2022 Garden Thread

[EatenByLimestone]

Well, we haven’t had record-breaking heat this week. Just normal heat. We actually had two days where it didn’t reach 100, only 99, and yesterday was 98. Today we’re back up to 100, but we have a slight chance for rain the next couple of days, and it may be a little cooler if that comes to pass.

Have you harvested tomatoes yet? Are you done with the first flush, or are they still on the plants? Maybe you could try that judicious pruning that you were mentioning to Mrs. Clancey if the plants aren’t fruiting right now?

Yeah, starting to put them up for winter. In the freezer as I type this, lol. Then yesterdays and todays harvest that’ll get processed in a couple days, as long as they don’t become snacks first. The unripe one I found laying on the ground. A squirrel must have pulled it off. I try to harvest before they turn bright red on the vine. Squirrels take a taste then leave them.

If they don’t start flowering I’ll have to try something. Looks like they started growing again though.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Doing a lot of odds and ends today. I put new zip ties on the fencing around the backyard. Dumped some wood in the dump at the back of our property. Collecting stuff we plan to take to the town clean up in September (old fencing, old wheelbarrow, and more junk that our regular trash guy won't take). I'm glad the township has these cleanup days twice a year, otherwise we would have to pay to get rid of this stuff.

Two days ago, I planted clover seed where we used to have the raised gardens in the backyard. It is already germinating. I can see little green "dots" all over that area. Must be the heat and the water I am giving it. The package says it germinates in 10-14 days.

The well diggers are back at work next door. Their rig broke down late Monday afternoon. It took them two days to fix it. From the amount of pipes they have attached to the drill so far, it looks like they are down at least 220 feet and still drilling. Our well, just about 50 feet away is only 145 feet deep, so I think I can rest assured that they won't be getting water from our area unless they get "spill over". I was worried with two wells so close together, we might be sharing the same water at the same level. The noise level of the drill is deafening, and there is rock dust all over! Hopefully, they finish today.

Definitely have to cut back on tomatoes next year! We just get all of them given away, and we get another 10-15 lbs. We're eating as many as we can. Yesterday, we canned some, but it is becoming like a nightmare. Remember the Dick Van Dyke show where he was dreaming about the aliens and walnuts? He opened the closet in his living room and 1000's of walnuts poured out. That's how I am starting to feel about the tomatoes.

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[EatenByLimestone]

I’ve been trying to get some people evicted from a rental. The sheriff just came and watched me change locks. Now I get to go through it. I need to clean, and paint, fix wall damage, etc.

I’m hoping I can get it done and on the market quickly.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

They had lots of brush out back that needs to be burnt or thrown out. I’m sitting here enjoying what I can before the weekend. It’s not the most productive, but needs to be done to clean up the yard and house.

Seems they left enough junk that my house is half staged for selling. I have a mattress for a bedroom and a computer with bookshelves for an office. We just got a bed, so I can move stuff around and the garbage bed can stage another room….

 

[DuaeGuttae]

The corn harvest is done. This is the first time in 28 yrs here that we have harvested the corn before eating lots of ripe tomatoes. I left a half dozen ears on the stalks for fresh eats this week. The first is still at least a week off. Strange year.

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Beautiful, Begreen.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Yeah, starting to put them up for winter. In the freezer as I type this, lol. Then yesterdays and todays harvest that’ll get processed in a couple days, as long as they don’t become snacks first. The unripe one I found laying on the ground. A squirrel must have pulled it off. I try to harvest before they turn bright red on the vine. Squirrels take a taste then leave them.

If they don’t start flowering I’ll have to try something. Looks like they started growing again though.

View attachment 297752 View attachment 297753

Those look great. I haven’t had enough tomatoes to process any at all, but I’m hoping that that will change this fall. I have three plants that are a San Marzano offspring, and they’re starting to flower again now. It may still be too hot for pollination, but we did cool down to the low 70’s yesterday evening when we got about 2 tenths of an inch of rain. (A couple hundred gallons in the rain tank that should at least allow me to do a watering on Saturday with rain water.). I’m hoping for more storms this afternoon, but the chances are still pretty slim.

