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Alright...here's my pseudo-jornal for this year's garden. After a pretty successful go in my first ever full year with a garden, I'm still going to keep things relatively simple, while trying a new thing or two.

My plan is to have ten tomato plants of five different hierloom varieties (Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine [Red], San Marzano, Valencia, and Cherokee Purple), two each of red and orange California Wonder peppers, and some various hot peppers (jalapeno and something else). I planted my garlic last fall, and everything looks really good so far - all 20 plants survived our less-than-hostile winter, with two of the plants lagging behind just a bit. The garlic bed consists of Chesnok Red, German Porcelain, and Silver Rose. I'll also be sowing some cucumber seeds directly in the ground (one pack of burpless seeds and another for pickles). My cukes went nuts last year, but it was a pretty haphazard planting, so I'll plan a little better this year. For herbs, I'll have a sweet basil plant or two, some parsley, and cilantro.

Most plants will be in the ground, though I'll probably have two tomatoes, two peppers, and some herbs in pots.

And just today I planted my first ever onion and shallot sets. I planted them each in their own long container - six shallots in one and ten white onions in another. I planted them so their tips were poking up in a mixture of potting soil, compost, and native soil. It was a last-minute decision to do this, mostly because the local nursery was having a buy-one-get-one-free on the sets, so if it comes off then I'm already ahead for the year! It'll be great to have homemade fresh pico de gallo with everything except the limes direct from the home garden!

I'll do my best to keep this updated with pictures. If I'm lagging, it probably means my garden leaves a bit to be desired and I'm embarrassed to show it off.

Quick update (hope to have pictures tomorrow):

The tomatoes and bell peppers showed up yesterday, so I potted them in 14-16 oz. cups and am hardening them off. They'll probably have to wait to go in the ground for another 10 days or so (after a work trip next week) - my wife will be their caretaker while I'm gone.

The onions and shallots started sprouting a couple days ago - that was really fast! The shallots are putting out a lot of shoots, and the onions are coming up here and there. I also planted some of the leftover sets as green onions about three days ago, and some of those are already poking through.

My garlic seems to be struggling a little. A couple of the plants simply stopped growing, and it doesn't seem they want to do anything else for now. I also have some yellowing leaves on my plants, which my or may not be standard procedure - I really don't know since I've never planted garlic before. I went ahead and put some fish fertilizer on them a couple days ago to see if that might help, but so far it's only served to have the dog and (I believe) racoons dig around in the bed! I lost one of the small plants altogether in that melee, but I think I've saved the other two that were dug up...I think. I also put some compost on the bed yesterday to see if that might help.

Cucumbers will be direct-sowed in about 10 days, and herbs will go in the ground or in pots (depending on available space) around the same time (or maybe a little later).

Oh yeah, I can't use any kind of fish fertilizer, the raccoons and cats just go crazy digging everything up to get to it.

rainbowgardener wrote:Oh yeah, I can't use any kind of fish fertilizer, the raccoons and cats just go crazy digging everything up to get to it.

Thing is...I used it last year, and the only critter to dig for the "hidden fish" was my dog!

I just ordered the hardware needed to make AACT, so I'll be giving that a whirl this year. Should keep the pesky next-door racoons away...

A couple picture updates - all taken yesterday.

White onions in the container at the top - two white onions, a shallot, and a bunch of green onions in the bottom. You can't really see in this picture yet, but the green onions have already started poking up and are even further above ground today:

[img]https://img594.imageshack.us/img594/3899/dsc0015es.jpg[/img]

Shallots - these are looking really good:

[img]https://img3.imageshack.us/img3/373/dsc0013mc.jpg[/img]

Garlic. As you can see, there's quite a bit of yellowing and some wilting - the one at the top right was one of those dug up by what I think were raccoons and I'm hoping makes it after replanting. Perspective is pretty poor - I'm sure I could take a better picture:

[img]https://img856.imageshack.us/img856/9416/dsc0009di.jpg[/img]

Tomatoes and bell peppers in their cups. Some of the lower leaves on the tomatoes were a bit wilted today. I'm not sure if it's a standard part of the hardening process, but I hope it stops!

