2025 Garden Thread

[djlew]

That's fair. Watering by hand isn't even that tedious for me but I try to repurpose all the scraps I have laying around for something more useful. Thanks for replying!

 

[begreen]

I have everything but our patio plants on drip irrigation. It saves me a lot of time and assures that the plants get watered regularly, which is an issue with this very dry summer.
Tomato processing is happening now. This is the second batch from roasting. It was full to the brim with about 12 lbs of tomatoes plus some garlic and an onion.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

That looks great, @begreen . How do you preserve it? Canning? Freezing?

We got to enjoy the second of our Crimson Sweet watermelons the other day. A lady at church suggested that I make watermelon rind pickles. I had done that years ago when my kids were small, and they hadn't been a hit, but my two oldest encouraged me to give it another try to see if they had matured. We haven't taste tested them yet, but we did try my experimental pickled okra, and we all liked that. I also have dilly beans in the fridge now and red cabbage kraut still fermenting on the counter.

 

[EbS-P]

Well I spent and hour with my dad planting a fall garden. Brassicas in the backs plus 4 bags of lettuce. Collards mostly in the bed. Hopefully we will get something. The spring tomatoes were a complete bust.

 

[begreen]

That looks great, @begreen . How do you preserve it? Canning? Freezing?

We got to enjoy the second of our Crimson Sweet watermelons the other day. A lady at church suggested that I make watermelon rind pickles. I had done that years ago when my kids were small, and they hadn't been a hit, but my two oldest encouraged me to give it another try to see if they had matured. We haven't taste tested them yet, but we did try my experimental pickled okra, and we all liked that. I also have dilly beans in the fridge now and red cabbage kraut still fermenting on the counter.

From this stage it gets run through a mill, then canned as sauce.

They look like tasty melons! We are enjoying our Athena melons now. They turned out really nice.

 

[djlew]

Well, I think besides some basil and waiting for the lunchbox peppers we are about done with the garden harvest this year. Might have a few more raspberries to pick too. I am letting cucumbers go so I can get seeds. I harvested marigold and lettuce seeds so far. The pink lemonade blueberry got planted a few weeks ago and is showing great signs of life. I potted the cranberry to wait a few more weeks to get it into the ground. I'm not sure if it will like it but we didn't know what to do with it. It's a lowbush ground cover type cranberry, so I think it will be fun to use as ground cover around the blueberries and have a true berry patch.

As stated before, my Fall project will be yard cleanup and using the chipper/shredder to get some mulch for the berries and fruit trees to keep them nice and insulated. That will keep me occupied until burn season and then the garden takes a backseat to the wood stove.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

New apple variety!


It’s really nice! It’s a tart one, check it out!

 

[djlew]

Cool! Looks like one of my favorite apples, Cosmic Crisp except not patented or at least you can buy a tree outside of its grow state.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

My husband is a big fan of Cosmic Crisp as well. The kids and I are more Granny Smith or Cripps Pink (Pink Lady) types. One day we'd like to plant fruit trees to replace the ones that used to grow here years ago.

Our garden is winding down, but many crops are still producing. I removed all the brassicas because of an invasion of Harlequin beetles. They were past anyway, and I didn't want to feed the pests. The squash bugs took out the remaining squash in the garden, though there is a volunteer butternut in the front of the house that is doing well.

I harvested another round of Beaver Dam peppers to ripen up inside. I may roast them with eggplant and mill them into "ajvar." I've had so many pods of okra and green beans keeping me busy that I kept putting off the shishito harvest until some started drying out on the plants. I brought in more than four pounds from the three plants. We blistered some and gave some to my mom, and then she kindly came over one afternoon and sat outside at our picnic table and sliced them in half and seeded them for me so that I could put them in the freezer.


What we've really been enjoying this week is the "Golden Honey" watermelon. My youngest loves watermelon, and he picked out this yellow variety as the store this spring as a special treat. We had some trouble with germination but finally got one plant that produced one fruit, but it was worth it. When my mom tasted it, her comment was "I think this may be all I grow next year."


Our cantaloupe hasn't been so successful, but I did harvest a small one today when it slipped off the vine into my hands. They've been small but yummy, and I think it's not due so much to the variety as to a bad patch of soil under that part of the garden. Since there is no squash left, the squash bugs have moved on to the cantaloupe vines.

I have some seeds started inside for an attempt at overwintering crops, mostly cabbage and leeks. I'm hoping for an extended fall to get them well started. I think I'm going to spray the cabbage transplants with kaolin clay when I set them out in an effort to deter pests, but I'm hoping they'll move out of the garden in the meantime.

 

[djlew]

My husband is a big fan of Cosmic Crisp as well. The kids and I are more Granny Smith or Cripps Pink (Pink Lady) types. One day we'd like to plant fruit trees to replace the ones that used to grow here years ago.

