# Gardening thread of 2021



## Bert2368

I have found a seed company in Minnesota, USA which grows and sells locally addapted vegetable seeds. Just received my first order, they shipped quickly and professionally packed seed.

They also have articles and podcasts featuring themselves as well as other people who brought the seeds to their attention or bred/conserved them, describing traditional uses and explaining what qualities made them of interest. A lot of vegetarians amongst them, veges have generally steered me right in these matters.









Our North Circle Seeds


Most of the seeds in our collection are grown on our farm in Vergas, MN as well as many varieties grown by farmers mostly in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. We have been Certified Organic since 2020. Please check out the Our Growers section to read more about our growers.




northcircleseeds.com





We'll find out how good they are this summer... Hope for the best!

As usual, I'm wanting to order some more seeds from FEDCO in Maine, USA. However, they are running very limited hours, had some supply issues and may be out of stock before I get an order in- But here's the contact, in case anyone wants to try them.









Catalog Search - Fedco Seeds






fedcoseeds.com


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## nakiriknaifuwaifu

What are your thoughts on Baker's Creek? They've been my go to for all things non-chilli pepper (for chillies, I love White Hot Chilli Peppers in Illinois).


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## Bert2368

nakiriknaifuwaifu said:


> What are your thoughts on Baker's Creek? They've been my go to for all things non-chilli pepper (for chillies, I love White Hot Chilli Peppers in Illinois).



I have not used them. Looked at their site, they are closed until next week (2/3/21). I will check back later.

I have ordered from Shepherd's Seeds in the past, also from that companie's new incarnation as Renee's more recently- They have done OK.









Renee's Garden Seeds


The finest heirloom, certified organic and specialty vegetable, flower and herb seeds for the home garden.




www.reneesgarden.com





I've also ordered from seed saver's exchange: 






Seed Savers Exchange Heirloom Seeds


Heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. Buy rare, organic seeds and support our nonprofit mission to preserve garden diversity. Free catalog.




www.seedsavers.org





And some other small growers- Solstice Seeds in Vermont is another I am trying for the first time this year:






Home - Solstice Seeds


Solstice Seeds Catalogue 2022 PDF Download We are honored to continue the work of Sylvia Davatz and to offer you the Solstice Seeds Catalogue. We steward rare, diverse and resilient seed varieties for ecologically-minded farmers, gardeners and seed savers. Our catalogue is full of robust...




solsticeseeds.org


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## TheNewMexican

Not sure if this is in the spirit of the thread or not, but I've been doing container gardening all winter just to keep my sanity. Ox Heart Carrots have gone gang busters, I should have thinned those more. French Breakfast radishes have been a happy & strange experiment. Most of the bulb forms on top of the soil with only the white part in the dirt. Makes them easy to grow in shallow containers.


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## JakeLoveshighCarbon

Bakers creek has some good magazines, but I've found their seed quality to be a mixed bag and there has been some hearsay of other that have had the same experience. I've bought from fedco the last two years and couldn't be happier with their products however I dont want to deal with the hassle of limited market hours or whatever is going on there. Seems like a lot of people are taking up gardening this spring, which is great, so i dont mind using the fresh seeds I save every year which should be more than adequate. I still like spending 50$ trying new varieties out, but will pass this year.


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## 63falcon

Love gardening. Here are carrots I picked this morning.


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## TB_London

Pulled carrots and beetroot earlier for risotto. Have purple sprouting broccoli coming in now too. Kale didn’t like the snow and extreme cold so has died back but hoping to get some fresh growth before grubbing it out. Swedes are still in the ground, need to make some mash with them.

Hoping for a glut of strawberries and raspberries this year. Still deciding what veg to sow, apparently this year that can’t have the whole garden as a veg patch.


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## DavidPF

Bert2368 said:


> veges have generally steered me right in these matters.


A person makes damn sure to get their vegetables right, when they know there's nothing else to eat.


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## jacko9

My winter gardening is doing well after I got rid of a few rodents. Had one creature eat all of the top's off my radishes. My lettuce was getting swamped by aphids after we had a few weeks of warm weather but, good old amazon delivered a container of ladybugs that cleared that problem up. I have four raised bed planters going that are tented and three more for onions, garlic and herbs.


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## Twigg

Set my peppers and tomato seeds to start this past weekend.


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## Twigg

nakiriknaifuwaifu said:


> What are your thoughts on Baker's Creek? They've been my go to for all things non-chilli pepper (for chillies, I love White Hot Chilli Peppers in Illinois).


I have had very good results with Baker Creek over the last several years. The only trouble I experienced was with their Wild Boar tomato crossbreeds. I don't think they were entirely stable. Seedsavers wasn't bad either. A year or two ago I picked up some wonderful Lesya pepper seeds and a few other others from the Croation-seed Store. They shipped fairly quickly from Europe to the States and everything had high germination rates.


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## Bert2368

A little bit more from last year's garden- Legacy parsnips!

The rain 2 days back took a lot of frost out of the ground, enough so about 30' of parsnip row now can be dug- This quantity plus a couple of small culls came out of about 2' of row. More than 10X this quantity probably still in ground, need to be dug and stored as close to 32°F as possible or they'll start to seriously GROW, after which they won't be as tasty.

Supposed to be the best they will get right now.

Tried some out immediately, cut into chunks and tossed with olive oil, grape seed oil, a little balsamic vinegar, salt, black pepper, fresh rosemary and thyme, roasted at 425°F. Very good.






Spring-Dug Parsnips - Candy of the Root Crop


Best of the Spring season: sweet and tender parsnips!



blog.bostonorganics.com


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## MrHiggins

So far, so good for my 2021 gardening (mis)adventures. Sweet peppers are up and running as are the alpine strawberries. My tomatoes are just popping up.




I start everything in this grow box I set up under my ski tuning/knife sharpening bench. 




I started a worm farm, too.




Let the growing begin!


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## Twigg

Have some ginger going.


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## Twigg

Few other plants are coming along too.


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## Keith Sinclair

Twigg said:


> Set my peppers and tomato seeds to start this past weekend.
> 
> View attachment 116323
> View attachment 116324


Sure it's just peppers & tomatoes under those grow lights


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## Delat

Hi guys, I a question / need some help regarding a young Bombay mango tree. I bought it last November and suspect it’s around 1 year old. I have it planted in a mixture of soil, perlite (about 1/3), and worm castings. No other fertilizer.

In the picture I have new-growth leaves that just started in Feb/March. Many of the leaves are wrinkled, curled, and torn. The soil is well-drained and it gets watered 2x per week. Is this something I should be concerned about?

It’s been sitting outside except for when temps get below 40. In these pics I’ve got it inside as flower buds have formed and temps are just below 60.


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## DDCarter

what do you do to prevent mold?


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## Bert2368

Look CAREFULLY at undersides of leaves. See any tiny little insects, stuff that looks like spider web or such?


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## Bodine

Delat said:


> Hi guys, I a question / need some help regarding a young Bombay mango tree. I bought it last November and suspect it’s around 1 year old. I have it planted in a mixture of soil, perlite (about 1/3), and worm castings. No other fertilizer.
> 
> In the picture I have new-growth leaves that just started in Feb/March. Many of the leaves are wrinkled, curled, and torn. The soil is well-drained and it gets watered 2x per week. Is this something I should be concerned about?
> 
> It’s been sitting outside except for when temps get below 40. In these pics I’ve got it inside as flower buds have formed and temps are just below 60.
> 
> View attachment 119773
> 
> View attachment 119774
> 
> View attachment 119776


Those leaves look like they have leaf miners, spray with spinosad, an organic insecticide.


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## Bodine

Now that we are empty nesters, I have reduced my summer garden to a couple of tomato plants, jalepenos, mole, and bell peppers. Burpless cucumbers and zucchini's. With my citrus and blueberries to deal with, that is enough for me. Here in N Fl. summer garden is gone by the end of June due to heat.
Winter gardens last for months though, and no bugs to deal with.


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## Bert2368

Bodine said:


> Those leaves look like they have leaf miners



I usually see distinct, long squiggly TRACKS of dead tissue from leaf miners- But I've never grown a mango, MN isn't suited to such.


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## Bodine

Bert they are common on young fruit and citrus new growth down here, once a tree matures they are not a problem.


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## Delat

Bodine said:


> Those leaves look like they have leaf miners, spray with spinosad, an organic insecticide.



Thanks! I just ordered some, will apply ASAP.


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## Bodine

Delat, those leaves will be forever damaged, leaf miners affect new growth only, especially on young trees. Spray before fertilizing or when you see new growth forming. Spinosad is will be absorbed by the leaves and protects them for months.


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## Delat

Bert2368 said:


> Look CAREFULLY at undersides of leaves. See any tiny little insects, stuff that looks like spider web or such?



No, the leaves look totally clean otherwise, which is why I was stumped. I’m super-excited to get Bombay mangoes (at some unspecified point far down the road) so this tree is like my baby right now. I also have a baby sweetsop that I got at the same time, so between the two I’m totally psyched. I used to collect orchids but fruit trees is a totally new thing for me.


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## Delat

Bodine said:


> Delat, those leaves will be forever damaged, leaf miners affect new growth only, especially on young trees. Spray before fertilizing or when you see new growth forming. Spinosad is will be absorbed by the leaves and protects them for months.



Makes sense, I can see some of the mature leaves are also a little twisty, likely from previous damage.


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## waxy

Delat said:


> Hi guys, I a question / need some help regarding a young Bombay mango tree. I bought it last November and suspect it’s around 1 year old. I have it planted in a mixture of soil, perlite (about 1/3), and worm castings. No other fertilizer.
> 
> In the picture I have new-growth leaves that just started in Feb/March. Many of the leaves are wrinkled, curled, and torn. The soil is well-drained and it gets watered 2x per week. Is this something I should be concerned about?
> 
> It’s been sitting outside except for when temps get below 40. In these pics I’ve got it inside as flower buds have formed and temps are just below 60.
> 
> View attachment 119773
> 
> View attachment 119774
> 
> View attachment 119776



Did you purchase that tree from a nursery in Florida?
Local nurseries would *not *sell trees not viable in your agricultural zone.
It's a low graft so I'm 100% sure it is a turpentine rootstock, most of the mangoes from Florida are.

Q. What does this mean?
A. You're growing a rootstock, regardless of scion grafted - not viable in your climate.

Q. Signs, how can you tell?
A. Root rot signs; brown spots within the leaves, especially the lower ones.

Q. What's wrong with your new flush?
A. Also deformed growth of new flush, not accepting the TDS in local water sources.

Q. Leaf miners? Aphids? Leaf hoppers?
A. No, they only attack new flush, mango leaves are too thick for them to penetrate and full of thick sap, it's not their preference.
Very rare there are insect attacks on mangos, they prefer thinner leaves, new flush especially.

Q. What can you do?
Use a calcium inhibitor to remove as much TSD, chlorine, calcium, copper, fluoride as much as possible.
Try to water plants evenly too, I see some dried surfaces at 9 and 12 O'clock
Mangoes are very drought tolerant, less water is better than too much water - Root Rot, Fungal infection, Anthracnose, etc.

Prune off their flower when it shows up.
I see a sprout - this makes the plant extremely weak, it'll be a playground for fungal infections and big infestations.
Even specialized dwarf trees such as mangoes should bear fruit their first 2 years, the fruit itself will be poor quality, sometimes it kills the plant from stress.

Q. Why does it flower so early?
A. It's a scion from a mother tree with production hormones, it happens but it doesn't mean allow it to fully mature.
Prune off all flowers as soon as the last bud shows up, let the plant grow, it's gardening - Your patience will pay off I promise.

Q. Should I use insecticides? Organic?
A. Avoid it as much as possible, you'll kill the insects, while killing all the microbes in the soil.
Use this as a last resort, cover your soil with a plastic sheet to wash off the residue, soil is their home, their food, and their health, don't let healthy microbial life die.

I'm not an expert, but I do grow 18 varieties of mangoes, all of are grafted on Manilla root stock


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## Bert2368

waxy said:


> I'm not an expert, but I do grow 18 varieties of mangoes
















Impostor syndrome - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Delat

waxy said:


> Prune off their flower when it shows up.
> I see a sprout - this makes the plant extremely weak, it'll be a playground for fungal infections and big infestations.



Thanks @waxy that information is amazing and very helpful! When you say "sprout" in this context are you referring to the flower buds? 

You're correct that I got this tree from a FL nursery - I live in Phoenix. I'll be keeping the pot outside for temps between 40-100F. I'll probably add some grow lights for indoors during the summer.