[img]https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9595/dsc0001ir.jpg[/img]

Looking good - lots of green shoots and plants starting off there.

Good luck!

Thanks, mhannum.

The onions and shallots are really starting to shoot and are looking very healthy right now, but the garlic is a worry. Of the 20 plants I started off with, one was lost to the raccoons and two others are struggling after the "attack." There are probably four or five that are looking really strong, while the others seem to have stopped growing or are yellowing and wilting. I'm not sure what the deal is.

I'm hardening off the tomatoes and peppers as we speak. I'll plant them next weekend, assuming my wife doesn't kill them while I'm gone!

Taking the dog for a walk today, I noticed some folks who have already planted their tomatoes and peppers. While they may get lucky and the frost holds off the next 7-10 days, it's really taking a chance putting them out right now. Of course, those folks probably didn't order heirlooms online and aren't concerned about losing them like I am!

Good points - the early, warm weather we have around here can fool folks into thinking planting early is safe... it might not be! Even this past night, there were still frost warning around parts of Maryland and points north, so it's not yet safe to put everything out in the garden.

I hope your garlic recovers - critters can be such pests at times. I live in an apartment, so all I get are birds and squirrels on the balcony, but even the squirrels can be destructive, though they are cute when they're behaving.

Almost all planting was completed yesterday. My wife successfully hardened my tomatoes and bell peppers while I was gone for almost a week, and I picked up some serranos, jalapenos, basil, cilantro, and parsley at the local nursery yesterday. So far, I have planted:

Ground:
Mortgage Lifter (2)
Brandywine (2)
Valencia (1)
Cherokee Purple (1)
San Marzano (1)
Orange Bell (2)
Red Bell (2)
Serrano (1)
Jalapeno (1)
Chesnok Red (~6 in fall)
German Porcelain (~6 in fall)
Silver Rose (~6 in fall)
Basil (2)

Container:
Valencia (1)
Cherokee Purple (1)
San Marzano (1)
Shallot (7)
White Onion (11)
Green Onion (~6)

I'll probably be putting a serrano and a jalapeno in one of my last open locations in the ground later today or sometime this week. I may also just pick up another five-gallon pot and plant in them instead. I'll be direct-sowing a few cucumbers in the ground in the next few days, as well. Cilantro and parsely will probably go into pots.

It was hard work getting everything planted, but the feeling of accomplishment is always so worth it! Picture of the setup to follow...

Nice line-up. Sounds like you're going to be eating well very soon!

BTW, I wanted to thank you before, for posting the photo of your shallots. I had been uzzling over the cluster shoots because I'd totally forgotten that I planted some shallots.

No problem, applestar! I haven't been able to take pictures today, but I hope to tomorrow. You should see the shallots right now - they've absolutely exploded! The onions look really healthy, too. The garlic looks to have recovered pretty well - I think the shot of fertilizer and a layer of compost has really helped.

Looking forward to posting a couple pictures and showing off my setup.

Update:

After a cool down, the weather has started to warm up nicely, with the warm weather plants responding really well. Everything is looking good, though the peppers are understandably a little slow to get started. Finally got some pictures...

Our garden - picture is taken facing just about due north. My wife came up with the layout - she's the artistic brains of this outfit! This used to have a big playset in it, but we tore it down when we moved in and decided to make it a garden. In the center is an Italian Plum we planted last year. It'll eventually shade the back of the garden, but I'll enjoy growing sun-loving plants there until it does.

Bell peppers and tomatoes dominate the rows inside the circle, though I have two basil plants growing in the row to the back right. Beyond that is my garlic. Onions and shallots are in the containers just in the foreground - dahlias line the outside of the circle. There's a San Marzano in the big container at the right, and a couple other tomatoes to the center left. A jalapeno and a serrano are in the two slightly smaller containers to the right. I sowed cucumber seed earlier this week in the soil along the fence - that fence is a great place for the vines to grow. We also have another jalapeno and serrano out of the picture to the left along the shed, which is also out of view.

