2010 Vegetable Garden Thread

[WolfeMacleod]

The weather here in Seattle has been so bad that really, nothing is growing. I've had corn in the ground for over two months now... that haven't grown an inch from when the starts were bought. Some carrots I put in the ground are shooting a little... cucumbers and peppers are dying. Tomatoes aren't really taking off because I can't uncover them long enough to get any sun. Although I have a couple toms on a few plants, they're not doing much... I have one that's starting to ripen. Most of the plants look pretty grim. Soem that were started indoors in late March are still less than a foot tall and have no flowers.
I've lost a few tomato plants...

The only thing doing partly OK are the strawberries.

[john70t]

(Bad camera and don't want to take up bandwidth, so I'll 'splain left to right.)
On the far left, morning glories are growing up over the deck pergola.
We want to grow beer hops. Anyone familiar with the subject?

Behind, the montmorency cherry survived being cracked in half by the raccoons last summer, who would also empty out the feeders daily. It now has 4ft of new growth. I'm not insinuating anything...but I've heard raccoon throats are vulnerable to .177 pellet.

The arbor over the path has two types of climbing roses, red and white. Next year they should cover it completely.

The butterfly bush on the right is 10ft high! They are supposed to get only 6x6.


Far bottom left is spearmint. The honey bees love it.

Middle is about 15 tomato plants 5ft high, mostly cherry. They are leggy because I was greedy and grew them too close together, again.
Only 4 were bought, and the rest grew accidentally from seed despite my daily maintinance.

That christmas tree spear at the top middle is wild lettuce 5ft high which I let go to seed last year. The 4x4 dirt pile is covered soild with it as well. I'm going to pick the seed and spread it in the wild because the world needs more wild lettuce.

On the right is basil and wild cilantro(bees love that too). Pole/ground beans, and behind are pickling cukes with plenty of flowers(new cukes).

[jyl]

Was the same story in PDX. Although, with the recent hot weather, stuff has finally started growing. Hopefully same for you.

Tomatoes were sickly (small, rusty) but now growing pretty fast, flowers appearing, some small fruit on one plant, they are still awfully short.

Lettuce has been healthy enough but wouldn't grow, now they are growing.

Carrot tops have been bolting big-time, I don't know much about carrots so have no sense of what to do.

Peas yellowed up and withered as soon as it got hot. I have no luck with peas or beans.

Strawberries were and are doing well.

Basil just like the tomatoes, finally starting to grow and get healthy looking.

Hops flourishing, it is just ornamental for us.

Been an awfully crappy spring, but looks like summer is finally here and the garden has a chance to amount to something.

I am sure glad I don't depend on the garden to eat.

The weather here in Seattle has been so bad that really, nothing is growing. I've had corn in the ground for over two months now... that haven't grown an inch from when the starts were bought. Some carrots I put in the ground are shooting a little... cucumbers and peppers are dying. Tomatoes aren't really taking off because I can't uncover them long enough to get any sun. Although I have a couple toms on a few plants, they're not doing much... I have one that's starting to ripen. Most of the plants look pretty grim. Soem that were started indoors in late March are still less than a foot tall and have no flowers.
I've lost a few tomato plants...

The only thing doing partly OK are the strawberries.

[Tobra]

Looking good, literally hundreds of blooms on the tomato plants. First peach tree is starting to be about all done. It is amazing the difference there is after a month. I was flipping back and forth and it looks like some of those plants are 4 feet taller

[slodave]

I'm taking a beating down here in the Valley. The heat nearly killed my almost mature bush beans, yellow squash and melon. The tomatoes took a slight hit, but should be fine. I've got a shade cloth over most everything for the time being. Things are looking a little happier under there.

[trekkor]

I had a tomato from our garden in my salad today.


