Veg Finally Got Summer 2020 Garden Planted

[dioptase]

Planted out my sole zucchini the other day, so that's two squash plants for the summer garden.

Some of the earlier planted lettuce is starting to bolt, so I'm in the process of yanking out the oak leaf lettuce, to be replaced by bibb lettuce. One of the lettuce types was sold at the nursery as a "baby red bibb" lettuce, with no varietal name. It turned out to be a pretty good tasting mini-head lettuce, so I am going to let one or two plants of that go to seed so we can regrow it.

Still waiting on the completion of work on a raised bed before I can plant the last two tomatoes, and the first of the peppers.

Some of the radishes are flowering (as is the arugula), so I am waiting to collect seeds from those before yanking.

 

[Txkstew]

Things might actually do some thing. Getting hot though.

 

[marsh]

I have had a good berry crop this year. Black berries are finished but still have blueberries and strawberries producing. The peach tree gave fruit for the first time this year and was able to bag them so the jays didn't get them. I have plums and pears ripening. My figs are bulbing out.

I planted veggie starts early but couldn't get them in the raised beds as I had to encase each bed in hardware cloth to keep the rats out. (I live near a levee and the roof/tree rats are endemic. Finally have them all done. The last will have transplants tomorrow. I will do pics.

I work in the garden every after noon until dark. I am 70, and find my endurance isn't what it used to be, nor is my grip. I work a bit and then sit a bit - just enjoying, observing, ruminating and planning. I haven't looked forward to each new day so much as I do now in years. Love a good project and the feeling of accomplishment and hard work.

 

[Txkstew]

I have had a good berry crop this year. Black berries are finished but still have blueberries and strawberries producing. The peach tree gave fruit for the first time this year and was able to bag them so the jays didn't get them. I have plums and pears ripening. My figs are bulbing out.

I planted veggie starts early but couldn't get them in the raised beds as I had to encase each bed in hardware cloth to keep the rats out. (I live near a levee and the roof/tree rats are endemic. Finally have them all done. The last will have transplants tomorrow. I will do pics.

I work in the garden every after noon until dark. I am 70, and find my endurance isn't what it used to be, nor is my grip. I work a bit and then sit a bit - just enjoying, observing, ruminating and planning. I haven't looked forward to each new day so much as I do now in years. Love a good project and the feeling of accomplishment and hard work.

I've been doing the same thing, only two or three times a day. The weather hasn't got too hot yet. Mosquitos and deer flies are being what they are, so deet spray is used as needed. I hate that stuff. My new Rogue Hoe is like a surgeon's scalpel. I can go down a row, cutting or digging weeds like a laser. The work out of weeding is really helping my stamina. Like you, work a while, then chill with a cool drink. I have my bluetooth speaker and smart phone with me to play music, or listen to talk radio. That's all I need.

 

[Rabbit]

With all that rain it's a shame you can't teach the mosquitos to eat the aphids.

Anyway, I'm glad you were finally able to get your garden in.

 

[BenIan]

I've been doing the same thing, only two or three times a day. The weather hasn't got too hot yet. Mosquitos and deer flies are being what they are, so deet spray is used as needed. I hate that stuff. My new Rogue Hoe is like a surgeon's scalpel. I can go down a row, cutting or digging weeds like a laser. The work out of weeding is really helping my stamina. Like you, work a while, then chill with a cool drink. I have my bluetooth speaker and smart phone with me to play music, or listen to talk radio. That's all I need.View attachment 202760View attachment 202761

I have that same hoe.

 

[dioptase]

I'm a little younger than 70, but my stamina isn't what it used to be, either. I am still working on the summer garden, and I hope to get most of the remaining work (other than rebuilding critter cages) done this weekend, now that I have another raised bed renovated. (The renovation was putting in new gopher mesh, doing an irrigation upgrade, and removing redwood roots.) I only have afternoons and maybe a bit of early evening to work in, but I am not going to work outside in hot weather (result = migraine), and when the weather cools down in the early evening, then it's dinner time! (Work on the ornamental garden also takes away time from working in kitchen garden.)

