Annual gardening thread

[Andrew]

We've been picking beets for the past two weeks.  They've been very good, though the greens are tending toward bitter probably due to the very hot weather (it was 94 Sunday).  The spinach is just about done and it starting to bolt.  Hoping to start picking carrots, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers soon.  The tomatoes are steadily setting fruit as are the peppers.  The really warm weather does quite well for some of the vegetables, so it's a mixed blessing.

We're also finally starting to get rain today, which we needed.

[Jack]

Our peppers are getting a few flowers and baby peppers on them



Something's also eating the leaves, even worse on the spinach



Slugs maybe?

Lettuce is doing great, nothing ever bothers that stuff



Tomatoes are slowly inching their way upward



Anybody know what this weird tree is I've got growing in the herb garden?   

[Mr. DS]

Id try smoking it jack but thats just me

Slow here due to rain.  Havent got in the big garden yet. The familys strawberries are early this year and have beeen delicious

[Newt]

Jack it might be ragweed - you'll know when it flowers.  Or after DS smokes it.

[Venomx73]

I can't wait to move this fall and have a real yard! I wanna grow some hot peppers.

[Andrew]

Peppers are looking good, Jack!  Make sure you give them some bone meal sprinkled around them.  They'll love you for it.  They should also turn a deep green once they get established.  Our pepper plants are looking awesome.

We pulled the last of the spinach over the weekend and made creamed spinach to go with dinner.  Also removed the last of the cilantro that had mostly gone to seed.  It will be back, mostly likely growing in the yard by the raised bed.  That stuff never stops; it's a weed that tastes good.  

We're overwhelmed with beets right now.  Katie is planning to finally learn how to can to store some for later use.

We also just started picking squash and zucchini from our plants, which are all huge.  Just two yellow crookneck squash for now, but I was counting and believe we'll have another six by Saturday.  That's along with three more zucchini to add to the three we picked, so I'm already asking Katie about zucchini bread.

Beans are coming along well, with a lot of young beans on the bush type plants.  We've also got a lot of tomatoes on the vines, but I'm guessing at least two weeks until any are ready to pick.

Edit to add: 

I forgot to mention that about 3 weeks ago the zucchini and cucumbers started to show powdery mildew (it's wind-borne, and it's windy here), which has always meant the end of my plants well before their time.  I did some research and found two suggestions that I started immediately that stopped the powdery mildew in its tracks.  The old leaves still show the damage, but new leaves are healthy and the plants look great.

First, I installed soaker hoses to water the plants.

Second, I bought a cheap sprayer at Lowes and started applying a spray to all of the leaves that was 30% skim milk, 70% water, with a few drops of dishwashing liquid added.  They suggested spraying once or twice a week.  I did it twice a week the first week and now once a week ever since.

There is something in the milk that, when combined with sunlight, kills the mildew or interrupts its reproductive process.  So, I spray all of the leaves in the morning after the dew has evaporated but before the sun is strong.  No sun scald and the required interaction of sun and milk kill the mildew.  They warned against using high concentrations of milk as it can damage the plants, while the dishwashing liquid is to breakup the surface tension so the mixture coats the entire leaf and doesn't form droplets.

Use skim milk because the more milk fat the larger the chance for sour milk smell to be caused by this.  I haven't noticed any such smell using the skim milk as suggested. 

[CheezeFlixz]

Anybody know what this weird tree is I've got growing in the herb garden?   

Ragweed -  just a plan old weed of no value.

[Jack]

Ragweed -  just a plan old weed of no value.

Yeah that disappeared last week, my wife must have ripped it out.  I thought it was kind of pretty lol.

[Newt]

Had our first raspberries on the weekend.  The tomatoes have taken off and are blooming.  I saw the first cucumbers starting to develop yesterday.  The pressing question at the moment is: what on earth am I to do with a bumper crop of red currants?  They are particularly big and juicy this year, and coming ripe *now* which seems a bit early...but here they are.  I am cringeing at the thought of putting up jelly in this weather.  (Hours hovering over a steaming kettle in July - yikes!)  I may drop some into a few batches of muffins...other than that, does anyone have any recipes calling for fresh red currants?  Anyone??  Not to mention the gooseberries which look to be coming close behind...

[Andrew]

Ragweed -  just a plan old weed of no value.

Cheeze!

We finished picking one raised bed of beets (had beets for two days and canned the rest), then replanted with parsnips.  Wish the tomatoes would hurry up, we've got quite a few on the vine but nothing ripe yet.  Picked some cucumbers and those seem to be doing well.  We're getting a whole lot of squash and zucchini.  Made a yellow squash soup that was very good and used a bunch of them, and zucchini bread took care of some of those.  We still have a lot of zucchini though.

Picking beans, which have been very good and going into salads.

Had a close call the other day with weather.  A line of severe thunderstorms ripped through and brought down a  lot of trees 10 miles north of us.  I mean whole neighborhoods with most of the trees down or damaged.  We had it bad at our home, but the only casualty was some of Katie's gladiolas and one tomato plant was broken.  One of our neighbors has a tree that took a permanent lean (the tree is about 16 feet tall).  He's planning to hook the truck to it to pull it straight and then stake it.

[Andrew]

Picked 7 zucchini this morning, 3 yellow squash, and 3 cucumbers.  The zucchini are still producing like crazy; by my count we have picked 38 zucchini in 8 days (perhaps 9 days).  We made a lot of zucchini bread and have been giving them away, and we still have 12 or so of them in the kitchen right now.

We're going to get some tomatoes this week!  A number of the yellow cherry tomatoes are quickly changing to their mature color.

Not to mention the gooseberries which look to be coming close behind...

Oh man, I've actually had gooseberry pie.  Good stuff.

[Mr. DS]

Finally got the big garden in.  A few rows of onions, about 22 tomato plants and 6 eggplants.  I'll probably do some hills of corn. 

[Jack]

Peppers are coming along nicely - they love this hot weather.  I'll be having some Jalapeño poppers pretty soon   



Peas are almost ready to pick

[Newt]

You know, I was inordinately pleased to have a farming neighbour comment (from the seat of his tractor, no less) that our garden was looking good - he knows his corn, as he has a few hundred acres of the stuff!     The haat has brought the corn on so fast you can almost see it growing in front of you. It's thigh-high at the moment. The tomatoes are also thriving, as are the cucumbers and broccoli.  I'll get the peas tied up today: they are in the shade of an apple tree, so I am hoping it is cooler enough for them to do OK there.

Making my first-ever gooseberry pies later today.  I hope I don't mess them up.

[Andrew]

Jack, we picked a green pepper this morning and cut it up to have with lunch.  Delicious and really crisp.

You know, I was inordinately pleased to have a farming neighbour comment (from the seat of his tractor, no less) that our garden was looking good - he knows his corn, as he has a few hundred acres of the stuff!     The haat has brought the corn on so fast you can almost see it growing in front of you. It's thigh-high at the moment. The tomatoes are also thriving, as are the cucumbers and broccoli.  I'll get the peas tied up today: they are in the shade of an apple tree, so I am hoping it is cooler enough for them to do OK there.

We didn't plant any corn, but there is a lot of it planted around here and it's all huge already.  Most of the fields are taller than me.  Must be all the sun and rain we've been getting.

Making my first-ever gooseberry pies later today.  I hope I don't mess them up.

You could send me one and I'll tell you how you did.