Gardening 2023

[Survivor_316]

Most folks in my area , are like many of you , seeing their gardens slowing down or stopping . However I simply don't get too jumpy and do not try to get in an early garden . A lot of my garden hasn't hit its peak yet and is producing heavier as the days go by , There is an exception though , I am a worried that my okra may have peaked out and is declining .

I got my garden in late for our area but it still hasn't preformed well for the most part. But I plant fall and winter crops usually, too.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Last year my fruit trees over produced. Plums,lemon,Orange. This year Nada. Even the ornamental plum, nothing. We must have had a windstorm at blossom time.
Apple and persimmon seem fine.

Some fruit and nut trees are naturally cyclical. They produce a good crop only every other year. In the off years, they only produce a few. You can force a crop with fertilizers. Think of it in human terms, a woman who is pregnant every year will have health effects.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Most folks in my area , are like many of you , seeing their gardens slowing down or stopping . However I simply don't get too jumpy and do not try to get in an early garden . A lot of my garden hasn't hit its peak yet and is producing heavier as the days go by , There is an exception though , I am a worried that my okra may have peaked out and is declining .

Our last frost is the second week in March. Depending on what zone you are in, early or late will differ. Here because we are considered a semi-arid desert, you usually want your crops harvested by July at the latest due to excessive heat and lack of rainfall (barring a stray TD or hurricane). Take a break on in ground planting until September, then get a fall crop in for harvest around the beginning of December. Break again, then get some early hardy stuff in in February for an April harvest.

 

[Proud Prepper]

My garden has not done well. It did ok early on, then the drought hit and most everything stayed green with watering, but no more flowers producing anything. Only exception is my various peppers.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Some fruit and nut trees are naturally cyclical. They produce a good crop only every other year. In the off years, they only produce a few. You can force a crop with fertilizers. Think of it in human terms, a woman who is pregnant every year will have health effects.

I can agree with you.
Always had some citrus, fertilized for couple years, last year oversized bumper crop.
Plum didn’t start producing till we trimmed it back to shape it. Darn, those plums were good.
Ornamental plum, nothing. Dont really care but unusual. Don’t need the dogs eating them.
Apples have been growing bigger than large crab apple size, some even turning somewhat red. Not an apple I recognize from NYS. But one one turning semi red was semi sweet. Very tough in this climate for apples.
Still think its a German Crab apple type. Original owner was from Gemany, house and barn have an Alpine/Alsace finish on them.
Have a friend who ran local nursery, I am going to bring him down to take a look at for advice. He has lived up here 50 years and I am the only one who has these type of trees that are 50yrs old.

 

[user 7704]

Processing these cherry type tomatoes takes forever. If I wasn't in the house because of the heat, I probably wouldn't mess with them. 2.5 quarts for 2 hours work. But then again, I'm not going to get many large red ones.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Got my Buddy down today. Made him think about his nursery days (He used to distribute to the whole west coast).
He evaluated each of my fruit trees and came to the conclusion- they were weather steressed, because of that they are subseptable to insect damage. And I have signs of both. Weather may have contributed to no blossoms.
3 hours of my life, but I learned a lot and he felt useful helping me. Poor guy is so frail, another fall is going to do him in.

 

[GaRp58]

2.5 quarts for 2 hours work. But then again, I'm not going to get many large red ones.

Glad to hear you got anything...our cherry tomatos did nothing this year. Thank God the meat tomatos came thru tho. We have canned about 7 quarts so far and have enough left for at least another 10 quarts...

 

[user 7704]

I'm used to Canning about 50 to 60 quarts of tomatoes. Of course, I had to buy these to can, but still, I had them.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

My cherry tomatoes produced very little. The beef steaks are doing well in the greenhouse though. Have a ton of new ones on them now.

 

[user 7704]

My cherry tomatoes are yellow and they are always proliffic. I put them in a gallon bag and freeze until I have a couple of quarts. The started with a love offering from a bird and now I have about 20 or 30 come up every spring. I give the seedlings away and still have tons.

My red large ones are struggling.

 

[user 7704]

I decided to go to gardens about 4, but it is 99 with a 109 index. I think I will. Wait. The water will steam the plants at this temp.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Cleaned the chicken house after my 6am walk. Then went to the car wash when they opened around 8ish. Came home and spent a few hours in the greenhouse. It got to 87 here today. Was supposed to be in the 90s. Guess I should be glad, eh?

 

[user 7704]

Very small chance of rain starting Saturday. I'll take it.

