Gardeners - How's your garden growing?

[SusanT]

Now that summer is officially just a week away, I wonder how everyone's gardens are doing?

My report - I should have ripe tomatoes in about 10 days. I have peppers and my very first eggplant forming. I've got lots of cucumber vine but no cucumbers yet.

I put in a new perinnial bed this year and my purple coneflower is doing great. Unfortunately, I've got powdery mildew forming on my bee balm. If anyone has a home remedy for powdery mildew, I'd appreciate hearing about it. I try not to use harsh chemicals on my yard.

I'd love to hear how others' gardens are doing. What's been your biggest success and biggest challenge?

[aggie94]

So it's not really MY garden (it's the one I inherited from my landlords), but I had to throw in that I made the strawberry parfaits from the May issue with berries from my backyard, and they were delicious! (My dogs agree, since they seem to get to the ripe berries before I get a chance to pick them!).

I'm still trying to figure out what all is back there, so I haven't taken advantage of most of what I've got growing. I am hoping to use some of the fresh herbs and arugula back there for the dinner I'm making for company tomorrow night.

[mandarin2j]

We started late on the food gardening this year, so there's not much to show yet. Plus, we're in northwestern Oregon like Eva, so it's too cool here for things to really take off yet. We have three local varities of tomato starts, one "space miser" (we'll see about that! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif ) zucchini, some herbs, and that's about it. We're keeping it to the barest essentials this year since we're still in the killing stages with our yard. The previous several owners really let the huge lot we have go, so there are tons of unwanted "volunteers" all over that simply gotta go.

On the bright side, our raspberries are bearing fruit, and I'm going out for our first "harvest" tonight. It'll be doubly satisfying since I've done everything to bring our berries back from their semi-wild, untended state. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

-Amanda

[Vanessa]

Hi gardeners! WEll the garden plot looks good. Still DH says I am way impatient! The tomato plants are looking stronger and I pulled all weeds. The herbs have gotten too wild so I will trim back Sunday and hope to get some extra space for some flowers.
We started late in MD because of cold, rain more rain. Some were brave and started early but we learned one yr that rains really did a number on our veggies. So I guess I will have to wait patiently for the veggies this yr. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Alisa]

SusanT - Try mixing a tbsp of baking soda and tiny bit of dish detergent in a litre of water and spraying the affected plants. It's all I use for mildew and blackspot and it works!

[SusanT]

Alisa - thanks - I'll give that a try!

[SandyM]

Not a good year for me here in southeast Michigan. I've conquered the deer-in-the-vegetable-garden plight (you know, the putrified egg whites). But, the heavy rains killed my 2 cucumber plants, so I had to buy 2 more, and they didn't get in until this weekend. I'll be lucky to have cucumbers before September.

The rabbits ate the flowers off my lupine, which they do every year, before I discovered putrified egg whites. Apparently they like the taste of putrified egg whites, since it didn't deter them.

Much to my dismay, my 4 rosebushes, which were supposed to be immune, now have black spot. I've had them for 3 years, and this is the first year. The flowers are gorgeous, but the leaves are degenerating. Lots of work for them now through the fall.

Lots of flowers on the tomato plants, but no tomatoes. And the peppers are starting to bud. Onions are well on their way. I thought I lost my swiss chard also, but I think that's making a victorious comeback.

But, the clematis is bigger and better than ever. Purple coneflower will be opening in the next couple of weeks, along with my oriental lilies. My hibiscus are going to be stunning this year!!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Jeanne G]

SusanT,
To let you know, I'm a gardener from OHIO...

I am loving my garden this EARLY year, first time in 3 yrs I've put it in this early. I tried mixed lettuce for the first time, and it's beautiful. It will be a 'standard' from now on out...
And, my broccoli came in, and I heard it continues,...cauilflour(sp?) is coming in as I type, probably 3 days from harvesting, and the cabbage keeps showing up!
After that, I've got squash & zuch VERY soon, also, swiss chard, kale, then in a little while green beans, then the awesome beets. I THINK that's it, although I always forget a veggie or so, "bad veggie momma!".

Forgetful or not,
"veggie momma (bka bunny momma)"

[lindrusso]

Well, I put up a sad face for now, but I dont' think it will stay sad for long.

Count me among those with an unusually chilly and rainy spring. Actually, it started out warmer than usual, I planted, and then it went to cooler than usual. My basil did not like that one bit and some even rotted. We went from chilly and rainy one day to hot and humid the next - even hitting the 90's. This was also probably hard on the some of the plants - being shocked by a quick, 30-40º difference in temperature over a day or so! However, the warmer weather has gotten some of my plants to take off - yeah!

And can I gripe about bunnies too? The first year they tried to demolish my flowers and pretty much succeeded.

The second year, they were on my hit list (just my pretend hit list - I love animals and could never really hurt them no matter how much they tick me off!) because they would chew off my veggie plants (basil, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) - all of them - and not even eat them! Sadistic little things. But I put up a fence around the veggie garden and that was the end of that.

