What about your garden?

[fishingrookie]

I have picked some ripe tomatoes yesterday. They are tasty.

[hardwaterfan]

it seems like it takes forever but i finally have some ready to eat....i grew some different varieties...."lemon boy", "vintage wine", and "super marmande"...the vintage wine is really cool, its like a beefsteak but its got variegated coloration...cool!

old reliable "better boy" has some nice red beauties on it too....

then theres "first lady" which i tried instead of "early girl", theres only one turning so far... :(

everything is going pretty well in the garden, i was just looking at some pics from last year....

my cucumber plants were long gone last year at this time due to cucumber beetles.....this year i took care of them with some insect dust.

[dinoday]

I just ate some Jet Star tomatoes and see that some Brandywine's are ripening.
I've picked zucchinni,cukes,hot peppers and have red peppers about half way ready.
Onions are on track and pumpkins are the size of grapefruit and they should get pretty big...as long as the deer don't get them:lol:

[enfield]

I've been eating and canning tomatoes for about a month and my plants are nearly done. :D

[kroppe]

I don't have a veggie garden, but my neighbor is burying me in cherry and regular tomatoes. Had one on a grilled burger tonight. Yum!

[kbkrause]

I'll miss not having a garden this year. I'll miss the BLTs and fried tomatoes. Oh well, I'll just have to stock up at the local road side stands.

[huntmdown]

Hi Gang!
Yep, :corkysm55 I'm gonna miss eating my tomatoes. Time was limited......luckily I live close to a farm!:D

[webfarmer]

This year is the worst garden I've had since moving here (9 years). Most tomato plants died and the few that lived are now setting fruit (way after everybody else is tired of tomatoes) LOL. Coons got all my sweet corn too (late at night or there would still be some for me). Green peppers are all stunted. Cukes are the saving grace although I'm already a bit tired of them.

Every year my garden puts out tons which I take to work to share. This year, I'm bringing them home from the office. Not sure if it needs lime (big yes), or the moles ruined it (real possible) or if the wheat straw I used as mulch caused any problems. Already looking forward to next year!

[hardwaterfan]

well im sure a lot of people had a great garden this year, but i agree my garden was a bit "off" this year....just isnt what it should be....peppers are smaller than they should, tomatoes dont look all that great....the dang deer raided me, thats gonna set my peppers back badly.....that might be it for them in fact.

i think the weather threw my stuff off this year.

did you all see the recipe for pickles swf1960 posted in the "other" forum.....they are awesome, ive made 3 batches, my cukes are pretty much done now though.

[Banditto]

My tomatoes have been in since early July. You know how after a couple weeks you are literally overwhelmed with tomatoes and can't eat them fast enough? I have been at that stage for about a week or more.

[Linda G.]

Once again this year I lost all my squashes and cucumbers to some kind of mildew type fungus that is very virulent. Had it last year and tried real hard to get rid of it, plowing under the soil, burning it, planting my vining crops on the other end of the garden, using a fungicide, etc. Nothing worked.

I might get a couple of acorn squashes. Got some broccoli, but it wasn't the best.

Overall, garden has been a fair disappointment. Weather, I'm sure. Too hot, then too cold in early June, which zapped my beans, carrots and beets, had to replant all of them. Corn is stunted, so are the green peppers.

Jalapenos, tho, have been a HUGE success, looks like tomatoes will be, too. Just getting ripe. Picked a few this weekend.

My new young asparagus is doing well, too. Might get a crop next year.

Next year, I'm planting all sweet corn in the squash area.

Now, if I can save my new flowering crab and mountain ash from the fireblight that's hit it-fireblight is an apple disease that's really bad news, and from what I can tell, there isn't much to be done about it.

[MSUICEMAN]

tomatoes didn't do too well this year. the bell peppers (all colors) that usually do so well were a fair dissapointment. the beans were real good though, and the jalapeno and habaneros are doing EXTREMELY well.

my gf's tomato plants did well early, but being mostly all early varieties, they are going to be done real soon (though here cherry tomato plants are going gangbusters now).

[hardwaterfan]

Linda G. are you sure your viney crops didnt get infected by the cucumber beetles?

did the leaves start to wilt real bad and then all the leaves gradually die? it will devastate all your viney crops and zucchini too.

...just a thought....

[huntmdown]

Yes, the erractic weather patterns did affect the tomatoe crops here in Illinois.

[Linda G.]

The leaves got a powdery, snowy look to them, then wilted and died, but the vine persisted. Flowered, too. Just no fruit. It's called powdery mildew, real common in hot, humid summers near water, they said. I live on a lake.

I'm more concerned about what's killing my mountain ash, it's just a twig, planted it this spring, it did very, very well for the first three months, then this disease hit it from the flowering crab I planted nearby, and it's just about dead. The crab is hanging in there. It's called fireblight, and it's really bad news, I'm told.

[huntmdown]

Linda G,
Sorry to hear about the PM! I use to work in a greenhouse and that stuff is pretty to surrounding plants if not treated promptly. Sometimes it's best just to let certain plants die back.

[Banditto]

I had the powder mildew before also. I ended up removing the top 2 feet of soil in the garden and surrounding area. I know eventually it will creep its way back but for the last 3-4 years I haven't had a problem.

[chinamigarden]

My garden is having a mixed year. I am picking tomatoes now. I picked a bushel of romas last night and I will probably have another bushel by Saturday. The brandywines are coming in like never before pound to pound and a half each and I am getting several at a time. My cherry tomato plants are keeping me buried... Unfortunately I have had a lot of blossom end rot and I probably tossed every third tomato I tried to pick last night.

Squash was OK this year, but I lost most of the plants to powdery mildew. I was unable to tend the garden for a week or so and it just took over.

[Gander Club]

What I thought was going to be a great garden turned into a great disappointment. The mildew stuff got my cukes,zuchini, summer squash and musk mellon. The tomatos are doing good. The only great success was the waxed beans.

[Linda G.]

Ach, that's way more than I've got!!

Next year, at least, nothing with a vine, except potatoes. All sweet corn, probably. I give up on that stuff.

As for the fireblight, it worked quickly on my mountain ash, it was young and vulnerable. I am taking a leaf back to the greenhouse that I bought the flowering crab from this spring. I want a new tree, and I want her to replace my mountain ash.

I'm just hoping the fireblight doesn't stay in the soil, too...anyone know anything about that stuff? Hits apple orchards really hard, I've read. I would like a flowering crab, it was gorgeous this spring. Hate to not be able to have one.

[fishingrookie]

Once again this year I lost all my squashes and cucumbers to some kind of mildew type fungus that is very virulent.


Last year I had the same problem as what you described on the cucumbers. This year, I switched the plots between cucumbers and tomatoes and the fungus didn't appear. It might be that this year's cucumbers are more disease/fungus resistant - I bought the cucumber plants from a local farm market.

[Don J]

had a good crop of carrots till all the rain. Carrots started to rot in the ground. Tomatoes got the fungus again this year, will try planting in another area next year. Had problems with baby rabbits when setting out seedlings at first of season, finally chased them away. Second planting of sweet corn getting ready.

[BarryPatch]

I have a "three sisters" garden going in MI. Basically corn squash & beans. The squash keep the weeds down. The corn provides structure for the beans and the beans return nitrogen to the soil.

The deer hit the young beans hard but there may still be a chance for a crop. I'm already sick of summer squashes. The winter squash are just coming in. I've also got several types of melons ans watermelons that were verging on ripeness last weekend. I thing the sweetcorn should be ready about the last week of the month. Lazy mans garden for sure. Plant it and pick it. :)