Tennessee 2022 Garden

[imafan26]

I haven't grown a melon in a long time. I don't have enough space for them and fruit flies love them. I used to grow sugar baby watermelons, but I will get 1-3 fruit it total. They are sweet and a good size for one or two people but very low yielding for the space they take up.

[Gary350]

Look out for these red ants in your garden. I saw the first 1 in the garden July 20. I saw 2 in the garden 2 days ago. I saw 1 in the driveway, 1 in the grass, 1 on the patio. The 1st one I saw alerted me to watch for them. They come out early morning and late evening when temperature is cooler. An hour ago I moved melon vines looking for ripe melons and out comes a red ant. I cut the ant in 1/2 with the shovel. Now I am paranoid about crawling or setting in the garden. I have seen no cow killer wasp yet this year.

[Gary350]

Watermelon #6. I have never had yellow watermelon before, it taste like red watermelon. Eat yellow melon in the dark you don't know its not red. LOL. Weird.

[Gary350]

I picked several ripe tomatoes today. I turned a jar of pickles into relish to have with lunch. Zinnia are a big attraction for birds & butterflies there are a dozen butter flies in each picture. Finches like the sunflower plants they still have not eaten all the seeds. Lemon grass has taken over the 6' tall sunflowers. 2 rows of strawberries look good. I am making two 34' rows of tomato plants planted about 12" between plants from tomato seeds. I don't want the tomatoes, I just want to see how well they grow and now much space they take up. I have a lady from India than wants all the tomatoes she freezes them whole.

[Gary350]

Mistake. Sweet bell peppers do not like TN hot 100 degree weather, they do best with full sun all morning cool part of the day then full shade 12 noon to dark. I made a mistake assuming hot peppers will do ok growing with sweet bell peppers, hot pepper love hot 100 degree weather and no rain for a month. Hot peppers don't like shade.

I cut down several plants and trimmed tree limbs hot peppers are doing better but sweet bell peppers have stopped producing peppers. Too late to dig plants up and move them. The advantage of having too much shade for sweet bell peppers this summer is, we had lots of sweet bell peppers all summer, we have never had sweet bells peppers June to Sept it is always too hot. Sweet bells usually wait and produce 40 big peppers per plant the month of Oct.

I am seriously thinking about cutting down the 4 sweet bell pepper plants freezer is full of sweet peppers. I don't think I will every grow sweet bell peppers again, sweet Carman peppers are much better choice for us they like hot weather same as hot peppers and produce sweet green & red peppers all summer. Carman peppers will NOT turn red in the kitchen, you must leave peppers on the plants to turn red color. We want all Red peppers flavor is better than Green.

Photo shows what I picked today. I will slice these & put them in the freezer. I have too many Jalapeno peppers it might be time to cut the plants down. Reason I never buy 1 Jalapeno plant is, 1 plant is $5 and 4 pack is $2.47.

[Gary350]

I count 7 large watermelons. I still have trouble telling when cantaloupe is ripe by looking at it. YouTube say, push on the stem if it breaks off its ripe. Applestar said, cantaloupe needs to ripen 3 days in the kitchen. I trimmed melon vines shorter. 2 of the melons are getting near 20 lbs. These nice purple flowers return every year but fruit is hollow as a ping pong ball. There is a very large brown rabbit in the yard this morning cat looked at it but decide rabbit is big as her so she didn't chase it. Dog looked at rabbit too then went back to sleep. LOL. Brown Thrasher birds is making a different sound than 2 months ago it sounds like someone flipping a screen door spring, weird sound over & over every 5 seconds every evening.

[greenstubbs]

The way my Mom taught me on how to pick a ripe melon is to give a push on the Blossom end of the fruit, if it gives a little it's ready. Most store bought are hard as a rock! Most melons also will change color as they ripen, cantaloupe's will turn to a grey, honeydews will turn to a yellow, and H20's will turn from the 2 shades of bright green to a bleached-out shade of green. The tendrils will dry out and look dead, also the bottom of the melon where it sit's on the ground will almost be yelow.