Our garden is winding down, but many crops are still producing. I removed all the brassicas because of an invasion of Harlequin beetles. They were past anyway, and I didn't want to feed the pests. The squash bugs took out the remaining squash in the garden, though there is a volunteer butternut in the front of the house that is doing well.

I harvested another round of Beaver Dam peppers to ripen up inside. I may roast them with eggplant and mill them into "ajvar." I've had so many pods of okra and green beans keeping me busy that I kept putting off the shishito harvest until some started drying out on the plants. I brought in more than four pounds from the three plants. We blistered some and gave some to my mom, and then she kindly came over one afternoon and sat outside at our picnic table and sliced them in half and seeded them for me so that I could put them in the freezer.
View attachment 340248View attachment 340247

What we've really been enjoying this week is the "Golden Honey" watermelon. My youngest loves watermelon, and he picked out this yellow variety as the store this spring as a special treat. We had some trouble with germination but finally got one plant that produced one fruit, but it was worth it. When my mom tasted it, her comment was "I think this may be all I grow next year."
View attachment 340246

Our cantaloupe hasn't been so successful, but I did harvest a small one today when it slipped off the vine into my hands. They've been small but yummy, and I think it's not due so much to the variety as to a bad patch of soil under that part of the garden. Since there is no squash left, the squash bugs have moved on to the cantaloupe vines.

I have some seeds started inside for an attempt at overwintering crops, mostly cabbage and leeks. I'm hoping for an extended fall to get them well started. I think I'm going to spray the cabbage transplants with kaolin clay when I set them out in an effort to deter pests, but I'm hoping they'll move out of the garden in the meantime.

Sounds like you are still busy! I have a few tomato suckers that are still going and some cucumbers that are ripening for seeds.

I just got a small gas tiller to get our front yard ready for a meadow project my wife and I want to do to attract pollinators. We are moving our raised beds to the front yard for next year. Going to be a fun fall with new toys and progress in the yard !

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Sounds like you are still busy! I have a few tomato suckers that are still going and some cucumbers that are ripening for seeds.

I just got a small gas tiller to get our front yard ready for a meadow project my wife and I want to do to attract pollinators. We are moving our raised beds to the front yard for next year. Going to be a fun fall with new toys and progress in the yard !

Yes, still busy, mostly with harvesting and preserving.

It's been dry here for quite some time, but we have a chance of rain tomorrow, so I spent time this morning gathering the drying red noodle beans that I'm keeping for seed and possibly for eating. It turned out to be what I somewhat jokingly call "a mess of beans" all from just eight feet of trellis. There are a lot more still drying on the vine, and I found fresh ones starting as well. These aren't all filled out well, and the beans are naturally small, so this pile won't produce all that much, but it will still be a job to shell them out. I'm letting them dry inside for a bit before I get to that. They'll wait for me.


I like the sound of a meadow project. We will need pictures, of course, as you work on that, especially when it blooms.

 

[djlew]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you DG!

Been a rainy week here so far so not much done in the garden. I did till up most of my front yard the other day which was super satisfying. Local nursery had 50% off perennials so we picked a few things that will attract pollinators to the front garden. One was called a Monkey Bush, and the others were a Peony and Salvia. Seeds were acquired for the meadow and we will probably prepare the land this fall and plant next spring.

Nursey had 30% off of fruit bushes too. I already have 2 varieties of blueberries so passed on those but did pick up a Canby Raspberry plant that was already fruiting for 17 USD. My plan was to try and get a long harvest for berries, so I have an early and a later variety of blueberry, and this summer bearing Canby will hopefully get me some early raspberries with a light Heritage harvest followed by the bumper fall crop for the Heritage, assuming I make the time to prune it properly. My Heritage plant is still going with berries, if I saved these berries instead of picking them off the bush as they ripen I totally would have had enough for that beer I wanted to brew in the homebrew thread! LOL

 

[djlew]

Got to warm up the little craftsman chipper shredder. As stated above I am making mulch for the orchard. This is just one small wheelbarrow worth of twigs and leaves. Should take no time at all to cover the 6 trees.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Got to warm up the little craftsman chipper shredder. As stated above I am making mulch for the orchard. This is just one small wheelbarrow worth of twigs and leaves. Should take no time at all to cover the 6 trees.

Do you live on the beach? I was checking the map the other day and New Jersey is pretty big and on the coast. Looks like you
have white sand there. Must be a nice place to live.

 

[djlew]

Do you live on the beach? I was checking the map the other day and New Jersey is pretty big and on the coast. Looks like you
have white sand there. Must be a nice place to live.

That's a good observation! We have very sandy soil but we aren't on the beach. We are in a more rural part of the state that a lot of the rest of the world doesn't see because the shore and the New York types of New Jersey folks tend to take the spotlight. 😂We have a lot of good orchards and farms around here!

