^^ I would think diatomaceous earth put around the plants as a barrier would do the trick without worrying about the roots sucking up chemicals.

6/7/2012 8:33:27 PM

thanks!

6/7/2012 8:36:44 PM

Yeah, diatomaceous earth is chemical free and will work to kill insects by dehydrating them from the outside. I'd definitely want to try that before any real chemicals

6/7/2012 10:07:25 PM

Ive eaten three of my tomatoes and there are four more on the counter ready to be eaten, and a few more on the plant are greeny orangey. The plant itself looks a little sad, though. Time to get some fertilizer. Just gonna go with a commercial brand. Any one have a preference?

6/7/2012 10:18:12 PM

I like Tomato-tone.



Cheapest place I've found it locally is Ace Hardware. I think it's $7.99 for a small bag.

I also like this stuff though it smells like ass.



Home Depot had it on crazy cheap sale a few weeks ago so I picked up a couple bottles.

6/8/2012 9:06:21 AM

i too use tomato tone and love it.

Quote :

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

i'm not worried about my german johnsons, b/c they're still tiny and growing. it's my romas. many are full size, but still green. i think this week they'll finally start to ripen

[Edited on June 8, 2012 at 10:21 AM. Reason : ]

6/8/2012 10:20:48 AM

Pretty sure I have fruit flies getting on my tomato plants. Any tried and true methods out there?

6/12/2012 10:12:46 AM

Unfortunately once you see them they're pretty much impossible to get rid of. The best method is to clear out all debris from your garden in the winter and use some sort of insecticidal soap or something to kill off the fly cocoons that hibernate in the soil during winter. I'll be interested to know if anyone knows of an effective way to treat for fruit flies after they've shown up.

6/12/2012 10:16:50 AM

I need to take pics. Got tons of squash (fried some up 2 nights ago), and everything else is coming in nicely. So far, this is the best garden we have had.......and I think I have the bees to thank for it!

6/12/2012 4:41:09 PM

i don't know of anything that will keep them off your fruit, but traps are very effective.

6/12/2012 7:03:40 PM

Anyone here eat rabbit?

6/12/2012 7:46:21 PM

Amazingly I haven't had many issues with rabbits despite there being a shitload in my neighborhood. Maybe planting all that garlic really did work as a deterrent.

6/12/2012 7:52:08 PM

My garden had a ton of garlic planted plus some chicken wire staked to the ground. Those bastards are still getting in. The only thing they've destroyed are my two morning glory plants.

6/12/2012 7:58:06 PM

I've got a .177 that eats rabbit. and squirrels.

6/13/2012 9:01:51 AM

rabbits or deer lopped off every single one of my corn stalks

didn't even chew them up -- just nibbled them at ground level and left them to the side. they're toying with me

6/13/2012 6:21:51 PM

I've been trying to grow a giant pumpkin for four years now, and something always derails me before harvest time. this year I've got two vines going, and I had one fruit like baseball sized. a rabbit came through and ate that and most of the leaves off of a transplanted grapevine. I think once I get that one I should be clear sailing through the summer.

6/13/2012 6:54:45 PM

Oh man that sucks! I've heard that if you spray hot pepper water on the pumpkins that'll prevent rabbits from eating them. But of course you'd have to reapply that pretty regularly.

6/14/2012 9:12:11 AM

Quote :

"rabbits or deer lopped off every single one of my corn stalks "

Baby bunny has returned for revenge of you (accidentally) going over him with a rake

6/14/2012 10:04:35 AM

my better boy bush plants are OUT OF CONTROL.

I don't know how they got so big.. I should post pictures..

6/14/2012 11:49:12 AM

Snapped a couple pics this afternoon.

6/14/2012 3:21:44 PM

harvested 10 tomatoes, gonna cut some basil and make bruschetta and pesto later

also, my blueberries are in full bloom. I want to take them and make a blonde ale and ferment it with the berries and call it "blue eyed blonde"

6/15/2012 3:37:48 PM

Ants ate my entire tomato plant

6/15/2012 6:16:04 PM

put my game camera out. No kidding, a fawn that's like knee-high jumped over my backyard fence (regular fence) and then jumped back over again into my garden to get around the 7' deer fence. SO I put some more tall fence up to close that route off.