[Gary350]

The way my Mom taught me on how to pick a ripe melon is to give a push on the Blossom end of the fruit, if it gives a little it's ready. Most store bought are hard as a rock! Most melons also will change color as they ripen, cantaloupe's will turn to a grey, honeydews will turn to a yellow, and H20's will turn from the 2 shades of bright green to a bleached-out shade of green. The tendrils will dry out and look dead, also the bottom of the melon where it sit's on the ground will almost be yelow.

I applied for a watermelon picking job once they told us, roll the watermelon over if the bottom is yellow pick it. If bottom is white roll it back. Also green & white strip melons turn green & yellow.

[Gary350]

CARROTS. I am getting ready to plant carrots July 15. I did this 20+ years ago it was the best TN carrot crop I ever grew but now I found a better way to germinate seeds quick and plant seeds easy with good seed spacing.

Put seeds in a jar of water inside the 73 degree house they start germinating in 2 days. Mix 2 cups of water with 4 tablespoons of corn starch to create a thick jell for the seeds. Put jell and sprouted seeds into zip lock bag then cut off the tip end of 1 corner of the bag. Jell can be squirted into rows, rows spacing is 2" apart. Hopefully seed spacing will be very near 1" to 2" apart. I will practice squirting jell seed mix on kitchen counter top to check out seed spacing before squirting jell seed mix into the carrot bed. Add NO nitrogen is needs to be low to prevent forked carrots. I tilled soil 6" deep, I added a lot of organic material then tilled soil 3 more times to get a good even mixture. After planting seeds I will cover with a layer of potting soil. Germinated seeds should take off growing very quick in this warm weather. Carrots should grow much faster in warm weather than spring time 40/50 degree weather. Our weather is getting cooler already and first frost is only 10 weeks away. We often have 65 degree weather until Christmas. Last year we had no winter weather until 2nd week of Jan.

Package of 500 carrot seeds were $3 free postage on ebay.

[Gary350]

I gave melons calcium that solved the BER rot problem NOW melons can set in the garden until they are 100% yellow color. I decided if watermelons are ripe when they turn yellow cantaloupe should be ripe when they are yellow. I examine cantaloupes every day, yesterday 1 was yellow & today 2 are yellow. Cantaloupe is very sweet & very good. Strawberry short cake is good too.

[imafan26]

it looks really yummy.

[Gary350]

What are these worms?

[told2b]

Tomato Horn worm?

[Gary350]

Today I picked all the Jalapeno peppers. Last week I cut down Poblano & Banana peppers and they grew back. Pepper plant stumps are growing new limbs & new leaves. Today I cut down Jalapeno peppers and left stumps. I want to see how much progress pepper plants can make before first frost Nov 5th. Tomorrow I will cut down Tabasco pepper plants & leave stumps. I did not know peppers will grow back. If I plant peppers again I should be able to keep plants cut down small 3 ft and not let plants get 6 ft tall.

This morning I cut 3 plastic grocery bags into streamers to use for markers. I marked the Zinnia flowers I want to save, red, orange, yellow, purple. I think seeds from red flowers will grow more red flowers. I am saving seeds from flowers that have no black center.

[imafan26]

Using the bags for markers is a brilliant idea. I don't save that many seeds. Most of the time they just drop and come back on their own. That is what is happening with the nasturtiums. The seeds are sprouting. However, with the nasturtiums, no matter how many colors I plant, only the orange ones come back.

I have replanted seeds of the hot pepper with no name, and valentine tomato. I am trying to start seeds from cinnamon basil. It works better when it reseeds itself. Rama basil does reseed regularly, so well that I have to pull up the seedlings as weeds. The wild bitter melon the birds planted are again on a rampage and I have to pull those out too. Alyssum does reseed and the seeds are heavy so unless they get weed whacked, they stay pretty much in place. The birds ate all the sunflower heads so there wasn't anything to reseed. Most of the plants, especially the shrubs and trees in my yard are intentionally chosen because they do not readily reseed. I have cut down the palms and I am still picking out the palm seedlings. All the other tree seeds are from the weedy trees around me like the African tulip, fukien tea, fiddlewood, allspice, and wild asparagus fern. If I don't catch them soon enough, only an herbicide can kill the root.

