Garden: September 2022

[prairiewindmomma]

How fare your gardens?

[Miss Tick]

I don't think I've been in it since July, but from the house window that overlooks the garden it is FULL of greenery, and not too many weeds (that I can see from up here.) DH has started bringing in tomatoes, the navy beans look happy, the grocery store potatoes that sprouted are setting flowers, I can see butternut squash under the leaves when there is a breeze. I left some ground cherries as an "acceptable" weed, and they are setting fruit, now I need to beat the squirrels and chipmunks to them. I'm hoping the lettuce that went to seed self-seeded a fall planting for me, but I'm not counting on it. Leafy greens are more mids than hit for me. 

So now I just need to actually go out there...

[Lady Florida.]

This is our time to plant. Summer is for just keeping weeds out and preparing for fall planting. 

We have limited space due to our HOA and it's a small area so we have a raised bed on wheels. We also do container planting. We're getting ready to plant carrots, bush beans, bush cucumbers, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. I'm considering eggplant.

We need to wait until it's cooler for lettuce, spinach, and broccoli so those will go in next month. Maybe strawberries.

I wish we had room for things like corn, squash, melons, etc. but we just don't. I might try some seed potatoes in a container.

I always have basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, and green onions growing. With the onions I don't use the white part. I just cut off green as needed and it grows back.

[prairiewindmomma]

We've had a really challenging year weather-wise this year. We had a number of late frosts and hail storms that caused us to replant. Summers are normally dry here, but we haven't had measurable rain since mid-June. 

We just harvested our first tomato. They are taking forever to ripen. We are drowning in zucchini, green bean harvests are ok, cabbages and winter crops are coming along....but a lot of the things that we thought would do ok this year just have not.

[Faith-manor]

We are in harvest season here in Michigan. My garden produced a LOT of cherry tomatoes and tomatillos, a bunch of salad greens, some broccoli, basil, garlic, dill and two peppers. The peppers did not do well, and the eggplant never did anything no matter how much babying and care I gave. From my favorite farm and orchard store, I bought 20 heads of broccoli in addition to the eight small heads I grew, a bushel of Roma tomatoes, a bushel of green beans, a half bushel of red peppers, a dozen jalepenos, and a half bushel of Brussels sprouts. The dehydrator seems to be running non stop with red peppers and cherry tomatoes. I cut up, blanched, and froze all the broccoli, and have frozen the Brussels too. I have dried my garlic, used a ton of basil fresh and am going to try to keep basil alive as a house plant because I am addicted to having fresh on hand. Half the green beans were canned in pint jars, and half frozen. I have canned the Roma's either plain for chilli and pasta sauce bases, or as salsa. The jalapenos were canned in half pint jars with the tomatillos and other ingredients so I have salsa verde on hand. I also blanched two bushels of corn, cut it off the cob, and froze it.

Next up, I have a bushel of apples from apple tree - honeycrisps cross pollinated with the cortland. The Cortland produced very few apples, but the honeycrisp did well though the apples are small. The flavor is very nice. So I am going to make a lot of apple chips in the dehydrator. I will soak in a little lemon water and sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar. I will store them in quart jars with a silicate packet. I am not sure how many jars I will get. The apples are smaller than previous years - very dry summer and I only gave them limited irrigation because I was focusing on the raised beds, and being mindful of water consumption - and that makes it harder for me to estimate.

I picked blueberries this year, and have several quarts frozen for scones, pancakes, and topping oatmeal. Most of them were wild berries from state land. Due to the dry season, blackberries were almost non existent.

I am going to try to store spaghetti squash for winter. The basement here has a cold spot that is almost the exact right temp. So I have a couple of crates lined with newspaper and filled with sawdust waiting for them. I have no idea if it will work.

[Halftime Hope]

I'm in Zone 8a and normally start okra from seed in late May.  This year our spring was so cool and moderately rainy, I didn't start it until July 1. My tomatoes did well, and I can usually oversummer them for another fall crop, but the early rains have blighted them, so I have new fall tomato plants and I'm planning to use neem oil frequently to stave off the blight. (I hope.) The big change in my small garden was that I pulled out the ratty lavendar plants that I've had for two years, and I'm sorry I did. There was nothing after the verbena finished blooming to keep the pollinators busy. My green beans grew like crazy, and set all kinds of blossoms, but zero beans. None at all. The cucumbers in the next bed over had small black bees on them, enough to pollinate very well, but no bees for the beans -- a total bust.  I'm still waiting for the morning glories to blossom. (WTHeck?) They too are full of glorious foliage, but no flowers, when they normally flower in August.  

I think I'm going to put a lot more effort into pollinator-attracting flowers next year.

