# August - fruit & veggie general chat



## *Andi

Fall garden is in ... kind of hard to believe ... but there you have it. Fall is well on the way.

How does your garden grow ... :flower:


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## gypsysue

It's been too cool and rainy for the tomatoes, peppers, and squash to do much here, but the potatoes, onions, peas, broccoli, carrots, and salad greens are growing by the bushels! We've having our first spell of dry, warm weather that lasted more than a day or two this summer, and it's nice.

The growing season here is too short for a fall garden, but I'm sure looking forward to reading about all of you guys' fall gardens!


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## *Andi

*Apples*

it is apple time here ... in the jar and dried. :flower:

How do you like to keep our apples?


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## neldarez

I think my garden is confused........my potatoe plants are starting to die, good grief, it's only august!! I only have a few beets left to pull, today I pickled my first beets..........tastes really really good. The recipe called for cinnamin sticks, wow, those are expensive.........anyway, tastes just great.

Cooked my first spaghetti squash, awesome with gravy and sour cream.

Some one had a recipe for oat/bannana muffins, they are so darn good. I make them all the time now........can't remember who listed them but thanks!
:2thumb:


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## brighteyesLC7

neldarez said:


> I think my garden is confused........my potatoe plants are starting to die, good grief, it's only august!!
> :2thumb:


My potatoes are dying back too. I'm waiting for a few dry days then I'm just going to harvest... this is my first time growing them so I am very anxious to see what happened under there! I actually found grocery store organic Yukon golds growing in my compost bin this spring so I pulled them out and planted them in a large rubbermaid storage bin! Can't wait to see how they worked out!


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## ZoomZoom

Fall garden?!?!?

My garden is just now coming into picking. OK, the cucumbers, peas and beans are pretty much done but lettuce and tomatoes are now starting the picking stage. Cantelope, onions, sunflowers... will be awhile. Pepper plants are beautiful but are hardly producing. Season not long enough here for a fall garden either.


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## Clarice

Our purple-hull peas are up, the zucchini too. Turnips have peeked thru and the butternut squash are already trying to run. We were gone all last week due to the dealth of my mother and did not have anyone to water for us, temps went to 110+ several days. I'm surprized anything is still living. Still no rain.


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## becky3086

Everything in my garden died a couple weeks ago when we went over 100, since we have stayed there and it has only rained once and sprinkled twice I am not real encouraged to plant a fall garden. Really I spent more on the garden than I got from it this year. It started out good before the heat and drought came.


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## Possumfam

Just started the seedlings for broccoli, cauliflower, etc.... (Hope the timing is right, we've always bought the plants.) I've NEVER seen a seed spout in 2 days, but they are! It's too hot to put anything outside right now, but hopefully in a few weeks (or month) we can put them out. Kinda excited, kinda nervous. Praying for the best.


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## neldarez

I think I messed up on the dill...........I'm so not familiar with herbs....I cut the heads off today and dried them but they were flowering....think I was suppose to do it before they flowered. grrrrrrr......

dried more carrots today and ate some of the pickled beets I fixed, oh my goodness they are good!! I'm losing a little weight eating all of these veggies that I'm cooking! Make a recipe that I found on here today, zucchini/sweet potato bread..........turned out really good. My tomatoes are starting to ripen, good!


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## ZoomZoom

Canned my 2nd batch of tomatoes yesterday. The kids are really getting into it which is nice.


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## goshengirl

Tomatoes:
Getting some tomatoes in now, will hopefully have enough to can sauce today. I'm learning that I need more tomato plants so that I have more tomatoes ready for canning at the same time... They're looking pretty spindly - they've all had so many yellow bottom leaves that they've lost all their bottom branches. I trim them and spray them, but nothing seems to work, and I can't figure out what's wrong.

Corn:
Not doing so well - the Hopi Blue didn't germinate well at all, and I don't know if there's enough growing for sufficient pollination. The sweet corn is growing well, but not setting many ears - we'll be lucky to get one ear per plant. We have no idea why. On top of that, something got into the corn - probably the dog - and everything's been knocked over. Spent the day yesterday trying to fix that and rigging up support.

Melons:
A nasty fungus (at least, that's what we think it is) got to our Twice As Nice melons - DH is so disappointed! So far the watermelons (next to them) seem to be doing all right - keeping our fingers crossed!

Carrots, Potatoes, Sugar Beets, Herbs:
These, at least, seem to be doing well, LOL.

We've put a lot of work into this garden (and orchard) this past year, with a lot of disappointments and little return. I was concerned that DH would be too discouraged by that - he keeps saying how they never had problems like this back home (he grew up on a farm). But luckily last night he talked about the orchard being a good thing, and about expanding the garden beds, about really making good use of the land we have. Usually it's me driving the conversation about self-sufficiency/prepping/homesteading (any of those subjects). It means the world to me when he drives the conversation, knowing that we're in it together. It's going to make my whole day. He even brought up the subject of pygmy goats and chickens...