KT

[Tobra]

Today, been getting tomatoes finally, the little orange ones for a while, red and yellow ones coming in, few zucchini a day, fixin' to have a lot of everything, numerous types of peppers



Mariachi peppers



Poblano and Anahiem Chiles

[john70t]

Lookin good Tobra. Well planned out. Those little hot peppers can be dried and will season stir fry oil nicely.

I picked about a gallon of cherry/grape tomatoes today, but had to sit and dig through the jungle. Thankfully it hasen't rained for a while.
Next year we'll thin it out, and plant less(lol).

The cukecumbers were producing about 1/2 gallon for a couple days, then they all croaked.
We have some kind of a plant rust in the area which is getting into the pole beans, and making the oaks drop their leaves early.

Here's a recipe for cherry tomatoes:
1. Get flat pan very hot with olive oil and garlic.
2. Toss in tomatoes and a little basil. Cook briefly with stirring. The skins will soften but not pop.
3. Add little sugar, s&p and butter and serve.

[syncroid]

Between our garden and the next door neighbor's garden we have tomatoes coming out of our ears. Basil, squash, onions, jalopenos, and egg plant too.





The grape went nuts this year too.

[Tobra]

Getting this pretty much daily, couple zucc, bunch of orange cherries, couple of full size red ones, yellow ones are still pretty thin, hundreds of green tomatoes out there about now, fried green tomatoes maybe...

[slodave]

Wow! I have a few pix I should post. Not much to write home about. If I needed to live off what I grew, I'd be dead by now. I did make some improvements over last year. Hopefully next Spring I can pull it all together and make it work.

[john70t]

Should have thought about the distribution side before production.


We had the same cherry, grape, and beefsteaks last year.
Last year it rained heavily, and we lost most of the cherrys.
This year was great, but the beefsteaks had rot(used the same planter box ).
Both years the grape tomatoes did well.

[syncroid]

I have been working my butt off tearing out the old garden behind my garage and building the new beds. I started a thread a couple weeks ago wanting some help on figuring out the quantity of soil I would need. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/562620-math-question-new-garden-beds.html#post5543949 I ended up with some extra soil but thats okay. The new beds are going to settle.

Here is the old garden.

My first trip for materials.

Beginning the build.



Built and ready to be hauled into place.

Out with the old.

[syncroid]

Getting the trenching and irrigation in place.

Bed placement.

"THE PILE"

Dirt runs.

I win the biggest debris pile on the block award this week.

New beds in place and ready for final drip irrigation.

[Tobra]

Dan, that is pretty groovy. I should have made taller tomato cages

Late peaches are about peaked out, expect Mom will have turned that sack of peaches I took over yesterday into a pie by now, better pick up some vanilla ice cream...

[syncroid]

Thanks Tobra. I worked on the drip irrigation for a bit today. I also added a shut off valve for each bed. That way I will save water when a bed is not in use. The next step is to figure out what to plant and set up the individual drips or spray accordingly. We want to plant some winter crops. Any suggestions for California winter weather? The extra dirt is under the blue tarp. As the beds settle in I'll have it to top them off.

[syncroid]

I'm going to make my own tomatoe cages for next year. I need something more robust. Most of them collapsed from the sheer weight of the plants.

[Tobra]

Me too.

You can get rolls of stuff you put in cement to reinforce it that is what I am going to use. Like heavy duty wire, figure it will hold up, heavier gauge than the cages I have, which are getting pretty mangled from having those heavy vines hanging on them.

[syncroid]

Making some more progress. Three out of four of the beds have the drip installed and planted with the winter crop. Onions. (3 kinds), brocolli, cauliflower, beets, lettuce, sugar snap peas, and chard... I think thats it for now. I still have not decided what I am going to put between the beds. Its going to be either redwood bark or pea gravel.

[Tobra]

Sweet layout Dan, picked about fifteen pounds of tomatoes this morning, and had to go to work.

It is getting ugly out there, like a damn hedge. If the weather holds up, I should be able to keep it going for another month or two.

I will never plant red cherry/grape tomatoes again.

Sungold baby, sungold