I have a small suburban back yard and we have trees on the periphery of a corner lot, so sunlight is a struggle. I've given up all pretense of normalcy -- for my area -- and now plant veggies along with flowers in my front yard flowerbeds that face the street. No one steals the okra, but I hope I have as much success with things people identify with more readily. 

I also think I may have gotten some compost that was tainted with herbicide. Some of the thing that normally do well have come up with curled leaves and then died, and it was in a bed that got a new bag of compost. I'm hoping to plant sunflowers there next year, then discard them. 

 

 

  

[KungFuPanda]

Mine was a bit of a disappointment but I’m only happy when I have a great tomato year. Tomatoes and cucumbers were not poor performers. 
 

My cut flowers, herbs, and pumpkins are really pretty. I got a lot of zucchini and opinions. Peppers are still coming in so it’s too soon to call. French beans were nice and I just planted another round. Soon I’ll put in lettuce and Napa cabbage. 
 

For breakfast I had a korean veggie pancake that was wonderful. I’d never made them before and this is an oversight. My community garden neighbors gave me some green peppers I’d never used before so a YouTube search brought me here. My pancakes had peppers, onion, scallions, carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms. I’ve concluded this is the casserole version of veggie tempura. 

[Faith-manor]

I need to also say that I think the Honeycrisp did so well because we had more pollinators than any previous year. I have been cultivating a large patch of milkweed pod, and we observed the UK "No Mow May" for the dandelions even though it was not observed on any wide scale in our state. We have had a bumper crop of bumblebees plus we have seen honeybees and butterflies. I had two actual monarchs this year, and was so happy since their numbers are dangerously low here.

[prairiewindmomma]

My succession flowering plants for pollinators are lavender, borage, and zinnias. Borage self seeds with good germination, so use it carefully, but it also fixes nitrogen and helps break up clay soil. If you till it back in, it adds calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen. It’s a lovely cover/green manure.

[Serenade]

On 9/3/2022 at 1:04 PM, Lady Florida. said:

 

I wish we had room for things like corn, squash, melons, etc. but we just don't. I might try some seed potatoes in a container.

 

I'm growing these small lemon drop watermelon in a large pot.  I have three plants in the pot, and they are cute as could be.  Tasty, too.  I'm in NC, and they are still going strong and setting fruit. We put a large tomato cage in the pot for them to grow up, and then we surrounded the pot with chicken wire to keep hungry critters out.

https://www.rareseeds.com/lemon-drop-watermelon

[Serenade]

23 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We've had a really challenging year weather-wise this year. We had a number of late frosts and hail storms that caused us to replant. Summers are normally dry here, but we haven't had measurable rain since mid-June. 

We just harvested our first tomato. They are taking forever to ripen. We are drowning in zucchini, green bean harvests are ok, cabbages and winter crops are coming along....but a lot of the things that we thought would do ok this year just have not.

We had a very dry summer where I live in NC too. It's still dry and the ground is cracking. I learned that when it's extremely hot, tomatoes take longer to ripen.  We had some that rotted before they full ripened just because it was so hot and dry and they couldn't mature. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Serenade

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, Serenade said:

I'm growing these small lemon drop watermelon in a large pot.  I have three plants in the pot, and they are cute as could be.  Tasty, too.  I'm in NC, and they are still going strong and setting fruit. We put a large tomato cage in the pot for them to grow up, and then we surrounded the pot with chicken wire to keep hungry critters out.

https://www.rareseeds.com/lemon-drop-watermelon

Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm in Zone 9b so now would be the time to plant melons.

[alisoncooks]

The deer got our first tomato harvest, and after that we lost the motivation to tend them, lol. And it’s been sooo dry, which didn’t help. The garden is DH’s pet project and he got sick right after getting the garden started. No one else was interested in picking it up once he wasn’t allowed to continue. 

I’m about to pull the trigger on a bulb digger and bags of fall-planting bulbs. Have I ever a planted a bulb before….nah, but I’ve got my heart set on tons of daffodils and alliums and hyacinths clustered along my fence line in the spring. We generally don’t go in for flowers (just veggies) but I’ve been craving color. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by alisoncooks

[Melissa in Australia]

First of September is spring here. Veggie garden is chocker block full of greens and brassica. Have been freezing lots of broccali and cauliflower. 

Potato plants have popped up. Tomatoes and capsicum seedlings are in the greenhouse growing away waiting for the warmer weather to be planted out next month

Just planted in small pots in the greenhouse pumpkin, watermelon and corn. They will be planted out mid next month as well. Just when the brassicas will be coming out

[Rosie_0801]

I've just got back from staying a month at my brother's, where it is still winter, to find Spring poking about my garden. 🙂

Out on the nature strip, I need to weed a bit more. The poor olive sapling almost completely hidden by the grass but has now been liberated. The wild fennel is coming along nicely.