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## Immolatus

The only thing I'm harvesting so far is lots and lots of peppers.
I have your standard green peppers, and lots of what I think are pablanos (according to the gf, I bought them at the grocery store and they werent well labeled) and some jalapenos.
I have various other hot peppers that are just starting to come in.
Theres a coupla strawberries trying to come out, and a few tomatoes, but nothing pickable yet.
I am working on clearing more space to expand the garden next season.


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## Meerkat

becky3086 said:


> Everything in my garden died a couple weeks ago when we went over 100, since we have stayed there and it has only rained once and sprinkled twice I am not real encouraged to plant a fall garden. Really I spent more on the garden than I got from it this year. It started out good before the heat and drought came.


 Sorry you lost your crop ,it is such hard work .
Maybe use pvc hoops and cover it part of the day with shade clothe.
I was losing my Stevia aka sweet leaf plants from the heat and I covered them with shade clothe,all 23 plants are doing good now.
The heat is getting to lots of us.Maybe by fall you'll feel better.


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## Meerkat

Possumfam said:


> Just started the seedlings for broccoli, cauliflower, etc.... (Hope the timing is right, we've always bought the plants.) I've NEVER seen a seed spout in 2 days, but they are! It's too hot to put anything outside right now, but hopefully in a few weeks (or month) we can put them out. Kinda excited, kinda nervous. Praying for the best.


 I'm waiting another week or so.I don't want to have to harden them off so now that they are near the house I can keep better watch on them. its too hot so we have been using shade clothe part of the day on some plants like bell peppers ,stevia, okra.
I'll do the same with my seedlings.May even use a fan on them if they look too stressed.


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## Possumfam

goshengirl said:


> I was concerned that DH would be too discouraged by that - he keeps saying how they never had problems like this back home (he grew up on a farm). But luckily last night he talked about the orchard being a good thing, and about expanding the garden beds, about really making good use of the land we have. Usually it's me driving the conversation about self-sufficiency/prepping/homesteading (any of those subjects). It means the world to me when he drives the conversation, knowing that we're in it together. It's going to make my whole day. He even brought up the subject of pygmy goats and chickens...


 I suppose y'all have already done a soil sample? With all the strange weather, floods, drought, extreme heat, seems everyone is havin' a time w/ the garden. There's always hope for next year....or....even this year....can y'all have a fall garden? Let us know when those chickens come home to roost.


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## Possumfam

Meerkat said:


> I was losing my Stevia aka sweet leaf plants from the heat and I covered them with shade clothe,all 23 plants are doing good now.


STEVIA!!!! Oh my - we had one! Forgot about it.  Guess the heat got it when we weren't looking. I don't know how to use it anyway, but maybe we'll get that figured out and try again next year. What time of year are you supposed to plant those, anyway?


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## goshengirl

Possumfam said:


> I suppose y'all have already done a soil sample?


Quit making sense!  

Nope, no soil sample.  Our small project mushroomed into something really huge, so poor planning and rookie mistakes abound. And you're not kidding with the strange weather an all! We were inundated with so much rain, and now we have fungal issues all over the place (including non-garden plants).

For fall we could do some peas and lettuce, and the like. But we're foregoing that and working on building beds and fences, etc. A huge part of our problem this year was not being able to get beds tilled (new ground) until after the ground dried, and that really screwed up the planting schedule. From then on we've been playing catch-up - whether it's been spraying or feeding or trimming or trellising - we're always behind. I've got a huge list of ways to do it better next year. 

Really, I'm just thankful for the chance to be learning.


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## Meerkat

Possumfam said:


> STEVIA!!!! Oh my - we had one! Forgot about it.  Guess the heat got it when we weren't looking. I don't know how to use it anyway, but maybe we'll get that figured out and try again next year. What time of year are you supposed to plant those, anyway?


 I planted mine June I think? I got them at Home Depot ,they were about 5 inches tall,now they are almost 4 feet tall,ones starting to bloom.Bought 6 plants ,they all had several plants in them,gave some to neighbor.
They like it fairly dry it seems.Let them dry out then water deeply. This worked for us.new bed where there was sod for several years so guess the soil was good,never fertilized them. They looked heat stressed so I put shade clothe a few feet above them.
I have some drying now to test after grinding them.


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## Clarice

Our purple hull peas are up about 6" the butternut and zucchini squash are up too. Turnips are just peaking through. We planted tomatoes, cabbage and collard plants this weekend. Waiting to plant carrots and mustard greens.