@Dan Freeman , why are the neighbors drilling a well? Is it new construction, or have there been water problems with an older well? I sure hope it doesn’t have an impact on your water at all.

 

[begreen]

Finally! This is the latest we have ever started having tomatoes. There are tons on the vine. September will be a serious sauce-making month. These are 2 early girls and a honey bee cherry tomato that we are trying out this year.



So glad things are cooling down for you DG and that things are waking up. We got a freak thunderstorm 2 days ago and things have notably perked up. .27" of rain. No more rain is currently expected for the next 10 days.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Nice tomatoes, @begreen. I have grown Early Girls the past few years. I like them.

I have decided I HAVE TO cut down on tomatoes next year. (I say that every year.) With 28 plants, we are being overwhelmed. While we are/will be processing many ourselves, we just have too many, and where I live, neighbors are few and far in between. I've taken to bringing a box every other day to the supermarket and giving them to a worker I know. She takes some home and splits the others up to other workers.

We do the same thing with our San Marzano tomatoes. Freeze them until the season is over and process all at once. I have 8 1-gallon bags in the freezer now. So easy to take the skins off when they defrost as opposed to blanching and removing the skins when fresh. I tend to pick them a day or two before they are ripe for the same reason...squirrels and chipmunks. I have about 2 dozen on a platter that I picked yesterday. They should be ripe enough to freeze by tomorrow. They ripen very quickly. One thing I have noticed is a lot of the smaller ones that are starting to grow further up the plant are getting blossom end rot before they mature, but it's probably too late to give the plants a calcium treatment.

Two days ago, I noticed the leaves on my cantaloupes wilting. Yesterday, they were all brown and dying. Something got to them. Too bad, I have 8 good sized melons growing. I will pick them and see how well they ripen on their own. There are many that are just too small.

A week or two ago there was mention of Squash Vine Borer in this thread. I got my weekly email from Joe Gardener (Joe Lampl') this morning. One of the topics he covered in this week's newsletter is Squash Vine Borer Prevention and Control. Here's a post of his from last year he referred to in the newsletter: (broken link removed)

 

[Dan Freeman]

@Dan Freeman , why are the neighbors drilling a well? Is it new construction, or have there been water problems with an older well? I sure hope it doesn’t have an impact on your water at all.

Until the late 80's this was one large property (15 acres) with two houses and 2 wells. When the property was split, the well for the other house wound up being on our property. (Not sure why they did that.) Since we purchased 27+ years ago, we have always allowed the other house access and use to the well. The neighbors recently put their house up for sale, and the buyer wanted something definite in writing about use of the well, but failed to submit the proper easement and pulled out of the deal, so the neighbors decided to dig a separate well and put the house back on the market. That's a win for us, because after we run our own electricity to this well, we will use it for the gardens so as not to tax our house well as much.

As far as the well they dug this past week, it is only about 50-60 feet from our house well. Our house well is only 145 feet deep. They had to go well over 200 feet before they got water, so I would imagine that will not hurt our well.

 

[clancey]

Just curious here "Does other properties in your area use wells". Have you had your well water tested? I wish I had a well lol . Here is a update on my tomato bush. I have one tomato so I took a picture of it...Everybody"s garden looks really good and enjoy your good looking tomato"s..clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

Congrats on the tomato, Mrs. Clancey!

There is no residential city water where I live, so all the homes have wells. We had our well water tested when we bought this house/property 27+ years ago, but not since then. We probably should have it tested periodically, but it is one of those things that you keep saying I have to get done, but never think of that often or get done.

 

[begreen]

Anticipation. This Pomidoro Squsito plant is 6+ ft tall and full of tomatoes. They are a hybrid, san marzano like tomato, but bigger and more disease resistant.