On Sunday dd did some campfire cooking, which cleaned out all I'd pruned early this winter. Some of that space will be used for containers I want moved, and I'll use them for loose leaf lettuces. The space I'll move them from shall be dug out so I can have a proper go at some root vegetables. I *think* I shall be able to grow basil over my murnong bed, since it will die off around about when the murnong should be harvested. Won't know until I try, of course. Dd also made us some sun tea from the violet flowers. My borage is flowering. Maybe I should try sun tea made from them. It's probably just a weak cucumber flavour. *shrug*

Otherwise, I've got a nice lot of wild greens, aka weeds, to harvest this week before I mow the back yard. I shall make the 1769 weed pie from the Townsends Youtube channel, which is one of my favourite recipes, and will have a go at making capers from the sow thistle buds, because I haven't before. The orange tree is covered in fruit and my salt bushes didn't die. I really need to plant them, which I will, as soon as I get that bit of weeding done. *mutters about evil invasive grasses*

And I've squished every damned snail I've found. I blame El Niña for that. I never have snail problems on the off years. I'm hoping for tomatoes, melons and pumpkins this year. The snails got them all last year, the beasties.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I've just got back from staying a month at my brother's, where it is still winter, to find Spring poking about my garden. 🙂

Out on the nature strip, I need to weed a bit more. The poor olive sapling almost completely hidden by the grass but has now been liberated. The wild fennel is coming along nicely.

On Sunday dd did some campfire cooking, which cleaned out all I'd pruned early this winter. Some of that space will be used for containers I want moved, and I'll use them for loose leaf lettuces. The space I'll move them from shall be dug out so I can have a proper go at some root vegetables. I *think* I shall be able to grow basil over my murnong bed, since it will die off around about when the murnong should be harvested. Won't know until I try, of course. Dd also made us some sun tea from the violet flowers. My borage is flowering. Maybe I should try sun tea made from them. It's probably just a weak cucumber flavour. *shrug*

Otherwise, I've got a nice lot of wild greens, aka weeds, to harvest this week before I mow the back yard. I shall make the 1769 weed pie from the Townsends Youtube channel, which is one of my favourite recipes, and will have a go at making capers from the sow thistle buds, because I haven't before. The orange tree is covered in fruit and my salt bushes didn't die. I really need to plant them, which I will, as soon as I get that bit of weeding done. *mutters about evil invasive grasses*

And I've squished every damned snail I've found. I blame El Niña for that. I never have snail problems on the off years. I'm hoping for tomatoes, melons and pumpkins this year. The snails got them all last year, the beasties.

Rosie, I wish we could give your posts the trophy emoji.

I hope you do not have any more snails. I hate the darn things.

I did not have snails this year, but I did have some beetles that went after my plant leaves. I had pretty good success giving my plants a good coating of diatomaceous (sp?) earth, and then an occasional maintenance dusting.

[Rosie_0801]

28 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I hope you do not have any more snails.

That's such a friendly thing to say to someone. 🥰

[Carrie12345]

Any advice for 5b from scratch?

Ive been skimming info about fruit trees and bushes going in in the fall, but it makes me nervous. I have two small blackberry bushes in grow bags at the old house.

Currently growing a clover lawn in front, and some grassy areas in the back! We had 12 truckloads of dirt hauled in to fix the rocky terrain, and a clearing made for future gardening .

 

[Melissa in Australia]

28 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Any advice for 5b from scratch?

Ive been skimming info about fruit trees and bushes going in in the fall, but it makes me nervous. I have two small blackberry bushes in grow bags at the old house.

Currently growing a clover lawn in front, and some grassy areas in the back! We had 12 truckloads of dirt hauled in to fix the rocky terrain, and a clearing made for future gardening .

 

Is there an autumn/ winter cover crop you could plant  in the future garden spot? Something like broad beans or winter rye. I have never grown at that zoning 

 

just found this webpage if it is helpful https://sowtrueseed.com/blogs/monthly-garden-schedule-by-zone/zone-5-monthly-garden-calendar-chores-and-planting-guide

• Leaf lettuce, chard, spinach and radishes can still be planted for harvest this fall.

[Miss Tick]

16 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Dd also made us some sun tea from the violet flowers.

Does she just steep the flowers, or more of the plant? We have loads of violets in our yard. The more uses I have for a weed, the friendlier my feelings toward it.

[Faith-manor]

6 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

Any advice for 5b from scratch?

Ive been skimming info about fruit trees and bushes going in in the fall, but it makes me nervous. I have two small blackberry bushes in grow bags at the old house.

Currently growing a clover lawn in front, and some grassy areas in the back! We had 12 truckloads of dirt hauled in to fix the rocky terrain, and a clearing made for future gardening .

