# June - fruit and veggie general chat



## *Andi

How is you garden growing? 

Peas are starting to come in ... and I have some green maters ...

Now the question ... fried green maters or wait for them to turn red ... :scratch lol


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## Meerkat

So far about 20lb.s of squash,2 lb.s okra,cucumbers,hundreds of plums.Planted more okra and squash which is coming up good.

Started them all inside in Feb.Then moved them out under plastic in late March.

Apples,peppers,beans,figs,toms watermellons are all a few weeks from harvest.Started beans late.


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## Meerkat

*Andi said:


> How is you garden growing?
> 
> Peas are starting to come in ... and I have some green maters ...
> 
> Now the question ... fried green maters or wait for them to turn red ... :scratch lol


I'm one of the few southerners who does'nt like fried green tomatos.I have some big green ones on the vine my neighbor was eyeing.I'm waiting for those to ripen.


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## worldengineer

Bought the same as you *Andi, small green maters, small squash are easily seen. Everything else is growing nicely, the heat, and moisture in the ground are making everything jump.

Lettuce is coming in nicely. And the other radishes are in. As long as the bugs stay away we should be good.


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## Jimmy24

*Andi said:


> How is you garden growing?
> 
> Peas are starting to come in ... and I have some green maters ...
> 
> Now the question ... fried green maters or wait for them to turn red ... :scratch lol


Fry half, keep half....

Love dem fried green 'maters!!!

Had some fine sautaued in butter squash and mater sandwiches last nite for supper.

Jimmy


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## DJgang

One of my Roma tomato plants has a brown something on the leaves, hubby went ahead and pulled it because last year all our plants got this...

Does anyone know what this might be...meanwhile...off to google it.

Thanks!


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## HoppeEL4

Ugh! All you people with already growing gardens. 

Out west here, we're just getting started. We do have some corn starts coming up, about two inches high. Put in some tomatoes, but the first try, they began to "fade", and the only thing we can determine was lack of sunshine (our liquid sunshine here in Oregon does not count), plus too acidic soil, so we replanted some new starts, added lime, triple 16 and some alfalfa pellets, mixed it all in and then the new starts. Though I hated to see live, although sad looking, tomato plants go to waste, and I replanted the damaged ones elsewhere with the same mix, might be able to revive them and will have lots of tomatoes.

Strawberries are going here, but then again it was what we have always done best out here, berries. Just now dry enough to go out and finish planting a mix of starts and seeds.

We'll see how it all goes, we're new to this place, just moved in late November, and the side field once had just blueberries in it, and I think the soil was ammended so much just for those that it might be pretty acidic. This fall we plan to add lots of chicken manure tainted straw, grass clippings and horse manure (from the field behind us for FREE!), and let it mulch in. I can bet next years crop will be better because of it.


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## Immolatus

I also have some small green tomatoes.
And lots and lots of Spearmint.
The lemon balm also exploded while I was away.


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## Davo45

DJgang said:


> One of my Roma tomato plants has a brown something on the leaves, hubby went ahead and pulled it because last year all our plants got this...
> 
> Does anyone know what this might be...meanwhile...off to google it.
> 
> Thanks!


I haven't experienced it, but remember the guy at the Co-op in Columbiana saying that a lot of people reported their tomatoes getting some sort of fungus that turned the leaves brown before killing the infected plants. I've had fantastic luck with tomatoes the last 2 years I've had a garden, as well as okra, but the army worms killed all of my squash and cucumbers.

I had a good looking crop of bush beans last year that were just starting to bloom when the leaves all turned yellow followed by the whole plant, even after I picked the first yellow leaves off I saw a day or two before they all turned yellow. They were all dead within 2 days. I never did figure out what caused it.


