I think this heat is going to kill off my peas for good this week so this weekend I'll swap them out for my cucumber and bitter gourd seedlings I think.

I bought a whole arsenal of dog deterrent stuff at Petsmart yesterday and I'm going to try that and the pepper this afternoon. I'm also tempted to set up a motion sensor water spray to shoot whoever walks by my mailbox when I'm not home

5/3/2012 9:26:21 AM

A lot of my stuff died, as I hadn't transplanted it yet, and I kept thinking some nights we got rain, but we didn't..

OH WELL! Off to the Farmers Market to buy more seedlings to plant this weekend.

5/3/2012 12:40:04 PM

Yeah I keep hoping for a thunderstorm and not getting one I should really do some watering tonight.

5/3/2012 2:26:23 PM

Quote :

"I'm also tempted to set up a motion sensor water spray to shoot whoever walks by my mailbox when I'm not home"

I am sure your mailman will LOVE that idea, lol

Definitely going to be watering tonight

5/3/2012 2:38:54 PM

haha he comes by two hours after I get home from work so he's safe from my wrath

5/3/2012 2:45:32 PM

i just set up soaker hoses in my raised beds. man it's hot out. i'm all dizzy.

5/3/2012 3:20:18 PM

yeah, my bees are barely leaving the hives. they are in there working overtime to keep it cool. I think I am going to have to move them to where they only get direct sunlight the first half of the day, then partial sun the second half. I will move them back to full sun in the winter.

5/3/2012 3:30:27 PM

14 tomatoes in various stages of growth on my container tomato plants



also, a handful of strawberries!

5/3/2012 10:30:53 PM

Well that storm did a number on my garden. Will need to get some stakes for my sunflowers tomorrow morning.



Good night, sweet princes.

And the damn rain barrel overflow shot a jet of water through my raised bed like a freaking laser beam


The light colored dirt is where I had to refill. Hopefully the plants that were in the path of the deluge make it.

5/5/2012 8:32:21 PM

Bah!!! Slime fungus everywhere

5/6/2012 1:45:49 PM

From the top: pineapple sage, spearmint, chocolate mint, parsley, red basil, lemon thyme, english thyme, hot and spicy oregano, italian oregano (from seed), genovese basil x 2, sage, more genovese basil, dill.

Not pictured is a big rosemary bush, lots of sweet basil I grew from seed, and some leeks



patio (cherry) tomato, two early girl tomatoes, three types of blueberry (have TONS of berries), red, yellow, and black bell peppers; cayenne pepper, jalapeño pepper, habernero pepper, two cucumber pickle bush, red/yellow/white onions, 16 dill plants (want to make my own pickles with the cucumbers), carrots

5/6/2012 11:13:55 PM

I've had lots of flowers, but I saw my first tomato this am! Yay!! It's a Roma tomato.

5/8/2012 9:21:54 AM

No tomato flowers yet, but I did catch some stuff sprouting up at my kid's daycare (I was nominated head gardener-dad-guy). I took some tools and seeds and whatnot up there a few weeks back and had the kids plant some stuff, I was starting to worry nothing was going to show up.

5/8/2012 2:55:13 PM

16 tomatoes, none even close to turning red yet though.

5/14/2012 12:30:35 AM

at what point should you pick them to make fried green tomatoes?

5/14/2012 1:33:31 AM

Before they turn red.

5/14/2012 1:54:06 AM

Quote :

"When Is a Green Tomato Ready? Not all green tomatoes are alike. In fact, when those shiny emerald orbs first begin to appear on the vines, they're not yet edible. The best-tasting green tomatoes are those that have reached full maturity with just the faintest hint of a red blush about the flesh. They'll have a firm texture with a pleasantly acidic bite and just a hint of tomato flavor. Once picked, mature green tomatoes can keep for weeks, slowly edging towards redness. If you do want to store them long-term, arrange them in a single layer in a cool (but not cold) place and check them frequently: one bad tomato can spoil the whole batch."

http://allrecipes.com/howto/fried-green-tomatoes/

5/14/2012 8:41:17 AM

thanks!

