2009 Zones 3-5 Gardeners - Page 18

[limette]

Originally Posted by Hibou

We haven't been so lucky. The late spring set everything back this year, so we're just hoping for a long warm fall now.

Us too. I'm just picking lettuce now and had to reseed because I only got a handful of heads out of an entire seed packet.

Our squash plants are out of control and are just starting to produce so like you I'm hoping for a long warm fall so that they can ripen in time. This is unlikely though as we usually get frost in early September.

[Owen'nZoe]

Can you believe, my spring snap peas are just finally starting to slow down and a few of the vines are dying back. I have never had them make it past the end of June, much less the end of July!

Does anyone have experience with peas lasting this long? If I leave them in and am able to keep them alive through August, do you think they'll start producing again in the fall? I've been good about keeping them picked, and most of the vines are still green and putting on a bit of new growth (just not flowering much anymore). Or am I better pulling them now? I have lettuce in flats that I could replace it with, but there are other spots I could tuck the lettuce in if it is likely we could have peas again in the fall.

While the whole family is loving having peas all summer, we've not been so lucky in the summer veggie department. Here's what we've gotten so far:
- From 14 tomato plants: 6 green tomatoes
- 5 pepper plants: 1 banana pepper
- 4 zucchini plants: 1 lonely zucchini
- 4 watermelon plants: 0 watermelon
- 1 canaloupe plant: 0 melons
- 8 cucumber plants: 0 cucumbers
- 2 pumpkin plants: have 1 green pumpkin each on them
- Bean plants: have netted 4 meals and 2 pints of dilly beans
- Soybeans: are loaded, but none are mature yet

Pretty pathetic!

[Nillarilla]

So some kind of bug that I can't see is chewing away at all my veggies and marigolds in my boxes. I have another small garden patch under some lilacs and there is no sign of these destructive pests in this garden. The lilac garden gets a lot more sun could this be the difference? I tried garlic powder in the watering can but it didn't make a difference. The only things they are not eating are the carrots, the aster, the chives and the nasturtiums. Oh and the begonia and tomatoes. I have a lot of tomatoes in my lilac garden maybe this could be the difference? These pests have destroyed my peas, beans, peppers, basil, squash, melon, cuke, zuke, radish, lettuce, swiss chard.
Would moving the boxes to a sunnier location help? or just transplant the problem?

[Aubergine68]

Wow, this thread was on page 3! The gardening forum is hopping!

Nillarilla, I would be looking under leaves, mulch, etc. for slugs. When something mysterious is eating my plants, it is usually slugs. Though they aren't much for marigolds, usually. Hope you've solved the problem by now.

Here are some photos of my garden in full swing, now, though very late. Hoping we get a good month of warm weather still to help it all ripen properly.

I'm usually preserving apples and tomatoes at this point! But I'm still twiddling my thumbs...maybe I'll do more with drying herbs this year while I wait.

[Sustainer]

Your son is adorable. Your garden is beautiful too. I love your impatiens.

Our blackberries are coming along a lot slower this year than they did last year.

[GardenStream]

Aubergine68 - Your garden looks great. I can't believe how much variety you have growing in a small space!

[Teenytoona]

Originally Posted by Nillarilla

So some kind of bug that I can't see is chewing away at all my veggies and marigolds in my boxes. I have another small garden patch under some lilacs and there is no sign of these destructive pests in this garden. The lilac garden gets a lot more sun could this be the difference? I tried garlic powder in the watering can but it didn't make a difference. The only things they are not eating are the carrots, the aster, the chives and the nasturtiums. Oh and the begonia and tomatoes. I have a lot of tomatoes in my lilac garden maybe this could be the difference? These pests have destroyed my peas, beans, peppers, basil, squash, melon, cuke, zuke, radish, lettuce, swiss chard.
Would moving the boxes to a sunnier location help? or just transplant the problem?

We're having a "banner year" for japanese beetles. They're destroying my chard, cabbage, took down my peas and are even munching away on our blossoms out front. Sounds to me like you've got a little of the same.

Seems we might finally start bringing in tomatoes. This year has been dissappointing as far as yield of plants per seeds planted and then fruit per plant. We've not picked a whole lot of anything this year, well except it looks like our carrots are rockin' the garden. But that's about it.

It's been too unsummery and too beetley. So like the others, I'm hoping for a long warm fall.

[Hibou]

Well, it sounds like everyone's in the same boat this year one way or another, it's not been optimal.

Nillarilla, has the insect problem in your garden improved at all?

Things are looking up around here, and we are enjoying our first harvests of baby potatoes, peas, beets, carrots, raspberries, and one single ripe tomato. Lastnight we got hit with an intense thunder storm that knocked out my mandan bride corn and a few other things, but I'm thankful that it only did a bit of damage, and the sweet corn in the other garden is still standing. We're getting some heat which has given everything a boost. There's another angle of the garden here, taken only a day or two ago, before the storm. You can see the chicken tractor, doing it's best to help me with the weeds.

I've just ordered a copy of Gaia's Garden to start my winter reading pile. (If I can wait that long).

BTW Aubergine, I love your green man oak tree.:

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by Sustainer

Your son is adorable. Your garden is beautiful too. I love your impatiens.

