Gardening 2022: Lettuce Begin

[mr. sunshine 2824]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:15 PM, McFly said:

Bugs?
Neem oil or insecticidal soap. 

Thanks. I’ve already tried the spray I use on tomatoes and some stuff I used on cabbage last fall

[Celery Man 20931]

Man, zucchini’s are looking pretty grim. There was a storm the other night, but they were starting to look a bit wilty before that - any idea what might be going on here?

 

[4th and 5 4914]

squash vine borer probably 

[JesusSweatDuck 17781]

3 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Man, zucchini’s are looking pretty grim. There was a storm the other night, but they were starting to look a bit wilty before that - any idea what might be going on here?

 

Yeah, vine borer. Killed my zucchini as well. 

[Hugh G. Rection 156]

Anyone have experience with shothole disease?  I have peach and plum trees that are losing all their leaves and it looks like shothole disease is the culprit.  How can I get rid of this shit?

[texasdago 7564]

I'm starting some new tomatoes despite the infernal weather.  Being diligent on water but also put shade cloth ever the peppers, an eggplant and some basil.  I may have gotten cloth that is too much (55%) but it may be a way to get the tomatoes to make it to the fall.  Thoughts?  

 

In ATX

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

11 hours ago, texasdago said:

I'm starting some new tomatoes despite the infernal weather.  Being diligent on water but also put shade cloth ever the peppers, an eggplant and some basil.  I may have gotten cloth that is too much (55%) but it may be a way to get the tomatoes to make it to the fall.  Thoughts?  

 

In ATX

Entirely your call, really.

I had great success last year, but just this week decided to forgo fall tomatoes as I have no idea how long this hot dry weather will continue into fall. The shade cloth is wise, though. Even if they still struggle, due to lower light and the ambient hot air temp, if they can go along until the weather breaks you may see a great recovery. That is what happened last year with mine, and we had a bucket full of tomatoes. I just have a little more on the schedule this fall to give the plants the TLC they'll need to make it through.

 

Good luck!

[texasdago 7564]

49 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Entirely your call, really.

I had great success last year, but just this week decided to forgo fall tomatoes as I have no idea how long this hot dry weather will continue into fall. The shade cloth is wise, though. Even if they still struggle, due to lower light and the ambient hot air temp, if they can go along until the weather breaks you may see a great recovery. That is what happened last year with mine, and we had a bucket full of tomatoes. I just have a little more on the schedule this fall to give the plants the TLC they'll need to make it through.

 

Good luck!

Thank you.  I'll see if I can post some pictures...

 

I basically bought five varieties from Great Outdoors and Natural Gardner since they're usually thoughtful in their selections and tried to pick primarily cherry type tomatoes since they tend to manage heat better.  Also bought Costoluto Genovese since I heard it does well.  Right now, I took the 3" pots and put the tomatoes deep in bigger pots and am keeping them under the cloth which is being held high up above the plants.  Back side mostly stays in place and the front flaps up in the breeze so air seems to get in there.  Otherwise, they get blasted with brutal sun and I figure this is the way to get something established for the fall.  I also pruned two tomato plants hard as there was some new growth at the bottom and I'm going to see if I can nurse them to grow more.  One is Juliet and the other is Green Zebra.  We'll see...

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

The older plants with the new growth? One method I have used in the past is one I got from an Ag extension person: Take a  healthy lower branch of the mother plant and bend it down slightly (careful not to break) into either the soil or a pot and cover the stem with good soil, leaving about five to six inches sticking up. Water regularly and then after some time it should have put roots out. Then trim it away from the mother plant and then replant and stake.

I did this with one of our plants last year as an experiment, using a large pot to bend the branch into due to the way our garden is laid out. It worked great, and then I planted the 'new' plant in a regular bed after it was cut from the mother plant. It seemed to give the plant a head start since it was already 'taller' so to speak. It produced more than some of the transplants I put in. It was the lone 'large' tomato variety that I grew last fall, the others were all roma or bush cherry varieties.

