Gardening 2011 - how's yours coming?

[DarcyB]

We failed to get our summer garden in..ran out of time, then ran out of weather (hot hot hot dry summer for us which does not make plants happy), so we're now about to start preparing (at 6 AM mind you when it's at least reasonably not hot) our fall garden and herb garden.

 

I'd love inspiration - how've your summers gone? How is the bounty?

[Firefly]

Not much to inspire here, unfortunately! We had a very cool, rainy spring, so most things are behind. Once the weather warmed up and the sun came out, everything popped, so I currently have lots of lush green growth, flowers on my cukes, pumpkins, beans and squash, and several green tomatoes waiting to ripen. No harvest yet, but it should be a very bountiful August!

 

The rainy spring was very good for my berries though-- the strawberries were great this year, and the blueberries and raspberries are more prolific then they've ever been.

 

Good luck with your garden!

[Lady Florida.]

Summer isn't really growing season here in Florida, though there are a few things that survive our hot, wet summers. I have some cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, and herbs. I just planted Seminole pumpkins for the fall. It's the only pumpkin that grows well in our soil and climate. I also have sweet potatoes growing. Oh, and Florida lima beans (speckled beans that resemble cattle beans). Something got my squash. The one fruit on it turned to mush and the plant looks unhealthy, but I can't figure out what's going on.

 

This was our first year of blueberries. They didn't yield enough to do much with, so we just ate them as they ripened. They were delicious and I'm hoping for a bigger yield next year. I'm also hoping our banana plants will bear fruit this year.

 

ETA: I have a ton of flat leaf parsley that I don't know what to do with. I keep thinking I'll make chimichurri and freeze it. I plan to freeze a small amount at first to see how it does. I dried some, but I don't care for dried parsley.

[Paintedlady]

This is our 2nd year using the Square Foot Garden method and it's been going very well. Last year was mostly a bust, but we learned a few things and improved on some of our techniques and have been very pleased with the results. Here's a few pics:

[Anita in NC]

I always grow more tomatoes and cucumbers than I know what to do with. This year is no exception. We have been eating tomatoes and cucumbers every day. It is awesome. I've also been giving extra tomatoes to friends.

 

I also have yellow squash, eggplant, jalepeno peppers, beans, and some herbs.

 

I still have lots of kale from the spring that I keep trying to use up. Yesterday I made kale chips - they were delicious.

 

I need to start my sugar pumpkins and acorn squash.

[mom31257]

We had one raised bed last year that went very well. We added one more this year, but we've not had as much success. It's been hotter and drier this year, although we water the beds. We are getting lots of peppers and cherry tomatoes, but we've had much fewer tomatoes this year even though we planted more actual plants.

[Tammyla]

Wow, what a wonderful garden; I loved the pictures.

 

This is our 2nd year using the Square Foot Garden method and it's been going very well. Last year was mostly a bust, but we learned a few things and improved on some of our techniques and have been very pleased with the results. Here's a few pics:

[Paintedlady]

Wow, what a wonderful garden; I loved the pictures.

 

Thanks! It's my baby. :D

[Lady Florida.]

This is our 2nd year using the Square Foot Garden method and it's been going very well. Last year was mostly a bust, but we learned a few things and improved on some of our techniques and have been very pleased with the results.

 

My first year of square foot gardening was a bust too. There's definitely a learning curve with the method. Each season gets better. I'm in my 3rd year (6th season as we have 3 growing seasons here) and still learning but I love it.

[Lady Florida.]

We have been eating tomatoes and cucumbers every day. It is awesome.

 

Mmmm! I love cucumber and tomato salad.

[DarcyB]

Loving those pics! Thanks for sharing them. We're just so bummed that we didn't get started sooner..and TX high summer is brutal on crops, and our summer has been bad this year.

 

We're still only in 2 small beds, but we're expanding to a 3rd for the fall..and someday, I hope we can convert the entire backyard! We have 4 apple trees we've never been able to get a harvest from, and next year we're going to invest in mesh to try to protect one to see if we can keep the birds from it before we invest to save them all. Otherwise, I'd love to pull them down, plant a nut tree, and make more room for plots or other fruit trees.

[LinRTX]

Texas has certainly been brutal this year. My tomatoes usually produce so much I give away bags of them. This year I have had about 6 -- all grape sized. The blossoms are just drying on the vines and nothing I do is saving them. My peppers are producing however. My beans are all just drying up. I lost a zucchini plant to squash borers, but managed to save the yellow squash (unfortunately for my children). The onions did fairly well and I have 11 watermelons ripening on the vine!!

 

Linda (in the DFW area)

[DarcyB]

I lost a zucchini plant to squash borers, but managed to save the yellow squash (unfortunately for my children). The onions did fairly well and I have 11 watermelons ripening on the vine!!

 

Linda (in the DFW area)

 

Well, then we'll be over for watermelons in about two weeks? <snicker> Howdy, neighbor!

