Anyone into gardening here?

[kwtoxman]

The garden has come along quite a bit; here's a recent picture.

The peas are not doing well this year. I'm already eating raspberries though which is great.

The first good garden harvest this year has come

; two types of cucumber (including the new white Martini variety again, highly recommended), cherry tomatoes and Chinese greens.

Here's a garden onion and cherry tomatoes, plus some fresh grilled asparagus I picked up on sale from the grocer.

I often serve fresh garden cucumber simply sliced with fresh ground pepper, a pinch of salt and a bit of vinegar.

Here's the back yard and some of the summer flower pots on the patio.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

 

[SVeezy]

The garden has come along quite a bit; here's a recent picture.

The peas are not doing well this year. I'm already eating raspberries though which is great.

The first good garden harvest this year has come

; two types of cucumber (including the new white Martini variety again, highly recommended), cherry tomatoes and Chinese greens.

Here's a garden onion and cherry tomatoes, plus some fresh grilled asparagus I picked up on sale from the grocer.

I often serve fresh garden cucumber simply sliced with fresh ground pepper, a pinch of salt and a bit of vinegar.

Here's the back yard and some of the summer flower pots on the patio.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

Looks great KW


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[kwtoxman]

Thx @SVeezy.

I'm eating fresh garden produce including cucumbers, tomatoes, Chinese greens and raspberries every day. The cherry trees are in season now too. Here's the latest picture of the garden. The peas didn't do well anywhere local this year.

Fresh cucumber and cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Fresh martini cucumber.

Cheers

 

[jc100]

Had to prune about 2lbs toms with blossom end rot today. The rest don’t look too bad but aside from the cherry toms the yield is going to be really low. What’s left do look like quality tomatoes though.

 

[Mad Mike]

This year my garden did OK, not a bumper crop year.

Lettuce - 16 heads, assorted, all did well. 5 recropped, second seedcrop is underway for Sep harvest.
Kale - constant harvest, OK year, this crop is now perennial for 5 seasons.
Cabbage - will be ready in 2 weeks if the Jap Beetles stay away.
Blackberries - 20 pints, a good season. Crop is finished.
Raspberries - 5 pints, another 5 to the yard rascals. Have a few are still flowering, expecting another 2 pints.
Plums - zero, all fruit hit the ground from both trees (tips?)
Peas - Zero. 10 plants, write off.
Chinese greens did OK, will replant in another week.
Spinach - good yield - done for season.
Toms: Cherry (millions greenhouse seeds) - bumper crop, getting 2 pints a day off 6 plants, should continue for about a month.
Beefsteak and |Early Girl having a bad year, only expecting a handful from 12 plants.
Cukes - bad year, only expecting a handful from 6 plants
Watermelons - zero
Peppers - slow year for those in the ground. Reapers in pots looking fabulous.
Auto Trudeaus - Bumper
Photo Trudeaus - Bumper

Flower part
All perennials are average.
Trees and shrubs had tremendous growth this year (ugh -- I need less tree cover)
Annuals - most doing well. Castors and Brugmansia giants are small this year.

 

[kwtoxman]

Sharing the garden love

; the garden is pumping out great food here now. I recently posted a few Asian stir meal pictures using fresh garden Chinese greens and onions in the dinner thread. Lots of my recent meal pictures include fresh garden hauls

.

I'm in prime cucumber season eating fresh cucumbers every day (and giving some away), plus cherry/full size tomatoes and leek onions. The heritage tomatoes are coming soon and look bountiful

. The early season fresh garden red potatoes have been top notch too. Cheers.

 

[Lakota]

What would this round thing be, looks like a melon. When plant was purchased it was marked as a canteloupe. Until now, plant has produced canteloupe colored cucumbers as you can see a couple hanging. First year with a vegetable garden and this has me confused.

 

[jc100]

View attachment 40926

What would this round thing be, looks like a melon. When plant was purchased it was marked as a canteloupe. Until now, plant has produced canteloupe colored cucumbers as you can see a couple hanging. First year with a vegetable garden and this has me confused.

Has to be two different plants? The round thing is a cantaloupe! The yellow things look like cucumbers that have been overwatered or ar lacking light/nutrients.

 

[r3r3r3]

How long have the yellow ones been on there for? If you leave cucumbers on the plant too long they start to yellow. Cucumbers and cantaloupes also look pretty similar when they’re seedling so they may have been mixed up if you bought them off a tray.

 

[Lakota]

Excited that there is a canteloupe. It was a four pack "Gigantico" that I planted from Lawblaws. Sounds totally plausible, these cukes are behind a bunch of tomato plants, maybe not enough sun. Got another bunch of cukes in another garden section (far left one) that are normal green, both taste the same.
Next newbie question...
Cut out sod, added a few bags of garden soil to each of the four sections, Tilled it all in before planting. Wife runs sprinkler for 20 minutes every morning. Soil is so compacted that I had a hard time hammering in Miracle Grow Spikes, carrots are super fat and short and deformed. Not blaming wife, just giving all the info. Any root veggie seems to struggle here in year one. What do I need to do in year two to make soil not so hard????

obligatory vegetable garden pic

 

[kwtoxman]

Nice, keep the pictures and info coming @Lakota

. A "few bags of garden soil" may not be near enough if the rest of the soil quality is poor. I'd recommend using a quality rototiller that can go 12 inches deep; heavily compacted soil is a real plant killer. A quality deep soil rototilling every year before planting is best for gardening. If the soil is too dense (i.e. lots of silt and clay) it's an uphill battle with gardening. A combination of adding quality garden soil and a deep rototilling may both be warranted.