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## neldarez

Here in eastern washington it should be quite hot by now but alas, our high has been 80 for 3 days. I'm grateful for that this year, so much rain. Not use to this, knocked the garden pretty far back but:: beans are up nicely, tomatoes starting to bloom, 1 bloom on the squash........have beets, carrots, parsnips just starting to come through the ground. I pray blessing on my garden because the Word says that I reap what I sow.,...I'm expecting a great harvest!! :flower:


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## HoppeEL4

neldarez, I think of prophecy about famines when I hear about bad weather (last year here in the west side of the Cascades, we really did not have a summer and NO ones gardens produced) affecting food production and also people talking about fungus and plant diseases also prohibiting a good harvest.

I also have been hearing that other nations, who are big food producers, have had troubles too.

I too pray for a good harvest this year. This will be our first where we are now living, we lived in a duplex, with limited growing space, and also too many tree's shading that yard. This time, we have about 3/4 acre area along the side of the house we are in, and we have half of this tilled up and have begun planting. Overall we have 1,350 square feet of growing space. We have chickens fenced in on the back half of that 3/4 acre (we need them for food too).


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## *Andi

Peaches!!!

I will be canning peaches in the morning. :2thumb: One of my girls went to S.C. (the beach) and brought me back a bushel of peaches to work up. (for dog sitting )

Does she know her mom or not! lol She knows I would not take money for watching her dogs for a few days, but it is hard for me to pass up fresh fruits ... lol 

Peaches in the cellar will be nice.  I will also help her put up the peaches she bought for her family.


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## HoppeEL4

Peaches....mmmmm. Out here it is pears and apples. However, there are some orchards with peach trees and apricots. So much cheaper in the orchards than at store level, and our favorite thing is to go up to Hood River (Oregon) to get the culls when harvest is in. Fresh pressed cider too.....

I remember my great-grandmother always smelled like apples. She wore the classic apron, she was a strong old farm wife and would swoop me up and hug me and always smelled like fresh cut apples. We could always count on a bowl of frozen blueberries with sugar on them while we were there, it was her specialty, along with lining her clean kitchen floor with newspaper and putting on a huge stock pot with oil and popcorn, leave it unlidded and let it pop everywhere and let us run around to try to catch it mid-air!

Farm grandmothers knew how to enjoy life in her generation.


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## Clarice

We picked our peaches yesterday, did not get as many as last year, but they are bigger. Yum! Two trees left that are not quite ready. My yellow squash is producing like there is no tomorrow, zucs are doing okay. But that fresh lettuce has me on a salad binge. Blue berries are starting to ripen. We have tomatoes the size of baseballs but no red ones yet. The snap beans are blooming and beets are starting to get some size to them.


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## Possumfam

Here in the Panhandle of FL, we're experiencing drought. Had to leave town for a little over a week, a neighbor took care of the chickens and goats, but the garden all but died. Trying to salvage what we can, water it, and praying for rain. The farmers in the area will lose their crops if we don't get rain soon. This will be the first year in a long time that I haven't canned peppers, pickles, tomatoes, etc... It's a reality check for sure! One failed crop can make all the difference in the world, especially now.


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## catsraven

*Andi said:


> Peaches!!!
> 
> I will be canning peaches in the morning. :2thumb: One of my girls went to S.C. (the beach) and brought me back a bushel of peaches to work up. (for dog sitting )
> 
> Does she know her mom or not! lol She knows I would not take money for watching her dogs for a few days, but it is hard for me to pass up fresh fruits ... lol
> 
> Peaches in the cellar will be nice.  I will also help her put up the peaches she bought for her family.


My neighbor has peach trees. He lets me take as many as I want.


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## neldarez

Possumfam said:


> Here in the Panhandle of FL, we're experiencing drought. Had to leave town for a little over a week, a neighbor took care of the chickens and goats, but the garden all but died. Trying to salvage what we can, water it, and praying for rain. The farmers in the area will lose their crops if we don't get rain soon. This will be the first year in a long time that I haven't canned peppers, pickles, tomatoes, etc... It's a reality check for sure! One failed crop can make all the difference in the world, especially now.


