vja4Him Summer Garden 2008

[vja4Him]

Worked in my garden a little this morning, and soaked everything really good. Looks like most of my squash plants died ... This is the worst summer garden I've ever had in my whole life!! Wonder if maybe there was some kind of disease that has wiped out most of my summer plants.

I've lost all of my cucumber plants, most of my melons, and now the watermelon plants appear to be nearly dead. Lost some of the tomato and pepper plants!!

But .... the good news ... What few plants are still alive seem to be doing ok. I should have lots of tomatoes, including: plumb, cherry, pear, and several other varieties. The bell peppers are taking forever, but might make it. Have several varieties of hot peppers ..... My roommate and I tried out one yellow banana pepper each .... those things are really hot!! I thought they were sweet and mild peppers ... Sure got a surprise!!

All of my greens are still coming along very nicely. More swiss chard is popping up unexpectedly .... Mustard greens are thriving, despite triple-digit weather .... kale and collard greens are still producing so much, that I can't eat enought to keep up with the plants ....

I'm looking forward to fall and winter planting. Our growing zone is #14, which is one of the best growing zones, so I can plant all year long! Will be planting peas and beans soon. Must get some mulch and more sticks .... Maybe in the morning I will take care of that.

[TigerBunny]

Welcome to LAD VJ...good to see another gardner here. I personally don't have one right now ( apartment ) but I sure did enjoy them. Couple of folks here who do so you are in good company.

Blessings

[vja4Him]

Can you have plants outside where you live? I've had several apartment gardens. Had strawberries growing at one apartment on our balcony. Another apartment grew canteloupes and tomatoes. I grew the canteloupes in one gallon jugs (milk, water, juice), and I actually got canteloupes that were good to eat!! They were small, about the size of a softball, but very good to eat. I had the tomato vines tied up with twine, and would keep tying the vines ... produced lots of cherry tomatoes.

You could easily grow greens inside with a grow light. Mustard greens are fast producers, and if you keep the plant growing, just pick the leaves, you will get lots of fresh, delicious greens to eat!!:happy:


Welcome to LAD VJ...good to see another gardner here. I personally don't have one right now ( apartment ) but I sure did enjoy them. Couple of folks here who do so you are in good company.

Blessings

[Joe S]

You know I forgot to ever post new pictures of my garden, and now it's all gone but the tomatoes and peppers. The peppers have all been undersized. My corn was good eating but only 1/4 the harvest I expected; many stalks were earless. Squash vine borers killed my summer squash just when they got going good. My potatoes had no potatoes. My garden has been pitiful. One of my worse ever- and I worked harder than ever at it.

The drought is getting severe here. We are 10" low on rain. I hope to have a large fall salad patch to can some greens, as my Swiss Chard was puny.

[vja4Him]

What part of the country are you in? If you can grow at least some greens all year, try growing several varieties of mustard greens. They are great for salads, soups, or whatever. I mix in my greens with a wide variety of grains. I try different mixutres of grains. Some of the grains I use include: barely, wild rice, brown rice, black rice (both long and short), white rice (my boys like it better!), maize ....

Sometimes I put my garden greens in with my monster salad (cottage cheese, cheese, raisons, grapes, olives, tomatoes, peppers, or whatever ...). I feel so good when I eat more greens, especially fresh from my garden!!

My garden this summer has been a total disaster!! Must have been hit with some kind of disease. I haven't seen very many pests. My greens are almost completely pest free!! When I cut the leaves to bring in for cleaning, I see hardly any bugs at all!!

And, praise God!!!, I have seen no slugs or snails at all, not even one!!! I have never had a garden in my entire life with no slugs or snails ... !!!! Wow!!! That is amazing ...

What few tomato and pepper plants I have left seem to be coming along pretty good, but very slow to maturing .... I still have swiss chard popping up all around the garden area. I let everything go to seed from the fall and winter. Mustard greens are still popping up everywhere ... So I probably won't need to replant that variety of mustard greens. I will plant other varieties. Still have lots of packages left.

I lost my potatoes too ... The plants were growing healthy, then they starting shrivling up and died. I seriously need to get some mulch ....


You know I forgot to ever post new pictures of my garden, and now it's all gone but the tomatoes and peppers. The peppers have all been undersized. My corn was good eating but only 1/4 the harvest I expected; many stalks were earless. Squash vine borers killed my summer squash just when they got going good. My potatoes had no potatoes. My garden has been pitiful. One of my worse ever- and I worked harder than ever at it.

The drought is getting severe here. We are 10" low on rain. I hope to have a large fall salad patch to can some greens, as my Swiss Chard was puny.

[Tallen]

Had a wonderful meal of vegetables out of the garden, last night.

Well they weren't out of my garden, but my brothers. But they were out of the garden.

He is now working on next years garden. It will be a couple of acres..., sheesh.

He's retired though.

[vja4Him]

A garden with several acres of space .... !! Man, I would love to do that!!! Our landlord gave me a small space, but it should suffice for now. I will have lots of peas and bean, with plenty of greens, for the fall, winter and spring.

