2025 Garden Thread

[Whitenuckler]

First cucumbers and zucchini are coming in! Really want to snap a pic while the pollinators are at work... makes the tomato troubles a little easier to swallow. Bell peppers are struggling like the tomatoes. Saw some people mention with leaf curl and no discoloration to try and plant deeper. I thought I planted pretty deep but who knows. Picked a few blueberries off of the bush as well. Super small, probably should have thinned a bit more but didn't expect anything this year! Topped out at 102F here this week so hoping for the best! Sidenote... not a fun week to have broken AC and a full system replacement needed!!

Good luck on your garden. I have not yet tried to grow anything, but I do have lots of weeds. Do you have a forced air system with outside compressor and evap coil above your furnace? And you have to change both? That sucks. I am running two heat pumps here on my main floor so hopefully one will keep working. One did blow and need to be replaced about a year ago, but that was more of a heating issue at the time. That might be one of the advantages to more than one heat pump.

 

[djlew]

Good luck on your garden. I have not yet tried to grow anything, but I do have lots of weeds. Do you have a forced air system with outside compressor and evap coil above your furnace? And you have to change both? That sucks. I am running two heat pumps here on my main floor so hopefully one will keep working. One did blow and need to be replaced about a year ago, but that was more of a heating issue at the time. That might be one of the advantages to more than one heat pump.

Thank you for the positivity! Heat pump here, and since natural gas is new to my area have to rip out everything to install exactly as you mentioned. Good timing in the sense that we would need to replace the air handler anyway, bad timing that the motor blew in the middle of one of the worst heat waves here! Although, going out in the garden and coming back in the house even with no AC feels like an icebox! 😂

 

[djlew]

Just a funny anecdote... my dad is a gardener and used to force me to go to Home Depot with him to pick up mulch when I was a kid. I begrudgingly would go but definitely wouldn't help him spread it. Now in my adulthood, owning my own property, trying to start my own backyard orchard he likes to send me photos of his progress... his one year old peach tree attached already fruiting. I sent him my photos of my bare roots just growing their leaves. I found it funny, I wonder if the 20 years of waiting for me to get into it is paying off for him getting to troll me...

Sidenote - I did tell him it's best practice to thin out for the first couple years and maybe beyond and he didn't listen! 😂

 

[begreen]

Just a funny anecdote... my dad is a gardener and used to force me to go to Home Depot with him to pick up mulch when I was a kid. I begrudgingly would go but definitely wouldn't help him spread it. Now in my adulthood, owning my own property, trying to start my own backyard orchard he likes to send me photos of his progress... his one year old peach tree attached already fruiting. I sent him my photos of my bare roots just growing their leaves. I found it funny, I wonder if the 20 years of waiting for me to get into it is paying off for him getting to troll me...

Sidenote - I did tell him it's best practice to thin out for the first couple years and maybe beyond and he didn't listen! 😂

That peach looks older than one year. My guess is that it was ~3yrs old when sold. That said, it is good to reduce fruit load, especially at first. Peaches can be overachievers. I had to pull off about 50% of the fruit from our trees this year. It looks like he may have done this too.

 

[djlew]

That peach looks older than one year. My guess is that it was ~3yrs old when sold. That said, it is good to reduce fruit load, especially at first. Peaches can be overachievers. I had to pull off about 50% of the fruit from our trees this year. It looks like he may have done this too.

Good chance. I wonder if some dropped and he didn't notice. I think it was a big box store buy. My bare roots are young so he gets a kick out of the comparison!

 

[djlew]

Picked the first cuke of the season and it was delicious. Everything seems to be correcting that was having a hard time in the garden but the rain is continuous. I think the rest of the week is supposed to be dry.

Going back to pests completely decimating my plants by the roots, I decided to try and dig (no pun intended) into what could be causing it. I have a battery camera that I plan on pointing towards the garden to see what I'm dealing with. I'm wondering if I snag a few pics of the mounds if anyone who has had similar pests can identifying what it could be. I was thinking moles, but I thought they didn't go for roots or plants at all. Voles seem to fit the bill but not sure their climbing ability into raised beds since I thought the cardboard and logs would deter enough from below at least for this year until they decompose. Maybe I have moles separate and squirrels are actually going for the roots? Hoping to find out. So far they have just gone for the tomatoes and peppers, nothing else.

I sprinkled some coffee grounds down as a deterrent, which seems to have worked until the rain comes in. Once I hopefully figure out what we are dealing with, I am hoping maybe a combo of some peppermint from my plant, coffee, red pepper, etc. will be enough of a deterrent for the future. Never had an issue with pests like this before, but the raised beds moved from against the fence to now much closer to a tree. Lots of variables. I am also concerned for the fruit trees, and there are holes/mounds around them but so far the roots are intact and I have protectors on the trunk, which is what makes me think maybe I am dealing with two things.

