Let's see those '11 gardens!

Having your garden planted but in suspended animation is a drag. I hope the plants are saving it all up for a growth spurt when the sun comes out and it warms up in a week or two.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Having your garden planted but in suspended animation is a drag. I hope the plants are saving it all up for a growth spurt when the sun comes out and it warms up in a week or two.

Ya and on the other hand, I welcome the rain too.

[Noodles]

I saw a first glimpse of tomatoes this morning. Tiny little green tomatoes peeking and teasing me.

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Ya and on the other hand, I welcome the rain too.

Rain = Good

Wind with the rain = Bad!!

[Scothew]

My garden was thirsty! I got a feeling its gonna be a long hot summer.

[HK3-]

Plants are looking like they are growing a little slow this year.... May have to give them a boost with the miracle grow.

Scott- Got the tobacco seeds! Thanks brother!

Originally Posted by Scothew

My garden was thirsty! I got a feeling its gonna be a long hot summer.

Not here, we're forecasted to have a week of rain. Very rare for this area. Plus no warm up in sight for the near future, according to the long term outlook. I turned the irrigation system off for now. /sigh/

[jjirons69]

Originally Posted by wayner123

How many and what type of squash did you plant?

Common crooked neck summer squash. 4 hills with 2-3 plants each. Picking 4-12 squash per week for weeks now. Squash vine borers are usually the demise to my plants, but so far, so good. I'll snap a picture in the next couple of days.

[Scothew]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Not here, we're forecasted to have a week of rain. Very rare for this area. Plus no warm up in sight for the near future, according to the long term outlook. I turned the irrigation system off for now. /sigh/

just looked at my forecast, mid-upper 90's all week, into triple digits next week, with showers not forecasted till tuesday (on the day its supposed to hit 100.) Guess im gonna be watering a good bit in the mornings.

http://local.msn.com/ten-day.aspx?q=...1848&zip=35023

Originally Posted by Scothew

just looked at my forecast, mid-upper 90's all week, into triple digits next week, with showers not forecasted till tuesday (on the day its supposed to hit 100.) Guess im gonna be watering a good bit in the mornings.

http://local.msn.com/ten-day.aspx?q=...1848&zip=35023

I feel like I'm in Canada or something:

http://classic.wunderground.com/cgi-...Select=WEATHER

[Noodles]

I see some very small white insects on the soil of one of my tomato. They look like they are small spiders. Are they aphids? I have a marigold in between my tomato. It's suppose to take care of these. Not sure what to do.

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by Noodles

I see some very small white insects on the soil of one of my tomato. They look like they are small spiders. Are they aphids? I have a marigold in between my tomato. It's suppose to take care of these. Not sure what to do.

Here is a good pic of tomato aphids:



Is this what yours looks like?

I use marigolds too. Aphids are green. Do you have a camera that takes macro pictures?


Edit: Simulpost!

[Noodles]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Here is a good pic of tomato aphids:



Is this what yours looks like?

The white ones looks like it. But they are very very small. Like grain of fine sand small. I'll have a look under the leaves when I get home tonight.

[Ahbroody]

Raining here today off and on its been cold. This has just not been a great season so far. Lettuce and tomatoes are doing okay, but some other things are growing slow.

[jjirons69]

We've had exactly 1/4" of rain in 4 weeks at my house, if not longer. My neighborhood, as well as most of the city, looks like it's been sprayed with Agent Orange. You can definitely tell who has lawn sprinklers. I've been doing the manual sprinkling twice a week and hitting the worst spots every other day. Plus, the garden has been getting an "every two day" soaking. No rain in the foreseeable forecast. My water bill is going to be huge.

[jjirons69]

Called my dad - going to help him harvest 4 rows of potatoes this weekend. His rows are probably 40 yards long. We'll end up with a truckload of red and irish potatoes. I'll end up passing them out to folks at work and friends of ours. We've never ate them all. Saturday afternoon we're replanting the rows with Valencia peanuts. I'm bringing a large handful back to put in my garden. I need something else to water.

Below are some squash from Friday and today, plus a few sweet 100 cherries. I also snapped some pictures of the garden. Those japalenos are huge and still growing. I'm still eating pickled ones from last year.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Scothew

Hey guys, havent checked into this thread yet, but figured i should since i had a question.