[texasdago 7564]

52 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

The older plants with the new growth? One method I have used in the past is one I got from an Ag extension person: Take a  healthy lower branch of the mother plant and bend it down slightly (careful not to break) into either the soil or a pot and cover the stem with good soil, leaving about five to six inches sticking up. Water regularly and then after some time it should have put roots out. Then trim it away from the mother plant and then replant and stake.

I did this with one of our plants last year as an experiment, using a large pot to bend the branch into due to the way our garden is laid out. It worked great, and then I planted the 'new' plant in a regular bed after it was cut from the mother plant. It seemed to give the plant a head start since it was already 'taller' so to speak. It produced more than some of the transplants I put in. It was the lone 'large' tomato variety that I grew last fall, the others were all roma or bush cherry varieties.

Yup - I did just that with one long branch that had healthy growth but there are some other lower branches that have suckers that are coming up and sometimes those suckers bear fruit.  I figured... why not try... and if they don't make it, I'll just tear them out anyway.  I also took healthy growth from an old tomato, cut it and then stuck it in a vase of water to try to propagate it.  We'll see.  

 

[texasdago 7564]

4 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

The older plants with the new growth? One method I have used in the past is one I got from an Ag extension person: Take a  healthy lower branch of the mother plant and bend it down slightly (careful not to break) into either the soil or a pot and cover the stem with good soil, leaving about five to six inches sticking up. Water regularly and then after some time it should have put roots out. Then trim it away from the mother plant and then replant and stake.

I did this with one of our plants last year as an experiment, using a large pot to bend the branch into due to the way our garden is laid out. It worked great, and then I planted the 'new' plant in a regular bed after it was cut from the mother plant. It seemed to give the plant a head start since it was already 'taller' so to speak. It produced more than some of the transplants I put in. It was the lone 'large' tomato variety that I grew last fall, the others were all roma or bush cherry varieties.

Garden between two houses but facing south so it gets blasted by the sun... this is at 1:45 PM so you can see the shade cloth over the plants.  Open on the sides, breeze tends to blow through well.  One upside if the plants underneath don't look wilted like they used to be in this heat.  103 on the way for today and the plans seem happier.  We'll see what this looks like in a few weeks.

 

Don't mind the "I'm almost dead" basil that you can spot as under the first part of the row and the transplanted thai basil near there.  Also, the arugula plant on the corner is amazingly almost 4-5 years old... managed to keep it alive and producing all these years.  On the backside of the shade cloth (only shades half of the garden) are mostly peppers which are doing the best they can in the midday sun.

Edited July 25, 2022 by texasdago

[Eugene11 379]

Finally a full week of 90° plus weather and sunshine.  Tomatoes are really popping this week. Serrano finally doing something.  I think it’s getting crowded by the damn ‘maters. This is the best I’ve had tomato plants ever look. 
 

the last two are limes.  Had this tree for about 4 years.  Looks like we might finally get some this year!  🤞🏽 

[Eugene11 379]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:54 PM, Eugene11 said:

So my starter trey got flooded and all mixed up.  These sprouted and keep going but not sure what they are. Any help? 
possibilities are cucumber, santium tomatoes, basque hot pepper, beets, basil or arugula.  Not likely those last two.  

Turns out this was arugula according to the identification of apple library. They didn’t fair well.  I don’t know what I’m doing.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Your lime is four years old? Are you in a cooler climate? Ours is two years old and also in a pot (25 gallon and on a small dolly) but is quite a bit bigger. We had four limes this year after the initial fruit drop in the spring. Last year we had two limes. (We're in cenTex).

[Eugene11 379]

yeah  portland oregon.   We did just use a citrus fertilizer this year for the first time.   i think its also probably time to replace the soil.  

started as one of those small plants from home depot or such.  probably only 6-8" tall.   also had a rough first year with snap freeze we had and wasn't paying attention to. 