[Gary350]

2 ripe cantaloups today, both are good.

[Gary350]

Yesterday evening about 20 minutes before dark a Mexican girl came to get the 4 Tabasco pepper plants. I cut the plants off and she put them in her car. She said, her mother & grandmother love hot spicy food, we have a very small garden but we don't know how to grow anything. She is retuning maybe this evening to get, tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, onions, garlic. Maybe I can give her a quick lesson how to grow vegetable plants. 10 weeks away from first frost wait & see if Jalapeno stumps grow more peppers before frost.

These cool 60 degree mornings sure feels good setting on the patio watching the sun come up with the, cat, dog, birds, Zinnias & butterflies. We have a wren that chirps its lungs out but makes no sound. I have been seeing this wren all summer & wondering why this birds is so quiet. This morning the wren landed a few feet away from me then chirped over & over for several minutes but no sound. It must be a birth defect.

[Gary350]

After several days in a jar less than 5% of the carrot seeds have roots. Roots look like a tiny 1/8" long white color hair. 1 seed has a 3/8" long root. I get the same results planting carrot seeds in the garden 95% never grow. Maybe seeds need more time to germinate. Nice thing about seeds in a jar I can see what is happening, can't see that when seeds are planted directly in the garden. I need to start rinsing seeds every day with muddy water instead of clean water sprouted seeds need some food. I will hold off planting seeds in the garden long as possible 10 good seeds is a waste time. It will be good if 250 of the 500 seeds germinate before planting in the garden.

[Gary350]

Another ripe watermelon & ripe cantaloupe. It has been a week sense we had a ripe watermelon. We are eating ripe cantaloupe every day.

[Gary350]

I need my garden to flush like a toilet. Yard is shaped like a dinner plate garden is the low area. It has been raining hard for 2¾ hours, our storm radio keeps going off. TV says severe storm warnings, average # of lightning strikes 195 per min across 3 counties. This is actually good I can see both strawberry plant rows are above the swamp plants should survive our 4 ft of rain this winter. Too much rain melons & tomatoes will split open. We have been in drought warning for a week garden soil is soaking this rain up fast.

[applestar]

You might want to put bricks, concrete blocks, or maybe upside down plastic bowl/basket under those melons?

I think the mounded rows work very well to avoid the heavy rains as well as allow the beds to be irrigated well in/after drought.

[Gary350]

You might want to put bricks, concrete blocks, or maybe upside down plastic bowl/basket under those melons?

I think the mounded rows work very well to avoid the heavy rains as well as allow the beds to be irrigated well in/after drought.

I had forgotten about that until you mention it, melons will rot setting in water & mud. Tomorrow evening I will put my mud shoes on then place a short piece of 2x6 board under each melon. If I step in garden now I will probably loose my shoes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0kS7Jj9Svk

[Gary350]

I can't believe I'm doing this. I am putting sprouted carrot seeds in the bottom of a 1" deep hole. I found another YouTube video of a person that sprouts carrot seeds in a wet paper towel. Every day look see how many new seeds have roots then drop them in a 1" hole and cover them up. 100% germination for sure. My glass jar is too deep & my tweezers are too short. Baby food jar & 6" long tweezers will be much better than what I have. I need to get all these seeds on a wet paper towel then my tweezers will do better. Curiosity has gotten me interested but I can't see planting 500 seeds with tweezers. LOL. How will I be able to see white color hair size roots on a white color paper towel. Maybe a brown napkin.

Yesterday I put muddy water in the carrot seed jar and today sprouted seeds roots have suddenly grown from 1/8" long to 1/2" long and 1 seed has a 3/4" long root. I put down boards to keep my knees from going 6" deep in mud. Pencil holes do not cave in with mud. Most of the water has drained so mud is not gooey sticky. My flash flood rain today.

We have a back log of 1 week of ripe tomatoes in the kitchen. 1 week old tomatoes are sweet as sugar tomato flavor is amazing good. I ate 2 tomatoes for lunch & 1/4 of a cantaloupe with a small chicken sandwich. Wife said, I'm not hungry yet I will eat later.