You appear to be saying that my water might be the cause of the leaf curling rather than bugs? I'll keep an eye on new leaves after spraying and see what happens. And ty for the tip on covering the soil before spraying.

A question on pruning - I want to follow a typical pruning regimen where I tip branches after the first node. But I wasn't expecting side branches off the main trunk, just branches off the top. Would you recommend entirely removing branches 2 and 3 in this pic? I've already tipped branch 3, and was going to leave branch 2 to balance branch 3, and also tip it, but it's coming out at close to 90 degrees from the trunk.. I was also expecting to get multiple branches where branch 1 is, but I think the tree might've suffered some damage there before I got it as the leader was already missing.


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## Keith Sinclair

Finally a sunny day it's been raining hard up here couple weeks 

Tai Basil & Arugula.


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## Matt Zilliox

Delat said:


> Hi guys, I a question / need some help regarding a young Bombay mango tree. I bought it last November and suspect it’s around 1 year old. I have it planted in a mixture of soil, perlite (about 1/3), and worm castings. No other fertilizer.
> 
> In the picture I have new-growth leaves that just started in Feb/March. Many of the leaves are wrinkled, curled, and torn. The soil is well-drained and it gets watered 2x per week. Is this something I should be concerned about?
> 
> It’s been sitting outside except for when temps get below 40. In these pics I’ve got it inside as flower buds have formed and temps are just below 60.
> 
> View attachment 119773
> 
> View attachment 119774
> 
> View attachment 119776


This appears to be pest damage. Scale? Mites? Soil baddies? Good luck. I use 100 percent neem w dishsoap for baddies. It may want some food. Tropical things eat fast


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## MrHiggins

Not much gardening going on at my house today. We ended up with about 10 inches of wet, cold snow. Yay spring!


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## waxy

Delat said:


> Thanks @waxy that information is amazing and very helpful! When you say "sprout" in this context are you referring to the flower buds?
> *No problem, share this information with others, encourage gardening!*
> 
> You're correct that I got this tree from a FL nursery - I live in Phoenix. I'll be keeping the pot outside for temps between 40-100F. I'll probably add some grow lights for indoors during the summer.
> Mangoes prefer partial sun, more intense once they mature - 40-100F is perfect for mangoes
> *Unfortunately for your rootstock it may not survive, make sure to give it clean water, add a thick 2-3 layer of mulch, it helps retain moisture and filter out contamination. In addition to evening out your watering rituals when they're not evenly spread out.*
> 
> You appear to be saying that my water might be the cause of the leaf curling rather than bugs? I'll keep an eye on new leaves after spraying and see what happens. And ty for the tip on covering the soil before spraying.
> *I don't see any signs of bugs, typically they'll start at the youngest plants, the most tender - less sap and easy access.
> That brown portion curled on the flush is a give away of unwelcomed activity in the soil not pests.*
> 
> A question on pruning - I want to follow a typical pruning regimen where I tip branches after the first node. But I wasn't expecting side branches off the main trunk, just branches off the top. Would you recommend entirely removing branches 2 and 3 in this pic? I've already tipped branch 3, and was going to leave branch 2 to balance branch 3, and also tip it, but it's coming out at close to 90 degrees from the trunk.. I was also expecting to get multiple branches where branch 1 is, but I think the tree might've suffered some damage there before I got it as the leader was already missing.
> 
> *You're on the right track!
> This is the best stage to shape your tree, how do you want to shape it?
> Without getting into specifics, different mangoes have different growth habits.
> 
> I only grow mine to 7-8 feet, then make them branch out 3-4 ways with a central leader.
> This also makes it easier for me to prune the tree every year and harvest the fruits as they dip down.
> Mango fruits grow on the tips arched downwards, not straight up. A healthy shaped tree with multiple branches at the top will have the best yield.
> 1 - New growth, allow it to grow if you want it to branch out into larger branches, it'll grow another branch to the right once you pinch off the flower
> 2. Root sucker, get rid of it, unless you want a low hanging branch, please note the nutrients will direct itself to that branch before it reaches the top
> 3. Root sucker, that should have been pruned off long ago
> 
> What I consider as root suckers, younger branches growing below the main branches that have already matured with bark.
> Once bark develops, the cambium layer is fully shielded against temps down to Freezing.
> 
> You'll notice an exponential growth when you prune, it basically kicks the growth hormones into overdrive, pruning is a must!*
> 
> View attachment 119940



*Extended from above Quote :*

Thanks @waxy that information is amazing and very helpful! When you say "sprout" in this context are you referring to the flower buds?
*No problem, share this information with others, encourage gardening!*

You're correct that I got this tree from a FL nursery - I live in Phoenix. I'll be keeping the pot outside for temps between 40-100F. I'll probably add some grow lights for indoors during the summer.
Mangoes prefer partial sun, more intense once they mature - 40-100F is perfect for mangoes
*Unfortunately for your rootstock it may not survive, make sure to give it clean water, add a thick 2-3 layer of mulch, it helps retain moisture and filter out contamination. In addition to evening out your watering rituals when they're not evenly spread out.*

You appear to be saying that my water might be the cause of the leaf curling rather than bugs? I'll keep an eye on new leaves after spraying and see what happens. And ty for the tip on covering the soil before spraying.
*I don't see any signs of bugs, typically they'll start at the youngest plants, the most tender - less sap and easy access.
That brown portion curled on the flush is a give away of unwelcomed activity in the soil not pests.*

A question on pruning - I want to follow a typical pruning regimen where I tip branches after the first node. But I wasn't expecting side branches off the main trunk, just branches off the top. Would you recommend entirely removing branches 2 and 3 in this pic? I've already tipped branch 3, and was going to leave branch 2 to balance branch 3, and also tip it, but it's coming out at close to 90 degrees from the trunk.. I was also expecting to get multiple branches where branch 1 is, but I think the tree might've suffered some damage there before I got it as the leader was already missing.

*You're on the right track!
This is the best stage to shape your tree, how do you want to shape it?
Without getting into specifics, different mangoes have different growth habits.

I only grow mine to 7-8 feet, then make them branch out 3-4 ways with a central leader.
This also makes it easier for me to prune the tree every year and harvest the fruits as they dip down.
Mango fruits grow on the tips arched downwards, not straight up. A healthy shaped tree with multiple branches at the top will have the best yield.
1 - New growth, allow it to grow if you want it to branch out into larger branches, it'll grow another branch to the right once you pinch off the flower
2. Root sucker, get rid of it, unless you want a low hanging branch, please note the nutrients will direct itself to that branch before it reaches the top
3. Root sucker, that should have been pruned off long ago

What I consider as root suckers, younger branches growing below the main branches that have already matured with bark.
Once bark develops, the cambium layer is fully shielded against temps down to Freezing.

You'll notice an exponential growth when you prune, it basically kicks the growth hormones into overdrive, pruning is a must!* 


I'd like to get into advanced topics but it'll be overwhelming, we can save it for another time!

- Grafting
- Topping
- Air layering
- Inducing flower growth
- Fertilizer

Mangoes grow very fast, but keep in mind, having a healthy root stock means you can always change mango varieties or make a Frankenstein mango tree (Multi-variety) if you don't like the initial offering.


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## Keith Sinclair

Mango's grow well in Hawaii. Haden & Pirie are most popular & taste delicious. I really like Rapoza too.


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## Delat

waxy said:


> *Extended from above Quote :*
> 
> Thanks @waxy that information is amazing and very helpful! When you say "sprout" in this context are you referring to the flower buds?
> *No problem, share this information with others, encourage gardening!*
> 
> You're correct that I got this tree from a FL nursery - I live in Phoenix. I'll be keeping the pot outside for temps between 40-100F. I'll probably add some grow lights for indoors during the summer.
> Mangoes prefer partial sun, more intense once they mature - 40-100F is perfect for mangoes
> *Unfortunately for your rootstock it may not survive, make sure to give it clean water, add a thick 2-3 layer of mulch, it helps retain moisture and filter out contamination. In addition to evening out your watering rituals when they're not evenly spread out.*
> 
> You appear to be saying that my water might be the cause of the leaf curling rather than bugs? I'll keep an eye on new leaves after spraying and see what happens. And ty for the tip on covering the soil before spraying.
> *I don't see any signs of bugs, typically they'll start at the youngest plants, the most tender - less sap and easy access.
> That brown portion curled on the flush is a give away of unwelcomed activity in the soil not pests.*
> 
> A question on pruning - I want to follow a typical pruning regimen where I tip branches after the first node. But I wasn't expecting side branches off the main trunk, just branches off the top. Would you recommend entirely removing branches 2 and 3 in this pic? I've already tipped branch 3, and was going to leave branch 2 to balance branch 3, and also tip it, but it's coming out at close to 90 degrees from the trunk.. I was also expecting to get multiple branches where branch 1 is, but I think the tree might've suffered some damage there before I got it as the leader was already missing.
> 
> *You're on the right track!
> This is the best stage to shape your tree, how do you want to shape it?
> Without getting into specifics, different mangoes have different growth habits.
> 
> I only grow mine to 7-8 feet, then make them branch out 3-4 ways with a central leader.
> This also makes it easier for me to prune the tree every year and harvest the fruits as they dip down.
> Mango fruits grow on the tips arched downwards, not straight up. A healthy shaped tree with multiple branches at the top will have the best yield.
> 1 - New growth, allow it to grow if you want it to branch out into larger branches, it'll grow another branch to the right once you pinch off the flower
> 2. Root sucker, get rid of it, unless you want a low hanging branch, please note the nutrients will direct itself to that branch before it reaches the top
> 3. Root sucker, that should have been pruned off long ago
> 
> What I consider as root suckers, younger branches growing below the main branches that have already matured with bark.
> Once bark develops, the cambium layer is fully shielded against temps down to Freezing.
> 
> You'll notice an exponential growth when you prune, it basically kicks the growth hormones into overdrive, pruning is a must!*
> 
> 
> I'd like to get into advanced topics but it'll be overwhelming, we can save it for another time!
> 
> - Grafting
> - Topping
> - Air layering
> - Inducing flower growth
> - Fertilizer
> 
> Mangoes grow very fast, but keep in mind, having a healthy root stock means you can always change mango varieties or make a Frankenstein mango tree (Multi-variety) if you don't like the initial offering.



Just a quick update to let you know I took your advice. I cut off the two lower branches and trimmed all the flower buds I could reach - there were around 6 and some are still just coming up so I left those for later. Also gave it a solid watering with 2 gallons of reverse osmosis filtered water and will stick with the filtered water for a few months. Spraying with the spinosad this weekend as well just in case. 

Fingers crossed that my baby mango appreciates all the TLC and rewards me with some fruit next year!


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## Keith Sinclair

It has been raining so much lately. I have been fixing old termite damage using wood bondo. Was up on garage roof started raining hard. Tucked under the eaves to keep from getting 
soaked. Noticed leaky gutter water going down wall into old worn caulking. I had been wondering why had that leaky beam dripping water in laundry area. Caulked the gutter I could reach it with step latter on garage roof.
Took out aluminum flashing screws & old caulking cleaned it up dried out with hair dryer.
reinstalled & caulked it. Finally found source of leak. 

My hedge that planted years ago really like it grows slow don't trim it much like it a little wild
We have problem with white fly up here. Some things they infest more than others. I thought my hedge was safe. After all this rain noted it was infested with whitefly. I am using Neem oil 
with little bronners soap. Morning & evening it's really bad they start at bottom & work up.
Bottom leaves are black with plenty eggs under 
the leaves, I hope I can save this hedge.


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## Bert2368

Keith Sinclair said:


> We have problem with white fly up here. Some things they infest more than others. I thought my hedge was safe. After all this rain noted it was infested with whitefly. I am using Neem oil
> with little bronners soap. Morning & evening it's really bad they start at bottom & work up.
> Bottom leaves are black with plenty eggs under
> the leaves, I hope I can save this hedge.



White fly OUTDOORS? 

Are we talking about the same organism(s):





Whiteflies in the Greenhouse | Entomology







entomology.ca.uky.edu






The only times I've ever seen white flies dammage plants noticeably was indoors, greenhouses and "grow rooms" (yes, I was that young once). All I ever did to kill them was use a small hand pumped pressure sprayer with plain deionized/distilled water to THOROUGHLY hit all the bottoms of leaves, spraying up from below 2X per day, this was done at the highest pressure the sprayer would achieve and a somewhat coarse spray pattern, not a "mist". Spray should hit the leaves hard enough to make the leaves move a good bit but not quite hard enough to break off or dammage the leaves- They're a rather delicate insect, a fast moving drop of water physically smashed them quite effectively and removed the "honey dew" the young ones leave too, which is what gives the black mold a place to start.