[img]https://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3782/dsc0021nt.jpg[/img]

Shallots on the left, white onions on the right. The round container in the front right is mostly white onion sets planted deeply for green onions - there's one shallot and two "regular" white onions in there:

[img]https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4065/dsc0020cj.jpg[/img]

Garlic. The plants at the back aren't as big, which I actually think is more to do with the lack of direct rainfall they get (there's an overhang above). They get plenty of sun until about this time of year when the house shades them a little longer than the plants in front. I'll utilize this section differently this fall/next year.

[img]https://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5199/dsc0023ckf.jpg[/img]

First tomato truss! This one is a Cherokee Purple planted in-ground - the plant is about ten inches tall.

[img]https://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8724/dsc0025xc.jpg[/img]

Some sort of leaf damage on a San Marzano. A couple plants have this, but it doesn't seem to be spreading at all. I'm thinking it may have been damage from putting them in too much sun when first hardening off. If anyone has other ideas as to what it might be, I'm all ears.

[img]https://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7809/dsc0026lq.jpg[/img]

This my runt. It's a San Marzano, and it has some of the same damage as the plant above does. But it's been settling in and has started putting on some more growth in the last week.

[img]https://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3990/dsc0028sbf.jpg[/img]

Two volunteer tomatoes - first volunteer I've ever noticed. I had a Roma and a Pink Brandywine in the area last year, so I'm surious as to what they are. There used to be another, but I thinned it out. I'm trying to figure out what to do with these - do I transplant them? It's pretty vcrowded in there already - this is between two bell peppers in the foreground of the overall garden picture.

[img]https://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3208/dsc0027jp.jpg[/img]

Peach tree. We planted this last year, and it's exploded with growth! I'd guess there are about 150 small peaches on it right now, which is completely unexpected! We've started losing a few, so it seems the June drop may be on its way. I'll thin this out pretty good once the drop ends. This is really a beautiful tree!

[img]https://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9727/dsc0029nr.jpg[/img]

Sorry for the long post, but I'm really excited about things this year. Last year was my first real go at a garden, but I feel like I've learned a ton from that experience and from reading a lot since then. Hopefully I don't overthink things though. Just got to get things in the ground and keep on top of it!

Beautiful!

The leaf damage on the San Marzano does look like sunburn, from too much direct sun while it was still tender.

Thanks, rainbow! Putting the garden together last year was a real labor of love, but it came together nicely.

I was concerned about the spotting at first, but since it didn't spread I figured it wasn't some sort of disease or fungus. Glad to hear someone supports my sunburn hypothesis. I kind of screwed up the first time I put my plants out - I thought it was a fully shaded area, but it may have gotten up to four hours of direct sun during the day. A few of them were a bit droopy when I brought them in, but they all recovered.

Small update:

I have my first tomato flower! It's on the Cherokee Purple that put out the first truss of the season, and is opening up to a beautiful yellow. I'm seeing a bunch of trusses beginning to form on my other tomato plants, too. About the only ones that don't have trusses at this point are the runt San Marzano and my volunteer (which I'm now thinking is a Roma).

The peppers are taking their sweet time to grow, but I don't expect much in the way of quick growth until we start to get into the 80s more often than we do now. They do have some leaf damage, but I'm not too terribly worried about it.

Cucumbers are starting to sprout. I sowed them about a week ago, and I think they held off poking up while we had some cloudy and relatively cool days earlier this week.

BEES! With all the talk of the problems that bees have been having, I was pleasantly surprised to walk by my holly tree this morning, only to be met by what sounded like a buzzsaw as I walked by. There are hundreds of bees swarming all over the holly, eagerly collecting from the tens of thousands of small flowers that the tree has put out. Hopefully a good omen for later in the season!

I like your circle.

tomf wrote:I like your circle.

Thanks. My wife came up with the idea and we both worked on putting it together. While it reduces the amount of garden space, it leaves us with enough room to grow what we like and simply looks really nice in the backyard!

May 29 update:

Everything seems to be taking pretty well. I do have some slugs in the back of the garden, and my attempts at sowing cukes have taken a hit because of it. But I still have three plants that have gotten going - that should be plenty for our needs.