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## neldarez

well, I agree, it's been a very strange season.....shortest summer I remember! My potato plants are trying to dry up and die....a bit early. Tomatoes are now coming on pretty good........peppers are going nuts! It makes me so sad to think that it is getting near time to shut down the garden. of course, not right yet, but not far off..........I've learned a lot this year from all of you, canning, drying, recipes........my DH just told me that for all of these years of my cooking, he's always gained weight, and now that I'm cooking from scratch most of the time and trying new recipes, he's losing weight! He's a happy boy.......I reminded him that I've had a 12 hour job all of our married life and now have a little interest in cooking... I started my first batch of zucchini salsa today, it takes 2 days to make, I'll let you know how it turns out. I made my first dill pickles today, but all I had was regular cukes, not pickling cukes, so I chopped them into chunks. I think that's about all I know right now.......lol. :wave:


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## Momturtle

We have been getting great beans this year in central VA but have had a problem with bugs. I grow Cherokee Cornfield Beans, a shell pole bean that grows pretty high. I noticed some new insects unknown to me on them and it appeared they were sucking on the pods with the beans in them. When I shelled out a bunch of beans (I pick them as they dry) I saw that a lot of them were crinkly and strange. When I googled insects looking for what it was, typed in "brown bug sucking on bean pods" and found . . . the pod sucker. It apparently deforms the beans in the pod so they are not fertile any more and get deformed. The web said they are not fit for human consumption but I cooked up some and they are ugly but edible. It does make it hard to save seed though. We went on a hunt and killed all that we could find. They fly and are very skittish. Look like an elongated squash bug sort of. Maybe 3/4 inch long. Be on the alert! Kill the pod suckers!

Our cotton is huge and covered with bolls - planted brown sea isle this year to see if the fibers are longer than the nankeen. If it all makes it to cotton, should be enough to really spin up a bunch and have enough to actually make something this year. Keeping my fingers crossed.


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## *Andi

Momturtle said:


> Our cotton is huge and covered with bolls - planted brown sea isle this year to see if the fibers are longer than the nankeen. If it all makes it to cotton, should be enough to really spin up a bunch and have enough to actually make something this year. Keeping my fingers crossed.


Good luck with brown sea isle, you will have to let me know if they have the longer fibers. I went with green and a row of white. Like you I'm looking for the longer fibers. They should start to open any day now.

The fall garden is not looking good.  The lack of rain has hurt big time...)


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## neldarez

well, the zucchini salsa turned out really good, I think it's a bit sweet before the zesty hits....I think next time I'll cut back on the brown sugar. Remember I told you that I made my 1st dill pickles with regular cukes? I dumped them all out, they were terrible........soft......yuck!!:gaah: I made my 1st regular tomato salsa and oh my, it is good..........also made some bread /butter chips, I didn't dump them out! Canned 1st carrots last night and am canning 1st ham right now. whew, harvest is bountiful ........... almost time to dig taters, plants really dieing........tomorrow is another day...........wish me luck that the ham turns out, I covered with boiling water, hope I was suppose to!!:scratch


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## ZoomZoom

neldarez said:


> Remember I told you that I made my 1st dill pickles with regular cukes? I dumped them all out, they were terrible........soft......yuck!!:gaah:


Did you add alum? I have the exact same condition. Regular cukes that came out soft. I didn't add alum  I can get past the soft since they do taste good. I'm thinking about maybe taking them and using the salsa grinder and making relish out of them. _I don't eat much relish. Is it crunchy or will soft do OK?_


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## neldarez

bczoom said:


> Did you add alum? I have the exact same condition. Regular cukes that came out soft. I didn't add alum  I can get past the soft since they do taste good. I'm thinking about maybe taking them and using the salsa grinder and making relish out of them. _I don't eat much relish. Is it crunchy or will soft do OK?_


I didn't use alum.......it didn't call for it. I stick right to the recipe cuz I don't know how to play around with stuff safely......ya know? Grinding it up might be a great idea, like I said, I threw mine out..........grrrrrr. actually, we don't eat hardly any relish either........I wasn't out much, labor mostly.........


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## ZoomZoom

Yea, the recipes I had didn't call for it either. I had the alum sitting on the counter but no idea how much to put in (or if it was needed). I now know it's a pinch per quart. I canned over 70 quarts of them... 5 quarts would be a lifetime supply for me.


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## Immolatus

I apprently had a random unplanted squash take root in the garden, maybe from my compost? Not just one, a bunch of them, and one has just started to sprout an actual squash. Before I knew what it was, I transplanted one out of the garden into the corner of my yard up against a fence, just in case it was something I wanted to keep. The one monster plant, sheesh it grows fast, I left in the garden and is starting to produce.
Im about half done expanding my garden space, from pretty darned small to semi respectable for a suburban backyard with trees.

Still only have a ton of various peppers and herbs. No production from the maters or strawberries. The broccoli and cauliflower (I think its just one of them, not both although it was supposed to be some of each) seems to be doing well too, but a couple of them are being chowed by bugs.


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## ZoomZoom

Immolatus said:


> I apprently had a random unplanted squash take root in the garden, maybe from my compost? Not just one, a bunch of them


Happens to me all the time. I refer to them as "poop tomatoes". It's a general classification I use so the kids know to not step on them. The origin of my term is because the friend I get my manure from feeds his cows a lot of tomatoes. They don't digest the seeds so they sprout up in the manure.


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