 

[begreen]

Corn is 4 ft high by the 4th of July. Cukes are cranking out regularly and the zucchinis are now producing. The peas are also at peak and tomatoes are blushing. I harvested the potatoes yesterday and will be pulling the softneck garlic and some of the onions soon. And Houston, we have a melon! Summer is here.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Friday I saw my first few pea blossoms.

I’ve got little green tomatoes.

Zucchini are still small.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Retirement plan! I’m gonna be rich! Boutique dandelion varieties! I’ll get them out of my lawn and sell them as specially suited and adapted to our area!

 

[begreen]

Harvested the softneck garlic today. Onions will be next. The corn is tasseling and may be ready at the end of the month.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Peas are finally coming in. Brambles are mid harvest. Rhubarb is done.tomato plants have green tomatoes. Herbs haven’t bolted yet, but are probably close, lol.

 

[begreen]

Ringmaster onion harvest day. They are big and sweet and keep for about 4 months. That's a 4" knife in front for sizing.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Ringmaster onion harvest day. They are big and sweet and keep for about 4 months. That's a 4" knife in front for sizing.

View attachment 339448

You have a very productive garden!

 

[djlew]

Can't get a picture of the fruits before they get picked by my wife! Cucumbers are flourishing and we have a good amount of raspberries coming in for the late summer/fall harvest. Not a lot of other action going on in the garden. Aiming to prune the Heritage raspberries for a large fall harvest next spring and plant an early fruiting variety next year for an extended season.

I'm also doing an experiment with apricot seeds. I'll document that progress as well but I know that will take a looooooooong time for some action.

 

[begreen]

Onion harvest completed except for 6 more smaller Patterson (yellow) onions and the later planted Rosso di Milano red onion crop. This will be enough onions for a year with some left over.

 

[djlew]

Looks great begreen! Satisfying to quantify the harvest like that. That's an incredible haul.

Finally got some pictures of some cukes on the vine. Gave the plants some food about a week ago when they started fruiting more aggressively and they took off. Will probably get a small basket full before the end of the weekend. Looks like the zucchinis got stem rot but I never had luck with zucchini. Also threw a pic of one of the bare root peach trees planted this year that got some fun vertical growth going on. Will be fun to prune later but happy with the growth this year. The apple trees didn't grow like my peaches but still show signs of life, might be worth a picture soon!

 

[begreen]

Thanks. We're happy with this crop. The largest of the onions are bigger than a softball. It's taken several years of weak crops to finally get repeatable yields.

Your plants look nice and healthy. What were the cukes fed? The peach is at the stage to consider first pruning to encourage an open center form.

 

[djlew]

Thanks. We're happy with this crop. The largest of the onions are bigger than a softball. It's taken several years of weak crops to finally get repeatable yields.

Your plants look nice and healthy. What were the cukes fed? The peach is at the stage to consider first pruning to encourage an open center form.

Words of wisdom. I used to get so frustrated, especially with zucchini that is typically easy to grow! Now I at least take the lesson and learn for next time. It helps to have some good harvests of other things.

Thank you! I'm a big Espoma guy, really works well for me. I have Espoma garden tone, tree tone, and going to pick up the soil acidifier for the berries at some point. I was really going to try and hold off on the pruning until they start to go dormant. Not sure if it really matters, but just something that stuck in my brain as a preference. Although I can't wait to scare my wife with the pruning! Her father is a landscaper, and he's known to really go to town with pruning, so I did take a few tricks out of his book to consider for the fruit trees.

 

[begreen]

I use garden tone and tomato tone too.

 

[djlew]

Forgot to take a pic, but I was out in the garden and noticed in my compost pile 5 tomato plants were starting to grow. After all of the issues with this year's transplants, we currently have 5 healthy looking plants that we didn't even touch and nature took its course.

Anybody have anything like that happen before? I always see people online have things like that happen, but never thought it could happen to me! 😂

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@begreen , Thanks for all those photo updates of your garden. I love seeing your plants and harvests, and it looks like a great year so far for you. Congratulations.

@djlew , Tomatoes and squash are frequent volunteers from my compost if I use it without letting it compost fully. I do that knowingly at times, sometimes in the fall if I know that frost will kill the seedlings, sometimes if I just don't mind doing a bit of removal. We just moved into a new construction home last fall, and there was one area outside where I needed to build up the soil a lot. I moved fill, humus from the woods, and topped it with unfinished homemade compost. I have had countless tomatoes and one squash. The area isn't sunny for a vegetable garden, but I let them grow to a good size just to get roots in the soil. My mom frequently gets volunteer tomatoes in her garden, and the fruit is often good. Not always, but often.