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## Keith Sinclair

Yes outdoors too. Read that there are around 20 species in Hawaii. It will be hard to wipe them out. I've had infested plants up here, just throw away the plant. Going to try to save my hedge it's really bad.


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## Keith Sinclair

Put my hose on heaviest pressure stream I can 
get & hit the bottoms of thousands of small leaves lucky they are waxy & tough. Going to start doing that every day too. Thing is I planted three more spaced apart two years ago
They are still small takes years to fill in. Those are infested too.


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## chefwp

There are three markers in the spring that fill me with a certain joy. First is the crocus and then the daffodil. Last but not least is our peach trees' blossoms. Well, this week they are at it again.


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## Keith Sinclair

What type of peaches? Tree ripened peach is awesome fruit.


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## chefwp

Keith Sinclair said:


> What type of peaches? Tree ripened peach is awesome fruit.


Heh, I wish they were an edible cutlivar, but the peaches are small and not tasty. I grabbed some sapling volunteers from my dad's property in VA, but they are ornamental, nice blossoms in the spring, burgundy/maroon leaves break up the green monotony of summer, and they don't get too big, maybe 3-4 meters tall. I don't know the name, sorry.


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## waxy

chefwp said:


> Heh, I wish they were an edible cutlivar, but the peaches are small and not tasty. I grabbed some sapling volunteers from my dad's property in VA, but they are ornamental, nice blossoms in the spring, burgundy/maroon leaves break up the green monotony of summer, and they don't get too big, maybe 3-4 meters tall. I don't know the name, sorry.



Can you share a picture of the tree structure and the leaves?
You might have a Japanese Ume by the looks of the flower.


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## chefwp

waxy said:


> Can you share a picture of the tree structure and the leaves?
> You might have a Japanese Ume by the looks of the flower.


I'll share a picture when they fill out a bit, right now they are just thin branches and tiny blossoms, they barely show up on a photo with all the noise behind them. Once the leaves get bigger I'll have a better shot.


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## Keith Sinclair

When I was a kid in Hampton Va. My uncle had a peach orchard. He was perfectionist pruned the trees so most could be picked with small step latter. Some of the spread out limbs needed support when loaded with fruit. He would thin the fruit when small by hand so remaining would be larger. Tree ripened sweet and juicy. One of first jobs was selling eggs & peaches door to door. Around 7-8 years old. My auntie would drive the truck. We would go to white & black areas. The whites perfect peaches the blacks even just tiny bruse for less than half. I remember thinking blacks getting awesome ripe peaches for way cheaper. 

Peach ice cream made with hand crank bucket so good getting brain freeze from eating too fast.


----------



## Bert2368

I think that's enough started now, until it's time to plant stuff directly in the ground. Which I COULD do for carrots, parsnips & potatoes this week, if it ever quits raining.

This year I'm trying shallots for the first time, from seed, not from "sets". Got 4 varieties and they're just coming up.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Bert you must have some good grinds at your place made with fresh ingredients.


----------



## Bert2368

Keith Sinclair said:


> Bert you must have some good grinds at your place made with fresh ingredients.



I hope to.

Last year, all the urfa biber and aleppo peppers died from some kind of disease right after transplanting. This Spring I've got 8 urfa biber seedlings looking good so far, but my last dozen allepo pepper seeds have not yet emerged, I'd guess they won't now as it's been over a month since they were planted.

All the other chilis are doing OK except the ghost peppers, which also refused to come up. Will have to try and replace those from a nursery.

Got a dozen giant red Marconi for sweet peppers.


----------



## Bert2368

This deer was foraging through & walking around my kitchen garden 4/14/21 around 06:30. Tonight is 4/20-4/21 and it's well below 32°F. Might be a little while before I can put out the peppers and tomatoes? Got to do SOMETHING. So I'm starting RICE.









Yukihikari Eco Rice - Fedco Seeds


A landrace lowland variety from northern Japan, this short-grain light brown rice is hands down the most complex and floral rice we offer, with notes of sesame, maple and citrus. It is also our highest yielding in the right conditions. Grows best in well-saturated soil. Doesnt require paddies...



www.fedcoseeds.com





Also got some black soybeans for edamame-









Tankuro Soybean - Fedco Seeds


Open-pollinated. In Japan, black-seeded edamame varieties are deemed to have a richer and sweeter flavor than the traditional green or tan-seeded kinds. Tankuro was the winner for productivity and pleasing flavor in our 2010 trial to find the best black-seeded variety. In 2010s exceptional heat...



www.fedcoseeds.com





Japanese veges for Japanese knife work?

Never tried rice before, have grown an edamame soybean variety before but the deer ate nearly all of them before I could. Guess I'll have to grow enough for both of us.

The farmers around here grow many tons of soybeans, these are varieties intended for livestock feed and are tiny little things compared to the Tankuro seeds. 

I've got a couple of Japanese seedless cucumber varieties too, I grew them in 2019 with good results, will be trying those again this year. 

Also got a Japanese variety of long purple eggplant, "Shinkuro".









Early Shinkuro


Native to the tropics of eastern India, eggplants came to China in the 4th century and to Japan in the Nara period. Black eggplants have developed uniquely in Japan. This rather medium-long eggplant developed in the Soka region of Saitama prefecture, favored by the Tokyo market and became a...




northcircleseeds.com





I'm not really much further North than Hokaido, but I'm hella farther from any ocean.


----------



## chefwp

I like to plant pansies in the fall, more often than not, they will return in the spring. If I plant in the spring, the summer heat kills them, so it is one and done, seasonally speaking.

Today we suffered a little rudeness, waking up to snow on the ground, but even I have to admit there is still beauty to be found with that.


----------



## Bert2368

Tomatoes, cabbage, bok choy reached a size where they couldn't go 24 hours without watering, transplanted everything to 18 oz. disposable beer cups. I have re used some of these cups for up to 3 years for this now, pretty good for a plant pot that costs about 8 cents.


----------



## damiano

Wow we have a gardening thread!  Anxiously waiting here to bring my lemon plant outdoors. It's still too cold at nights. They do need more sunshine.


----------



## Slim278

chefwp said:


> I like to plant pansies in the fall, more often than not, they will return in the spring. If I plant in the spring, the summer heat kills them, so it is one and done, seasonally speaking.
> 
> Today we suffered a little rudeness, waking up to snow on the ground, but even I have to admit there is still beauty to be found with that.
> View attachment 123724
> 
> View attachment 123725


Try dead heading (remove the old blooms before they seed) your pansies. You just might extend the season a little further.


----------



## Bert2368

Looks like Wednesday 5/12 is when we will FINALLY get past risk of freezing overnight. It frosted Sunday-Monday here, ground was completely white at dawn.


----------



## TheNewMexican

We have Lily's popping up and the choke cherry trees are tentatively putting out buds. Good God, winter gets too long around here. Can't believe how hardy Lily's are, still freezing at night and they've been snowed on a couple of times but they just shake it off and don't care.


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## coxhaus

I had really good tomatoes plants but we had a bad hail storm and they are coming back. I lost about half my garden. It will be a late tomatoe season for me any way.


----------



## Bert2368

coxhaus said:


> I had really good tomatoes plants but we had a bad hail storm and they are coming back. I lost about half my garden. It will be a late tomatoe season for me any way.




Who was the first professional gambler?

The first farmer...


----------



## RDalman

The chilis are coming up good this year. Best are the ghosts, really nice and compact plants. The 5-color and lemon stretched out a bit and have fruits already.


----------



## Bert2368

God damn. Temperature went RATHER lower than the $%?*ing!!! weather channel said it would night before last so I lost about 20% of the more sensitive stuff in the cold frame because I believed those commercial spamming c***s pretending to be a weather service and didn't rig up electrical heat & a freeze prevention thermostat. I'm down by some of the peppers, green and purple tomatillos and a couple of kinds of egg plants. Didn't lose ALL of any one thing, just a few of the ones on the outside edges of the cold frames. I had started 2X what I could possibly fit in my garden, so still OK- Just ANNOYING.

Fortunately, the melons, squash and early sweet corn had been taken indoors, so they're all good.


----------



## Kgp

We moved last month and new home only has flower beds. Decided to make some raised beds. Found plans on YouTube and built two of them, 4x8 ft. 18 inches tall. Had my nursery guy mix up some garden soil, 1/3 top soil,, 1/3 horse manure, 1/3 peat moss. Weather has kept me from planting but finally looks safe from frost. Just doing tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, and cucumbers.


----------



## Twigg

My garden is in and I will share pics soon. In the mean time, here are some peonies and others to gaze upon.


----------



## dafox

It snowed in northern Colorado last year the last week of May and was 27 degrees, I'm planning to wait until June 1st to plant my garden with nursery starts this year.


----------



## Bodine

Zucchini's have been producing for a month now, cucumbers are taking off, canned 8 pints of pickles today. Tomatoes are full of fruit, should start ripening soon.
Blueberries are getting ripe, so I will be picking them for the next month, until I get 10 gallons, then I turn the neighbors loose on them.
By July it is too dang hot to mess with anything outside, I will be done until Nov in the garden.
Forgot my peppers, jalapeno, habenero, and moles are doing fine, they will produce in the hot months and will hit the smoker and be dehydrated, except the occasional batch of jalapeno poppers that hit the oven.


----------



## dafox

Wow, very different than Colorado.


----------



## Bert2368

I've been running around in circles, a stitch here and a dash there on the gardens, working around the rain and the stuff that pays the bills, + various stuff that picked NOW to s**tcan and MUST be fixed ASAP. 

The fruit trees were all pruned, some I missed last year needed it quite severely. Then TENT CATERPILLARS showed up while many of the fruit tree blossoms are still open & being visited by bees, so no spraying allowed- Hand to caterpiggle combat! I may have won.





















Increased my squash/pumpkin hills in the wildlife garden by 50%, squash a-plenty for man and beast this fall, I hope. Also put an old low area mega garden I abandoned 3 years back as too large to maintain back into cultivation in order to plant 5 kinds of melons, which wouldn't fit in the "kitchen garden".


----------



## chefwp

My peach trees have unusual fruit this year. This is a clutch of 4 baby American robins.


----------



## chefwp

I am happy my J-maple has rebounded very nicely this year. Last year a large percentage of the leaves were damaged by a late freeze and it looked pretty rough for the rest of the season. Knock on my wooden head, it is still May after all... I hope we don't see another freeze this spring!


----------



## chefwp

chefwp said:


> My peach trees have unusual fruit this year. This is a clutch of 4 baby American robins.


They are growing up fast!


----------



## damiano

Northern Europe. Moved my lemon plant outside two weeks ago, when there were enough signs there was no more chance of freezing at night. 

However what I didn’t expect was heavy rainfall and storms! So my lemon plant has now lost most of its leaves, though the fruits are still developing nicely. Can’t wait until the leaves come back (or at least I hope they do!).


----------



## Bodine

Squash are done, cucumbers keep on producing, first tomatoes of the year have been picked and pepper plants are loaded, waiting for them to ripen so I can make ancho powder
There will be BLT sandwiches tonight for sure


----------



## Lars

I'm growing courgettes for the second year. These will be turned into risotto shortly..


----------



## WiriWiri

Lars said:


> I'm growing courgettes for the second year. These will be turned into risotto shortly..
> View attachment 130437



The courgette onslaught won’t stop if you have more than a few plants. Before long you’ll be giving courgettes to any willing relative, friend or local food bank.

Eventually I was reduced to leaving courgettes on the doorsteps of virtual strangers in the hope of reducing my veg waste. This may be just me admittedly - I have self control issues with knives similarly - but why just have one type of courgette plant when there are so many varieties available?


----------



## WiriWiri

Things are behind here, but finally beginning to get the allotment plot In order. Roottrainers aplenty are ready to go in the other beds


----------



## damiano

Lars said:


> I'm growing courgettes for the second year. These will be turned into risotto shortly..
> View attachment 130437


Don't forget to use the flowers! Deep friend Italian style is wonderful..


----------



## Bodine

courgettes are what we call squash, those are zuchini's. Great in soups, salads, my wife uses them instead of spaghetti noodles. A million ways to cook them, you can even make relish out of them.


----------



## Lars

Bodine said:


> courgettes are what we call squash, those are zuchini's. Great in soups, salads, my wife uses them instead of spaghetti noodles. A million ways to cook them, you can even make relish out of them.


I thought it was geografical ie in Italy they are zucchini and in France they are courgette  

I learned my lesson last year, so this year I'm going to harvest them while they are young and small..


----------



## BillHanna

everyone is correct. zucchini are squash.