Earlier this week I replaced that oakleaf lettuce with an heirloom bibb type, 'Grandma Hadley's'. This is the first time I am trying it, so I'm hoping it will be tasty. The 'Flashy Trout's Back' and unnamed red romaine lettuces are bolting, so they will have to go. The unnamed red bibb lettuce is also starting to bolt, but that's good - I will save seed from that. I have baby 'Jericho' romaine lettuce waiting inside to replace those two romaines, but first I need to thin that out and let the seedlings grow on a bit more. (I should also consider which of umpteen different lettuces I should start seed from succession planting. Maybe a batavian type?)

(The garden would be neater looking if I weren't trying to save some seed this summer: the unnamed arugula, the unnamed red mini-head bibb lettuce, and I am trying to save seed from the less prickly-leaved of the 'Easter Egg' radishes. I'd like to be able to use some radish leaves fresh in salads.)

The 'Colorado Rose' potato that I'm growing in two grow bags is coming along, but I really don't like hauling water from the kitchen to water them every day! (I don't really trust water going through hoses, even though my hoses are supposedly drinking water safe. I've noted that when I first turn on the water, the water coming out of the hose seems foamy. Um, no, not going to trust that on my food! So all the edibles are either in the irrigated beds, or else they get hand watered with a watering pot.) This summer should show me the relative merits (harvest-wise) of growing the potatoes in the raised bed versus in the fabric grow pot.

 

[marsh]

I'm a little younger than 70, but my stamina isn't what it used to be, either. I am still working on the summer garden, and I hope to get most of the remaining work (other than rebuilding critter cages) done this weekend, now that I have another raised bed renovated. (The renovation was putting in new gopher mesh, doing an irrigation upgrade, and removing redwood roots.) I only have afternoons and maybe a bit of early evening to work in, but I am not going to work outside in hot weather (result = migraine), and when the weather cools down in the early evening, then it's dinner time! (Work on the ornamental garden also takes away time from working in kitchen garden.)

Earlier this week I replaced that oakleaf lettuce with an heirloom bibb type, 'Grandma Hadley's'. This is the first time I am trying it, so I'm hoping it will be tasty. The 'Flashy Trout's Back' and unnamed red romaine lettuces are bolting, so they will have to go. The unnamed red bibb lettuce is also starting to bolt, but that's good - I will save seed from that. I have baby 'Jericho' romaine lettuce waiting inside to replace those two romaines, but first I need to thin that out and let the seedlings grow on a bit more. (I should also consider which of umpteen different lettuces I should start seed from succession planting. Maybe a batavian type?)

(The garden would be neater looking if I weren't trying to save some seed this summer: the unnamed arugula, the unnamed red mini-head bibb lettuce, and I am trying to save seed from the less prickly-leaved of the 'Easter Egg' radishes. I'd like to be able to use some radish leaves fresh in salads.)

The 'Colorado Rose' potato that I'm growing in two grow bags is coming along, but I really don't like hauling water from the kitchen to water them every day! (I don't really trust water going through hoses, even though my hoses are supposedly drinking water safe. I've noted that when I first turn on the water, the water coming out of the hose seems foamy. Um, no, not going to trust that on my food! So all the edibles are either in the irrigated beds, or else they get hand watered with a watering pot.) This summer should show me the relative merits (harvest-wise) of growing the potatoes in the raised bed versus in the fabric grow pot.

I have some red potatoes and some golds in grow sacks. I simply can't afford the space in my raised beds. We'll see how that goes. I have used a lot of coconut coir as filler.

 

[Txkstew]

Dog's owner has been warned.

 

[TerriHaute]

I love seeing photos of everyone's gardens. I'll take some of mine when the plants get a little bigger and the fencing we put up to keep out the rabbits can be taken down.

We went from rain every day for weeks to a dry spell now, going on two weeks. It's starting to get hot too, and no rain in the forecast until next week. I work in the garden early in the day and in the evenings after dinner when the sun is not so fierce, which helps a lot with stamina.

Everything is planted until it's time to do some succession and fall planting. With the heat, the lettuce has all bolted and I pulled it all out today. The sugar snap peas are nearly done too, they are starting to turn brown around the bottom. The good thing about the dry weather is that there aren't many weeds sprouting. The bad thing is all the watering that has to be done daily - not just the vegetable garden but also the ornamental beds around the house.

The pole beans are starting to climb finally. I had to replant them twice because of unexpected cold and then wet weather. It was like that for much of the garden. Okra, swiss chard, cucumbers, and zucchini all had to be replanted. Those are finally starting to take off like they should, but they are all still less than 6 inches high. The tomato plants and hot peppers are setting fruit. The sweet potatoes are doing well and starting to send out vines. The bush beans are flowering and it won't take long for them to produce. The cabbage heads are ready to cut too. My favorite three herbs are big enough to use: dill, cilantro, and basil and the peppermint is big enough to make a first cutting to dry for tea.