Here's a picture of two - with beer trap in the foreground protecting them!

[img]https://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3959/dsc0063ns.jpg[/img]

My one cabbage has taken a real hit from cabbage moths caterpillars. No worries though...it was more an experiment with a leftover plant my friend gave me.

Here are two shots of a Brandywine that "split" naturally at the growing tip about two weeks ago. The first shot is after a new sucker began growing from it 11 days ago. The second is a shot taken today - it's grown about a foot in that time and has just popped a truss!

[img]https://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9041/dsc0034kv.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9662/dsc0058hh.jpg[/img]

Mortgage Lifter Ãœbertruss - I counted 21 flowers/fruit on this bunch. Pretty awesome. But is it odd?

[img]https://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8089/dsc0061em.jpg[/img]

A couple of my white onions on top, and a couple shallots on the bottom. The onions will probably end up being fairly small, but it's my first shot at onions, so I'm happy they're growing. Same for the shallots, but I think a couple might turn out to be pretty substantial.

[img]https://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1341/dsc0055ct.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9038/dsc0057ek.jpg[/img]

Garlic. Of the 20 or so cloves I planted, I'll probably get 8-10 useful bulbs. Learning experience, for sure.

[img]https://img594.imageshack.us/img594/8213/dsc0065yf.jpg[/img]

And I just noticed hundreds/thousands of these little bugs on a bunch of my garlic plants. Anyone have a feeling for what they might be?

[img]https://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4996/dsc0066ycu.jpg[/img]

June 9 Update:

Firstly, I'm really bummed about the squirrel raid on my peach tree. As mentioned in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46330]this thread[/url], they have completely stripped my tree of upwards of four dozen peaches. My wife - an avowed pacifist - is ready to kill!

My San Marzano tomatoes - first truss on top, second on the bottom:

[img]https://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8922/691202.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img220.imageshack.us/img220/993/691203.jpg[/img]

SM plant - you can see the two fruited trusses on the bottom and in the middle, with a healthy truss flowering on top. I'm really excited for these!

[img]https://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5108/691210.jpg[/img]

"Mortgage Lifter Ãœbertruss" tomatoes. Notice I've tied up some support since last time.

[img]https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4914/691204.jpg[/img]

Couple trusses on a Cherokee Purple plant. There are probably 15-20 flowers/buds on this plant. The plant in the background on the right is a containered CP.

[img]https://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5928/691206.jpg[/img]

Close-up of a couple shallots:

[img]https://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7488/691211.jpg[/img]

White onion close-up:

[img]https://img21.imageshack.us/img21/900/691212.jpg[/img]

"Panorama" shot of the garden, with my helper on the left. He's just enjoying an afternoon in the sun.

[img]https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7311/691209.jpg[/img]

Looking really good! You are going to have a great harvest.
Back in the previous post, those little black bugs on --garlic was it?-- Looks like oily black aphids. They are worse than regular green and red aphids but the usual GardenPatrol likes them all the same.

applestar wrote:Looking really good! You are going to have a great harvest.
Back in the previous post, those little black bugs on --garlic was it?-- Looks like oily black aphids. They are worse than regular green and red aphids but the usual GardenPatrol likes them all the same.

Thanks, applestar! I'm really looking forward to those San Marzanos, as well as trying my first-ever shallots and onions. I'm just bummed about the peaches.

Thanks for the feedback on the aphids. I took Bon-Neem to them, which got rid of them pretty quickly. I waited a few days to see if the ladybugs would do their work, but I just couldn't wait much longer - the colony was threatening to get quite big.

Now for a request for a little advice:

It's looking like my garlic, shallots, and onions are near ready to be harvested. In the past couple days most have fallen over and are browning up; I've also felt the necks and have noticed they've "gone soft."

So...what can I plant in their places? The shallots and onions are in two approx. 12"x12"x27" containers, while the garlic is in-ground in a ~15' sq spot that now gets about 4-5 hours of direct sun (will get a little more as the sun drops down later in the summer).