----------



## WiriWiri

Been eating the first (homegrown) strawberries of the year here. Gariguettes first (lovely, soft, impossible to get home safely), but I should have another month or two of harvesting different varieties


----------



## jacko9

I'm in Northern California and have three 3' x 8' x 24" high raised beds, two 2' x 8' x 23" raised beds and two 2' x 4' elevated bed planters. In addition I have four self Watering inner grow bag planters.


----------



## Slim278

Second flush of oyster.


----------



## Bodine

Tomatoes are really doing well right now, I have to pick cucumbers when they’re small because the heat will turn them bitter very quickly
I have good fruit sets on all my citrus trees and bananas here are blooming out, who would’ve thought you could grow bananas in North Florida, I have successfully for years


----------



## Pie

Can’t eat em, but they’re kinda cool. First flower of the season.


----------



## Cener509

Delat said:


> Hi guys, I a question / need some help regarding a young Bombay mango tree. I bought it last November and suspect it’s around 1 year old. I have it planted in a mixture of soil, perlite (about 1/3), and worm castings. No other fertilizer.
> 
> In the picture I have new-growth leaves that just started in Feb/March. Many of the leaves are wrinkled, curled, and torn. The soil is well-drained and it gets watered 2x per week. Is this something I should be concerned about?
> 
> It’s been sitting outside except for when temps get below 40. In these pics I’ve got it inside as flower buds have formed and temps are just below 60.
> 
> View attachment 119773
> 
> View attachment 119774
> 
> View attachment 119776


Its fully outdoor plant, I read on internet, 
And need to plant it on land, Their roots are growing long. I think if you put your plant like your images then may be plat goes die.. hope you understand.


----------



## RDalman

Sweden season progress. We have a little bit of everything kindof. 55 tomato plants, and I started a ~50m2 veg-plot this year. If the potato yield is normal to good it should cover a full year. 



Here's a relevant variety, "damascus steel" tomato. 






Carrots, onion, beans and sugarsnaps and sweet corn.


----------



## WiriWiri

RDalman said:


> Sweden season progress. We have a little bit of everything kindof. 55 tomato plants, and I started a ~50m2 veg-plot this year. If the potato yield is normal to good it should cover a full year. View attachment 132246
> 
> Here's a relevant variety, "damascus steel" tomato. View attachment 132247
> View attachment 132248
> 
> Carrots, onion, beans and sugarsnaps and sweet corn.



Impressive, orderly stuff Mr D - that plot is looking good! Particularly liking the sturdy, handcrafted Swedish support structures

All a bit more haphazard here after a belated start to the growing season, My rudiementary bean rows and wigwams have been thrown down and need further tying, but most of the crops are out of the roottrainers and into the ground, Only a few beds still to fill, but the brassicas, carrots and oriental greens will soon take those up

My approach has gone increasingly informal and mixed bed in approach - a kind of midway SFG/traditional plot approach. Typical example beds below - lots of beans, peas, squashes and various other bits intermingled generally. Spreads the risk and allows me to grow more varieties, but also a milder faff to weed

Need to upgrade the other half of the raised beds next year and finally get around to asparagus planting


----------



## Delat

Cener509 said:


> Its fully outdoor plant, I read on internet,
> And need to plant it on land, Their roots are growing long. I think if you put your plant like your images then may be plat goes die.. hope you understand.



I found folks are successfully growing mangoes in containers in Phoenix. It turned out the problem was actually fungus - young mangoes are apparently quite susceptible to fungus particularly a type called anthracnose. It’s recommended to spray them prophylactically 2x per month, alternating between copper and a systemic treatment. It took me a while to find this information and my plant suffered some damage to the new growth meanwhile, but it seems to be recovering and doing well now.


----------



## Bert2368

This is my wildlife garden, it's about 240 yards long, running North-South next to a field we rent to a farmer who grows corn or soybeans- It's beans this summer. 

In the garden this year there are 3 apple trees, 23 mounds of winter squash, about 400 yards of 4X rows wide flour corn, 300 yards of pole beans planted to use some of the corn and sunflowers for trellis (drying type of bean suitable for making chili, etc.) and about 40 yards of 3X rows wide sunflowers. What the native Americans called "3 sisters", plus the sunflowers.

Everything planted here is something I like to eat too, it's not ALL for the wildlife.

I grew all the corn and bean seeds, plus seeds for one of the two squash varieties myself last year. 

If you look at the garden from my deer stand, it becomes apparent that the layout provides nice, screened in by food crops private walkways for deer which can be used as "fields of fire". Because some venison goes nicely with cornbread, beans and winter squash.


----------



## WiriWiri

Bert2368 said:


> View attachment 132326
> 
> 
> This is my wildlife garden, it's about 240 yards long, running North-South next to a field we rent to a farmer who grows corn or soybeans- It's beans this summer.
> 
> In the garden this year there are 3 apple trees, 23 mounds of winter squash, about 400 yards of 4X rows wide flour corn, 300 yards of pole beans planted to use some of the corn and sunflowers for trellis (drying type of bean suitable for making chili, etc.) and about 40 yards of 3X rows wide sunflowers. What the native Americans called "3 sisters", plus the sunflowers.
> 
> View attachment 132327



Envious of all the space you folks have. My halfheartedly underwhelming attempt at ’three sisters‘ a few years ago consisted of two large squashes either side of a 8 x 8 block of corn, surrounding by a few metres of bean fencing each side. I think I had 3 whole sunflowers too!

It wasn’t the greatest success to be honest, basically forming a fairly impenetrable patch of pumpkin tendrils that you had to pick your way through daily on the way to the (French) beans. In mitigation I did grow pole beans (trail of tears) and borlotti in the middle, but everwhere became a living minefield.

Still, you can.certainly produce plenty in a tennis court sized patch, And frankly I’m lucky to have such a patch of land in central(ish) London - the waiting list is over 10 years for a allotment at the same.site now


----------



## Kgp

It amazes me how much you can grow in a small space. Best garden I ever had and I don’t need to bend over far to weed it.


----------



## WiriWiri

Looks damn good Kgp. I’m not moaning either - our little plot produces more food than we can eat by some distance. It’s amazing how much variety you can fit into a small space

I fully expect the allotment to be approaching full density in about a month‘s time. Here’s the same plot in Aug last year, complete with amusingly large tromboncino in the foreground, Grow these things if you don’t already - great tasting, climbing summer squashes that also happen to look like giant, malformed genitalia. What‘s not to like?


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Tangerine Orange hybrid loaded with sweet juicy fruit. We can't eat them all, give to neighbors.


----------



## Keith Sinclair




----------



## Keith Sinclair

Been doing research thinking of planting a Avocado tree. They live for hundreds of years.

Guy down the street has a forty year old tree. Loaded with Avocado. Up here is perfect climate. Would go with a grafted small tree
It will eventually take up most of back yard.

Both my neighbors are kids who inherited houses, don't do any yardwork, hire yardmen 
Large backyards with grass. No trees. Just lawnmower no pruning raking leaves.

I want to put one in the ground that will be around long after I'm gone.


----------



## Bert2368




----------



## BillHanna

Do I care about these bumps on this plant? If I DO care, what should I do about it?


----------



## Bodine

I would not worry, could be caused by over watering, should not affect growth.


----------



## BillHanna

It’s been VERY rainy here in south central Pennsylvania. It’s just a pot, so I’ll move it as forecast dictates. Thanks a lot.


----------



## coxhaus

Here are a few pictures of my garden. It has a lot of weeds I need to clean out. One of my pictures is my 4 habaneros peppers. My local taco stand guy was complaining of the price for habanero peppers so I grew 4 plants for him. His old mother makes the best habaneros hot sauce. He shares her hot sauce we me. Basil, tomatoes, okra and peppers grow well in Texas.


----------



## Bert2368

BillHanna said:


> Do I care about these bumps on this plant? If I DO care, what should I do about it?



You should not worry. Those are points where the plant is considering growing additional roots, should the stem come in contact with the ground as the plant grows. Totally normal, likely to be exacerbated by wet weather/humid conditions and possibly by the stem bring shaded by abundant leaves above that point.

Tomatoes in their natural setting will sprawl, crawl and spread out rather than growing vertically as they do when we cage, stake or otherwise support them. Wherever they touch suitable soil or decide the lower level of light and higher level of humidity at points on the stem suggest they're down near the ground, they will send out "adventitious roots" from such sites to anchor themselves and provide additional nutrients/water to the sprawling branch.

For fun, take a piece of stretchy fine netting or an old nylon stocking, make a tube around such an area and fill it with potting soil. Be sure to use a stretchy material to tie around the stem so it can expand as stem grows thicker. A few weeks later, look inside the soil containment, you'll likely see that roots have emerged. You can cut off the branch below the new roots, plant it and have a tomato "clone" then, if you like-









White root-looking growths on the stems of my tomato plants


Q. I live in Maryland. We have had a lot of rain in the past week. I have 2 different type tomatoes planted in containers on my deck: Beefsteak and Early




www.tomatodirt.com


----------



## Keith Sinclair

You know your stuff Bert

We like cantaloupe. The melons we get are often picked too green for shipping & taste suffers. Some seeds we threw in compost sprouted they spread out & rooted. From the seeds of below average tasting melons we got sweet full of flavor cantaloupe.


----------



## nakiriknaifuwaifu

BillHanna said:


> View attachment 134150
> View attachment 134151
> 
> 
> 
> Do I care about these bumps on this plant? If I DO care, what should I do about it?


.
Already said by Bert


----------



## Bert2368

It's not my first rodeo. 

61 YO. When I was about 15, my dad and mom for various reasons did not choose to do the small kitchen vegetables/herb garden I had known since I was aware of anything- And THAT would mean NO REAL TOMATOES! Just those tasteless red, round things they sold in the stores... 

So I went to the little greenhouse behind a local gift store and bought a couple of 6 packs of tomato seedlings, dug up the garden and started.

It's been a long, strange trip, but well worth the effort.


----------



## coxhaus

Our garden tomatoes. We are getting almost more than we can eat right now.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Pasta sauce made with those tomatoes would be awesome.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Took couple pics. of avo tree down the street from me. He said it is 40 yrs. old. The avocados are round small seeds & excellent buttery flesh 
They get as big as cannon balls.

Now my friend Ito who also lives in the valley
wants to get a tree too.












Nuuanu Pali cliffs


----------



## RDalman

Some sweden progress. 
Wasnt expecting sweet corn to work out but seems like they will. Curious on how the potatoes are doing below ground, soon time to dig some up. Tomatoes are approaching. Last years 2 zucchini plants where more than enough, this year 4 made it and are becoming monsters already , the chilis are starting to do better now when they get some dark night hours, swedish june is ~22 hours daylight and the bhut jolokia that where looking great early on really didn't like it, hope they come back now so I can get some harvest on them. Planted 4 more appletrees.


----------



## WiriWiri

Blimey Mr Dalman, your garden plot is looking lush and well advanced. There’s often a simplistic view of of Swedish climate here - it’s more Northern, so many are generally inclined to think of Sweden as a colder, frosty land populated with reindeers and people who tend to wear sophisticated knitwear, somewhat offputtingly prone to topping themselves during the exceptionally long, dark winter nights. Obviously that’s a stupid simplification that your plants clearly contradict - they’re well ahead of anything I can see on a (large) London allotment

Loving the Bolivian Rainbow style chillis poking through the undergrowth. I’ve never found much consistency with the Bhuts and superhots in the UK climate fwiw - you tend to run out of growing season before they get into full production here, so a fast start could be a good sign for you, weird daylight hours allowing


----------



## RDalman

WiriWiri said:


> Blimey Mr Dalman, your garden plot is looking lush and well advanced. There’s often a simplistic view of of Swedish climate here - it’s more Northern, so many are generally inclined to think of Sweden as a colder, frosty land populated with reindeers and people who tend to wear sophisticated knitwear, somewhat offputtingly prone to topping themselves during the exceptionally long, dark winter nights. Obviously that’s a stupid simplification that your plants clearly contradict - they’re well ahead of anything I can see on a (large) London allotment
> 
> Loving the Bolivian Rainbow style chillis poking through the undergrowth. I’ve never found much consistency with the Bhuts and superhots in the UK climate fwiw - you tend to run out of growing season before they get into full production here, so a fast start could be a good sign for you, weird daylight hours allowing


Thanks. Had some reindeer meat for the first time yesterday actually. Lightly smoked souvas, delish! I think the chilis stop producing fruit when they don’t get enough dark night rest. Yea pots and more controlled growing would be the trick probably but I rather choose easier varieties then. Found dried (chiliklaus) reaper pods in the store last week so am covered on superhots that way if I like. Yea those 5-color are really nice, and pack some heat still, but in the more familyfriendly range


----------



## MarcelNL

looks good! I always see chilies fail, and we don't have crazy long daylight. BTW; you may want to harvest those zucchinis before they outgrow approx 20cm, they tend to go mushy inside and lose what flavor they have to begin with.