Overall, it's a good gardening season so far, but that could change if we don't get rain soon.

 

[cyberiot]

First time I've tried a summer garden here in the Phoenix area. Tore up da interwebs looking for stuff that will actually survive. Confined my veggie grow area to what fits under a $20 Coolio shade.

Goin' great guns: Genovese basil, Thai basil, rosemary, Italian parsley. Grapefruit and lemon trees are setting ample fruit; tangerine and orange trees, not so much.
Young but promising: Armenian cucumbers, Honey Rock cantaloupe, Mammoth Russian sunflowers.
Mysterious: Yukon Gold potatoes. Lotsa leaves, but will have to wait another month to see if there are any tubers.
Frustrating: Black Beauty zucchini. Abundant leaves and many male flowers, but the ladies are late to the party. Neither the bees nor I have facilitated a successful pollination.
They're dead, Jim: Blue Lake bush beans.
Coming attractions: Planting a future moringa tree tomorrow and scattering wildflower seeds to attract pollinators. Starting perpetual spinach, butternut squash, small sugar pumpkins, and a couple different sunflowers indoors to transplant in August.
Lifelines: The AeroGardens and sprouting jars are producing enough heirloom lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and sprout mix for nightly salads.

So far, I give myself a solid C-minus.

 

[Vicki]

Beautiful Txkstew. Now I see how far along your plants are compared to mine. That corn looks great! Mine is about 6 inches now. Knee high by the fourth of July is the goal here.

 

[Txkstew]

Beautiful Txkstew. Now I see how far along your plants are compared to mine. That corn looks great! Mine is about 6 inches now. Knee high by the fourth of July is the goal here.
View attachment 204200

Vicki, I started this garden, as an experiment as to what a late start, growing something to eat, fast. I've been using chemical fertilizer, and compost/manure. Whatever it takes to get some food fast. It seems to be growing slow, but that's because I'm sitting out there for half the daylight hours. I do have weeds, but I'm staying on top of that with my new high dollar hoe. I'm getting such a great morale boost from just sitting and watching. I have my music, talk radio, or just the sounds of country living. A few strong drinks makes for a nice diversion as well

 

[Grouchy Granny]

Here's some shots of mine - we still need to get the shade cloth (debris shield) on 2 of the beds, but the ones with it are doing fantastic. Also, my experiment with the potatoes by putting a cage around them (which we will cover with fabric and continue to fill). Darn it, I can't get the others to load right now.... will try lataer.

 

[Txkstew]

Starting to get some vigorous growth on some things, but others are sort of weak. Some like full sun, like the corn, and purple hull peas, but the okra and speckled butter beans seem to like a little shade. The newly turned dirt section is not doing good at all.

 

[Bps1691]

Few pictures of some of my experiments around the house and the small garden I raise for grandkids so they can learn how to garden and get the pleasure of seeing what you planted grow. I don't let the younger ones into the big garden at my middle daughters farm.



Have several of these hanging from different fences between yard and fields. They were cheap and came with the berry plants to fill them. The grandkids love them (wife babysitting the youngest 2 two days a week).



Have done this off and on for years. Three tomato plants on one side, two pepper plants and some Cilantro on the other. Have to water every day and I fertilize every third day. Soil is home made compost, plus the nearest neighbor down the road grows show rabbits and he gives me all the rabbit poo I want. It breaks down into the nicest enrichment for the compost I make. Tomato's are crowded so they don't get real big, just big enough for homemade salsa.

This is a small garden that my youngest grandkids and I plant and care for. It's their garden and I've done it since my oldest grandkids (17 and 16) were youngsters. It's not real big but it teaches them how to do it and more importantly the joy of the work and seeing the results. This first one is two rows of beans that were just in their first bloom that a rabbit decided to visit...

Cleaned the leaves off, but they are struggling to come back

Had earlier problems with the tree rats eating the corn seed. Had to replant twice to get the kids corn to spike.
Note- 12" high not 128"

Some experiments of mine to use empty spaces in the flower beds in the fenced in area of the yard from the fields.

