# Gardens 2017



## begreen (Jul 2, 2017)

We got off to a late and cool start but things are finally starting to catch up. Last year we were a month ahead of this year's crops for most things, though it's been a great year for cool weather crops like lettuces and spinach. It looks like our corn will just make it to the 'knee high by 4th of July stage' and some little green tomatoes are starting to show. Garlic harvest was good. Peas are coming in big daily batches now. Asparagus is through for the season.


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## jcapler (Jul 2, 2017)

That is pretty BA setup there. 


Woodpro WS-TS-2000


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## begreen (Jul 2, 2017)

Thx. This is the geezer garden. We have two other gardens in the ground. They are a lot more work to keep weed free.


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## Squirrely (Jul 2, 2017)

We're unorganized gardeners... 




Mostly fruit and almond trees and grape vines.

Greg


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 8, 2017)

Mine is just starting to grow from the sun.   All we've had is rain and clouds this year.  

I think we'll pull out a garden, but cold weather stuff is about done for the year.  The hot weather stuff will be raging in a few weeks.   

I'm working on some bed expansion for next year.   I want more perennials.   I'm looking at 2 4 ft square strawberry beds,, 4x4 walking onion, and 2 apple trees.   I want to start garlic too.

I want to move the asparagus bed to a different part of the yard and use the current spot for annuals.


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## begreen (Jul 8, 2017)

We've had years like that too. No fun. Now we are in the opposite cycle, though we did have one of the rainiest winters on record. 

Those plans sounds ambitious but good.


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## Montanalocal (Jul 8, 2017)

I moved an asparagus bed years ago.  I had to rent a backhoe to dig the big 2-3 ft. diameter root balls out, and then take an axe to them so that I could lift the 1/2 to 1/3 root balls into the back of a pickup.  This was an old bed of course.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 8, 2017)

Mine didn't do too well in its current location.  I never prepared the bed.    A couple plants did well, but the vast majority died.   It's a giant weed patch.  I'm thinking of just burying it under a raised bed.  If some asparagus poke through its a win, and I'll be happy to let them live with the new stuff that'll be planted there.


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## begreen (Jul 8, 2017)

Maybe try lasagna gardening in that location?


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 8, 2017)

I'm getting interested in it.     I've been experimenting with multiple layers.   Latest is growing in the area under the peach tree.    I have cukes being trained up stakes and hopefully onto the branches.  They are doing better than the ones in full sun!   Next year I think the zuchs will be down there too.   Getting the zuchs out of the raised bed will free up a massive amount of room!

I'm thinking about getting rid of the tomatoes cages for trellises too.


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## Highbeam (Jul 11, 2017)

Corn was a total failure this year. We just replanted in hopes of getting some decorative stalks for Halloween! Pumpkins did very well as always but this year they all sprang up as volunteers from last year's waste. Same with potatoes, you never seem to get them all out.

Was just in Bend OR last week and really like the idea of growing hopps.


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## begreen (Jul 11, 2017)

Hops grow well on both sides of the mountain. I stopped growing because of aphids. For the little I use a year I will buy. That also gives me a lot of variety to choose from.


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## Squirrely (Jul 12, 2017)

Highbeam said:


> Corn was a total failure this year. We just replanted in hopes of getting some decorative stalks for Halloween! Pumpkins did very well as always but this year they all sprang up as volunteers from last year's waste. Same with potatoes, you never seem to get them all out.
> 
> Was just in Bend OR last week and really like the idea of growing hopps.



Hit and miss here too. We only got a few Cherries this year, but got enough Apricots for my wife to dry them for Winter. There''ll be enough Almonds to last us till next year's harvest...




Greg


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## Dobish (Jul 14, 2017)

i pulled my first pepper and my first couple of squash off! Yummy!


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## begreen (Jul 14, 2017)

It's always satisfying when good garden produce starts showing up on the table. Store bought food rarely compares.


