Garden Thread 2023!

[Dan Freeman]

DG those red noodle beans and shishito peppers look fabulous. I never had shishito peppers until about 4 years ago. A friend on the National Gardening Association Forum raved about them, so I tried them, and I was sold. They have become my favorite peppers. I didn't start as many this year since I had to start all my seeds in the house as I am transitioning greenhouses, but I will start some more seeds soon. I really like them sautéed in a slight drizzle of olive oil and sea salt.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

You’re about a year ahead of me, Dan Freeman, on Shishitos. I found out about them through a recommendation from a friend as well. She lives and gardens in upstate New York, and I think her sister-in-law grew Shishitos, and her kids loved them. She recommended that I give them a try. I had never even tasted them before I grew them, as it was cheaper to invest in a pack of seeds than to buy half a pound of them at the grocery store. We cook them just as you do, and we enjoy them very much. We’ve had a number of good side dishes from that pack of seeds I bought three years ago.

 

[begreen]

This year we are trialing Joe Parker, Ace, and Jimmy Nardello in addition to the Jalapenos, Fresnos, and Beaver Dams. We are skipping growing Shishitos this year. Last year's crop came out exceptionally hot and that spoiled a couple of dishes. It's not that we don't like hot peppers, but my wife wants more predictable heat. There are some dishes where it is not as desirable. Fresnos are our go-to pepper now if we want heat. Beaver Dam can also be hit or miss for heat, but a bit more predictable. These two peppers combine to make the best Sriracha sauce ever.

DG, the long red noodle beans look nice. We may try them next year. I planted the mystery YuHo's beans yesterday and a crop of blue lakes. We're picking sugar snap peas, cukes from the GH, and lots of lettuce.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Spent most of the day finishing off the rubber gaskets at the bottom frame and attaching the "anchors" that keep the greenhouse attached to the foundation. I also unpacked and assembled all of the nursery tables. I put the pond "outline" back in to get an idea of how everything fits. I think we are going with this design.

Here's a look from the front door:


And from the back door:


I have to start getting more plants in there besides the 14 pepper plants.

Tomorrow, I plan to start staining the pond pieces.

I forgot to take a pic of the FF pond. Still green, but an improvement over yesterday, so the filter is doing its job. It's just going to take a week or so to get the free-floating algae in check. I read all of the 195 reviews for this filter on The Pond Guy. Most who mention "time" said it took a few days to really notice a difference. I'll try to remember to take another pic tomorrow.

 

[EbS-P]

Man lettuce germinates fast. So I have 4 different lettuces, kale, mustard, turnip, broccoli rab, collards. Basil and parsley isn’t up yet but it was a couple days behind. Need to figure out when the best time to get get them in to the full strength nutrient solution would be.

The salad rack has grown a fair amount of algae in 4 months. It need cleaned. It’s not terrible but I only have a 12 plants still growing and they are probably near the end of production.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I had some extra time at home this morning and was able to take some photos of the garden, harvest a bit, and do some fermentation of the harvest. Now we’re having a good rainstorm which will make things grow even more. What a beneficial change from last year

Here’s a pumpkin that actually grew as a volunteer, and I transplanted it to my pumpkin bed. My son calls the whole garden with that bed his garden, and so this is his pumpkin. I have to move huge leaves to get a look at it, but he’s so excited by it. He checks on it every morning.

The tiny sprouts are ginger sprouts from roots that we moved into the center of the pumpkin bed. The two pumpkin plants have proceeded to send their foliage all over, but I’m hoping that the ginger will enjoy the heat and the shade. We’ll see.


This is a photo of my red noodle beans before I harvested about two quarts’ worth. I’m trying them as dilly beans. The green beans are my bush beans. I really like them, but they are definitely harder to harvest than the ones on the trellis, but they fill in space in the beds that don’t have trellises.


These are a couple of Txorixero sweet peppers that I’m trying this year for making sweet paprika. The first-to-blush prize goes to my Madera cherry tomatoes.


My sweet potatoes that I planted from some volunteer sprouts earlier this month are settling in well. Pretty soon, probably, I’ll be having to train the vines to stay inside the bed, I imagine.

 

[begreen]

I had some extra time at home this morning and was able to take some photos of the garden, harvest a bit, and do some fermentation of the harvest. Now we’re having a good rainstorm which will make things grow even more. What a beneficial change from last year

Here’s a pumpkin that actually grew as a volunteer, and I transplanted it to my pumpkin bed. My son calls the whole garden with that bed his garden, and so this is his pumpkin. I have to move huge leaves to get a look at it, but he’s so excited by it. He checks on it every morning.