[Gary350]

Michigan potato grower farms have irrigation. With all the rain they get if their crop benefits from irrigation then my TN potato rows need a soaker hose buried right down the center of each row side by side with seed potatoes. Maybe this is the trick to growing potatoes in TN. I had already thought of covering plants with white color shade cloth to shade plants after 12 noon when temperatures are 85° or hotter.

Every time I find a Kennebec potato growing in the pantry I plant it in the garden. So far 10 plants, I hope to have 30 plants. After 60 days in the soil plants start growing new potatoes. My pepper plants need to be gone they are shading the potato plants.

[Gary350]

Yesterday wife said, no more peppers the freezer & pantry are full. This morning I picked all the peppers & cut down all the plants. 142 peppers.

[Gary350]

I picked another watermelon, this is so GOOD, this is why we grow a garden you can't buy melon this good in the grocery store. WOW what treat this is. Some are better than others, I wish they were all as good. This one is good right down to the green rind. I cut pieces to fit 2 plastic savors then we ate the rest.

[Gary350]

About 8 am I started working on planting 500 shin kuroda carrot seeds. I did the math to see how many 32" long rows I need for 500 seeds, about 5 ft of rows or 30 rows. Math shows I need about 1 pint of jell liquid for 30 rows. I mixed 4 tablespoons of corn starch with 1 pint of water stir & heat it jelled at about 160°F. I placed cook pan in sink of cold water. I went outside to carrot bed I see 1 of the germinated seeds I planted a few days ago has already grown a carrot plant. I rakes soil smooth then marked my rows by eye with a board about the width of a yard stick. Jell has cooked down to 79° so I stirred in the germinated carrot seeds then put jell in a 1 gallon zip lock bag. I cut the corner off the bag slight smaller than diameter of a pencil. I squeezed the bag and moved along at a fast enough speed to keep the jell diameter smaller than the diameter of a pencil best I could. It worked out good very near 5 ft of carrot bed 32" wide, 23 rows counting the row I did a few days ago. Then I covered seeds with about 1" of soil. Next I need a way to keep hot sun off the soil so seeds finished germinating and soil stays wet. I rigged up some, stakes, plywood, and a white color window curtain for shade, there should have good air circulation like this. Wait see what how well this works this was about 1 hour work.

[Gary350]

This year we have been enjoying melons more than we ever did in the past. It sure is nice to have good ripe melons in the frig all the time. I picked another ripe very sweet good flavor melon this morning. Every time I slice melons 1 or 2 slices just vanish and never make it into the savors. LOL.

[Gary350]

It was hot & sunny all day with few clouds most of the garden mud dried up by 6 pm. Most of the 12 strawberry plants I got from neighbor John are growing 3 & 4 runners each. I have to put stakes on both sides of runners to hold them in place 2 days for them to root. Original plants were 2 ft apart now there are 14 more plants. I need to check plants every day to guide runners in the location I want them. Some of the new plants are starting to grow runners too. If the plants keep growing at this speed there might be 100 new plants in another month. I went to Johns house his strawberry patch is 4 ft wide 30 ft long plants are 6" apart, rows are 6" apart, wow that is about 400 plants. No wonder he has so many berries. I didn't know plants will grow runners this year.

[Gary350]

Fantastic harvest!

What will you do to preserve all those onions? Remember that sweet onions have shorter shelf life.

FYI — Vidalia has its own webpage —

Storage & Handling | Vidalia® Onions
https://www.vidaliaonion.org/resources/ ... -handling/

When stored properly, our Vidalias can last as long as 1-2 months on the counter, or 3-6 months when placed into refrigerator veggie bin (mentioned below).

I forgot to mention we have several zip lock bags of frozen onions in the freezer. WOW I'm loosing it can't remember how to spell freezor, glad I have spell check. Can't tpye anymore wtih having a typo in ever word.

[Gary350]

The 1st melon in this row looks ripe it needs to come into the house. 3rd melon in the row will be ripe next. 4th melon will be rip 3rd. 1 cantaloupe might be ripe in 2 weeks.