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## Dobish (Jul 17, 2017)

begreen said:


> It's always satisfying when good garden produce starts showing up on the table. Store bought food rarely compares.


sure is.
had a salad fresh from the garden last night, including our first pepper. We made zucchini - cod cakes with fresh zucchini, dill and mint from the garden... mmmmmm


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 18, 2017)

I'll be trying to extend the garden into the winter this year.  I just ordered seeds to start some new perennials and self sewing annuals that'll feed us during the shoulder seasons.  I'm not sure if I'll have the volume to go all winter, but I think I'll be harvesting through December, and it'll pick back up in March.


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## Dobish (Jul 19, 2017)

I picked a bunch of yellow squash yesterday!  





my patty pan has about 30 flowers on it right now, and in the next few days i should get some of those. our jalepenos are looking good, our thai hots are loving the heat, and the serranos are getting there.

Unforttunately my basil, dill, thyme, rosemary and oregano are not doing well in the planter boxes. I think they need a bit more shade. I also haven't killed off my mint yet, which is pretty impressive for me!


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## EatenByLimestone (Jul 19, 2017)

Mostly berries, leafy stuff, and beans here.  The zucchini has only been putting out male flowers.  Tomatoes are coming in, but are still green.  Cukes are climbing like mad and will be moving up the peach tree branches soon.


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## Montanalocal (Jul 19, 2017)

Raspberries
Tomatoes, beans, brocoli
Onion Bed
Beds of Beets, Turnips, Rutabagas, Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
Elephant Garlic, scapes left on for show


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## Montanalocal (Aug 2, 2017)

Calling all Brussels Sprouts growers.

I have just topped my Brussels Sprouts.  I do that so they will stop growing higher and higher, and start to fill out the sprouts.  I have done this for years, but I usually do it toward the last of August.  It has been so hot here that things are ahead of normal, so I think mine are high enough that topping them now is good.

If you get large sprouts without doing this, then ignore this, but if yours are usually smaller than you would like, try this at least on some of yours.


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## Dobish (Aug 2, 2017)

i pulled a bunch of thai hots off the other day, a few banana peppers, and it looks like I will have my very first tomato this afternoon!  I have pulled off about 20 yellow squash, a few zuchinii, and the patty pan is exploding!  My radishes and beets were a little late, but It looks like i will get a few. Next year, I will plant more (or this fall).

My chard never came up, my mixed greens did terrible, and my onions just stopped growing after a few days.... I don't know what's happening with those, they are all in different beds.


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## timfromohio (Aug 2, 2017)

Good year for some things, bad for others.  First year we grew garlic and it turned out great.  Tomatoes had a not so great year year, though they were off to a great start.  First time I used a small greenhouse set up on deck and it has revolutionized  the way I garden.  Pic is old at this point, but shows some tomatoes hardening off in the greenhouse with a homebrewed British Bitter


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## timfromohio (Aug 2, 2017)

Early spring shot showing 3 beds of strawberries, asparagus bed, garlic, onions, and various greens under cover.


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## timfromohio (Aug 2, 2017)

begreen said:


> We got off to a late and cool start but things are finally starting to catch up. Last year we were a month ahead of this year's crops for most things, though it's been a great year for cool weather crops like lettuces and spinach. It looks like our corn will just make it to the 'knee high by 4th of July stage' and some little green tomatoes are starting to show. Garlic harvest was good. Peas are coming in big daily batches now. Asparagus is through for the season.
> 
> View attachment 198295
> View attachment 198296
> View attachment 198297



What did you construct the raised beds from?  Are those paver blocks?  If so, how did you fasten them?  Very nice looking.  My current yard is 100% flat, very clay rich, and drains very slowly.  I'm using raised beds almost exclusively (though experimenting with raised rows in the big garden area with moderate success).  I really like the look and height of the beds you have there!