It's a bit scary isn't it when our normal is no longer normal! I prayed for rain for your area.......So much of the U.S. have lost their land this year, food crops will not be grown where we expect them. Fires raging in Arizona...wow, not our norm...........:gaah:


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## gypsysue

It's scary how places that usually get adequate rainfall...are having serious drought. Places that normally get light rainfall are drowning with flood water. We bounce back and forth here. Drenched for a week, not a drop for a week, etc., and our ground dries out almost instantly after the rain stops. Within a few days I'm watering the garden to keep it alive, only to have it nearly drown a few days after I water.

I do have a lot of things coming up though: peas, potatoes, broccoli, beets, probably more. Apple and cherry trees just now blossoming, which is the normal time here. Now I just have to watch out for frost while the blossoms are on.

Peaches! Andi, my mouth watered just reading that! What a wonderful daughter!


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## power

One farmer near me has lost about 800 acres of grain crops to floods and another few hundred acres to drought, all within a few miles of each other.


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## HoppeEL4

Honestly, so far this year, we are wetter than normal for us, and still cool. The rain is slowing down finally, and this is not an issue, it is the temperatures. We need more warmth for things to really take off and our time is always later than everyone else's. 

The only thing that has "produced" so far is our six meat birds we just took into the processors, two roosters and four hens, and boy were those roosters BIG (well, two weeks at the end of nothing but cracked corn). Looking forward to that tomorrow night, right after that first big boy gets a long soak in some salty water and spices!


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## Possumfam

neldarez said:


> It's a bit scary isn't it when our normal is no longer normal! I prayed for rain for your area.......So much of the U.S. have lost their land this year, food crops will not be grown where we expect them. Fires raging in Arizona...wow, not our norm...........:gaah:


Thank you for the prayers, I think the entire country needs them. And yes, gypsysue, it is weird. Things seem to be going haywire everywhere. A few years ago, some good advice that never occurred to me, came from a dear elderly friend. I was finishing the pickles (had enough to get me through the next year) and she suggested that as long as I still had the spices, vinegar, and cukes, I should continue. That way, I may not have to can the following year. Now, I can for two years instead of one. Wonderful advice, for times such as these...


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## *Andi

catsraven said:


> My neighbor has peach trees. He lets me take as many as I want.


Our peach tree was hit with frost this year ...  but my mom did say hers was loaded and she would share ... So I will be buying friut this year.  Other than what my mom has to share ... Apples look good ... but very little on the cherry or peach tree. (but we always have next year.)


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## lhalfcent

I have an apricot tree that is dying. found a web of worms in the branches a couple weeks back and they had been boring into the trunk of the tree. now it is dying!


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## Possumfam

lhalfcent said:


> I have an apricot tree that is dying. found a web of worms in the branches a couple weeks back and they had been boring into the trunk of the tree. now it is dying!


Sounds like our apple tree. We need to check it out, see if it's too late. Boy, this is getting depressing, between losing trees, gardens, crops...


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## stayingthegame

canned 12 jars of maters.:2thumb: been giving way yellow squash can't keep up with it any more.:surrender: canned 20 jars of pickles. and have more cucs to play with. picking a few eggplants. okra was put in late but starting to make. pumpkin and water melon growing. herbs are do great. just need rain has'nt rained in weeks.:gaah:


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## HoppeEL4

Sounds like up here, in the Pacific NW, and the midwest have gotten all of the rain this year. We are set up for it though, and have lots of deep rivers to accomodate it, so you rarely see any flooding like the midwest has. We have yet to even see all of our spring melt from the mountains either (rivers are high and "on alert" for their high stages, but nothing more).

Wish I could send you all some of ours so you could have enough to grow with.


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## DJgang

catsraven said:


> My neighbor has peach trees. He lets me take as many as I want.


You sure are lucky!

I was thinking about pickling peaches this year...anyone else?


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## Momturtle

Been eating broccoli, chard, beets and mixed greens galore. Cabbage almost ready. Surprised we haven't seen any cabbage worms, haven't even seen the butterflys, may have been too wet for them. Corn is over knee high, pole beans rocking along and bush beans are at least up . . . Squash is just getting blossoms and we have some green tomatoes. Picked a bunch of Nanking Cherries this year, beat the birds to them this time! Once again we have too many tomatoe plants. DH thinks we will die if we don't have 30 tomatoe plants. The garden isn't that big and he just keeps bringing them home. Blueberries are starting to ripen, peach tree has its usual 12 peaches so we are waiting eagerly for them, raspberries coming ripe and I have been hovering over the new figs, hoping my encouragement will work on them. Starting to get dry though -- we need a good rain here in a big way.