5/14/2012 5:52:57 PM

Well due to a series of events I've had no time to garden the past few weeks and now it's a jungle out there. Some plants have become over shaded and died off The good news is I have monster squash and oregano lol.

5/16/2012 4:45:32 PM

5/16/2012 6:14:30 PM

Sunflowers have started blooming

5/19/2012 11:45:28 AM

my sweet corn is taking forever. took almost 8-9 days to spike and it's been almost a month to get to 4 collar

i think my planting depth was a little too deep. should be ready to side dress pretty soon

5/19/2012 11:50:10 AM

Finally have two tomatoes ready to pick.

Have more basil than I know what to do with, so I made a bunch of pesto and it was great.

5/24/2012 4:47:00 PM

Everything except my Okra is doing great! Which is weird, because typically Okra is the 1 veggie that has been the easiest for me. I think that late frost got them, or I just got some bad plants. I am planting some new Okra this weekend.

Here are some pics. Shit, I forgot to take pics of the beans/peas....they are blowing up right now. Oh well, next time.






[Edited on May 24, 2012 at 7:27 PM. Reason : a]

5/24/2012 7:26:07 PM

My okra haven't been looking too hot either. Maybe once it gets good and hot they'll start to flourish.

5/24/2012 8:12:38 PM

It is just so funny how my shit crops change every year. Year 1 it was green peppers, but the cucumbers were off the chain. Year 2, green peppers off the hook, cucumbers struggling. But both years my okra grew to the size of small trees.

This year the okra is struggling.....so I guess it remains to be seen what will be off the hook

5/24/2012 8:15:40 PM

your corn looks healthy

5/24/2012 8:16:14 PM

yeah, never had a problem with corn that's for sure. I also had some empty space so I planted flowers and sunflowers there. The bees should love that in a month or so when the honey flow dries up.

5/24/2012 8:58:12 PM

so jealous of you people with yards!

so my first two ripe tomatoes were apparently stolen by my neighbors wtf

5/27/2012 5:37:11 PM

the birds have discovered my strawberries!

5/27/2012 5:44:44 PM

Quote :

"so my first two ripe tomatoes were apparently stolen by my neighbors wtf"

People do that?

Actually that reminds me of a story I saw in the newspaper back in the last town I was living in. There were a lot of houses that had little urban farms in their yards and one day an old lady got caught stealing a bunch of shit out of the yard. We're talking a basket full of corn, squash, tomatoes, etc. When she was asked why she was stealing her neighbor's produce she said, "Well it tastes better than what I buy in the supermarket."

5/29/2012 10:20:47 AM

Squirrels steal tomatoes at my house....


I missed my window on my broccoli It was looking good, i planned to harvest it after i came home from a weekend out of town. It went from ripe to overgrown and sprouting in what seems like overnight. I've never tried to grow it before, but at least i learned my lesson for next year.

5/29/2012 10:28:44 AM

My garden is still doing well. We had a setback with the tomato plant. We originally thought we could just tie them to a bamboo pole, but they started growing out of control. So we tried to put a cage on them after-the-fact...and ended up breaking a ton of branches and stressing out the plants.

But they are back to growing regular again. Finally growing some big tomatoes in addition to the Super 100 plant. Some peppers are also turning red and even more lemons are growing on our ridiculous meyer lemon tree.

5/29/2012 10:34:53 AM

Ive harvested 3 tomatoes! One is fully ripe now.

5/29/2012 11:19:57 AM

Can anyone help me diagnose my tomato malady?
Some of the leaves have dark spots, and some lower branches are yellow/wilting. I don't know if the problem is related or not.
They had aphids, which I sprayed and killed with insecticidal soap.
I don't know if it's the after-affect of the aphids or something new The jalapenos have it too.

Otherwise, things are going great this year!!

6/2/2012 8:02:17 PM

have you properly fertilized your plants?

6/3/2012 12:57:45 PM

I don't think it's a nutrient deficiency, because some of the plants are not suffering and they're all in the same soil.
I also used my really rich compost to ammend the soil so I feel pretty good about the nutrients.