Seeds I tried to start a few weeks ago in trays still have not germinated. Seeds I planted directly into the soil are germinating. I planted 25 seeds each, so far, 2 broccoli, 3 cauliflower, 1 cabbage, 1 Pac choy. Maybe its too hot for seeds to germinate, it was 93° today, in the 90s last week, 90s forecast all 7 days next week.

Its 7 pm an almost dark already. Days are getting shorter by 2 min 8 sec per day. Sept 12 days are shorter by 2 min 14 sec for 2 weeks. Then we change to daylight loosing time and it gets dark at 5 pm. Dark is depressing plants won't grow.

I put levees on strawberry plants so water will soak in and not run away.

[Gary350]

Another good watermelon. Its almost bed time, too late to eat melon or you know what happens. LOL

[Gary350]

I am learning new things about strawberry plants. If the new leaves on the new runners get mud or dirt on them they rot and die. Runners seem to grow about 1" per day. New plants grow fast too.

We had several days of rain & mud soil barely had a chance to dry out then more rain & mud. I finally get a chance to inspect strawberry plants 3 runners rotted in the mud & 3 runners rooted in a location where they need to be moved.

I runner grew into a full size plant only 4 inches from the mother plant so I dug away all the soil around the plant and moved it to become plant 13 in the row. I need to move 3 or 4 more plants to complete the row. This is my first transplant I hope it does not die.

I am not allowing runners to grow West in the direction of the onion bed. Soon as space between all 13 plants is filled in all the runners need to go East. I might be able to make these plants migrate East far enough to make a 2 foot wide strawberry patch before first frost about Nov 5.

Sun was going down & dark clouds with thunder I though it was going to rain so I worked fast moving runners & transplanting 1 strawberry plant. Runners only grow 6" to 7" long if I get too many new plants on the East side of the mother plants runners will need to be planted in small pots to transplant where they are needed which could be 12" to 24" from the mother plants.

Once runners grow roots & grow a new plant the runner dies leaving the new plant to grow on its own.

Don't let runners tough soil before they are 6" long other wise they try to grow roots too chose to the mother plant. I think I will soon be forced to let runner grow west because, South, East, North will be filled in with new plants. I will be forced to let runners grow west so I can transplant them on the East side. If I had only known what was about to happen I would have planted the 12 mother plants 18" farther East and let runner migrate in all directions.

One more interesting thing, After a runner grows a new plant the new plant starts growing runners. If I end up with 100 plants by Nov then all 100 plants will grow strawberries in May.

Pictures are not organized in any order I did not have time.

[Gary350]

Tue morning 7:30 am, now that there is enough sunlight to see I count 14 new strawberry plants and 8 runners & 13 plants in the strawberry plant row. 13+14= 27 plants and 8 more = 35 if all the runners root & grow plants. The transplant looks good this morning. TV claims storms are on the way. Yard stick shows 3 more plants will finish the strawberry row.

I removed carrot bed cover plants need sunlight. From east side of garden I can see 4 watermelons that are not visible from west side of garden. No big cantaloups at the moment only small ones.

I cut grass early yesterday morning, around & around we go blowing all the grass clippings to center. Nice pile or clipping. I need grass clippings to pot strawberry plants so soil don't stick to the pot.

Humidity is so high camera lens fogs over in 5 seconds, I have to wipe lens clean then take pictures quick. Temperature in the house is 73° and temp outside is 70°.

[Gary350]

This morning I planted seed potatoes 1 day early, my target date was Sept 1st. This is my LOGIC scientific crop. Planting in warm weather should grow quick plants. Planting in March plants don't grow they wait for warmer weather some seed potatoes rot before plants grow. 3rd month is when plants start growing new potatoes that will be Nov 1, we have 70 degree days and cold nights and more rain than summer. Plants above the soil will freeze off Nov that is ok plants don't need tops to grow new potatoes. No energy lost growing tops maybe more energy will go to grow tubers. I only covered seed potatoes with 1" of soil. Later I will cover soil with pine needles. New potato skins are always ruff as sand paper & dark color I think soil needs to be slightly more acid so about mid Nov I will water plants with vinegar water. Seed potatoes with the best looking eyes are at the south end of this row. I used a string & level to get a level row I hope we don't have a swamp problem until Nov. I picked this row location because it gets lots of sun.

