official veggie gardener's thread

[TraumaRN]

i have pics of jalepenos and sweet banana peppers, will post later for sure. not ready to pick yet but looking great. i need tips on when to pick various peppers.

how's everyone's garden doing?

I'd had cucumbers for a while now as seen by my previous post. Most everything else is transitioning to making fruit/pepper. I've got my cantaloupe trained on a heavy gauge steel fence, my tomatos have loads of blooms. And in a few days I'll have more cucumbers then I think me and my wife can reasonably expect to eat.

My potato plant experiment is going well it's about 5 inches out of the ground.

 

[BoomerD]

I've picked 4-5 tomatoes so far. Surprisingly, the SunSugars are getting ripe faster than the Early Girls. The SunSugar plants are small, barely 2 feet tall, but they're loaded with softball-sized tomatoes...with several getting ripe quickly, while the Early Girls are about 4 feet tall with small-to-medium tomatoes and only a couple in the ripening stage.

I've picked close to a dozen jalapenos so far. Good flavor but not a lot of heat. The serranos have quite a bit more heat, and the small bush is heavily laden with peppers. I've picked a dozen or more of those so far and it just keeps producing.

My radish crop is done until the ground cools this fall. My blueberry plants are done for the season, but the strawberry plants keep producing small sweet berries. (gonna find a different variety this fall for bigger berries.)
I'm training a cucumber to climb a trellis, and it's got a dozen blooms on it so far. (it was a late planting, so I'm hoping to get a few cukes from it)
My wife got nuts and planted a couple of pumpkin seeds...so now I have to find someplace for those in my small garden space.

 

[spidey07]

Still having trouble with tomato pollination because of high temps. Lows are barely in the high 70s. Already set fruit is doing great.

 

[txrandom]

Does anyone here do any indoor gardening? I'm planning on growing some herbs under a light for fresh herbs all year long. I wish I could do some real gardening, but I live in a town home with no where to plant and a covered deck.

 

[BoomerD]

Does anyone here do any indoor gardening? I'm planning on growing some herbs under a light for fresh herbs all year long. I wish I could do some real gardening, but I live in a town home with no where to plant and a covered deck.

Uh huh...sure...we know what you're up to...

AeroGarden may be a good option if you actually mean herbs, not marijuana...

 

[txrandom]

Uh huh...sure...we know what you're up to...

AeroGarden may be a good option if you actually mean herbs, not marijuana...

No pot here. I just really want some fresh basil and cilantro. You can buy live basil or organic fresh basil, but it costs $2-3. Additionally it's shelf life is very short. Cilantro is pretty cheap, but I only use a little of it before the rest spoils. I'm moving into a place that has "unlimited" electricity included in the price of the rent, so it should end up much cheaper than buying from the store.

Is it feasible to grow any varieties of peppers indoors under artificial light? I'd love to be able to get fresh peppers that I can't find in most stores. Plus it would look pretty cool.

 

[spidey07]

I've got a few aerogardens. They work well but get the biggest one and it will accommodate peppers.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Blasted deer... they just ate the tops off all my beans and most of the leaves off my cucumber vines. I'm going to have to build a taller fence...

 

[meltdown75]

hey homies.

so i did the 4th and final level of my "weave" last night.... hmm... i will be better at it next year. my tomatoes are a giant wall of vegetation. i will be able to get at them when they are ripe but that's about it. rows... lol. no rows. well, very loosely defined.

my peppers are all awesome... everything is looking good right now. my jalapenos are already about 3" but i am going to go by the 60-75 days to maturity guideline which is stated on the little plastic thingy in the flat. apparently these turn red when fully mature, so i will be picking some at the 60 day timeframe and others around the 75. mainly i plan to grill with them, with perogies and such. but for some, i will be splicing them in 1/2, filling them with cream cheese and wrapping them in bacon for appetizers.

still trying to decide what to add in for a late crop...

excellent thread, thanks for your participation everyone what we have here is a treasure trove of gardening info

 

[TraumaRN]

hey homies.

so i did the 4th and final level of my "weave" last night.... hmm... i will be better at it next year. my tomatoes are a giant wall of vegetation. i will be able to get at them when they are ripe but that's about it. rows... lol. no rows. well, very loosely defined.

my peppers are all awesome... everything is looking good right now. my jalapenos are already about 3" but i am going to go by the 60-75 days to maturity guideline which is stated on the little plastic thingy in the flat. apparently these turn red when fully mature, so i will be picking some at the 60 day timeframe and others around the 75. mainly i plan to grill with them, with perogies and such. but for some, i will be splicing them in 1/2, filling them with cream cheese and wrapping them in bacon for appetizers.

still trying to decide what to add in for a late crop...

excellent thread, thanks for your participation everyone what we have here is a treasure trove of gardening info

For a late crop me and my wife are going to re-do spinach(smaller amount this time!) and maybe broccoli.

I'm picking cucumbers daily now. It's great! So fresh and yummy on these hot days.

 

[AreaCode707]

Seattle's summer has been waaaaaaay too cold and wet. None of my tomatoes flowered and now they're all dying.

 

[spidey07]

Seattle's summer has been waaaaaaay too cold and wet. None of my tomatoes flowered and now they're all dying.

That sucks. Is there anything you can do to improve drainage? Mix in some sand or gravel? They don't mind water, but they can't stand to "sit" in water.