 

 We are roughly 5a here but due to proximity to Lake Huron which provides a little insulation, quasi 5B even though interior of the lower peninsula is 4-5a. What I am doing with my spaces that will be garden next year is raking all my fall leaves and grass clippings into the beds and then laying cardboard down on top which will be waited down with logs. I will peel up the cardboard in the spring and rototill. This is supposed to add nitrogen back.  I have dug three large holes elsewhere and am filling with grass clippings and vegetable/fruit refuse from the kitchen. When 2/3 full, I'll stir in some of the dirt, and let mother nature take its course. I can't plant until May so I figure they will have two or three months now of composting before temps are too low, and then another month to six weeks in the spring. I will add to the in ground garden plot, and to the raised beds and wait a week or two before planting so it hopefully marries together well without any major labor on my part.

My gardening has to be relatively easy or it tends not to happen. I can't fuss around plants. I have to just let them exist without handling. I try not to speak to them. I have always been the grim reaper of green things. Plants have been known to commit acts of self destruction just for knowing that I am their caretaker. So I have to put them in their ground or container, and then not go near. If they have to be watered, I do it from a distance, and only begin venturing to them when their is produce to be gleaned. Therefore take anything I say about gardening under advisement and with deep suspicion! 😁 and yes, I am proud of the fact that we ate produce from our raised beds this year courtesy of me finally getting the grim reaper under control.

[KungFuPanda]

On 9/4/2022 at 4:48 PM, alisoncooks said:

The deer got our first tomato harvest, and after that we lost the motivation to tend them, lol. And it’s been sooo dry, which didn’t help. The garden is DH’s pet project and he got sick right after getting the garden started. No one else was interested in picking it up once he wasn’t allowed to continue. 

I’m about to pull the trigger on a bulb digger and bags of fall-planting bulbs. Have I ever a planted a bulb before….nah, but I’ve got my heart set on tons of daffodils and alliums and hyacinths clustered along my fence line in the spring. We generally don’t go in for flowers (just veggies) but I’ve been craving color. 

I got a bulb-drill-bit-attachment-thingy for my cordless drill. I love it. 

[prairiewindmomma]

7 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

Any advice for 5b from scratch?

Ive been skimming info about fruit trees and bushes going in in the fall, but it makes me nervous. I have two small blackberry bushes in grow bags at the old house.

 

I gardened in 5b for a couple of decades. You can plant trees and bushes in the fall, but I would check your soil fertility first and work on getting all of that sorted. A good organic healthy fertilizer for first time garden soil is 4 parts seedmeal, 1 part dolomite lime, 1/2 part bone meal, 1/2 part kelp meal. 
 

ITA with cardboard mulching to keep weeds down until you can work the soil in spring. If you put soil over it, the cardboard will break down over winter.

[Rosie_0801]

7 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

Does she just steep the flowers, or more of the plant? We have loads of violets in our yard. The more uses I have for a weed, the friendlier my feelings toward it.

She steeps the flowers, then chills it.

I read that you can make tea from the leaves too, but I'm not sure why I'd want to. I prefer to use them in omelettes! Though they'll be going into my greens pie along with everything else some time soon. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVHL-AjkMY&t=3s

 

[Miss Tick]

28 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

She steeps the flowers, then chills it.

I read that you can make tea from the leaves too, but I'm not sure why I'd want to. I prefer to use them in omelettes! Though they'll be going into my greens pie along with everything else some time soon. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVHL-AjkMY&t=3s

 

Thanks!

[KungFuPanda]

Ooooh, I wanted to share a successful experiment. I’d read that groundhogs don’t like castor bean plants and will move along rather than live near one. After warring for two years I’ve finally driven away the groundhog. This is NOT a good method if you have small kids or pets because the plant is poisonous, but I have neither. After several attempts I got a castor bean to germinate. It’s a beautiful plant. I’ll remove the seed pods before they mature, but it hasn’t produced any yet. 

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Ooooh, I wanted to share a successful experiment. I’d read that groundhogs don’t like castor bean plants and will move along rather than live near one. After warring for two years I’ve finally driven away the groundhog. This is NOT a good method if you have small kids or pets because the plant is poisonous, but I have neither. After several attempts I got a castor bean to germinate. It’s a beautiful plant. I’ll remove the seed pods before they mature, but it hasn’t produced any yet. 

That is amazing! Sadly, we have our cocker spaniel, a cat, two little grandsons, and a nephew who visits often with his dogs so I can't grow one. 

[Rosie_0801]

I got my long neglected salt bushes planted today. Hopefully they love me enough now to grow instead of dying, which is what I really deserve for neglecting them so long.

