[carbking]

The spring garden is about done. Only tomatoes and peppers still producing.

Weather was somewhat different than average. Between the intermittent heavy rains, and the heat, garden weeding did not go as planned; in fact had to weed the garden once with by weed-eater

Swiss chard did well, as did the zucchini. Green beans had the best results I can remember!. Peppers did well; and the tomatoes are up there with our best years.

The spring rains caused us to be about 3 weeks late with the garden. The turnips were good early; but the summer heat turned the turnips strong and so tough it required a chain saw to peel them, so we just plowed them under. Beets were just fair.

For those with similar issues, the electric fence COMPLETELY controlled the deer and the 410 controlled the rabbits. Since erecting the electric fence, have seen deer within 50 feet of the garden, with no interest in trying the fence.

And for the first time in 70 years of gardening, just finished planting a fall garden. Will be interesting to see how well this works.

Jon

[fyrffytr1]

Glad your garden did well. We had a very late hard freeze and it hurt all my plants and trees. No peaches, pears or lemons this year and only two figs which we let the birds have. Everything had leafed out and the fruit trees had plenty of blooms but the freeze got them all. Maybe next year.

[necdb3]

Originally Posted by fyrffytr1

Glad your garden did well. We had a very late hard freeze and it hurt all my plants and trees. No peaches, pears or lemons this year and only two figs which we let the birds have. Everything had leafed out and the fruit trees had plenty of blooms but the freeze got them all. Maybe next year.

Same thing happen to us here in Florida, we had a very bad year with mangos. We had a frost at the perfectly wrong time. Killed the blossoms.

[besserspat]

Our tomatoes ( ancestral varieties) are 3 weeks late but are producing, Kale is also a couple weeks late, Hot Peppers are doing OK and we had a decent Raspberry yeild.

The only thing that seemed to thrive this year is cucumbers, fine herbs like Oregano, Tarragon and Basil.

We also have to pick faster than the local groundhogs.

['ol Pinion head]

Same weather here Jon. We have a raised herb garden, & what seems like an endless supply of tomatoes, but that's it. With the certainy of fresh food supply shortages & even more outrageous pricing at local stores, we will be putting in a series of raised beds this Fall.

Anyone have success with a net type material to keep rabbits out of their gardens?

[vr1967]

Originally Posted by carbking

And for the first time in 70 years of gardening, just finished planting a fall garden. Will be interesting to see how well this works.

Jon

This year has been unusual weather wise here in SW MS. Didn’t get to even plant a spring garden due to it being too wet.

Haven’t been able to bale hay, or even just bush hog pastures its been so wet.

Want to break ground for a fall garden, but until it dries up some, will not be able to.

[carbking]

OPH - I tried the electric fence for the rabbits, but they hopped over the wire (7 inches off the ground). Will raise it an inch and one/half, and see if that works better. If not, the 410 works well, just loud.

We did use netting over the blueberries to keep out most of the birds. Three years ago, build an enclosure; keeps out all the varmints.

The possibility of the shortages and high prices is why I am trying a fall garden for the first time.

Jon

[dataway]

Our small new vineyard is doing great, should be producing nicely next year.

Garden and vineyard both probably owe their good results this year to a drip irrigation system we installed this spring. We can pump liquid fertilizer right through the system.

With the heat and lack of rain the irrigation well is doing all it can to recover each day.

Lots of open ground around our garden, I don't think the small critters like to cross it to get to the garden because of the hawks during the day and owls at night. Deer repellent seems to work great for the deer.

[John V.]

We have concluded that we don't have any ground that would support a garden so we've abandoned the idea of constructing a raised bed like I built in Fla. No area that gets much sun and whatever does grow, the Black Bears consume. Had a few sunflowers this year, the bears recently trampled them and picked the seed heads clean.

My wife did plant herbs in a planter box set-up that sits on our 2nd floor deck. It did pretty well. The deck has no outside access but a couple years ago a mama bear did climb the spiked corner post to climb up in search of food and raccoons have also visited. So it isn't completely safe from bears but better than down on the ground.

