Garden 2020.

[Bacpacker]

Crimson Sweets are a bigger melon. Taste good. But I think the SB are a little sweeter.
There are tons of varieties out there. IMO some may taste different in different soils. I have quite a bit of Clay in my garden so YMMV.

Your taters are getting close. Bell peppers look they are kicking too

 

[Support Gunner]

We grow ours in brown clay.

The crimson sweet is what we grow and its the sweetest watermelon we have tasted. Need to try the sugar babies now.

The sweeter the melon the better.

 

[Bacpacker]

We grow ours in brown clay.

The crimson sweet is what we grow and its the sweetest watermelon we have tasted. Need to try the sugar babies now.

The sweeter the melon the better.

Exactly right. You might try Black Diamond or Moon and Stars sometime. Both are bigger round melons, but taste good too.
Our Clay is red. But maybe similar in nutrient levels IDK.

 

[Meerkat]

We really like watermelons but didn't plant any this year.

 

[Support Gunner]

Exactly right. You might try Black Diamond or Moon and Stars sometime. Both are bigger round melons, but taste good too.
Our Clay is red. But maybe similar in nutrient levels IDK.

In the past three years we have been tilling it the leaves that fall in the fall, grass clippings, coffee grounds, and we also till the plants we grow into the ground as long as there is no diseases with the plants.

So we are trying to get more nutrients into the ground.

 

[Meerkat]

In the past three years we have been tilling it the leaves that fall in the fall, grass clippings, coffee grounds, and we also till the plants we grow into the ground as long as there is no diseases with the plants.

So we are trying to get more nutrients into the ground.

Great idea plus your getting use to working with what you have.

 

[Erin]

Support Gunner, is it usual for the tops of the potatoes to look like that? This is the first time I've grown potatoes, and I was concerned because the leaves are starting to turn brown/curl up, but if that's natural then I don't have to worry!

 

[Support Gunner]

Support Gunner, is it usual for the tops of the potatoes to look like that? This is the first time I've grown potatoes, and I was concerned because the leaves are starting to turn brown/curl up, but if that's natural then I don't have to worry!

From the videos I have watched, articles I have read, and from the folks on here, it is normal. Once they die back thats when you know they are ready to harvest.

 

[Bacpacker]

That is exactly how taters do. Nice and green, then bloom, stay green a while longer. Then the plants die off. Once everything is brown and dried out, time to dig the taters. If you are expecting a lot fo rain for a week or 2 I would dig ahead of that. They will resprout and that ruins the taters for eating.

 

[Erin]

Wonderful, thanks!

 

[LadyLocust]

Any of y’all ever grow Celebrity tomatoes? They are big and meaty and tasty. We also have Oregon Spring (very prolific smaller) and Old German (large delicious but not as prolific). For paste, I had to get plain ol Roma’s. I was hoping for San Marz but couldn’t find any. So am slightly jealous BP. Also, eggplant are rather like zucchini. One plant feeds a family. Eating cantaloupe at the moment also. Need to find some good corn to can.

 

[Bacpacker]

I didn't grow celeberties this year, nor Mr Stripey's. Both are good tasting and produce well.

Last night we dug out taters. Got half a bushel from about 2/3 of a row. They turned out good for Yukon Golds. Also picked 3 butternut squash, nice batch of green beans, okra, and nearly half a bushel of bell (red and green), banana, & japaleno peppers.

 

[Meerkat]

I didn't grow celeberties this year, nor Mr Stripey's. Both are good tasting and produce well.

Last night we dug out taters. Got half a bushel from about 2/3 of a row. They turned out good for Yukon Golds. Also picked 3 butternut squash, nice batch of green beans, okra, and nearly half a bushel of bell (red and green), banana, & japaleno peppers.

Have you ever grown Midori Giant Soybeans?

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-midori-giant-soybean.html

 

[Meerkat]

I ordred last year when I was more into planting. We may plant them next week .

 

[Meerkat]

Any of y’all ever grow Celebrity tomatoes? They are big and meaty and tasty. We also have Oregon Spring (very prolific smaller) and Old German (large delicious but not as prolific). For paste, I had to get plain ol Roma’s. I was hoping for San Marz but couldn’t find any. So am slightly jealous BP. Also, eggplant are rather like zucchini. One plant feeds a family. Eating cantaloupe at the moment also. Need to find some good corn to can.

LadyL we usually stick with what work for us and that is the old standbys.

 

[Bacpacker]

Have you ever grown Midori Giant Soybeans?

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-midori-giant-soybean.html

Other than one field we used to plant for a guy we knew with soybeans and millet, to attract doves. I've never grown soybeans. Dont recall what type those were, but they weren't giants

 

[Support Gunner]

Two buckets full of cherry and regular tomatoes.

 

[Support Gunner]

Hey Bacpacker,

Do you think the potatoes are ready?

