BU54
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Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:30 am
Location: Illinois zone 5a

2016 garden so far

A bit late posting this but here she is. From left is the 2nd crop of beets you can barely see them next to the bell peppers. Then 6 bell peppers then 4 banana peppers then two rows of green beans. The bell and banana peppers have that dreaded BLS disease again. I love eating green bean while picking them. Can't resist the fresh crisp taste. The peppers and beans are nestled between 6 tomato plants big beef and super steak variety and the beets(front). Far right are cucumbers and serrano peppers. Then the bee balm to help attract bees to the garden. Sometimes I think it attracts them away from the vegtables?

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Last edited by BU54 on Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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rainbowgardener
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Nice looking garden, but I haven't spotted any bee balm. The tall ones on the right in bottom picture are blazing star, aka gayfeather, aka liatris.

BU54
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Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:30 am
Location: Illinois zone 5a

OK so I'm doing it backwards this season. I'll tell you what though I forgot how good this top soil looked earlier this spring after I tilled.

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BU54
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Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:30 am
Location: Illinois zone 5a

Update as of 7-27-16
Garden is doing good so to speak. We've had plenty of rain lately but the BLS and mosaic diseases are still a problem. Picked the first 7 cucumbers this week. Tomatoes could be better but not bad. I'm going to pick up some sliced ham this week and use the beet leafs for sandwiches. A few beets are ready for harvest. Froze about 20 portions of green beans so far and removed the first row. Waiting for the 2nd crop of bean to mature and will plant the 3rd this weekend.
Anyway on to the eye candy.

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rainbowgardener
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Looks good, but how's your tomato production? I would guess that with the wall behind them and the fence on one side, they aren't getting enough hours of direct sun.

BU54
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Location: Illinois zone 5a

The garden is on the south side of the house. The problem is the maple trees are getting quite large now so the garden doesn't get as much sun as it used to. I'm going to have the tree trimmed but the neighbors tree are a problem also. The plants get about 6 hours of full sun but it used to be 8+.
The tomatoes are healthy just not as many tomatoes this season and last. Other people I talked to in the area say the say thing about their tomatoes, so I'm not positive it's the lack of sun?

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rainbowgardener
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Sorry, I never saw your last response.

RE: "Other people I talked to in the area say the say thing about their tomatoes, so I'm not positive it's the lack of sun?"

If your summer has been anything like mine, I.e. excessively hot and dry, then that is part of the cause. My tomato production has been poor much of the summer, because it has been just too hot for them. Much over 90 degrees and they quit being able to set and ripen fruit very well.

imafan26
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Try heat resistant tomatoes. Super Sioux, Arkansas Traveler, or Creole Tomato. They will continue to produce in the heat. Either that or start early tomatoes which would have more flavor but mature before the really hot weather sets in like Early Girl.

For me, I do have to make a trade off to get continuous production. I haven't found a lot of really flavorful tomatoes that can take extreme heat and are disease resistant too. However, the cherries always do better than large tomatoes in the heat. Sungold and Sunsugar did very well and were very sweet. Supersweet 100 is prolific and does well too. Black cherry was very nice but it was not very productive. Celebrity does very well and looks nice but it is a market tomato so the flavor is on the bland side. I do like Big Beef and New Big Dwarf for larger tomatoes. Husky, Fourth of July and Grape tomatoes also did fairly well. I have not tried it but Porter is supposed to be heat resistant too. I did try the Florida tomatoes Solar Fire, but although it can handle more heat than Heatwave II, it was not disease resistant enough to last.

For people who live frost free, we can grow tomatoes nearly year round. I grew Brandywine and it was delicious but in January I had to fungicide every week and it was planted in sterile potting mix in a self watering container off the ground to minimize nematodes.

BU54
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Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:30 am
Location: Illinois zone 5a

It hasn't been all that hot here but the humidity has been relentless. Rain has been above average also.
Anyway here's some updated pics of the garden. The season is nearing the end with the daylight becoming noticeably shorter. The mosaic disease is finishing off the cucumbers but I had a good crop considering.

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Cucumbers and serrano peppers.

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First crop of beets.

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Second crop of beets on left.

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