHorn]

Just gotta watch the cups...they can turn into magnifying glasses in the sun and cook things real fast.

 

[LHorn]

Great garden so far. I pulled my first Giant Marconi peppers, they will get about 4” longer if I wait. I have many different peppers coming in strong. Nothing beats grabbing a pepper or two and throwing it on the grill while something is on!!
Garlic is maybe another week or two, and this year I already have squash and zucc. Everything is coming in superbly!
View attachment 3772388View attachment 3772389

You southerners have it made for growing stuff. Mine are at the point of needing the flowers picked off to get them to grow more.

 

[CT Jim]

Oh Oh
I went in a cut my peppers so the plants put more into making more. This could be a problem for the two of us,, Today I harvested 61 peppers……I don’t have this problem with zucchini

 

[RickeyM]

Just gotta watch the cups...they can turn into magnifying glasses in the sun and cook things real fast.

Hadn't thought of that. We're getting some hot days here later in the week. I'll cover with some shade cloth. Mix up that coco coir with some vermiculite to retain moisture..

 

[whoaru99]

Got one of two raised beds set up and planted with some tomatos. Apprently marigolds and basil are sympathetic with tomatos so the better half is going to put some of those in as well. And some carrots, she says. I might see if there is room for a jalepeno or two.

The 2nd one is larger L x W and roughly 2x taller. Need to find a local source of bulk soil mix as buying 85 cu ft of commercial bagged stuff would cost a small fortune. Although, a lot of info seems to suggest filling it partially with wood and branches to reduce the soil volume required. Got the taller one for us, so to speak, not because we think that much soil depth is necessary but easier for us to work in.

 

[RickeyM]

Got one of two raised beds set up and planted with some tomatos. Apprently marigolds and basil are sympathetic with tomatos so the better half is going to put some of those in as well. And some carrots, she says. I might see if there is room for a jalepeno or two.

The 2nd one is larger L x W and roughly 2x taller. Need to find a local source of bulk soil mix as buying 85 cu ft of commercial bagged stuff would cost a small fortune. Although, a lot of info seems to suggest filling it partially with wood and branches to reduce the soil volume required. Got the taller one for us, so to speak, not because we think that much soil depth is necessary but easier for us to work in.

Yes you can add some of that stuff on the bottom of a raised bed. You could even do sort of a "hugelkultur" If you have the depth. That would cut down on the amount of soil you need.

 

[RickeyM]

Onion and garlic harvest is in. Onions did OK but not as large as I'd have liked. Garlic did well for my first time growing it. No Allium leaf miner damage at all. Lessons for next year. Fertilize and water more. Tomorrow i dump the soil out of the bag to see how the potatoes did.

 

[RickeyM]

98* yesterday and 100* + today and tomorrow. The shade cloth has been deployed. What wash't well watered yesterday was watered by 7:30 this morning. Everything but a flower bed and one of the raised veggie beds has been mulched with coco husk chips. The Romaine lettuce, bush beans and cow (black-eye) beans have sprouted and I expect the basil to show up soon. A bud on the bell peppers and one on the tomato respectively have formed fruits and both are doing well in their large pots.

 

[LHorn]

Peppers doing OK so far...slow again but getting there.

This is a quick shot of the Trident poblano's...


Just pulled some carrots this morning. They have gotten way to unruly cause sum idiot severely overcrowded them and was too lazy to thin them out properly.


This is after I pulled the ones this morning. I have been pulling 4 or 5 every few days to munch on...but this is the most I've done at once. Gonna take some to my mom tomorrow...she has dementia but she knows she likes carrots.

 

[LHorn]

Pulled the first of the Trident poblano's today. Nice stuffers but I'll probably smoke and dry them whole. About the same amount left on the four plants are not far behind but I'm thinking of letting them ripen red and do the same.

Also have an early Thai Habanero I grew for my son. Had one about a week ago ripen and I thought...how bad can it be. So I cut the very tip of the bottom off and tried it....BIG mistake! At first it had a nice citrus taste and then a millisecond later it was like I licked an electric fence. Numb lips and tongue for a half hour even after a pint of milk....lesson learned....aint touching those devil's dingleberries again!

Now off to dig out most of the carrots and get them vac sealed and frozen...TBC.....

 

[LHorn]

Back to the carrots...I was going to just take the biggest ones but started to see grubs so I pulled everything to get them before they did.

After 7 hours of washing and peeling yesterday...


And today sliced, blanched and vac sealed...9 lbs. in the freezer...


...and yes I cheated the date so I didnt have to write 31 twenty nine times....my hands are still cramping up from peeling yesterday

 

[RickeyM]

My first of the season, it had started blushing so picked yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Early in the morning we had a substantial rain so I picked it before it could uptake more water and split.



I wish it had grown bigger, but I'll take it.

 

[LHorn]

Finally getting some ripe habanero's (left) and Leutschauer's...and a single "Mammoth Jalapeno". The three plants of the latter are pitiful this year. The insects seem to be focused on the hot habanero's...I had to throw half of what was picked away. They dont seem to be bothered by DE dust either. I have been fighting a massive ant invasion inside and out this year so I think that may be the issue.