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## iPrep

I just moved into my new house. I brought my bucket garden with me and sat them in the sunny front yard. While I was at work yesterday, the deer ate everything but the stalks. Lesson learned.


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## neldarez

HoppeEL4 said:


> Honestly, so far this year, we are wetter than normal for us, and still cool. The rain is slowing down finally, and this is not an issue, it is the temperatures. We need more warmth for things to really take off and our time is always later than everyone else's.
> 
> The only thing that has "produced" so far is our six meat birds we just took into the processors, two roosters and four hens, and boy were those roosters BIG (well, two weeks at the end of nothing but cracked corn). Looking forward to that tomorrow night, right after that first big boy gets a long soak in some salty water and spices!


I'm with you Hoppe....it needs to warm up for us, eastern wash. Omak actually. It hit 92 at my house 2 days ago and is 64 and we have a fire going today! geesh, stop the rollercoaster, I'm getting dizzy


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## *Andi

iPrep said:


> I just moved into my new house. I brought my bucket garden with me and sat them in the sunny front yard. While I was at work yesterday, the deer ate everything but the stalks. Lesson learned.


Lesson learned ... but it still sucks.


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## Jimmy24

Though it is so dry here, it appears that our blueberries in this area are doing fine. The annual blueberry fest is this weekend. Our little town and area is considered "The Blueberry Capital Of Mississippi". Mine are doing fine. Usual amount. Love dem blueberries!!!

Jimmy


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## Possumfam

iPrep said:


> I just moved into my new house. I brought my bucket garden with me and sat them in the sunny front yard. While I was at work yesterday, the deer ate everything but the stalks. Lesson learned.


 How stinking frustrating! Keep feeding them for a few months, then harvest venison! That'll show 'em!


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## HoppeEL4

Neldarez, at least you all on the eastern side of the mountains are getting some warm days....Though, got up today and apparently there is this big yellow thing out there, but it is only about 60 right now, but......so far (knock on wood) no rain. 

I know on your side, the nights are COLD, over here once it warms up, our nights are moderate.

I am going to be praying for a better summer than last years.


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## DJgang

Davo45 said:


> I haven't experienced it, but remember the guy at the Co-op in Columbiana saying that a lot of people reported their tomatoes getting some sort of fungus that turned the leaves brown before killing the infected plants. I've had fantastic luck with tomatoes the last 2 years I've had a garden, as well as okra, but the army worms killed all of my squash and cucumbers.
> 
> I had a good looking crop of bush beans last year that were just starting to bloom when the leaves all turned yellow followed by the whole plant, even after I picked the first yellow leaves off I saw a day or two before they all turned yellow. They were all dead within 2 days. I never did figure out what caused it.


Siince we pulled it up, no other plants have it...

However, my parents didn't do the same and now all of their tomatoes have this...thinking it's early blight.

Read where you could use this for bugs, etc..

1/4 cup of buttermilk, 2 cups of flour, mixed with one gallon of water, put on sprayer, keep shaking the whole time, and spray...

Anyone tried this?


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## Genevieve

tomatoes are finally taking off. peppers are trying to grow. Finished with the spinach and lettuces. Letting them go to seed so I have it for next year. Broccoli is almost done in. Cabbages are doing good. Peas are setting pods now finally.
Have peaches the size of ping pong balls so far. Have about a handful of cherries almost ripe and ready to pick. Pretty good for the first full year for the orchard.
Went and bought 8 quarts( a flat) of sweet cherries for drying.
The zucchini I have in pots on the back deck are setting blossoms and so are the cukes
Herbs are going nuts. So is the meyer lemon tree. It's blooming again and I have somewhere around 6 lemons growing already.
Have about a pint of blueberries on the bushes, but they're not ready yet. Same for the raspberries and blackberries.
Found some wild raspberries in the fence row when I was mowing so I picked them the next morning and me and the rabbit split them for our breakfasts. Theres more bushes but I didn't notice anymore that are ripe.


