Garden produce nothing better

[Winemaker]

Cherry tomatoes, banana, poblano, Italian fryers, green bell, jalapeno, ghost, and Hungarian wax peppers, pumpkins, green and yellow zucchini, butternut squash. No green beans, they just get too tough here, but wax beans do exceptional. Didn't plant the wax this year, but I'm trying some San Marzano tomatoes and some tomatillos this year. I gotta justify my $800 fence! I've already picked some peppers already, I tried a different technique.

We've got a bushel or two of Early Transparent apples and some winesap to follow shortly. The wild black raspberries were picked earlier, and now the wild blackberries are in season. the berries go to the freezer, then to the fermenter they go when we get back from our California wine country trip.

 

[jollystomper]

During her SAHM years DW grew various vegetables and fruits in a small backyard garden. She would also take our kids to "pick your own" farms in the area. Our kids would regularly snack on the produce right in the backyard or at the farm. I believe it is a factor that they never gained a desire for processed snacks. A bag of chips opened would last a couple of weeks in our house, but a bowl of fruit would be gone in a day and vegetables never made it to the "leftover" phase .

 

[ut2sua]

Last year, we invested about $100 in soil and fertilizer, and got 4 cucumbers out of that. But seeing the vines growing was enough for me. This year, DW has more time and we are getting tomatoes, green bean and an herb mini-garden going. We are tree and flower lovers and have been blessed with persimmons, pomegranates, citrus among the 50 to 100 flower and fruit trees in our relatively small back yard. Plants just bring so much positive energy to our home.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I haven't found that rabbits eat much except flowers and greens. They haven't touched my arugula. They touch tomatoes or squash at all. In fact, the only thing I have caught our yard rabbit eating these days is weeds, invasive grass, and nibbling from a eunymus plant, which always needs trimming anyway. Have at it, bunny! I have enough to share.

 

[Sue J]

DH started seeds very early inside. Can’t plant outside until Mother’s Day here due to the chance of frost. We have tomatoes and peppers and a couple of eggplants. Nothing ready to harvest yet but I did see one tomato starting to change from green to red.

There’s a few weeks in August when everything gets ripe and you can’t eat it all!

DH also planted sunflowers and they are doing wonderfully! A few varieties and it looks like some will be huge. Some critter ate the head off of our biggest one but it’s growing sprouts for new heads already.

 

[Sunset]

We planted a garden, lots of tomatoes as I love them, and squash, yellow bean, potatoes.
Unfortunately a ground hog, is attacking the garden , he loves tomato tasting (annoying he doesn't eat the whole thing, just takes some bites of a few).
His favorite is the squash, he is eating the entire squash.

I put up a fence, it stopped for a couple of days, then he is back. He goes under the fence.
I've chased him out [-]TWICE[/-] <edit after post> THREE times today !!

We had 5 large cherry tomatoes and they were good... I picked 6 more today, it's a race against the groundhog.

 

[street]

I haven't found that rabbits eat much except flowers and greens. They haven't touched my arugula. They touch tomatoes or squash at all. In fact, the only thing I have caught our yard rabbit eating these days is weeds, invasive grass, and nibbling from a eunymus plant, which always needs trimming anyway. Have at it, bunny! I have enough to share.

This is my experience also. We have rabbits all over and are in the yard everyday. In all the years of a garden I have not witnessed them eating anything.

 

[Souschef]

We live in a MHP, and do not have much space to grow things. I have been growing tomatoes for a number of years (4 plants), and this year I am trying to grow beets.

 

[old medic]

I wish. We can buy it, but no way to grow it without a fortress. There are so many deer and rabbits around here, there's no way to get a harvest at home.

We planted a bunch of stuff... Most of it tastes like Venison...

 

[mountainsoft]

I have good luck with raspberries and rhubarb despite pretty shady even though recommended conditions are for full sun. The rabbits leave them alone, but deer might eat raspberries. The two together make for some nice desserts.

I've had success bringing in more light by pruning lower branches of evergreens. The trees don't seem to mind, probably would if over done.

