2026 Garden Thread

[qwee]

I once bought a fruit tree from a nursery in Washington State - by the Sound. I ask, "How often do you water all of these trees in your orchard?" He says, "We don't water any on them. We are below sea level." Wow - I miss a watering once and my trees are suffering. I think it was in Poulsbo, Washington.

 

[begreen]

A well established fruit tree doesn't need a lot of watering, but it needs some. We haven't had meaningful rain here, 40 miles from Poulsbo, for over a month. My apples survive, but the fruit is going to be smaller and the trees stressed. I water younger trees for about 30 minutes each every other week. As a counterpoint, we have a 90? year old King apple that is packed with fruit and it gets no watering.

 

[djlew]

I have found that it is way easier to overwater... pretty much everything for me. I also opted for a moisture meter that ended up breaking pretty quickly. Finger test is also semi reliable, sometimes I have a hard time differentiating between the cooler soil temperature and moisture. I kind of treat it like testing if a cake is done but your toothpick is your finger lol. Dry soil rubs off really easily at least where I am.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

It started raining at the beginning of August after being very dry for most of the summer. I think the rain may have been too much for a blueberry bush I planted this spring as it has lost all its leaves. The garden plants are definitely loving it, though.

I had one Golden Honey watermelon split open before it was fully ripe, but I picked a second last week ahead of some forecast severe storms. We cut into it Sunday evening, and it was very good. It was my only variety in the garden for most of the summer because I wanted to save pure seed.


Here's a shot of my zinnias that I put in where I had harvested garlic. The corn is in a patch to the right with another small patch across the path from it.

We've been getting afternoon storms, and a couple of varieties of cherry tomatoes have been splitting, so I picked a bunch this afternoon. They're in the wire basket on top of some hot peppers that are hiding in there. The ones in the bucket are a variety that has not been splitting, so I've been leaving them on the plant. I picked a bunch today because my daughter wants me to make dried tomatoes with them.

I shucked my first four ears of corn tonight. I had not been sure that the pollination would succeed in my small patch, especially with the timing of the rain, but I was very pleased with the first four ears. I did have some earworms, but there wasn't too much damage. We shared them for dinner tonight along with shishito peppers and my mom's okra, and they were tasty.


The green beans are coming to a close for the season. I'm letting them go to seed. I cut out a bunch of cucuzzi vines on Saturday because of squash bug damage, but I think I still have some connected to a plant that will produce. It was hard to sort out the jungle of vines on the trellis. There's no more light getting to the okra, so I hope that will help it grow.

 

[begreen]

That looks great DG. Love that melon. What variety of corn is this?

 

[begreen]

Man, sweet potato really likes to take over the place. This is my first time growing them. How do you know when they are ready to harvest?
The butternut and delicata squash are mostly harvested. We'll be picking corn for freezing tomorrow. In the meantime, this is today's gathering.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

That looks great DG. Love that melon. What variety of corn is this?

Thanks, begreen. The corn is "Who Gets Kissed?" sweet corn from High Mowing Seeds. It's an open-pollinated variety designed for organic growing.

Sweet potatoes mature based on how many suitably warm growing degree days they've had. You can use the number of days they've been in the ground as a guide, and then adjust your expectation on whether your weather has been particularly warm or cool. I think you said you've been having cool nights, so I'd expect your crop to take longer than the expected days to maturity. Then again, I'm not sure how the daytime heat of a greenhouse would affect things.

There are varieties of sweet potato that tend to be more bushy than vining. My mom grows something like Ginseng Orange, and it's remarkably well behaved. I grow all vining types and have to lift the vines off the mulch and turn them back into the beds and through the trellis, or else I can't walk. Even doing that I probably won't be able to walk beside them by the end of the season. I tend to let my sweet potatoes grow until it starts turning chilly at night. Then I harvest.

You definitely want to get them out of the ground before soil temperatures drop down to 55 as they can experience chilling injury at that point.

I haven't read it recently, but Sand Hill Preservation Center has pretty good information about growing sweet potatoes, I believe. He probably gives tips about harvesting.

That basket of goodies is a feast for the eyes and the palate, I'm sure. I love that eggplant, and you have more red, ripe peppers than I do here. Mine have had some trouble with blossom end rot early on, but I did harvest a number of blushing peppers today that look good. I'll let them ripen inside.

 

[djlew]

Wow, looks great DG. Awesome harvest as usual!

I finally got some fall seeds in for carrots and beets. It should take me nicely to first frost. We pulled what we started in May and ended up with a nice amount of baby carrots and beets on the smaller side. I didn't do much thinning. It made a nice addition to the Sunday roast we had.

Everything else is slowing down, except for the eggplants. Since I started harvesting, I probably have between 3-5 to pick between 4 plants on a weekly basis.

The Japanese eggplant works really well grilled - nice flavor and soft, but doesn't get too mushy if on the grates at high heat. Essentially toasted.

The Sicilian eggplant is amazing for eggplant parm, but yesterday I cut one up into large rounds, drizzled some of our basil oil that we infused from our garden basil, dusted with basil salt (also from the garden), garlic and onion powder and threw it in the convection oven at 400F for about 6-8 minutes and WOW. Must try.