[Gary350]

Another good watermelon. I sliced it in 2" thick pieces then cut off the rind. 2 more savers of watermelon in the refrigerator. I get hot outside when I come into the house I eat cold melon instead of drinking water. I can't eat melon fast enough.

[Gary350]

NO Blight?

Last summer I was wondering why tomato plants have late blight every year. Tomatoes never had blight for 35 years. When I started using tomato cages plants had blight every year. This year NO tomato cages and NO blight. Explain that? I found information online that said, poor air circulation and too much rain will cause blight. Summer here is usually hot and dry as desert we have already had 4 times more rain & more humidity than normal and NO blight. I wonder if zinc coated rust proof tomato cages cause blight. This year I used cement rebar, I tie plants to steel bar as they grow taller. I also removed suckers until plants became 7 ft tall. NOW plants have turned around and are growing down, tops look like bushes & still no blight. I should have taken a picture before I picked these tomatoes. I spray plants every evening with the water hose. 6-12-12 is perfect for tomatoes 1 hand full once a week.

[Vanisle_BC]

I've had late blight on tomatoes just once, more than 10 years ago. Then I read that to avoid it, the plants should only be watered at ground level and never allowed to stand for long with wet foliage. I built a poly cover for my tomato bed and have never again had blight (fingers crossed).

[applestar]

I don’t think my plants are getting blight, but I’ve noticed that sometimes, sections of leaf stems or branches, sometimes the vine stems will turn brown/black and give me a scare.

Most of the time, there seems to be a correlation between the apparent lesions and string support or wire trellis (mine tends to be wire fencing but sometimes plastic coated tomato cages) that were touching or rubbing, especially after a windy day.

(I do remove those leaves or branch sections as a precaution, and keep an eye out for additional symptoms. I also had some fruits get bruised in the same way that almost made me panic.)

Considering the number of tornadoes and severe storms you get, Gary350, maybe the plants that are loose get whipped around and beaten up (black and brown … sorry couldn’t resist ) inside the tomato cages, whereas they are less likely to get bruised when secured to the rebar….?

[Gary350]

I made a garden mistake this year. I forgot that 2 rows of 6 foot tall pepper plants will shade tomato plants that are already under a shade tree. That is probably why tomato crop was slow & small then after pepper plants were gone tomato production increased. Tomato plants are still under a shade tree but doing much better with 5 hours of early morning sun. Today we have enough tomatoes to fill a 1 quart jar so we made chili again with 1 large onion & 20 good size garlic cloves. I had chili for lunch its a tiny bit spicy I put a few Jalapeno slices in it.

I needed to replace alternator on the Honda but it keeps raining on & off so I have been drawing garden pictures of next years garden. Next year I plant, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, garlic, onions, melons, strawberries and Zinnias.

During the winter I study the garden to make sure no tall plants shade small plants. Make sure plants that require full sun all day are in a location that has full sun all day. Tomatoes get sun burn in our hot weather they need early morning sun then shade after lunch. Next year corn in rows 1 to 4. Strawberries 6 & 7. Onions & garlic 8 & 9. Melons 10 to 14. Strawberries row 15. Tomatoes need to be in row 19. Row 15 is Allstar Strawberries wait and see what they taste like then we decide if we want to keep them. Strawberries in row 6 & 7 are from the neighbor. I will fill in the empty rows with Zinnias.

I learned if I sprinkle seeds in the yard grass they all grow. Seeds work they way down to the soil, they are shaded down there where the moisture is. I sprinkled Zinnia seeds in the front yard 2 days ago wait see what happens. Zinnia seeds in back yard started producing flowers 2 days ago seeds were planted a month ago.

My rain gauge says, 7/8" today. Several place near us got 7.5", 7", 6.5", 6", 5", 4" today. I looked at strawberry plants some of the runners grew 2" longer in 1 day. Plants much like rain & cloudy weather.