Gardens 2008

[CheezeFlixz]

So got any pix of the garden this year? I know we've got a couple of garden-ish threads going.

So here are a few pictures of mine ...


This is the "kitchen" garden up near the house, as you can see it runnith over.


Tiny bit of corn in the back ground.


One stem of 1000's of Blackberry's.


I planted these peach trees about 3 years ago and you can see they are full. There are 4 more and a couple of nectarines.


Some pears, there are 6 pear trees and 4 apples which have a few on them, but they didn't do as well this year do to a late cold snap.

There is ton of other things growing here, gourds, pumpkins, water melons, okra, cukes, maters, beans, plums (played out now), cherries, in addition to the regular garden fare.

So you got any photos of your garden?

[Jack]

No photos, sorry.  I'm one of a dozen or so people on earth that doesn't have a digital camera.  Did notice we've got a couple of tomatoes turning orange today.  The pole beans are doing fantastic, but no beans yet, just some little flowers.

You've got a beautiful place by the way.  Love that second picture, looks like the corn fields around here.

[CheezeFlixz]

No photos, sorry.  I'm one of a dozen or so people on earth that doesn't have a digital camera.  Did notice we've got a couple of tomatoes turning orange today.  The pole beans are doing fantastic, but no beans yet, just some little flowers.

You've got a beautiful place by the way.  Love that second picture, looks like the corn fields around here.

That's corn in the back yard, it's all feed corn. The sweet corn is in the garden the first crop is about played out, I stagger plant them so I have fresh corn most of the summer. On the other side I have soybeans now, we had winter wheat this spring.

The wheat has been converted to green now ...

[dean]

Man Cheeze, that looks like a great place.  How I'd like to get me some of that land!

Renting makes me angry sometimes, but I don't earn enough yet to concern myself with a mortgage at this stage of the game.

So um, I do have a garden, somewhere around here.  Actually it's bigger than most people I know who also are renting [in that I actually have one].  We have some herbs in the garden like Basil and such, but beyond that not anything worth mentioning.  My claim to fame is living next to a nicely sized park with a giant 'Rocket' styled playground where drunks hang out on saturday nights and once saw a couple getting cosy on the tanbark underneath the slide...

[Trevor]

So got any pix of the garden this year? I know we've got a couple of garden-ish threads going.

So here are a few pictures of mine ...


This is the "kitchen" garden up near the house, as you can see it runnith over.


Tiny bit of corn in the back ground.


One stem of 1000's of Blackberry's.


I planted these peach trees about 3 years ago and you can see they are full. There are 4 more and a couple of nectarines.


Some pears, there are 6 pear trees and 4 apples which have a few on them, but they didn't do as well this year do to a late cold snap.

There is ton of other things growing here, gourds, pumpkins, water melons, okra, cukes, maters, beans, plums (played out now), cherries, in addition to the regular garden fare.

So you got any photos of your garden?

That is a great garden, Cheeze: can I come visit you sometime? 

[Mr. DS]

Finally was able to take some pics this evening...this was right after a rainfall...

Zucchini...overproducing as always...


Little finger eggplant...the midget version of normal eggplant


Hot pepper plants (jalapeno, hot cherry, scotch bonnets) and beans


Tomatoes, those stakes are 6/7 feet tall I believe...


The bigger leaf stuff is some sort of yams my grandfather in law planted...right to it is my melon patch...to the left are some radishes almost ready to harvest...i've replanted radishes roughly 3 times already this year...

[Scott]

Great gardens Cheezeflixz and Darksider.

We haven't planted anything other than yard grass since we moved a couple years ago. The developers where I live gave us a desert which included a dead tree in our back yard and I've managed to turn the yard green since moving in and I have been talking to the wife about putting a fruit tree in the backyard soon. Most likely a pear tree since a local farmer sells some of the best pears ever last fall and now that I see Cheezeflixz I think I'm sold on pears. Those blackberries look awesome and a lot cheeper than those $2.50 - $2.99 blackberries at the supermarket. Those Sunflowers in the "kitchen garden" remind me of Day Of The Triffids. I like that one shot of the landscape full of corn and sunflowers.

Also love those Zucchini and Eggplants Darksider. Where you from New Jersey? Looks like New Jersey. 

[CheezeFlixz]

The bigger leaf stuff is some sort of yams my grandfather in law planted.

The BIG LEAF stuff is Elephant Ears, depend on your zone you'll have to dig them up in the fall, cut the leaf off and store them in a root cellar, or under the house.

If you have access to horse manure (any works, horse is best) dig a big hole fill it with the manure, cover with some dirt, plant the Elephant Ears, and they'll get HUGE, like one leaf will be 3 feet across. The ones I have last year were enormous, this year they're small as I didn't have time to fool with them and I just stuck them in the ground the first place I found, as the old spot was were I was building the sun room and  have to fix a new place for them.

Great garden BTW, my corn is played out, as are the Zukes and Squash are about gone. Cukes are starting to slow down, most stuff does in the August heat, I plant greens and few short crops again around Labor day for late fall fixin's.

[Mr. DS]

Also love those Zucchini and Eggplants Darksider. Where you from New Jersey? Looks like New Jersey. 

RI but thats close enough to Jersey.   

