Gardening 2024

[bwframe]

Threw the seeds from the last Sweet Meat winter squash, (ate a month ago,) under a pile of compost in the center of the just harvested garlic/onion bed. Pretty quick and solid germination with today's rain. We'll see how the growing goes...





Looks like a volunteer melon or cuke plant? It's not hurting anything for now. We can watch to see if it's desirable?

 

[gassprint1]

Threw the seeds from the last Sweet Meat winter squash, (ate a month ago,) under a pile of compost in the center of the garlic/onion bed. Pretty quick and solid germination with today's rain. We'll see how the growing goes...

View attachment 364934

Your guna be overwhelmed with lots of squash. Guess you'll be eating it till this time next year..lol

 

[bwframe]

Your guna be overwhelmed with lots of squash. Guess you'll be eating it till this time next year..lol

That's the idea.

I have a lot of winter squash in the main garden also, but last year the main garden squash mostly failed to bugs, disease and my bad timing.

This "afterthought" bed has produced wheelbarrows of squash the last couple years. This year, only planting the Sweet Meat. Years prior were a mix.

 

[gassprint1]

That's the idea.

I have a lot of winter squash in the main garden also, but last year the main garden squash mostly failed to bugs, disease and my bad timing.

This "afterthought" bed has produced wheelbarrows of squash the last couple years. This year, only planting the Sweet Meat. Years prior were a mix.

I put alot of broccoli seeds in july 2 and seen i had a few popping up earlier today. Just hope the plants mature before the frost this year. Frost took out broccoli and letus last fall.

 

[bwframe]

I put alot of broccoli seeds in july 2 and seen i had a few popping up earlier today. Just hope the plants mature before the frost this year. Frost took out broccoli and letus last fall.

Sometimes brocolli will survive a decent freeze, sometimes not. I have posted pics in one year's garden thread of eating fresh cut brocolli on Jan 1 of the next year. Also had it killed off from lesser freezes early.

Always a risk. But no risk means no harvest for sure.

 

[snapping turtle]

Threw the seeds from the last Sweet Meat winter squash, (ate a month ago,) under a pile of compost in the center of the just harvested garlic/onion bed. Pretty quick and solid germination with today's rain. We'll see how the growing goes...



View attachment 364934

Looks like a volunteer melon or cuke plant? It's not hurting anything for now. We can watch to see if it's desirable?

I planted some free be’s from the compost area. The squash seemed to be half pattypan white and half something else. (We ate three and pulled those) I have a few cukes for free coming just about to fruit. What I am hoping is a watermelon and one that appears to be cantaloup. Who knows what you get from these free plants.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I put alot of broccoli seeds in july 2 and seen i had a few popping up earlier today. Just hope the plants mature before the frost this year. Frost took out broccoli and letus last fall.

I'd been wanting to try planting late potatoes, but hadn't realized that it might be hard to find seed potatoes after the middle of June. I finally found a place online that still had some, but then I had to wait to plant. I just got them in the ground today before the rain hit. Hope they have enough time to get some decent sized potatoes before the frost gets them.

 

[Mij]

Not from my garden, but it’s Blueberry time again. MIL brought us 2 flats o BB’s. I’m gonna make more BB jam. Last year was great, this year I’m gonna add a touch of vanilla, maybe maple, haven’t decided. We’ve got two pints left from last year. We ended up with about 13 or 14 pints I can’t remember.

 

[gassprint1]

I'd been wanting to try planting late potatoes, but hadn't realized that it might be hard to find seed potatoes after the middle of June. I finally found a place online that still had some, but then I had to wait to plant. I just got them in the ground today before the rain hit. Hope they have enough time to get some decent sized potatoes before the frost gets them.

Never bought seed potatoes before. Years ago i had a bag of Idahos that started growing spurs or eys..whatever they're called. Decided to plant them and was good my first time. It was said that potatoes were sprayed so the spurs, eyes wouldn't grow so that you couldn't use them to grow with. I've always had potatoes grow spurs or eyes in bags if left long enough. It's been about 10yrs since i have grown potatoes.

 

[gassprint1]

Got my first 2 tomatoes today. Were supposed to be roma plants they came from. Look more like early girl or something similar. They are lil smaller than baseballs.

 

[snapping turtle]

Planted more cucumbers and summer squash as my older ones are petering out. Will get in fall peas soon but I need some non wet days.
second planting of corn is up and going.
first success with green beans after 3 previous attempts so fourth time is the charm and new seeds. I hope to get another row in later.
soon will be fall planting again.
right now I have so much to put up and the tomatoes

 

[Expat]

The bad winds blew down my 2nd and 3rd corn plantings. I did my best standing them back up, wait and see. Some were nearly completely uprooted.
Section of my pole beans blew over as well.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

Four more quarts of refrigerator pickles made today, cukes are still going strong but I did have to spray for powdery mildue. More color showing on the larger tomatoes, the wife and kids are eating small tomatoes daily. Cut some broccoli before it could flower, I don't have much luck getting large heads to grow. Getting more banana peppers but others are not as productive. Lots of recent growth in the pumpkin patch but no flowers yet; still have lots of time but that means lots of time for things to go wrong. The kids' mixed lettuce and sugar snap peas are still producing.