She also grew tomatoes in containers on this deck. They were doing great and since I'm the only one here that enjoys tomatoes, I was looking forward to eating them.

But just before the bulk of them were ready to harvest, we were invaded by Tomato Hornworms, a grotesque caterpillar if you're not familiar. They devoured the ripening crop and leaves. I picked them off and drowned them in a bucket but the damage was done. We did get a few peppers and cucumbers but without a true garden area, we are really limited.

My neighbor has a decent size garden but after 35 years of battling bears and losing, they gave up and planted flowers in it this year. They tell me they also fought deer years ago but they seem to have abandoned our area, we never see them except at somewhat lower elevations. But the bears make gardening a real challenge.

I'm jealous of Jon and all of you guys that enjoy such a significant harvest from your gardens. Jon, I've made note of the electric fence. Seems it will work for bears. We still lack sunshine on our property but I plan to discuss with my neighbor, I think they could use it to protect their garden.

[besserspat]

As for critters I've found that for a smaller garden ( 2000 sq-ft and less), I buy Cayenne Pepper powder in bulk . I sprinkle it by hand over what grows in the garden and sprinkle it only around some other plants that Id normally eat without washing much washing ( Raspberries, Kale, Strawberries, Vines)

Cayenne powder also works well against squirrels that chew on tulip buds and other flowers.

We are in the Northeast and spring was a least 3 weeks late this year

[carbking]

John V. - you might spend some time on one of the garden seed supply houses websites.

I know they have developed hybrid grasses and shrubs that grow in mostly shade; perhaps there are varieties of vegetables that would do the same. Gotta keep the bears happy!

And while the electric fence worked well with the deer, my idea of a hand-held vacuum for Japanese beetles did not work at all. Fortunately, we only had four all season, which I picked off by hand, and squashed.

Jon

[webfoot]

Also late in my neck of the woods, a friend who has a farm said he has never had to wait until July to start harvesting blueberries. Wheat harvest was also late here.

[nytrainer]

Just finished up our fall starts (carrots, turnips, all the brassicas, spinach, lettuce, snow peas, kale, etc) We have roughly 50 days to projected first frost here but we plan for a couple weeks past that. Second round of everbearing strawberry’s are ripe now too. We use shade cloth on the fall seedlings until mid August. We succession plant many crops (pickling cukes, basil, Zukes, corn, etc) so we still have a lot left to harvest. Our onions, garlic and potatoes are all picked and cured. Got about 100 lbs of Yukon’s and Pontiac (of course) Reds this year out of 4 -20 foot rows. Spaghetti squash, butternut squash are still going strong. We mainly grew Roma’s this year and there are possibly too many lol. We also grow different types of pumpkins mostly decorative types but are trying Connecticut Field Pumpkins this year to eat. Real space hogs though.
Have 2’ high raised beds we fill with rotting stumps etc (hugelkultur) and leaf mold, compost and native soil that we make from fall leaves, kitchen scraps, etc I’ve been known to take bagged leaves in the fall from neighbors. I use them all summer to keep making compost, etc. Luckily I have a tractor with an FEL to turn these piles. In our findings these raised beds outperform direct ground planting with side by side tests. To our amazement we get this harvest out of roughly 1/4 - 1/3 acre for this garden.

[dataway]

Japanese beetles ... please don't mention them. Todays count by hand was 172, traps I'm sure took another several hundred ... and that is typical of EVERY day for the last six weeks. I go out twice a day and clear the vineyard of them.

Started last August with the grub killer .. so there are actually about 50% LESS this year, will be putting down more grub killer this month to prevent next years crop. I have no idea where they are coming from .. I'm on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

[Half-Inch Stud]

What is a 410?

Basil plants are thick and tall; making pesto weekly. Collard greens & Banana peppers robust too.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are embarrasingly weak.