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## Woody

Off to a very, very late and slow start this year. Many late frosts. But, by the time I moved plants to the garden tomatoes were over 2’ tall, peppers about a foot. Lots of green tomatoes, a few weeks away I think. Have eaten a few green peppers with more following. Beans blossoming and a few little guys in there. Lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots and peas all over now. There are some for seed but nothing for the table. As soon as those 90+ degree days hit the peas all shriveled up and every other spring crop went to seed. Hopefully we will get good weather for a nice fall crop of these guys. Yellow and green Squash are starting to put out, had a few dinners with little ones. Corn not quite knee high, planted late due to cold ground. Had the first blackberry last night! Tons of them still red so the cold wet spring wasn’t a total waste. All my raspberries are fall bearers but they are looking great. Small cucumbers appearing so may just be a few days away.

Harvested some St John’s Wort last night, I always let the first plants to flower go to seed. Not a huge cutting, maybe 2 or 3 cups of tea worth (I like strong teas) but there is lots of time left and most of the patch has not flowered. The dark purple bee balm is in full swing, no red or pink blossoming yet. Lemon balm first harvest is dry and canned (2 quart jars), second harvest might be this weekend. It is starting to get that ‘I’m going to go to flower look’ to it. Cone flowers are budding and soon will show. Marshmallow is looking like it is ready to blossom. Started harvesting Passion Flower flowers earlier this week. Been getting about 10 a day and a majority of the crop has only started to bud, going to be a banner year it looks like. I will be cutting the budding tops of the early ones this weekend so they have a chance to re-flower. One Mullein just started to flower, noticed it last night while watering. There are about 10 or 12 second year plants a few weeks away from flower and as many or more first year plants looking good. One is actually so big I thought it was ready to send up a flower stalk! Time to start the nightly ritual of Mullein flower harvests! Actually the nightly harvests are for many different flowers; Passion, Marshmallow, St John’s Wort and Mullein. Anise Hyssop, Hyssop and chamomile patches are not looking good, no idea why. Been happy and healthy for 4 years now and then this year only two or three tiny plants. I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for them to sprout but nothing. I bought a pack of Chamomile seeds at the grocery store (roman type) but no seeds for the others this year. Maybe the late frosts got to them.

That’s about all I can think of at this time.


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## gypsysue

Woody said:


> Harvested some St John's Wort last night, I always let the first plants to flower go to seed. Not a huge cutting, maybe 2 or 3 cups of tea worth (I like strong teas) but there is lots of time left and most of the patch has not flowered. The dark purple bee balm is in full swing, no red or pink blossoming yet. Lemon balm first harvest is dry and canned (2 quart jars), second harvest might be this weekend. It is starting to get that 'I'm going to go to flower look' to it. Cone flowers are budding and soon will show. Marshmallow is looking like it is ready to blossom. Started harvesting Passion Flower flowers earlier this week. Been getting about 10 a day and a majority of the crop has only started to bud, going to be a banner year it looks like. I will be cutting the budding tops of the early ones this weekend so they have a chance to re-flower. One Mullein just started to flower, noticed it last night while watering. There are about 10 or 12 second year plants a few weeks away from flower and as many or more first year plants looking good. One is actually so big I thought it was ready to send up a flower stalk! Time to start the nightly ritual of Mullein flower harvests! Actually the nightly harvests are for many different flowers; Passion, Marshmallow, St John's Wort and Mullein. Anise Hyssop, Hyssop and chamomile patches are not looking good, no idea why. Been happy and healthy for 4 years now and then this year only two or three tiny plants. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for them to sprout but nothing. I bought a pack of Chamomile seeds at the grocery store (roman type) but no seeds for the others this year. Maybe the late frosts got to them.