Cucumber trellis is about 8 ft tall

The pumpkin patch

 

[Expat]

Four more quarts of refrigerator pickles made today, cukes are still going strong but I did have to spray for powdery mildue. More color showing on the larger tomatoes, the wife and kids are eating small tomatoes daily. Cut some broccoli before it could flower, I don't have much luck getting large heads to grow. Getting more banana peppers but others are not as productive. Lots of recent growth in the pumpkin patch but no flowers yet; still have lots of time but that means lots of time for things to go wrong. The kids' mixed lettuce and sugar snap peas are still producing.

Cucumber trellis is about 8 ft tall
View attachment 366592
The pumpkin patch

okay, tell me about your structure. Is that all steel fence posts and welded wire fence? Give me the sizes on everything. Per my post above, what I did this year is not working.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

okay, tell me about your structure. Is that all steel fence posts and welded wire fence? Give me the sizes on everything. Per my post above, what I did this year is not working.

I have two 4' x 12' raised beds that are side by side in this section, along with my MIL's bucket garden and the kids' planters, as you can see. The trellis is pretty much as you said, six T-posts (8' iirc), a roll of welded wire fence, and some zip ties. The mesh is 2" x 4", but if I were to do it all over, I would look for 4" x 4" mesh, and make or buy narrower beds dedicated to the trellis, both to ease in harvesting. We have other things planted in these beds, and I can't get my hands through the mesh, so I've had to enlist my kids in helping reach for some things.

The biggest factor in our garden success for the past several years IMO has been the liberal use of rabbit litter mixed into the soil. My kids have 4H rabbits, and the manure is excellent fertilizer. It isn't hot, so it can be mixed directly into the soil, though we do add it to the compost bin for much of the year.

Let me know if you have any further questions. Honestly, it was a pretty spur of the moment thing; my wife had seen pics online of trellises made with hog panels bent to shape but we were out in the minivan that day so I got a roll of fencing instead. If we expand the gardening next year, I'll probably redo this in a dedicated bed with larger mesh wire or use this one for vining varieties of beans and/or peas that will be easier to harvest through the smaller mesh.

 

[Expat]

View attachment 366650

I have two 4' x 12' raised beds that are side by side in this section, along with my MIL's bucket garden and the kids' planters, as you can see. The trellis is pretty much as you said, six T-posts (8' iirc), a roll of welded wire fence, and some zip ties. The mesh is 2" x 4", but if I were to do it all over, I would look for 4" x 4" mesh, and make or buy narrower beds dedicated to the trellis, both to ease in harvesting. We have other things planted in these beds, and I can't get my hands through the mesh, so I've had to enlist my kids in helping reach for some things.

The biggest factor in our garden success for the past several years IMO has been the liberal use of rabbit litter mixed into the soil. My kids have 4H rabbits, and the manure is excellent fertilizer. It isn't hot, so it can be mixed directly into the soil, though we do add it to the compost bin for much of the year.

Let me know if you have any further questions. Honestly, it was a pretty spur of the moment thing; my wife had seen pics online of trellises made with hog panels bent to shape but we were out in the minivan that day so I got a roll of fencing instead. If we expand the gardening next year, I'll probably redo this in a dedicated bed with larger mesh wire or use this one for vining varieties of beans and/or peas that will be easier to harvest through the smaller mesh.

I don’t have any raised beds, just a big traditional garden. This will be for pole beans.
i hadn’t thought of steel posts. That by itself will probably solve my problems. i hate to go to fencing as it is just so hard to work with, the mesh might work with the steel posts.
i have 5 ft posts with fencing for my peas and I have fight the posts up to move it every year. The fence gets loose or hooked somewhere…

 

[bwframe]

Happy to run into this guy. Didn't see any last year, but did find a cocoon this spring.

 

[Bugzilla]

Bad week. F’ing ground hog burrowed into the fenced in garden. Ate the Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and chewing on a lot of the zucchini. Best looking cabbage we ever had. Haven’t been able to get a shot at him yet and added some deterrents to try to keep him at bey. Then the 35’ row of pole beans with beans on both sides (70’ of beans) somehow the storm lifted the support out of the ground and laid it on its side. Have 3” squares fiberglass posts every 9’ with 1/4” hog panel hanging on the posts for the beans to climb. Had to have been like a big sale. Was able to reset the posts and most of the beans look like they will survive. On a positive note, no other damage from the storms that pasted through.

 

[Bugzilla]

Bad week. F’ing ground hog burrowed into the fenced in garden. Ate the Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and chewing on a lot of the zucchini. Best looking cabbage we ever had. Haven’t been able to get a shot at him yet and added some deterrents to try to keep him at bey. Then the 35’ row of pole beans with beans on both sides (70’ of beans) somehow the storm lifted the support out of the ground and laid it on its side. Have 3” squares fiberglass posts every 9’ with 1/4” hog panel hanging on the posts for the beans to climb. Had to have been like a big sale. Was able to reset the posts and most of the beans look like they will survive. On a positive note, no other damage from the storms that pasted through.

The ground hog is now coyote food as the cycle of life goes on.

 

[Expat]

The ground hog is now coyote food as the cycle of life goes on.

Good. Ground hogs just suck. I think I have 5 this year, way down from last year.