6/3/2012 2:24:07 PM

looks like verticilium wilt or spotted wilt in conjunction with mild-to-medium nitrogen chlorosis. lower leaf chlorosis is classic for nitrogen deficiency. Your healthy tomato and squash have yellowing lower leaves as well, so think about fertilizing again. don't forget the phosphorus!

The lower leaf drooping and bronzing are symptoms of a fungal or viral wilt. cut one of the worst plants near the base of the stem and see if there is browning in the vascular tissue.
if so, its probably verticilium wilt. there's no cure, infected plants should be destroyed, and it can persist in the soil for a few years, so look for resistant varieties if you replace some plants.

[Edited on June 3, 2012 at 2:42 PM. Reason : ]

6/3/2012 2:38:31 PM

Thanks GREEN JAY!! I was hoping you would stop by.

I will go ahead and fertilize them using the Miracle Gro tomato fertilizer that I bought last year. Will verticilium wilt kill the plants? I'm moving out before next season so I don't care about next year

6/3/2012 3:47:46 PM

blueberries are in bloom, tomatoes producing so much the plants are falling over, carrots and onions coming along nicely, and more basil than I know what to do with - been making lots of pesto to give away. My cayenne peppers are turning red, and I'm seeing the haberneros start to develop.

my dill was really lush but then all of a sudden they got really thick and shot up really tall. I cut them down and now the whole pot is thinned out. I had 18 plants in there before but it's not looking so great now.

6/3/2012 7:49:01 PM

Yeah hot weather can cause dill to bolt. You can still use it though.

6/3/2012 8:41:12 PM

yeah, verticilium wilt will probably kill the plants. Heat is supposed to suppress it, though, so they might could limp through the summer, though i think they will remain an eyesore, not produce well and harbor pets. You're probably better off just cutting them down and trying to replace them with a large plant of a resistant variety that has flowers already. It might catch up for late summer and fall.



for the dill, if you let it go to seed you can eat the seed or let it fall for reseeding. next year you won't have to plant dill. the flowers and soft green seedpods can be used like the leaves for flavoring dishes. i love the flowers in salad, though my co-gardener hates dill so i haven't done it in a few years.

6/4/2012 11:48:07 AM

I'm mainly using it for my cucumbers (trying to pickle them) so I guess the stalks will still work. I was using the tops for mashed potatoes and for salmon dishes and it was great. also love it on salads. I'll have to try the flowers though

6/4/2012 10:01:54 PM

I thought my cucumbers were crapping out but I checked this morning and they've started to finally climb up the trellis and have flowers on them

6/6/2012 9:39:35 AM

i need to get a trellis for my cukes. should prolly do that today.

also, my tomatoes are ridiculous. SO MANY. yet not a single one has turned red or is showing signs of turning red. WTF? i posted in here on 5/8 when i saw my first. yeah...that one still hasn't turned.

6/6/2012 9:53:56 AM

None of my tomatoes are ripening either. I figure it has to do with the cool weather maybe?

6/6/2012 10:39:54 AM

how cool has it been? ideal ethylene production is between 68-77 degrees according to perdue, or definitely below 85.


what varieties are you growing? beefsteak types take foreverrrrr to reach "mature green," which is full-sized.

6/7/2012 5:23:20 PM

Ahh yeah good point. The one with fruit on it is a beefsteak. This is my first time growing one. I also have some paste tomatoes but they got a late start so no fruit yet.

6/7/2012 5:43:04 PM

I've got ants getting on my tomatoes! Any suggestions?? lady at the nursery told me to use cinnamon (she says its more "organic"). I don't mind avoiding the spray on solutions, but dont' know about buying a shit ton of cinnamon to spread everywhere. What about this stuff:



Will it effect the soil around my tomato plants? It didn't mention anything in the warning labels.

6/7/2012 6:08:31 PM

Quote :

"i need to get a trellis for my cukes. should prolly do that today."

I, too, need to get a trellis. honestly didn't realized they needed one until now

As for tomatoes, I've had a bunch. I also have the early girl variety that are supposed to come - wait for it- early. haha. but I think either my neighbors or the yard work hispanic folk are stealing them

6/7/2012 6:24:47 PM