The Garden Thread

[MacGyver]

We’re really in the money on strawberries.

I wintered some, and they’ve really taken off this spring. 

[gary_boom]

What are tomato and pepper plants selling for in your part of the state? A Kingsport garden center had some for 25 cents each. Some were higher.

[gregintenn]

6 hours ago, gary_boom said:

What are tomato and pepper plants selling for in your part of the state? A Kingsport garden center had some for 25 cents each. Some were higher.

Quarter a piece sounds like a good deal to me. My neighbor has a greenhouse. He sells plants, but I have no idea what for. He never lets me pay for some reason.

[gregintenn]

The corn and beans are popping up nicely.

[ReeferMac]

Indeed! First run of beans got hit by Dogwood winter. Second run looks kinda weak... found this site:

 

https://m.facebook.com/plantingbysigns

 

And put third run of beans in Weds... right on time if this lady is to be believed. I had read about planting by the signs in that Foxfire series of books. Interested to see how this pans out, the new run of beans is right next to the weak ones that were planted in the wrong sign.

[ReeferMac]

Pasture garden is about half planted. Neighbor brought me 20 tons of composted horse manure! Good deal for $150 and some beers. I'll drink half of them anyways...

 

.... its funny how 'what gets you excited' changes as you age.

 

White stuff is garden lime waiting to be tilled in with the horse####! Got a real pH problem.

 

Mostly beans and squash (what grew last year!) Got corn, cukes, melons, pumpkins and maters in that half. Other half (not shown) has more of the same plus taters, oats, peanuts and cotton.

Trying to fill out the un-planted half! Thinking I might try okra this year, except I don't like to eat it! Maybe grow it and give it away. Worst case more corn... squirrels sure seem to appreciate it when I do. 

[Jamie Jackson]

Looking Great @ReeferMac!

Grow that Okra brother. Kosher dill pickled Okra is a delicacy where I come from...the Deep South!

Horse manure is an excellent soil additive. Well done Sir.

I envy you of the space you have. We're muddling through with our suburban raised beds.

My 2 little 12 year old fig trees are setting fruit. Now if I can only beat the birds to them as they ripen. It's about a 50/50 kinda thing. Guess we have no choice but to share LOL.

We started eating salad greens and onions last week. Sure will be glad when we have some fresh tomatoes though.

 

[ReeferMac]

The beans are coming in!! Squash are all small and green, but growing. Taters looking fantastic. Whats cooking with you guys?

 

[peejman]

We've got some green beans but not enough to cook yet. Maters are just starting to ripen, gotta get them before the birds do. One zucchini and one green pepper. Looks good so far. 

[Mark A]

maters and peppers are dragging. We need some sustained hot weather.

 

We didn't plant much anything else this year. I've got some lettuce growing in an indoor system and a few squash plants of various types.

 

Just starting to think about fall seed starting. Probably starting plants in 2-3 weeks...

[Jamie Jackson]

Looking Great Kev!

We've been really blessed with our garden so far.

We've been picking green beans for about 2 weeks and I blanch and freeze 2-3 pints of them every other day.

We had so much lettuce we had to start giving Walmart bags of it to the neighbors, as there's only so much lettuce a man can eat LOL.

We've eaten 4 cuttings of Swiss Chard and I gave away a Walmart bag of it yesterday and a Walmart bag full last week. I had to pull the last of the lettuce (and the chard later today) as the Zucchini plant are getting huge. We've been cutting Zucchini for about 2 weeks as well, already made 2 loves of Zucchini bread and had oven baked parmesean zucchini a couple of times.

Gave several nice sized zucchini to the same friend I gave the chard to yesterday.

We're almost overrun with pearl onions... I had no idea how large they get. Been eating them, cooking with them, and giving them away as well.

Our 6 tomato plants all have green tomatoes on them and only one ripened so far.

The cukes went crazy after that last rain and I plan to can some Kosher dill pickles later today.

Yellow crook neck squash plants and okra are coming up well.

Oh, the potatoes are blooming so hopefully we'll be digging a few soon. Yukon Gold = tasty.

I need to get some more current pics, the attached are from the 2nd and 10th iirc ... been busy painting the house and finishing the decks. Pseudo-retirement is a darn busy time

Edited June 26, 2021 by Jamie Jackson

[ReeferMac]

Looks good Jamie!

Had a bear of a time getting anything leafy to sprout (spinach or lettuce). Even the fresh seeds I bought this year wouldn't pop until a few weeks ago.

Looking at trying to freeze/can some beans this weekend. I've got a TON planted, and its starting to come in! I picked the blossoms off my taters and hilled them up higher a couple weeks ago. Hoping for a big haul of Kennebec and Pontiac Reds this year. I ran out of the fingerlings I had been growing the last couple years (seed stock rotted), but some volunteers showed up in the upper garden, I'm hoping I can re-start in the fall from those.

I purchased some seed potatoes from a place in Maine late last year. Looked gorgeous, very well cared for, albeit pricey... planted them, they took off, grew great big plants, flowered, died back, dug them up... bupkus. Not a single tater harvested. First time I've ever been blanked 100%.

This year I have some volunteers in the pasture garden approx where the fancy ones were planted last year.... here's hoping! Get a return on my 45 bucks after 18 months maybe, LOL!

[Jamie Jackson]

Thank you.

