MichaelC 2015 Garden

[MichaelC]

Hi all-

I'd like to add my garden documentation to this fantastic collection. This is my second year of vegetable gardening. Last year seemed like a pretty good success for a first try. I made many mistakes, learned many lessons, and will do so again this year.

First, I started with a big winter cover crop of vetch, rye, crimson clover, and fava beans. I seeded it very heavily, and the clover never had much of a chance:

Then I tilled that crop into the soil:

This year I have planted cucumbers, tomatoes, pole beans, snap peas, peppers, some greens, and a small flower bed chosen by my wife and daughter. Here are pictures of the initial planting in mid April:

Persian, English, lemon and National pickle cukes:

Yellow pear, Matt's wild cherry, San Marzano, Red robin and Sexy Beast tomatoes

[MichaelC]

I then added a dripline emitter system:

[MichaelC]

Tomatoes progress:

[MichaelC]

Cucumber and other progress:

Blue lake pole beans and sugar snap peas:

Greens:

[MichaelC]

Starting to get out of control:

Red Robin tomato already producing:

I have started harvesting the peas over the last few days, and the beans are right behind. And all of the tomato varieties have started producing fruit! Not pictured are my peppers - they look pretty lousy and I suspect they are diseased. There are a couple photos in the peppers forum. However, they are flowering and starting to fruit - we ate a few delicious Padrons the other day, and whatever's ailing them doesn't seem to be spreading.

What I've learned this year so far is:

1) how to begin to build and maintain excellent soil. My natural soil is pretty heavy clay. Last year, the whole thing was compacted, this year it has great tilth. A soil analysis from Peaceful Valley, and following their recommendations have paid great dividends. Even better, combined with the drip irrigation, I'm using far less water than last year - a big concern given the current severe drought.

2) I need to build a more robust trellis for beans and peas, and

3) I'm still trying to put too many cucumbers and tomatoes in for the space I have.

[applestar]

Looking REALLY great! ...yeah getting a little jungle-y there you might want to sacrifice some of the worst tomato branches and prune them off. I usually start with the ones growing toward the path and walkways so I can get through, and try to make sure that the neighboring variety branches are separated.

Do you think your super N-heavy covercrop/gree manure might have been too good for the tomatoes? Though the cukes are looking very lush and enjoying the bounty. Maybe add more carbon to the mix (winter oats?) I suppose in a small space, it's not easy to differentiate depending on what is planned to grow next season?

Keep up the good work! I think you are doing terrific. You are lucky to have a resource like Peaceful Valley nearby.

[MichaelC]

Do you think your super N-heavy covercrop/gree manure might have been too good for the tomatoes? Though the cukes are looking very lush and enjoying the bounty. Maybe add more carbon to the mix (winter oats?) I suppose in a small space, it's not easy to differentiate depending on what is planned to grow next season?

It's certainly possible. My cover crop seed was not inoculated, so to hedge my bets I also added some blood meal when I tilled. I've also done a couple of foliar feeds in the last month, perhaps I should switch to something with no nitrogen content.

Thanks for the advice on pruning. I needed a fire lit. I've been a bit paranoid about disease this year, what with the problem with my peppers and one obviously diseased tomato I had to pull. I went ahead and bit the bullet today, starting in on pruning the tomatoes, and getting rid of some cucumber vines that were too much for my trellis and were clearly just going to creep along the foot path.

Keep up the good work! I think you are doing terrific. You are lucky to have a resource like Peaceful Valley nearby.

Thanks so much for your kind words! I'm not all that close to PV, they're four hours drive away. I do mail order with them like anyone can! But they are certainly a great resource.

[MichaelC]

I've had some major progress, I need to get some new pictures tomorrow.

First, the peppers: I pulled out the really diseased mini bell. The padrons and the orange bell seem to be resurging and throwing off whatever was ailing them. And today there was a garden fair across the street, and I couldn't possibly resist the kind offer of free bell pepper plants. I was able to restrict myself to "only" taking four, which is three more than I really have space for. I'm going to be sorry when these plants grow and I can hardly get to some of the tomatoes.

The tomatoes are all fruiting to some extent, and I've done a lot of pruning and stake-tying to get them under control. Fungus isn't a big problem here, but nevertheless there's a lot more air flow down bottom.

I did a lot of work on the cukes tonight, taming the unruly mass and training them to the trellis. I suspect that cucumber donation season will be in full swing pretty soon, it looks like I can expect dozens of English soon.

The peas seem like they might be coming to the end of a short run, but the beans are starting to flower.

Pics tomorrow.

[imafan26]

Peas and beans in June. Your garden looks very lush and bountiful.

