McKinney Garden - West TN

[Susan W]

As you are increasing the bed, taking out (and moving) sod, tilling, this is a suggestion. Add some dirt and amendments to till in, and then just fertilize individual plants as needed.

top soil. The cheap Evergreen brand, less than $1.50 40# bag. It has sand, pine fines etc. Black Kow pooh (yellow bag, I get mine at Lowes). Cotton burr (from Dan West). I would go about 1 bag top per sq yard, Kow and cotton perhaps 3 sq yds. That mixed with your basic dirt should be great. As you build it up, add less every year.

I got out of the garden center today with just one bag cotton and 6 herb starts. After a few days away, and now lows staying above 40, time to work more herb containers. I picked for farmers market tomorrow, and actually have product!

[McKinney88]

Alright got to play in the dirt a little this weekend. Rented a sod cutter Saturday and had all the sod up and relocated in a couple of hours.



Today I borrowed my dads rear tine tiller. Was going pretty good until this happened.





Handle started to break off. Looks like it had some kinks in the pipe and it finally gave. I'm thinking I might be able to get a piece of thick pipe and stick down the inside of it to keep it from moving any more.

So I got my tiller out and I took me a long time to till one row up good because of all the rock I found in it!



I was really surprised and annoyed by this. But I'm sure my wife will find some Pintrest project for these rocks so I doubt they get tossed.

My tomato plants are doing pretty good. I have lost two of them. One I accidentally broke and the other I had in a pot with some kind of potting mix or something but I put it int he ground and did not do well. I did start 12 red brandy wines Friday.




Also got my wife's edamame plants in the ground and just finished planting a row of blue lake bush beans.

[McKinney88]

Here is first batch of seedlings. They are doing well.



Also put mulch and cages around my tomatoes before the rain comes in a couple days.



This is picture is a little hard to see. It was very bright outside but these are my snap peas. Funny story I always thought I had sugar snap peas which I thought I need a trellis for, but I went to plant some more a couple days ago and noticed the pack says "cascadia bush snap pea". Now I have bush peas I don't have to build a trellis for!



This is my only mammoth sunflower that came up and did not get eaten by slugs. Doing pretty well. I have a lot more started though.



Yesterday my dad surprised me and came and brought his other tiller and finished tilling for me. My front tine was having a hard time breaking up the ground. So I was able to plant 5 10ft rows of Honey-Select Triple sweet corn. On the far right is probably a 25ft row of the blue lake bush beans. In the space between the corn and tomatoes is where some of my other vine crops are going.

[McKinney88]

Transferred some of my seedlings to bigger pots. My dad gave me a ton of the little pots and trays. I'm keeping all these if I have enough room.



These are extras I'm giving away.

[McKinney88]

My beans and corn have started to come up so that's good. I had a couple nice strawberries but something ate them. I'm thinking a bird did it. I need to get a couple owls to put out and keep the birds out.

Anyways I was digging around yesterday and found this:



I had bought this early on in the year when they first started putting gardening stuff out because I got so excited lol. I opened it up and came with a pack of Red Pearl tomato seeds so I planted some of them in a Jiffy starter. My wife put a couple cherry tomato seeds in the little greenhouse as her own little thing. Here is a picture of the Brandywines I started.



I need the smart people on here to tell me when I should put them in bigger pots and if they look ok so far.

Also have a couple more questions. This is brussels sprouts. What do I need to do with these? Put them in the ground or a pot? Same with the carrots in the other picture. Do I need to them them out or what?

[McKinney88]

Updated garden list

In the ground:
3 Park's Whopper Tomatoes
1 Super Sweet 100 Tomato
1 Better Boy Tomato
1 Beef Steak Tomato
1 Black Krim Tomato
1 Butter crunch Lettuce
3 Cucumbers
2 Strawberries
4 Edamame
Cascadia Busch Snap Peas - 3 small rows
1 Mammoth Sunflower
Honey Select Triplesweet Corn - 5 rows
Blue Lake Bush Bean - 1 row


Almost ready to plant:
Sangria Watermelon
Spaghetti Squash
Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin
Brussels Sprouts
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Crookneck Squash
Cantaloupe
Okra
Carrots

Tomato seeds started to see if it will work:
Cherokee Purple
Brandywine
Red Pearl
Mortgage Lifter
Cherry Tomato
Virginia Sweet

[McKinney88]

Here is an update on my tomato seedlings. Hopefully tomorrow I will transplant all the big ones. Not sure if I'm goin to use my black plastic trays or some clear solo cups.



This is on one my parks whopper outside.



I did get almost all of seedlings plants in the ground this evening. Most of them were this tall. I have not planted my carrots or brussel sprouts yet. I'm going to try and build something for them to grow in.



They all had good roots too.