[KungFuPanda]

6 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

That is amazing! Sadly, we have our cocker spaniel, a cat, two little grandsons, and a nephew who visits often with his dogs so I can't grow one. 

Ok, but I never had a groundhog when I had a dog. Hopefully yours is patrolling the grounds and keeping out the riff raff

[Faith-manor]

18 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

Ok, but I never had a groundhog when I had a dog. Hopefully yours is patrolling the grounds and keeping out the riff raff

Ha ha ha!!!! My dog do something useful????? So funny! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I am fairly sure Lewis thinks work is beneath him.

😁

[prairiewindmomma]

My fall seedlings are all about ready to go out. I had 100% germination, which is crazy.  I need to get this crop in the ground, though, so I can start my succession crops of kale and other things. The garden is just a bit crowded at the moment as I expected some things to be finishing off by now and everything was late to fruit.

[Faith-manor]

I just scored something great and free for my gardening efforts next year. I needed a new raised bed because the four tomatillo plants turned into a rainforest whose canopy cast too much shade for the other plants nearby. Those crazy things got so tall and prolific it was just like a mini forest.  They are beginning to ripen, finally, so by the end of next week, I will be able to harvest a whole bunch. So I have been thinking about what kind of raised bed to build them.

Well the neighbor has a practically brand new very long, deep horse water trough that he doesn't want, and was just going to put it out to the road. So I asked about, and it is now in my back yard. It has a big drain plug so the plants can't get water logged, but otherwise also no entrance for weeds. SCORE!!!! Since it is high and I don't need 3 ft deep of top soil, I am going to fill the bottom with logs to take up some of the space, and then fill with soil and compost.

Note to self. Grow cilantro next year so I don't have to go seek it out when the tomatillos are ripe, and it is time to make verde. Also, get them into the raised bed sooner so they do not ripen at the exact same time that the apple tree is ready because at this point all I do is process harvest, and I am getting a little tired of my kitchen.

[Rosie_0801]

Where I used to live, tomatillos would barely grow 20cm tall, but produced a lot of good fruit. Now they grow chest height and refuse to ripen.
It's weird. Is clay soil some kind of drug to them?

[cjzimmer1]

17 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

 

Note to self. Grow cilantro next year so I don't have to go seek it out when the tomatillos are ripe, and it is time to make verde. Also, get them into the raised bed sooner so they do not ripen at the exact same time that the apple tree is ready because at this point all I do is process harvest, and I am getting a little tired of my kitchen.

I know you've mentioned you are not the best with green plants so I want to give you advice on cilantro if you haven't grown it before. (If you have feel free to disregard).  Cilantro doesn't like the heat and goes to seed very quickly.  Do NOT grow it in full sun no matter what the packages says.  Even in shade it has a short life, it's best to have multiple plantings for the summer if you want to keep a fresh supply on hand.  If you only want it for the tomatillos, I would plant the cilantro 6-8 weeks before you expect to be picking them.  Also as soon as your start seeing any of the flower shoots, pick them off as soon as you can to prolong it in the leaf stage (versus going to seed)

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I know you've mentioned you are not the best with green plants so I want to give you advice on cilantro if you haven't grown it before. (If you have feel free to disregard).  Cilantro doesn't like the heat and goes to seed very quickly.  Do NOT grow it in full sun no matter what the packages says.  Even in shade it has a short life, it's best to have multiple plantings for the summer if you want to keep a fresh supply on hand.  If you only want it for the tomatillos, I would plant the cilantro 6-8 weeks before you expect to be picking them.  Also as soon as your start seeing any of the flower shoots, pick them off as soon as you can to prolong it in the leaf stage (versus going to seed)

Thanks for that help! I nerd all the advice I can get!

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Where I used to live, tomatillos would barely grow 20cm tall, but produced a lot of good fruit. Now they grow chest height and refuse to ripen.
It's weird. Is clay soil some kind of drug to them?

No idea. I seriously do not know what any plant wants except a vague idea of soil and water! 😂😂😂 But I can tell you that my tomatillos this year are 4.5 ft tall, and there are four of them with easily 50 tomatillos out there and probably more. I haven't counted.

We had hot weather in July. Michigan hot which is 80-90 with MAYBE three days over 90 certainly not more than a week. It was dry so I did water them and I was generous. I would seriously soak them, usually out after dark so they couldn't see it was me 😉, and with the hose just pouring, no soaker hoses or drip system. June and August have been 70-80 nearly every day. They are ripening now and it is getting down to 55-60 at night. Wait let me put this all in C. Okay, So June 21-26, July mostly 26-32, August 21-26, and now 23-25 during the day, 12-16 at night. Sunny skies. Still watering since we haven't had a good rain in a while, but I am also not doing that more than 2-3 times a week. They are in a raised bed and not in the ground. It is loamy, top soil which had a bag of compost mixed in back in the spring. Store bought junk compost, not anything really nice like organic, local farm compost, or my own kitchen compost.