Wow, it's awesome to hear that someone else is harvesting herbs so voraciously! I've already harvested Lemon Balm and Shepherd's purse, and Arnica is almost ready. Others like yarrow, mullein, and St. John's Wort won't be ready here for a while yet.

You mentioned you canned lemon balm...how did you do that? What do you use it for? Or by "canned", did you just mean that the dried lemon balm is stored in the jars? I dry mine and store it in glass jars in a dark, cool place and use it for tea. I've heard you can make mosquito repellent from it, too, but I don't know if it works or how to do it.


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## neldarez

I hope this is where to post this....guess what guys! I finally did it.....yep, I pressure canned my first canner today. I put up 7 quarts of hamburger. That was really nerve wracking cuz I couldn't figure out what a slow gentle rock was suppose to look like! :congrat: anyway, I learned some stuff....I could have packed the jars more dense, when I took them out they were only 1/2 = 2/3 full. I only put 1/8 in. of water in them and they had scads of water in when I took them out. Anyway, it's done, the fear is conquered....yay


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## *Andi

Congrats neldarez ... fear is conquered, now the canning world is wide open. :congrat: 

Looks like I will be standing my corn up in the morning ... the heavy rain and wind, put it down ... but hey ... we got some more rain.


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## Jaspar

tomatoes are very green (no fungus or yellowing, knock on wood) and starting to set fruit. Raspberries are fruiting, pea pods are filling out, beets are about ready to pick, beans, corn, squash and eggplants are starting to take off and we've got strawberries coming out the wazoo (about a gallon a day).


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## power

I finally cut down the yellow squash plants. They were getting rough looking and I have enough squash in the freezer to last until next spring. Tomatoes all over the place. Guess I planted a few more than I needed and all the plants are covered. Got winter squash everywhere. Some onions are ready to dig. Got eggplants blooming and small ones. Cucumbers are doing great. Carrots are just about done.
So far this years garden has outdone all other years. Not any bugs except where the chickens and ducks can't go.


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## Woody

gypsysue said:


> You mentioned you canned lemon balm...how did you do that? What do you use it for? Or by "canned", did you just mean that the dried lemon balm is stored in the jars? I dry mine and store it in glass jars in a dark, cool place and use it for tea. I've heard you can make mosquito repellent from it, too, but I don't know if it works or how to do it.


Yes, dried while hanging in the shed and then crammed into quart jars w/out shreding the leaves, or at least as much as possible keeping them whole. I did do a tincture using it a few years ago but never found a good use for it, cooking perhaps? It was actually more bitter than lemmony. The anise hyssop makes a great tincture and the licorice flavor is very strong.


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## Meerkat

Fig tree is loaded with figs as usual,wish I'd planted several.Plums were good for picking daily ,stopped producing.Apples here never do great but better this year.

Nothing to put up but tomatoes and figs.had squash for past several weeks,but the stink bugs and heat and powdery mildew got to them and cukes.Okra is doing good.Late putting out limas,but they look good so far.

Knee went out so not taking as good of care of plants as before.


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## iPrep

*Andi said:


> Lesson learned ... but it still sucks.


I got up this morning... and the STICKS were gone! They came back to finish off my crop. I cried. What a waste of time, effort, and energy. Ugh.


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## Momturtle

Things were really drying out, then came the storms and rain on Saturday. The parching corn looks like a crop circle - a swirl of perfect stalks on the ground. Stood them up, mounded the dirt, felt pretty good about it and then it happened again on Sunday! Tied them up to a length of wire strung along the rows. I think I may have planted them to thickly and the stalks weren't strong enough to hold up. Hmmm. Other corn with more generous spacing was fine. I guess I can consider it a learning experience. At least we got good rain. Have a game hen that hatched 8 guinea keets and she was patrolling the garden between storms and those little guineas were all over eating cabbage worms, squash bugs and grasshoppers. It works out as long as the hen doesn't get crazy with the mulch. Their patrols have enabled us to keep harvesting broccoli and cabbage. Pulled the garlic, it was yellow and fell over, first time I ever got any to grow and it is an awesome feeling. Smells so good when you pull it out. Some tomatoe plants are covered with tomatoes so it won't be long now - got the canning jars ready. Got my first green pepper!


