SQWIB
Greener Thumb
Posts: 970
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:21 am
Location: Zone 7A - Philadelphia, PA

Re: My 2020 Garden

Lights really make a yard pop.
Everything looks great and I love your sod job, I'm guessing you don't have dogs?

MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

I do have a dog. He's a boy, so he prefers to pee against something, so he doesn't pee directly on the grass much. They only replaced that torn-up section (they fine graded it so that the walkway/dry well is the official low spot in the yard), the rest is about 2 years old, so it can withstand the occasional pee.
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Oh, also, according to my backyard camera and porch spider (I really do need to relocate them so that my camera stops going off in the middle of the night), the lights were still on at 5 AM. That was after an only partly sunny day (it was supposed to rain, but did not!), so bodes well for them working well year-round. I only really need 4-5 hours of light (enough to give me time to get last-minute trash out in the winter when the sun sets around 5), so 8+ is more than enough. And they'll actually get slightly more sun in the winter since my neighbors' trees won't have leaves.

MsDDC
Cool Member
Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Took some daylight shots after the evening watering round. While late, everything is coming along, except for my one cuke which may be getting too much shade (they like some, so I planted them near the fence where they'll get shade from early evening on, but that one might be too close...fence is on the west side of them). Difference is dramatic between it and the one next to it, of course. The one next to it finally sent up a runner, so I pulled the tip through the trellis and trained it onto it. I don't think I said what I'm growing, so I've got spacemaster cucumbers (vines are only supposed to get to 3'), blue lake pole beans, purple velour bush beans, sweetie pie and chabils sweet peppers, serendipity triple sweet corn, sunstripe summer (yellow) squash, poquito zucchini (they look like mini watermelons!) (both not quite visible since they're just germinating), and midnight snack, golden gem, and sweet million cherry tomatoes. The extra pots around the garden are a friend's container garden I'm babysitting while they're out of town. They're all way too dry, so my goal is to rehab them to the point they actually hold water before they're sent back home Tuesday. :)
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I couldn't get to the weeds underneath my black raspberries anymore, so I pulled out most of the spent woodocanes today. Not the best day for it (the high was 98!), but it's done and now I can weed under them.
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The yard is really coming together. I need to do a little pulling and spraying along the fence lines, but it's soooo much better than this time last year, when I had weeds growing rapidly through both fences and all throughout the garden. I would like to thank plastic mulch, Vigoro weed barrier, Round Up, my handyman Louis, and Hometown Landscape (they did the dry well and walkway...recommended if you're in the DC metro area). Also Park Seed for the good plants and Bluestone Perennials for the good flowers (not pictured here, but before in front yard photos, and I'm going to buy the stuff for the coming flowerbed to the right of the walkway from them).
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

What a difference a little over a week makes! The corn (first round) was a little shy of knee high by the 4th of July, but...waist high by the 12 of July works, too!
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One of the peppers (I know, the other one is questionable) has a flower on it! I have always had issues with actually getting peppers to produce, so this is a hopeful sign for me. There are a lot more unopened buds (even on that teeny tiny one...I'm holding out hope because the bigger one was also going slowly, but then tripled in size in about 10 days), so fingers crossed I get something!
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Tomatoes are coming along. While late, they're growing rapidly, and starting to set buds. Finally big enough that they need tied onto the supports.
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The beans are really chugging. The Blue Lake have outgrown their support, and the Purple Velour bush beans are setting buds. They're now in cages because we had some crazy winds that knocked them over (not broken, just flattened).
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Cukes are doing well, too. I had a slug (I think) go to town on the garden, so new seedlings are newer than they should be, but cukes are fast, so that's okay. Just check how much bigger the largest is! And a snap from a lower elevation so you can see the prolific buds.
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

I have a pepper! I repeat, I have a pepper!

I have always had issues getting peppers to produce...well, peppers. Maybe this is my year!
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Everything continues to chug along. It's way too hot and dry, but the veggies are largely undeterred (obviously thanks to a lot of help)!
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Purple velour bush beans are producing fruits, some even turning purple. They should be ready for a first harvest in a matter of days!
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Cukes are also producing fruit. Maybe a week, 10 days for my own fresh cukes! Yes, I've noted the ants, too, but there is zero evidence of aphids. So as far as I can tell, they're only after flower nectar, and are welcome to pollinate away!
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I now have MULTIPLE peppers. Take that "nice plant, no food" trend!
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So, novel solution time! Something ate the leaves off a round of zucchini and cucumber seedlings. In one night! Went to bed with plants, woke up with stumps. My best guess is a slug, but could have been a cricket or bird. These are root protectors, for people planting things where groundhogs and the like might damage the plant roots. The mesh is fine enough when not stretched to keep everything out! Plus, I can slowly unroll them to keep them on the babies for a while, and they're stainless steel, so I can use them for years to come. This is my replacement zucchini, all safe and sound.
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Finally time for some production pictures! I've got corn, peppers (two types, both sweet), purple beans, and cukes coming in great!
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

These guys (well, girls) were being very stealthy tucked up in the leaves! Alas, they were found, and shall be devoured!
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Found a third cuke hiding, and decided the basil was ready for serious work. I did not realize how much basil is in a cup, though, so this was only my first harvest. Fortunately, the plant was robust enough that I could go harvest much more! I now have a "ruly" (as opposed to unruly) pot of basil, 2 cups of pesto, and even more delicious cukes to eat!
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MsDDC
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Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps

Some more production pics. First round of corn went pretty well except for me re-learning how to tell when it's ready without cracking it open. I got 9 good ears off of 7 plants, and two are still ripening up on the plants, for 11 good ears total (one ear shriveled and dried on the plant before maturing...it was *awfully* dry in July). Second round has immature ears with silk, third round is starting to send up tassels, so I timed the subsequent plantings fairly well to have a pretty steady harvest over the next few weeks (goal was to plant every 10 days, second round was more like 14 because of my emergency travel). Peppers and tomatoes are starting to color. Can't wait to show off my goth tomatoes when they ripen! While late, I've got about 6 weeks left in the summer season, so I still should get a pretty good haul with where I am now. I should be up to my ears in produce within a week to 10 days.
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applestar
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Looking good! I forgot you were growing corn. Did you talk about it earlier? Trying to picture them situated in your garden. 8)



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