This would be my first time succesion planting, so I'm open to all possibilities for planting stuff I can harvest into the fall.

Harvest update:

I've pulled all the garlic, shallots, and onions. The shallots probably did the best of all - the onions were small and most of my garlic was also fairly small. But I'll chalk this all up to a learning experience. The onions and shallots were definitely a last-minute decision this spring, so it's no real loss to not have gotten a decent return from them. I'll be growing a lot of garlic and onions for harvest next year, so hopefully I can put that knowledge to good use.

Tomatoes have started to ripen, and I've probably picked 2.5 dozen so far. The San Marzanos are the best-looking maters so far - 3-4" long and plump and shiny as could be. I chopped one up for a little pico de gallo last night, and my wife had one with cheese on toast, but we'll be ready to make large quantities of sauce once the rest start to ripen (YES!!). I've harvested quite a few Mortgage Lifters, but they've all been small (golf ball to tennis ball size). No real compalints - it would just be nice if they were bigger. My Cherokee Purples and Valencias are putting out some nice, big maters though. The Brandywines got a late start, but are starting to put on some good growth.

Bell peppers are still playing catch up, but I have some jalapenos and serranos on the plant. One jalapeno is starting to turn red (I prefer them red), while the other are all small still. But the plants are looking good. I had to pull one serrano plant as it got some kind of terrible wilt - it was a goner in less than 48 hours after it started wiliting - but the other plant is looking healthy and has some peppers on it.

Been harvesting basil for a few weeks now. The plants aren't as massive as the 3'x3' plant I had last year, but that's *quite* alright. I'm just really, really hoping I don't get downy mildew like I did last year. Parsley is growing well, and I just planted some coriander seeds from my cilantro plant that bolted. It ould be nice to get a late-summer harvest of cilantro!

Pics to follow...

I see no one had responded about what to plant in the boxes after shallots, etc. Did you already plant? What about bush beans?

applestar wrote:I see no one had responded about what to plant in the boxes after shallots, etc. Did you already plant? What about bush beans?

Nope - not yet, AS. I did start a new thread asking the same question and got some responses. I'll probably do beans of some sort, but I was also thinking of trying snap peas (wife loves them) and/or soybeans (for edamame).

From what I can tell, those would be better sowed as cooler weather crops, so I figured on planting sometime in August for harvest in September/October. Would that make sense?

I think most edamame take 80-90 days (you'll be harvesting them when the beans are almost fully mature) so you should sow them now. They like the cooler weather (60's at night) for setting pods. I wanted to sow some, but it's a little too late for me at this point. -- but you have a little more time so you can make it.

applestar wrote:I think most edamame take 80-90 days (you'll be harvesting them when the beans are almost fully mature) so you should sow them now. They like the cooler weather (60's at night) for setting pods. I wanted to sow some, but it's a little too late for me at this point. -- but you have a little more time so you can make it.

Gotcha. I have about 90 days (give or take) before first frost, so hopefully I can make it in under the wire. If I can find the seeds, of course.

Wow hue garden looks great!! My wife designed my garden as well. Unfortunately our two little helpers (dog no kids quite yet) like to eat my veggies. So they got fenced out!

Given the beautiful weather, I finally got around to getting into the garden yesterday to trim the tomato plants of the diseased leaves and branches, and ready them for the final go before the season quits in about 50 days.

In doing so, I was amazed at how much some of my tomato plants have grown since the last time I spent siginifcant time out there.

I have a volunteer Roma that came up between two bell pepper plants pretty early in the season (four plants that I thinned to one). That thing is an absolute monster! I tried getting it to grow up and along some bamboo posts, but I've since given up and now it's got to be sprawled out at least 8' along the ground...and it's 4' high, to boot! And it's still putting out flowers and fruits. Determinate? Pshaw!

Also, one of my San Mazanos has secretly been sprouting new growth from the ends of trusses, which has been developing flowers and fruit, as well. Same goes for one of my Valencias, which is also sprawled out, but this one is already well over 10' tall, and is probably 12' from tip-to-tip along the ground! I topped its potted sibling about six or seven weeks ago because it was diseased and I wanted to ripen the last of its fruit. However, since I topped it, it's put out many new, incredibly strong and healthy growth ends with accompanying flowers and fruit.