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## Dobish (Aug 2, 2017)

so begreen doesn't have to find the link :

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2017-gardening-thread.161647/page-3#post-2174962


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## begreen (Aug 2, 2017)

Thanks! Tim, I also have a test garden that was heavy clay fill dirt. Not pretty stuff. After tilling and working in many cubic yards of compost the soil is a completely different animal. It is growing crops prolifically. Clay soil is typically mineral rich, so if you can turn it around and open it up, then it can become very good garden soil. I had the soil lab tested first. It was quite acidic and needed phosphorus so I added lime and bonemeal with the large amount of compost. The results were better than expected. Another plus, this test garden needs much less watering as compared to my home garden in spite of getting much more sun.


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## timfromohio (Aug 3, 2017)

Begreen - we're in the process of trying to heavily amend our "in-ground" garden this season with copious amounts of composted manure and also mineral amendments in the form of "complete organic fertilizer" based on Steve Solon's recipe from his books.  Primary problem is drainage.  You just about need a zodiac to go out there after a heavy rains.  I've tried using my BCS walk behind tractor with a hiller attachment to create raised rows - 30" wide rows, 20' in length.  This worked well for summer squash and tomatoes, especially when coupled with the industrial woven weed fabric.  I laid down a 30" x 20' strip and then used a biscuit cutter heated with a torch to cut/seal holes for each plant.  Other plants like potatoes still suffered from water damage.  I've thought of buying a broad fork to try and break up soil substructure as well.  All that said, I'm encouraged that you had success and will continue trying In the meantime, raised beds to the rescue.  I really like the look of yours - very nice and permanent.  Very nice is a poor choice of words, more like elegant.


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## begreen (Aug 3, 2017)

Yes, that can be tough. If the clay is solid and deep then there is no place for the water to go. I can see why you are investigating the raised bed option. Our test garden's clay soil is about 18" thick. Below that is more friable soil that drains better. Our Santina potato crop last year did pretty well once the soil was amended. Potatoes normally don't like clay soils. Word is that some red potatoes do better in clay soils so this year we are trying Red Norlands there.


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## Dobish (Aug 3, 2017)

This was yesterday's pickings.... and 3 red cherry tomatoes


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## timfromohio (Aug 3, 2017)

Dobish said:


> View attachment 198969
> 
> 
> This was yesterday's pickings.... and 3 red cherry tomatoes



Those look great!


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## Cynnergy (Sep 25, 2017)

Well my second year was definitely better than my first, although the mouse outbreak was a challenge!  My neighbor has been counting and has gotten 300 mice this year!  I even had to pick the carrots early because the mice were starting to gnaw on them in the ground.

Picked the tomatoes last week as the plants looked diseased.  The plan is to ripen them indoors.

Bush beans were prolific!  The snap peas are still producing after 8 weeks.  The shelling peas all got eaten by mice before I could pick them.

My fall pak choi all bolted after an amazingly hot Labor Day weekend, but the rest of the fall veggies look good.

We had a faller take down a number of red cedar trees next to the garden and so I've had full sun (rather than 5 hrs sun) in the garden since early august.  Looking forward to next year already!  Garlic will be going in this weekend.







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## begreen (Sep 25, 2017)

This year has been an odd one. The entire area had terrible pollination in spring due to rains. Only the apple trees got well pollinated and they have been attacked by a record codling moth level. The garden has faired better. Tomatoes just keep on coming. We've done 5 batches of sauce so far. There will be another couple yet. Cucumbers continue to come out of our ears along with zucchini. But the green beans went in late and have not been great. We just squeaked by there. Squash harvest was weak too. We just harvested about 80-90# of potatoes and grew a nice crop of celery for the first time.


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## Cynnergy (Sep 26, 2017)

I have celery in the greenhouse interplanted with the tomatoes.  They got a little swamped though, so are pretty small, likely from lack of light.  

What variety of tomato do you grow for sauce and how many do you have BG?  I tried romas this year and canned them as crushed tomatoes.  5 plants only got me 4x650 ml jars so far.  But I prob have another 2-3 jars still to ripen.  Still, I'm not sure if I can increase that greatly or not.