 

[djlew]

My zucchini went from producing NOTHING to producing this gigantic squash. As of my last post this was NOT in sight! Holy smokes these things grow quickly once they get pollinated. Japanese eggplant for scale as well as a more "normal" sized zucchini. These will be my first ever homegrown zucchini to try. I am very excited!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thanks for the picture, @djlew . Those look nice and healthy.

Those big leaves can hide a lot. I'm frequently missing cucumbers on my vines, and I'm even growing a special "Little Leaf" variety that makes it easier to harvest. I have two that I was saving for seed, so I'm letting them grow large and ripe on purpose. Just yesterday I found a third that's actually bigger than the two I meant to let get large.

Your large zucchini may be toughening up or have hard seeds inside. If you let them keep going, they'll actually turn orange and hard like pumpkins. I did that my last year in Texas in order to save seeds from the variety.

@begreen , I went out yesterday and took a couple of pictures of my sweet potatoes and then a couple of pictures of my mom's just so that you could see the difference in growth habits.

The first two pictures are the trellis side of my sweet potatoes and then the front side of the bed. This morning I picked up the vines and either laced them through the trellis or just laid them on top of the others in the bed to try to keep the pathways clear and to keep them from rooting in to the ground and expending their energy on secondary tubers. I just want them to bulk up primary ones under the plant.


My mom's sweet potatoes still grow plenty wide, but she has never had to redirect vines to go up a trellis or back into a bed. She has one row of sweet potatoes, and I think the foliage extends about five feet from side to side now that we've gotten a lot of rain. She doesn't have true paths in her garden for the most part, so it's a little hard to see where it begins and ends, but they are a more contained type of sweet potato.




What variety are you growing, Begreen?

 

[begreen]

Your sweet potatoes look great out in the open. I put them in the greenhouse, not knowing what our summer would be like. Good thing. Our nights have been cool.

What variety are you growing, Begreen?

The label is buried. I think they may be Cascade, but not sure.

 

[djlew]

Your large zucchini may be toughening up or have hard seeds inside. If you let them keep going, they'll actually turn orange and hard like pumpkins. I did that my last year in Texas in order to save seeds from the variety.

Pretty cool how a lot of these fruit and veggies work that way... I've tried that with cucumbers as well to get some viable seeds. They never sprouted, but it was a fun experiment.

 

[qwee]

I've started planning for next year. I pulled out a chainsaw to cut all of the 'bad' little trees and poison them. They grow back really fast - unless killed. I'm going to build a cold frame. So black metal 30-gallon barrels buried laying down in a cold frame - into a south facing hill. I wonder how it will work? (I laid the barrels down to get an idea of how wide the frame will be)

I picked my first zucchini, and a few blushing tomatoes. I bought some Kozy Coats/Walls of Water for starting those young plants a couple of months earlier in the garden. So around the first week of March, for me. People say they work well. Also, I have bought some more heat tolerant tomato variety's seeds.

I have 2 Brandywine tomato plants - one is small but has a few tomatoes, and the other is bigger but with no tomatoes (pics 3 & 4). The big thick one has a 3/4" main stem. It is trying to produce fruit by flowering but the temperature was over 95F yesterday and it will be the same today - time is running out. I've tried the electric toothbrush method to shake the flowers to get the pollen moving. Worst case scenario is a huge plant but no tomatoes. Now I know - Brandywine is a no no here (maybe shaded).

 

[begreen]

Big zucchinis can be turned into zu-canoes by slicing them lengthwise, scooping out the middle, then filling the 'canoe' with a rice pilaf or similar filling.

I'd suggest next year trying out BrandyBoy instead of Brandywine. It produces the same huge and tasty slicers, but is much more prolific. Support it well, this plant can produce 1-2 lb tomatoes.

 

[qwee]

BG thanks, ya I have it on order. And Brandy Sweet plum, too (Brandywine x cherry tomato). You have to love that hybrid vigor. Also Siletz developed in Oregon. People say it will grow in hot weather (odd it is from the Willamette Valley). And a German tomato called Bloody Butcher is said to handle heat and puts on early. Others good in the heat I ordered - Jolene, Homestead 24, Arkansas Traveler, & Bella Rosa. It is a learning curve. I'll try this and that to find ones that work. Yes, I would like some of the great tasters but it is no good if the plants can't make tomatoes.

I know Rutgers and Celebrity are old commercial determinates and will probably grow in hot weather. I ordered some others that aren't as good in the heat but can probably push through it - Burpee hybrids for sure. The Wells O'Water should help, too. They will give the plants a chance to be bigger and set flowers before the heat hits hard. And I will plan on employing a shade cloth over some of the heat sensitive tomato plant heirlooms (and certain hybrids).

 

[begreen]

Also Siletz developed in Oregon. People say it will grow in hot weather (odd it is from the Willamette Valley).

Althought the winters can be cooler, the Willamette valley can get hot. It's not uncommon to see 90s several times in the summer and a few triple digits too, especially with increasing global temperatures.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

It was a pretty morning in the garden today, and I decided to spend some time photographing blooms before the heat got high this afternoon. I thought I'd just share the pictures here.

Marigolds and buckwheat


Tomatoes


Luffa and Zinnias


Sunflowers and Stocks


Roselle before and after the bloom opened


Okra and Balsam Impatiens