And having successfully grown the things, I know no more about them than I did when I started! I am seriously inept. BUT, I am having fun, and getting a lot of satisfaction out of little victories. So I don't know what to say about your tomatillos. I suspect mine may have had a huddle, discussed their situation after I bought them from the nursery, decided on some sort of Navy Seal survivalist approach, claimed no plant shall be left behind, and marched out of imminent danger heads held high. I would not be shocked if plants talked to themselves like that behind my back! Survival by spite. 😅

[Eos]

A pretty good year considering how hot it was.  I've left a dubious wild apple to grow over the garden which shades a lot of it but with the heat increasing I'm going to let it stay.  

The strawberry bed was the star this year, we ate and froze gallons.  Tomatoes rotted before ripening because of the heat.  This was the first year in 30 that I haven't planted any potatoes and I kid you not, I had no pests.  Correlation does not equal causation but I'm kind of in awe.  I've torn out some of the dead plants and weeded but need to do a cover crop soon.

The kids and I are obsessed with monarchs and have decided to release dh from his favorite task of mowing and will instead take over every bit of lawn for milkweed and pollinators. It's possible my marriage will end.  We have a nice patch of milkweed now and watched about 30 chrysalids do their glorious thing.  We also did some funny rescue techniques like hand-feeding two newly emerged monarchs and tying some chrysalids onto strings to repatriate them away from ill-chosen locations.

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, Eos said:

A pretty good year considering how hot it was.  I've left a dubious wild apple to grow over the garden which shades a lot of it but with the heat increasing I'm going to let it stay.  

The strawberry bed was the star this year, we ate and froze gallons.  Tomatoes rotted before ripening because of the heat.  This was the first year in 30 that I haven't planted any potatoes and I kid you not, I had no pests.  Correlation does not equal causation but I'm kind of in awe.  I've torn out some of the dead plants and weeded but need to do a cover crop soon.

The kids and I are obsessed with monarchs and have decided to release dh from his favorite task of mowing and will instead take over every bit of lawn for milkweed and pollinators. It's possible my marriage will end.  We have a nice patch of milkweed now and watched about 30 chrysalids do their glorious thing.  We also did some funny rescue techniques like hand-feeding two newly emerged monarchs and tying some chrysalids onto strings to repatriate them away from ill-chosen locations.

Milkweed is great. I let a large patch grow on our property this year and have enjoyed the butterflies and pollinators. I have had some butterflies I couldn't identify so I need to get a little guidebook to keep with my gardening supplies. I did have two Monarchs and am quite proud of that achievement.

[LostSurprise]

On 9/3/2022 at 1:40 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

We just harvested our first tomato. They are taking forever to ripen.

We had tons of rain this year and the tomatoes are still late. I just got my first one (although I have limited sun and cooler temperatures). I think the first few split and rotted. 

I had to replant beans 2x before something stopped eating the baby plants (because they started eating the replanted cucumbers). Beans are now being eaten by squirrels (and possibly jays) before they grow more than an inch. Squirrels have dug up all of my broccoli/cabbage/sprouts. Basil is doing okay. I got my first carrots. I grew mizuna and kale for the first time and everyone loved it. 

It feels like gardening should have been golden this year (with all the rain) but I wonder if we needed more hot days? More sun/less clouds? Or maybe the squirrels have obtained a new level of sentience or a family of raccoons moved in somewhere. 

Re: gardening in zone 5. I am 4b but I grew up in 5. You can plant sturdy bushes and trees in the fall. It's worthwhile if you find a deal (a lot of places are dumping spring stock). However, if you're worried about it wait until spring. You do have to make sure they have time to root before winter. You have to make sure they're not dry or spindly before the cold...and they should be in protected spots (not open to the wind or salt from the road). 

Oh, and for Rosie...standard radish seeds (french breakfast, chinese white, watermelon) are just as good as the daikon seeds were last year. In fact, I like them better than a standard radish root because it's a smaller mouthful and tastes a little more juicy. Other positive: you can cut them and the plant will keep trying to flower. I think I'd rather plant the daikon next year (I got a root AND seeds) but it seems radish seeds taste like radish root over several varieties. 

[ikslo]

Hi, everyone! Florida Zone 9b here, closer to 10 than 9a.  Moved to Florida 4 years and still learning the differences from gardening in NE.