----------



## RDalman

MarcelNL said:


> looks good! I always see chilies fail, and we don't have crazy long daylight. BTW; you may want to harvest those zucchinis before they outgrow approx 20cm, they tend to go mushy inside and lose what flavor they have to begin with.


Absolutely, as small as possible almost. On the grill with olive oil and salt is the favourite


----------



## Keith Sinclair

RDalman said:


> Thanks. Had some reindeer meat for the first time yesterday actually. Lightly smoked souvas, delish! I think the chilis stop producing fruit when they don’t get enough dark night rest. Yea pots and more controlled growing would be the trick probably but I rather choose easier varieties then. Found dried (chiliklaus) reaper pods in the store last week so am covered on superhots that way if I like. Yea those 5-color are really nice, and pack some heat still, but in the more familyfriendly range



How many hours of daylight do you have now?


----------



## RDalman

Keith Sinclair said:


> How many hours of daylight do you have now?


18 currently


----------



## Caleb Cox




----------



## RDalman

Our chilies are smaller, but today coupled with the first sweetcorn and a couple of zuchers. Had flowers yesterday and that was something to do again


----------



## MarcelNL

Zucchini flowers stuffed with Ricotta and some black pepper, lightly battered and deep fried, yum!


----------



## WiriWiri

Hot and sunny here and the beans and peas are cropping hard. Between them, the courgettes and the berries (blueberries, Tayberries, raspberries mainly) daily picking is pretty much a necessity.

Growing about 15 varieties of bean/pea this year and have a been a bit better at staggering crops in biweekly intervals, so hoping to keep a more steady supply than the usual glut over a insane few weeks. Doomed to fail of course - see the 10 cobs of corn a day diet last summer - but it seemed worth another shot

Peas and corn on the cob are the two crops that reliably remind me that all the effort is worth it every year. No shop bought stuff can ever match the sweetness and freshness of newly picked produce here













P


----------



## RDalman

MarcelNL said:


> Zucchini flowers stuffed with Ricotta and some black pepper, lightly battered and deep fried, yum!


Can recommend fresh chilies and cheese also!


----------



## coxhaus

Nice peppers. I really like your peas as I can only grow them in the winter as it is too hot here for that kind of peas or snow peas. I can grow black-eyed peas which is different.


----------



## Bert2368

Adverse conditions.

Drought here, 3 weeks + without any significant rainfall. Lots of hot weather. Watering everything daily. Peppers are liking it. Damned Colorado potato beetle nymphs are devouring my eggplant foliage, my ducks who would have happily eaten them are gone due to wildlife and neighbor dog predation. Nothing available is acceptable to me chemically and kills these little bastards. They've laughed off all the organics, you have to hit them with a brick.

My wildlife food plot got enough degree days of heat that it has grown tassles and is showing some silks, started that 3 weeks earlier and half the height it did so last year. Not expecting a lot from that largish effort, bummer.


----------



## coxhaus

The peppers should like the heat. The eggplants will survive. As my garden dies off from the heat these 2 plants will survive the heat and lack of rain with just a little water. This happens to me almost every year in Texas. The eggplants will start making again around September as long as I don't let them die from lack of water. The peppers like the heat. If I water them a lot, they will make all summer.


----------



## chefwp

Sunflower volunteer, first bloom


----------



## Bert2368

chefwp said:


> Sunflower volunteer, first bloom
> View attachment 135219


Got Arikara sunflowers in the wildlife food plot this year, first time I've tried them. They are about chest high for the tallest, even with the drought. Tough suckers... Just starting to show flower buds on top. I had also planted some black oil sunflowers, I just grabbed a few handsfull of seed from the chicken treats this Spring and put them in alongside the Arikara, the Arikara are doing rather better in the local rather dry conditions!


----------



## Michi

A small avocado


----------



## M1k3

Michi said:


> A GIANT ARSE avocado PIT
> View attachment 137049


----------



## Michi

M1k3 said:


> A GIANT ARSE avocado PIT


Well, that was you who said that, not me. I agree though: very apt description 

I bought it out of curiosity. It takes much like any other avocado, just a little blander than a Hass avocado. I don't quite the see the point though. Unless I'm feeding ten or so, there is just too much avocado all at once on there. Not terribly convenient, even though it looks impressive.


----------



## Luftmensch

Keith Sinclair said:


> Been doing research thinking of planting a Avocado tree. They live for hundreds of years.



The house I was born into had an avocado tree. Very prolific... if you have the space they can provide a large amount of fruit once mature. You'd have to be patient though!


----------



## rocketman

coxhaus said:


> The peppers should like the heat. The eggplants will survive. As my garden dies off from the heat these 2 plants will survive the heat and lack of rain with just a little water. This happens to me almost every year in Texas. The eggplants will start making again around September as long as I don't let them die from lack of water. The peppers like the heat. If I water them a lot, they will make all summer.


----------



## rocketman

Well, here I am in Texas also, and started chilpetin from seeds in my pepper grinder, due to the killer freeze this winter. 
Amazingly enough I have discovered they do much better in partial sun. The ones in full sun in the garden , so-so. The
ones in pots on the porch , morning sun till noon, are in much better condition, Also, the Jalapenos in the garden, even 
though they look just great, seem to be having trouble putting on peppers in the heat...Who would have thought.


----------



## Michi

It's spring time, and the first few visitors are showing up. Easily 10 cm thick at the widest point. A little over three meters in length. They do get considerably larger than this.


----------



## coxhaus

rocketman said:


> Well, here I am in Texas also, and started chilpetin from seeds in my pepper grinder, due to the killer freeze this winter.
> Amazingly enough I have discovered they do much better in partial sun. The ones in full sun in the garden , so-so. The
> ones in pots on the porch , morning sun till noon, are in much better condition, Also, the Jalapenos in the garden, even
> though they look just great, seem to be having trouble putting on peppers in the heat...Who would have thought.



All my peppers are doing real well this year as we have had lots of rain. I have jalapenos, serranos, habanero, and shishito which are all making right now.

I lost all my chilpetin bushes this last winter. They were growing in my flower beds.

I guess you are around Houston area. Maybe try some super bloom fertilizer.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Not much to look at now, but wanted to take a picture from beginning.

Both my friend Richard & I went to Frankie's nursery. They have awesome avocado types.
Grafted from trees on the large property.

We got different types his is Fall fruiting season 
mine is Winter. 

He got the more round avocado. I asked two different Hawaiian ladies what avocado they liked best. Both separately picked same type.
One of ladies said people come to nursery just to get this variety. So I bought it 60.00. Came in a small pot transplanted it into much larger pot
with good quality organic potting soil.

Less than a week grew few inches already. Like to get it to at least 6 feet with good roots before put it in the ground.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Luftmensch said:


> The house I was born into had an avocado tree. Very prolific... if you have the space they can provide a large amount of fruit once mature. You'd have to be patient though!



They say 3 years after in ground will get avocado. When planted Tangerine Orange hybrid up here from Frankie's it got fruit after
4 years. Now it's 10 yrs. old prune it still almost 20 feet high. Loaded with fruit. I'll be happy if get avo's in 4 years. It will take 10 years to be a serious tree. 

Luftmensch where was the house you were born into?


----------



## Luftmensch

Johannesburg!

I think the tree predated my family. I don't recall anybody saying they planted the tree - it was always just there! So it must have been at least >30-40 years old. It was super prolific. We'd be able to give away the majority of the fruit to neighbours and still have baskets for ourselves! To the point that I hated avocados when I was a kid - it never ended! I only "rediscovered" them in my early teenage years after a suitably long break


----------



## M1k3

Luftmensch said:


> Johannesburg!
> 
> I the tree predated my family. I don't recall anybody saying they planted the tree - it was always just there! So it must have been at least >30-40 years old. It was super prolific. We'd be able to give away the majority of the fruit to neighbours and still have baskets for ourselves! To the point that I hated avocados when I was a kid - it never ended! I only "rediscovered" them in my early teenage years after a suitably long break


I feel your pain. I grew up in a house that had an avocado tree. Planted some time in the 1920's... because all the cool people in the neighborhood did it. Grew lots and lots of huge avocados. The bigger ones were about the the size of a fully extended hand. Did I mention lots of them? My dad had the bright idea of having his 10 year old son to pick and bag them for a local restaurant. He got paid. I didn't.

#LifeLessons


----------



## Keith Sinclair

We both love local avocados. We live on a corner lot so front yard is bordered by the road
pretty high up in back of Paoa valley.

The back yard neighbors I told was going to plant a tree, they said go for it they like avocados too. It will take up good part of back 
yard eventually. No overhead lines on a slight slope, water & sewer lines on side of the house. So back yard is best place for it.

I'm sure when get to the point of too many will
Give away some to neighbors. Local avocados
are not cheap in the stores. Not like local pineapples. Was thinking eventually Richard & I
could take grafts off our trees hike up into the
mountains & plant a couple more trees.off the beaten path. We could sell them easy.


----------



## schutzen-jager

tomatoes slow in ripening here in Mid Atlantic near ocean - peppers slow getting to picking size - zucchini , yellows squash , + green beans doing well - more rain then last year but temp extremes - heat wave one week , fall like temps the next -


----------



## Bert2368

The corn got screwed up by all the heat, according to our local farmer, corn decides to stop growing taller & develop tassels/silks when it has experienced enough "degree days". Both sweet corn and flour corn did this WAY too early, much of it tassled at about knee to waist high, miniature "bonsai" corn!

Most of the flour corn (and the pole beans I grew along with this) were also very stressed by a month plus of drought as it was planted in areas I couldn't water enough without working at that full time during my busiest work month. I got a bit TOO ambitious in how much I planted, might have been OK if not for the lack of water.

The squash did well enough, between modifying the soil a good bit under the squash mounds such that it retained water better than native soil the corn and beans had to make do with- And being able to dump enough water into the depressed center of those mounds every week or so during the drought to keep them growing. 

Net result: very short flour corn & stunted or missing pole beans mostly submerged in a sea of squash vines, plus some huge, extra hardy weeds which greatly enjoyed the fertilizer meant for the corn & beans.

Kitchen garden is doing OK, picked the first few tomatoes last week, just picked madras striped & african white egg plants, serrano, santa fe & habanero chilis. Pulled a few shallots to check them out but it's still a bit early.


----------



## Bodine

Blazing hot here, pulled my garden a month ago, planted some okra as it will produce in the heat, my next garden will be planted in late Nov, I dont mess with fall tomatoes.
Jalapenos and mole peppers still thriving


----------



## esoo

All I'm doing this year - deep water hydroponic tomatoes. This is the second year trying. The frame was to support the plants as I learned last year the seeds I was using needed support. They've been growing like mad - I've seen them grow 12" in a week.


----------



## dafox

Northern Colorado, great year for tomatoes and squash, a bit too hot for the cucumbers, some are a bit bitter.


----------



## Bert2368

esoo said:


> All I'm doing this year - deep water hydroponic tomatoes.



Could you provide a link to the "deep hydroponic" process? 

I screwed around with hydroponics nearly 40 years ago, came to the conclusion that dirt was, well, dirt cheap. And more forgiving of people who had to leave for irregular periods. But that looks interesting.

----------

The last time I had a hydroponic grow going must have been about 1986. The apartment I had while going to school & cooking at several restaurants had HUGE South & East facing windows, was 2nd floor but had no balcony or yard space. I had a huge quantity of house plants (even trees) in my living room and a hydroponic garden in my bedroom... I didn't need curtains, my house plants did that for me. Best house plants EVER. Had an 8' tall Hawaiian Plumeria, it flowered there several times.

I eventually decided to move on. Moving out, last day of the month. 500 lb. or so of pea gravel was what I'd used for a hydro medium, getting THAT down the stairs and into the vehicle took me a while. It was 3:00 am when I finished, had the place cleaned up and got in the car to drive away. Two young men ran past me pushing a couple of new looking Honda mopeds just before I started the car. Odd... Why not ride?

Got going a little later. About 10 blocks towards the "cheaper" side of town, I overtook the same couple of guys, still running flat out pushing the bikes. And my dazed 3:30am mind finally made the connection that: A: those bikes were locked up at a building directly behind mine earlier today- B: they're being stolen by these dudes. Hit the high beams and 4 way flasher switches, leaned on the horn and turned into a drive right behind those kids (they looked about 14). They dropped the bikes instantly and FLEW through a backyard & over a fence...