 

[Bacpacker]

You can dig them. Is 2 pots the total or are there a lot more? If you have more, leave some for the greens to completely die off. But if just 2 pots, you'll eat those up without worrying about storage. Leaving them longer after the die back gives the taters skins time to toughen up before you dig them.

We dug our taters last week, about a 75' row and got 1/2 bushel (1 - 5 gallon bucket full) of Yukon Golds. They taste GOOOOOOD. I'm gonna try them in a raised bed next year and see how they do.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Well, I did something with the disgusting failed roma tomato plants and I ripped them out by the hair ( boy I enjoyed that!) and put them in the garbage bin rather than the compost pile.

I rechecked my canned tomato product supply and maybe I don't "need" a 100 jars of sauce this season.
I can't believe I'm even saying that and maybe I'm got some sort of sickness coming on? LOL.
I got another 30 roma plants started to plant in the raised beds in the back yard and they are well away from where the failures were.
Summer I'll be planting angled loofah as my Summer zucchini substitute and Armenian striped cucumbers in the tomato rows to give the soil a break.
I'll need a prolific summer crop to chop up and mix with grain to make it stretch for the chickens.
The chickens don't lay in summer because it's too hot so their feed requirements are less.
In winter I use zucchini.

 

[Support Gunner]

You can dig them. Is 2 pots the total or are there a lot more? If you have more, leave some for the greens to completely die off. But if just 2 pots, you'll eat those up without worrying about storage. Leaving them longer after the die back gives the taters skins time to toughen up before you dig them.

We dug our taters last week, about a 75' row and got 1/2 bushel (1 - 5 gallon bucket full) of Yukon Golds. They taste GOOOOOOD. I'm gonna try them in a raised bed next year and see how they do.

Its 2, 18 gallon tubs with 3 or 4 in one and 1 in the other.

How much longer do you wait when all the green is gone? I dont know if we will save some to start more next year.

We are planning to just dump the tubs in a wheel barrel and collect them that way.

 

[Bacpacker]

That will be a great way to harvest.
My plants had been dead 3-4 weeks when we dug last week. But I think your just fine harvesting now, or when ever you want.

 

[Tank-Girl]

This morning I planted my red la soda seed potatoes in my redug trenches.
I laid down more super phosphate and sulphate of potash in the bottom of the trench.
What a chore.

Speaking of chores and annoyances I had the blamed @#$% indian mynor birds come in and destroy 10 ltrs of ripe tomatoes. They didn't eat one and then move onto the next. Nope. They pecked every one in the garden that was anywhere near ripe.
I spent the morning cheating death balancing on a dining room chair with a post driver pounding 2 meter 30 cms - 7 feet 6.552 inch, star pickets into the ground so I can drape bird netting over the tomato garden to keep these pests out.
I'll remind you that I'm 5'2 hence the need to cheat death by standing on a chair so I can be tall enough to not only pound these in straight but to get the post pounder off the post once I'm done.
As a side benefit <sarc/ I provided hours of entertainment to the drug addled neighborhood.
I hope they enjoyed their wake up call of me pounding metal posts into the ground at 6 in the morning.
I put small glass jars that I have been collecting over the top of the fence posts to stop the netting from snagging and ripping when I put the netting over the posts.
I'm going to have to cheat death again by getting up on a chair to get the netting installed and pinned down around the edges.

 

[Support Gunner]

They look dead to me. We are going to wait a week or two for we dig them up.

 

[GrannyG]

Getting old....was looking for kale seeds...do not know what I was thinking...hubby already planted three tubs of collard green seeds...I thought I got the seeds I wanted...planted them...put up the signs, only to look an hour later and realize I planted two more tubs of collards...OH MY...I see greens everywhere if they all make... we could not find kale seeds, and I just knew I had some..DUH !!

 

[WVDragonlady]

Getting old....was looking for kale seeds...do not know what I was thinking...hubby already planted three tubs of collard green seeds...I thought I got the seeds I wanted...planted them...put up the signs, only to look an hour later and realize I planted two more tubs of collards...OH MY...I see greens everywhere if they all make... we could not find kale seeds, and I just knew I had some..DUH !!

I planted only 6 plants of kale and they're going gang busters all this summer and spring. I've been freezing and drying it like crazy and its still going. I expected it to bolt in the hot heat and humidity but it didn't.
My Swiss chard is doing the same thing

 

[Support Gunner]

Never mind. We said screw it and dug them up. Lol

46 "big" ones and 13 small ones for a total of 59 potatoes. Kind if disappointed because we wanted big potatoes.

 

[Support Gunner]

We also pulled the rest of the carrots.

 

[Support Gunner]

We also planted a few more lettuce seeds for a fall harvest.

 

[Bacpacker]

Nice harvest for 2 buckets. There are always some small ones in the batch. Carrots look got to