/garden. The heat took out everything but the tomatoes.

7/2/2012 12:51:03 PM

Garden vs. the heat: I've just invested in 6 more bags of pine mulch for water retention, 100 ft of soaker hose for watering, and I'm putting up shadesails to protect my young plants. This sun is freaking ridiculous.

I tried putting up a tarp for the free-ranging chickens to shade under, but they're much more interested in hanging out under the bushes instead.

7/3/2012 2:05:36 AM

mulch. i just bought 15 bags of it.

7/3/2012 11:13:18 AM

My tomato is in a container. I have the container leaning right up against the fence because the cage isn't big enough and one of the vines is so gigantic that it tips the plant over. I came home from work one day last week and noticed something was off. The planter wasn't tipped over, but the plant WAS turned around and the large vine bent and split. I turned it back around so it was leaning against the fence with the large vine propped over the top of it. Every day since then I have to turn the plant back around because someone/something has turned it around and the large vine is dying a slow horrible death because every time it is turned around it splits more. Could the deer be doing this or is it more likely an annoying neighbor/kid?

7/3/2012 11:24:10 PM

Fucking rabbits are destroying everything they can fit in their mouths. Even eating the tops off of ears of corn that are low enough for them to reach. I will definitely build a better fence next year. Still having a pretty decent harvest so far, especially squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

7/6/2012 8:38:22 AM

For those of you with rabbit/groundhog problems:

http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/1084

you can even release the animal if you are a PETA person

7/6/2012 9:17:07 AM

Got my first striped tomato! The thing is freaky looking. I had to squeeze to to make sure it was actually ripe lol. Looks like this:



And I think I'm going to give up on my poor squash plants. It doesn't look like they're going to produce anything else in this heat. My watermelons seem happy though.

7/6/2012 9:39:08 AM

Yeah, I'm not spending any more money on that garden this year. Although I do have a box of .410 shells just collecting dust can probably help with some population control.

7/6/2012 9:41:49 AM

If you have a cat, my friend swears that spreading used kitty litter around the fence perimeter will ward off rabbits.

7/6/2012 9:43:19 AM

Quote :

"Something is eating our tomatoes...but we have no idea what it is. I mean...we live downtown...not a lot of wild animals. The only thing we can think is neighborhood cats possibly? Do they eat tomatoes? We are about to get a fence put up because we got a puppy, so hopefully that will solve that problem. They are only eating portions at a time and we can't tell by the bite marks. Dumb question...but do bats eat tomatoes? We have a lot of bats downtown."

We had that problem, but never did figure out what was doing it. Deer weren't an issue in our neighborhood but we had it most likely narrowed down to either squirrels or a free-roaming cat that often liked to sit in our backyard (we only had a 4' picket fence which didn't really keep anything out). The plants even had bird netting around them, but whatever it was would actually bite through a couple of strands to make a big enough hole to get to the tomatoes. Same symptom as you--the whole tomato wouldn't be eaten but would have a sizeable hole or sometimes the whole bottom would be eaten away.

[Edited on July 6, 2012 at 10:24 AM. Reason : 4]

7/6/2012 10:14:03 AM

Yeah that sounds like squirrels. I'm glad the squirrels in my neighborhood don't seem to have any interest in the tomatoes.

7/6/2012 11:32:30 AM

Well that tomato was the best tasting one I've had in a long time. Better than the other variety I'm growing by far.

7/6/2012 9:53:45 PM

I got a striped organic heirloom from harris teeter and it was definitely the best tomato i have ever eaten

7/6/2012 10:32:39 PM

I had to plant something else to ward off the squirrels who keep eating all my tomatoes. It works!

7/6/2012 11:08:07 PM

I'm pretty much stuck growing earlys and cherry types. I've got pink girl and sweet 100, which is depressing since they are the supermarket varieties. I've got some kind of beefsteak plant as well but I don't have much hope.

7/7/2012 8:57:38 AM

My romas are producing really well now. I've made two large batches of marinara. This next batch I'll make a few sundried tomatoes to preserve. Squirrels are eating the variety whose name I forget, but they look like small beefsteak. My German johnsons are amazing. I pulled a 2 lber yesterday.

Cucumbers are still growing. Should have my first Sunday with lots thereafter.
Still no yellow squash, but I've had a few zucchini now.
My eggplant I harvested too soon. I have two more growing though.

7/7/2012 10:00:34 AM

^^ Is it because of the temps up there? The lady I order my tomato seeds from has some cold hardy heirlooms that might work.

7/7/2012 12:24:19 PM

Our last frost date is May 5, so I'm just stuck with things with less than 100 day ratings (and really, under 80). the day length is already getting too short for the plants to do much before frost anyway, but I usually get plenty of green tomatoes, at least. I got discouraged and didn't do my big tomato plot this year, though. Just filled in an empty bed with some bought seedlings that weren't really far enough along before they started blooming and a lot of cilantro self-seeded in there, so I'm not really expecting much this year. I focused on flowers this year since I'm expecting to sell before winter (and hopefully go somewhere warmer).

7/8/2012 4:47:27 PM

Oh man yeah that would be a hard schedule to plant with. Hopefully you do end up somewhere warmer!

This heat wave killed off my cherry tree It was pretty sickly from the start though so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

7/9/2012 9:41:06 AM

Figured out that it's not rabbits, it's deer getting in my garden. 1 deer to be exact. She has figured out that she can jump the fence and get back out. Most of them don't even attempt the jump because the space is so confined that they don't think they can get back out. She has pretty much destroyed everything except the tomatoes, squash, cantaloupes, and peppers. And even those she has eaten the flowers off of.

