Garden Updates

[laughing lioness]

Anybody else have pictures to post or updates? Here's mine.

We had a huge insurgance of hoppers that were eating everything with a leaf. I finally broke down and got "Seven" (sp?). It worked.

[LittleIzumi]

No pictures but I put up some snap peas in the freezer yesterday! I am also growing some impressive grass :glare: around my plants.

[Carrie12345]

Oooh! I'm so jealous!

 

Ours isn't as extensive as I originally planned. We had some first year strawberries, but need to come up with a better animal/bird defense for next year!

 

Right now, we have green beans, purple beans, and peas being harvested regularly. The cucumbers and carrots seem to be doing well, but they're far from ready.

 

I accidentally killed all of my tomato and pepper seedlings this year. :glare:

 

And we have a struggling grape vine, lol.

[elise1mds]

I've gotten a fair bit of green beans, and the cucumbers are out of control. I've gotten a few tomatoes and some okra, but really it's too hot for anything to grow properly. The butternut squash and watermelon are still growing, so I guess that's a positive. As soon as the cucumbers are done, I'll yank them out and wait till it starts to cool off, and then I plan to put in some spinach, lettuce and other fall plants. I'm SO OVER this heat.

[HoneyFernDotOrg]

I am a terrible picture taker, but mine has exploded. We have canned, eaten and given away ridiculous amounts of tomatoes and green peppers. Small harvest of red onions, which I pickled, and lots of cukes which are being eaten, pickled and given away. We had a tone of lettuce earlier in the year, and snap peas, and I am going to plant corn today in the areas that I have space (an experiment). I am ready for the weather to get cooler so I can start planting cool season crops, but that will be another month. I am thinking more spinach (we had a TON), lettuce, radish and snap peas, and I will try potatoes in containers again (we had a small but delicious crop earlier this summer!).

 

Herbs are also exploding; I have two dozen basil cubes in the freezer, plus four babyfood jars of basil, dried basil and oregano, and dried mint for tea. I want to plant some chamomile, too. but we'll see.

 

Blueberries have been discovered by the squirrels, but we got a goodly amount, enough to can a couple pints and make some cobblers and eat out of hand. Squirrels got our peaches, but the grapes are hanging tough!!

 

I started planting really early this year, in February, and have had a really long growing season, which is nice. I am hoping to extend it all the way to November, then put a ton of manure in the garden and let it rest for three months before getting started again.

 

First year planting asparagus, and it is HUGE - taking over the bed!! Can't wait for next spring!!

[laughing lioness]

I'm inspired. The purple beans look fun! And please share how you pickle onions! We've only had 1 tomato so far and only 2 eggplants have flowered. I broiled beets for the first time last night. I put in asperagus, too, this year. It's still small but holding it's own.

 

It's so interesting to hear about the regional differences. It's been a cool, wet summer here and my tomatoes are just now taking off!

We planted grapes 4 years ago and they love our gravely soil. Easiest grape juice ever. 1 cup grapes, 1 cup sugar (it's very sweet with the entire cup but it lasts a couple of years with that amount. I just use it as concentrate) into a quart jar. Fill to 1/2 " with hot water. Hot water bath.

Delicious!

[Carrie12345]

We planted grapes 4 years ago and they love our gravely soil. Easiest grape juice ever. 1 cup grapes, 1 cup sugar (it's very sweet with the entire cup but it lasts a couple of years with that amount. I just use it as concentrate) into a quart jar. Fill to 1/2 " with hot water. Hot water bath.

Delicious!

 

Great tip!

 

Does anyone have a solid tip (or link) for estimating # of plants they need per person?

So far, I only have 3 kids who eat heavily out of our garden. I feel like no matter how much I increase, little makes it to the table because they eat it all right off the plants! Which is a good thing, but sheesh! I'm never going to get to preserving at this rate!

I think we have 21 bean plants and 21 pea plants that "made it" this year, and it's still not enough!

[ChrisB]

Anybody else have pictures to post or updates? Here's mine.

We had a huge insurgance of hoppers that were eating everything with a leaf. I finally broke down and got "Seven" (sp?). It worked.

Wow! Looks wonderful! We have a couple of hoppers that are pretty crafty little guys :glare:...

[Daisy]

Here's our latest picture. That's one day's harvest. I only have 4 raised beds. I really want more but I don't have a huge yard. We live in SoCal and had a slow start this season also. Everything was so chilly and damp. We've hit our 100 degree days so I have tomatoes all over the place. I pick at least as many as you see in the picture EVERY DAY.

[gaillardia]

I've gotten a fair bit of green beans, and the cucumbers are out of control. I've gotten a few tomatoes and some okra, but really it's too hot for anything to grow properly. The butternut squash and watermelon are still growing, so I guess that's a positive. As soon as the cucumbers are done, I'll yank them out and wait till it starts to cool off, and then I plan to put in some spinach, lettuce and other fall plants. I'm SO OVER this heat.

Mind if we stop by and raid the garden...if I ever leave the house? You're over the heat? "They" keep mentioning that Dallas is 103, 101, 100, 105, you get the picture...but this is since MAY. And sometimes it is hotter where we live, which is west of DFW. Nothing, nothing! will grow here when it is this hot and now the "other" they are saying it is time to start your fall crops. :001_huh::glare: :mad: Sorry for the rant. Back to your regular programming.;)

[Alphabetika]

We are getting lots of ripe heirloom tomatoes, several different varieties, and all are delicious! But our romaine lettuce is bitter and the zucchini isn't producing much.

 

Also, we've ripped our backyard up to prepare for having raised beds for next spring! :001_smile:

[laughing lioness]

Great tip!

 

Does anyone have a solid tip (or link) for estimating # of plants they need per person?

So far, I only have 3 kids who eat heavily out of our garden. I feel like no matter how much I increase, little makes it to the table because they eat it all right off the plants! Which is a good thing, but sheesh! I'm never going to get to preserving at this rate!

I think we have 21 bean plants and 21 pea plants that "made it" this year, and it's still not enough!

 

I'm kind of resigned right now to just eating 3-5 months of the year right out of the garden. If I don't preserve much, o.k. At least those months we eat lots of fresh organic food. Last night we had 3 dishes from the garden, the only thing I added was condiments and chicken. I am continually adding to the garden with the thought towards edible landscaping. This year an asperagus patch and berry bushes.

 

My thought: how much of what food you'll eat each year. For instance, cabbage. How much cabbage would your family consume in 52 weeks? Would you eat one a day, week, month, annually? Then, decide in what form you'll eat the cabbage (boiled, in cabbage rolls, as kraut) and if you have what it takes to store it without rotting for that amount of time.

I'm starting with small crops like parsely. I use a lot of parsely throughout the year. It's great for your heart. So I planted a packet, and dry it every week. So far I have a 5 gal jar full of dried parsely. Same with mint and chamomile. (the convection oven works great to dry stuff).

We have almost no freezer space right now so everything I store has to be canned or dried.

We went to an organic farm last week and he was advoating hot houses becasue the growing season was so much longer and the plants got bigger so much faster. He also said herilooms take longer to ripen and produce far less. I think there's lots of reasons to plant heirlooms but it did cause me to think about what I'm planting some stuff for. Just a thought.