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Your lime is four years old? Are you in a cooler climate? Ours is two years old and also in a pot (25 gallon and on a small dolly) but is quite a bit bigger. We had four limes this year after the initial fruit drop in the spring. Last year we had two limes. (We're in cenTex).

any recommendations on what we should do to it?

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

The fertilizer is a good plan. With each year, a little extra is recommended after spring growth commences. In Texas (for example),  the extension recommends one cup of ammonium sulfate per year of tree age and that it be split around the months of Feb, May, and September. I actually don't do that, but instead use Miracle Grow in the spring, once in May, and then again in fall since it is so warm here. Being that you're in Oregon, you may need to adjust that.

If you have older soil, I've heard you can just remove the top inch or so and replace with new. That would be an opportunity to add your fertilizer such as Osmacote or whatever you prefer.

I've had a difficult time keeping from overwatering because it is so hot here this year and limes are susceptible to foot rot. You may not need to worry about that, but will definitely want to keep an eye on the cold weather. Limes in pots should be considered to need one zone warmer than the actual zone where the plant is located, so I move ours into the garage when the temps drop below 40 degrees.

 

Good luck! We really enjoyed the few limes that we've had thus far.

[4th and 5 4914]

 

 

herb garden

tomato 🍅 about to go in: early girl, tycoon, celebrity 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Celebrity tomatoes are mmmmmmm. Make the best BLTs.

[Eugene11 379]

I’ll look into all this things.  Thanks!

[Eugene11 379]

 

what’s wrong with my ‘maters? 

[texasdago 7564]

Man that would piss me off

[NorthLoop 14180]

My garden got real weak with all this shit weather - realized I probably should've positioned it better to get a little more shade. So we went on vacation for a week and I decided to just let it die and start over in the fall. Low and behold, when we get back only 2 plants have died. i decided to keep it alive just out of respect. So far the only ones that are really thriving in this bullshit are the peppers. Once the temps drop a little I'll start preparing the fall garden. 

[Eugene11 379]

Im kind of thinking im overwatering them maybe.  

[texasdago 7564]

So, aobut t

On 7/25/2022 at 1:58 PM, texasdago said:

Garden between two houses but facing south so it gets blasted by the sun... this is at 1:45 PM so you can see the shade cloth over the plants.  Open on the sides, breeze tends to blow through well.  One upside if the plants underneath don't look wilted like they used to be in this heat.  103 on the way for today and the plans seem happier.  We'll see what this looks like in a few weeks.

 

Don't mind the "I'm almost dead" basil that you can spot as under the first part of the row and the transplanted thai basil near there.  Also, the arugula plant on the corner is amazingly almost 4-5 years old... managed to keep it alive and producing all these years.  On the backside of the shade cloth (only shades half of the garden) are mostly peppers which are doing the best they can in the midday sun.

Quoting myself... this shade setup seems to be working.  I'm not sure what production will look like on the tomato plants or if they can even muster up fruit in this heat but the basil is flourishing, none of the plants wilt in the afternoon and I am seeing good growth.  If anything, it seems like it will keep the plants healthy until the heat eases back in February.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

23 hours ago, Eugene11 said:

Im kind of thinking im overwatering them maybe.  

Look up Blossom End Rot and tomatoes because that may be the culprit. IIRC, overwatering and/or calcium deficiency are often the cause.

[brakeman 28353]

I had no idea, we had a garden page.  I worked for 16 years on my plot in my back year, but the heat and the shade always limited my production. We live in NW DC.

This spring, the plot I signed up for In Rock Creek Park opened up. It's in a meadow in the forest, less than five minutes from my home.

 

 

[brakeman 28353]

early toms and peppers, with community black berry bush.

 

[brakeman 28353]

[brakeman 28353]

[brakeman 28353]

[brakeman 28353]

[brakeman 28353]

We grew 75 pounds of tomatoes and various other veggies so far, I estimate maybe 10 more pounds this year.