My corn came up really well. I replanted some patchy areas. I ended up tilling up my row of beans. They did not come up well and the bugs were destroying them and I only had a few plants left. But that gave me some much needed room for my okra and little tomato plants when they get big enough.

[McKinney88]

Here is my corn.



Pretty hard to see but this most of the plants I put down Saturday. The okra are in a different spot.



Cucumbers:



My sunflower:



And my sad looking tomato plants that I discovered this morning have aphids on them!!



I started a separate post in the Tomato Forum on this problem. First time dealing with these things.

[McKinney88]

I unlocked the album so the pictures can be seen larger now when clicked on.

[Rairdog]

Looking good! My toms are looking sad also. We had a week of cold rain and stressed them. I put out starts from the same batch 2 weeks later and they are already passing them. Check for ant aphid farmers. They are what usually bring the aphids to my toms.

[McKinney88]

We have had so much rain lately it has completely saturated the ground. My big sunflower (about 3 1/2 ft) fell over so I tied it up to my fence. Once it dries up some I will tie up my other small ones. Also picked a handful of snap peas today, brought them inside and put them on the kitchen counter and go away for about 10 minutes and my dogs ate half of them! Lol I thought it was kinda funny. All of my transplants are doing really well too. Squash and watermelons have really taken off.

[applestar]

Looking good Your enthusiasm is palpable over the ether waves
Some trial and error it seems -- but that' s how we get to be better gardeners

I think it's probably time to start mulching. Are you composting? If not or if you have extra material, any weed you pull, grass clippings, etc. can be used as mulch. If you trim shrubs, they can be used too. You want to keep adding organic material,but not till it it now because plants are growing and breaking down process temporarily robs the N from the soil. Just leave them on top as mulch and that would protect the soil, keep down weeds, and encourage earthworms.

Your sunflower and corn could use hilling -- piling extra soil around the base. This will help them keep them from toppling over (lodging). I do that twice as they grow, then mulch because otherwise, the mulch gets in the way and, as explained above, I don't want to bury the mulch.

What did you do we the carrots? It's better to sow them directly, but I could see popping them out of the cells and putting them in well-loosened prepared holes. But you have to do this before the roots reach the bottom of the cells.

Lay mulch on the soil around the peas before it's gets too hot to keep the soil cooler and help them survive longer, but watch out for slugs after all the rain. (I wish my garden could get some. I watched the storm system break open and leave us in a clear pocket then re-converge after passing, yet again. )

...oh yeah your "sad" looking tomatoes -- are they paste type or heart shaped fruit variety? They look like they have wispy leaves. These tend to look undernourished with skinny drooping leaves, but that's the way they grow and could look totally deficient next to vigorous beefsteak varieties, and rambling vine cherry varieties, etc.

[Cola82]

Yeah, I'm enjoying all the photos. I am also curious about your carrots. Invested, as it were.

[McKinney88]

Looking good Your enthusiasm is palpable over the ether waves
Some trial and error it seems -- but that' s how we get to be better gardeners

Thank! I am really enjoying it.

I think it's probably time to start mulching. Are you composting? If not or if you have extra material, any weed you pull, grass clippings, etc. can be used as mulch. If you trim shrubs, they can be used too. You want to keep adding organic material,but not till it it now because plants are growing and breaking down process temporarily robs the N from the soil. Just leave them on top as mulch and that would protect the soil, keep down weeds, and encourage earthworms.

I have mulch on around the tomatoes and edamame. I am interested in composting but have not researched how to do it yet.

Your sunflower and corn could use hilling -- piling extra soil around the base. This will help them keep them from toppling over (lodging). I do that twice as they grow, then mulch because otherwise, the mulch gets in the way and, as explained above, I don't want to bury the mulch.

For now I squished around in the mud a put a hook in the fence next to the sunflower and tied it back up. Might do it to the small ones too.

What did you do we the carrots? It's better to sow them directly, but I could see popping them out of the cells and putting them in well-loosened prepared holes. But you have to do this before the roots reach the bottom of the cells.

The long last forgotten carrots....they are still in their 3" x 3" starting container. Have not been transplanted yet. Not sure if I'm going to do it or toss them and probably build a small raised bed for them and herbs next year.

Lay mulch on the soil around the peas before it's gets too hot to keep the soil cooler and help them survive longer, but watch out for slugs after all the rain. (I wish my garden could get some. I watched the storm system break open and leave us in a clear pocket then re-converge after passing, yet again. )

I have a little bit of extra mulch I could do this with. Good idea.

...oh yeah your "sad" looking tomatoes -- are they paste type or heart shaped fruit variety? They look like they have wispy leaves. These tend to look undernourished with skinny drooping leaves, but that's the way they grow and could look totally deficient next to vigorous beefsteak varieties, and rambling vine cherry varieties, etc.