Someone in the house stuck their head out to yell at me for waking them up. I asked them to call 911, please. 2 minutes later, the thieves started peeking over the fence, then peering at me from behind a building corner, checking me out and they did the math: 2 of them, 1 of me. They finally got up the courage to "(baby) pimp roll" out into plain view, slanged me for interfering with their heist and decided to threaten me with a knife right about when the police showed up. Another disappearing act ensued.

I explain what had happened to the officers, tell them which building the bikes were stolen from (they don't care, they're just going to take them to an impound lot). They saw the kids and know them, they're juvenile south side gang banger wannabees. 2 of the cops head towards their home address to wait for them...

So here I am, talking to 4 cops at about 4:00am. Who suddenly become interested in ME. Why am I even awake at this time? What was I doing? SAY, CAN WE LOOK INSIDE YOUR CAR?!! I was not holding. But I did have 500 pounds of hydro medium, various pumps, fertilizers, some grow lights and other "dual use" technology filling up my car... A long time before decriminalization. Suffice it to say, merely being an honest citizen is NO protection at such times. And no good deed goes unpunished.

Ah, memories.


----------



## esoo

Bert2368 said:


> Could you provide a link to the "deep hydroponic" process?



Google "Kratky method" and that should get you going. The idea is you fill the buckets with water and nutrients and you're done with that part for the season. Uses a lot less water than putting the plants into dirt. 

I'm using this guide for my nutrients. General Hydroponics in Kratky | Curious Cultivations


----------



## Bert2368

esoo said:


> Google "Kratky method" and that should get you going. The idea is you fill the buckets with water and nutrients and you're done with that part for the season.



Thanks!

I like it. Stupid simple... Not sure about the volume of water & all required nutrients per the full growing cycle of various plants (environmental conditions HAVE to impact how much water would be required?!). And what is the eventual solution strength as the water is mostly used up.

Is it feasible to be doing this outdoors, with the random water addition from rainfall?

I wonder if you could grow RICE this way? It wouldn't mind the water level going up if the water reservoir got rained into, at least. I recall rice has about the lowest P requirements of the major cereal crops, can't remember what N and K needs are.


----------



## esoo

So I'm doing a tomato plant per 25 US gallon garbage can. In the lid, I've done a 6" net pot, 4" block and filled with hydrocorn. We've had a decent amount of rain and no issue with the level going up as far as I can tell. I put the baby plants in the buckets May. I looked today and they are just above 1/3 full.

And these are beside my house in the most sunny place I have


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Bert2368 said:


> Could you provide a link to the "deep hydroponic" process?
> 
> I screwed around with hydroponics nearly 40 years ago, came to the conclusion that dirt was, well, dirt cheap. And more forgiving of people who had to leave for irregular periods. But that looks interesting.
> 
> ----------
> 
> The last time I had a hydroponic grow going must have been about 1986. The apartment I had while going to school & cooking at several restaurants had HUGE South & East facing windows, was 2nd floor but had no balcony or yard space. I had a huge quantity of house plants (even trees) in my living room and a hydroponic garden in my bedroom... I didn't need curtains, my house plants did that for me. Best house plants EVER. Had an 8' tall Hawaiian Plumeria, it flowered there several times.
> 
> I eventually decided to move on. Moving out, last day of the month. 500 lb. or so of pea gravel was what I'd used for a hydro medium, getting THAT down the stairs and into the vehicle took me a while. It was 3:00 am when I finished, had the place cleaned up and got in the car to drive away. Two young men ran past me pushing a couple of new looking Honda mopeds just before I started the car. Odd... Why not ride?
> 
> Got going a little later. About 10 blocks towards the "cheaper" side of town, I overtook the same couple of guys, still running flat out pushing the bikes. And my dazed 3:30am mind finally made the connection that: A: those bikes were locked up at a building directly behind mine earlier today- B: they're being stolen by these dudes. Hit the high beams and 4 way flasher switches, leaned on the horn and turned into a drive right behind those kids (they looked about 14). They dropped the bikes instantly and FLEW through a backyard & over a fence...
> 
> Someone in the house stuck their head out to yell at me for waking them up. I asked them to call 911, please. 2 minutes later, the thieves started peeking over the fence, then peering at me from behind a building corner, checking me out and they did the math: 2 of them, 1 of me. They finally got up the courage to "(baby) pimp roll" out into plain view, slanged me for interfering with their heist and decided to threaten me with a knife right about when the police showed up. Another disappearing act ensued.
> 
> I explain what had happened to the officers, tell them which building the bikes were stolen from (they don't care, they're just going to take them to an impound lot). They saw the kids and know them, they're juvenile south side gang banger wannabees. 2 of the cops head towards their home address to wait for them...
> 
> So here I am, talking to 4 cops at about 4:00am. Who suddenly become interested in ME. Why am I even awake at this time? What was I doing? SAY, CAN WE LOOK INSIDE YOUR CAR?!! I was not holding. But I did have 500 pounds of hydro medium, various pumps, fertilizers, some grow lights and other "dual use" technology filling up my car... A long time before decriminalization. Suffice it to say, merely being an honest citizen is NO protection at such times. And no good deed goes unpunished.
> 
> Ah, memories.


That's a good story


----------



## WiriWiri

FWIW I’ve used similar passive hydroponic systems for my chillies, some tomatoes and cukes, for the last decade or so and can highly recommend - it means you can maintain much heavier crops in smaller pots with little of the infernal constant watering concerns in the greenhouse

I generally use systems made in the UK by the excellent Greenhouse Sensation, which you can see in the bad photo below. It’s pretty basic - plant pots sit on top of a reservoir base, with capillary matting wicks (aka plant tampons) feeding through a hole in the bottom of the pots to the water below, drawing up nutrients and water as required. Tanks last a week or so in the UK‘s hottest conditions at a push

Low tech, but definitely worth a go, particularly when you haven’t easy access to power.


----------



## Bert2368

Keith Sinclair said:


> That's a good story



One near constant feature of my "good stories": The stories are more fun to hear about than the experience seemed at the time...

2nd Reagan administration USA's official position on cannabis was "just say no" and Reagan did stuff like saying "drug dealers are the equivalent of TERRORISTS" on national TV. 

Things are bit different now.


----------



## KO88

This year it looks that we ll have some rocotos which is one of the best peppers. Quite large, fleshy, crunchy and hot (close to habanero)...


----------



## WiriWiri

Mmm, Rocotos are nice, but they’re big plants and tend to take too long to mature (in the UK) for them to be much of a viable option in an overpacked greenhouse here.

They overwinter well apparently, but I’ve failed to keep any of the mature plants I’ve grown, largely because I’ve been too disorganised to get down to the allotment greenhouse to protect them properly, and they’re too large to bring home.


----------



## WiriWiri

Mixed bag, as always, this growing season. Things seem to be slightly behind In general, but hoping for prolonged summer. Beans, courgettes and cucumbers are cropping prolifically, as are blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Strawberries seem to having a last gasp. First successions of peas are dying down and replacements don’t look as hardy, plus salad crops keep going to seed prematurely under the changeable weather. Tomatoes have been heavily hit by blight across the allotment site and even most of the resistant varieties have perished - I’m down to about 3 of the usual dozen plants. Tomatillos are recovering after a waterlogging. Pumpkins and squashes seem to be doing well, including a rapid growing pumpkin giant.

But in general we’re at the giving stuff away frantically stage as the glut of beans and courgettes grows. This was yesterday’s fairly typical quick pick, minus the berries


----------



## RDalman

We get a good bit of everything right now also. Don't remember giving the carrots steroids, maybe it's the biochar


----------



## WiriWiri

RDalman said:


> We get a good bit of everything right now also. Don't remember giving the carrots steroids, maybe it's the biocharView attachment 138403
> View attachment 138404
> View attachment 138405
> View attachment 138406



Well, I’m envious of your fantastic bounty of tomatoes for sure. Lovely looking stuff Mr D!

Anyhow, here’s my all action video from the allotment last night. My attempts at protecting berries with some rudimentary netting have proved sadly inadequate to this point, with blueberries disappearing at the point of ripeness frustratingly often. Higher level netting helped for a while, but kamikaze pigeons seem to be afoot

I’ve accepted this as a berry fail year and have removed my meagre netting to avoid future trapping incidents. 

I also,thankfully, didn‘t film my first attempt at freeing the bird. You know, the one where I tugged the net a little hard, the pigeon flew directly towards me….and I fell backwards over a badly placed chair in spectacular Warner Brothers cartoon style. 






Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Bert2368

If any have grown Allepo/Isot/Urfa Biber peppers, can they verify that these are typical fruits of such? Bought the seeds a couple of years ago, got 4 plants ripening some peppers now, finally.

And if you've successfully accomplished the sun drying/night time fermenting process said to be used when making the powdered chili sold as Urfa Biber? I'd like some pointers!


----------



## coxhaus

Just reading. Urfa biber is a dried Turkish chili pepper of the type Capsicum annuum cultivated in the Urfa region of Turkey. It is often described as having a smoky, raisin-like taste. Urfa biber is technically a red pepper, ripening to a dark maroon on the plant. Wikipedia . 

Do you let the pepper ripen until it gets dark before you pick it?

What does urfa biber taste like?
The taste of Urfa biber is described as *smoky and earthy but with subtly sweet and acidic undertones of raisin, chocolate, or coffee*. Urfa biber reaches 30,000 to 50,000 SHU on the Scoville scale, which measures heat of chile peppers. This makes Urfa biber about as spicy as cayenne peppers.May 26, 2021





Scoville scale: 50,000–80,000 SHU
Heat: Very hot



It sounds like the Aleppo pepper is a different pepper than the Urfa.

Is Aleppo pepper hot?





Aleppo pepper is made from dried and coarsely ground Halaby chile peppers and can be used much like crushed red pepper in recipes and dishes. ... Aleppo pepper is *moderately spicy*, ranking at about 10,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).Oct 18, 2018


----------



## Bert2368

I have purchased small quantities of crushed/shredded dried red peppers sold as "Aleppo" and,"Urfa Biber" from Kalustyans, plus a member here generously supplied a nice sample of Aleppo "good stuff" from his personal stash, these peppers have some similarities as far as heat/type of flavor but are quite different in apprarance, smell and overall taste. They're both quite good... But different.

Hoping for comments by someone with hands on experience in growing & processing.


----------



## Bert2368

You know, pigeons can be quite tasty, especially when fed on a diet of premium organic fruit...


----------



## coxhaus

Bert2368 said:


> I have purchased small quantities of crushed/shredded dried red peppers sold as "Aleppo" and,"Urfa Biber" from Kalustyans, plus a member here generously supplied a nice sample of Aleppo "good stuff" from his personal stash, these peppers have some similarities as far as heat/type of flavor but are quite different in apprarance, smell and overall taste. They're both quite good... But different.
> 
> Hoping for comments by someone with hands on experience in growing & processing.



The Urfa is a lot hotter pepper than the Aleppo pepper. The Aleppo is only moderately hot.


----------



## Bert2368

The 6 weeks without rain really did a number on my "painted mountain" flour corn! Last year, this variety had many ears 8" to 10" long, this year, lucky if they're 4" (see picture, those are the biggest ears I can find). Badly stressed from heat & drought, my corn developed tassels 3 to 4 weeks earlier and a couple of feet shorter than in 2020.

I'll get enough corn for re planting next year, probably NOT enough to grind for corn meal. Sad. Even the deer are turning up their noses at the poor little things.






Below are some of the ears produced in 2020.


----------



## Bert2368

The corn was way too far away to get a hose to, even using a 220 gallon tank in a 3/4 ton pickup bed and a 12V pump, could not find enough "gardening time" to get enough water out there once we hit our busy season (mid June through August). Started out so promising, then it just dried up.

Did manage to get the squash mounds JUST enough water, will have enough for myself + feeding the wildlife. The extra "feeder roots" that the squash vines develop out by the fruits are pretty minimal, they were trying to grow into dry dust until last couple of weeks when it finally started raining again.


----------



## coxhaus

I just started planting seeds in small pots for our winter garden. I planted 1 kale and 1 zucchini plant each for winter. Next week when it cools off a little more I plan to fill in my garden for winter.

I am having trouble finding seed this year.


----------



## Bert2368

I'm finding things chili in Minnesota tonight.


----------



## Bert2368

I've been saving more types of seeds this year than any before, partly due to growing more non hybrid, heirloom type garden plants. 3 well separated garden areas, trying to not cross pollinate varieties of same species.