[LinRTX]

i just hope I know when they are ripe, because I thought one was for July 4th and when I cut into it -- it was just pink.

 

I've never grown them before, but my youngest wanted to try. It is really the only thing in the garden doing very well!!

 

And Howdy back to you.

[MSNative]

Lettuce was fantastic this spring/early summer. Tons of green beans in June - and still a few now. Corn is growing well. Can't wait to eat it. Cukes are going nuts. Have made a year's worth of pickles (that's about 4 jars in this family) and have given away tons. My herbs are doing well, but not as well as last year, esp. the basil. I'm still getting some but not the pounds I got last year. Tomatoes are taking their own sweet time. Same with the peppers. I planted them with nasturtiums this year. Am wondering if that wasn't such a good idea. The nasturtiums are gorgeous and tasty, though. Onions are almost ready and the squashes are ripening. Terrible year for strawberries - not a one! Blueberries, meh. Blackberries and raspberries are ripening. Hoping to get them before the birds and other snackin' pests.

 

When do y'all start your fall garden and what will you be growing? I'm getting ready to pull my beans and sunflowers and get more lettuce started. Haven't tried a fall garden before so I'm open to all advice.

[MSNative]

i just hope I know when they are ripe, because I thought one was for July 4th and when I cut into it -- it was just pink.

 

I've never grown them before, but my youngest wanted to try. It is really the only thing in the garden doing very well!!

 

And Howdy back to you.

 

Look for the little tendril right above the fruit. When it is withered and brown, the fruit is usually ripe. That trick worked for us last year.

[joannqn]

Very poorly. We had frost very late into the year so I kept waiting. I finally got one 4x4 box planted. Then DD was sick with rotavirus for a month and never got the other boxes filled and planted. Found out that I chose a bad place for the box. Half of it never gets sun so those plants are barely growing. The other half was mostly lettuce and spinach which mostly bolted. We did get to eat two spinach plants and a small head of leaf lettuce. None of my carrots came up (thank you, cats!) but it looks like I'll get a few potatoes.

[bluemongoose]

Not so great here. The tomatoes are barely started. There are a few green ones and lots of buds. Their growth is even stunted. The broccoli is going great guns, and the carrots are coming up. It has just been so rainy and cold here for summer. With the chill and the lack of sun the tomatoes are confused about whether they are supposed to grow or die off for the fall.:glare:

[Amira]

We've been eating beet greens and zucchini galore. The pumpkins are taking over the entire place and I pulled up lots of garlic a couple of weeks ago. The tomatoes and cucumbers aren't doing very well though, but there should be some eggplant and corn ready very soon. The apricot tree didn't produce very good apricots, nor did the raspberries produce much, but there are lots of black currants. And there are a million walnuts and apples. The rayhon and dill are doing great too (rayhon is a type of basil that's popular here).

 

It's really, really cheap to plant a garden here, but it's probably not technically worth it because I can buy locally-grown, excellent produce in the bazaar for very little. The apricots are just finishing and ended up at 30 cents/pound, and I've been able to get cucumbers at 10 cents/pound for months now. The tomatoes are around 40 cents and there are plenty of melons, eggplant, corn, peppers, and so much more to buy. The freezer is full of raspberry, apricot and strawberry jam. It's heavenly here.

[jenbrdsly]

This is our 2nd year using the Square Foot Garden method and it's been going very well. Last year was mostly a bust, but we learned a few things and improved on some of our techniques and have been very pleased with the results. Here's a few pics:

 

 

So cool!!!!

[jenbrdsly]

Here's and update on our garden: http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/07/21/garden-update-end-of-july/

 

It is so cold and rainy where we live that I have only watered 3 times, and we aren't going to get hardly anying but peas and berries.

[Truscifi]

My spring garden didn't do so hot - I started too late - but my summer garden is going fairly well. My tomatoes are still producing, my first eggplant is growing away and there are lots more flowers, the sweet potatoes and malabar spinach are going gangbusters, and my okra is limping along producing a few pods here and there. Oh, and whatever was eating my pigeon peas has finally stopped, so they are staring to fill out finally.

 

I also just started more tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins for the fall, and ordered lettuce, onion, garlic, and turnip seeds for the winter garden. Gotta love year round gardening!

[myfunnybunch]

The cooler PNW summer has made my greens very happy and slow to bolt, so we're eating kale and chard almost every day, and we've got onions and leeks coming out of our ears. Usually we've had to pull our peas by the end of June/beginning of July because it gets too hot for them; this year, the peas had a very late start but they are still producing.

 

My front garden is sedate and lovely. I've got glads, scarlet runner beans, pansies and sweet peas mixed in with the tomatoes, squash and pole beans. It's so bright and cheerful! We took out our rhodies and put in blueberries, and they are doing ok, and the blueberries we put in 2 years ago are giving us a few handfuls of delicious berries.

