Harvest from my sick garden!

[Dinghy]

I actually got to can some tomatoes from my pitiful garden today!!! I did 9 quarts of stewed tomatoes. There are still quite a few green ones, so I might be able to do more yet! Later this week I might have enough peppers to make hot pepper jelly. It's taken a long time, but they're finally starting to do good. My pumpkin broke off the other day and just about made my granddaughter cry. It had been hanging from the fence, but I thought it would be ok because it had a real thick stem. I should have tried to make a harness for it. There is one more tiny one, but I don't think there's enough time left for it to amount to anything. I haven't checked the potatoes yet. Some of the plants are just starting to die off so I've left them alone.
It's been a lousy year, but all things considered, we're getting more than I expected out of the garden. Hopefully next year will be better for everybody!

 

[Gingergirl]

Dingy,

I've had some good and some bad this year. Summer here has been cool and wet. The tomatoes are a mess. I'll be lucky to get a dozen or so quarts out of them. The peppers, potatos, and cukes are about standard. BUT it has been the year of the Snap Bean. I have bushels of near perfect beans. I've canned them, I've frozen them. Next I'm drying them.

Peaches were not that great this summer, but I'm having a great year for fall raspberries and concord grapes.

So, maybe it balances out. But I sure do miss the tomatoes. Stewed you say? Sounds awfully good from here.

 

[ejagno]

Dinghy,
Sorry to hear about your granddaughters pumpkin. I just find it amazing that you have enough warm weather there to do any type of significant gardening. wow, nine quarts is terrific. Your tomatoes are definitely doing better than our spring crop.
We couldn't for the life of us figure out what was going on. All of our plants grew, however, they were not vigorous and very puny produce. I took a soil sample to the county extension service only to find out that our garden soil was "Optimal" which is the best rated soil conditions for any vegetable garden. The agent came out to see if he could find out the problem. He pulled up one of the plants and the root system was but half of it's normal size. NEMATODES had taken up residence in our garden.
Blessed to live in the south we have a chance for redeeming ourselves though. We have just planted our beans, carrots, and celery;a few weeks ago planted cucumbers, brocolli, tomatoes, shallots and now corn and mustard greens. The cucumbers are growing so fast that I've had to add another fence. The tomato plants are already waist high. There are literally flowers absolutely covering the plants.
The hot pepper jelly sounds wonderful. I love to pour it over a block of cream cheese and sit there with a box of ritz crackers and eat until its gone.
I pray that your produce continues to flourish as long as possible.

 

[Dinghy]

I did stewed tomatoes because I was in a hurry. Hubby asked if I wanted to go for a ride and I jumped at the chance. Being on different shifts we don't get to spend much time together. I did the tomatoes after we got home, so I didn't have a lot of time left. I can use them for more things and can always make sauce later. I really want to try making V8 juice this year. We usually end up buying a couple bushels of tomatoes from a guy at work and I'm hoping he'll have enough again this year. Hubby will be gone all weekend, so I'll have time to can to my hearts content if I can just get my hands on the stuff to do it!!
I mix the pepper jelly with cream cheese and spread it on whole grain bread for sandwiches. I really like the Hillbilly brand, but it's hard to find around here, so I usually end up with whatever muti-grain is in the bargain basket.
How do you get rid of nematodes? Our plants definitely had something wrong with them, and I don't think it was just all the rain. I've watched the plants in other people's gardens and they don't look as sick as ours. The leaves turned yellow, then got brown and dried out. We've had slugs really bad too, even using Sevin spray and powder didn't help at all. They usually only get the tomatoes that fall on the ground. This year they're crawling right up the plants! And they've eaten every strawberry that grew.
I would love to live in the South and have a longer growing season. We are very limited here. I planted way before our last frost thinking I'd be ahead of the game, and it didn't seem to do any better than if I had waited till after Memorial Day as usual.
I'm just grateful we got something out of it or I might be too discouraged to try again next year!