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## Ridgerunner

This year my garden is doing wonderfully. I just picked 25lbs of Plums and made a bunch of plum Jam.

I also made My first batch ever of Jalapeño Jelly. I was not sure about how it was going to taste but it is really good.


I have a bunch of squash and tomato's coming very soon and.

I pulled up about 30BLS of potato's still have about that much more to pull up.

now if I can just keep the Deer out of the garden I will be set.


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## HoppeEL4

Andi, around here getting rain is becoming a nuiscance this time of year. We'll send more your way!

Getting enough sun right now is becoming an issue. Though, our corn starts are loving the initial moisture, later on it could be a problem (mold).


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## Meerkat

iPrep said:


> I got up this morning... and the STICKS were gone! They came back to finish off my crop. I cried. What a waste of time, effort, and energy. Ugh.


We have lost food to rabbits.We finally put up a fence around the whole garden.


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## worldengineer

HoppeEL4 said:


> Andi, around here getting rain is becoming a nuiscance this time of year. We'll send more your way!
> 
> Getting enough sun right now is becoming an issue. Though, our corn starts are loving the initial moisture, later on it could be a problem (mold).


Through some here! Don't let *Andi hog it all! :sssh: The good sun and hot weather is good for the plants until the ground runs out of moisture.....


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## HoppeEL4

World, there's plenty to go around here......Northwestern Oregon, it is a commodity we're known for, rain. We have two main mountain ranges, plus about 12 smaller ones, and at least the main two have known aquifers, two I know of that supply rivers (the Willamette aquifer and the Metolious). We have never tapped into them, I am sure they could but suppose there has never been a reason to. Springs also all up and down the Columbia River Gorge, water so clean and pure, you can hike up to them, hold out your water bottle, fill and drink.

Our location causes a lack of sunshine up until now, or even later on, so getting things started can be tough. We have corn from seed started, and it is about two, to three inches so far, potatoes are loving the cooler overcast spring, cucumbers do like this to start in, and tomatoes struggle......


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## catsraven

Grrrrr Iv got Blossom drop on my tomato's. Its hot, 100 yesterday. Suppose to get that hot today. witch is one of the things that causes the Blossom drop.


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## UncleJoe

Well, after 3 weeks of neglect, (cleaning up all the tornado damage) I almost have the garden back. The cukes, watermelon, green beans and cauliflower all died from lack of water. I replanted cukes and melons and plan to get more green beans in today.
Wax beans, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, zucchini and all the herbs are now weeded and look to do well. Everything that gets blossoms has them. The corn is about 10" tall. Should be a bit taller but now that it doesn't have to compete with the weeds for water it should do well. So far my new 7' fence seems to be keeping the deer out. The 6 blackberry bushes which are in their third year are loaded. 
Hopefully we won't have any more nasty storms that keep me out away for extended periods of time.


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## *Andi

Canning season is starting to swing! :woohoo: Blueberries and peaches going in the jars come morning! 

Mators are starting to turn (nothing better than that first mator sandwich. ) So I thinking mid week. 

My beans on the other hand ...  ... I'll have to wait and see ...


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## UncleJoe

My "mators" are still small and green but there are lots of them. Probably be another 3 weeks till I get my first sandwich. Have about a pint of wax beans so far. In a couple weeks I won't be able to pick and can them fast enough. Corn put on about 10". The new cukes are only about 6" tall which is probably best. Now I won't have to can beans and pickles at the same time. 

Don't know if I mentioned it earlier in the thread but the beets never germinated in the spring so I tilled the ground up again and just threw a couple handfuls of seeds on the ground out of frustration and don't you know, they all come up.  Now I have all these beets with weeds and grass growing all through them. Trying to get the weeds out is a nightmare so I'm just going to let them grow together and see what happens.


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## *Andi

Canning will be in full swing the next few days ... more pickles, have everthing ready for morning ... the last of the peaches ... and the fisrt of the apples, I think I will start with crockpot applesauce while I work up the others. 