The tiny sprouts are ginger sprouts from roots that we moved into the center of the pumpkin bed. The two pumpkin plants have proceeded to send their foliage all over, but I’m hoping that the ginger will enjoy the heat and the shade. We’ll see.
View attachment 313018View attachment 313011

This is a photo of my red noodle beans before I harvested about two quarts’ worth. I’m trying them as dilly beans. The green beans are my bush beans. I really like them, but they are definitely harder to harvest than the ones on the trellis, but they fill in space in the beds that don’t have trellises.
View attachment 313012View attachment 313017

These are a couple of Txorixero sweet peppers that I’m trying this year for making sweet paprika. The first-to-blush prize goes to my Madera cherry tomatoes.
View attachment 313014View attachment 313015

My sweet potatoes that I planted from some volunteer sprouts earlier this month are settling in well. Pretty soon, probably, I’ll be having to train the vines to stay inside the bed, I imagine.
View attachment 313016

Your garden looks great. With sun, good soil, and water, it's bound to flourish.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thanks, Begreen. The sun comes naturally down here, of course. There can even be too much at times. We’ve been working on building the soil in the raised beds, and we’ve had some good loads of homemade compost recently. The rain this May has been so helpful, though. We just got almost an inch and half yesterday in a fairly short storm. I was so thankful for that much water.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I had my first tomato harvest today. The ripest of the Madera cherry tomatoes went into a luncheon salad along with some peppers and cucumbers from the garden. {The lettuce was store-bought.]

I also harvested nearly two more pounds of green beans and a few leeks. This evening, I cooked some chicken thighs with the leeks, then added diced potatoes and the trimmed green beans. It made for a very tasty meal. The leeks in particular were delicious in my opinion. I’m going to be harvesting more leeks in the coming days as our weather is officially turning hot, and I think it’s time.

 

[begreen]

Wonderful. I love it when full meals start coming from the garden.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Still no rain in the foreseeable future here after 0.24 inches of rain in May. My yard is "toast". Here is a pic of one section off of my front porch.



I am not even thinking about my vegetables at this point. My main concerns are now the thousands of dollars I spent on fruit trees, bushes, and vines, and our house water.

We are already in the worst drought in 59 years here, and from what they say, there is no relief in sight.

 

[begreen]

Wow, that looks like our lawn in July/August. I know what you mean about the fruit trees. I have started watering them. Hope some rain comes your way soon.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Thanks, begreen!

 

[begreen]

Got lettuce? We have it coming out of our ears. This is still last year's overwintered crop. We need to get picking the new crop soon. The cucumbers are coming in now at 2 every other day. The corn is up and 4" tall already. We have a couple of tiny zucchini showing and our first tiny asparagus poked up its head in the new bed. Peas are starting to bear and the green beans are sprouting. Won't be long now.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Beautiful looking lettuce!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today, we took up the underground wire we had running to the old greenhouse and buried a more substantial 12/2 wire. I wired two outlets, a GFCI and a piggy-backed duplex receptacle that is protected by the GFCI outlet at the back of the greenhouse. I was going to wire a number of outlets along the length of the greenhouse, but instead, I ordered 2 - 25 foot extension cords that have a plug every 5 feet. Cheaper and easier! They should come in tomorrow.

Next, I have to install the exhaust fan, the intake louvre and the recirculation fan and finally the pond, and the greenhouse will be complete.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@Dan Freeman , that photo of your grass is really striking. I saw a headline on the weather about the northeast heading into a “flash drought.” Is your area in that danger zone?

Congratulations on your progress on your greenhouse. It sounds as though there’s a good bit of work still to do, but you’ve come a long way, and it sounds as though the end is in sight.

@begreen, that harvest of lettuce looks absolutely beautiful. I love the different colors and textures contained in that basket. When you get so much at one time, how do you use it all?


Here are some photos of my garden that I took yesterday.


Clusters of green Porter tomatoes on one of my two plants. There’s no sign of blushing yet, but the plant is loaded with fruit. This a a variety that was specifically bred for Texas, and I’ve wanted to try it for a while. A gardening friend sent me some seeds for this season, and I’m excited to see how the fruit turns out.

The other picture is my Seminole Pumpkin. It had its first blossom yesterday. My ten-year-old daughter laughs about the pumpkin patch because the vines are so rampant. She says that normally our garden is a hideout for insects, spiders, and little frogs, but she jokes that the pumpkin bed could serve as a hideout for a whole family of bears.



We had our first zucchini yesterday. It got large fast but was still tender and tasty. We added it to some pasta sauce.

Four years ago my husband and I planted four pomegranate seedlings to replace a dead and dying hedge at the bottom of our driveway. The pomegranates have had some setbacks due to two very cold winters, but they are all pretty tall and bushy at this point. There have been only two blossoms, but I love the little picture of what may come in future years.

 

[Dan Freeman]

DG, your garden is looking great! You suffered with little rain last year. Perhaps this is our year with the weather pattern changes because of changing ocean temps.

Yeah, this whole area of the NE PA (and surrounding areas) is having real problems. I think I mentioned 0.24 inches of rain for May, and no rain in site (unless we get a pop-up storm) through the first 1/2 of June according to the long-range forecast.

Thanks on the greenhouse. I am already loving it. I feel like it is a dance hall (at 280 sq ft) compared to the old one (at 128 sq ft).

 

[begreen]

It looks like your garden is really happy DG. The tomatoes look great. I am curious about how they turn out.