Is your brother growing the garden just for his family? That's a lot of garden space ....


Had a wonderful meal of vegetables out of the garden, last night.

Well they weren't out of my garden, but my brothers. But they were out of the garden.

He is now working on next years garden. It will be a couple of acres..., sheesh.

He's retired though.

[TigerBunny]

Can you have plants outside where you live? I've had several apartment gardens. Had strawberries growing at one apartment on our balcony. Another apartment grew canteloupes and tomatoes. I grew the canteloupes in one gallon jugs (milk, water, juice), and I actually got canteloupes that were good to eat!! They were small, about the size of a softball, but very good to eat. I had the tomato vines tied up with twine, and would keep tying the vines ... produced lots of cherry tomatoes.

You could easily grow greens inside with a grow light. Mustard greens are fast producers, and if you keep the plant growing, just pick the leaves, you will get lots of fresh, delicious greens to eat!!:happy:

We are in the "basement" apartment area so unfortunately not. We do have a few unkillable spider plants inside though. Good thing too...my wife...uh...has a way of killing plants. :medium-smiley-010:

[Tallen]

A garden with several acres of space .... !! Man, I would love to do that!!! Our landlord gave me a small space, but it should suffice for now. I will have lots of peas and bean, with plenty of greens, for the fall, winter and spring.

Is your brother growing the garden just for his family? That's a lot of garden space ....

Yeah, mostly for family and friends. He grows thing like 100 pound pumpkins and use to plant 14 acres of popcorn. But he mostly likes to garden, hunt and fish. Gives me fifty pounds of potatos every year. :medium-smiley-011:

[Athanasius]

Worked in my garden a little this morning, and soaked everything really good. Looks like most of my squash plants died ... This is the worst summer garden I've ever had in my whole life!! Wonder if maybe there was some kind of disease that has wiped out most of my summer plants.

I've lost all of my cucumber plants, most of my melons, and now the watermelon plants appear to be nearly dead. Lost some of the tomato and pepper plants!!

But .... the good news ... What few plants are still alive seem to be doing ok. I should have lots of tomatoes, including: plumb, cherry, pear, and several other varieties. The bell peppers are taking forever, but might make it. Have several varieties of hot peppers ..... My roommate and I tried out one yellow banana pepper each .... those things are really hot!! I thought they were sweet and mild peppers ... Sure got a surprise!!

All of my greens are still coming along very nicely. More swiss chard is popping up unexpectedly .... Mustard greens are thriving, despite triple-digit weather .... kale and collard greens are still producing so much, that I can't eat enought to keep up with the plants ....

I'm looking forward to fall and winter planting. Our growing zone is #14, which is one of the best growing zones, so I can plant all year long! Will be planting peas and beans soon. Must get some mulch and more sticks .... Maybe in the morning I will take care of that.

Too much rain, maybe? We are in an arid zone, but have gotten a lot of rain this monsoon season. However, I don't have any zuchinni at all, and only one lousey crooknecked squash. Usually I get some zuchinni. I do have Siberian tomatoes, but the arugala went to seed too quickly to have a meaningful harvest. Weeds are doing just great.

[Athanasius]

What part of the country are you in? If you can grow at least some greens all year, try growing several varieties of mustard greens. They are great for salads, soups, or whatever. I mix in my greens with a wide variety of grains. I try different mixutres of grains. Some of the grains I use include: barely, wild rice, brown rice, black rice (both long and short), white rice (my boys like it better!), maize ....

Sometimes I put my garden greens in with my monster salad (cottage cheese, cheese, raisons, grapes, olives, tomatoes, peppers, or whatever ...). I feel so good when I eat more greens, especially fresh from my garden!!

My garden this summer has been a total disaster!! Must have been hit with some kind of disease. I haven't seen very many pests. My greens are almost completely pest free!! When I cut the leaves to bring in for cleaning, I see hardly any bugs at all!!

And, praise God!!!, I have seen no slugs or snails at all, not even one!!! I have never had a garden in my entire life with no slugs or snails ... !!!! Wow!!! That is amazing ...

What few tomato and pepper plants I have left seem to be coming along pretty good, but very slow to maturing .... I still have swiss chard popping up all around the garden area. I let everything go to seed from the fall and winter. Mustard greens are still popping up everywhere ... So I probably won't need to replant that variety of mustard greens. I will plant other varieties. Still have lots of packages left.

I lost my potatoes too ... The plants were growing healthy, then they starting shrivling up and died. I seriously need to get some mulch ....

The potato thing sounds like blight.

[Joe S]

I'm in Virginia. We just got a good rain from that tropical storm and I have bought the seed for my big salad patch. Mustard, turnips, kale and cress. Remember them from the 60's? :P

These greens will grow into November here usually. Light frosts seem to make them taste better. The ground freezes hard in winter, that usually ends the salad patch.

Now I have to find time to plant.