Today's harvest

[MarcD]

We have very little growing space, a 2 foot wide strip next to our driveway where we have chives, parsley and thyme growing.
However, I have a small space for tomato plants. I have one plant I put in in late February. It is now 7 feet high and 4 feet around, and full of tomatoes

The tomato plant sounds impressive.

My growing season is just long enough to make gardening a 'one shot deal'. I plant ~2,000 sq ft of different crops.......mostly corn, beans, and tomatoes. Oh.....don't forget peppers......

This was the worst year I've ever had.....that includes 2012 when we had a severe drought. I had a 3 week delay when my neighbor was unable to till my garden and I had to find another person with the right equipment. There is no way you can till heavy clay soil with a front tine tiller......unless you want to spend a few days of hard labor.

I made the mistake of using unprocessed top soil to start my seedlings....it was infested with fungus gnat eggs. The gnats are harmless to the plants but the larvae eat the plant's roots...... Some seedlings were so stunted I had to replant and try again. My kitchen was filled with flying pests......

Mistake #2 was neglecting to erect the fence to control the wildlife......huge mistake. 40+ tomato plants were eaten by deer.....some plants cost me $10 per seed. Fences will not deter chipmunks......they burrow under them and eat tender young sprouts. If the young sprouts survive, the rabbits will make short work of them........ The last straw was when raccoons stripped all the sweetcorn just as it was close to being harvested.

I got a handful of grape tomatoes for my efforts. Oh well....there's always next year and a fence. When I was a young man I never had to resort to a fence to protect my garden.

 

[GotGarlic]

Ten dollars per SEED? Are the tomatoes gold-plated?

 

[larry_stewart]

Ive extended my garden season by attempting Aquaponics.
I got 4 gold fish, in a 20 gallon tank, with a Hydroponic system on top, which filters out the water by using the nitrogen from the fish waste.
Im currently growing chard, and so far, so good.

 

[MarcD]

Ten dollars per SEED? Are the tomatoes gold-plated?

What a typo.......oops. $1 per seed.

.....Park Seed Company. Corleone Hybrid......$8.95 for a packet of 10 seeds. I kinda exaggerated by adding shipping costs......

I had some nice looking plants......~24" tall and nice and bushy when they were set out. The deer loved 'em...... When they got going and had plenty of bracts with fruits the deer ate the plants and fruits. I will try again.....the Corleones look promising and may be cheaper next year.

The deer are still persistent and are now foraging the corn stalks.....I see them every day. It's only a 40 yard shot......deer season (gun) starts in a few weeks. I'm in a rural area and can legally hunt on my own property without permits. No standing out in the cold......I just take a peek out the back door once in a while and drink my coffee......

 

[GA Home Cook]

MarD,


I struggled with the deer for several years. Tired everything, hair, electric fence, fishing line, that spray that smells like something rotting and nothing worked. Last year I gave up and bough 7 foot deer fencing and put a fence around my garden and it is wonderful. My friend has rabbit issues and found that the electric fence that is a mat worked for them. you might try a homemade rabbit box, did them as a kid, and "relocate" the catches.

 

[MarcD]

I took a gamble and lost this year. It's no fun setting up 200' of fencing and having to take it down again in the Fall......and leaving enough room to maneuver a tiller. The first year I planted the ends of the rows right up to the fence......not a good idea for moving the tiller from row to row. As for hair.....doesn't work and I believe is an old wives tale. I have a large fenced yard for the 4 dogs to run in.....plenty of hair and "marked" spots all over. I still see rabbits in the yard even though the dogs patrol the perimeter and "do their business" all over the place.

Rabbits?? When you can see a dozen along the perimeter of my lot (5 acres) in the evening you have a rabbit problem. Watching 4 of them romping through the garden (their little mating dance) in the morning you have a rabbit problem.

My son has 'relocated' a few rabbits.......to the frying pan. What doesn't end up for dinner is placed out by my wildlife area.....for coyote food. Coyotes do not eat my crops and are a welcome sight on my land......along with stray cats. Chipmunks are another problem.......

I hope to have better success next season so I can post a few pics.

Last year (2014)

Beans....just to the left is the 2nd planting of "Bodacious" sweet corn that the raccoons destroyed just as the crop made it to the 'milk stage'....... I was within a week of harvesting. First planting was frozen on the cob......2nd planting was for cutting from the cob. Oh well, the corn on the cob was very tasty over the winter......

 

[Dawgluver]

Rabbits are my nemesis. We have a neverending supply, and they are fearless. I fence in my container veggie garden (dog kennel panels), and while the deer can't get to it, the bunnies can, and did. Ate every single one of my bean plants. I did get a decent crop of cherry tomatoes, but that's about it.

 

[bethzaring]

Bethzaring - how cold will that keep the tender veggie to? You ever put heat in there?

Have to have a heat source in the hoop house. It's on 24/7. It is 3 incandescent 100w light bulbs under 10 inch clay pots. Usually there are no tender plants in the hoop house in its winter state. I tried one chile plant and it has frozen already but the existing chiles on the plant look okay. It has been 4*F for a low already. Last winter it was below 0*F and all plants did fine, as long as the lights were on.

 

[bethzaring]

I harvested carrots, swiss chard and celery from the hoop house today. I was nervous that everything might have frozen when it got down to -14*F several nights ago. It has remained below zero F for almost a week now. Some things did freeze.

 

[larry_stewart]

Glad to see someones picking something.
My garden catalogues have been coming in the past few weeks.
I have chard in my aquaponic set up in the basement, and about to get basil going.
I had parsley outside, up until last week, when the chickens destroyed it.
Some scallions still hanging in there.
Rosemary might actually survive this year.

Other than that, just looking forward to dig in, comes springtime.

 

[GotGarlic]

Spring harvest! We planted a salad bowl a couple weeks ago and I picked some for salad the other night. Yummy I also made a spinach salad for DH (I'm not fond of spinach). It survived the winter, along with a couple of Swiss chard plants that are coming back.

Those other tall stems are garlic! I think I'll harvest them today so they can cure in the sunroom for a few days.

 

[GotGarlic]

I picked these a couple days ago. Light green and gold zucchini, a tomato, a few beans, and Anaheim and jalapeño peppers.

 

[Dawgluver]

Nice, GG. You're well ahead of us.

I picked my first ripe blueberry today, forgot to take a pic as I already ate it...

 

[Andy M.]

Outstanding GG!

 

[GotGarlic]

Thank you! The temporary greenhouse DH built helped a lot. We started seeds in there in February.

 

[larry_stewart]

Here in New York, Ive been snacking on peas the past week or two, picked my first string bean yesterday, arugula and romaine ready for picking. Everything else still a few weeks away.

When compared to last year, I'm about 2 weeks behind.

 

[Cheryl J]

Looks great, GG!

My jalapenos aren't doing all that well - I should have had some harvest by now. They're kind of leggy - I think I'll chop them down and see if they'll re-grow, since we have a long growing season.

Sounds good, Larry! Yummm....fresh peas.

 

[blissful]

I ate my first 5 strawberries yesterday, they were too sweet and tasty to wait for a camera to take their picture.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have a pumpkin growing in my hedge...

 

[GotGarlic]

We couldn't contain our curiosity, so yesterday we opened the potato box a little, to see how they're coming along. We dug out six and put the panels back on because they're still a little small.