Still the one rabbit to go. And one squirrel with a heck of a case of PTSD.

6/16/2012 3:15:46 PM

a rabbit or rabbits found a chink in my armor as well. ate all my green beans, but left the peas.....weird.

6/16/2012 3:54:18 PM

it's getting very exciting out there!

banana & jalapeno peppers are producing like crazy of course. the bell peppers are as well, but unfortunately something keeps hollowing them out.

i've got two eggplants growing, and the bees are busy busy busy pollinating all the flowers.

tomatoes are finally starting to turn. i'm picking 2-3 romas off daily and my first german johnson is starting to turn. there's a real big ugly one out there that i am really looking forward to

also saw my first zucchini today and another about to lose its flower, so i know the yellow squash will not be too far behind.

i forgot to trellis my cucumbers. it's prolly beyond hope now as they are going crazy, so i'm just gonna let them spread. none yet, but lots of blossoms. i'm going to move my rosemary and basil to pots to give them & the cukes more room.

corn is still growing strong. i'm having fun watching it grow, but i don't think i'll do them again next year. corn is so cheap as it is and it takes up a lot of room in my bed. i'd rather have more room for squash or cucumbers (which i obviously need).

^our neighbors totally have a rabbit hole in their yard, but so far she has stayed away. every time i see her i let my dog out . i'm hoping that will continue to deter her.

[Edited on June 22, 2012 at 10:17 AM. Reason : ]

6/22/2012 10:14:53 AM

God I have so much zucchini and okra right now. It's insane! Ended up pawning some off at work today. Finally starting to see some peppers and cucumbers growing. And I saw a baby watermelon! Some jerk animal knocked over some of my sunflowers. Time for me to plant seeds for round two anyway I suppose.

6/22/2012 11:53:24 AM

Anyone have experience with cucumber plants wilting early? They're producing plenty, but I don't feel like they've been in the ground long enough to be dying off yet. Lots of yellow. Squash is doing excellent. Bell peppers are slower, but getting there. Some banana peppers will be ready in a couple days.

6/22/2012 1:43:40 PM

My cukes are in bad shape. I let a few fruits get overbig, and the plants don't seem to want to stick around for long after they make a big old cucumber.

6/22/2012 8:51:51 PM

Omg, my tomato plants are CRAZY. One of them actually tilted over their cage.

None are ripe yet, but holy crap, they are huge and wonderful.

All my other plants are not producing at all - we increased our garden space this year, and the new area must not be fertile (the tomatoes are in the old garden). No pepper, eggplant, watermelon, or cukes

Corn is also in the same row as the tomatoes, looking good. I'm concerned about fertilization problems though, as I didn't plant that many.

6/23/2012 7:33:22 PM

My cucumbers are also wilting and yellowing but have nice fruit. not sure what the deal is.

bell peppers aren't really getting to full size, but I tried doing 2 plants per three gallon bucket so that's probably it. I won't be doing bells again, just not worth the yield. My hot peppers are all doing great - lots of habernero, jalapeno, and have harvested a bunch of cayenne already. Actually made chili the other night with the cayenne and my tomatoes, was good.

My blueberry plants are in full bloom and the animals have not found them so I just pick a handful before/after work or whenever I walk by them. Very impressed with the yield for the first year.

carrots small but getting there. onions take forever and might not be worth doing again.

I think the biggest bang for the bucks has definitely been the tomatoes (harvested at least 15 plum tomatoes), my rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, and parley (in that order). The hot peppers will likely be up there when they start ripening so I can use them.

[Edited on June 24, 2012 at 3:33 AM. Reason : .]

6/24/2012 3:26:57 AM

Quote :

"My cukes are in bad shape. I let a few fruits get overbig, and the plants don't seem to want to stick around for long after they make a big old cucumber. "

You just reminded me I need to check on my cukes

My nasturtiums are beginning to look really ragged so I think I'll tear them out this week. Any suggestions for another border flower I can throw in my raised beds? I was thinking of just throwing in some more nasturtium seeds though I think some sort of trailing annual would be nice to have cascading over the stone.