Own potting soil mix. Have to water every day and fertilize every third day because of containers


Put into clear tub so grandkids could see the carrots grow in the soil



Have a couple of more tubs each about two weeks behind each other and this one
All should give three pickings in secession every two weeks. Plus it's 58 day beans so when they finish I can heavy fertilize and plant again for at least 2 pickings before they peter out in September





All over the front and back yard flower gardens, I've planted melon's, summer squash and several herbs
where they'll get enough sun and can either vine around the flowers or in the herbs case, grow into a patch

Haven't been out to the main garden at daughters farm for the last three weeks, but her and her boys take
good care of it. I only help in the planting, picking and as a senior advisor. It grows what we can, dehydrate and freeze

This year its 34 feet wide by 120 feet long. My SIL tilled up an extra 4 feet wide and 20 foot long to allow for more produce because of the way this year has gone and as in a just in case.

 

[Txkstew]

Back in the early 60's when I was around 7 years old, my parents rented a house out from town. This was in Cartersville Georgia. Our new Neighbors where an older couple, who were just as nice as one could hope. The man, "Bud" grew a huge garden between our house and his. This man knew how to garden. He had corn 7 foot tall, with green pole beans growing up the stalks. I was so impressed, I think this is where I got my urge to garden. I have a pic of them on a hard drive I was using just a few weeks ago.

 

[Bps1691]

Back in the early 60's when I was around 7 years old, my parents rented a house out from town. This was in Cartersville Georgia. Our new Neighbors where an older couple, who were just as nice as one could hope. The man, "Bud" grew a huge garden between our house and his. This man knew how to garden. He had corn 7 foot tall, with green pole beans growing up the stalks. I was so impressed, I think this is where I got my urge to garden. I have a pic of them on a hard drive I was using just a few weeks ago.

My grandparents gardens were like that.

As a kid growing up in the 50's, everybody in our family had gardens, but my mom's parent's was something very special.

They could grow anything and it was always better than most other's gardens.

The family "tribe" combined specialties and we all shared the work of the different gardens and worked together to preserve the harvests. That was all shared among the different tribe member groups. I was a teenager before I tasted a peach out of metal can. It was always in ball jars so I assumed that was true for everyone lol.

Funny thing was I enjoyed working in the different family gardens until I got to be around a freshman in high school, then it became work. Once I got married and we got a place big enough to have one, I went back to having a garden and loving it.

 

[Jaybird]

You’ll have to excuse the weeds. Haven’t hit them for a week. Don't know how to make them right side up. LOL!

 

[Txkstew]

Jaybird, if you are using a cell phone camera, the pics will post sideways like that. I open pics in a Photo Shop type program and save the file as a new resized file. It will then post properly. I think Paint Program that comes with Windows, will work as well. I have to resize the file to about 30% of the original, to get it to post.

 

[Txkstew]

Getting some blight on the Purple Hull Pea leaves. Now it's been raining with more to come. As in a flood again..

 

[dioptase]

I envy those of you with room enough (and no critters to contend with) to grow corn. I guess we will just settle for the farmers' market (we are having corn from there for dinner tonight).

My potatoes in my raised bed were coming along fine, then something got in there, flattened half the stalks, and started munching. It's probably the damned rabbits. I hastily put up fencing but I fear that I may not get many Red Norland potatoes. The Yukon Gold are mostly okay, and I have some Colorado Rose in a couple grow bags on the patio, but still!!!

The earlier lettuce has bolted. I replanted with some Bibb lettuce but that is not growing well. I have some Romaine as backup, but I fear that may not do well either. It may be time to get out the shade cloth. (The mint, though, is growing gangbusters, and that's co-planted with the lettuce, and I don't want THAT slowing down, as I have discovered the pleasure of picking a spring of mint for my iced tea.)

The squash, cukes, and zucchini have not yet produced anything harvestable, although there are flowers on all of them, and a tiny zucchini on my sole plant, which ALREADY is showing powdery mildew.

I still haven't finished planting things out because the latest two reworked beds now have that nasty grassy weed throughout. I don't user herbicides ANYWHERE unless as a last resort (poison oak), and certainly not in the kitchen garden, so it's going to be a long slow war of attrition getting it out. I've made good progress on the first of the two beds, and hopefully I will have it conquered (it is already pretty well under control) within a couple of weeks.