I added some pie pans all around the fence line to make noise, so hopefully that keeps her out the rest of the season. I inspected this morning and it doesn't look like she has been in there. If that doesn't work I might have to take matters into my own hands.

7/9/2012 10:14:32 AM

Got 4 of these little guys on my bronze fennel.

7/12/2012 8:36:29 PM

They'll later turn into swallowtail butterflies

7/13/2012 7:45:26 PM

i had a cicada on my tomato plant just now its skeleton was chilling on the nearby leaf, and there he was on the one above it

7/13/2012 8:19:49 PM

^^ yup

7/13/2012 8:20:55 PM

well, so far the old wives tale I was told has been working for my tomato plant. tied a used tea bag to the cage and no deer since then.

7/13/2012 9:20:36 PM

Well other than all my zucchini dying off, my garden did pretty well for me being gone for a week. Now I just have to figure out what to plant where the zucchini was so it's not just an empty hole.

7/18/2012 9:40:13 AM

My summer squash has produced nothing and zucchini very little. I'm disappointed.

7/21/2012 10:12:22 AM

still amazed by the tea bag thing. my plant looks incredible now, and no munch marks, all the flowers are staying on as well as the green tomatoes!

7/21/2012 10:19:07 AM

I'll have to remember that. No deer this year, but i wonder if it would work on squirrels which I've had a minor problem with.

I gave up on my corn. Just finished chopping the stalks down. I'll start preparing that section for fall crops in the upcoming weeks.
Taking a look, my romas and other heirlooms are almost done. I still have many blossoms on my German Johnsons which is great.
Cucumbers are really taking off now as are my eggplants.

7/21/2012 10:40:40 AM

I'm gonna have 10 tons of cilantro seed. anybody have ideas for catching it other than tying bags around the plants? that shit is gonna get old, i have at least 60 plants in irregular patches.

7/21/2012 11:41:25 PM

What about laying landscaping fabric underneath the plants to catch the seeds as they fall?

7/22/2012 4:37:26 PM

Picked up a spigot timer at lowe's for $25 and I'm wondering why we didn't do it sooner.

7/23/2012 3:20:42 PM

June bug control?

They're are all up on my figs like chit chat on a female. So far I taught my kids to grab em and stomp em. Tell me about milky spore before i go sevin.

7/28/2012 10:56:19 PM

I got these flat orange eggs on the stalk of my zuchini plant. I don't think its a squash bug because they are not clustered, they are spaced out in a line up the stalk.

Anyone know what it is?

Thanks

8/2/2012 9:50:33 AM

based on that description, i'd say you've got bugs

8/2/2012 5:49:04 PM

^^ Take a pic and post it for us.

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 9:03 AM. Reason : a]

8/3/2012 9:03:14 AM

Dem Bugs

8/3/2012 10:11:15 AM

It was a boring beetle. I just hand extracted a beetle from every one of my squash plants, felt like a surgeon. Hopefully they survive.

8/3/2012 7:42:01 PM

I tore down my garden this past weekend and tilled half of it to plant cool weather veggies. Check out what I found under some of the landscaping plastic. This is the first Black Widow I have ever seen in the wild.

9/17/2012 11:08:43 AM

No gracias!

Last week I planted some cool weather veggie seeds, which I know is way too late but oh well I'll be interested to see if I actually get anything out of them.

9/17/2012 11:09:59 AM

Well if last week is too late, then I am screwed. I will be planting probably on Wednesday. But I figured it was worth a shot. Never planted fall veggies before, so we shall see.

9/17/2012 11:11:24 AM

Still getting tomatoes! The deer are back to eating the top of my tomato plant, but only the part that hangs over the fence. They will not come near any part that has a tea bag on it.

9/17/2012 11:13:02 AM

uh huh huh huh huh huh, she said teabag

9/17/2012 11:14:07 AM

Yeah me neither. We can adventure in fall veggies together Are you starting from seed or did you buy plants? I'm almost wondering if I should buy some plants as insurance.

9/17/2012 11:28:36 AM

Starting from seed. It was a spur of the moment decision when we were at the garden center last weekend. My girlfriend is so over the garden, but I figured $10 in seeds wasn't that terrible of a gamble. If they grow, they grow. If not, whatever.

9/17/2012 11:33:22 AM

Quote :

"This is the first Black Widow I have ever seen in the wild."

If you look in a few municipal water meter vaults or sewer manholes, you'll see plenty more, they love those.

I planted some cool weather seedlings this weekend (brocolli, cauliflower, collards and lettuce). I figured it might be a little late for seeds, but it all depends on the weather.

9/17/2012 12:27:36 PM

Yeah, seedlings would have definitely been a better choice. But I kind of half-ass decided to do it anyway

9/17/2012 12:37:16 PM

haha same. At least with stuff like collards and lettuce you can pick it at any size and it'll taste good in case you have to harvest early. I'm not so sure my rutabaga or carrots can do the same.

9/17/2012 12:38:52 PM

Lettuce can't take very cold weather, but the collards should do ok. They supposedly taste better after the first frost. A couple years ago I had some collards that lived through an inch or two of snow on top of them.

[Edited on September 17, 2012 at 12:46 PM. Reason : ]

9/17/2012 12:43:16 PM

I have never had any luck with veggies that grow underground. (potatoes, onions, garlic, etc) So it should be interesting to see if I can grow some fucking carrots

9/17/2012 12:47:16 PM