That first tomatoes have turned and that sandwich was so yummy ...  Canning them in the near furture. :2thumb: And noticed the first patch of tators are turning ...

Hard to believe July is almost here. The tide has turned, days are getting shorter ...


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## goshengirl

*Andi, that applesauce sounds great! Our young little apple trees aren't producing yet (probably not next year, either), but I look forward to that day...

Our garden is moving along in spite of our ourselves. A couple hundred tomatoes, couple hundred potatoes, several corn varieties, herbs, carrots, melons, peanuts, peppers.... We got such a late start with all the wet, plus we were starting the beds from scratch. We're rookies, learning a lot! Getting all our mistakes out this year, haha.

Had a big setback (asthma) due to my own stupidity, and the garden suffered. It's been a lesson in many ways - how hard we need to work while we're healthy, because we might not always be healthy; and the importance of actively taking care of our health so that we can the work that needs to be done in the garden. I'm finally getting back on track (and REALLY tired of feeling useless) - but this has taught me a lot because we've never been dependent on a garden to produce, and we can't afford NOT working in the garden (especially at key times).

Does anyone here grow Mandan corn, Hopi Blue corn, or Hutterite beans? These are the only veggies we've had difficulty with (these corn varieties had poor germination, the beans had almost no germination). Our other corn and beans are fine. Anyone else have this problem?

Also, does anyone else grow Amish Paste tomatoes? They're finally taking off, but geez, are they high maintenance! They've needed a lot of attention. The Romas are loving life, same with the San Marizano, Cherokee Purple, Oxheart, Better Bush (and two other varieties that slip my mind right now). If Amish Paste aren't absolutely yummy (or productive), we won't do them again next year.


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## HoppeEL4

Went out to check my corn, it's not growing much and is turning purple. Not enough phosphorus. So it's too late to try to treat, and decided since plenty of people start their corn here in July, I could re-do it and start fresh with some triple sixteen tilled in and then thrown on top.


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## Hooch

coastal northern cali gardening can be challenging at times but I am having good luck with peas, carrots, squash, onions, garlic OMG potatoes!! I have potatoe plants that are taller than me...last year I got football size yukon gold taters!! no kidding... strawberries radish, lettuce. other years I grew cabbage and kale that did well oh and spinash too...tomatoes need a greenhouse tho cuz of the moisture here but good times...I love to watch my garden grow yay! :2thumb:


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## HoppeEL4

We have tomato plants....lots of flowers, and one tiny green tomato, so we'll see. Corn, not happening. Came out one day and it was turning purple, and was stunted in growth, so we plowed it under. Lack of phosphorus... so we need to amend the soil in fall for next year.

Potatoes even yet are sort fo slow...I am thinking that this will not be our year. It is a first year here, first time to garden here to, and this plot has grown nothing for about 10-14 years, except grass, and I think it is really depleted in nutrients. My last bet is to add some fish emulsion, and also some alfalfa pellets and see if this helps for the rest of the summer...

Otherwise we might just get nothing and have to start fresh next year (after adding heaps of mulch, aged horse manure and some extra garden mulch from a local business that does yard debris recycling.....


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## Hooch

you make a really good point...sometimes it takes awhile to iron out what grows well and getting the soil really prepared to grow stuff. Which is why it's best to figure out what to plant and when and learn to garden when one really doesnt HAVE to garden yet...
even if it's just one or two new plants a year...get them down and learn their stages well and take on and add a new veggie to the garden the next year...
best of luck to ya! dont give up...try some garlic and scallons...


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## HoppeEL4

Garlic!! I forgot about garlic...oh well.

I went out and looked at my spinach and it even looks anemic. I think the soil was just so acidic from it being a blueberry patch that the plants cannot pull up the nutrients they need.

We'll get some, of course, zuchinni is coming up, and I do not like it, I planted it for my daughter and son-in-law....go figure. Seems we're getting lots of pumpkin and squash blooms, which makes me happy.


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