The Blue Beech plants are not far behind. This is an heirloom variety with exquisite flavor. Although it is a meaty, sauce tomato, we eat them in salads too. They get pretty big, about 4-5" long and 2"+ in diameter. It's a prolific bearer. The plant needs to be well staked due to the weight of the tomatoes.


The Honey Bee cherry tomatoes are ripening. This is a new one we are trying out. Normally we grow Sungolds. These are larger and prolific. On the other side of this cage are Sweet Millions, a regular in the garden.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Until the late 80's this was one large property (15 acres) with two houses and 2 wells. When the property was split, the well for the other house wound up being on our property. (Not sure why they did that.) Since we purchased 27+ years ago, we have always allowed the other house access and use to the well. The neighbors recently put their house up for sale, and the buyer wanted something definite in writing about use of the well, but failed to submit the proper easement and pulled out of the deal, so the neighbors decided to dig a separate well and put the house back on the market. That's a win for us, because after we run our own electricity to this well, we will use it for the gardens so as not to tax our house well as much.

As far as the well they dug this past week, it is only about 50-60 feet from our house well. Our house well is only 145 feet deep. They had to go well over 200 feet before they got water, so I would imagine that will not hurt our well.

Sounds great that you’ll have an irrigation well as long as you can get electricity to it.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Just curious here "Does other properties in your area use wells". Have you had your well water tested? I wish I had a well lol . Here is a update on my tomato bush. I have one tomato so I took a picture of it...Everybody"s garden looks really good and enjoy your good looking tomato"s..clancey

View attachment 297833 View attachment 297834 View attachment 297835

I hope that’s a beginning to many more, Mrs. Clancey. Thanks for the picture.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Anticipation. This Pomidoro Squsito plant is 6+ ft tall and full of tomatoes. They are a hybrid, san marzano like tomato, but bigger and more disease resistant.
View attachment 297836
The Blue Beech plants are not far behind. This is an heirloom variety with exquisite flavor. Although it is a meaty, sauce tomato, we eat them in salads too. They get pretty big, about 4-5" long and 2"+ in diameter. It's a prolific bearer. The plant needs to be well staked due to the weight of the tomatoes.
View attachment 297837

The Honey Bee cherry tomatoes are ripening. This is a new one we are trying out. Normally we grow Sungolds. These are larger and prolific. On the other side of this cage are Sweet Millions, a regular in the garden.

View attachment 297838

Begreen, those look beautiful. I did some reading about the Honey Bee tomato, and it sounds interesting. I’ll look forward to hearing your reports on it. I’m glad you’ll have good harvests of Pomidoro Squisito and Blue Beech for your sauce making.

Almost all of our tomato plants are beginning to flower again after I had cut them back earlier this season. I’m afraid it may be a bit too early, though, for them to benefit from cool enough weather. It hit 98 yesterday and is up to 96 already today, and the hottest hours are still to come. It’s cooler than it was, but probably not cool enough. I’m hoping for some tropical moisture to make its way here this weekend, but we may be too far north and west to benefit.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Yesterday my ten year old and I peeled our first luffa. We got lots of seeds from it so that I can plant more next year if I can figure out a good spot. The peeling was fun and not too hard. I ended up cutting the luffa into four pieces. I gave one to my daughter for a bath sponge and kept the others to use in the kitchen sink.





I’m also including here a fun picture that my mother sent me. She planted seeds from a mixed pack of winter squash. Nothing in the pack is supposed to be a Fairytale-type pumpkin, but that’s one of the plants she got. This specimen is over a foot in diameter.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yesterday my ten year old and I peeled our first luffa. We got lots of seeds from it so that I can plant more next year if I can figure out a good spot. The peeling was fun and not too hard. I ended up cutting the luffa into four pieces. I gave one to my daughter for a bath sponge and kept the others to use in the kitchen sink.