I think I am not a great tomato grower though - some had blossom end rot (they were irrigated on an automatic timer so I guess I just wasn't watering enough!) and I've had either a disease or nutrient deficiency too.  Last year was some sort of blight (I could see spores forming a grey fuzz on some plants, but they didn't collapse quickly like late blight does).  This year looked like a cross between the early stages of that, and maybe(?) a magnesium deficiency.  Ah well, can't win them all!


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## Dobish (Sep 26, 2017)

i have now pulled 76 patty pan off of 1 plant.... 

we are still going strong, but coming to an end for the tomatoes and the yellow squash. Cucumbers are going strong, so is eggplant. Kale & spinach are making a comeback. Lettuce is gone to seed. I really should put in another batch of beets.... 

the peppers are insane right now... i have over 300 (guessing) on my thai hot plant!


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## begreen (Sep 26, 2017)

Cynnergy said:


> What variety of tomato do you grow for sauce and how many do you have BG? I tried romas this year and canned them as crushed tomatoes. 5 plants only got me 4x650 ml jars so far. But I prob have another 2-3 jars still to ripen. Still, I'm not sure if I can increase that greatly or not.


We had some blossom end rot on early tomatoes too. I suspect this has to do more with the plant not liking cold wet feet. After nightime temps went up the soil could warm up and the problem went away. You might try laying black plastic around the plants to help heat up the soil faster in spring.

We grow several varieties and try new ones. For the roma style the standby is San Marzano. They have the best flavor. This year we also grew Jersey Devils which are what are grown for commercial canning. They are huge, but somewhat bland. We also tried Milano which did better with our cool start to summer and were decent flavored and quite prolific. For regular tomatoes we always grow Early Girl as a mainstay, but also grew Siletz (mealy, won't repeat), Legend, sungold and sweet million cherry tomatoes and this year tried sweet seedless. The Sweet Seedless turned out to be a winner. It too was susceptible to blossom end rot early on, but as the soil warmed up it really produced some wonderful tomatoes that make the best fresh salsa. In the past we have also grown brandy boy which is a brandywine style tomato, but more prolific.

My wife uses all the above tomatoes to make her sauce with the proportion about 50% romas and 50% not. She bakes down the cut up tomatoes with garlic and a little onion and salt, then does a quick zip in the food processor and cans. This creates a great sauce.


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## Dobish (Sep 26, 2017)

we have been loving our heirloom and our black krim.... soooo good.


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## begreen (Sep 26, 2017)

Dobish said:


> we have been loving our heirloom and our black krim.... soooo good.


Sounds like you've had a great garden year dobish.


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## Dobish (Sep 26, 2017)

sure have


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## begreen (Sep 28, 2017)

Cool climate gardening idea. I've observed this with my beds and believe it's why the greenhouse gets a head start. Thinking of making a bed heater for outside now. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/solar-root-heater-whitehorse-1.4301082


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## Cynnergy (Nov 6, 2017)

Early snow for us yesterday, and then hard frost this morning.  Everything still in the garden seems to have survived the frost ok, even some lettuces (they are under a pipe cloche).  

I covered my broad beans just before the snow hit.  They are just starting to pop up.  Last year they got snowed on when they were ~6” tall and most didn’t make it.  So much for a winter hardy crop!  I figure with a cover on they should be ok?  Fingers crossed .  

I picked the sugar pumpkins (they were started late) last week and hopefully they will ripen indoors.  They are mostly orange, just a few green speckles still.

How is everyone else doing?  I hear back east it’s still pretty mild?


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## begreen (Nov 6, 2017)

We picked the rest of our celery last week. This is a first for us and it came out great. Outdoor beds are pretty much done for except the hardy stuff like chard, kale, rutabagas, and brussel sprouts. Some lettuce remains, but it will be slim picking from here on out. In the greenhouse we still have some peppers and tomatoes plus a little lettuce. With colder feet and much shorter daylight hours everything is slowing down.


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