 

[Sarrah]

Gosh Dinghy I feel so sorry for your granddaughter. But talking about next years pumpkin with her, selecting the seed. Discussing harnesses if needed, should make it a bit better.
I have my own garden woe to tell. I don't have much of a space yet. It is mostly sand and I've added ammendments to beef it up. It isn't the most productive garden I've ever grown but it has been doing ok. The large tomatoes just started to turn red. We've had small ones to eat for a few weeks and we've managed to eat from the garden this summer with a little to put away.
So that is the picture. DH has the entire garden areas enclosed with chicken wire up the sides and across the top then we have black netting on the front to keep the deer and chickens out. About four days ago went out in the morning and deer had stood on top of the chicken wire and eaten everything that grew out the top. Then had gone around the edges and done the same. Severe trim was the outcome. Then the same day the chickens found a spot that had been pushed open that I hadn't noticed. They got in and gave a hard trimming to the swiss chard and the small tomatoes. If that wasn't bad enough, last night a stinking rat ate large parts of the first ripe large tomato. (I know it was a rat I've seen that before) Tonight we set a rat trap. We had been so pleased with the animal proofing.
Guess life didn't like us being too smug.

 

[Kathy in WV]

Tomato Woes.... sigh..... Mine were looking SO GOOD a few weeks ago but now they're history. It rained (a lot) and then they turned yellow at ground level and it just crept right up the plants an inch at a time. Then it went to brown and the tomatoes started rotting on the vine, it smelled to awful to describe!! Pulled them up yesterday and am going to plant Kale when the sign is right. At my moms house we planted a late garden which is just now beginning to produce. 2 days ago the tomatoes (all 60 plants) started turning that familiar shade of yellow. I don't know if we can save them or not but were spraying with pureed garlic which is supposed to kill blight. If anyone has other suggestion for spraying please post it or PM me. It sounds like a bad year for gardens just about everywhere!! We are getting to can some beans and so I'm just feeling thankfullfor that. Anything is better than nothing. Oh, and the apples are doing wonderful and I'm getting to can them. Good luck everybody!!! Kat

 

[securitysix]

This might help out with the tomatoe problems,Look to see if little brown spots start before the leaves turn yellow.If they are there it is septoria leaf spot,it works its way from bottom to top like described.
I found a recipe on jerry bakers site for fungus control then boosted it up.I srayed 3 times and it killed the fungus. I tried three bottles of store fungucides and it wouldnt touch it.
I put 4 tbl spoons of baking soda and 4 tbl spoons of powdered milk to 1 gal of water. Then soak the plant with the mixture with a pump up sprayer.
Plants still look funky being bald half way up but are doing good now.
Hope this helps.
Other good natural recipes for fungus and insect problems.Search jerrybaker.com

 

[Gingergirl]

Securitysix,

Thanks for the idea. I tried the store-bought fungicide...smelled like NEEM, suppose to be the wonder cure, but it wasn't. I have now begun pulling up my tomatos.

I didn't realize Jerry had a web site...should have known. So I'm off to check it out.

 

[It'sJustMe]

We had an early Spring here in the PNW. But one thing after another happened to thwart my best efforts in tomato plant horticulture. I just checked our puny little veggie garden yesterday. The deer ate the tomato tops.. AGAIN! This is the 4th and final straw! Note to self...next year get some of that cougar urine to ward off those pesky deer. UGH! As if weather woes aren't enough to ruin a good summer? They ate the tops around berry netting...I had NO idea their eyesight was that good! Next year...there is always next year . It's just Me

 

[Dinghy]

The weather was terrible, but I feel really bad for those of you who had deer or other willdlife feasting on your food! I'm surprised that we've never had that problem. We have state game land in out back yard and see deer on our hill once in awhile. They've never come down in the yard as far as I know. I always thought it might be because they smell our dogs. That would be frustrating as heck to have a fence and still have them get in. We had a garden at our camp right before y2k, and the deer ate everything that came up. A family at one of the other camps raises blueberries, and after trying different things they had to put up a huge fence with barbed wire at the top. Looks electric too. I would hate to have to invest that much money just to have a garden!