I cannot grow peas until about October but I wish I had some around now.

[MichaelC]

I've got some new pictures. I couldn't get any good shots of the tomatoes in the bright light.

Peas and beans:

Persian cukes:

English cukes:

About to have a big flush:

[MichaelC]

And the peppers.

Padrons recovering:

And some of the new arrivals:

[Igotworms]

great looking garden! my peppers got off to a slow start also but with the warm weather they should start picking up the pace. if you're not already using it, compost tea will really help your peppers and all the other plants too. if your soil is healthy they will be able to fight off disease better.

[MichaelC]

Man does this need an update. Here are a couple photos of the bean trellis. The peas are still producing a bit but the beans are crowding them out fast.

[MichaelC]

Today, I removed all of the pea plants from that trellis. Man, was that a lot of work! Now the beans have a lot more breathing room.

I guess that sugar snap peas also make good shell peas. I found one pod that we missed- it had grown huge, and the peas inside were delicious!

[applestar]

Yep they are sweet! My kids sometimes refuse to eat the pods and insist I wait to pick them with filled pods.

I grow vining crops on a nylon netting trellis set up about a foot away from a stretch of SW wall of the Family Room. They shade the wall during the summer.

-- this year I have pole/runner beans, cucumbers, and a Black Cherry tomato on there.

[MichaelC]

I grow vining crops on a nylon netting trellis set up about a foot away from a stretch of SW wall of the Family Room. They shade the wall during the summer.

Southwest is the way that wall faces, could you tell? That's a great idea, using it for shade. Next year I think I'll build a bigger trellis. This one is made of 6' bamboo, you can see it clearly in the early pictures, taken in April. I decided to be cheap this year, and strung it with jute twine. I think next year I'll spring for some netting.

[lexusnexus]

Good idea to prune the tomatoes, especially the limbs near the ground. It does 2 things for you. First, it removes a disease path; and, second, it provides aeration. Clipping suckers seems like a career lately for me. But I'd rather the energy go into fruiting, not unwanted and unneeded plant growth. Your garden and plants look wonderful. Congrats! The ingenuity of people never ceases to amaze me.

[MichaelC]

Thanks, lexus. Time for some new photos tomorrow.

[MichaelC]

Love Apple Farms, the creator of this pink oxheart variety called Sexy Beast, asked me to take a few pictures. This plant is producing prodigiously. To think I almost pulled it when it was young, as it is evidently one of those tomatoes that always looks like it's wilting.

Sexy Beast fruits, still green but hopefully ripe sometime soon...

[applestar]

Ooh never heard of that one -- can't wait to hear the taste reviews.

I have several pink oxheart varieties growing this year, too. I'll post about them as they mature.

[MichaelC]

OMG my Matt's Wild Cherry plant grew so big that it BROKE ITS STAKE.

For now, I've propped it up by pushing the stake back to its original position, lashing its top to the top of another stake I've rested diagonally against the bottom of the fence, and tying the top of the stake to the stakes of the plants on either side for stability.

For the moment it's fine, but I really don't think this will be a viable solution for the rest of summer.

[applestar]

Get some galvanized metal conduit pipes -- electrical section of big box stores -- or T (not U) posts -- I usually get them from Tractor Supply. TWO 7/8" bamboo stakes, 4-6" apart with bottom 12-18" pounded into the ground and tops lashed together with zip ties.

[MichaelC]

A lot has been happening in my garden but I haven't really had time to photograph it.

Having the trellis to themselves, the beans are producing about 3/4 - 1 lb. every week and show no sign of stopping soon. The peppers are still mostly sad, giving me a few tasty but not very healthy looking Padrons a week. The orange bell is the exception, suddenly taking off vegetatively and starting on a good looking fruit.

The cucumbers are doing great, producing something like 3 lb. of fruit a week. The English Telegraphs have been a big disappointment this year, taking up lots of space with wonderful vegetation and crappy, shriveled fruit. I pulled them today so that the more successful Persians, pickling, and lemon cukes can take over the space.

Tomatoes. So far my luck has held up with the jerry rigged stake support I described in my previous post. I think it'll hold for the season. Red Robin and Matt's Wild Cherry have been providing for plenty of snacking, with the occasional yellow pear ripening as well. The San Marzanos have an enormous number of fruits starting to blush. And the Sexy Beast (pink oxheart var.) has just started to ripen its beautiful fruit. I've got some pictures of those, which follow. I suspect I picked the two shown at bottom a bit too early. They look to be good sauce tomatoes, with little seeds and liquid.

On Sunday, I leave for five days, which has me worried!