I have a yellow and pink knockout rose, which are lovely when they first bloom in the season. When the weather turns really hot, the Japanese beetles show up and the roses and some other of my flowering plants get devoured by them.
I just pruned the bottom branches on the potted bush tomatoes and they look awesome and growing with a sturdy main stem. I am very impressed so far. I am thinking with these tomato's growing in pots, that attention to pruning down growing branches and maybe in time topping, may lead to less supporting a fewer hoop stakes.
We are heading into winter at a fast pace ( Australia ) I just went out and checked my garden and I have pumpkins coming up where I buried veg scraps ..bit odd … My winter tomato plant is doing very well , last years winter tomato produced very well and because we had a very cool summer it continued to grow and produce all summer
I do very little pruning of bush tomatoes, as it generally reduces the yield. Indeterminate is the other way around. They MUST be pruned to keep them under control.
Good morning to all- I sure enjoy reading about other folks and how they garden in their particular locations. In one of my books Lessons Learned from Living in the Country- it's an ebook - I wrote in some detail about how home gardens are very location specific and that what works in one location may not work at all in another garden. So far this year, we've done quite well. Lots of onions already pulled and hanging in storage, lots of lettuce, spinach and other salad greens, lots of brocolli, and now we're getting bunches of yellow summer squash. We'll be picking green beans in a week or so. I do so enjoy growing veggies and then eating them up. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
As a general rule, harsh pruning during the right stages results in heavier yields. With potted bush tomatoes, removing the lower branches about 3" up when they are about a foot high, allows the plant to have a sturdier 6" branch free trunk when it reaches 2 feet in height. That will result in a heavier yield.
I have never pruned tomatoes of any kind. I do pinch "suckers" but that's it. My raised beds are pretty overgrown so I need to pay more attention to the type of tomatoes I choose next time; I will be sticking with dwarf or patio type plants going forward.
I picked more cukes today and made a jar of refrigerator pickles. Hope they turn out better than the fermented ones. And I'll be picking cherry tomatoes in a few days.
I spent a lovely wet afternoon with two of my daughters today. Cathy pulled a lovely root system of chocolate mint for me out of the lawn where it had escaped from her garden. We went about gathering and tasting some spring weeds with Donna, my challenged but apparently game daughter. We pulled some trophy sized dandelion roots for roasting and Cathy was going to come back with a better spade to dig some burdock. This week we will cover over the garden with tarps and manure to kill everything off before turning it over. Cathy didn't like the disorder last year. Says we will plant vegetables in rows this year(what a novel concept) and the pumpkins and squash in the orchard. Tune in next fall to see how that turns out.
Rows make irrigation and weed control easier, at least on a large scale. That is why farmers do it. Good luck @Mary Stetler!
We do plant in rows, generally but everything got away from us last year. Tomatoes uncaged went where they willed. Pumpkins climbed into the potatoes. Parsnips left to seed second year bushed into cruciferous veggies...I was miffed to find I was sent climbing beans and not bush beans. Beans I plant heavily in rows to find a tangled mess. It was a good thing we like weeds. our select weeds did well. Mallow, borage, nettle, lambs quarters...not so much of the stubborn deep rooted grasses.