[brakeman 28353]

[brakeman 28353]

[miguelito 11253]

Showoff!  Nice crop and good pictures, too.

It's been too hot in TX this summer.  My tomatoes and peppers, and me, gave up early.  I have a few plants I'm barely keeping alive to see what they do if it ever cools down. 

[miguelito 11253]

Also, I've been meaning to ask: have the hummingbirds left early?  For a while there I was filling two 16 ounce feeders every 36 hours or so.  We'd have 12 -15 hummers buzzing around all day.  But for the last 2 weeks, I've only seen about 3 different birds, and the nectar doesn't need refilling.  I'll switch it out because it gets old, but they don't drink it dry.  Either they don't like my recipe anymore, or they migrated early.

[4th and 5 4914]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:23 PM, brakeman said:

 

Tell me you don't live in Texas without telling me you don't live in Texas

[NorthLoop 14180]

14 hours ago, miguelito said:

Showoff!  Nice crop and good pictures, too.

It's been too hot in TX this summer.  My tomatoes and peppers, and me, gave up early.  I have a few plants I'm barely keeping alive to see what they do if it ever cools down. 

That's exactly where I'm at. My peppers have maintained, but the tomatoes are all but done. My cucumber was fully dead for all intents and purposes, but this week one vine has decided it's gonna live and repopulate the Earth. I wanna see what it can do.  

[4th and 5 4914]

Fall tomatoes and cucumbers 

[miguelito 11253]

How come your beds aren't full of weeds and grass like mine are?

[wild_turkey 3159]

I have one particular cherry tomato plant/bush that was putting off about 30 tomatoes/week in the spring and early summer. I've kept it alive through the brutal part of the summer but it looks a little rough in some areas and I've had very few tomatoes for about a month now.

Should I prune it back pretty heavily and let it grow fresh for the fall, or just let it run its course without any intervention?

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

I planted 14 rhubarb plants along the front side of our cabin. The eaves overhang 3 feet, so it’s always dry around the foundation. Not much snow gets under under the eaves, either, so If these survive the winter when we aren’t there very often, I’ll plant another 14 on the opposite side th and spruce it ion with mulch/edging. My family loves rhubarb, so this may be a good way to get some edible landscaping.

Rhubard leaves are toxic to eat, so the deer leave them alone. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[texasdago 7564]

23 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

I have one particular cherry tomato plant/bush that was putting off about 30 tomatoes/week in the spring and early summer. I've kept it alive through the brutal part of the summer but it looks a little rough in some areas and I've had very few tomatoes for about a month now.

Should I prune it back pretty heavily and let it grow fresh for the fall, or just let it run its course without any intervention?

I pruned mine back and it has put on what appears to be new healthy growth and flowers.  Maybe worth a shot but I'm no expert.  

[NorthLoop 14180]

I have 5 peppers and 1 tomato that survived the blastfurnace. They are starting to blow up and fruit like they think it's May. I guess this will be my fall garden for now. 

[brakeman 28353]

more garden.

 

110 # 

 

 

[NorthLoop 14180]

8 minutes ago, brakeman said:

 

 

110 # 

 

 

So they're hiring little people jockeys to be cops now? Or is that horse just a fucking giant. 

[brakeman 28353]

The US Park police have a bunch beefy trained horses and horsemen would have been useful ...

Edited September 18, 2022 by brakeman
protecting my fucking tomatoes.

[NorthLoop 14180]

This motherfucker did a ton of damage in just one day.

[miguelito 11253]

Damn.  Those bastards are fast and hungry.  And they blend in so well.

[Degenerate Gardner 4085]

I live in the high desert now with just one short growing season so much of my energy has moved to containers. I’m now propagating an army of San Pedro cactus. Hopefully one will bloom for me one day. I am far from being a cactus master.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Degenerate Gardner