My wife and I have a small garden, about 20 stalks of corn, about a dozen mounds each of cucumbers and squash, 8 tomatoe plants, 3 jalapenos and 2 banana peppers.

I live in central AL so its hot and dry. How often should I water, and when should I? We've gone so far about 2 weeks now without rain, been watering every day or every other. I went for a bit without waterign over the course of about 4-5 days and didnt notice much growth, but now since watering daily definitely getting growth and also now have some tomatoes and jalapenos showing up. Just wanted to see what I should be doing watering wise.

Also One Jalapeno pepper is about 2.5" long, so wasnt sure when I shoudl pick it, if by letting it grow would stunt the growth of the plant itself, as its only about 8" tall.

Thanks!

I'll try to get some pics. We also built a herb rack on the back deck and have about 10 different herbs that we planted from seed over the weekend, already got basils sprouting. We had to redo all of them due to the sun baked and killed all our previous sprouts. Now I modified the rack to where it shaded the mid-day sun and i have a net over the front to sort of cut the amount of afternoon sun down.

On the watering...
You water when the plants tell you to.
They should wilt in the heat of the day. That's natural. It's fine, and it's what they do.
By late evening they should bounce back and be nice and full. That means they have plenty of water and don't need to be watered at all. If not, they should be back by morning, for sure. That's fine, too.

If not, it's time to water.
Try to use soaker hoses. They're the best because they don't wet the plants, just the soil. They can be targeted right at the roots. If you have to use a garden hose with a nozzle, realize that you can spray with a garden hose for an hour and you've accomplished next to nothing. You'd think it's a lot of water, but it doesn't remotely compare to an hour of good, soaking rain.
If you have to go the "spray the leaves" way, sprinklers are great. Leave them on for a few hours and they'll soak the ground the way you want. The bar type that waves back and forth is my favorite because you can adjust them to the exact pattern of your garden.

When you're wetting the plants every day, you're inviting fungus and stress. You really help the bugs out, too. It's really not a good thing at all, and it's not what you're shooting for.
A good way to hold your water in the ground is to spread out a couple layers of newspapers. Really. At least in the rows where you walk. They'll mold right into the dirt, let water through, and dry during the day. They stay put once you have them watered in, too. You can till them in and they're good for the soil. It's a good way to recycle, as well.

Don't sweat it if you still have to water every other day, but realize it's best to water longer and less days. Try to do something to hold the water down, even if it's just oat straw, newspaper, or some other good mulch that's not full of weed seed (green grass clippings are not a good choice, it's way too much free nitrogen and you'll grow giant, leggy plants with little or no fruit). Heck, you can use stones and bricks and anything you can get for nothing in the rows. Be resourceful. If you come up with a cool idea, please share, I'd love to know what you came up with.
I'd suggest landscape fabric in the rows, but it's black and the last thing you need to do is generate more heat. Straw or newspaper would be my first choice.
Hope this helps!!!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by jjirons69

We've had exactly 1/4" of rain in 4 weeks at my house, if not longer. My neighborhood, as well as most of the city, looks like it's been sprayed with Agent Orange. You can definitely tell who has lawn sprinklers. I've been doing the manual sprinkling twice a week and hitting the worst spots every other day. Plus, the garden has been getting an "every two day" soaking. No rain in the foreseeable forecast. My water bill is going to be huge.

We generally have 11" of rain here to this point of the year, Jamie. This year we've had 36". It's insane. It's just stopped raining yesterday, and it's supposed to rain tonight.
I fertilized the grass just in case it does, cause it isn't supposed to be a whole lot. I wanted to get one last dose in before the rain quyits and we have to water the lawn the rest of the summer.

On a planting note, I pulled a dead bush, moved one, and planted three new ones tonight. Lisa is gathering up flowers and they'll go in soon. Still no garden, but I'll have one as soon as the sidewalk guys get done, which should be soon.

[jjirons69]

Originally Posted by shilala

We generally have 11" of rain here to this point of the year, Jamie. This year we've had 36". It's insane. It's just stopped raining yesterday, and it's supposed to rain tonight.

You send me 3-4" of rain, I'll send you 100 sq ft of gardening space, complete with compost and mammoth earthworms.