 

[Cindyd]

I had loads of several varieties and sizes of tomatoes this year from cherry to beefsteak, plus I bought 50 lb. Of roma tomatoes to can on top of canning from garden..(made regular tomatoe sauce, and spaghetti sauce)..not sure how many total qrts and pints I got, but was quite a bit.
Nothing else did much good Other than what we call enough for a "mess" or two, here n there. For now, my garden is bare and I think I'll wait another week or two to plant anything else. Just too hot! I also had tons of green grapes coming on vines, was exciting to wait to ripen, and now all of them are gone! Dang squirrels or coons, don't know, got em! I'm really ticked about that.

 

[user 7704]

Picked the last of my beans today. I canned 3 quarts. Not much, but I'll take it. Had a lot of seeds for next year. I didn't pull the plants because I read to leave the roots in place and they add nitrogen to soil over the winter.

It is always sad to see all of my hard work turn brown and crunchy.

 

[user 7704]

We missed any good rain and now there is none expected for at least 5 days.

 

[DrHenley]

One of my raised beds kicked the bucket while I was up at BOL2. Everything died. Bed next to it is fine.

 

[Cindyd]

Picked the last of my beans today. I canned 3 quarts. Not much, but I'll take it. Had a lot of seeds for next year. I didn't pull the plants because I read to leave the roots in place and they add nitrogen to soil over the winter.

It is always sad to see all of my hard work turn brown and crunchy.

That's about all I got this year too Robinjo.

 

[user 7704]

That's about all I got this year too Robinjo.

That was yesterday only. In all, I got probably 40+ pints and quarts. Since I haven't touched last year's, I'm okay.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

We have been totally soaked for two days now! Lots of flooding. Electric out again. Really feel for those who don’t have backup power.

 

[user 7704]

We have been totally soaked for two days now! Lots of flooding. Electric out again. Really feel for those who don’t have backup power.

I am sooooo dry here. Ground is cracking.

 

[Survivor_316]

We have been totally soaked for two days now! Lots of flooding. Electric out again. Really feel for those who don’t have backup power.

Half of our members seem to be fighting fires and the other half dealing with hurricanes.

 

[Psalm7]

Sweet potatoes have made great looking vines . I've always waited until the leaves start turning yellow and wilting before digging . But this year they just keep growing . I'll probably dig them within the next couple weeks if they look ready or not .

 

[bill harrell]

Mine too

 

[Marjie]

Sweet potatoes have made great looking vines . I've always waited until the leaves start turning yellow and wilting before digging . But this year they just keep growing . I'll probably dig them within the next couple weeks if they look ready or not .

I am interested in growing some sweet potatoes. Would you mind telling how you do it please?

 

[Psalm7]

I am interested in growing some sweet potatoes. Would you mind telling how you do it please?

You can buy or grow your own potato shoots . To grow plant a sweet potato in loose soil and when it sprouts shoots pluck them and plant them . You could do the same as regular potatoes and plant a whole or quartered potato .

 

[user 7704]

I've been prepping seeds for next year. I have a lot of my cross pollinated squash that I've been planting for 4 or 5 years. It is a really good variety. I can't tell anyone because Monsanto will confiscate them even though the original seeds came from somewhere I can't remember.

I think I will have to purchase strawberry bare roots since mine died last Winter.

My okra is just getting large enough to leave on the plant to dry. I don't harvest until they split. I'm going to have more sunflower seeds than expected.

I'm seeding my best tomatoes, but they are the only veggie that may be sparse. I still have green ones and hopefully I will have a huge Brandywine indeterminate and a large determinate of some type.

As usual, I have tons of zinnia, marigold, clement and Cyprus vine seeds.

 

[poltiregist]

A novice gardener I remember posting a long time ago asking " how long can you store seeds " ? A few days ago I planted mustard greens , using seeds that I bought in 2017 . They are now up and apparently got a very good germination rate . Those seeds I keep in a freezer . All my other seeds I keep in a shoe box at whatever temperature my house is . I don't expect them to last as long as the mustard green seeds but perhaps lasting around three years . However I prefer using one year old seeds that I collect annually . --- Think cooler weather seed for the potential Nuclear Winter ahead . Estimations vary but have seen around 30 degrees cooler than normal floated .

 

[poltiregist]

An add on to my above post - The reason those mustard green seeds are kept frozen is because I foresaw the Nuclear War potential " even long before 2017 " , thus bought a large quantity of mustard green seeds to store for the Nuclear Winter . Those plants are relatively cool weather plants and would likely grow well during the summer after all the Nuckin is done and the temperatures are around 30 degrees cooler. Those seeds will likely still be good for several more years from now .