Mint too seems to do okay in lower light if moist, and it's fun to make tzatziki, add to salad, lamb burger, add to lemonade, tea.

Our garden is fenced so the rabbits and deer tend to stay out (though moles are still a problem).

We grew rhubarb years ago, but haven't done so in a long time. There's only so much you can do with fruit crops. We have a couple of blueberry bushes that grow well but don't really produce much fruit. We're lucky if we get a snack or two during the summer.

We have pruned up our trees about 30-40 feet, the max reach of my limb saw. Unfortunately, the limbs on fir trees tend to droop down much further than where the limb comes out. Our garden is also on the edge of a hill, so access to some of the branches is difficult. I bought a rope saw in hopes of trimming much higher branches, but haven't had the chance to try it yet.

We do have some mint plants growing in a pot outside our back door. It doesn't seem to mind near total shade. But again, there's only so many things you can do with mint. It's more of a seasoning than substance for a meal. We've also had some success growing thyme and oregano in pots, but again, it's just seasoning.

 

[RobbieB]

First tomato was magnificent! Really enjoying the jalapenos, cut and seed and just the perfect heat with a rich sweet spiciness to them -

 

[flyingaway]

Tomatos, pumpkins, and sweet potatos, in my fenced vegetable garden look very good this year.

For the fruit trees, no harvest with the donut peach tree, every peach had at least one insects in it. Various pears to be harvested in August, some of them can be eaten now, although not fully ripen. We have to compete with the squirrels for the fruits. No harvests from the jujube trees this year, I don't know why. A few pawpaws are remaining. Several persimmon trees are producing a few persimmons. It is not a good return to grow fruit trees, but it is fun. (I mostly grow fruit trees that I cannot buy the fruits from the grocery stores, but I started growing apple trees this year in hoping to get more ripen apples directly from the trees).

 

[4legsgood]

Our garden is fenced so the rabbits and deer tend to stay out (though moles are still a problem).

...

I'm in Western WA too, and we didn't even mention slugs! Hopefully you enjoyed that shade during the heat bomb.

 

[Badger]

I started years ago with a 20x30 foot garden in the back yard. Years later this was eventually reduced to 7 - 4x8 ft raised beds. Every year it gets a little more challenging to tend so now I have 15 - 21+inch pots on wheels and 4 - 12 inch pots. Ate lots of tomatoes, eggplant, basil, jalapeno peppers, sweet banana peppers, blueberries and raspberries this summer. Also have lemons and tangerines from the trees. Next year will also bring loquat fruit. Planning for fall crops now.
Nothing like eating fresh, tasty, organic produce you have grow yourself.



Cheers!

 

[EastWest Gal]

On a hill on the side of our yard, I planted sage, thyme, rosemary and oregano. I have to prune the sage, and the oregano is a bit invasive, which helps protect against erosion. The sage has lasted about 15 years. A couple of times I had to replace the rosemary when it was too cold in the winter. They have beautiful flowers which the bees love. Curly parsley and cilantro are hardy as well. I planted a bunch of cilantro in the fall and it thrived under the winter snow. It was incredible in early spring, then it bolted. It was growing 6 inches a day. My one parsley plant did the same and gave me all the parsley I needed for months.

No tomatoes this year. I have 3 small raised beds and it’s not good to plant tomatoes in the same place year after year.

I also have a box composter-the same one for 20 years, near the raised beds. Kitchen scraps, some lawn clippings, and autumn leaves routinely go there. The bottom layer is dark rich soil that I dig out 1-2 times per year.

 

[Chuckanut]

All this talk of fresh produce is making me hungry. And very jealous.

 

[mountainsoft]

I'm in Western WA too, and we didn't even mention slugs! Hopefully you enjoyed that shade during the heat bomb.

Thankfully, we don't have much of a problem with slugs. Then again, our garden never grows enough for that to be a problem.

The shade and our 1500' elevation does keep us about 5-10 degrees cooler than down in town. Still, with no air conditioning, the heat was miserable. I was really struggling to cool down that last day. I considered going down to the store or a movie for some AC, but the AC in my car is broke and the last thing I wanted was to sit in a hot car.

