Dealing with squash bugs on the pumpkins. Been treating with neem oil and manually removing the eggs. Kill me lol.
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I fought the squash bugs and the squash bugs won…
Pumpkins are small and heavily damaged. Not even sure I can get puree out of these.
On a happier note though:
More tomatoes and cucumbers this week plus five pounds of potatoes from my grow bags.
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I have not really followed this thread. So I am not sure if it has been posted. But do you like/grow chocolate tomatoes? Not actually caocao covered, but they are brown tomatoes. Really tasty. I went to the farmer’s market this past weekend and got a bunch. Ate them up already. Will have to get more this coming weekend.
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I am growing some more plain varieties this year, Roma and Cherry. I did plant a Purple Cherokee as well, but it has not blossomed at all. Some others have mentioned it’s temperamental, which would make sense considering how well all our other plants are doing. I may try Chocolate next year! We are planning on tilling up a large section of the yard to do in ground planting soon.
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Big rip
I have 6 more still ripening and more growing haha
Though im growing mini pie pumpkins for purée for dog treats so they grow and ripen fast
Alot of my lettuce died while i was down for surgery the aphids killed everything
BUT MY RED RUSSIAN KALE
The sun flowers
The sun flowers are also ripening and getting ready to harvest the heads
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This is the first year I’ve had a major pest problem beyond fungus gnats. I think it was a combo of the squash bugs + a ton of sun/heat that took down my pumpkins, but a bummer either way lol. There are still a few living vines that I’m going to let go and we’ll see if they survive but I’m giving up on removing the bugs for now.
Your sunflowers look great! I am hoping to plant some next year.
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Your brown potatoes are a tad over watered i hella over watered mine and got small dots not eyes and i see a few not even on a bunch from the pic
Good job! Me like most people over water the hell out of potatoes
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I’m a big fan of the ‘fuck around and find out’ method for gardening lol. It seems potatoes love that (I mostly just let the rain water them) vs. the pumpkins which likely needed a little more care haha.
Regarding grow bag vs. “The Ruth Stout” method of growing potatoes, I can also now firmly cast a vote in favor of grow bags, at least in rainy years. The hay bed did not produce any potatoes for us, I dismantled it the other day. Maybe another attempt next year (more soil, less hay).
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Yeahhh this is how i learn lmaooo
Trying to get tomatoes to grow in a alpine desert is hard
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@THEkitchenSINK @kreestuh I recently learned that ivy is able to grow in dim to dark conditions and now I am contemplating to get a few pots with ivy, some kind of net and let them take over an entire indoor wall. Any input?
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plastic chicken wire rolls better after long use (moving long term house plants)
metal wire will rust in contact with plants
i grow sweet potatoes and yams durning winter indoors for getting shoots and a spinach replacement from the leaves
they are super pretty and vine all over
keep away from vinca major shit will never die if it gets a single flower in your yard it will take over and kill everything
english ivy does well as a bird food as well it grows these yellow or blackish berries we dont eat but will save your grapes when in season cause birds like them more then our human edited grapes
it will grow fast so you need to cut it back yearly
non fruiting grapes will also do nice but its basically a stunted grape in low light they grow and grow and grow and grow w/o fruiting you see this in wild grapes when they are reaching for light in alley ways
if you have pets that go outdoor DONT
you will get a wall of spider webs if you dont spend nearly every day working on that
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ive grown em before like beef stakes but purplish brown
they are super tasty best sandwich tomatoes ever
you can grow em ez and indoors
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ill mail you guys ryan and wendell too some of my sunflower seeds i got some short tiny flowers for windowsil and apartments
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I grow these
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/black-krim-organic-tomato-seed-3814G.html
They’ll be a deep red/brown if they get full sun.
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Due to the heat waves in the PNW and the late freezes right before, all of my peppers turned out sad and I only got one harvest out of them. They were mighty delicious though.
So I played around with some Patio Sunshine tomatoes this year. They have been producing all year even though they are supposed to be determinant. I would recommend giving them a try. They are the best cherry type tomatoes that I have ever had. My chickens also enjoy them as well.
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Updates
Tomatoes
A week after last harvest + using every tomato we had on sandwiches and a pot of tomato soup, I assumed we’d probably start winding down/getting less frequent harvests. But uh, this was todays:
The veritable jungle of tomato plants (two roma + one prolific cherry):
Also pictured: Basil plants choking out my peppers.
The cherry tomato plants starts here and then manages to extend across the whole damn bed. Next year I will get a taller trellis to handle this lol, it’s impossible to weed this bed now:
Jalapenos
The jalapenos are also happy and producing away, we just used several for some indian dishes we made recently:
Cucumbers
I initially had two cucumber plants that were both producing quite a bit; one finally bit the dust and has been removed to make way for new plantings. But the other is still holding on:
(Also I saw a hummingbird pollinating this the other day and it was amazing)
New For Fall Season
Peas
I seeded some peas in the bed next to the tomatoes after we harvested our potatoes. I re-used the potato dirt to do so; if the internet hasn’t lied to me, the peas should restore nutrients into the soil even if we don’t get a harvest. I’ve never grown peas before so this will be an experiment. These are a shorter bush variety which the package claimed ‘don’t need to be staked’, but we’ll see:
Spinach and Lettuce greens
Spinach starts!
Also chaotically sowed spinach and lettuce starts that I will have to thin sooner than later ohnonono whatwasIthinking:
Prep for the eventual spinach and lettuce pots that should have a lot more room to grow. I’m planning on adding a layer of wood mulch on top of the cardboard to keep the grass down/make it easier to mow around:
New Bed Prep:
Also happening Soon! We’re starting prep for larger beds for next year’s season. I am slowly moving wood chips and cardboard sheet mulch to this section of the yard to smother the grass. We’ll be building concrete block beds on top. One tiny step completed, much more to go. I will try and post some inspiration pics and sketches shortly.
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Raised Garden Bed Ideas:
Here is some more imagery to see “The Vision” of the new beds we’re planning on putting in. After some discussion with husband, I think we’re going to try concrete block beds. We’re not 100% on the configuration yet. There are a few options.
Long and Narrow:
This would allow us to add frost covers super easily which would be a huge benefit to extending our growing season.
Keyhole Beds:
More space to plant and it would all be easily accessible. We could probably still add a frost cover to these but it wouldn’t be quite as simple.
Frost Cover Frame Example:
A hybrid option?
I’ve done a few sketches and also like the idea of a hybrid option; where the beds are long and skinny but still have ‘keyholes’, kinda. We’re also thinking of getting a greenhouse but that would be a loooooong ways off. They are 'spensive.
Garden plan idea:
Sketched onto a photo:
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Peas are pretty easy once they start vining. I planted some Snap Peas earlier in the year and just re seeded with a more winter hardy variety about a month ago.
The key thing is to make sure that you trellis them well as they need good airflow. If you leave them to their own devices, they will choke out their neighbors as well. Also keep an eye out for moths as their caterpillars love to eat the leaves of Peas.
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Lovely, you have so much space!
How much light do they need. Do you think I could grow them indoors and away from the windows?