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Garden Gate:  How does your garden grow? 2016 season  |
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texdane
Farmgirl Legend Chapter Leader Chapter Guru
4658 Posts
Nicole
Sandy Hook
CT
USA
4658 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 27 2016 : 09:34:48 AM
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Hi Farmgirls!
Here in CT, our season is pretty short for gardening. So far this year, I have lots of tomatoes but only a few have turned red yet. They are slow-going this year, though very healthy plants. My lettuce and peas were bumper crops, and continued late until the recent heat wave. Squash is coming, and so are the cukes.
As for herbs, the mint, catnip, oregano, sage and parsley were amazing! The basil and rosemary in the pots are big and healthy this year, too.
Berries have been sparse due to the drought we had, last year was opposite! Quince got ruined with the late frost.
Happy to report looks like a banner year for pumpkins! Woo Hoo!
How does your garden grow? Farmgirl report, please...
 
Farmgirl Hugs,
Nicole
Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE
Chapter Leader, Connecticut Simpler Life Sisters
Farmgirl of the Month, January 2013
Suburban Farmgirl Blogger
http://sfgblog.maryjanesfarm.org/
www.facebook.com/suburbanfarmgirlblogger |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6797 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6797 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2016 : 09:56:56 AM
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Nicole so happy your garden is doing well.
The heat has taken it's toll on my plants but yesterday's rain breath live back into them. Looking forward to the fall harvest of my herbs.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth. |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2016 : 1:08:28 PM
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Yes, we're experiencing the same here. Our garden is coming in quite slowly this year, and what has come in was looking almost miniature last week. Then the heat and the rains came. Now everything seems to be growing well now. The great thing is that this year I've gotten quite a nice crop of beets and turnips coming in - both were difficult for me to grow in the past. The sunflowers are burgeoning this week - they're over 10 feet high! What a happy surprise, because I didn't even plant them. They simply re-seeded themselves! :) We've got a couple of pumpkins on the vine, a small watermelon, a few of another type of melon on vines, radishes galore, and my cucumbers are finally coming in. I see a single spaghetti squash, several small yellow squash; zucchini flowers abounding but no fruit yet. I've even got a bunch of carrots coming in, which are usually a difficult crop for me as well! There are a whole bunch of teeny assorted peppers coming in, along with lots of medium-sized green tomatoes (Planted over 20 plants, and also received multiple volunteers! Yee hah!). My cabbages look fantastic, my onions are almost gone (should plant many more next year!), the garlic is growing. We've had a lot of broccoli already, and now the next crop is coming in as well as the cauliflower. We've had and still have plenty of lettuce. The potatoes probably should be picked... I have kale that lived through the winter and started lots of baby plants, so we're good there. The sage came back from last year and is absolutely amazing; we have some thyme in the back garden, too, that worked its way through the winter into the spring sun. We ate all of our spinach back at the beginning of June... My three sisters patch looks amazing - the corn is tall, but no heads yet; the beans have little white flowers all over, and the candysomehtingorother squash plant is taking over the entire back of my yard! LOL! We have volunteer green beans near the compost pile (have NO idea how that happened, but happy they're here!), and the strawberry plants are just growing like weeds (very few fruit, I'm expecting more next year!). My fennel looks good... My celery looks so-so ('Never have been very good with that!)... And, sadly, the birds have eaten every sowing of peas we've planted, but I suppose its a small price to pay in order to hear them cheerfully singing in the morning. In the front we planted all sorts of herbs - basil, oregano, bay, thyme, holy basil, lemon thyme, Italian parsley, chamomile, lavender, echinacea, rosemary... everything is doing really well (so excited about the bay - it's a first for me!), with the exception of the thyme, chamomile and echinacea... The dog walkers let their pets roam into my aromatic garden and wham - no more of those herbs. Grrr... So not happy about that. We have had plenty of spearmint and peppermint, though, so that kind of makes up for the other stuff. It . Friends and neighbors have been picking away at it all season! Hope I can get some, too, before the season is over! LOL!
Two things I almost hesitate to note: (1) We have only seen a few squash bugs and cucumber beetles this year. Knock on wood. I squished whatever I could by hand (wiiiiiilllllllliiiiiiieeeesss!) and then used diatomaceous earth on anything else. Ladies at the doctor's office said they're coming, though - that we can expect them in August. I shudder to think about it, but I am vigilant and ready to fight them. (2) We have always always always had a problem with morning glories taking over. This year, we've had very few. I've pulled up whatever I've been able to find, and although we still have some, my efforts really seem to be working! YAY! Again... Knock on wood! LOL!
Happy gardening, girls! Nicole! I am so excited for you about the pumpkins!!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Edited by - Ninibini on Jul 27 2016 1:10:33 PM |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
6517 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
6517 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2016 : 4:59:21 PM
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NIcole, I don't have a garden but yours sounds like it is going great these days! It will be fun to watch all those pumpkins brighten up for fall and ohhh, the pies and bread they will make!!
Winnie #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Sister of the Year 2014-2015 |
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AuntJamelle
True Blue Farmgirl
569 Posts
Jaime
South Bend
Indiana
USA
569 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2016 : 06:11:36 AM
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This year DH decided not to put up the bright orange deer fencing around our garden. His theory was that the deer could jump over it anyway.
I've been explaining to him that we're just making it easy for them! For the first time ever, I've had deer eat a TON of my plants!
Both patches of regular cucumbers were hit hard early and are only sort of recovering. They ate a whole row of bell pepper plants and have taken the tops off most of my green bean plants but luckily the beans themselves seem to be doing fine down lower.
