Garden 2021

[elkhound]

pie pans for deer here is like ringing the dinner bell !!...roflmao....nothing short of high and tight wire and/or electric fencing.

i seen deer jump through hot fence with strands spaced to far apart. theres nothing whitetail wont eat..nothing ! here in the land of rocks and weeds anything green is eaten.

 

[joel]

This is close to what a friend did to stop deer from eating his southern pea vines. His angled poles did not touch the ground, but they worked the same
way. Deer can jump straight up ten or so feet & can take a running leap that is up to 14 feet wide, but they can not do a high & wide jump at the same time. So they will not try the angle fence for that reason.

 

[WVDragonlady]

No cucumbers at all. huge plants, loads of flowers but no fruit yet. Guess I need to play pollinator with them also? I have a new artist's brush I could use

Looking through the vines of the cucumber plant so I could play pollinator I saw tiny little ants scurrying over them. So I guess they're doing the work for me. I did see about 4 tiny ( 1/2 inch) cukes showing up.
Guess I'll let the ants do their thing and see what happens
Just glad I might something from the vine

 

[Peanut]

pie pans for deer here is like ringing the dinner bell !!...roflmao....nothing short of high and tight wire and/or electric fencing.

I've posted before... buy the cheapest smooth peanut butter at the store and use a plastic knife... Wipe just a little on an electric fence wire about every 10ft. Deer can't resist peanut butter, they have to lick the wire! They'll stay gone for a month or so!

 

[Alaskajohn]

This has been a tough growing season with weather like this:

Today
	Day: Mostly cloudy with widespread showers. Highs around 50°F. West wind to 11 MPH. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.
	Night: Mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow. Lows around 37°F. West southwest wind 4 to 12 MPH. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.

This is a very unusual cold summer. Typically the highs would be in the 70s and lows in the low 50s. I saw snow flakes this morning!

The potatoes are doing great, but the veggies are simply not producing like previous years with the exception of radishes.

The good news, other than a great looking potato crop, are that the wild blueberries, low and high bush cranberries, crow berries, raspberries, etc are producing well and we should be able to fill our freezer with these delicious treats.

I am more than doubling the size of my root cellar and basement and this project will be completed by this weekend. Next year I will have an indoor and an outdoor green house to better deal with all this darned global cooling. My outdoor greenhouse, which I intended to have in place this year, was put on hold to do the expansion project. With the indoor and outdoor greenhouses, I will be able to produce tomatoes, cucumbers, and other delicious produce that is hit and miss now.

edit: the bees have really flourish the last 4-5 years and this year they are more abundant than ever. I love this!

 

[Patchouli]

I'm going to lose what I do have if I don't put it in cages. Nibble marks on my tomato and basil plants. Possum or squirrel. Little bassers.
@Alaskajohn it'd be great to hear more about your greenhouses.
@WVDragonlady good news for cucumber plants.

 

[Alaskajohn]

@Alaskajohn it'd be great to hear more about your greenhouses.

There is a thread on this forum (pasted below) where indoor greenhouses were brought up. I got the idea from that thread. Basically a lamp above a table where you can start tomatoes, etc. I can get a lamp for this on one of my trips into town, or through amazon.

Homesteading as you age? What are the hacks?

The outdoor greenhouse I will either build myself or purchase if I can find one used nearby. My number one issue is location. I have lots of great locations, but the wife vetoes my suggestions so she can maintain unobstructed views of the wilderness. Something has to give!

 

[joel]

City folk call indoor greenhouses, sunrooms.
Out west where it get down to 0 or -10 people cycle the hot air though their home in the heat of the day.
The Black plastic drums & grovel floor holds a lot of heat, so the air can be cycled though the home when temperature are above 90F mid after noon.

 

[Newbri]

I experimented with jasmine tea leaves on the soil and in my homemade fertilizer. I'm on the 3rd day of that experiment and so far, nothing bad has happened.

If anything I think the plants got a boost, but that could be wishful thinking.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The storms came through last night, mostly wind, only 1/8" of rain. Based on my sight glass, my rain barrels only have about 160 gallons in them at this time, but it is enough to leak check.

Will have to tie up some plants that were knocked around by the wind but I didn't have to water this morning.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Got a couple of storms and downpours from the hurricane moving up the coast.
3/4 in in the gauge

Everything is growing well. Seen where one of the "California Wonder" sweet peppers apparently is a banana pepper of some type lol
No idea how that happened because they were planted in a 6 pack

 

[Terri9630]

Got a couple of storms and downpours from the hurricane moving up the coast.
3/4 in in the gauge

Everything is growing well. Seen where one of the "California Wonder" sweet peppers apparently is a banana pepper of some type lol
No idea how that happened because they were planted in a 6 pack

I saw a lady at Walmart switch plants around in the 6 packs so she only had to buy one.

 

[WVDragonlady]

This mornings harvest. Not much but anything is better than nothing. 2 bell peppers and blackberries. Did find some cukes in the underbrush lol( yay ants!). And I have really nice red bell peppers on the vine just waiting for them to turn red. Plenty of tomatoes just waiting for them to turn. Couple of zukes waiting for them to grow some more

 

[joel]

I have a thornless Blackberry that is still green.

 

[Neb]

I have a thornless Blackberry that is still green.

Be patient.

If required keep the critters off of them.

Ben

 

[joel]

Be patient.

If required keep the critters off of them.

Ben

I agree, most blackberry, wild or tame are finished or about to finish.
This way I have a longer blackberry season, even so they will be gone before August first.
I only have a few of these plants, but I am going to root more, no I do not know the name.
The plant was a gift from a friend who did not have the name.