Um...Um.. not sure lol. I have black krim, parks whopper, beefsteak, and cherry tomato. Only the cherry one looks healthy. All the other plants have the rolled up leaves. Put the second spray of soap/water mix on them yesterday. Still some potato aphids on them today but not many.


Here is an update on my tomato starts:







In here I have cherry tomatoes, red pearl, red brandywine, virginia sweet, mortgage lifter, and cherokee purple. The last picture has new plants. The first two pictures has plants started earlier. I know the light is to high for a lot of plants but the red pearls are almost touching it now. I need to get something to proper the other cups up to get them closer.

[McKinney88]

Picture Update:

Most of my seeds I started:



Cantaloupe:



Giant Pumpkin:



Birdhouse Gord:



One of the watermelon types:



Spaghetti Squash:



Latest mammoth sunflower batch:



My other one that fell over earlier this week:



Corn:



Lettuce looks weird now. Need to pull some leaves.



Cucumbers:





Parks Whopper



Black Krim with Beefsteak behind it:



Super Sweet 100:



This Parks is going to get pulled up. Didn't really recover from the aphids.



Edamame, not sure if its ready to pick or not:







Okra:



You probably noticed a lot of water on the ground. Its honestly raining 5 out of 7 days of the week right now and they are good downpours. So far everything seems to be handling it pretty good. Only one pumpkin plant looks weird. Its a really light green.

[McKinney88]

We fed our kids some of the snap peas I picked yesterday and needless to say our boy did not like them at all! Our girl liked them though.

[applestar]

Looking really great

Kids seem to prefer shelling peas. You could let the snap peas mature a bit more and give him the shelled peas. My kids would eat them raw and we never had enough to cook with I seem to plant more every year.

Edamame -- let the pods mature until the beans are plump inside but harvest before the pods become hard and dried looking. I parboil them in the pods -- not too much just until they turn bright green, then let cool a bit and sprinkle a little coarse salt on the pods and squeeze the beans out (they pop right out -- if you aim right the beans will pop right into your mouth). This has been staple snack for my kids ever since they were toddlers.

[McKinney88]

Today's harvest. Pretty sure I picked the edamame way to early. I opened a couple up and the beans were so tiny lol. But there is more coming in.

[McKinney88]

6-22-14 Picture Update







Also put 7 of my tomato starts in the ground. 2 Red pearl, 2 cherry tomato, 2 brandywine, and 1 Cherokee Purple. Other ones are still hardening off. Bought a 4 pack of bell pepper plants this weekend for $1.77 and planted them. My Walmart has completely restocked their plants.

Here is a pic of my son playing with one of tomato starts. He was fascinated with them and grabbed it and tore a stem off lol.

[lakngulf]

Looking great. Couple weeks of that Memphis humidity and you will be in business

[McKinney88]

Yea its starting to get pretty humid here.

[lakngulf]

Yea its starting to get pretty humid here.

Same here. Plants grow like crazy in hit, but too hot to work the garden, and too many leaf diseases.

[McKinney88]

I'm concerned about the new tomato starts I just put out and that they might and might get taken over by disease before they produce.

Took a picture of my sunflower that has bloomed this morning.



It has these big brown spots on it.



Funny thing was when I grabbed the leaf to take this picture, a bunch of ants swarmed on my hand. I shook them off and looked under the leaf and found this:

[McKinney88]

Picture update:



Picked some tomatoes and cucumbers. Should be trying my Black Krim tomato tomorrow. Been letting it ripen on a shelf. Also found two squash growing. No watermelons yet. Corn has showed up too.

[applestar]

Looking good!

Back in the previous sunflower report, the big dark blob like that on sunflower leaf is often bird poop burn. In this case, it looks like it got washed down to the tip and concentrated there.

The ants are after the honeydew produced by the sucking insects on the back of the leaf. The brown blob looks like a dried plant matter is a tree hopper or a plant hopper. You can see where it has gouged the center rib -- it can sever the rib and kill the leaf. The rest of the tiny ones along the rib and veins may or may not be its offspring. Lacebugs often congregate under sunflower leaf. You'll start to see tiny white spots from the top of the leaf that are result of the sucking insects sucking all the chlorophyll out from underneath. Eventually the leaf will yellow and die.

Try to control the ants and also spray the leaves with water from the bottom, but not too strong jet or spray or you'll bruise or crumple the leaves.

[McKinney88]

That sunflower looks a lot worse now. I finally sprayed it tonight and added another tie off at the top of it to help it. Something has been eating the leaves. Hopefully it will recover.

Funny part was I actually found an old post on here from many years ago about the same sunflower spot question and you replied with the same answer lol.

[applestar]

Haha that's because when I was growing the fence row of sunflowers and the sunflower house back then, I noticed that if I don't wash off the bird poop when I noticed them, those black damage developed on the leaves.