2 kinds of pole beans, 2 kinds of winter squash, flour corn, sunflowers, musk melon, cantaloupe melon.

Should have thought about hybridization/separation before planting the 3 different varieties of tomatoes and 4 different varieties of eggplants in the same garden, but if I'd done that, the watering requirements for the further out garden areas would have been ridiculous.

Maybe next year.


----------



## Bert2368

A couple of the seeds from last year's squash apparently were hybridized with the "Big Max" pumpkins, 300' wasn't quite enough separation.

Wonder what these might taste like. I have 4 similar sized giants like this growing on two plants, perhaps 80 lb. of squash/pumpkin hybrid.


----------



## coxhaus

My collard seeds are up and almost ready for planting in my winter garden.


----------



## KnightKnightForever

I have several fruits and veggies in the works. First time gardening. Trying to deal with this powdery mildew..


----------



## Bert2368

KnightKnightForever said:


> View attachment 145196
> View attachment 145197
> 
> I have several fruits and veggies in the works. First time gardening. Trying to deal with this powdery mildew..


Dilute non fat milk with water, 1 part milk to 2 parts water by volume. Thoroughly spray leaves of squash. Kills powdery mildew but not you.


----------



## RDalman

KnightKnightForever said:


> View attachment 145196
> View attachment 145197
> 
> I have several fruits and veggies in the works. First time gardening. Trying to deal with this powdery mildew..


And in case you have alot of male flowers (with no fruit coming behind) I can recommend trying this:


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Delat said:


> Just a quick update to let you know I took your advice. I cut off the two lower branches and trimmed all the flower buds I could reach - there were around 6 and some are still just coming up so I left those for later. Also gave it a solid watering with 2 gallons of reverse osmosis filtered water and will stick with the filtered water for a few months. Spraying with the spinosad this weekend as well just in case.
> 
> Fingers crossed that my baby mango appreciates all the TLC and rewards me with some fruit next year!



Just curious how is your Mango tree doing? 
Get it in a larger pot yet? I got a large straight side for my avocado tree so I can move it with my hand truck.


----------



## Delat

Keith Sinclair said:


> Just curious how is your Mango tree doing?
> Get it in a larger pot yet? I got a large straight side for my avocado tree so I can move it with my hand truck.



It’s a bit unbalanced - unfortunately that initial fungus killed off all the leads on one of the two branches off the main trunk, so now there’s only one branch. It’s like half a tree. Anyway that surviving branch is doing ok; it’s been slowly growing over the summer since I had it in the shade to survive the heat and the anthacnose is a constant threat but looks like it’s going to survive. The 3-digit weather finally passed this week so it’s back to almost full sun now. I’ll add a pic this weekend.

I have a couple sweetsops that I got at the same that are totally thriving though. Funny how one specific plant is so vulnerable to one specific fungus but others aren’t.


----------



## MarcelNL

we are currently harvesting what little we have in the garden, some grapes....probably just enough to make 4 bottles of pretyy nice red grape juice (the grapes are tiny and contain huge pips)


----------



## Bert2368

These are Braeburn apples, a variety developed at the university of Minnesota.






I've got 4 trees of this variety, last year 3 out of 4 had their heavy year. This year, one had its heavy year, 2 others had just a few fruits set and the 4th set no fruit at all.

Then the crows noticed the ripening apples, it's been a tough year for them too, with the drought and heat. I picked these apples a couple of days ago when the local critters made it clear they were going to eat all of them ASAP if I didn't. That's all I'm getting from this variety in 2021.

Will be taking the rest of my apples (Empire and Macoun) and pears (Golden Spice) shortly too, the local critters are a bit hungry...

The crows and wild turkeys got EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pie cherries from 2 trees in less than 72 hours from the time I'd looked and decided they were "almost ready", then had to leave town for work for 72 hours- I've learned my lesson.


----------



## coxhaus

Bert2368 said:


> These are Braeburn apples, a variety developed at the university of Minnesota.
> 
> View attachment 145537
> 
> 
> I've got 4 trees of this variety, last year 3 out of 4 had their heavy year. This year, on had its heavy year and 2 others had just a few fruits set.
> 
> Then the crows noticed, it's been a tough year for them too, with the drought and heat. I picked these apples a couple of days ago when the local critters made it clear they were going to eat all of them ASAP if I didn't.
> 
> Will be taking the rest of my apples and pears shortly too, the local critters are a bit hungry...
> 
> The crows and wild turkeys got EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pie cherries from 2 trees in less than 72 hours from the time I'd looked and decided they were "almost ready", then had to leave town for work for 72 hours- I've learned my lesson.
> 
> View attachment 145538



I had that same problem with my peach trees. The peaches were ready and they smelled great I was going to pick the next day. The raccoons left me all the seeds at the bottom of my 4 trees when I went out the next day.


----------



## Bert2368

coxhaus said:


> I had that same problem with my peach trees. The peaches were ready and they smelled great I was going to pick the next day. The raccoons left me all the seeds at the bottom of my 4 trees when I went out the next day.



Yup! 

Remember, a fruit fed "trash panda" can be quite tasty. And turn about is fair play!


----------



## coxhaus

Bert2368 said:


> Yup!
> 
> Remember, a fruit fed "trash panda" can be quite tasty. And turn about is fair play!


Too bad I am in the city actually butted up against a city park where the raccoons come from. I would shoot them if I could.

I no longer have peach trees since I can't protect them.


----------



## rocketman

Racoons, at least the first one or two are easily trapped with a hav-a-hart trap, and marshmallows, or sardines...What you do with them 
in the trap is your own business.


----------



## WiriWiri

Here, squirrels are my enemy, Went away for a week and got complacent - when I had got back the furry rats (with more attractive tails and better PR) had demolished pretty much all my corn. Turns out they like aubergines too.

Not impressed. With them or the ginger cat that tends to use every one of my freshly turned raised beds as a new litter tray.


----------



## RDalman

WiriWiri said:


> Here, squirrels are my enemy, Went away for a week and got complacent - when I had got back the furry rats (with more attractive tails and better PR) had demolished pretty much all my corn. Turns out they like aubergines too.
> 
> Not impressed. With them or the ginger cat that tends to use every one of my freshly turned raised beds as a new litter tray.


Had vole(potentially - s) in the carrots so ~50% of them where eaten on  I did get the last word though as I found it with the pitchfork.


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## LostHighway

RDalman said:


> Had vole(potentially - s) in the carrots so ~50% of them where eaten on  I did get the last word though as I found it with the pitchfork.



There is no such thing as a single vole.


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## Bert2368

RDalman said:


> I did get the last word though as I found it with the pitchfork.



Sent it to Voleholea!


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## jacko9

This is the second harvest for the Anaheim peppers and since this picture, there are more growing on the three plants. The bell peppers are still increasing in size so I only pick what we are going to eat in a given meal. Thses were grown in an elevator bed planter from Vermont Gardners Supply.


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## Bert2368

Whut?!


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## coxhaus

Pesto Pesto everywhere. I pulled a couple of my pesto bushes to make room for more root crop vegetables. I have so much basil this year in my garden.
I bet I have 20 more bushes.


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## Bert2368

coxhaus said:


> Pesto Pesto everywhere. I pulled a couple of my pesto bushes to make room for more root crop vegetables. I have so much basil this year in my garden.
> I bet I have 20 more bushes.
> 
> View attachment 147435
> 
> View attachment 147436
> 
> 
> View attachment 147437



Got a recipe? I do note the presence of pecans, rather than pine nuts...


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## coxhaus

Those pecans are from our trees. We substitute pecans for pine nuts.

We don't really measure but probably 5 cloves of garlic, 2 handfuls of pecans, grate parmigiana cheese until looks right half to 3/4 quarters cut of cheese, fill food processor up with basil, run food processor until chopped then pour olive oil in until it is the right consistency.
My wife does most of this.


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## Bodine

Winter garden was planted today, eight rows of greens will take care of us through the winter


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## chefwp

shutting down
My wife thinks the fish need a sign that says "gone camping." I agree, even though they are still there, but they do have a fancy new 'tent.' The pump came out, aerator in now in, plant sunk to the bottom, the fish saying "*** is going on?!?!" My pond is shallow, hopefully this will be enough to keep the fishees alive.

Also, the back deck container's dracena has been consolidated into two containers and put in the garage to overwinter in a spot that gets some southern sunlight for a bit. If I manage to remember to water them a few times they'll be back for their 3rd year.


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## Luftmensch

chefwp said:


> My wife thinks the fish need a sign that says "gone camping." I agree, even though they are still there, but they do have a fancy new 'tent.'



Forgive my ignorance... What is the tent for?

Hehe... here Kookaburras and herons can steal small fish from outdoor ponds!


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## chefwp

Luftmensch said:


> Forgive my ignorance... What is the tent for?
> 
> Hehe... here Kookaburras and herons can steal small fish from outdoor ponds!


Herons and raccoons are a concern here too, but not my primary ones. I don't think the tent would prevent a determined raccoon anyway, they are too clever. The thing that prevents me from vegetable gardening like a normal person is the shade of many enormous and ancient oak trees. The tent's short term function is to keep all of autumn's leaves out. Once the canopy is gone, I'm hoping that the mesh will lessen the algae bloom that happened last year too, we'll see, that might be wishful thinking.

I've never seen a heron stalking my pond, but I know other local pond owners have been hassled by them. I really appreciate them though, they are my favorite subject and I stalk them with my camera and a small kayak in the bigger local waterways.


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## Luftmensch

Forgot to say... Zappa Mona Lisa


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## Bodine

Update on my garden, coming along nicely


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## Slim278

Do you find any benefit to planting the greens in rows? Everyone I have ever seen broadcast the greens and they are all mixed together.


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## Bodine

Slim278 said:


> Do you find any benefit to planting the greens in rows? Everyone I have ever seen broadcast the greens and they are all mixed together.


I can walk in the garden, I am anal, easy to keep winter weeds out, easier to thin


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## Bodine

Garden is coming along nicely rows are filling in from right to left radishes, Pak Choi, leaf lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, Redsail lettuce, Romain lettuce, mustard greens, some sort of green I don’t know what it is but it taste good and arugula
I need some cold-weather to slow the growth down


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## Bodine

Well here we are in 22, got plants in the ground. 3 maters, 2 bells, 4 cukes, 2 Zuchini, 4 Jalepenos, 2 Poblanos, 1 Habanero, 1 Mole.
Dogwoods and Azaleas are blooming and humming birds have arrived.


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## Pie

It’s supposed to dump 10cm snow tonight. Just when my cacti started peeking out from the ice . 

It’s been a long winter.


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## Bert2368

We are quite some ways from even having the ground thaw...

Say hello to "Holly" the 18 week old doggo. We are walking around (with snowshoes for me) and looking at our slightly thawing world- Checking out the new woodpecker holes, changing the wood chips in the wood duck houses..


.


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## KingShapton

I love dogs! So much fun and the best friend a human can have!


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## Bert2368

Yup.


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## KingShapton

Bert2368 said:


> Yup.
> View attachment 170825
> View attachment 170810
> View attachment 170812
> 
> View attachment 170823
> 
> View attachment 170816
> View attachment 170817
> View attachment 170818
> View attachment 170819
> View attachment 170820
> View attachment 170821


Oh man, you hit my heart with these pictures!

One of the most beautiful and greatest experiences in my life was to be present at the first litter of my beloved dog. My wife told me afterwards that she had been in the whelping box for 4 hours, but she waited until I came home. I was in the room less than 2 minutes before the birth started.

I know that this is normal for some people, for me it was a beautiful experience and a great vote of confidence from her. Just something I can never forget as long as I live.

When looking at your pictures, all the memories of that time come up.

All the beautiful experiences with the little puppies, no matter how much **** they messed up - one look into those eyes and everything was forgotten!

One of my greatest wishes and dreams would be to have a dog again. And I hope that one day this wish will come true.


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## Bert2368

King Shapton-

I went from the first week of January, 2001 to January 1st of 2022 without a dog- I feel for you. 

Now, more puppy porn! We went out into the fenced orchard and tried working off the leash outdoors for the first time. "Come" worked pretty good...




Your browser is not able to display this video.


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## Lars

If I somehow manage to not screw this up, I could be enjoying my first ever fresh tomatillo this summer.


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## Caleb Cox

Awesome! Rick Bayless would be so proud!