View attachment 297842
View attachment 297843
View attachment 297844

I’m also including here a fun picture that my mother sent me. She planted seeds from a mixed pack of winter squash. Nothing in the pack is supposed to be a Fairytale-type pumpkin, but that’s one of the plants she got. This specimen is over a foot in diameter.

View attachment 297845

That's cool!

 

[Dan Freeman]

I was able to get some work done in the pond today trying to smooth out the sides. Here is what it looks like before smoothing out.


Here is what it looks like after smoothing out.



It is very hard to smooth the side walls out since there are so many rocks in the soil. I still have a lot of voids and jutting rocks. I was thinking of making a slurry of screened clay and trying to coat the sides, but I don't know if I want to go through all that. I think I may just fill the larger voids and pay a visit to a local carpeting company on Monday and see if I can get some old carpeting they have pulled out of a house. This way I can put down about 2-3 inches of screened soil on the bottom, cut and drape the carpeting on the sides, and then put in the underlayment over the carpeting and bottom soil and then lay the liner down.

Here's where I ended up by the end of the day. I still have to trim the side walls on one side...the deeper end.

 

[clancey]

Gosh ---------Looks like "Lake Erie". It sure looks like its coming along and good for you and can't wait until you fill it up-----you could go swimming--lol. That luffa"s looks neat and I never knew where "luffa's came from and now I know. Bg that squash is big enough to be a pumpkin. and those Pomidoro"s look wonderful and "six foot high"--wow...Lime it's about time you 'cleaned up that mess in the back 40 and they just left the furniture for you to fool with...That happened to me too--left over furniture and a broken stove with a non working refrigerator that I had to get rid of when I moved into my small house years ago.. Happy work everyone ..clancey

 

[woodey]

What difference a year makes. Last year I didn’t harvest a single pepper. Stuffed peppers on the menu!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Great looking peppers, @woodey. I love stuffed peppers. I sometimes make stuffed peppers with my peppers as well. I also wait to let some of my California Wonder Bells turn red. Then, I pick a combination of green and red ones and make sausage and peppers. So good. What variety is that you grew? They look like California Wonder Bells.

 

[begreen]

They look great. Our bell peppers are smaller. Next year I may try the Calif. Wonders. This year we are trying Beaver Dam peppers for the first time. They are a Hungarian Bell pepper of medium heat. Very tasty, but spicy. I think they will be good for stuffing too.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@woodey , those are big, beautiful bell peppers! Congratulations.

@begreen, are Beaver Dam Peppers really bells? Would you share some pictures of the plants and peppers, please? After you mentioned them earlier this year, I got some seeds. I have two growing in my garden now, but they haven’t started flowering yet.

We were blessed to receive a far-flung band of tropical moisture yesterday that gave us two sets of sprinkles and one brief thunderstorm. All told, it was about three tenths of an inch of rain. It wasn’t much but enough to perk up some of the plants in the landscape that were wilting and to give me some more water in the rain tanks. I had hoped for more storms today, but we missed out. We did have lots of cloud cover, though, and I ended up with a day off of homeschooling because of sickness in the family. I took the opportunity to remove the shade cloth from the garden since it’s supposed to be a cloudier week. I also planted some more Sunn Hemp seeds in the bare soil in my backyard cinder block bed since it got a good soaking yesterday from roof run-off.

 

[begreen]

@begreen, are Beaver Dam Peppers really bells? Would you share some pictures of the plants and peppers, please? After you mentioned them earlier this year, I got some seeds. I have two growing in my garden now, but they haven’t started flowering yet.

They are kind of like a fat poblano with light green skin that we are told will go red. Sorry for the poor picture. My body is blocking the late afternoon sunlight. This is a medium-sized one. There are at least 8 on this plant some bigger, some smaller.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Is that an Enduraplas rain tank? The construction looks like the one I have on order.