This year they have taken to jumping into my whiskey barrels and eating all of my impatiens!!! I couldn't figure out why my impatiens weren't doing well until my husband caught the little bugger(s) red-handed. So now I will try netting to see if my impatiens can get a good start - maybe by the time they get going, the bunnies will have moved onto a different yard!

And these bunnies eat everything - even marigolds that many people say they don't like - but I've seen them out there many times, just chomping away. ARGH!!!!

[SusanL]

Ahhh, Lindrusso Thumper's cousins are visiting your gardens again, also? He ate all of my beet tops and swiss chard. This was going to be my first year for swiss chard, I am hoping that they will grow back- sure!! I have a white picket fence around three sides, they walk across the patio to get in. I must say that whoever advised us to get plastic snakes, was right on the money for saving our strawberries from the birds. We move them around every other day, and it keeps them away!!

[sal]

Another MD gardener reporting in - my herbs are doing quite well, curry and rue are my experiments this year (don't quite know what to do with them). Tomatos (Roma, Brandywine and grape) and jalapeno plant look pretty healthy as well as one zucchini plant. I am waiting on some french filet green bean and dwarf sunflower seeds from Burpee, we'll see what happens once they arrive (!) I suppose I will see how late we can plant in MD. Every year is an experiment, keeps it interesting! sally

[SusanT]

Sal - Have you grown Brandywines before? I've heard they're wonderful.

I'm interested in trying an heirloom variety next year but my vegetable gardening space is so limited that I can only grow a few plants. Do you grow yours from seed or do you buy the plants?

Thanks!

[sal]

SusanT this is the first year I've tried a Brandywine; I've heard many raves and decided to take the plunge. Currently I have some blossoms, every day I run down right after work to see how things are progressing. I bought a plant, and if I like the flavor I'm going to save some seeds to try my hand at starting my own plants next year. sal

[Chefmom]

Okay, I'm in Eastern Pa (Lancaster County).

It's coming, slowly but surely. We have had such a cold season, the tomato plants that I purchased (to have a variety) are doing great, and I even saw yesterday, that one tiny little one has started. The ones that I started from seed are still small, usually by this time they are large and really starting to take over.

My sunflowers are absolutely wonderful! I had a bunch of volunteers from under the patch from last year. The birds must have knocked down some seeds when they were feasting and they grew early this year. I even have some starting to form heads!! And it isn't even July!!

Herbs are doing well, I didn't think my thyme would come back this year, last year it was sparse and I figured it was really root bound, but it is full and lush. My basil has been small, but is starting to come on, and I've begun to pinch off to make it bushy.

It's the first year that my parsley from LAST year came back and then went to seed, so I have my bushy parsley (just started to harvest) and I'll have seeds for next year!!

I'm a little disappointed with my Chives, they have always come back full and lush with lots of blooms. They were quite spindly and I only had one bloom. I did take the seeds from that bloom to start more, just in case. My new garlic chives are ready to plant, I probably won't harvest until next spring.

This has been the perfect year for Dill. Not only do I have all the volunteers from last year, but I also started a late planting. With the cool weather it is VERY full and I have TONS of fresh dill. I just hope hubby brings home lots of fish, I love to stuff the cavity with dill, lemon and thyme and then pop it onto the grill, whole.

My oregano patch will need resized, it is really nice, I lined it with nasturtiums and they are the nicest I have ever grown! The perilla is popping up everywhere. I have never had to start any seeds since I first bought it, they come up in every crack imaginable!

My daughter's carrots are just beginning to come up. We tried a basic eating carrot and the new "red" Mokum this year.

Overall I'm pleased, my front bed I did in all yellow this year. I have tiny dark purple million bells lining the edge and the rest is MANY different blooms, all in yellow. Next year may be red, I always do a color theme every year out there.

I just put together my new bird bath!! I had a dead one a neighbor gave me when she moved, and it was crooked. Now I have a huge stone one and the birds are just thrilled. Instead of one at a time I now see about 5 birds in there at once in the mornings! By afternoon the bees come for their drinks and by evening it needs filled up again. I have to keep those bees happy so they will do their polinating jobs!!

Oh, I have tons of baby praying mantises this year too. An adult scared the "be-jibbers" out of me last year. I stuck my hand in the basil patch to pull out a few weeds and a 5-incher jumped out at me!! They must have had babies, because I'm finding little 1-inch long ones all over this year. Along with all the lady bugs they are keeping my yard aphid free!! It's the first year my Nasturtiums haven't been covered!

I did the Brandywine last year, I was really pleased. It is a huge, gnarly looking fruit, but the insides are juicy and meaty at the same time and perfect for a sandwich. I good tomato flavor without hard-core acid. I was pleased with the fruit, but I didn't have a large yield of them. I am trying hybrids this year to compare. I have a roma tomato, one called "celebrity" and another I picked up from the greenhouse. It doesn't need staked and it growing with a trunk almost! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Tami

[SusanT]

Chefmom - my husband's family used to live in York, PA and he's told me how wonderful the soil is there. I'm jealous!

I'd like to try Brandywines but I'm not sure how they'd do in the Mid-South. My father, who is a master tomato gardener, hasn't had luck with them around here.

Did you get a lot of rain from Allison?