It's supposed to be close to 100 degrees again the next couple days. Yikes.

 

[ivinsfan]

We planted a garden, lots of tomatoes as I love them, and squash, yellow bean, potatoes.
Unfortunately a ground hog, is attacking the garden , he loves tomato tasting (annoying he doesn't eat the whole thing, just takes some bites of a few).
His favorite is the squash, he is eating the entire squash.

I put up a fence, it stopped for a couple of days, then he is back. He goes under the fence.
I've chased him out [-]TWICE[/-] <edit after post> THREE times today !!

We had 5 large cherry tomatoes and they were good... I picked 6 more today, it's a race against the groundhog.

You have a big problem because a live trap won't help you, you have too many goodies for him to eat. But when garden is done you might try trapping him .They tend to stay in one area from my experience.

 

[O2Bfree]

I'm in Western WA too, and we didn't even mention slugs! Hopefully you enjoyed that shade during the heat bomb.

I started covering my seedlings at night with plastic bottles cut in half. My garden is small, so it's not too much effort. Once the plants get bigger and toughen up a little, the slugs don't go after them as much.

There seems to be fewer slugs this year. Maybe the population has shrunk in the heat, or they're looking for food under the shrubs because they don't like crawling out to the garden over the scorched and prickly grass.

 

[Midpack]

I wish. We can buy it, but no way to grow it without a fortress. There are so many deer and rabbits around here, there's no way to get a harvest at home. DW and I are thinking about building a fenced in area 15'x15' or so next year. We miss vine ripe tomatoes and home grown sweet corn.

Same for us. We'd have to erect a fortress to keep the deer and other critters from eating our "harvest." One year we caught one of our Shelties eating green tomatoes from our garden! But I agree the difference between fresh vegetables and not is huge, even with lettuces (to my surprise).

 

[RAE]

We planted a garden, lots of tomatoes as I love them, and squash, yellow bean, potatoes.
Unfortunately a ground hog, is attacking the garden , he loves tomato tasting (annoying he doesn't eat the whole thing, just takes some bites of a few).
His favorite is the squash, he is eating the entire squash.

I put up a fence, it stopped for a couple of days, then he is back. He goes under the fence.
I've chased him out [-]TWICE[/-] <edit after post> THREE times today !!

We had 5 large cherry tomatoes and they were good... I picked 6 more today, it's a race against the groundhog.

You need a live trap. Bait it with a chunk of ripe melon, and you will likely catch the offender. I've been dealing with groundhogs (woodchucks) for years, and unless you trap and remove them, they will destroy your garden in quick order. And next year, there will be a family of them headed toward your garden.

 

[ivinsfan]

You need a live trap. Bait it with a chunk of ripe melon, and you will likely catch the offender. I've been dealing with groundhogs (woodchucks) for years, and unless you trap and remove them, they will destroy your garden in quick order. And next year, there will be a family of them headed toward your garden.

I've never have luck live trapping then when there is fresh garden stuff to eat.

 

[BH58]

My tomatoes finally turned red. I cut most of the leaves off of the plants so that they could get more sun and air circulation and that did the trick. Yum.

 

[RAE]

I've never have luck live trapping then when there is fresh garden stuff to eat.

It's worked for me, but he will need to fix the hole under the fence where the woodchuck is digging his way into the garden. Fill it in with gravel/rock, and add any additional reinforcing that is necessary. Then put the trap near that spot, and the critter should go in the trap eventually. I trapped 6 of them a couple years ago at around this time of year, when there was plenty of stuff to eat in my garden.

 

[ivinsfan]

It's worked for me, but he will need to fix the hole under the fence where the woodchuck is digging his way into the garden. Fill it in with gravel/rock, and add any additional reinforcing that is necessary. Then put the trap near that spot, and the critter should go in the trap eventually. I trapped 6 of them a couple years ago at around this time of year, when there was plenty of stuff to eat in my garden.

there is hope then, cantaloupe is very enticing to them.