The batch of lettuce in the picture was mostly given away to friends and neighbors. We have a lot more still to pick. Now I need to get another planting started. Our yellow Gold Rush zucchini has just started showing little 2" fruit. The green zucchini is healthy, but no blossoms yet.

Dan, we are there with you. The 10-day forecast is the same as it has been since early May. Golden orbs of sunshine, but no rain.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Dan, we are there with you. The 10-day forecast is the same as it has been since early May. Golden orbs of sunshine, but no rain.

At least we don't feel alone!

I did get the pond frame set up in the greenhouse today.



Actually, my goal was to get the lower intake shutter installed, but after 2 trips to Lowes on a Sunday (swamped with people), and having to change the position of the electrical box and rewire it, I needed to do something mindless this afternoon.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Another one of those days where I was doing a lot but felt like I got nothing done!

I did get the intake louver installed into the greenhouse.



The exhaust fan will go right above the back door in this picture.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@Dan Freeman , you keep making steady progress. You’ll get there.

I picked the last beets from our garden today. Often we enjoy the greens and some small beets, but this time I let one of the beets grow very large. I was concerned that it might be woody, but it was just fine. It was good to have more beetroot to distribute among our bowls tonight. The beet variety is called “Cylindra.”



I also sampled the first of one of my volunteer cherry tomatoes this year. They’re the somewhat striped tomatoes to the front of the colander [the dark red ones with dark green shoulders are a hybrid variety called Madera.]. I don’t know the genetic heritage of this volunteer, but the one I ate today was quite tasty. That’s encouraging since there are a bunch more on the small vine.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Thanks, DG. I just try to make a little progress each day.

Beautiful beets and tomatoes. My beets have only started coming up in the past two weeks. I like to pickle them with onions. We can a bunch of jars each summer and have them all winter.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I got chives, parsley and basil planted today. I also got all the strings run for the 15 tomato plants to grow up (using clips to support them).

The air is thick with smoke as there must be brush fires in the area. We are under a fire warning throughout today. There were a number of fires in the area yesterday too.

Some random FF pics:

A grouping of tomatoes. Tomatoes look very healthy with good growth since I put them in the ground two weeks ago.

Some potatoes, broccoli, and cabbages.

Look at the size of those asparagus. Only in their 2nd year, we are letting this group fern out. We'll start harvesting them next year.

5 Comfrey plants at the back of the pergola.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thanks for the photos, @Dan Freeman . I know you’re having a hard time with drought, and I don’t want to minimize it, but your garden is looking great. I’ve been there with you in terms of having to decide what to sacrifice, and it was my annuals last year. I hope you get some rain soon to keep you going longer.

I had a mixed day in the garden today, mostly related to my bean plants. I harvested almost three pounds of my green bush beans and another two pounds of the red noodle beans. The bad part, though, was that the red noodle beans were just crawling with large bugs.

At first I thought they were “kissing bugs” because I had received a report from a neighbor that one had been spotted in another neighbor’s house. She had shown me a picture, and they did look very like these. Kissing bugs are bloodsucking insects, and they can carry and transmit a parasite that can infect both humans and dogs. It’s much more a concern in South America where the bugs colonize houses, but our county in Texas is known to have infections, so I was concerned.

The question that occurred to me this morning was “Why would kissing bugs be congregating on my bean plants?” It just didn’t make complete sense to me, and most of the information I could find about them had to do with Chagas disease and not gardens. I decided to get a closer look through pictures and do some more searching, and I came up with a closer match to the insect: the Conchuela stink bug. Not that I was excited to have a stink bug infestation in my garden, but I felt very relieved by it nonetheless.

Conchuela stink bug

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Conchuela stink bug is relatively large, with adults averaging up to 15 mm (0.6 inches) long. Adults are dark green to black with a distinctive red border and a red spot near the tip of their abdomen. These stink bugs tend to be green in the north and black in...

extensionentomology.tamu.edu

After reading in several places, it seems that Conchuela stink bugs are fond of legumes, particularly mesquite pods. I might need to mosey on down the street and examine the mesquite tree that grows there. I don’t even know when it sets seed, but if it has done so already, and the seeds are hardening, maybe the bugs moved on to find more tender fare.

Because the infestation was so bad, I did break out my diatomaceous earth and puffed it one the insects and the vines. I’m wanting to save seeds from some of my beans, and the stink bug damage can actually inhibit future seed germination since they penetrate not only the pod but also the tender beans inside.

I don’t like using DE broadly since it is an indiscriminate killer of insects, both pests and beneficials alike. Thankfully while I have seen bees and ladybugs in the garden, they have not been on the red noodle beans. I puffed the DE on in the late morning. In the late afternoon we got a rain shower that washed most of it off, for which I was thankful. I’m hoping that it was enough to knock the population back a bit. I’ll see what things look like tomorrow morning. I’m not expecting a complete riddance, of course, but it would be nice to see fewer. There were so many today, it was quite horrifying.

If you want a challenge, zoom in on the photo above of the long pods and see how many you can count in just that little area.