Garden to date

stike

got some scant offerings of asparagus this year, but we are a year short before we can harvest anything. and by the looks of it, when we do, it'll be about a dozen spears spread out over a month.

the tomatoes we got from a big-box store, and apparently they all suffer from some blight. the three tomatoes we have are on a plant that is almost dead. the other plant has a blight crawling up from the bottom, attacking what looks like would have been a gangbuster crop.

today, i took the first green bean off the bushes (actually, five stunted plants, not bushy at all), and my son loved it. best green bean ever.

no peppers yet, one plant died. beets, which were prizewinners raised from seed, now have withering brown leaves. thanks.

carrots appear ok, but you know how that goes. giant leaves, but when you yank them out they look like a toddler's pinky. haven't 'harvested' them yet.

so. one green bean.

started the seeds in march. five months, one frikkin green bean.

i said to my wife that if we were livin on a farm right now, ca. 1930, and without a slew of grocery stores in a one mile radius, we'd be dead already.

w/t/f? how did they manage this back then? hahaha any of you wondering why i'm learning to cure and dry meats ans stuff, well, the interest comes from that. my family may need to survive off duck prosciutto and kielbasa for easily nine months out of the year.

i have watered, spray for fungus, and killed enough slugs that i'm sure i'm going to hell despite my otherwise perfectly holy lifestyle. just no green thumbs.

darwin here we come...

RRP

Jeff,
It sounds to me like you have a soil problem that has either become contaminated or is "tired". Don't know if you have the services there in the big city, but we have places that will analyze soil samples for a reasonable price. OTOH do you have any large trees in the vicinity - especially any walnut trees whereby their roots have traveled to this source of frequent watering? Walnut tree roots in particular poison veggies! It happens!

stike

we have a million trees. yeah. bad light is part of it. not tryna grow serious veggies, but sheesh. a little luck would be good.


soil is very tired. have been composting the past few years and trying to get it back in action.

thanks

Hoss

Soil samples are a must.Only buy plants from a local nursery,they are more tolerant of your local weather,etc.If all else fails try earthboxes or raised beds.Make sure you have FULL SUN for most plants especially in the AM.

Sundown

Our only tomato plant has 5 fruits on it and no leaves! They all have withered and died over the last few weeks. Pepper plants look sickly and only have a couple of flowers on them with black at every stem base.

stike, a few months ago I was at a little get together and there was a guy telling everyone that he had enough food stored away for three years. I have guns and if anything goes awry I know where my food supply is coming from! He has three kids so you and Darlene and the boys can chow down with us when the time comes. :evil:

fishlessman

the rain is rotting everything, the tomato flowers are rotting off at the stems before they can pollinate, just too much rain. my asparagus is over 9 feet high, and my cherry tomato that was a foot high last week in may is now about 7 feet high and huge, verry few tomatoes though. only difference between your soil and mine for growing is probably the drainage, my plants are growing on a sandbar with full sun, but the wetness aint helping the flowers or fruit, first tomato to start rippening rotted before it made full red. my cherry tree was loadeed this year before the mold ruined the whole fruitset. now blueberries are growing like crazy, the bushes will be breaking off branches from the weight next month.

stike

stike's got some guns too. just cuz he talks like a peacenik doesn't mean he doesn't hedge his bets.

hahaha

we have a nice south facing slope in vermont. might be up there in a few years if the atomic bombs start flying.
hahaha

stike

we don't get much sun in the back...

everything is looking like hell. bad year. maybe the start of the famine or ice age

Misippi Egger

The Deep South has been in a heat wave and drought for over a month. Can't seem to get any of that rain passing north of us!

I have 2 tomatoes in an Earth Box. The Goliath has produced 20 or so toms, but with this heat, they seem to be ripening before they get more than 3 inches in diameter. The Sweet Million cherry tomato plant has overloaded us with fruit - I picked over 50 just yesterday. just goes to show how good the Earth Boxes are - especially during a drought!

Misippi Egger

Funny, less than 15 minutes after I posted this, I hear thunder and am seeing a light rain outside. WOW !

fishlessman

go get an umbrella for your goliath plant, looking at my plants the one thats doing the worse is the goliath. planted 5 different varieties and all the plants are 3 plus feet high except the goliath, that ones the same as the day i planted it, about 6 or 7 inches tall. my one rotten tom was from the golliath though. :laugh: ive had the convertible down on my truck maybe 5 days this year, seems its rained everyother day

Hoss

Moutain Fresh and Big Beef are my faves.Tried one called Delicious,looks like a friggin red pumpkin! Looked for the plants for 2 years. :(

Hoss

Delicious on left,Mountain Fresh on right.


Should have known.Dad's "ladyfriend" insisted these were the BEST tomatoes on earth.FREAK!


Moutain Fresh

Misippi Egger

Just talked to my 83 y/o dad who grows all his toms from seeds every year and in a fanatic about his garden. He had just finished taste-testing some fresh tomatoes (on tomato sandwiches). e and his wife both agreed that the Brandywine so far is the best they have grow. He keeps a tomato log with all details of what he grows, when planted, when harvested, etc. When you get tomatoes from him, they have Sharpie writing on the skins with what kind of tomato it is! :ohmy:
He has grow Delicious, but don't remember "Mountain Fresh". Might be a new one for him to try next year.

He has hot-weather varieties he just transplanted. He has them shaded now and will have tomatoes until probably October. He told me he picked 400 or so tomatoes last week!

Hoss

Dayum,I'd say he gets into it!

Cpt'n Cook

It has not been a good growing year. We have harvested some Radishes but that is about it. Noe beans yet but we are growing pole beans and they are a bit later than bush beans. I also have been out killing slugs and getting Mosquito bites almost every night. Will pick first cuke tomorrow. Our Earth boxes are doing well.




We too would have scurvy by now :laugh:

stike

your "not good" would be my frigging fabulous.

hahah

fundamental problem is light. can't do anythiing about that.

was hoping less for a thriving garden, though, than something that would show the kids that there is a chance to grow something yourself, how to take care of something, and that veggies come from the ground

i don't need thirty prize peppers. but one would be nice.

ah well. just facing the reality. funny thing is i have tried to grow hollyhock for years, which need sun, and in the spot i finally have them, they are doing great. the veggies near by are sad...

Cpt'n Cook

That is a neighbor's huge Oak tree you can see just above those pole beans. It blocks a lot of morning sun for me. It would make a lot of good smoking wood :evil:

We always have a slug problem but this year was the worst I have seen. They love Beans.

Try one of those Earth boxes, I have on with wheels, you could give your kid's a little job by having them move it around to a sunny spot every day. It would be a fun project for them to help you build you're own.

stike

yeah

i'm the slug hunter. that's become my new sport!

stike

forgot to say thank you....

all good points

Cpt'n Cook

I have killed hundreds, I don't know if it was me or just the dryer weather but they have really slowed down.
I cut there heads of with a knife, really disgusting.

stike

i sprinkle them with salt....

Cpt'n Cook

That's a fun way too, I hate to get all that salt in the garden. Knifing the little bstrds works for me.

We don't even bother with bush beans anymore cus of them.
They love Marigolds even more than beans.

Weekend Warrior

I'm calling the Humane Society. :evil:

stike

my kids planted marigolds (for mommy) and the things were coming up gangbusters. they denuded them in ONE night. I thought the cats ate them or something.