Summer Garden Time

[MikefromOH]

last year my pumpkins got powdery mildew and all 5 plants just withered and died. this year we planted one and its produced 4 pumpkins. one for each of us!

My watermelon plant didn't really grow at all. it seemed shocked and was green, but not growing. then it started growing big time. vines everywhere, but no flowers and no fruit. the day before I was outside with my wife and asking my neighbor about it. told him i was thinking about pulling it if it was going to invade my corn, and he said to just wait. walked out today and i have 4 baby melons the size of super jawbreakers on it.

i am nowhere near an expert on gardening, but damn does it ever feel good to be able to do this and succeed at it. we have a shelf full of food downstairs in cold storage, and fresh vegetables whenever we make salads or pizzas.

The one thing I want to do next year is plant more vegetables that produce multiple ones. cauliflower and broccoli are good, but they usually do one big head and maybe some shoots. grow them, freeze them, and then plant more squash, beans, peppers, carrots. growing lettuce is kind of meh...I like it, but it takes up a lot of room and is still cheap enough at the store to not really be concerned.

 

[Boone]

Let me find it Mike, but I had a book that really helped me with gardening I'll send you if I can locate it.

 

[MikefromOH]

today's haul. tomorrow we harvest broccoli and cauliflower.

these cucumbers are fucking ginormous!!

 

[Boone]

Tip on the beans if you haven't gone that route already - buy purple pole beans and grow them up bean towers, or other structure. They produce a ton, the beans are purple until cooked so very easy to see and pick, and you don't break your back picking the bush variety.

 

[MikefromOH]

we did bush beans this year by accident. I definitely like the pole ones more.

 

[MikefromOH]

I spent 4 days creating piles all around my garden from weeding. on my hands, reaching inbetween plants, pulling weeds. its my first year in ground so its been a battle, but i am winning.

my hands hurt, my knees hurt, my back hurts....but, i can say i absolutely love it. i had no idea that gardening would be "my thing".

 

[MikefromOH]

Carrots were harvested!

We also pulled out all the cauliflower and broccoli. Did not do so well with them this first time. Cauliflower went bad too fast, and I got caterpillars/worms on most of them. I saved 1 of 6 cauliflower, and 3 of 6 broccoli.

Zucchinis were pulled and replanted. Spinach is now in. More bush beans in, and more peppers.

We took the kale from our garden and made a sausage/kale/potato soup like you get from olive garden. Froze in 8 containers of it.

 

[Boone]

Those carrots look incredible. We have a tough time growing root vegetables in my neck of the woods because there is so much clay in the soil. Impressive. You probably know this - but vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, collards, brussel sprouts, those are fall crops that will never do well in the summer. You can try starting them indoors and putting them out as soon as possible in the spring, but it's usually not very successful. Those vegetables are usually planted very late summer for a fall harvest. As far as worms go, get some diatomaceous earth at Home Depot or Lowes in the garden section. You can sprinkle it on the plants and it is safe for you. Diatoms are prehistoric little creatures whose skeletons are razor sharp. They basically tear up the worms as they crawl over your vegetables. Works great.

 

[MikefromOH]

We have that same clay soil up here, too. I spent all Spring tilling, adding sheep manure, tilling, rinse and repeat. I did that for months on end.

I know NOW about cauliflower and broccoli LOL. Next year we do it that way. diatomaceous earth - got that advice, too.

The thing I love about gardening is that it is just so much trial and error, and messing everything up until you get it right. I spend most of the time weeding and watering, but that is my sanctuary.

 

[MikefromOH]

half the carrots made that onion/potato/carrot puree. we will use that for vegetable soup and the rest will be sticks/roasted.

refer pickles in the big bowl

more dilly beans in the jars. I found a recipe for "old bay" dilly beans, and you just KNOW this Maryland boy has to try to make at least one jar!

8 ball zucchini and summer squash was all pulled due to them dying off. replaced with tube zucchini and more bush beans

place where carrots were now has spinach seeds in it.

 

[Win4us]

Next month I’m firing up the grow tents and going apeshit on peppers & tomatoes. Determined to invent a fantastic salsa this winter.

Edit: is there a shelf life to the veggies once they’re properly canned?

 

[Boone]

They should last years. By 'properly canned' - did you do them in a pressure cooker, or just a hot water bath in a regular pot? It also depends on what you are canning. Anything with meat in it is much more risky. Tomatoes, vegetables, etc.... will usually last almost indefinitely even if processed in a hot water bath.

 

[Win4us]

Yeah I meant pressure cooker as proper. Definitely lots of vegetables, mainly peppers & tomatoes too. I need to learn a bunch before proceeding, like can potatoes be canned? Wanna do it correctly & get proficient at it.

 

[Boone]

I'm sure you can can potatoes but that's a lot of trouble. Potatoes will keep for months if you store them in a cool dark place, or you could slice or dice them and freeze them which would be a lot easier. I recommend you guy the book Ball (the canning jar company) put out that covers every aspect of canning and preserving.

 

[Goaldeje]

Our peppers have been incredible this year, best year ever I think. Normally we get a few, but my wife went for Anaheim, Jalapeno and Poblanos and they have exploded.

I went ahead and bought a dehydrator and am doing that to them to store them for the winter months for chilis and the like. I did make a salsa the other day with only dried chilis and it was pretty amazing.

 

[MikefromOH]

its about that time! We are planning our garden and I am very excited about it!

Is anyone doing one this year?

I am also looking at rain water collecting. It is just so much better for the garden than regular water. Has anyone done this?

I am looking at one of these.

Amazon product ASIN B001AYKERO

 

[Win4us]

Got my younglings started and just waiting for Spring to actually arrive to put them outside. I’m doing all above ground in smart pots this year. Just a starter kit so there’s definitely more to be dirted.

Got cherry tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, hot peppers, banana peppers, and some flowers for the wife started here. The large fabric pot is all lettuce.

edit: the 2 bigger plants in the back are blueberry bushes.

 

[Boone]

I am getting some overgrowth that's kind of invaded my garden space cleared out and my tiller repaired. I had planned on doing a major garden this year, but am rethinking that as I don't think it would be a good idea to try and use the tiller with all the restrictions I still have in place post-surgery. I think I may have to slow my roll and settle for some tomato plants in containers this year, and get back to the big garden next summer....

 

[MikefromOH]

had a fresh "load" of sheep fertilizer dropped off Saturday. Took 4 passes just to get it semi mixed in. Have to do it again at the end of the week once its dried out more.

 

[Boone]

Another really good soil additive, especially after the gardening season, is to go to a feed/hardware store and buy a couple of big bags of alfalfa - you can usually find it as cubes or meal in 50 lb bags. It's pure nitrogen and also will help break up the soil. Not expensive.