The second bed had some onion sets planted out but those look dead... oh well, I'll take that as a warning to not put out my small bunching onion seedlings, although I will replant the one rescue from before the rework, as it is big enough and I am tired of watering edible pots. Another part of that bed ALMOST looks like it is ready for planting (in terms of the grassy weed), and I may just go ahead and do it as those two tomato plants aren't going to get any bigger sitting in one gallon pots. (Yes, I know this is all late, and I could SCREAM with frustration, but late is better than never.)

I also still have a 6-pack of cukes to go out (a different variety) and I hope to get that done this weekend, too. I'm thinking of starting some Tuscan canteloupe seeds indoors, in anticipation for the bed that is currently under work.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I'm not having much success with my tiny garden this year. First I was late getting anything planted, because of so much rain and cooler than normal temps. All of my yellow squash and cucumber plants were blooming, but no pollination, until now. I have baby cukes and squash, but the plants don't look too good. Tomato plants, with small tomatoes, are rotting on the bottoms, and the plant itself is getting that powdery mildew with crumpled leaves. I put a calcium tablet into the ground around each tomato plant, and sprayed them with copper spray. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. Maybe, a Fall garden will do better.

 

[cyberiot]

I'm not having much success with my tiny garden this year. First I was late getting anything planted, because of so much rain and cooler than normal temps. All of my yellow squash and cucumber plants were blooming, but no pollination, until now. I have baby cukes and squash, but the plants don't look too good. Tomato plants, with small tomatoes, are rotting on the bottoms, and the plant itself is getting that powdery mildew with crumpled leaves. I put a calcium tablet into the ground around each tomato plant, and sprayed them with copper spray. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. Maybe, a Fall garden will do better.

Same general array of woes here in central AZ, especially vis-a-vis the squash. Unless we become truly strapped for food, I am inclined to shutter the garden for June, July and August next year. If all we had to eat was what I've grown outside this summer, we'd be living off herbs. Hope your calcium tabs and copper work . . .

 

[Dafodil]

We planted 3 heirloom tomato plants. We had lots of blooms, green tomatoes one day, the next day they were ALL gone! Don't have a clue what happened to them. My sweet/red potatoes are growing nicely. Sure wish I had a nice juicy ripe tomato/mayo sandwich!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Same general array of woes here in central AZ, especially vis-a-vis the squash. Unless we become truly strapped for food, I am inclined to shutter the garden for June, July and August next year. If all we had to eat was what I've grown outside this summer, we'd be living off herbs. Hope your calcium tabs and copper work . . .

Yeah, there is no way we could survive on what I planted this year. We can't have a big enough garden to survive off of without help. I just call it my hobby garden this year. I want to expand it a little next year, but we'll see. I am planning to plant some green bell pepper plants in pots on my deck later. Experience here tells me that growing peppers do better for us in the Fall in partial shade. My deck makes an ideal place. The one tomato plant and one squash plant I already have in large pots on the deck are doing great.

 

[dioptase]

Dafodil, some critter might have gone after your green tomatoes. I'm in the process of caging my tomatoes up now (critter cage, not support cage). I'm halfway done on the first pair of tomatoes, and this morning I came out to find a half eaten green tomato on the bed. I probably won't be able to get the job finished until later in the week, because my garden helper is working on the adjacent bed, and (being in plague (er, CoVid) ridden CA) we're trying to keep our distance.

 

[Txkstew]

Big rain last week messed up things for a while, but most plants made it. Now, caterpillars are tearing up the corn tops with the tassels shooting up. I spayed dish soap water, but I was unimpressed, so yesterday I put Sevin Dust on all the stalk tops. Hate to, but I had to do something quick. I have a pint of
Bacillus Thuringiensis, which is an organic control for caterpillars. I need to find it.

 

[summerthyme]

If your pint of Bt is liquid and hasn't been stored in climate controlled conditions, you might want to order new now. It's a live product, and doesn't tolerate heat very well, plus it definitely has a shelf life...

Summerthyme

 

[Txkstew]

If your pint of Bt is liquid and hasn't been stored in climate controlled conditions, you might want to order new now. It's a live product, and doesn't tolerate heat very well, plus it definitely has a shelf life...

Summerthyme

Yeah, it's not very expensive at all. I'm going to town today and I'll pick up a new pint. The old has been climate controlled, but I bought it several years ago.

 

[Txkstew]

Purple Hull Peas starting to ripen already.

 

[Txkstew]

Corn making ears.