I've had a good crop of green beans so far, LOTS of zucchini and summer squash!!! Decent amount of pickling cucumbers and we're pretty much a bust on bell peppers!
My tomato plants are loaded but all still green. Not sure if my tomatilo plants are doing ok or not - LOTS of pods but a ton fell off already too and they weren't "done" - we'll see what happens.
I also have two rows of Great Northerns (saved seed from last years crop) and they seem to be growing well.
Our watermelon patch is a weed disaster - not sure what is going to happen there. DH was going to "take care of it" but he is just too busy - he's been over helping my BIL with work on his house constantly this summer and there just isn't enough time in the day!!! |
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forgetmenot
True Blue Farmgirl
3602 Posts
Judith
Nora Springs
IA
USA
3602 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2016 : 5:12:32 PM
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Lets put it this way...day before yesterday we had 5 tomatoes with one of them turning red. Yesterday we had no tomatoes. Nada. They had just disappeared. I suspect those pesky raccoons since we have no neighbors.
Oh, well. Such is life. We went to farmers market.
Farmgirl sister #3926
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the belief that something is more important than fear." Ambrose Red Moon |
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Madelena
True Blue Farmgirl
1919 Posts
Mary
Central
TX
USA
1919 Posts |
Posted - Jul 31 2016 : 2:12:37 PM
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Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! After 4 weeks of rain after putting my transplants in-- they grew about 9 inches.
Then the hot Texas summer began... Oh, little to no rain. The Zucchini plants are TALL --- but not a zucchini in sight. I guess the pollinators never dropped by.
And the cantaloupe are small scraggly plants. AGH!!!
I am bringing some Zucchinis from the grocery to my garden so my Zucchini plants won't feel bad. I'll let them pretend it's their babies!! Then I can tell people I did get Zukes from the garden this year.. Next year--- I'll grow something totally different. But what? We love these so.
So next week, if there is not a baby in sight, it's time to say goodby to my barren summer experience.
I mean really.....
"There is no unbelief: Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod and waits to see it push away the clod, he trusts in God." (Kate Douglas Wiggin) |
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Madelena
True Blue Farmgirl
1919 Posts
Mary
Central
TX
USA
1919 Posts |
Posted - Jul 31 2016 : 2:16:38 PM
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Nini,
I'm so jealous.! When I lived in NE Ohio, gardening g was so much easier and we had wonderful fruit trees too.
Keep it up, girl!!
M
"There is no unbelief: Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod and waits to see it push away the clod, he trusts in God." (Kate Douglas Wiggin) |
Edited by - Madelena on Jul 31 2016 2:17:03 PM |
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ceejay48
Farmgirl Legend/Schoolmarm/Sharpshooter
13564 Posts
CeeJay (CJ)
Dolores
Colorado
USA
13564 Posts |
Posted - Jul 31 2016 : 2:57:32 PM
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My garden is doing pretty good, although I was looking at it this morning thinking that it's not "spectacular" and I wanted it to be spectacular! Planted beets twice and each time, something destroyed them when they were about an inch tall. I give up on beets!
I believe aphids have chewed on my lettuce and kale, however I used Captain Jack's Deadbug organic powder on them and that does the trick.
Have harvested one picking of my beans, about 3 garden salsa peppers and some kale. Soon there will be eggplant and a few cherry tomatoes.
Tomato plants all have tomatoes on them, the jalapeno pepper plant has peppers on it. Carrots, leeks and parsnips look good and I have two potato plants. Didn't think there would be potato plants but there are two, which is fine.
Keeping the deer and bunnies out of there is a challenge!
CJ
..from the barefoot farmgirl in SW Colorado...sister chick #665.
2010 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
Mother Hen: FARMGIRLS SOUTHWEST HENHOUSE
my aprons - http://www.facebook.com/FarmFreshAprons
living life - www.snippetscja.blogspot.com
from my heart - www.fromacelticheart.blogspot.com
from my hubby - www.aspenforge.blogspot.com |
Edited by - ceejay48 on Jul 31 2016 2:58:08 PM |
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ceejay48
Farmgirl Legend/Schoolmarm/Sharpshooter
13564 Posts
CeeJay (CJ)
Dolores
Colorado
USA
13564 Posts |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Aug 07 2016 : 07:45:36 AM
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Mary - Waiting for all this produce to mature has been like watching a pot of water while waiting for it to boil! I am thrilled with the jungle of good stuff that is out there, but we have only been able to harvest lettuce, about a pint of cherry tomatoes, some broccoli, about four beans, a handful of different peppers and a single yellow squash. The weather has been so odd. We've had plenty of rain (as we always do in Pittsburgh) and the garden is well-nourished, but we had gotten a bit of a late start, and the heat really didn't come in until about two weeks ago. It's just so slow. I can feel my wrinkles forming as I wait! I am soooo concerned that everything is going to ripen all at once and then I'll disappear into the kitchen for a month with food preparation! LOL! But I am grateful, for sure! This is a LOT of production on a very small postage-stamp sized lot. We've tucked plants in wherever we could fit them!
Does anyone have any idea why my broccoli might not be flowering/forming a head? I planted plants a couple of weeks apart. The first plants rose up like overnight, and we had a strong harvest from them, but they quickly went to seed. The next planting is all leaves, but no heads... The third planting, done a couple of weeks later in a totally different plot, seems to be doing well, but I haven't seen any heads on them yet, either (not worried - they're still young). Is there anything I can do? It's so weird!
Thanks for your help!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Garden Gate: How does your garden grow? 2016 season |
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How does your garden grow? 2016 season
