OFFICIAL 2011 Garden thread

[88GT]

Just a few quick pics.

Bell peppers. This is the first picking from two plants ( minus the one I used for dinner tonight . I have seven plants total!!

Jalapenos. Pickings from one plant. I have four but the other 3 are way behind in ripening. Which is good because the tomatoes are just now starting to turn.

I'll have to get some pics of the rest of the stuff tomorrow.

 

[duff]

Let some of those peppers stay on the vine a bit longer. As they turn red the bells get ALOT sweeter and the hot peppers get a bit better too, IMO.

My peppers were very slow this year. Just now getting ready to have lots of peppers set on the vine. I love peppers and really disapointed this year.

Looks like I got my garden thiefs, 1 gray squirrel and 1 fat possum. Nothing since the first day My tomatoes took a hard hit and just now getting some turning red again. Dang thieves

 

[grunt soldier]

yeah i put up a fence around mine yesterday too. something (i think it was my chickens) was getting in and tearing off only the ripe tomato's, eating 1/4 to 1/2 of it and leaving it. i checked this morning and no loss so far, lets hope that stops the problem lol.

duff my peppers aren't the greatest this year either. my jalapeno's have seemed to stop flowering. i probably have 75 or so jalapeno's on the plant but last year they flowered and produced up until they basically just died.

 

[88GT]

Let some of those peppers stay on the vine a bit longer. As they turn red the bells get ALOT sweeter and the hot peppers get a bit better too, IMO.

My peppers were very slow this year. Just now getting ready to have lots of peppers set on the vine. I love peppers and really disapointed this year.

Looks like I got my garden thiefs, 1 gray squirrel and 1 fat possum. Nothing since the first day My tomatoes took a hard hit and just now getting some turning red again. Dang thieves

Yes, but letting them turn red also signals the plant that the season is almost over and production starts winding down. As long as they are picked green, the plant will keep producing, although production falls off as the days go by.

I get plenty of red at the end of the season.

 

[grunt soldier]

Yes, but letting them turn red also signals the plant that the season is almost over and production starts winding down. As long as they are picked green, the plant will keep producing, although production falls off as the days go by.

I get plenty of red at the end of the season.

i've never heard this before. that could explain why my peppers aren't flowering anymore. i guess i should go pick those off.

 

[XtremeVel]

i've never heard this before. that could explain why my peppers aren't flowering anymore. i guess i should go pick those off.

Yea, and peppers aren't the only thing known for that. If you let certain squash and cukes grow to the point their seeds mature, that will signal the plant and the production will drop off drastically.

If a sweeter pepper is desired than the green variety, just pick a type such as the " golden bell " then you wouldn't have to worry about it. We find the golden bells are even sweeter than the reds.

 

[mattdennis3]

Quick question for the experts out there. We are growing butternut squash for the first time this year, and just wondering when to pick them? They are pretty good size, but they haven't turned that golden/yellow/tan color yet. Should we wait it out some more, or start picking?

Thanks for the help.

 

[88GT]

i've never heard this before. that could explain why my peppers aren't flowering anymore. i guess i should go pick those off.

See, this thread is doing its job.

Lots of flowering plants do this. Some produce one crop of flowers and that's it. Tulips and the other bulbs/tuber-ish ones are the most common. But for those with the traditional root system, they will keep producing provided the flowerings aren't allowed to "go to seed." When you see recommendations to "dead head" it is an attempt to remove the dying flower before it triggers the plant to go into seed production/dormant mode. And as long as it doesn't receive that trigger, it will keep producing flowers.

 

[grunt soldier]

hum. i like my jalapeno's to get red as they are usually hotter and so this year i was letting them go and there is no flowers on them now at all. yet my banana peppers which some have gone to red are still producing like crazy. i picked all the red ones off just in case but i hope they start flowering and producing more. i love to make salsa and freeze them and i won't have enough to do both right now

 

[duff]

Yea that is new to me as well. I had an old garden that had great soil (Wabash River Flood Plain) and lots of sun. The dang peppers would have peppers all year long that would turn red and produce a boat load but it could have been the conditions. Now I cant even get the dang plants to produce but moved and now my soil is poor at best and sun is limited due to trees and a building. I'll take what I can get and now can't wait for the peppers to turn red. Have to get them off the plant before my kid picks them and eats them out in the garden...