 

[AreaCode707]

That sucks. Is there anything you can do to improve drainage? Mix in some sand or gravel? They don't mind water, but they can't stand to "sit" in water.

Drainage is ok, it's the 50F days and lack of sunlight that's killed them off. We finally got up into the 70s the last three days but I think it's too late to get any fruit from the plants now.

 

[BoomerD]

My 4 SunSugar tomato plants that were SUPPOSED to be cherry tomato plants, (the ones I almost totally defoliated when spraying for aphids) are so heavily laden with softball-sized tomatoes that I can't keep the fruit off the ground. These are heavy tomatoes, closely packed on the bush, and the branches won't support the fruit. I tried tying up one branch to the tomato cage and it just broke the branch.

The plants themselves are small, 24" high max, but they have at least 5-10 lbs of tomatos on each of them...The ones that touch the ground end up getting munched by slugs.

 

[spidey07]

With my rows of cabbage and broccoli already harvested I'm tempted to replant. Habenero, jalepenos, serranos, etc peppers are going crazy with fruit. I can't eat them all. The plants got so big and heavy I had to put tomato cages around them for support.

I'm starting to pick the peppers better now. It seems when they are heavy for their size and quite firm, they're ready.

Boomer - it sounds like you got a bush or determinate tomato that produces all it's fruit at once.

 

[BoomerD]

With my rows of cabbage and broccoli already harvested I'm tempted to replant. Habenero, jalepenos, serranos, etc peppers are going crazy with fruit. I can't eat them all. The plants got so big and heavy I had to put tomato cages around them for support.

I'm starting to pick the peppers better now. It seems when they are heavy for their size and quite firm, they're ready.

Boomer - it sounds like you got a bush or determinate tomato that produces all it's fruit at once.

Yep, so I do. Like I've said before...these were supposed to be cherry tomatoes...smallest mature tomato plants I've ever had. Not more than 24" tall and don't overhang the sides of a tomato cage. (10" triangular type) Everything is inside the cage. :| Best producing plants I've ever had though...

 

[Mike Gayner]

Gonna read this whole thread tonight. I'm starting my vege garden at the new house this weekend. Gonna be buying a whole lot of fertiliser, seeds/seedlings, sprays and getting my grow on. Also buying a plastic composting bin to get started.

Only problem is there's not much I can sow this time of year, so I'll start with celery and asparagus and see if I can find something else to get going. Keeping in mind out seasons are the opposite of the USA - we live in a temperate climate so if anyone has any suggestions of what else to grow...

The vege plot is about 2m by 4m and gets full sun. I'll take some photos in the weekend after clearing the weeds.

 

[bignateyk]

Gonna read this whole thread tonight. I'm starting my vege garden at the new house this weekend. Gonna be buying a whole lot of fertiliser, seeds/seedlings, sprays and getting my grow on. Also buying a plastic composting bin to get started.

Only problem is there's not much I can sow this time of year, so I'll start with celery and asparagus and see if I can find something else to get going. Keeping in mind out seasons are the opposite of the USA - we live in a temperate climate so if anyone has any suggestions of what else to grow...

The vege plot is about 2m by 4m and gets full sun. I'll take some photos in the weekend after clearing the weeds.

Not sure what it's like growing stuff down there. Even in the US it varies widely from region to region. I live in the northeast, and my garden is growing out of control, and I have yet to fertilize or spray with anything.

You shouldn't need much fertilizer if you prepare the soil well enough, and add good compost every year.

Spraying will depend on where you live I guess.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Harvest so far:

4 bush pickles
6 cherry tomatoes
2 roma tomatoes
3 hot peppers

Tons more tomatoes on their way.

 

[Marinski]

you guys use any liquid fertilizer (beside Miracle Gro) that you spray on??

 

[spidey07]

you guys use any liquid fertilizer (beside Miracle Gro) that you spray on??

I use Monty's Joy Juice on flowers and such.

And will somebody please come and eat all the jalepenos? 4 plants and I've got many quarts of them picked, more everyday. For some reason the peppers are going absolutely insane.

 

[meltdown75]

i haven't used any sprays or fertilizer. my tomato plants are mutant freak huge and my pepper plants are simply amazing.

i think the soil mixture i used has been key to the good growth...

- 1 yard compost
- 1 yard black as f*ck soil
- 1/2 yard spaghum peat moss
- few bags of sheep manure

also, my drainage is really good because i busted the clay up with a rototiller before i put anything down, and applied the compost directly to that. so i think the compost has been breaking down that hard clay base.

still no colours on my tomatoes... except for my Green Zebra plant. i have a plump tomato on it with the yellow stripes... i think it is almost ready to test. can't wait try a BLT with a green and yellow striped tomato :awe:

 

[IceBergSLiM]

I use Monty's Joy Juice on flowers and such.

And will somebody please come and eat all the jalepenos? 4 plants and I've got many quarts of them picked, more everyday. For some reason the peppers are going absolutely insane.

make your own jalapeno poppers and freeze em!

 

[spidey07]

make your own jalapeno poppers and freeze em!

That's actually a really good idea. That or can/pickle them.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

That's actually a really good idea. That or can/pickle them.

yes pickling is a good idea especially if you have otheir veggies you want to pickle. you can make a spicy pickle mix. mmmmmm.