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## Bert2368

*IN QUESTIONABLE TASTE* 

People ask if gardening is hard but that's not the problem the problem is it's easy and it really ought to be impossible. What is this putting stuff in dirt and expecting to get food back what are you, a communist? You bought a bag of cowpeas not even a proper seed packet with a glossy picture on it and shoved a couple in the ground. You know it can't work. Even fairy tales know better everybody laughs when Jack trades a cow for beans a cow is worth something, after all. The whips that twined up into the hydrangeas have three green leaves so they must be poison ivy that's probably it the things that look like bean pods are a coincidence it's a new kind of poison ivy you'll probably be even more allergic to this one. And the funny thing is that I know this when they come for me and say "You have to stop now— you know people aren't allowed to do this sort of thing," I'll bow my head and say "I know."
It was much too easy it had to be illegal or at least in very questionable taste, thinking you could put almost nothing into dirt and get everything back almost for free.

-T. Kingfisher (AKA Ursula Vernon), "Jackalope Wives"





__





Kindle






read.amazon.com


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## Bodine

My garden is not all that large but you can produce a lot of food in a small space, it’s just the wife and I so, we have about eight tomato plants two bell pepper a hill of cucumber and a hill of zucchini, over in the pepper section we have Molé, jalapeño, habanero, poblano, two tomatillo plants, in the backyard I have additional cucumbers growing on the chain-link fence.

That’s quite enough for us, looking forward to seeing all your gardens as spring is sprung across the country


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## Bodine

Since dogs were mentioned above here are a couple of photos of mine, how could one live without a dog


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## Bear

Bodine said:


> View attachment 174758
> View attachment 174759
> 
> 
> My garden is not all that large but you can produce a lot of food in a small space, it’s just the wife and I so, we have about eight tomato plants two bell pepper a hill of cucumber and a hill of zucchini, over in the pepper section we have Molé, jalapeño, habanero, poblano, two tomatillo plants, in the backyard I have additional cucumbers growing on the chain-link fence.
> 
> That’s quite enough for us, looking forward to seeing all your gardens as spring is sprung across the country



That's just not fair


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## Bert2368

Bodine said:


> View attachment 174761
> View attachment 174762
> 
> 
> Since dogs were mentioned above here are a couple of photos of mine, how could one live without a dog


One can NOT live properly without a dog. Or possibly, a Kitaeh. Obviously...


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## coxhaus

I did not see a garden thread for 2022 so here is the start of my garden for this year. My granddaughter helped me this year. We did all by hand rather than using the small tractor.


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## picturepoet

our little food factory


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## RDalman

Here the snow just melted a week ago and the garlics are peeking up


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## rocketman

Although the climates in Sweden and Texas are very similar, there must be a vast difference in the genetics of the garlic we are growing.
Mine is from Malta, small, but unbelievably intense... Plant in October, harvested on Monday of this week .. Pictures of the bed, and then crop drying.


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## RDalman

rocketman said:


> Although the climates in Sweden and Texas are very similar, there must be a vast difference in the genetics of the garlic we are growing.
> Mine is from Malta, small, but unbelievably intense... Plant in October, harvested on Monday of this week .. Pictures of the bed, and then crop drying.
> 
> 
> View attachment 176647
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 176648


They look great. I grow a french variety called "vigor" this year. Plant late oct, expect harvest sometime in july.


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## Bear

rocketman said:


> Although the climates in Sweden and Texas are very similar


?


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## rocketman

Tongue in Cheek!


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## Terryy

As I see, knife owners have beautiful gardens! Your pictures are awesome! Hope you enjoy cutting your vegetables with your knifes 

I want to ask about growing seeds for tomatoes and herbs. Want to grow them at home. So I have no experience, and I do not know is it OK to use grow bags like these ones or it is useless? Is it time for growing or am I too late?

Want to cut them with my Nakiri so much!


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## Lars

The first courgette flower of the year!


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## Bear

20th of June, this is a first for me.


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## Pie

Finally a couple of my cacti have hit full maturity, meaning they stop getting so damn big and start pushing out flowers. 







These two are 5 years old, each started from a couple pads, every year just a handful of flowers. Now there’s gotta be over 150 between them alone. I gotta say, having never planted anything prior to this I’m my life, I’ve really turned into that old Chinese guy standing there just looking at his yard.


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## Pie

Ah, there we go


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## e30Birdy

This year has been super hot and not a lot of rain here in Germany. Peppers are in my greenhouse but not a large as they usually are this time of the year. Lots of fruit for sure (always have between 40-50 plants) but just smaller than usual. I start them in February in my indoor grow tent with a Spider Farmer 1000 and since i started doing it this my my anuums are larger, chinense are short but super full. 

I got some nice watermelons growing and seems tomatoes are struggling to compared to usual years.


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## coxhaus

It is hot now in Texas. I don't know about Sweden but most everything is done but peppers and basil with just a few tomatoes as they are on their last leg. My hot peppers will make all summer and into the fall. It sure was dry this year. I had to water a lot and still do. I picked onions about a month ago, so they are all gone.

The front peppers are habaneros and the very back on the left are 6 serrano peppers. I have to keep them apart, so they don't cross.


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## Pie

Aaaand blastoff!






We did some planters in the backyard this year as well for edible things, never thought I’d see the day but I’m tired of spending $15 on herbs every time I need to cook.


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## Bert2368

Between insanity of the world/my business/(myself?), I don't really HAVE my usual (annuals) kitchen garden this year, for first time in 12 years. 

I've got an herb garden (I'm not actually DEAD or QUITE catatonic!) and the area I harvested my shallots from surprised me by kicking out dozens of them as 2nd year bulbs after I missed the smaller bulbs from seed last year.

However, my orchard is thriving under the regime of "benign neglect" + "fook me, it's actually raining regularly this year???"

I've picked about 6 kg of what the Brits apparently call "morellos" and USAians call "sour/pie cherries" this week. Froze 5kg of cherries, got another still fresh and considering whether I should be making "cherry bounce", cherry wine, cherry jam and/or a few cherry pies?

Looks like 6 out of the 10 apple trees are having their heavy year and I'll soon be needing to get a cider press or waste that-


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## deltaplex

Bert2368 said:


> Between insanity of the world/my business/(myself?), I don't really HAVE my usual (annuals) kitchen garden this year, for first time in 12 years.
> 
> I've got an herb garden (I'm not actually DEAD or QUITE catatonic!) and the area I harvested my shallots from surprised me by kicking out dozens of them as 2nd year bulbs after I missed the smaller bulbs from seed last year.
> 
> However, my orchard is thriving under the regime of "benign neglect" + "fook me, it's actually raining regularly this year???"
> 
> I've picked about 6 kg of what the Brits apparently call "morellos" and USAians call "sour/pie cherries" this week. Froze 5kg of cherries, got another still fresh and considering whether I should be making "cherry bounce", cherry wine, cherry jam and/or a few cherry pies?
> 
> Looks like 6 out of the 10 apple trees are having their heavy year and I'll soon be needing to get a cider press or waste that-


If you don't want to mess around with a press, you can freeze/thaw them multiple times and then use a drill mixer to bust them up. We've got a small press and a grinder and I'm still messing around with ways to maximize extraction...


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## Bert2368

deltaplex said:


> If you don't want to mess around with a press, you can freeze/thaw them multiple times and then use a drill mixer to bust them up. We've got a small press and a grinder and I'm still messing around with ways to maximize extraction...



An old acquaintance has an antique apple grinder/cider press he got cheap at an auction, I was going to buy it & fix it up- until someone told him that a completely refurbished one had recently sold for over $2,000. Then my old buddy backed out of deal & apparently has started to refurbish it himself... That tool was a MONSTER, came with two tubs, was made to use a PTO belt from a separate engine (or possibly a tractor?) for grinding- It weighed several hundred lb.

I'm looking at some of the "hydro press" types now that use tap water pressure to expand a rubber bladder instead of a screw for pressing out the juice. And various electric grinders. Not sure where this project will lead, another money pit most likely.








Antique Apple Cider Press | eBay


Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Antique Apple Cider Press at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



www.ebay.com


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## coxhaus

Another couple of picture of my garden now in 100 degree plus weather. It is real hot and dry.


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## WilliamDallas

RDalman said:


> Here the snow just melted a week ago and the garlics are peeking up


Garlic is definitely something I’ve been meaning to try but I hear it’s tough in Florida.


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## RDalman

WilliamDallas said:


> Garlic is definitely something I’ve been meaning to try but I hear it’s tough in Florida.


Speaking of I just took one of our variety up for drying. I don’t know about the florida challenges but it's a very easy growing crop. I didn't cuddle these at all, put them in last years potato plot, gave some fertilizers, weeded only once I think. They're far from perfect though, I will probably give them a better soil for next year.


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## Michi

Just picked the first few chilies of the season. Jalapeño and Aji Rojo:


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## Keith Sinclair

Bert2368 said:


> Between insanity of the world/my business/(myself?), I don't really HAVE my usual (annuals) kitchen garden this year, for first time in 12 years.
> 
> I've got an herb garden (I'm not actually DEAD or QUITE catatonic!) and the area I harvested my shallots from surprised me by kicking out dozens of them as 2nd year bulbs after I missed the smaller bulbs from seed last year.
> 
> However, my orchard is thriving under the regime of "benign neglect" + "fook me, it's actually raining regularly this year???"
> 
> I've picked about 6 kg of what the Brits apparently call "morellos" and USAians call "sour/pie cherries" this week. Froze 5kg of cherries, got another still fresh and considering whether I should be making "cherry bounce", cherry wine, cherry jam and/or a few cherry pies?
> 
> Looks like 6 out of the 10 apple trees are having their heavy year and I'll soon be needing to get a cider press or waste that-


I know this is a old post. I love cherries fresh, dried, cobbler, pie, jam. Like tartness.


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## rocketman

One of my gardens is infested with nematodes, and as far as my research has gone, apparently there is little/no chemical control available. I am planning to raise nematode resistant pepper varieties, and graft jalapenos on top for the product.. Has anyone done of this annual grafting?? Do you have any tips and advice??


----------



## Bodine

First hard freeze of the year tonight. Went out and picked the last Jalepenos, Poblanos, and Mole peppers.
Winter crops are doing well, hope they last through 4 nights of hard freezes.


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## Bert2368

Bodine said:


> First hard freeze of the year tonight. Went out and picked the last Jalepenos, Poblanos, and Mole peppers.
> Winter crops are doing well, hope they last through 4 nights of hard freezes.


Man. There is 2' of snow in my garden right now. It's -7° F with a 20 mph wind too. Later on, it's supposed to get cold.

OTOH, I've got most of my seeds for next year slready and the starter mix, lights & etc. stored inside and unfrozen...


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## coxhaus

My peppers and tomatoes are done with this freeze. I picked collard greens yesterday. I am not sure whether they survived last night as we got down to 13 degrees F. Probably they are dead as it never got above freezing today down in central Texas. This is cold for us.

I did have fresh sliced home-grown tomatoes on my bagel with cream cheese with just the right amount of Kosher salt on the tomatoes for breakfast. Yum. This the first time I have ever had fresh tomatoes in December. I guess global warming.

I have about 20 green tomatoes in my house that I need to use.


----------



## coxhaus

rocketman said:


> One of my gardens is infested with nematodes, and as far as my research has gone, apparently there is little/no chemical control available. I am planning to raise nematode resistant pepper varieties, and graft jalapenos on top for the product.. Has anyone done of this annual grafting?? Do you have any tips and advice??


I have to rotate my tomatoes and peppers to fight nematodes. If you let the ground set 1 year then they clear up. It is very hard with small gardens. Next year my tomatoes will be on the other end of my garden. You can buy tomato plants resistant to nematodes. I am not sure I have seen pepper plants labeled that way.

I do plant beans, peas and other crops while I am waiting a year to clean up the nematodes.


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## Naftoor

I have no garden yet I must trowel


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## McMan

Naftoor said:


> I have no garden yet I must trowel


Shihan?


----------



## Kgp

Naftoor said:


> I have no garden yet I must trowel


I bought one of these for my wife a couple of years ago. She treats it like I treat my knives.


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## Naftoor

McMan said:


> Shihan?


Yup! He had a restock recently, I emailed him about them after missing the large sizes, he had one he was holding for a local customer. She ended up never showing up to buy it so I grabbed it. I look forward to eventually having a garden to use it 

It’s beautifully made, definitely a grail trowel (unless someone’s making feather Damascus ones)


----------



## McMan

Naftoor said:


> Yup! He had a restock recently, I emailed him about them after missing the large sizes, he had one he was holding for a local customer. She ended up never showing up to buy it so I grabbed it. I look forward to eventually having a garden to use it
> 
> It’s beautifully made, definitely a grail trowel (unless someone’s making feather Damascus ones)


I saw those on his website--so nicely made. Enjoy the gardening!


----------