I've posted some more recent fresh home garden vegetable inspired meals and salads in my posts in the "What's for dinner?" thread here in the Romper Room for those interested

. Hope you're all enjoying your garden

.

The garden not only has been producing daily here for a while, but it's now as productive as ever so far this year

. YMMV. Check this picture and garden pick from a few hours early tonight out

; two types fresh Chinese greens plus thee different types of cherry tomatoes (including many of the famed and top rated sun sugar variety), three different types of cucumbers (including the famed and top rated martini white cucumber) and three early girl full sized tomatoes (one is hiding).

The onions and other vegetables are fine unpicked. A big fresh dill collection pick is coming shortly

. Cheers.

 

[Joe Bass]

@Lakota, I'm by no means an expert, and I don't do root vegetables, but every couple of years my dad says we need to add manure to the garden in the fall to enrich the soil. Not sure if that will help you.

@kwtoxman, you said the onions are fine....my red onions, the stalks have all fallen over. Will that damage them? We love adding the stalk to the salads.

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[kwtoxman]

I find as onion stalks age they slowly atrophy and get more fibrous. I eat trim off dead/damaged bits and still eat the rest @Joe Bass

.

 

[Gary]

@Lakota, I'm by no means an expert, and I don't do root vegetables, but every couple of years my dad says we need to add manure to the garden in the fall to enrich the soil. Not sure if that will help you.

@kwtoxman, you said the onions are fine....my red onions, the stalks have all fallen over. Will that damage them? We love adding the stalk to the salads.

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+1 for manure.
My mom always bent the onion's stalk down at some point.
She's gone now, but I remember her saying.....bend them over so the onion gets larger (the stalks don't require nourishment any longer, so let the root i.e. onion get it all).
Mine layed down on their own too, Joe.

 

[jc100]

If you don’t want to rent a rototiller get a garden claw and a free workout. Work some compost into the soil and some peat moss if you need to lighten it a bit. Just remember that peat moss will acidify the soil some. If you’re doing this near the end of the season you can use a spade method to turn over soil instead to get broken down naturally. Basically dig up large spadefulls of earth and turn it over, move onto the next and repeat. If it’s very heavy clay you will need to add a fair bit of something like peat.

 

[Mad Mike]

If you don’t want to rent a rototiller get a garden claw and a free workout. Work some compost into the soil and some peat moss if you need to lighten it a bit. Just remember that peat moss will acidify the soil some. If you’re doing this near the end of the season you can use a spade method to turn over soil instead to get broken down naturally. Basically dig up large spadefulls of earth and turn it over, move onto the next and repeat. If it’s very heavy clay you will need to add a fair bit of something like peat.

I have a lot of trees around me, I suck the fall leaves up with a leaf vacuum/blower. The result is a fine mulch that I spread 3" thick over over my veggie garden each fall. By spring, it's pretty much composted itself, I just turn the soil with a spade. Do this for 3 seasons and your soild will be nicely amended. I started my garden on rock hard clay fill that was excavated from the foundation of my garage, after 3 years it' great. The leaf litter attracts a lot of worms which in turn loosen and fortify the soil.

 

[jc100]

I have a lot of trees around me, I suck the fall leaves up with a leaf vacuum/blower. The result is a fine mulch that I spread 3" thick over over my veggie garden each fall. By spring, it's pretty much composted itself, I just turn the soil with a spade. Do this for 3 seasons and your soild will be nicely amended. I started my garden on rock hard clay fill that was excavated from the foundation of my garage, after 3 years it' great. The leaf litter attracts a lot of worms which in turn loosen and fortify the soil.

I used to do that too until we had some sooty mould on the leaves of the maple trees around me that were blowing onto my property. Those we bagged up for the city to remove. It’s important not to propagate that kind of pest. I think we are good this year so far though. I’ve been collecting grass clippings rather than mulching them this year. I put a layer of clippings then a layer of soil etc in a pile. Got some excellent compost this year.

 

[Mad Mike]

I used to do that too until we had some sooty mould on the leaves of the maple trees around me that were blowing onto my property. Those we bagged up for the city to remove. It’s important not to propagate that kind of pest. I think we are good this year so far though. I’ve been collecting grass clippings rather than mulching them this year. I put a layer of clippings then a layer of soil etc in a pile. Got some excellent compost this year.

I keep a compost bin in the dark corner of my yard, get about 1 cubic yard a year of good compost from her. Leafy yard wast goes there till the fall. The weed maples in my yard drop close to 100 bags of leaves each fall -- most of those go to the local schoolyard, they use them to keep the poison ivy smothered in their woodlot.

 

[MSRP]

BUMP

What is everyone up to these days? Perched up in the sky this year, and I'm jelly of all the nice dark green grasses (if south facing) on my street here in midtown.

Any recommendations for produce that MIGHT have a chance of growing on a balcony that only has north and eastern exposure?

 

[nobbie48]

I dismally look at my near dead lawn. It was re sodded a decade ago but was never the top on the block. Last summer a large part seems to have died. I've been doing the grub spray thing and it doesn't look like root damage.

I'd re sod again but throwing a couple of grand at it without knowing the real problem isn't my style. Unfortunately North America is anal about lawns. Someone down the street has AstroTurf. Tempting.