Gardeners in the Asylum

[Chainsaw13]

This is at least my fourth tomatoe haul of the season. And there's more to come. A lot more. That lone mater, second one if had do that. Kinda cool.

[Chainsaw13]

This is the funky tomato.

[Mr B]

Nice haul Bob.

[jjirons69]

Pulled the few weeds I had in the garden yesterday. Still have 2 jalapenos and 3 bells growing. They're doing fair, but nothing to cheer about.

[Mr B]

Pepper Harvest over the weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEyMGI40pXI

[Mr B]

Very nice Jamie. I planted 4 wire barrels with Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Blue Lake Bush Beans and Roma Beans. This is my first shot at beans and peas. We usually have a pretty sunny and mild fall up here so I hope it works out.

[shilala]

I have nice carrots by the house here. The lettuce bolted, I guess we're done with that.
We just go pick tomatoes off the ground when we need them, they're awful.
I got one cantaloupe. Zero corn. Not enough peppers to bother.

Anyone who got anything at all here was from raised beds or hills. Even that wasn't a whole lot, and their gardens were done early.
Next year...

[Mr B]

Was that because of all the rain Scott?

[shilala]

Yeah, the rain and cold. June was awful. The rest of the summer wasn't much better.

[357]

Anyone into apple or other fruit trees? I have three on my property. Each is different. This spring I trimmed up two of them. This year they all went nuts production wise, but I have apple scab, sooty blotch, and flyspeck on all three. Two moreso than the one. All three are fungal issues. I know more trimming will help with airflow/sunlight which is a good preventative but I don't think that will be enough. I also know I can go buy commercial antifungal sprays that will get the job done. However, I have well water, well head is about 60 ft from two apple trees, and I'm not crazy about the idea of using chemicals that are hazardous to people or animals. If anyone here keeps apple trees, what do you use? Also, do you have well water, and is that a concern? I've read that a vinegar solution is effective against apple scab when used at the right time. It makes sense given it's acidity and fungi's aversion to low pH. Anyone tried it with blotch/flyspeck?

[shilala]

Mikey, all that other stuff stems from stress. You're on the right track.
I used to have around 20-30 trees. Never counted them because I was always adding and removing, and it never even crossed my mind, really. They were just work.

You talked about pruning. That's a biggie. Read hard and understand how to prune properly. Prune back hard if the trees haven't been used for years. That's around 1/3 of the top the first year and at least a third of what's left the next year.
That way the root system will do wonders with the tree. Very little stress.
Then use dormant oil. Use it in March when you prune, then at petal fall on each tree individually. That keeps all the critters out of the fruit cause the eggs are laid on the petal. The oil snuffs the eggs as the fruit grows. Super safe stuff.

Aside from that, I only ever used Sevin at 1/3 strength to hold back any kind of infestations. It was more for making me happy than doing anything. It kept the Japanese beetles from ruining my cherry trees. Also super safe.

Be okay with skin goofiness. It means nothing. Many old breeds were "netted" and that looks like scab or something wrong. It's not. So long as the fruit is coming to full maturity, and you don't experience a sudden drop of the fruit, the looks of the fruit means nothing. You just want it clean inside.
If you want it clean on the outside, you need different trees and lots of nasty chemicals.

[357]

Thanks Scott. The scab on the tree with the best fruit (the one most pruned this spring), is pretty bad. Almost half the apples are split open on larger scabs. The scab is all over the leaves too. If the scab was only cosmetic I wouldn't mess with sprays, I'd just prune more in spring and thin out in June. I will be pruning more and I'm going to try the vinegar solution spray in the spring to see if it works. I've read it works on scab. If it works on one fungal issue (scab) it's likely to work on the other two, I just haven't read any direct reports of success on blotch/speck.

I'm tempted to try some grafting to produce more trees and have multiple varieties on each tree. It should help with pollination too. What I've watched on U-toob and read online makes it seem fairly easy.

[hotreds]

Beans being harvested!

[kansashat]

Bought 90 spring crocus bulbs/corms recently. They appealed to me because they come up very early & you can mow them down on your first mow of the season & they go dormant til the next spring.

It slowly dawned on my pea brain that I had to dig 90 holes. LOL

I guess I need to buy a bulb auger, so can plant them quickly & effficiently within the next month or so.

Next spring should bring a nice, if short termed show.

[Chainsaw13]

Crap, forgot to look for garlic yesterday. Getting close to time to plant for next springs harvest.

[shilala]

The Park Seed catalog landed on my desk today. It sure doesn't feel like time to start planting seeds indoors.
I don't think I need to start anything yet unless Weeze wants flowers. It'd be good to start tobacco soon if I'm going to set it out this year.

I'm excited to have a nice season, last year was a total catastrophe.
I'll settle for a marginal season, even.

[8zeros]

I just read this whole thread. Y'all have some nice gardens. I'll probly put in some peppers & 'maters & melons & corn & ...
Startin to sound like work. Have to wait a few months. Meanwhile I guess I could clear out the dead plants from last year.

[Chainsaw13]

Need some non-GMO seeds? Good deal right now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[manolotano]

I need to start planing for food, but instead have a proplem planting to much landscape. Shrubs, plants, flowers, etc are all over. Proplem is I can't eat them! Living in the south there's nothing better then smoking a beautiful looking at a beautiful landscape. Anyone else have this proplem?

[jjirons69]

Yeah, Scott, last year was crap. New life right around the corner.