 

[begreen]

We heading into fall weather here with much shorter day hours and sun on the garden. Our winter crops are thriving. There are carrots, beets, rutabagas, cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce growing well. I also planted some sugar snap peas that are just starting to flower. We still have eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes bearing with weekly harvests and a few cukes still coming. I harvested most of our winter squash yesterday. We got about a dozen nice delicatas and some really big butternuts. There are two more on the vine that I am letting mature a bit. One feels like a 4 or 5 pounder!

 

[djlew]

Tis the season for my parents to give me some apples. They aren't pretty, but I have had them before and they are tasty! Sweet, a little tart. They aren't sure what cultivar they are. My brother gifted the tree to them about 6 or 7 years ago but forgot the type. They said it was from a big box store. I was always curious to figure out what kind of apple it was. Tasty, but ugly.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

My guess is the graft wasn’t what the store thought it would be.

 

[djlew]

My guess is the graft wasn’t what the store thought it would be.

That was my guess too. Somehow mislabeled in the mix. He was like... "Hmmm red delicious rings a bell" 🤣 I don't know about that one. Although, it would add up to the mislabel since big box stores usually sell pretty recognizable cultivars. Makes it all the more interesting to me I'd say.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yeah, looks like a win to me! No chance that a red delicious tree doesn’t become firewood at my house, lol.

 

[djlew]

Just about done here with the garden. Picked the last eggplant, a few lunchbox peppers, and can harvest some herbs for a bit longer but things are slowing down. Meyer lemon has been loving the cooler temps, really exploded. I also had an apricot seed that has been going through stratification for the past 3 months that just germinated. That was exciting. I have been taking care of it in a nice well draining soil mix. I left a few cukes on the vine a while ago so I could get some seeds. So far I have sunflower, marigold, cucumber, romaine, and pepper seeds hopefully ready for next year. That will be cool, not having to buy seedlings.

 

[begreen]

We are also winding down. I harvested a very nice crop of delicata and butternut squashes this week, then pulled the plants. Tomatoes are slowing down but still producing. The Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes are doing pretty well and not splitting like sungolds so far. We still have peppers coming in like gangbusters and holy moly are the Sugar Rush Peach ever prolific. I have harvested over 20 lbs of these hot mamas and there is still another 5-10# on the plants. I am making pepper flakes with them today. Here was yesterdays sweet pepper harvest. The Carmans have been putting out like this for the past few weeks.


last Monday

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think I have a few tomatoes left slowly ripening.

The basil still looks really happy, lol.

 

[djlew]

I had a horrible tomato year, my winners were late peppers and cucumbers. I'll take a win whenever I can get it though!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@begreen , congratulations on such a great squash, tomato, and pepper year. Good work! How many Sugar Rush Peach plants do you have planted to have yielded so many pounds of peppers? That's quite a haul.

I'm a little envious of that cucumber I see in the basket. Squash bugs took out most of my cucurbits this year. My volunteer butternut squash in the front of the house is still growing, though, and has two maturing fruits on it and two green ones. It's still flowering, though the weather has been in the forties this week at night, but we're not due for any frost in the forecast.

I've been planning to harvest sweet potatoes this weekend, and I had a little extra time today, so I decided to do a test dig this afternoon. I started by cutting off some of the extra foliage on one end so that I could remove a piece of cattle panel that was holding the vines. I hated to take the flowers out because of the bees, but it was only one small part of the vines, and I do have some other plants still flowering.

All my vines are flowering. The most prolific is a variety called "Becca's Purple." I've really been enjoying them, but the foliage and blooms on the darker "Kuwahi" are really delightful. It kind of got buried underneath its neighbors, though. I need to give them more space next year.



My initial test dig was very disheartening. I located a main vine and dug with my hands underneath it and only found what seemed like normal plant roots, no sweet potatoes. I broke some of the roots while doing this, and they were like long stringy potatoes. My mom found a slightly larger one, but we decided we'd just push the soil back up around the plant and leave them as long as it stays warm enough. I had such high expectations, and as we say on occasion at our house, my hopes were dashed to smithereens on the sharp rocks of reality. These have purple skin and purple flesh, but I'm not sure we'll get to try them out this year.



I decided to check the two other varieties as well, though I didn't cut back any foliage to do so. I was delighted to find some really good tuberous roots under the Red Wine Velvet variety. That's what I have most been looking forward to trying, so I'm pleased that this one hill gave some good sweets. These are more traditional looking with red skin and orange flesh.


Kuwahi I grew mostly for the beautiful vines, but I am interested in trying out the actual roots. A friend of mine created the cultivar, and I was privileged to help him name it, so it's kind of special to me for that reason. My mom was really taken with the appearance of the roots when they came out of the soil, so it will be interesting to see what she thinks of the flavor. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but these have a more violet red skin but yellow flesh inside.



I moved all the sweet potatoes to some cardboard on my sunporch where they should enjoy the heat. I may see about covering them with plastic to trap some humidity for them to cure better before storage.

I've decided not to harvest any more tomorrow. I have plenty of other work to do in the garden, primarily cleaning up old plants but also probably harvesting more peppers.