 

My back garden...a jungle! I used my own compost and let the chickens have the run of the garden before I planted. Everything is huge! The sunflowers are taller than I've ever seen them at this point. The cooler wet summer has me hoping for a long sunny fall so that the tomatoes and squash have time to ripen.

 

Cat

[creekland]

Broccoli, tomatoes, peppers (green and hot), onions, potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers and corn are all doing well and/or looking good. Broccoli is done for the year, of course, but we have a bit in our freezer to enjoy this winter.

 

Our lettuce, spinach, green peas and lima beans are a bust this year.

 

I'm guessing it was too wet for the lettuce and spinach? We only got a couple of small servings of them - and that's rare - usually we have more than we can eat. We let them go to seed and will see what pops up for fall. The lettuce that did the best this year came up as volunteers from what went to seed last fall. The stuff I planted in later March did horribly.

 

With the peas, we tried a new variety this year as it was SUPPOSED to last into the summer. Instead, it had great pods, with very few actual peas. Many pods were totally empty! Then, many of the plants died off at the same rate as our normal peas. We're NEVER buying Maestro again. I regret having bought them this year. Peas are one of my favorite garden crops and this year we never got one full meal, much less a few meals with extra for the freezer.

 

The lima beans didn't come up as well as normal, then a rabbit or squirrel got to them. Ever since my son got to the rabbit and squirrels, the rest of the plants have done ok, but we probably have fewer than a dozen. Whatever they produce will be added in with other veggies.

[mama2cntrykids]

I failed to put one in this summer. I had a baby June 3rd and I just couldn't bring myself the work (aka stress) or a baby AND a garden!

 

However, I DO have two 5 gal buckets with tomato plants in them. They are doing really well. It'll be a surprise as to what kind of tomato they are too. My friend gave them to me and she had no clue what they were lol.

[twilkin]

Not great, not bad. We got a late start and didn't get half of what we usually plant into the garden but what we did plant is doing well. We planted blueberry plants this year, got a great harvest from our strawberry plants we planted two years ago, a few raspberries with a bigger crop soon, blackberries galore, moved a mulberry that we've had for 10 years that has never produced, (noticed after we moved it that it had berries....no more..:( ), horses broke through fence and ate most of the fruit trees we planted last year.....

[Kirch]

We were humming along nicely until the grasshoppers came out. They are insane this year--in the afternoons it looks like we've got hundreds of little brown clothespins attached to our fence. But even without them, it's been so incredibly hot and dry here that I think we would've had to throw in the towel anyway. Maybe we'll be able to get in a few things for the fall.

[Kebo]

Just brought in a box of charentais, honeydew and hot peppers from our community garden plot. We've got about 6 watermelons on the vine from a volunteer plant that's about 10 feet wide and apparently aiming for world domination! Wish I knew what variety it was and if I can save seed. I'm really hoping it tastes good and isn't mealy.

 

We are always HOT, HOT, HOT and dry during our summers (Arizona), so we get plants in early. Summer tomatoes are done for me, but I just started seed for a fall crop. I had a a lot of fun picking out some new varieties to try, along with my two current faves (Sun Gold cherry and Cherokee Purple). There are so many fabulous heirlooms out there I want to try! I'm particularly looking forward to trying Absinthe (a green when ripe tomato), my first oxheart (haven't decided which one) and Bear Creek (a Cherokee Purple/ Brandywine cross).

 

I found a few new fun things to try next spring, too. Red noodle beans, round zucchini, asian winged beans, carrots in many colors (white, yellow, purple and orange), and some great looking winter squash varieties (Kabocha, Galeux d'Eysines, red kuri, etc)

 

Happy gardening to all of you!

[jenbrdsly]

We were humming along nicely until the grasshoppers came out. They are insane this year--in the afternoons it looks like we've got hundreds of little brown clothespins attached to our fence. But even without them, it's been so incredibly hot and dry here that I think we would've had to throw in the towel anyway. Maybe we'll be able to get in a few things for the fall.

 

 

The grasshopper comment made me think of this family in Canada that did something really cool for the 10 plagues of Egypt: http://eclectic-homeschool.blogspot.com/2011/07/experiencing-10-plagues-of-egypt.html

 

Your boys might find the locust part funny, since you've got the real deal!

[6packofun]

My tomato plants are doing well, but the fruit seems to be smaller than it should be. I have a Roma tomato plant that is growing what looks like large grape tomatoes...they're sweet and yummy, but not the size I was hoping for. :glare: My mom wondered if maybe it was mislabeled, but the grocery store I bought it from was only offering 2 varieties and grape or cherry tomatoes was NOT one of them! LOL

[ThreeBlessings]

Not so great here. :(

 

 

Last year my tomatoes did wonderful, very high yield. This year- Some sort of fungus. Not sure if its leaf spot or early blight. Not good, not good at all. I'm so close to crying.