Garden Update..

[sjohnson9206]

Lots of pictures in my Photobucket..
http://s453.photobucket.com/albums/qq25 ... 010-06-19/

The garden..


Zucchini - Lost about 6 fruit to rot, and have harvested 4


English Cukes - Harvested 2, with another ready to come tomorrow


Local Variety of Cukes - Harvested 8, about 5 more for the next day or so


Cherry Tomatoes... I've had about 8 of them so far.. just waiting for some to turn red.


Roma Tomatoes - Just waiting for them to turn, have about 10 that are full size with lots more small ones


Red Bell Pepper... finally growing a bit


Whopper Tomato Variety


Brandywine Tomato


Onion.. I pulled the bud right after I took the shot


Strawberries - these are in their own bed by the house


Volunteer Squash... any ideas?




I desperately need to get in there and weed out my onions and garlic. The mulch has done a good job of reducing the weeds, now I need to get out there and finish the job.

I'm a bit on the fence about the landscape cloth. It's doing a good job in between plants, but it's a pain for around the plant you're trying to grow.

Also need to get out there and get the corn and beans planted.. hopefully the rain will hold off a bit for that.

[applestar]

Looking GREAT!! I'm surprised you have such well-grown toms and zukes/cukes but haven't planted corn and beans yet. Is it because of the rain? (I can't picture it, we're in a middle of a drought -- send your rain our way, won't you? )

The strawberries look YUM! Ours are done for now, waiting for the day neutrals to regroup and give us a smattering of berries, but the lack of rain is not helping.

[sjohnson9206]

Looking GREAT!! I'm surprised you have such well-grown toms and zukes/cukes but haven't planted corn and beans yet. Is it because of the rain? (I can't picture it, we're in a middle of a drought -- send your rain our way, won't you? )

The strawberries look YUM! Ours are done for now, waiting for the day neutrals to regroup and give us a smattering of berries, but the lack of rain is not helping.

We had planted 3 rows of beans, but we got hammered by rain and only about 1/2 came up. Hubby then tilled everything back up when it had dried to prepare for planting.. including a huge section of the front yard. Then the rain. Dried out, and we had a wedding to go to... then rain. Etc, etc, etc... the cycle continues.

I've had weeks where I couldn't mow the yard, and then this weekend was perfect... and now more rain. Could be OK... they say "Isolated T-Storms"

[jal_ut]

Looking good.

[tomf]

Looks good wish I could get some sun so mine would grow. I like the use of wire fence, gives me an idea to use it.

[sjohnson9206]

Looks good wish I could get some sun so mine would grow. I like the use of wire fence, gives me an idea to use it.

Thanks, but honestly, I won't use it again for tomatoes. For cukes and melons I'll definitely arch, but growing the tomatoes against it has been a bear, I prefer cages. JMHO, but I'm glad I didn't plant the big heirlooms against it.

[hit or miss]

Pop another fence panel in about a foot in front of the first, kinda making a tomato plant, fence sandwich. It works pretty well and you can tie between the panels to support the branches.

[mansgirl]

We've had a ton of rain up here too. From the looks of the fronts that have moved through the midwest it seems that Indiana has really been pounded with A LOT. Its currently raining and thundering here. Buckets and buckets. My poor zucchini are soo sick of it. Your zucchini look great. Especially compared to ours. They haven't even thought of GROWING, much less producing.

Would you recommend a trellis that slightly slopes for cukes (like the arch you have) or would I be OK with one straight up and down? I've never known you could trellis cukes until I found this site. I'm interested in trying it as my cuke hasn't done much in the past month (aka monsoon season) and I think I could still safely start it climbing seeing as it only has about 3 leaves.

Oh.. BTW, I'm also a fan of cages, even if I do end up having to string them together for stability in late summer. They're just so easy to put up and take down. And they're cheap enough where you don't have to worry about breaking them.

[sjohnson9206]

Pop another fence panel in about a foot in front of the first, kinda making a tomato plant, fence sandwich. It works pretty well and you can tie between the panels to support the branches.

Very true... and I thought about it... but cages are a lot easier. Last night I threaded and tied the vines with old knee highs. Next year these panels will be for the melons.

[Hispoptart]

Your garden is looking great.

[sjohnson9206]

We've had a ton of rain up here too. From the looks of the fronts that have moved through the midwest it seems that Indiana has really been pounded with A LOT. Its currently raining and thundering here. Buckets and buckets. My poor zucchini are soo sick of it. Your zucchini look great. Especially compared to ours. They haven't even thought of GROWING, much less producing.

Would you recommend a trellis that slightly slopes for cukes (like the arch you have) or would I be OK with one straight up and down? I've never known you could trellis cukes until I found this site. I'm interested in trying it as my cuke hasn't done much in the past month (aka monsoon season) and I think I could still safely start it climbing seeing as it only has about 3 leaves.

Oh.. BTW, I'm also a fan of cages, even if I do end up having to string them together for stability in late summer. They're just so easy to put up and take down. And they're cheap enough where you don't have to worry about breaking them.

Lots of rain is an understatement... my nectarine tree is pretty much a goner I think because I've got a river running across it. This week the 20% chance of rain has meant heavy rain, 20% of the day.. then heat and sunshine the rest. The positive side is growth in the garden is amazing. Plants are finally setting fruit properly and I think we're in business. Honestly I need to take more pics, the tomatoes have gone to town fruiting.

I love my arch for the cukes. I walk/crouch under it and pick my cukes. The plan was to plant some spinach under it so the cukes could shade it and help keeping it from bolting. I'm not doing that this year, no time. I think you'd have similar results if you grew with an upright panel, and would definitely save some space.

I'm upgrading my cages to the heavy wire, 54" cages. All my heirloom plants are in those and I'm loving how they're holding up. One yellow pear tomato plant crushed 3 of the flimsy cages last year. When the farm center runs them on super sale again, you better believe I'll pick up a ton more.. I grow peppers in the flimsy cages, they don't need as much support.

[farmerlon]

...I'm a bit on the fence about the landscape cloth. It's doing a good job in between plants, but it's a pain for around the plant you're trying to grow. ...

Yep, I have tried landscape cloth and plastic mulch in the past, and I was not a big fan of either. It seemed like I was always "fighting" with them, just kinda in the way, and a general bother.

I use Newspaper now, and that works a lot better for me.