How are the 2018 Gardens Progressing?

[chocomouse]

Baker Aunt, that happened with my green beans a few years ago too! They were pole beans in a seed package labeled Blue Lake bush beans -- long, stringy vines that just overran several other rows. A mess to walk through, and we didn't get a good crop of beans. My garden looks awful, way behind compared to previous years. That's partly because I planted late and partly because we've had no rain, although I have watered a little. I do have blossoms on a couple of tomatoes and some peppers. Of course, you know that weeds don't need water to grow, right?

I have taken good care of my flowerbeds this year and they look wonderful. We are predicted to get some rain today and tomorrow, slow, steady rain not just passing storms; I hope the forecasters are right.

[Mike Nolan]

It's been such a strange spring, I'm not sure we're going to have any black raspberries at all this year. One patch looks like they didn't set fruit, the other patch was still green the last time I looked at it.

[BakerAunt]

We harvested and ate some of the first green beans from our garden this evening. My husband tells me to expect plenty more, as he tries to keep those "not bush beans" from overrunning our small garden. Our tomato plants have developed blossoms. The bell pepper plant still has just the one large green pepper. I'm waiting for it to turn red, but I wonder if that will keep the plant from developing any other peppers.

[BakerAunt]

Yesterday we saw the start of two tiny tomatoes. Here's hoping more will follow.

[Mike Nolan]

The tomato vines are growing nicely here, but I haven't seen much in the way of blooms. I suspect until we get a break in the weather, we won't see much fruit set. Usually we get such a break in mid-summer and that means late summer for tomatoes. But several booths at the farmer's market had some good looking tomatoes today.

[chocomouse]

What a crazy gardening season! I have had blossoms on the bell peppers for a month, but they are not setting fruit, because of the heat. I must have, on my 6 Celebrities, about 40 tomatoes, each over 2" in diameter, some 4", but green of course. And plenty more coming. I have several heads of broccoli almost big enough to eat. Yet, we ate our first lettuces tonight. None of the spinach, kale, scallions germinated, and almost none of the beets.

[RiversideLen]

My tomato plants are getting pretty big. Lots of little fruits on them.

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[BakerAunt]

Those tomato plants are looking good, Len!

We now have 15-20 small green tomatoes among our four plants.

The bush/pole beans have been producing like crazy. My husband thinks we have perhaps another week or so of harvesting beans from these plants. His intention is then to work the spent plants into the soil and plant some of the seed from last year that did produce the lower bush beans.

I may have to go ahead and harvest that large green pepper. I prefer them red, but we don't think the plant will try to produce any additional fruit with it hogging all the nutrients.

The blackberries on the terrace are ripening at only a few a day. The ones in the woods are still red. I don't know if I will have enough to get the 3-1/2 cups of seeded puree I need for jam. (My husband is not keen on the seeds.)

We've had no measurable rain for nearly five weeks. There's plenty of humidity, but the rain keeps missing our area.

[chocomouse]

Nice tomato plants! Do you have other plants in there too? or just one tomato plant in each?

Yesterday I discovered something had eaten 4 of my 6 broccoli plants and all 6 of my cauliflowers. I broke off one of the remaining broccoli heads, but could not get the last one because I didn't have a knife with me. This morning, I found that last one mostly eaten. Woodchuck. So now I have a critter camera hooked up to both my computer and my iPhone. It rings an alarm when it detects motion, and sends me a one minute video. We keep a rifle on the back porch.

And, we've had only one rain storm since June 23, although we do water veggies.

On a brighter note - the blueberries are ripening. They're blue, but still very tart and little flavor. I hope to be picking in another week or so. And severe thunderstorms with heavy rain is forecast for all day and into the night on Tuesday. Farmers are really hurting. All the storms have been going just south or north of us, and the farmers do not use irrigation around here like we see in the mid- west.

[RiversideLen]

Thank you BakerAunt.

Chocomouse, I have 2 tomatoes in each planter although it probably would be better with just one. In the planter on the right, I also have one mint in the front. And I have one parsley in each container but they are not shown.

A problem I have had with this arrangement is blossom end rot which I believe is a calcium deficiency. So I use a liquid calcium magnesium supplement and also give it a steady diet of Miracle Grow.

I picked my first ripe tomato today, just a small one.

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[Mike Nolan]

Yes, blossom end rot is a calcium issue, but it can be exacerbated by inconsistent watering and by too much fertilizer, which apparently causes the plants to grow so fast the calcium can't reach the fruits.

Some recent hybrids have been less susceptible to blossom end rot.

[Joan Simpson]

Very nice tomato plants RiversideLen!

[RiversideLen]

Thanks Mike, I think I'm going to double down on the calcium and ease up on the fertilizer. They are growing like weeds right now.

The watering is consistent because I keep the water compartment of the tubs filled. At this time of year I fill them at least once a day. The system is designed so the water wicks up into the soil, thus providing a constant source of water as long as the bottom part has water in it. The tubs have a coned plastic divider with holes in it that separates the soil from the water reservoir. You can see the clear plastic door in the tubs, that's where the water is added.

Another thing I did this year was to put some dried banana peels in the soil.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by RiversideLen.

[chocomouse]

In addition to using dried banana peels, I dry and crush egg shells throughout the spring, and scratch them into the soil around certain plants. We compost year round, and before I retired, I took a mason jar to work everyday and collected food scraps from colleagues.

[BakerAunt]

We picked our first red bell pepper a couple of days ago and cooked with it tonight! We have two little ones now forming, but it will probably take a couple of months for them to ripen.

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