Had a nice crop of tomatoes in the spring, before the heat of the FL summer hit.  Some of my veggies I planted too late in the spring, though.  I really need to start them earlier.  One thing I did start early were the aji dulce seeds from a pepper my neighbor gave me. All 23 seeds germinated and most gave me peppers.  They took a break over the summer but as soon as the weather started cooling a bit they all put out new flowers and I have tons more peppers ripening.  My tomatillos did nothing in the spring/summer, then it looked like they were going to give me a massive crop with flowers and fruit and then - three days of heavy rain.  We got 7.95" in three days.  And it was hot.  And there went the last of the struggling tomatoes and the tomatillo.  Between that and the bugs, ugh. 

I bought some seeds and starters for things just for FL recently: everglades tomatoes, seminole pumpkin, okinawa spinach, longevity spinach, mexican sunflower, ethiopian kale, florida broadleaf mustard, and brazilian broccoli.  Excited to see if I can get them to grow.  And will continue with lettuce, kale, beets, carrots, and other greens that did well for me in the spring.

Fruit.  I have become obsessed with planting fruit seeds and have tons of seedlings in pots and in the ground now, to join my lemon tree out back (producing).  I have started or bought young - orange, lime, grapefruit, blueberries, brown turkey fig, olive, avocado, papaya (producing), ice cream banana, longan, loquat, guanabana, jackfruit, cherimoya, yellow and purple passion fruit, rambutan, mango, and blackberries.  Oh, and I have some donut peach and plum seeds in the fridge.  I have multiples of most to hopefully get at least one of each to producing stage.  I figure I will kill a few if the weather and bugs don't.  We're having fun trying all the different fruit that is available down here that we never got up north.

And of course I have my herbs.

Looking forward to the fall growing season this year.

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, LostSurprise said:

We had tons of rain this year and the tomatoes are still late. I just got my first one (although I have limited sun and cooler temperatures). I think the first few split and rotted. 

I had to replant beans 2x before something stopped eating the baby plants (because they started eating the replanted cucumbers). Beans are now being eaten by squirrels (and possibly jays) before they grow more than an inch. Squirrels have dug up all of my broccoli/cabbage/sprouts. Basil is doing okay. I got my first carrots. I grew mizuna and kale for the first time and everyone loved it. 

It feels like gardening should have been golden this year (with all the rain) but I wonder if we needed more hot days? More sun/less clouds? Or maybe the squirrels have obtained a new level of sentience or a family of raccoons moved in somewhere. 

Re: gardening in zone 5. I am 4b but I grew up in 5. You can plant sturdy bushes and trees in the fall. It's worthwhile if you find a deal (a lot of places are dumping spring stock). However, if you're worried about it wait until spring. You do have to make sure they have time to root before winter. You have to make sure they're not dry or spindly before the cold...and they should be in protected spots (not open to the wind or salt from the road). 

Oh, and for Rosie...standard radish seeds (french breakfast, chinese white, watermelon) are just as good as the daikon seeds were last year. In fact, I like them better than a standard radish root because it's a smaller mouthful and tastes a little more juicy. Other positive: you can cut them and the plant will keep trying to flower. I think I'd rather plant the daikon next year (I got a root AND seeds) but it seems radish seeds taste like radish root over several varieties. 

Evil, bad, no good @##$$%&%$$#@@#$&& squirrels! Squirrels are supreme actors, Academy Award winners. They act innocent and stupid, but inside, they are really devious mini-coons.

[ikslo]

54 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Evil, bad, no good @##$$%&%$$#@@#$&& squirrels! Squirrels are supreme actors, Academy Award winners. They act innocent and stupid, but inside, they are really devious mini-coons.

While I may come to hate them, they actually amuse us down here. They eat from our Bird of Paradise and devour my cranberry hibiscus, and leave the rest of my garden alone. I am more than willing to sacrifice cranberry hibiscus to watch them chase each other along the fence and amongst the Bird of Paradise.  Now, I’m saying this with the caveat that I may change my tune when I have more mature fruit trees than just a lemon tree. Also, they are scrawny little things down here and get picked off occasionally by the neighborhood hawk, so there’s that. Bwahaha

It’s the slugs that are eating my sunflowers as they poke out of the ground that have me cursing. None of the batch I planted for fall have made it past the first night above ground. 

[cjzimmer1]

7 minutes ago, ikslo said:

While I may come to hate them, they actually amuse us down here. They eat from our Bird of Paradise and devour my cranberry hibiscus, and leave the rest of my garden alone. I am more than willing to sacrifice cranberry hibiscus to watch them chase each other along the fence and amongst the Bird of Paradise.  Now, I’m saying this with the caveat that I may change my tune when I have more mature fruit trees than just a lemon tree. Also, they are scrawny little things down here and get picked off occasionally by the neighborhood hawk, so there’s that. Bwahaha

It’s the slugs that are eating my sunflowers as they poke out of the ground that have me cursing. None of the batch I planted for fall have made it past the first night above ground. 

