My hat is off to all of you that still do gardening of any size. I overdid it in my younger years, so now a few patio pots is all I can enjoy. Here is my garden about 1971. It was about an acre and once the rows were put up using equipment, then it was hand work. I spent a lot of time in the garden hoeing weeds. It was good therapy after my recent tragedy. It was a good way to work off anger and disappointment. Shunned male admirers started calling me a gardening hoe. After several years maintaining a row garden on my own and wearing out several hoes, I repented and went to raised beds. Now my elevated patio pots make me love gardening with no hoeing around involved.
Wife saw three "rabbits" when she went outside yesterday morning (they are actually snowshoe hares), so the garden will be in danger when planted. It means I will be wearing my revolver at all tiems around the property just to defend my plants unless the owls, hawks, or coyotes control them first.
@Faye Fox -- Success! The Bush Goliath seeds I put in the Aerogarden have sprouted. I have some little plants at last. Not sure if it's getting too late to plant them outside but I'll give it a whirl. I planted the "munchers" cucumber plants into the wooden raised bed earlier today so now I need to rig up some kind of trellis for them to climb. My jalapeno plant is covered with little peppers and the basil is taking over the world.
Yesterday evening we decided to prune the tomato plants and tie up some spreading branches on the larger plants. It was easy to do since we don't have a large garden and the tomatoes look much better. We also rigged a trellis for the muncher cukes in the wooden raised bed so hopefully they'll start climbing soon. We have had a bumper crop of pickling cucumbers so far and have really enjoyed them.
I have I have a waist high garden bed to spare my back and it’s enclosed by a five foot fence with string crisscrossed over the top. I mostly wanted string because it keeps away the birds, but last summer in came in handy when a moose cow thought she’d browse my greens over the fence. When her muzzle touched the string it was so confusing that she ran off and never came back!
Atta girl! I know you are a conservative babe, but a liberal pruning on tomatoes really pays off. Mine are at 21" high with lots of blooms but no little tomatoes yet. With all the pruning I have done, they are still plenty thick. So far I am loving these patio tomatoes.
Good morning to all- We have been eating some delicious fried green tomatoes, and I am coming to think that for where we live, that's the best way to get some good use from 'maters. We can't get fully ripe 'maters here- too many bugs, too many diseases, and the high humidity promotes rot, so... We'll let a few plants go and see if we get any ripe ones, but eating up the green 'maters is not too bad. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
Here are the Roma tomatoes; I can see these from my kitchen window... And the beefsteak tomatoes... And a few jalapenos that are almost ready... I noticed that my Fairytale eggplant is blooming so I'll be watching for baby eggplants!! The basil is bolting and the parsley is looking kind of tired so I might restart both of those.
Parsley shouldn't bolt on you as it is a biennial. The basil bolt issue can be helped if you conscientiously pinch off the buds as soon as they form. At least for us, the plant then branches and forms more leaves...unless you are growing Cardinal Basil which is actually grown for the red flowers that can be used to decorate salads and such.
The parsley is not bolting; it's just looking sad and is beginning to get bitter. I have been pinching the basil buds; it's a lemon basil plant and not good for much. It is quite fragrant when I pinch the buds off but I can't think of any use for it.
We have fences--electric and otherwise--to protect against moose predation too. We once had raised beds everywhere, although not waist high, and did away with them as we found the slugs (which we introduced from Walmart plants apparently) laid eggs between the edges and the soil. Our slug problems have been slowly going away every year since we leveled the beds. Wife is inventorying our stuff and we have 14 varieties of cabbage, 11 varieties of broccoli, 8 types of cauliflower, 4 types of Brussels sprouts, and 2 types of Romanesco among the cole crops.
My pickling cucumbers are getting out of hand. I picked another bowlful this morning so I decided to make a fresh quart jar of dill refrigerator pickles. I still have a lot of cukes so I need to figure out something else to do with them. I guess I'll stalk my neighbors and see if they'd like some more.
Don't see if they want some! put them on the porch, ring the bell and then run away! That way they can't say no.
Just pickle the buggers. Even hot water bath canning is not a big deal, and it doesn't take up your fridge space.
When I get overwhelmed by veggies, I take a few boxes to the Salvation Army food pantry. I know it is cheating but there are many who actually need fresh vegetables.