Our blackberries are coming along a lot slower this year than they did last year.

Thanks.

I was just on a ramble in the bush with my kids today and was stunned to see saskatoons still very small and ripening. They are usually DONE by the first of August in this neighborhood.

Originally Posted by atobols

Aubergine68 - Your garden looks great. I can't believe how much variety you have growing in a small space!

Thanks -- I think some of my spaces are overcrowded to the point that it hurts productivity of the plants this year, though. We'll see how it turns out. The whole square foot gardening deal works really well for me for some things, but others, not so.

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

Seems we might finally start bringing in tomatoes. This year has been dissappointing as far as yield of plants per seeds planted and then fruit per plant. We've not picked a whole lot of anything this year, well except it looks like our carrots are rockin' the garden. But that's about it.

It's been too unsummery and too beetley. So like the others, I'm hoping for a long warm fall.

Or maybe the yield issue is just about the cooler weather...

Originally Posted by Hibou

Well, it sounds like everyone's in the same boat this year one way or another, it's not been optimal.

Nillarilla, has the insect problem in your garden improved at all?

Things are looking up around here, and we are enjoying our first harvests of baby potatoes, peas, beets, carrots, raspberries, and one single ripe tomato. Lastnight we got hit with an intense thunder storm that knocked out my mandan bride corn and a few other things, but I'm thankful that it only did a bit of damage, and the sweet corn in the other garden is still standing. We're getting some heat which has given everything a boost. There's another angle of the garden here, taken only a day or two ago, before the storm. You can see the chicken tractor, doing it's best to help me with the weeds.

I've just ordered a copy of Gaia's Garden to start my winter reading pile. (If I can wait that long).

BTW Aubergine, I love your green man oak tree.:

You nailed it, I think --we're all in the same boat.

I love your garden, and your blog. I have just ILL requested a bunch of the books you list on your reading list. Wish I had a chicken tractor -- would make short work of the grasshoppers around here!

I love the oak tree, too. It is a variety that is not supposed to be able to grow here -- hardy to zone 5 and we are zone 3 -- and it is planted in a silly place -- the only place on our lot where we could put a garage. But I've never lived with an oak before and I'm infatuated. Who needs a garage?

[Hibou]

So who's betting on a decent tomato harvest this fall?
We just came out of 3 days of rain (2.5 inches total). It was cold and drizzly all weekend- felt like fall. I was doing chores in a wool sweater and raincoat.: I'll try to get some pictures up soon, but my pumpkins are only the size of golf balls, ditto for squash. Tomatoes are mostly small and green. My hopes for the garden are totally up and down along with the erratic weather. The birds have begun flocking. I wonder what they know that they're not telling us.

[Hibou]

Photo update Excuse the chaotic state of my garden- there are lots of weeds, but also lots of volunteer flowers which I love and usually just let them grow wherever they self-seed.

[kathymuggle]

Hibou your garden is beautifull.

Mine is OK. We had an insanely wet July, so much was late or lost. There is also some sort of blight going around, but so far I have escaped it.

Verdict so far: tomatoes

lettuce

herbs:

Garlic:

squash - not done yet, but might be a

Potatoes: small, but possibly:


I have just planted spinach. They are harvestable in 40 days. I am pushing it as frost date is Oct 5th - but I have heard spinach are fairly frost tolerant. Finger crossed. I am already planning for next year, lol.

[Hibou]

Updates??

We're at the tail end of the gardening season here. We got frost about 3 nights ago, which was really late this year. Everyone was glad for the late frost since gardens were behind and the extended warm weather gave the later crops a chance to ripen. I have only to finish digging my root crops now, which are looking pretty good. Hightlights were the garlic harvest, which seems to grow well here no matter what the weather, and the unexpected pumpkin/squash crop which would have never been if not for the long fall.

Unfortunately, late blight wiped out my tomato crop leaving me barely enough for a few bowls of fresh salsa and a couple of batches of tomato soup. On a positive note, there are other generous gardeners in my life who are giving me loads of their tomatoes.

I'm going to be doing things a lot differently next year I suspect. I've begun reading Gaia's Garden, and it's putting some new ideas in my head. How it will all turn out, I have no idea.

[Aubergine68]

Please share the ideas inspired by Gaia's garden, Hibou!

Still have to harvest my carrots, beets, leeks, cabbages and onions, and find somewhere to put them. I've been organizing my storage, but bottom line, we have a small home and no garage. There were some styrofoam coolers for 50 cents each at Zellers last week, and I regret not picking them up. Maybe veggies in coolers in the shed for cold storage?

I got a second crop of basil with the warm fall! Struck me as funny...

We just got frost this week and most leaves are still green and on the trees, unusual here. I will do more of the cleanup when the leaves are down. I tend to only do minimal perennial cleanup -- I'm lazy and I like to leave stalks to catch snow and protect the roots and seed heads and pods to dry out so that we can collect them with the kids in winter for various activities. Almost all my plants are in the back yard, though, so I don't care much how they look.

Need tp pick up some garlic to plant and some pots and potting soil today. Going to try to bring in my rosemary and maybe some mint and lemon balm to overwinter them. I haven't had great luck with houseplants in the past.

[zensven42]

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