I'm building a giant cage for my garden and moving as much stuff inside next year as possible.  Last year the squirrels discovered my peppers  in one area of my garden and started chewing the seeds out.  Seems they remember well.  THis year they've hit every plant I have in 3 separate areas of the garden.  My peppers were as loaded I have ever had in my life and I've gotten to pick 4.  I've easily thrown out100 that have rotten out because they chewed holes and then water got in and rotten them.  They've also decimated tomatoes.  Easily 4 of every 5 has been chewed and then left.  I dispise them!

[ikslo]

27 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I'm building a giant cage for my garden and moving as much stuff inside next year as possible.  Last year the squirrels discovered my peppers  in one area of my garden and started chewing the seeds out.  Seems they remember well.  THis year they've hit every plant I have in 3 separate areas of the garden.  My peppers were as loaded I have ever had in my life and I've gotten to pick 4.  I've easily thrown out100 that have rotten out because they chewed holes and then water got in and rotten them.  They've also decimated tomatoes.  Easily 4 of every 5 has been chewed and then left.  I dispise them!

I hope mine stay happy with their current bounty! I think I would cry in the situation you just described. 
 

it’s also possible they stay on the fence line because we have a dog.  It’s like they know exactly how far they can come down to avoid his wrath.

[cjzimmer1]

13 minutes ago, ikslo said:

I hope mine stay happy with their current bounty! I think I would cry in the situation you just described. 
 

it’s also possible they stay on the fence line because we have a dog.  It’s like they know exactly how far they can come down to avoid his wrath.

I have 7 dogs (3 of my own and 4 fosters), it doesn't phase the squirrels at all.  They just jump out of the way when the dogs are out and return when the dogs go inside.  And yes it's truly aweful.  My gardens are double the space I've ever had and yet I've only gotten a fraction of anything.  The only thing that has truly produced well that I've gotten to bring in are cucumbers. Otherwise it's just a dab of this and a dab of that.  I've worked in a greenhouse since I was 10, I know what I'm doing but this year the obstacles have been unbelievable!

[ikslo]

5 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I have 7 dogs (3 of my own and 4 fosters), it doesn't phase the squirrels at all.  They just jump out of the way when the dogs are out and return when the dogs go inside.  And yes it's truly aweful.  My gardens are double the space I've ever had and yet I've only gotten a fraction of anything.  The only thing that has truly produced well that I've gotten to bring in are cucumbers. Otherwise it's just a dab of this and a dab of that.  I've worked in a greenhouse since I was 10, I know what I'm doing but this year the obstacles have been unbelievable!

That hurts. I take a turn around my plants as soon as I get home from work each day. I can’t image watching it all grow to come home and see it half eaten or gone. It might turn into a bad version of Caddyshack around here or something! 

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I have 7 dogs (3 of my own and 4 fosters), it doesn't phase the squirrels at all.  They just jump out of the way when the dogs are out and return when the dogs go inside.  And yes it's truly aweful.  My gardens are double the space I've ever had and yet I've only gotten a fraction of anything.  The only thing that has truly produced well that I've gotten to bring in are cucumbers. Otherwise it's just a dab of this and a dab of that.  I've worked in a greenhouse since I was 10, I know what I'm doing but this year the obstacles have been unbelievable!

My cucumbers were not great and so many tomatoes split. I’ve just been using zucchini in place of cucumbers. Nobody but me thinks this is ok. 

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

My cucumbers were not great and so many tomatoes split. I’ve just been using zucchini in place of cucumbers. Nobody but me thinks this is ok. 

As much as I love zucchini, I would have to agree with everyone else.  I can't think of a single application where I use cucumbers that zucchini would taste good but perhaps it's because I don't care for raw zucchini much. 

[KungFuPanda]

23 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

As much as I love zucchini, I would have to agree with everyone else.  I can't think of a single application where I use cucumbers that zucchini would taste good but perhaps it's because I don't care for raw zucchini much. 

I mostly toss it in salads for a mild, watery crunch or serve it on a raw veggie platter. They act like it’s crazy but I LIKE it. I’ve been adding it shredded to any onions I sauté and they never notice it there. 
 

 

[cjzimmer1]

1 minute ago, KungFuPanda said:

I mostly toss it in salads for a mild, watery crunch or serve it on a raw veggie platter. They act like it’s crazy but I LIKE it. I’ve been adding it shredded to any onions I sauté and they never notice it there. 
 

 

I've seen plenty of people eat raw zucchini so I don't think you are crazy at all and it's certainly more appealing than say raw sweet potatoes (yep I've seen those served too) just not to my liking.  But then again I don't like raw carrots, broccoli, cauliflower or carrots either (but cooked are great for any of them).  Guess I just don't like a lot of raw veggies.