The annual gardening thread

[Mr. DS]

Heres the run down of plants I'm hardening off right now:

18 (3 different) hot peppers ranging in heat index
6 yellow pear tomato plants
6 cherry tomato plants
6 okra plants (dunno, never grew it)
4 watermelon plants
4 yellow squash
4 zucchini

My partner in crime bought a bunch of stuff too.  I believe he has a dozen broccoli and squash plants along with other tomato/pepper plants.  I also have beans to plant and onions.  We don't take gardening lightly...this is sport.  

On a sidenote, I picked my first few quarts of strawberries at the inlaw's farm today.  Good stuff man.  

[Jack]

We've got our tomatoes in, 3 regular ones and a couple that have those little tomatoes.  Wife loves those    Planted most of the other stuff - onions, spinach, lettuce, and peas.  Still have to dig up an area for the beans and peppers.  I moved the tomatoes to a different spot since the ground was thoroughly burned out where they were.  They get a ton more sun in their new spot too.  I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow. 

[Jack]

Our lettuce is coming along okay



A few of my peas are doing okay



Tomatoes



Herbs



Definitely need to do some weeding   

[Mr. DS]

I lost a few of the weaker tomato plants so I replaced them tonight.  I'm probably going to put the stakes in this weekend.  I loaded the ground with weed and feed so I hope it will cut back on the weeds this year.

[Mr. DS]

The last few weeks have been crazy so today while weeding I took a count and I couldn't believe how much stuff we put in.  We have literally over 40 tomato plants.  Half of them are different varieties of smaller ones such as yellow pear, giant cherry, tumblers, etc. The other ones are celebs and better boys.

We have plenty of squash and zukes to go around.  About 8 cuke plants and 4 watermelon which I pray to the gardening gods works this year.  Last time I did a melon patch it bit the dust. 

Peppers we have a good variety, probably at least about 50 plus plants. 

One plant that earned a huge respect from me is cabbage.  We had 6 plants that looked dead when we put them in two weeks ago.  This week they are beyond vibrant. 

Onions are looking great.  Their tops are about 5 inches already.

[Jack]

Some of our stuff is doing good - especially the tomatoes, they're growing like weeds.  Beans and lettuce are doing great as well, wife's already picking lettuce for dinner.

Only a few of the peas and spinach and onions came up.  I'll have to plant some more.  That's kind of typical for peas;  last year we had a fantastic crop but more often than not only about 20% of the things come up at all.  I don't have much hope for our peppers as the late frosts here prevented me from planting them until pretty late, and our growing season isn't really long enough for a good pepper crop even in the best of summers.  But they are coming up at least    Yeah I know you're supposed to start them inside and then transplant them, but, um...I never seem to get around to doing that  

We've got a bunny living around here, so instead of parsley, we've got chewed-off stems.   

[venomx]

I want to have a house with a yard someday. I would love to grow fresh tomatoes and peppers!

[venomx]

Can I ask a dumb noob question?... Can I grow tomatoes indoors by a window? Maybe a Topsy Turvy?

I can't grow them outside... too many hoodlums. All city... no grass.

[Mr. DS]

Can I ask a dumb noob question?... Can I grow tomatoes indoors by a window? Maybe a Topsy Turvy?

I can't grow them outside... too many hoodlums. All city... no grass.

Its possible but I've never tried it.  Tomatoes have the ability to grow over 5 feet tall too mind you. 

[Jack]

I finally got around to doing my weeding today, and then I replanted some peas, onions and spinach that didn't come up before.  Put in a row of parsley too.  It's like it rains every day for a week, then it stops and within 48 hours the ground is dry as a bone. 

[Mr. DS]

My oldest amongst the soon to be cherry tomato jungle.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

While you all have been baking... we have broken 80 degrees exactly 8 times this year.  And none really above 90. 
Here's my tomato harvest.

[Andrew]

Mark, your garden plot is doing great as always.

This year we've been having some problems.  I think that my steady addition of peat moss to add volume to our clay-heavy soil made the soil a bit too acidic for things.  Clay soil is acidic anyway.  We've seen a lot of stunting and yellowing, especially the peppers.  The spinach and beans did terrible as well.  The zucchini, squash, and cucumbers have been so-so.  The tomatoes, well I can still grow tomatoes by the bushel.  We planted multiple plants, concentrating on lemon boy and a very hardy, rather large yellow cherry tomato that are called "Sweet Gold FT Hybrid."  They're great, just have a tough skin.  Wish I could find the "Tomatoberry" (that's what the sticker called them) that we raised last year. 

Beets and carrots are looking good.  The romaine lettuce was a bit bitter, I believe from the soil.

I have taken some steps to turn the soil around, but you can't just add lime and change PH overnight.  I did add pelletized lime as a side dressing, along with bone meal.  That helped the peppers a lot - they're starting to get some life to them.  Also been using Miracle Gro (nitrogen). 

Right now, I'm planning to change the garden to raised beds next year.  That will allow me to tailor each bed to it's plants - I've been told that peppers hate peat moss.  Go figure.  Gah.  The raised beds will get the PH under control.  Oh, and I haven't had nearly enough time to keep up with weeding this year.  Another bonus to raised beds will be reduced work in that department.

[Mr. DS]

Right now, I'm planning to change the garden to raised beds next year.

Raised beds are indeed the in thing lately.  My sister in law has one and its doing well.   

Mark, your garden plot is doing great as always.

Thanx, I'm starting to get in the first few bounties.  About a dozen cukes picked over the last two days and one zuke. Speaking of which, I've noticed the squash are painfully SLOW this year.  Usually at this point I'd have to get out the wheelbarrow for the daily squash bounty.  I did get stuff in late.

What else...oh yeah, I noticed some baby watermelons on the vine.  I really hope they do well.  The tomatoes are doing phenomenal, especially the cherry varieties which I've opted to stake.  The bigger ones I have grown on straw.  I actually picked about a half dozen yellow pear tomatoes over the past days. 

Peppers, meh kind of slow but getting there.  The onions are actually bulking up a bit finally.  Corn is just starting to come up and beans should be producing soon.  Broccoli is slow too but producing heads here and there.

[Jack]

Our tomatoes are doing pretty good



Beans haven't got any beans yet, but they're looking healthy



Wife's eggplants are looking good



Wasn't a very good year otherwise though.  Spinach was terrible, I don't know if slugs were eating it or what.  Lettuce grew great, as always, but now it got too big so I ripped it up and I'll have to plant some more.  Peppers are actually doing well, but as late as I planted them and as long as they take to grow, well...here's hoping   

And this is my pitiful pea crop this year:



Feel free to laugh if you want