If the leaves are folding and collapsing in the middle, it's those plant hoppers. Mine also get the colorful leaf hoppers and pointy thorn looking tree hoppers. Japanese beetles make big holes.

[McKinney88]

Another picture of what I have been getting



I think I need to let the cucumbers grow a little more. These things are growin crazy fast too!

[McKinney88]

This one of the brandywine transplants.



Okra seems to be doing well. First time growing it myself.



And corn has finally showed up



Hope everyone has a great 4th of July! Tomorrow I plant my second garden at the community farms. My friend got a plot next to me as well.

[McKinney88]

I have a bunch of okra coming in I will be able to pick soon. Once the corn is ready I'm going to pick it and pull up the stalks and plant some Empress beans I ordered.

Also this past Saturday I planted some more sunflowers and some pumpkins at my community garden spot. Plus a lone tomato plant. It is either a heat master or a solar fire. Don't remember which one I picked up.

I planted my squash and watermelons wayyyyy to close together. They are growing huge and mixed all into each other. Every other day I'm having to go out and relocate/train vines in different directions to keep them off my tomatoes and such. I have spotted about 4 crookneck and 4 spaghetti squash so far. One spaghetti squash is huge! But still hasn't started to turn yellow yet. I also removed part of a watermelon vine the other day off my tomato cages only to see it had a tiny watermelon attached to it .I haven't seen anymore yet but its really hard to see tiny melons in this mess lol.

[applestar]

Looking good! You are right about the watermelon and squash vines. I have to keep re-directing the watermelons every day, and one of my squash vines escaped between the fence. I'll post a picture in my thread later.

You might want to think about mulching those bare soil areas though.

To my eyes, they look naked. haha.

Until the drought and heat stopped them from growing, I was using cut grass. Now mostly pulled weeds, though I have areas that I still need to catch up on cutting. Larger areas get papered first.

[McKinney88]

Most of my tomatoes have been doing this:



Found two of these hiding in my corn yesterday!



A lot of these spaghetti squash are growing too.



I cut one open but its not ready yet.



Some cantaloupes:



and some okra:

[applestar]

Spaghetti squash will turn yellow and hard shelled when mature -- finger nail won't dent it. But I've heard you can eat them young like summer squash. That one looks like you could have -- the seeds still look immature and soft.

Those stress cracks in the tomatoes are from too much water. You can avoid them to some extent by picking them at first blush, before the skin colors deeper and gets too thin/soft.
Once they color break and blush, nutrient transport into the fruit is cut off and it's mostly just water bring supplied by the plant, so it will still ripen with good/full flavor.

People have different methods for keeping the blushed tomatoes until they ripen. I place the hard ones in baskets, etc so there is good air circulation, and in towel lined baskets after they soften to avoid bruising.

[McKinney88]

I was wondering if water does that. We keep greeting these monsoon downpours here and everything is staying wet a lot. It's been getting better lately.

[McKinney88]

Good pick today. Super excited for my first legit mammoth sunflower head ever lol. Corn is almost ready too. Found a couple good ears.



My other sunflowers are getting really tall lol. That's me and I'm 5'10".

[applestar]

Great!

Which way does the fence run?
Trouble with sunflowers is that they follow the sun as they grow, always facing their flower buds to face the sun, and when the flower finally opens, it typically stops following the sun at the point when the first rays of the sun first greeted the newly opened flower.

In my garden, I've tried growing sunflowers all over among the limited areas with appropriate sunflower growing conditions, and so far every time, the sunflowers opened facing AWAY from our house. I'm hoping this year, I have finally found a fence row that would cause them to face US instead of the neighbors.

[McKinney88]

The fence runs east and west.

[McKinney88]

Sunflowers are about 10ft now. Ended up with 3 dozen ears of corn and it was delicious! I will be planting a big crop of that next year at the community garden. My tomato plants I started have done wonderful so far! They all have tomatoes on them now and are all healthy looking. Only one has a little bit of that leaf roll stuff. I pulled up all the crookneck squash plants because the squash on them had no neck and was white. I just pulled up my spaghetti squash plants but I have 4 big squash I took inside to finish ripening. I still have 3 watermelon growing, not sure which ones they are. I think they are they sangria because they are more oblong than round. I have 3 good size cantaloupes growing and one is almost ready and a saw a couple more baby ones yesterday.

I had planted some Empress beans where the corn was but only half of it came up because I got the rows too deep I think. I re-planted the spots last night. I also planted another patch of cucumbers and summer squash and they have sprouted. Okra is doing great too. I get around 10 pods a week and my wife and parents love it.

[McKinney88]

Bought one of those soil test kits. Here is the results:

[McKinney88]

Sunflower pic:



Heads I picked yesterday:



Picked some cantaloupe and watermelon yesterday.





Also using baby food jars to store seed: