BU54 2015 Veggie Garden (N. Illinois)

[BU54]

Here's a few pics on the progress of my garden so far this season. The first pic is of my tomatoes. They're 5-6+ feet tall now which is par so far but no ripe tomatoes to pics yet. From left is big beef 3 plants and 3 plants of super steak.



This is a pic of the largest super steak tomato of plant #6 from left.



Here we have my cucumbers (first crop) and you can see the damage from the mosaic disease I can't get rid of.



Here's the 2nd crop of cucumbers, if you look close you can see the mosaic disease has already infected the young plants.



Here's my "green" beans, they're doing quite well. I like the purple beans because they turn green when you cook them. They are the royal burgundy variety.



The next 3 pics are my beets and peppers, hot hungarian, californis wonder bell and serrano. You can see the devistation of the bacterial leaf spot that I can't control and no bell peppers so far to speak of. Usually by this time of year the plants are 3'-4' tall and have several medium size peppers on each.

Beets



Hot hungarian and bell peppers.



Serrano peppers

[rainbowgardener]

everything is looking great! Good work!

[lexusnexus]

Looking great. We are here for this very reason. Also, would you post a close up of one of those cucumbers leaves?

[applestar]

Yes -- I was wondering if that wasn't just powdery mildew....

My cucurbits are in sorry state between the ones that collapsed due to SVB (C.pepo and C.maxima varieties not cukes) and spreading powdery mildew -- sprayed some with milk yesterday -- I really need to take care of the ones on the other side of the house today... (I'm staring at a spotty leaf right outside this window....) I cut off the worst ones and try to spray once a week.

[BU54]

Looking great. We are here for this very reason. Also, would you post a close up of one of those cucumbers leaves?

I'll see if I can post some pics tomorrow. The plants are considerably larger now but the mosaic disease is still present.

[BU54]

OK as requested. The first two pics are the 2nd planting of cucumbers that are from the pics in the OP. About 10 days ago I trimmed the leafs off that were showing mosaic disease and the rest of the plant(so far)looks pretty good. It's also been a lot dryer lately, so maybe that helps prevent mosaic somewhat?

The third pic is the first crop of cucumbers which are all but finished off now.
The 4th pic is that nice tomato from the OP that's turning ripe now. I can't wait for that tasty tomato. Maybe today or tomorrow she'll be history, I hope.

[lexusnexus]

Definitely some powdery mildew. Any bugs observed? You may also have some downy mildew but can't tell from the pics. This has been a brutal year for cucumbers. I don't grow them but many of my gardener friends are reporting problems with their cucumbers.

We all try to do intensive gardening, but there are the downfalls to this. It crowds plants and reduces air circulation through the plants. Also, it provides a path to pass diseases from plant to plant easily. Remove those leaves having a lot of the damage as they are no longer productive. Try some fungicide on those showing little very small areas. And prune as best you to ensure air circulation.

[imafan26]

I agree it is powdery mildew and probably downy too. If it was CMV the whole plant would show it and it looks different. Many cucumbers have been bred to be CMV resistant.

Fungal disease is the usual way that my cucumbers end up going. It helps to trellis them up instead of sprawling and to water at the base of the plant. When the weather is humid and wet, you need to use fungicides to prevent the fungal disease or at least slow it down.

The beans look like they may also be getting downy mildew. I saw some suspicious spot on small seedlings.

Peppers will get bacterial spot and it is hard to control. It will spread by seed and if it is really bad, you will have no choice but to pull the plant and you should not plant solanaceous family in the same spot for a few years.

The beets look like they are ready to eat.

When the weather is wet and humid, you will need to have a fungicide program to slow disease progression. I suspect the tomatoes probably will also be showing signs of mildew, bacterial speck or cercospora leaf spot as well. If your peppers are showing bacterial spots or cercospora leaf spots, then the tomatoes which are in the same family may end up with the same problem.

Most of the plants you are growing are susceptible to fungal diseases so, you do need to have a preventive spray program especially when it has been raining so much.

Your garden looks very good considering all the rain.

[BU54]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen!
The tomatoes look good but not as many tomatoes as usual and other gardeners in the area say the same thing. I also noticed not as many bees the last couple years. The cucumbers are in the corner of the garden that has a chain link fence for them to grow on(not pictured). Beets are delicious and I've been using the greens with ham&cheese sandwiches. I've blanched and froze 18 double serving of green beans so far with the 2nd and 3rd crop planted recently. I should have green beans up until frost if it comes early this year?

Good news on the rain, not much the last two weeks or so and things are drying nicely especially the lawn(thank god!)lol

I'll see if I can get some better pics of the cucumbers, tomatoes and beans this weekend.

[rainbowgardener]

Re: The tomatoes look good but not as many tomatoes as usual and other gardeners in the area say the same thing. I also noticed not as many bees the last couple years

Tomatoes are not dependent on bees for pollination. They are self-pollinating/ wind pollinated.

If the tomatoes aren't producing well, it would be some other cause. Soil fertility? Hours of sunlight? Too much rain and not enough sun?

[BU54]

First pic is of the cucumbers that you can see the devistaion from the disease?
Click to enlarge the photos.



This pic is the 2nd crop of cucumbers that I plant because the first always dies off long before the end of the season.



This pic is just a progress photo of the tomatoes. They look nice and are 6'-8' tall now.



Pic of the 2nd and 3rd crop of green beans.



Pic of the 2nd crop of beets.

[lexusnexus]

One easy thing you can do with your tomatoes is gently shake the plant to move some of the pollen. Crazy as that sounds it does work.

[imafan26]

If the temperatures are in the 90's, don't expect much from the tomatoes if they are not heat resistant.

[BU54]

It's been a rather cool/normal summer with only a few days in the 90s. Several years ago I finally counted how many tomatoes I harvested by the request of my fellow co-workers. I harvested 238 tomatoes from 6 plants and these were ripe ready to eat tomatoes not green or the few that rot from insects ect. Now I don't expect that many every season but this year seems to be well below average. However there will be more than enough for me to consume.

[applestar]

See how the ground has cracked from drying out? If you mulch that, it will help to conserve moisture and give your plants' roots somewhere to go find moisture. I put down cardboard between rows then pile on everything from grass clippings, shrub prunings, pulled and cut weeds. I admit it looks nicer when uniformly sized identical material is used (like bagged and $$ mulch) and I do in the front yard, but I can't buy mulch when all this mulching material continually renew on their own for free and I have to get rid of them somehow. I try to put more easy to break down garden waste in the compost bins in the summer mixed with the kitchen scraps that look too much like garbage. I'm not so worried about weed seeds because anything that tries to sprout get trampled INTO the mud.

I'm also definitely shifting my cultivating method to scraping up all the good topsoil from the paths and piling onto the rows as raised rows. The cardboard/mulch breaks down and turn into more good topsoil. So it's basically composting in place.

[applestar]

It's completely normal in my garden for cucumbers and squash to rapidly lose older leaves in the humid/muggy summer. I clip them off as they get powdery mildew and yellow and browned. Here, too mulch would help if you are letting them crawl on the ground.

For squash, I designate an area for them to go to,mbut down cardboard to smother anything underneath, then pile on the grass clippings and (non-seeding) pulled and cut weed. Preparing the area before the vines get there allows time for all the green stuff to dry up in the sun so they won't affect/burn the tender new shoots or vines.

I do tend to grow cucumbers on vertical trellises -- I use nylon net trellis secured onto bamboo stake uprights and cross beams.

[BU54]

See how the ground has cracked from drying out? If you mulch that, it will help to conserve moisture and give your plants' roots somewhere to go find moisture. I put down cardboard between rows then pile on everything from grass clippings, shrub prunings, pulled and cut weeds. I admit it looks nicer when uniformly sized identical material is used (like bagged and $$ mulch) and I do in the front yard, but I can't buy mulch when all this mulching material continually renew on their own for free and I have to get rid of them somehow. I try to put more easy to break down garden waste in the compost bins in the summer mixed with the kitchen scraps that look too much like garbage. I'm not so worried about weed seeds because anything that tries to sprout get trampled INTO the mud.

I'm also definitely shifting my cultivating method to scraping up all the good topsoil from the paths and piling onto the rows as raised rows. The cardboard/mulch breaks down and turn into more good topsoil. So it's basically composting in place.

I stopped putting grass clipping in the garden a couple years ago when I found out mosaic disease can be in grasses and white flies can be carriers, hoping to eliminate it. I have white flies in the yard every year. Last season I put grass clippings down by the green beans only, I've never had a problem with green beans so I figured it couldn't hurt. It rained a lot last season also and the grass got moly and so did the green bean plants. Hence this season I opted for no grass clippings. I guess I can't win for losing. lol

[BU54]

Thought I'd post a couple pics of my tall tomatoes for your viewing pleasure. The soffit is about 12' high and the plants are 9-10-1/2' now but there's still another month to go at least.

[BU54]

With a freeze warning looming for N. Illinois I was picking and watering the garden yesterday.
The tomato plants might survive because they're against the house. What I usually do is wash some laundry then put it in the dryer early in the morning, 5am-ish because the dryer vent is right behind the tomato plants. I'm not sure how much good it does but it doesn't hurt.
Anyway here some final photos of the tomatoes, peppers and beets for your viewing pleasure.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes! Applestar got there before me, but I was definitely thinking the same thing, looking at all those pictures of hard, dry, cracking ground: mulch, mulch, mulch! Your topsoil is your biggest resource. I never leave bare ground, unless it is planted with seeds and then it gets mulched once the seedlings are big enough. Prevents erosion, conserves moisture, feeds the soil, builds the community of soil life.

[BU54]

Yes! Applestar got there before me, but I was definitely thinking the same thing, looking at all those pictures of hard, dry, cracking ground: mulch, mulch, mulch! Your topsoil is your biggest resource. I never leave bare ground, unless it is planted with seeds and then it gets mulched once the seedlings are big enough. Prevents erosion, conserves moisture, feeds the soil, builds the community of soil life.

This is the first year that I left the ground bare. I've had problems with mosaic disease and was putting grass clipping down for ground cover. Since white flies are carriers of mosaic disease and I have white flies. I decided to leave the grass off the cucumbers because grass can carry mosaic disease. Last year I had grass down and it rained so much that my green bean leafs got moldy because they were matted down to the grass that was moldy also. Seems like I can't win lately. This year the green beans were wonderful. They were in the bare area in the middle of the garden. I've just been spot watering what's left instead of wasting water on the whole garden. We had quite a bit of rain this summer but not much the last month or so.
Either was a hard freeze is forecast for tonight and Saturday night then back up to the 70s early next week. I still have a lot of large tomatoes that need to get ripe if they survive through this weekend.

See reply to applestar above.

[rainbowgardener]

I would pick all the nearly ripe tomatoes and bring them in, but leave the plants alone. If it does warm back up, they can often keep producing for awhile.

[rainbowgardener]

I like mulching with mixed (or layered) greens and browns - grass clippings and fall leaves, pulled weeds and straw, used coffee grounds and newsprint, etc. Keeps the greens from matting down and makes a more balanced soil feed when it all does break down. Breaks down better and easier also. And it is easier for me to come up with a good thick mulch layer that way than if I were using just grass clippings or something.

[BU54]

I would pick all the nearly ripe tomatoes and bring them in, but leave the plants alone. If it does warm back up, they can often keep producing for awhile.

That's what I did and(go figure)the plants survived the frost(2 nights @ 28*F)just fine. I have a large maple tree near the garden but I figured the pepper plants wouldn't last but they did, beets are fine also.
Now it's warm again, 70 yesterday and 75 today and 75 tomorrow. I only remember picking tomatoes once or twice into November. We shall see.....

[applestar]

SO annoying when they do that, isn't it? I picked a full sized green pepper that I was hoping would ripen and mature seeds... but decided I would rather harvest and eat it than to have it frost damaged... and the darn plant survived.

Oh well, I do still have a few seeds left for that variety, so I will start them earlier for next year.

[BU54]

Final harvest of 2015. Last Friday the 13th I picked the last of my tomatoes and beets. The temp dropped to 23*F Friday night so I picked them Friday after work. This is the latest I've ever picked tomatoes. I also picked a 5 gallon bucket of green tomatoes.
Who says Friday the 13th is bad luck.



Then I rototilled the maple leaves into the garden yesterday before the heavy rain comes today.
Yes it was a little too wet but it's done now. All I have left is to pull the tomato plants after they dry more. I pulled them up at the roots Friday after the final harvest.

[rainbowgardener]

And then cover your soil with something..... I don't like to leave bare soil sit like that through the winter (or ever ). You can just pile more leaves on it or plant a cover crop (which probably needed to be sown earlier than this, but you could still try), grow winter crops- spinach is just amazingly cold hardy. Planted late, it starts growing then goes dormant, then starts again in late winter. Garlic is planted late and over winters. Mostly these are ideas for next year, because they are things you would have done a month ago. But you can still mulch with leaves or straw or wood chips, pine needles, corn stalks, or whatever else organic you have on hand.

You are working on building up your soil over time. Your soil is the foundation and best asset of your garden. You don't want to let it wash away, blow away, etc.

[imafan26]

It looks like you have a good start for next year already. If the ground can dry enough to be worked. I'd add some compost and aged manure in too and let that set over the winter. Mulching is good. I like to use newspaper and cardboard and even the thick painter's plastic until I can plant again. I am in zone 12a so, I can plant year round, I just usually need temporary cover. I do actually plant through the newspaper mulch. I don't have a lot of useable leaves for mulch. Plumeria has rust and most of the trees I have are not deciduous so they only drop a few leaves at a time. Tropical weeds do not make good mulch, they just grow. I am pruning some trees, but I don't dry those leaves, I just put them in the greenwaste can. Diseased leaves go in the trash.

[BU54]

I used to not till the garden in the fall. Then I decided to till in the maple leafs because in the city I live we have to bag the leafs and put them on the curb for pickup. I figured why not use them for compost plus I can get rid of quite a bit of the leafs, hence less bagging.
Then in the spring the garden is much easier to till for planting and I usually till in cocoa bean shells or peat moss in the spring as soon as the ground is workable.

Don't really have the option of tilling in more compost now as the ground will be frozen soon and or not dry enough to work it. We had two inches of rain since Monday and it takes a good 7-10 days to dry enough to till again. This time of year rain and snow/cold doesn't leave much of a window to work the soil. As it is I was lucky to get it done Monday. Saturday they're calling for a 60% chance of 1-3" of snow with a high/low of 33*f/16*F Saturday/night.

Usually I have the garden tilled by the end of October or early November but it was unusually warm this fall so I let the tomatoes, beets and peppers grow as long as possible.

PS The average high temperature this time of year here in zone 5a is 45*F.

[applestar]

Putting the veggie beds to bed for the winter is a good idea.

It's been a warm autumn here, too, and the ground is not frozen as yet, but deep freeze is coming. I have a lot to do before that happens....

[rainbowgardener]

Tilling in the fall is fine (if you believe in tilling). But still having done that, it would be good to put something over your soil, even if it was a literal blanket or old carpet strips or cardboard or whatever you have. People that have fields may not have that option (which is why we have lost so much of our topsoil), but you do.... I just hate to see bare soil sitting around. Look around natural settings, you will never see much bare soil.

[BU54]

Where I live in the city soil erosion is not a problem. It's protected from the wind and runoff due to being in a subdivision. In the winter I shovel the patio next to it and throw snow into the garden to keep moisture in it to help breakdown the leafs when the temperature cooperates through the winter/spring. My backyard faces south so when the sun shines it reflects off the house and slowly melts the snow into the garden. I've done this for quite a few years now and it seems to work quite well. I also shovel snow onto the bulbs I have by the patio because sometimes in February it warms up and they start growing then the bitter cold makes a brief return. This helps protect them from severe temperature swings.

[imafan26]

You could plant a winter cover crop too like winter rye. It would hold the soil and then when you till it in, it will add biomass.

[BU54]

I decided to take your advice and cover the soil for the winter, with a lot of help from mother nature of course.
Saturday we had 7" of snow and the low temp that night was 9*F. It will not last long though the forecast is for the 40s Tuesday/Wednesday and the 50s and rain for thanksgiving.