I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised with how things have turned out this year with my tomatoes. I have ten plants right now, and I filled a big trash bag with diseased growth, but it definitely served to make the garden look healthier. Hopefully it'll help ward off additional disease by allowing better air circulation given that the plants were really, really thick with growth.

I've been harvesting pretty regularly all season long, although there was definitely a lag in August after all the heat of mid-summer. The one thing I've been finding is that a lot of my non-paste tomatoes have big splits in the tops by the stems. I don't mind the look, but it can be a little frustrating in that the sections right around the splits tend not to ripen very well. Something similar has been happening with my Romas and SMs - the tops get wrinkled and never fully ripen, so I lose the top 1/4 or so of the fruit.

I have no idea how much fruit I've actually harvested at this point (I'd think easily well over 100 pounds), but I do have five or six gallon bags filled with cored and seeded tomatoes in the freezer right now. With the rest, I've made multiple fresh pico de gallo and sauces, and have canned ten pints of (ridiculously delcious) salsa.

As for the rest, I harvested my first ripe red bell pepper the other day, and have quite a few green ones on my four plants. The jalapenos are busy and happily producing, and the serrano is plugging along. My basil has once again gotten downy mildew, so I'll have to harvest and pull them in the next couple days. I pulled the cucumber plants yeterday, as well. They finally decided enough was enough after a very productive season which has yielded numerous quarts of garlic dill pickles.

Like I said above, if all goes according to normal, my growing season will go until the end of October, so I have some good time left to go still. THings have conspired against me to get fall planting done, but I do have my (lots and lots of) garlic and shallots ordered, so I'll have some good planting to do come late-October/November!

I appreciate you sharing your experiences! It's all very informative and helpful. More people should do little journals like this.

Pretty jealous of your onions, though. My chives did nothing this year, and the green onions next to nothing. Yours looked lovely!


Did you end up planting the edamame? If so, when did you get it in? I just planted my snap peas at the end of last week. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze by.

Not a problem. It allows me to brag a little bit.

I ended up not planting any fall crops. Things kind of got away from me, so I just didn't get a chance to. I suppose I could give it a shot now in hopes of a lengthened fall, but I think I'll just see out my tomatoes and peppers and be happy with that. I have plenty of garlic and shallots on order, so getting those in the ground in the November timeframe should scratch the itch a bit.

The onions were fine, but nothing to write home about - mostly quite small, but they do have good flavor. It was my first go at them, and they were a complete afterthought, so I planted them a bit late. I'm planning on researching good onions for this area and getting them in plenty early in the spring next year. My shallots turned out nicely, though. Not huge, by any stretch, but I got a nice return from them and they really taste great!

Good luck with your fall beans!

I finally harvested my remaining tomatoes and pulled the pepper and tomato plants yesterday. We're expecting a frost or freeze tonight, so it was the best time to get it done. Quite a few of the tomatoes - especially the Romas, as they were sitting on or near the ground - had slug damage, but I'm hoping those without damage ripen OK indoors. If not, no big deal - I have probably 50 lbs. or cored and seeded tomatoes in the freezer at this point. The basil came out about a month-and-a-half ago, as it once again developed downly mildew and went downhill quickly. Incredibly frustrating...

Shallots went in about three or four weeks ago, and most have already put out shoots, so I threw some mulched leaves over them for a little insulation for the time being. I'll probably put some grass clippings on to help them overwinter. Garlic will go in over the next week. We may actually get some snow on Wednesday night (incredibly early for these parts), so I'm debating whether to put it in today or just wait until next weekend.

That'll pretty much wrap things up for this season. Next season will likely see quite a few changes, as we'll be growing things that we can eventually mush up for baby food (we're expecting in January), so it'll likely be more beans and carrots and the like, whereas I've done mostly tomatoes and peppers recently. I'll still have some of those, but I'll just focus more on the other stuff next year. Looking forward to it already!