How are your gardens doing?

[Girleymom3]

We are getting a few tomatoes each wekk, but have lots of green ones yet. Dh is getting a good supply of banana peppers & serranos. Our bell pepper plants...well, one met its demise somehow & the other never really did anything
Strawberries are...eh, cukes & zucchini are finally starting to bloom. Dh and I are both looking forward to next year when we build our own planter boxes so we have more room and aren't using the containers. But it is nice to have a little bit of fresh coming in this year

How are you all doing?

[crazymom4]

Our garden are coming along nicely. We finally have been getting rain and that makes them GROW! We have been getting a few tomatoes here and there and some squash and cuccumbers......but there is alot to ripen. They will all ripen at once and then my canning season will begin.

Our potatoes are blooming really nice too. Can't wait for some homemade mashed potatoes! YUM!

[LifeOfRylee]

we had a nice crop of sugar snap peas. green beans have been divine! should be able to pick jalapenos by the end of the week. cukes are on now, lots of them! we'll have a lot of tomatoes if they ever turn. i have absolutely LOVED my raised beds. i mulched them and have almost no weeds.

[SCMamaBear]

Like you, we aren't getting much in the way of tomatoes. My peas and beans withered, as did the watermelons and cantaloupes. The cauliflowers are making some beautiful leaves, but no flowers, so we won't be getting anything from them.

All in all, pretty dismal, actually.

[MicheleB]

I'm getting 4 or 5 tomatoes daily. 3 or 4 yellow squash daily(I've already frozen a bunch), several ghost peppers each week(I have no idea what to do with these). Green peppers every few days. my green beans are fabulous. Waiting and watching the corn. I have 3 yellow watermelon ripening right now. Our potatoes are finished!!

[linda1975]

I don't know what I did wrong but my first attempt at gardening (and I tried it in containers) is not going so well. I have a few puny bell peppers. I mean... they are SMALL! I have a tomato that seems to be growing ok... and I saw another one starting now on the same plant. My cucumbers I think are dead... they are pretty nasty looking and all the leaves are yellowish and not growing. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

[Berit]

Not meaning to intrude your garden thread, but i just want to say i love reading about how you do in your gardens, and i have been wondering a while if it would be possible to do something here.

I fear the traffic and the poison that comes from it, we live close to the highway, just a wall shielding some.

Id like to plant some sort of fruit tree, apple, or pear (which i believe are the only ones suitable for our climate.

But please keep going! Its fun to read

[familyof6]

Our potatoes did well and we've been enjoying them as well as our beans. We got a few zucchini from our first plant, but then it got sick so I just pulled it out. Our other zucchini plant has 2 growing now. Tomatoes are going well and we just made our first ever batch of salsa. Jalapeno and green bell peppers are also doing pretty well. The cucumbers are just nuts and DH is the only one here who likes them. Our lettuce is done and needs to be pulled. Where the beans and potatoes were I planted some winter squash and they are sprouting nicely.

We did get hit with some blight but the tomatoes seem to be doing OK. All of our cauliflower and broccoli flowered while we were on vacation so it was a loss. And the carrots are still growing (I hope!) It's hard to be patient with them.

[vernisesmith]

Does anyone know any information on organic gardens?I want to start one but don't know how.

[waterindesert]

I sometimes wonder "what I need to do for making a better place for growing flowers, vegetable garden and lawn". I try to bring up some hints and ideas to help those people who want to help themselves return to basics and organic gardening.

a)Try to improve the quality of the soil, matching the nutrients that will inturn improve the plants:like seaweed will green plants, stimulate roots, and act as a chelating agent.To feed microorganisms in the soil Molasses can be used.
b)These are some examples of organic fertilizers like minerals, lime, lavasand, seaweed, fish emulsion, humates, worm castings,molasses, bone meal, corn gluten meal, greensand, epsom salt, compost, mulches,chicken manure, gypsum, hydrogen peroxide, sul-po-mag and few more.
c) Seaweed can be applied once a month as a supplement. Molasses (honey) can be used anytime to feed microbes.

[Tampa Mom]

Obviously my DH and I are not farmers! We can grow flowering plants and do it great. Plants that make food...not so well. The tomato plants have done well this year and that's about it. The pepper plants all had blooms that were about to burst open and then there was a heavy rain and they all fell off. We had baby cucumbers and tons of blooms. This morning they weren't looking quite so good. The green onion tops I've planted are doing great and I use them a lot in my cooking. I've got baby yellow squash, zucchini and a pumpin plant (only one came up from seed) that are just coming out of seedling stage and some corn plants doing the same. I'm hoping for the best, but not counting on a crop.

I remind myself of two things: For thousands and thousands of years farmers have brought crops into town to be purchased by non-farmers. So I'm in good company there. And even if they don't produce food, at least the plants are producing oxygen.

[Monkeypie81]

Well I just got done munching down one of my garden fresh cucumbers for breakfast ( I know I'm weird ) and logged onto this site and found this thread and thought " how appropriate!". So far we've picked a bunch of cucumbers ( we all love them! ) and some strawberries, though I think they're probably done for the season. A few banana peppers which I have no idea what to do with, and one or two tomatoes. We have TONS of green tomatoes on 5 different plants, just none of them want to turn, and my acorn squash ( hubby picked that one, if it was my choice would have been yellow instead ) is growing HUGE but not turning yet. The potatoes are under ground but growing I assume since the tops have grown to be nearly bush size and flowered and now the flowers are dying off ( good sign I think? ). Carrots are slowly growing, and I keep checking the dirt everyday for their "shoulders", but so far no luck. I certainly can't wait for the tomatoes to start turning. We're huge fans of mater sammiches, and also, I can harvest and make a salad with the cucs and the peppers I've gotten. The worst part of a garden is having to be patient when you see nice plump fruit that's not quite ripe yet.

[Lisa]

We are having our best crop since moving here. I pulled out about 8 cucumbers and 4 zucchini to take to church Sunday morning to share because we are already having a hard time keeping up with what we already have. We have gotten 5 cherry tomatoes off the tomato plants, however our plants are LOADED with tomatoes, just all green. I did see a yellow tomato that looked like it might be ready today or tomorrow. I will be excited once the red ones start turning because I have at least 4 large ones that I'm not sure now they are staying on the vines because they are so big. Also have two baby watermelons that are so cute! The green peppers are doing okay, but not great. I've been bad about the weeds and they don't do well with weeds. I had some squash in there somewhere, but I think they died. The oregano is getting big also. I'm really enjoying the garden this year. It's nice to see the rewards of your hard work.

[Tampa Mom]

A few banana peppers which I have no idea what to do with

Thin sliced roast beef, some provalone (or another mild, white cheese), sliced and seed the banana peppers on a roll. MMM..MMMM!!!!!

[Monkeypie81]

Thin sliced roast beef, some provalone (or another mild, white cheese), sliced and seed the banana peppers on a roll. MMM..MMMM!!!!!

Oh that does sound good! I know they're good on sandwhiches, but I'd actually love to be able to pickle them like they sell in stores, since I eat so many on pizzas, sandwhiches, and salads. Any ideas?

[Girleymom3]

My poor plants don't like me this year! I have yet to pick a tomato....and they are all small! UGH! Back to the drawing board I guess!

[Lisa]

My poor plants don't like me this year! I have yet to pick a tomato....and they are all small! UGH! Back to the drawing board I guess!

We've done container gardening in the past and all I can tell you is that tomatoes like to be in the ground and they like natural rain. They will thrive well in the ground with regular hose watering, but they do like the natural things.

[amym]

Terrible. The chipmunks eat the tomato's.