[hurryinhoosier62]

This is the first year I haven’t raised a garden in two decades. A blown out knee and gardening do not mix. That hasn’t keep me from canning. Should be finishing up the green beans this week. Made our supply of peach preserves yesterday. Still need to find Roma or Amish Paste tomatoes for canning.

[Shiny]

We took the camper out for 2 weeks in May so got a late start, with exception of snap peas. Abandoned starting seeds indoors this year - lots of work and mess so we just bought starts. Neighbor has a new greenhouse business and prices were good.

We did not work at it too hard this year but the snap peas did well before it got hot. We planted bush beans this year and the tiny little plants produced a surprising amount of green beans.

We aren't thrilled with the varieties of summer squash we were able to buy as starts but they are still pumping them out.

Tomatoes are growing and starting to produce, but the plants are kind of meh... We had soil analyzed and the lab said "leave it alone" but I suspect we could have used some mineral supplements or something...maybe I'm watering them wrong?

As to pests - last year we learned about squash bugs. They wiped out all of our plants. The "natural" pesticides were laughed at. This year, I rolled over and used Sevin. It works... I would enjoy using the 410 but that seems like overkill for a squash bug.

Our beds are in what I call the "prison compound" as the lawn rats (deer) are thick here. The rabbits are having a good year but they have not figured out how to build ladders yet so we have been pest-free. Weeds are a different story!

This is the first time we have really tried to garden and we have some fun with it. The little yellow pear tomatoes are a real treat.

We have a couple basil plants that are doing well - will try the pesto idea!

[madeuce50]

Banner year for Blueberries in northern NH, blackberries doing well in the moist areas, We net the blueberries, chase the wild turkeys out of the yard and 4 strands of 50lb test monofilament fish line on 6ft fence posts usually keep the deer out.
Veggies are a mixed bag this year, lots of string beans, kale did well, looks like a good parsnip crop, tomatoes late and small, cucumbers did poorly. "summer" squash varieties just OK, usually enough to share with the neighborhood, not so much this year. 2 hours of the two of us in the berry patch, 3+ gallons.

[carbking]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

What is a 410?

Basil plants are thick and tall; making pesto weekly. Collard greens & Banana peppers robust too.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are embarrasingly weak.

A 410 is a 0.410 caliber shotgun; smallest one of which I am aware.

Not an expert, but believe the 410 to be the only shotgun measured as a caliber; others are measured by gauge.

They do a terrific job on rabbits.

Looney Tunes and Disney got it all wrong about Bugs Bunny. Rabbits don't really like carrots; but two adult rabbits will wipe out a 50 foot row of beets in an evening, by eating the tops. Guess it is more sexy to have Bugs waving a carrot, than a hand-full of beet tops! And his comment "whats up, doc" will change to "help, doc" if he ventures into my garden!

Jon

[carbking]

I find interesting posts from those doing elevated beds, etc.

Seems there is always some self-annointed expert writing a column on how to garden in various local papers.

Items my Dad tried:

(1) Hanging tomatoes from a suspended pot. Didn't work, vines broke where they hung over the pot
(2) Tomatoes and peppers in 5-gallon buckets. Didn't work, impossible to get the proper water level in the bucket.
(3) Potatoes in tires. Just keep stacking tires and dirt. Worked to a degree, but digging the potatoes was a real pain.

One trick Dad devised himself:

After pouring the concrete in a 20 by 40 garage (mixed by us in a small mixer, ouch!), we had a part of a roll of concrete reinforcement wire left. We cut it into 56 inch lengths, and then welded up the sides to form cylinders 18 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall. Set out the the plants 18 inches apart, and when the plants are about 2 feet tall install the cages, sticking the bottom end into the ground. Tie them together at the top, and drive a steel post at each end of the row. The grid on the wire is 6 inch, so plenty of room to pull the tomatoes, and the cage row keeps the plants upright, even when hit with the wind storms we occasionally experience.

Also works well on cucumbers.

Jon