TOO Garden Thread

[bowhunter1023]

Yes, I will till it under and plant turnips. I've had bad issues with cucumber bettles and some other bugs, so turning the dirt over will help with that. This soil is still a work in progress too. A decade ago, this was a white pine planting, so it's not great soil. Plus, it's hard clay, so it needs TLC. I'm doing a deep till with some lime, fertilizer, then purple top turnips that'll hopefully work up the soil a little.

 

[5Cent]

Weekly Friday update, 9/11.

Tomatoes & peppers:
Continue to get around this for daily hauls and they are still going strong with lots more to turn in next week or so. The mini bells are starting to turn more frequently and the normal sized bells continue to grow in size. No big ones close to size for ripening, hope they get there before end of the season.

Watermelons:
5 good sized ones at the property, 2 good sized ones at home with a few smaller ones. Dame as the sweetcorn, they loved being in the wide open sun on the property.

Pumpkins:
They have exploded and the insects continue to pollinate all the open flowers. Got a few baseball sized ones going. Still hoping there are some ready to pick for Halloween.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Adam is hitting stride and I'm back to baseline. Dirt looks good, but I know it needs love. One more tilling and a raking tomorrow, followed by a bag of lime, some 19-19-19, and some turnips. My neighbor winters several head of horses, so I'll cabbage his traditional waste pile in March to broadcast all over this before I till it up for Garden 2021. If all goes well, I'll be able to move some chickens in here for a while between the first few turns and planting.

 

[Big_Holla]

I blanched another 2 gallons of tomatoes Saturday as well as froze a gallon bag of peppers for the hot pepper mustard. Still have a lot of tomatoes coming as well as peppers.

 

[5Cent]

Snatched the first of the watermelons from the property this AM. Nice yellow ground spot and she weighs in at a hefty 18.5lbs. Looking forward to giving her a cut an try this evening with the boys.

 

[Big_Holla]

Good chance of frost tonight and I've got a lot of peppers and tomatoes that aren't ready yet. Any advice? Cover them or pick them?

 

[giles]

Cover

 

[Big_Holla]

That’s what I ended up doing. Most of it anyway.

 

[5Cent]

Did it end up frosting there? We are protected by the lake for a few more weeks unless a deep cold snap sets in.

If I was doing for $, I would cover if possible and if not, then pick. Since its only for fun/home kitchen, I let it ride until its all dead, taking what I can for as long as I can.

 

[Big_Holla]

Yes, was a decent frost out in the open areas mostly this morning. There are a few trees around the garden area and there wasn’t frost under them so I think that helped along with the tarp and sheets I used.

 

[5Cent]

Fri. 9/25 update:

Tomaotes - still going strong at both locations. Fear of not having enough cherry tomatoes is laughable at this point, struggling to give em away and they are still loaded.

Watermelon: The first big one off the property was awesome! Kids loved it, gone that same night, 18.5lb'r. Tried 2 from the current home and their dark green color confirmed they weren't ripe even though the ground spot was nice and dull yellow. They were light pink and had no taste. There are 5-6 more here at home that ill let go for another month and see if they ever ripen. Lack of sun.

The ones at the property are banging! Definitely going to increse the # of these grown and stagger them. Grabbed 2 more yesterday and have 2 left to get in the next week or so.

Pumpkins: property only in full sun and they are coming along nicely. 1 bigger than a basketball, others the size of cantaloupes and they are growing a lot everyday. So far I think there are 10-12 total over baseball size.

 

[5Cent]

Peppers: Still going strong on the mini bells and large bells are progressing nicely. Turning into little trees that want to topple so I routed the tops thru the cucumbwr trellis.

Maters in box at home

 

[Big_Holla]

Looking good Adam! I've kinda let things just go for the last week or so. Still have quite a few peppers I am hoping get a bit bigger yet. Tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are coming out of my ears now, can't quite keep up with them LOL!

 

[5Cent]

Overall the pumpkins started out OK, then really took off, then sputtered in Aug-Sept due to little rain. Once the frost hit, it was good night. We got about 8 pumpkins the size of a basketball out of the 20-22plants planted.

These 4 made the final cut for homegrown carving tonight. Hope they turn out alright lol:

Will definitely plant 2-4wks earlier next year.

 

[5Cent]

Final homegrown, homemade projects lol. Myles was not happy with the cut job on his design, he boycotted pictures.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Good stuff brother!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Mine is real purdy right now!

 

[Big_Holla]

I picked our last peppers on Tuesday and should have plenty now to make my hot pepper mustard. There are still tomatoes but really didn’t look at them that night. Pumpkins look great Adam!!

 

[5Cent]

Time to start thinking about our garden's new, and hopefully permanent, location and to start planning out fence installation.

Also time to start thinking about seed starting supplies, its just around the corner!

 

[Buckmaster]

I received four plant catalogs over the past week.