The BIG LEAF stuff is Elephant Ears, depend on your zone you'll have to dig them up in the fall, cut the leaf off and store them in a root cellar, or under the house.

They do look a lot like elephant ears to be honest.  However he maintains they're yams.  Guess we'll see in the fall come harvest time. 

Zuchinni are still producing here but their peak usually comes in mid July I find.  Then they get a rebirth for a few weeks in August.  Cucumbers up here this year seem to be going slow for everyone.  Those tomatoes are just starting to turn.  I'm hoping to get some red one in the next few weeks. 

The beauty of everything is, the excess produce I have from the garden will be going to an employee's farmer's market at my workplace that I organized.  All the money goes to our work charity. 

[CheezeFlixz]

I've already filled several baskets with tomatoes. Cucumber here have done very well, I grow 'Straight Eights' all my excess that I don't give away which is a lot that is given away, I toss in the compost pile for next year's compost. We jar and preserve a lot of it, but there alway those that get away and you end up with a 2 foot long zucchini or a 10 pound squash.

Beans are strong and plentiful, pulled all the corn stalks up today. No sense in letting them suck the nitrogen out of the soil if there done. Okra is plentiful as usual, didn't plant a lot of peppers this year about 10 plants of various kinds, Anaheim's are my favorite, good texture, flavor, size. Great for stuffing.

AS for the YAMS ... they're Elephant Ears, I'd bet money on it ... now to be fair some folk do eat them and they are also called COCO YAMS in some places, they're also a Taro Plant, specifically Sweet Taro.

You say Yam I think Sweet Potato which is a vining plant, and you make Candied Yams from.   

[Mr. DS]

Yams...they keep the ladies happy...


He said they're a Portuguese yam that some guy gave him.  Some kind of big cash crop when it comes to the obvious ethnic group it was named after.  He is a potato/strawberry/pumpkin farmer by trade and lately has been trying some different fall crops.  We did onions in the same space last year and they ended up being the size of softballs.  He planted quite a few this year in a spot he normally does gourds in with intent to sell in the fall.  He will too because their taste was like no other onion I've ever had.

My beans are producing as well, several shopping bags worth so far over the past few weeks.  The peppers have taken off quite nicely too but I was hoping for a bigger yield for pickling.  I'm sure I'll have more than enough before its over.  The eggplant is just starting to come in too.  As mentioned its the little finger variety.  Here is a photo I forgot to post of it.  They only get to be 8 inches or so. 

[Jack]

Our tomatoes are finally producing, got about 8 of them so far.  The plants are loaded with them, I suppose in the next month we'll have more than we can possibly eat.  The pole beans are just starting to produce as well, not much yet but we had one nice meal of them.  They've only got a 5' X 6' area and they've made their own little forest out of it.  Peas didn't do well at all this year, but the few we got were really nice, large and well developed.  Peppers are just starting to grow some tiny little peppers, I've only noticed one about 3/4" long on one plant.  Lettuce is just going crazy, LOL.  I guess it's best to cut the leaves off when they're 6" - 8" long, then they grow right back.  The wife let some of it grow a foot and a half tall, she says that stuff is too tough to eat.  I dunno, looks good to me.  Onion...we've got onions up the ying yang.  I didn't thin them out this year, got three rows with about 100 per row.  They actually seem to be growing better without being thinned out. 

[Mr. DS]

How is everyone's tomatoes doing currently?  In this area they are ripining at a painfully slow rate.  Just now I'm starting to get some turning.  Usually its weeks before.

Sad news, my melon patch went under.  I think the heavy flash storms we've been getting are to blame. 

[CheezeFlixz]

I've been getting 'maters for about a month now and I have 1,367,204 as of today and they're still as many on the plants. I grow mainly Roma's and my own invention "Choma's" a cross between Roma's and Sweet Cherry's. They produce bunches like cherries, but are shaped like small Roma's withe Roma's meat and texture with a sweet cherry flavor.

I have had some vine rot, where they start ripening and then begin to rot at the bottom of the fruit. Not a lot made 10% but I have plenty to spare. 

[Allhallowsday]

I've been getting 'maters for about a month now and I have 1,367,204 as of today and they're still as many on the plants. I grow mainly Roma's and my own invention "Choma's" a cross between Roma's and Sweet Cherry's. They produce bunches like cherries, but are shaped like small Roma's withe Roma's meat and texture with a sweet cherry flavor.

I have had some vine rot, where they start ripening and then begin to rot at the bottom of the fruit. Not a lot made 10% but I have plenty to spare. 

I envy you your tomatoes; my yard does not get enough sun, too many tall oaks around the neighborhood.  Of course, I watered my lawn, some new plantings and everything I have in pots (arborvitaes, nasturtiums, basil petunia rosemary sage watercress, fig tree, Irish blarney clover, hastas, impatiens, crown of thorns) too many to list, and of course major rain came through, a day earlier than predicted... I watered because everything was dried up since none of the rain predicted had come thru earlier in the week. 

But the rhodies love the dappled sunlight, so I accept I can have no produce!!!    I used to grow tomatoes cabbage green beans peppers with my Dad, but that was long ago.  We even put them up in Mason jars!  Man, I wish I had my Dad's pressure cooker and your abundance of tomatoes!