I installed soaker hoses in my garden rows yesterday. We actually had a good rain over the weekend, so I haven't had to to use them yet, though I did test them. I think that they'll get their inaugural use tomorrow morning while I carry water to the shrubs around the house.

I spent the afternoon processing tomatoes. I made sauce out of my abundant harvest of the little egg shaped Taste Patios that I grow. They aren't paste tomatoes, so the puree had a lot of juice. I made some into spaghetti sauce and froze an extra quart.


I had a beautiful Hungarian Heart tomato on the counter, and it was too pretty to put into the sauce, so I changed plans and made BLT's for dinner. Actually they were BBT's with basil instead of lettuce, since the basil is thriving, and the lettuce has bolted. It was just too beautiful a tomato to pass up the opportunity. The tomato is about four inches long to the point, by the way. The basil is a "lettuce-leaf" variety that my daughter grew in her horticulture class this year. The larger leaves can be as big as my hand. I've been giving lots away when I take kids to medical appointments. It's a huge hit.


Hmm. I'm not sure how to fix the sideways picture at this point, but the idea is there. We're also beginning to harvest okra, red cabbage, Rattlesnake pole beans, and Red Noodle Yardlong Beans.


The sweet potatoes are filling out well. They've completely hidden the moving paper I've been putting out in an attempt to smother the invading bermuda grass.


I have a lot of pepper varieties growing, but two of my favorites are Shishitos and fish peppers. We've been enjoying pans of blistered Shishitos as a side dish. I'll let the fish peppers turn red and dry them to make a powder that my kids really enjoy for adding spice to foods.

 

[djlew]

@begreen , Thanks for all those photo updates of your garden. I love seeing your plants and harvests, and it looks like a great year so far for you. Congratulations.

@djlew , Tomatoes and squash are frequent volunteers from my compost if I use it without letting it compost fully. I do that knowingly at times, sometimes in the fall if I know that frost will kill the seedlings, sometimes if I just don't mind doing a bit of removal. We just moved into a new construction home last fall, and there was one area outside where I needed to build up the soil a lot. I moved fill, humus from the woods, and topped it with unfinished homemade compost. I have had countless tomatoes and one squash. The area isn't sunny for a vegetable garden, but I let them grow to a good size just to get roots in the soil. My mom frequently gets volunteer tomatoes in her garden, and the fruit is often good. Not always, but often.

I installed soaker hoses in my garden rows yesterday. We actually had a good rain over the weekend, so I haven't had to to use them yet, though I did test them. I think that they'll get their inaugural use tomorrow morning while I carry water to the shrubs around the house.

I spent the afternoon processing tomatoes. I made sauce out of my abundant harvest of the little egg shaped Taste Patios that I grow. They aren't paste tomatoes, so the puree had a lot of juice. I made some into spaghetti sauce and froze an extra quart.
View attachment 339541

I had a beautiful Hungarian Heart tomato on the counter, and it was too pretty to put into the sauce, so I changed plans and made BLT's for dinner. Actually they were BBT's with basil instead of lettuce, since the basil is thriving, and the lettuce has bolted. It was just too beautiful a tomato to pass up the opportunity. The tomato is about four inches long to the point, by the way. The basil is a "lettuce-leaf" variety that my daughter grew in her horticulture class this year. The larger leaves can be as big as my hand. I've been giving lots away when I take kids to medical appointments. It's a huge hit.
View attachment 339542

Hmm. I'm not sure how to fix the sideways picture at this point, but the idea is there. We're also beginning to harvest okra, red cabbage, Rattlesnake pole beans, and Red Noodle Yardlong Beans.
View attachment 339543View attachment 339544View attachment 339545View attachment 339546

The sweet potatoes are filling out well. They've completely hidden the moving paper I've been putting out in an attempt to smother the invading bermuda grass.
View attachment 339547

I have a lot of pepper varieties growing, but two of my favorites are Shishitos and fish peppers. We've been enjoying pans of blistered Shishitos as a side dish. I'll let the fish peppers turn red and dry them to make a powder that my kids really enjoy for adding spice to foods.
View attachment 339548View attachment 339549

Beautiful! Really interesting varieties of stuff. I'll have to look into that basil, BBT sounds amazing with a variety like that. I like that term... volunteer plants. That's exactly what happened. We were experimenting with just a big pile of compost and tossed all of the unfinished stuff in there too. Really cool to see stuff take off naturally. Enjoy the great harvests!

 

[begreen]

DG, you've made a lot of progress in a year. The garden looks great. It must be a lot easier to maintain in the damper climate of VA. The peppers and beans are ahead of ours, but we're getting there. Our nights continue to be cool, regardless of daytime temps. It is very comfortable, but it keeps the soil temp below 70º so far. That is slowing down the peppers and eggplants, though they are flowering.