As this is my first time trying to grow potatoes in a raised bed, it took all of my self control to not go dig some up, just to check, after reading your post! LOL

I'm just hoping for a few potatoes to cook with my green beans. Time will tell. I'm sure yours will yield well for you and you'll get that positive ROI!

I picked 2 gallon bags of green beans yesterday and will blanch those today to get them in the freezer.

I pulled up the remainder of the Swiss chard as the zucchini plants are taking over that 4x8 bed. I'll probably plant some butternut squash as in that bed when the zucchini is finished. Ah, the challenges of limited gardening space.

We also got our first 2 vine ripened tomatoes yesterday... slowly getting there.

I did can our first kosher dill pickles yesterday. 6 quarts of goodness!

[Dirtshooter]

Sounds like most everyone is having pretty good success. I thought my pepper plants were going to die back when we had all that rain. I put some calcium nitrate around each one and I don't know if that is what helped or drying out did the trick. Picked 1st grape tomato Saturday, pulled carrots up and blanched them and put them in freezer and should pick yellow squash, zucchini and cabbage by end of this week. All my veggies in raised beds, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers. For those that haven't tried it a fall garden is sometimes more productive because the pests and diseases aren't as prevalent. I have been doing 2 plantings of green beans for 4 or 5 years. Plus the brassicas like cauliflower, broccoli, carrots all do well. Glad everyone is getting some nice tasty returns for your labor.

[gregintenn]

We’re just now starting to get ripe tomatoes. Deer keep the peas topped off. Have gotten a handful of cucumbers. The green beans are just now begenning to produce.

Yesterday’s rain helped, but it could have used more. I see a couple of corn stalks starting to tassel. My squash and zucchini look awful this year. I didn’t know you could screw them up.

I’ve thinned out the deer and coon population by one each. I need to get busy on them.

Edited July 2, 2021 by gregintenn

[Dirtshooter]

Greg, the deer decimated my green beans last year, I know how that feels. As for the squash and zucchini what do they look like? Vine borers can kill them from the inside, look online to see what the moth that is active during the day looks like. They are nasty boogers for sure. Good luck!!

[gregintenn]

On 7/5/2021 at 9:19 AM, Dirtshooter said:

Greg, the deer decimated my green beans last year, I know how that feels. As for the squash and zucchini what do they look like? Vine borers can kill them from the inside, look online to see what the moth that is active during the day looks like. They are nasty boogers for sure. Good luck!!

They aren’t dead, they just aren’t growing much. I think a good rain would help.

[Quavodus]

We water our tomatoes, aka maters, squash, cucumbers and other stuff every evening after sundown. But, they still need some rain, bad.

[Ronald_55]

Well our efforts to get a variety of things from seed turned into a lot of volunteer tomatoe plants (from mulch), sone heirloom tomatoe plants, a bell pepper plant, 2 squash, and 2 cucumbers. All the sunflowers, jalepenos, and watermelons died or never even came up. 

Trying to water them any evening we have not had rain. The raised beds just do not hold moisture as well.

[Quavodus]

2 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

Well our efforts to get a variety of things from seed turned into a lot of volunteer tomatoe plants (from mulch), sone heirloom tomatoe plants, a bell pepper plant, 2 squash, and 2 cucumbers. All the sunflowers, jalepenos, and watermelons died or never even came up. 

Trying to water them any evening we have not had rain. The raised beds just do not hold moisture as well.

No, it doesn't do a lot of good to water them, a lot of moisture is evaporating. 

[Jamie Jackson]

Having some concerns about my cukes

The plants look good and have lots of blooms...but I have never had cukes produce so slowly. I water them regularly, the bed has been well fertilized (on the "organic" side of nutrients ala Steve Solomon).

I canned another 7 quarts of Kosher Dill pickles from them yesterday, but I am used to a more robust production.

As I needed an 8th quart (my brine mixture yields 8-9 quarts worth of brine) I decided to try making a quart of Kosher dill zucchini. We have used our recipe on quite a number of green vegetables like okra, green tomatoes, green beans etc with great success. The zucchini plants are still huge and still producing 2-3 zucchini a day and there's only so much zucchini bread a man can eat!

Have any of you guys ever pickled zucchini before?

The first run of green beans have finished. I was able to put around 20 quarts in the freezer... and we've been eating them with new potatoes (volunteer) as well.

I've replanted one of the beds with another crop of green beans and they are coming up well. Butter nut squash are coming up well too.

Oh...the tomatoes are low production and slow to ripen compared to previous years.

And while I'm complaining, canning on a glass top stove sucks. LOL

 

Some years are simply better, and easier, than others.

[peejman]

6 hours ago, Jamie Jackson said:

The zucchini plants are still huge and still producing 2-3 zucchini a day and there's only so much zucchini bread a man can eat!

Zucchini bread FTW!

They also make decent noodles as a pasta alternative. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by peejman

[Jamie Jackson]

Just now, peejman said:

Zucchini bread FTW!

They also make decent noodles as a pasta alternative. 

We were kicking around the idea of using some zucchini a few dishes with marinara sauce.

My wife bakes zucchini with Parmesan cheese and Mozzarella cheese and it delicious!

My favorite zucchini bread has lots of chocolate chips btw

[ReeferMac]

Interesting idea pickling the zuch!? Have to let us know how it comes out.

I can second the zuch noodles. I've had them and they are very good. Similair to a spaghetti squash, but milder flavor.

[Quavodus]

Well, at least it'd been raining some. We've not had to water in a few days. My wife got some cucumbers and maters off Yesterday.