Thanks for the lesson

 

[bwframe]

It's embarrassing. I've been extremely busy so weeds have taken over everything that isn't mulched. Still encouraging to know that grocery visits are optional though:

 

[DarkRose]

It appears my pumpkins live again...

Went out tonight and the vines are STILL growing, all the way up and back down a 4ft trellis now, and pumpkins forming again, so we'll see what happens...

 

[88GT]

It appears my pumpkins live again...

Went out tonight and the vines are STILL growing, all the way up and back down a 4ft trellis now, and pumpkins forming again, so we'll see what happens...

Excellent!!!!

I was just performing a little more surgery on mine and think I might have sliced into the main stem just a little too much. : And I was getting some good pumpkin production too. Hopefully it weathers the insult.

My peas have all dried up despite regular watering. Maybe it just wasn't enough. My green beans aren't producing nearly what they did last year. And my carrots have popped just a little bit. Thankfully they're sufficient size to pull, but I was hoping to give them a little more time.

The good news is that my peppers and tomatoes, all varieties, are going gang-busters. The dry beans are progressing nicely (and climbing even though they are supposed to be bush beans). The sweet potato is taking over the entire bed. And my cantaloupe experiment seems to be a success. Corn has a lot of ears. I just hope they don't get wormy like last year.

The jury is still out on the peanuts and potatoes. This is my first year for both of them so I'm not certain what to expect.

Still, I consider it a successful year overall.

 

[duff]

I picked a few watermellons this week and they were tasty but small. My seedless mellons are putting alot of fruit on so I hope to get a few more from them in a few weeks. My peppers never did squat this year. I have about 12 very nice looking plants and have only been able to get 3 peppers. My jalapenos have been doing fine just not my bells.

We finally got a bit of rain again this morning so hopefully that will refresh some of our garden again that I don't typically water.

Cotton picken squirrels have been back eating ever freaking red tomato I get. Come on Aug 15...Going to get a few newby hunters over and let them thin the heard a bit!

 

[grunt soldier]

i fenced mine and its keeping the chickens and squirrels out for now. tomato's have blossom end rot but are still doing great, peppers are really producing now also even my bells finally. my cabbages are huge and delicious, watermelons and cantaloupes are booming, pole beans are covered i need to pick them but i'm not stoked about them as the strings are crazy tough. i'll have to peel them out. i'm pretty happy about it so far. my potato plants are dead and i've begun digging them up and there is some monsters on every plant and then some as big as a quarter lol. but i've dug up about 5 plants and i have over 50 potato's, so trying to figure out how to store them for the winter lol. i'm about to freeze a bunch of jalapeno's and banana peppers in a bit. i love gardening lol

 

[grunt soldier]

anyone ever seen a watermelon bleed? here ya go. i have no idea whats wrong with it but the general consensus on ar15 is it grew to fast and just started splitting. and a few other pics.

this is from about 4 potato plants

some watermelon's growing

cantaloupes. there is so many of these things growing i have no idea what i'm going to do with them all lol. there is really probably 6 in this picture just hiding.

tomato's and cabbage. still growing like crazy

 

[hooky]

My pole beans have been blooming like crazy, but we've only gotten a couple of messes to eat, nothing to can. I've got some more seeds and they're 65 day. I'm thinking of planting them this week and seeing if I can get some before the frost. Has anyone planted beans this late and had success?

 

[grunt soldier]

if you planted some 45 day contender bush beans you might get lucky as long as september doesn't get to cold to quick (and this year anything is possible lol) but anything with more days than that and your probably not going to have any luck at all.

 

[hooky]

if you planted some 45 day contender bush beans you might get lucky as long as september doesn't get to cold to quick (and this year anything is possible lol) but anything with more days than that and your probably not going to have any luck at all.

I might go that route. I can always throw some visqueen on the bushes if it gets ugly.

 

[RichardR]

I yanked a few cantaloupes & wow! they are without a doubt the most delicious mush melons I've ever grown, I know, I know I've said it before but I am very very pleased with my garden this year.