[Edited on June 25, 2012 at 10:56 AM. Reason : a]

6/25/2012 10:56:14 AM

here's what I pulled up today. pretty good early harvest. still have lots of all of this stuff still growing. the black bell peppers felt kinda soft so not sure about them. 3 cucumbers at the bottom - I had no idea they have spines on them. I've harvested tons of tomatoes and blueberries not pictured also.



[Edited on June 25, 2012 at 10:54 PM. Reason : forgot the pic ]

6/25/2012 10:53:45 PM

^ WOW! So colorful and pretty!

How much trouble is it to dig up onions and carrots? I never bother to grow root vegetables because they are so cheap at the store and it seems like too much effort

6/26/2012 8:11:21 AM

It's easy. As long as your soil isn't compacted you can usually just lift them straight out with minimal tugging.

6/26/2012 9:54:47 AM

This morning I watched a deer walk up to the garden, then walk all the way around the fence trying to figure out how to get in. PWNT!

Rabbits, on the other hand, have completely destroyed my beans.

6/26/2012 10:34:12 AM

Just spent an hour watering. Hopefully that will minimize issues tomorrow.

6/28/2012 9:33:39 PM

I put up one of those 'crow' motion-sensing sprinklers. It's working wonders so far.

6/29/2012 9:38:36 PM

Some buggers that look like this were congregating on one of okra:


I'm guessing some sort of aphid but they were bigger than I'm used to seeing. I knocked them into a bucket of water and I'm hoping that's the last I'll see of them.

7/1/2012 9:13:19 AM

this heat wave has taken a big toll on my garden. If much more stuff dies, I'm just going to re-plant a bunch of tomatoes, basil, and hot peppers. That really seems to be what I'm using the most anyway. Bell peppers just don't yield enough to be worth it, and onions and carrots are pretty cheap at the store

[Edited on July 1, 2012 at 2:52 PM. Reason : still love my herbs though. use them a lot. ]

7/1/2012 2:51:49 PM

You just have to plant about a dozen bell pepper plants. You should get one every 3-4 days off of each plant, and they keep well in a cool place.

7/1/2012 3:39:46 PM

My squash plants are looking pathetic. Not sure if they'll make it through this heat wave.

7/1/2012 4:28:51 PM

This heat is depressing, my tomatoes were too big for their own good. Glad I got some squash and spinach early in the season, not sure if anything else is going to produce.

7/1/2012 10:49:06 PM

^^ You might have the squash vine borer! Check the stem for a little hole with sawdust looking stuff around it. They have eventually killed my squash every year. One symptom is wilting even when it has been watered.

7/2/2012 7:28:34 AM

Something is eating our tomatoes...but we have no idea what it is. I mean...we live downtown...not a lot of wild animals. The only thing we can think is neighborhood cats possibly? Do they eat tomatoes? We are about to get a fence put up because we got a puppy, so hopefully that will solve that problem. They are only eating portions at a time and we can't tell by the bite marks. Dumb question...but do bats eat tomatoes? We have a lot of bats downtown.

7/2/2012 8:06:46 AM

^it could be bugs

7/2/2012 8:22:31 AM

squirrels maybe? my neighbor had problems with turtles eating all of his low-hanging tomatoes and his garden wasn't even near a pond

7/2/2012 8:35:47 AM

^^ Seems to be too big for bugs. I'm talking big chunks or half a tomato at a time.

^ Squirrels could be a possibility.

The tomatoes they don't touch are delicious though. Breakfast for the past week has been toast with cream cheese and tomatoes and basil from the garden...yum.

7/2/2012 9:10:01 AM

that sounds amazing. why have I never thought of that?! My tomato plant looks great after a few weeks of fertilizing. went with the miracle grow cuz it was easy to find and on sale. the bad part is that now the deer are eating off every little tomato I get, even when they are tiny and green.

7/2/2012 9:11:45 AM

Quote :

"^^ You might have the squash vine borer! Check the stem for a little hole with sawdust looking stuff around it. They have eventually killed my squash every year. One symptom is wilting even when it has been watered. "

Yeah I checked for that but I think it's just the heat. When I water them in the evenings they'll perk back up but they just look sad as soon as the sun hits our yard

7/2/2012 11:22:39 AM

try to rig up some shadecloth

[Edited on July 2, 2012 at 12:16 PM. Reason : it's only 75° today, nyah nyah]

7/2/2012 12:16:06 PM