 

[Neb]

This mornings harvest. Not much but anything is better than nothing. 2 bell peppers and blackberries. Did find some cukes in the underbrush lol( yay ants!). And I have really nice red bell peppers on the vine just waiting for them to turn red. Plenty of tomatoes just waiting for them to turn. Couple of zukes waiting for them to grow some more
View attachment 69264

Nice!

On a related note I scored a win this evening.

I walked the garden with the eldest granddaughter this evening sampling grapes raspberries blue berries and black berries. The strawberries have stopped. The black berries were up to a quarter size and well developed very sweet. The granddaughter declared them the best of the harvest.

While the the raspberries were prolific they got got gobbled down as quick as they were harvested. The blue berries on the other hand produced the best harvest ever asper The Princess.

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

Yesterday, I started hooking up my water distribution system, we ended up getting 1/4" of rain and the barrels now have about 300 gallons in them. I was able to connect the pump and the plumbing to the distribution valves, but I was short 3 fittings to be able to connect the buffer tubes and pressure gauge . Today, is a range day so I will not be able to chase down parts or work on the system until around 15:00 and by then it should be good-n-hot.... Starting to see some of the San Marzanio's change color so canning season is getting close....

 

[Biggkidd]

Got 3/10ths of rain between 3:45 and 4 . Just got back in from feeding animals and picking stuff for dinner. Dang tomato plant is so overloaded with tomatoes it took down a 20 inch round 4 ft tall cage. Think next year I'll make the cages fatter by putting 2 together. Got one pepper so huge I couldn't quite get my hand to grasp it enough to get it out of the vine, it was a bit jammed in a Vee or tree-o. lol My plants are massively over grown. No chemicals just compost and a little bone meal and chicken litter.

Weeds have gone totally nuts with all this rain. It's so bad I may need to bush hog in the rows. Everything is flat out jumping because of the rains lately.

Note bone meal makes pepper fruit harder and larger that test was a total success. Two identical plants one got bone meal and litter one just got litter. Three or four times the peppers on the plant that got bone meal added.

It's nasty wet and humid out there.

 

[Bacpacker]

Last night we picked a gallon on blueberries, 2 gallons of mater, good mess of okra and green beans, and a bunch of cukes. Saturday I harvested 1 bed of onion. Filled a galvanized wash tub. I'd guess 40 lbs or better.
Got electric fence around corn and melons, treated mayers for blossom end rot. Busy weekend. Plus we got 1.78" or rain over the weekend

 

[Newbri]

Learning to be patient with the veggies growing. I keep peeking everyday and it just seems so slooooow. But patience is a virtue.

The trellis is almost done. By tomorrow, it could be up.

I finally ordered my seeds.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today before work I was able to get the 3 fittings I needed to finish my water distribution system. After work I installed them and test drove the pump, I am getting 60 PSI to the 1" delivery line and good flow to all 5 of the distribution valves. I did have a couple of thread leaks, but nothing a little pipe tape won't cure...

Right now I am eating pasta in red sauce, all of the tomato products and the herbs (oregano, basil, parsley) came out of this year's garden.

Life is good...

At lunch I was able to plant some fall crops, broccoli, spinach, snap peas, and such.... Just 2 small beds but hey it's something...

 

[UrbanHunter]

I've been reading about the ebb and flood hydroponics system. I think I will be able to set up 6 containers (6 qt tubs) and use a common distribution pump and reservoir (5 gallon bucket). I was having trouble visualizing the volumes when I realized that you totally flood the plant and then completely drain the system, but the containers under the plants are also filled with the ceramic grow media, so it does not take much water to fill the containers (cause their already full of stone), that's how a 5 gallon bucket can fill 9 gallons of growing containers..... Now it should be fairly easy, I also didn't realize that the systems operate on a fill-drain-then fill again system repeated over and over again. Anyway, now that I can visualize it, I can build it.......

 

[Amish Heart]

Out of town. Missing my garden. Grandkids better be watering it.

 

[joel]

Life is good...
At lunch I was able to plant some fall crops, broccoli, spinach, snap peas, and such.... Just 2 small beds but hey it's something...

Here in South Carolina, we can plant peas & beans, but no Cole crops or garlic, it is too hot, maybe September 1. How are you doing it?

 

[Amish Heart]

I'll be starting fall seeds in the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. Just in flats. Will transplant later into small pots, then bigger pots, then outside in early September

 

[Neb]

I'll be starting fall seeds in the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. Just in flats. Will transplant later into small pots, then bigger pots, then outside in early September

Count yourself blessed!

I am not allowed to grow anything for our own consumption aside from berries and grapes. I still have few genetic preservation experiments going and just discovered I had wild garlic (Allium canadense ) growing in my yard. I will be planting it and my own garlic in September.

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

Here in South Carolina, we can plant peas & beans, but no Cole crops or garlic, it is too hot, maybe September 1. How are you doing it?

My space is small and there are lots of shaded areas that don't heat up as bad, but then you don't get the benefits of full sun. I have trained many of my plants to grow tall (7+ feet) along an east west axis, this gives me lots of shaded areas on the north side of them. I am using containers for many of my plants so I can move them some. I am also about 300 miles north of you. The final caveat is that I planted things, it does not ensure that they will live......

 

[Amish Heart]

Why can't you grow things to eat, Ben?

 

[joel]

" just discovered I had wild garlic (Allium canadense ) growing in my yard."
Ben

We call (Allium canadense ) wild onion here. As a child on the farm we called Allium vineale wild onions, but it is wild garlic form Europe & very invasive.
I have been pulling Allium vineale for 20 years, but some people in N.C. eat it & I sold it to one retailer.
But that was years ago.
Allium canadense is in a forging book I have & it does grow here, but I can only find it when it blooms, it hides in the grass when not in bloom.
What tame garlic do you grow?