official veggie gardener's thread

[DrPizza]

You're lucky to only have a few bugs that pesticide will stop. I have a 4 foot fence with posts about every 20 feet. That's all that's stopping about 40-50 goats + 7 llamas. They get through that fence, and my entire garden will be gone in 20 minutes. I already had to change my planned planting to keep corn well out of reach of the llamas stretched necks - I don't want to encourage them to lean on the fence to reach some of those corn stalks.

 

[BoomerD]

You're lucky to only have a few bugs that pesticide will stop. I have a 4 foot fence with posts about every 20 feet. That's all that's stopping about 40-50 goats + 7 llamas. They get through that fence, and my entire garden will be gone in 20 minutes. I already had to change my planned planting to keep corn well out of reach of the llamas stretched necks - I don't want to encourage them to lean on the fence to reach some of those corn stalks.

What? You mean a simple, "NO!" won't keep them out?

I had to fence my small raised-bed garden to keep the dogs and cat from shatting in it...just something about a large container of dirt that attracts cats...

This is the part of gardening that I hate...waiting for everything to ripen. /impatience

 

[DrPizza]

Almost done planting! I should be finished tomorrow. Today, I got in 1.3 pounds of beans (well over 1000 plants expected), a similar amount of corn, 6 watermelon plants & 6 cantaloupe plants at the base of the old manure/mulch pile. The strawberry plants (200+) are doing great; been pruning the buds off to encourage more growth, the tomato plants (72) are starting to set tomatoes. The herb bed that my wife planted is doing really good. Tomorrow I have a dozen cukes to put in, more watermellon, more cantaloupes, eggplant, broccoli, zucchini, acorn squash, some other type of squash, my bell peppers, and sweet yellow banana peppers. Plus, 1000 or so peas to plant (but I already have the trenches ready for them. This shit better grow!

 

[craftsmaster]

I always love my fresh lemon balm. It's really fascinating to taste teas, flavors soups, stew, fish, poultry, vegetables, and meat dishes, garnish, and potpourris. So with your next cook, don't miss it!!!

 

[eplebnista]

Getting a lot of cucumbers now and have lots of green tomatoes that will probably turn red all at once. :\

 

[TraumaRN]

I've got a couple TINY little cucumbers and lots of flowers on all 4 of my cuke plants

My tomatos are FINALLY growing now that it's not raining an inch every other day...all my peppers are doing well but I'm got a mysterious plant that was planted in with my pepper plant starters...it kinda looks like a tomato but has leaves like a pepper plant. I'll wait and see what the flowers look like...

And to my surprise my cantaloupes are doing quite well and looking ready to flower any day now.

My spinach is a basically a loss....we couldn't eat it fast enough...so now it's all flowering and well basically freaking enormous, I've got spinach leaves that could probably win a prize at the state fair, easily 12-16+ inches length wise and 6-8+inches in width. We're gonna flash blanch and then freeze it all for cooking down in a pressure cooker with salt pork later, otherwise it'll be too bitter.

 

[meltdown75]

completed the 2nd level of my Florida weave on Monday night... i think this system is going to work out good for me.

my tomats and peppers are probably the healthiest i've ever had to this point... these plants are going to produce a crazy crazy crop!!!!!!!! i have a bunch of pics... i'll have to remember to hit up pics.bbzzdd sometime from home. cheeeeers

 

[HydroSqueegee]

carrots are doing awesome even being way too overcrowded. the one i pulled up to check was 3" long. My 5 year old snatched it, ran inside to wash it off and gobbled it down to the stem. This boy wont eat carrots out of a bag, so im pretty impressed. Peas are coming in well now. i cant wait to snap one fresh off the vine. Getting tons of tomatoes now too. And the Potatoes have exploded!

Right now its a constant battle with thistle. its coming up EVERYWHERE! i'll pull out 10, then the next day 20 new little ones are popping up in the beds.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

ack, double post

 

[eplebnista]

Spotted the first early girl tomato that is starting to turn red and picked a couple of jumbo cucumbers I didn't see until they got too large.

 

[spidey07]

Pro-tip on tomatoes. Store them in a dark place in a brown paper bag, supposed to keep the ripening and sugar development going. And pick them by feel, you still want them to be a little firm with a tiny amount of give to them.

Never, ever put a home grown tomato in the fridge. It kills the ripening and flavor. I won't even put a half tomato in the fridge, just leave it out on the counter out of the sun.

 

[BoomerD]

I have a bazillion tomatos on the 7 plants, none have started to turn...YET. Once they do, I'm gonna have tomatos coming out my ears...even though none are roma's, my wife is going to make and can sauce and salsa so they don't go to waste.

Picked another jalapeno last night. MUCH better than the one a couple of weeks ago. Still not firey hot, but good flavor and somewhat spicy. I've cut the water to the plants somewhat. We'll see if that heats them up.

I've picked most of the blueberries off my 4 little plants. Didn't get too many, but since it's the first year, I didn't expect many...and actually got quite a few more than I expected.

I've picked a couple of bowls of strawberries so far and they're sugar sweet. Plenty of blossoms still on the plants for berries yet to come.

My bell pepper plants are heavily laden. Not quite large enough to pick yet, but by July 1, I should have several ready to go.

 

[spidey07]

Any tips on picking jalepenos? I've got some looking pretty damn good. Should I wait until the skin starts streaking or not?

 

[bobsmith1492]

M m m mulberries and rhubarb are up and ready!

Bean plants and cucumbers are looking good but my carrots are pretty sparse...

 

[DrPizza]

Had a ton of rhubarb all ready... The goats ate it.

 

[dabuddha]

Had a ton of rhubarb all ready... The goats ate it.

Sounds like it's time for some mutton curry!

 

[dabuddha]

Some pics my wife took yesterday. Still have to "degrass" the garden. Hate how grass always grows where you don't want it to.

 

[spidey07]

For the love of god Dahun resize those images! They're 5 megs a piece!

 

[dabuddha]

Yeah you're right, I probably should lol

EDIT: Hopefully that's better?

 

[TraumaRN]

The massacre on 17th street...

Thats what my wife is calling it...

We've got a slug infestation...and well we bought some anti-slug pellets and laid out a few empty tuna cans with old beer in them...and there was enough slime this morning to make the ghost busters jealous. Just the backyard around the veggie garden were 3 dozen slugs. The front yard flower garden?? Even more horror. I lost count after 50.

Needless to say, I'm placing more beer traps and slug pellets today.

 

[DrPizza]

That's a good reminder - we have a ton of slugs in the area - I better proactively set out to eliminate them. Fri morning - nothing in the seeded section. Fri late afternoon, corn was already 2 inches tall & some of the beans were peaking through.

 

[BoomerD]

I was just out in the tomato patch and noticed some tell-tale holes in the leaves. I started poking around and, sure enough, I found lots of little black "pellets" in the leaves. Both sure signs of tomato/tobacco worms. :|

I guess I'm gonna have to go find a nursery that sells BT spray or the parasitic wasps. <sigh>

 

[spidey07]

Better do it today. They can decimate a plant in a matter of days. I'd also take some scissors to any you can find. Evil bug.

 

[BoomerD]

Better do it today. They can decimate a plant in a matter of days. I'd also take some scissors to any you can find. Evil bug.

I found one nasty ah heck last summer that was nearly 4" long...scary booger!

Freaked my grandkids out when they saw it...I just reached for the garden shears and chopped it up...then squished it into the soil.<eeeww Grandpa...that's gross!>

 

[spidey07]

Behold, the face of evil. It's like a mini Monti Burns...excellent. Little buggers about whiped out my plants a year or two ago.