Gardening Gardening

Fortunately?
Un-Fortunately...

 

No, I believe she meant Fortunately - keeps har from getting them too often.

 

Is there such a thing?

 

Right now there is an ice cream trailer in town operating for the summer and it has been our downfall.

 

Had to do a quality control check today on the next patch of corn. PASSED! LOL. FYI today is national buttered corn day.

 

Tomatoes have been good here too, the brandywine variety I grew is taking a while to ripen though. Both those and the cherry variety got so big the plants keep flopping over in the wind. I pruned them a lot throughout July, but eventually gave up. Now I just let 'em flop over and they just keep producing.

 

Woo! My soil must be prime for melons.

 

Same here with the beefsteaks.
They were 6' tall then broke over the cages

 

Yeah I dunno what I did "right" with them this year, maybe all new soil/compost but the other gardeners I know and some neighbors both complained of tomatoes not doing well this year. My response was basically "...yeaaahhh..."

 

Mine were new boxes filled with shredded topsoil with compost added and topped with composted manure from Big Orange Box Store.
The Roma tomatoes are in the old boxes that were built/filled the same way 8 years ago and the last couple years topped with wood chips from tree service.
Miss Judy just picked 30 more pounds of romas last night for sauce today. (Thats 55 pounds in 2 weeks from 9 plants and i think we'll get one more picking like that next week)

 

That's pretty a lot. Hope your helping her.

 

Hit the pumpkin/gourd patch today. Getting ready for the big Labor day auction Tuesday. Gonna be raining tomorrow so I can get them washed inside.

 

I probably missed it in this giant thread but what does your winter squash setup look like? Are you in a big open field or raised beds? Any tips on required nutrients? I have a handful of atlantic giants and festival squash but most things are coming out smaller than I would have liked. The Jack-be-littles are even a little small...

 

Ok all this ice cream talk got me. I'll be having some shortly.

I wanted to update everyone that I found double bubble chewing gum and deployed some at the groundhogs hole. I also got a bunch of tomatoes from the garden. I'll have to do a batch of canning tomorrow. I'll just peel, chunk, and throw some fresh oregano, thyme, and garlic in each can. I haven't done this in a couple of years, so I'll have to double check how to can safely.

 

Same happened here. Luckily some of my mater's flopped against the wood pile so not all flopped over.
How do you prevent this?

 

yes, each night after dinner, off we go to the ice cream trailer. Boss doesn't think ice cream breaks for 1/2 hr in the afternoon are very productive.

 

Big field. The Atlantic Giants Require lots of space. 100-150 square feet per plant to get large fruit. Lots of water. Usually people will pick off all but one pumpkin per plant to get big ones. I usually broadcast several hundred lbs. of triple 15 fert per acre. My acorn squash are looking good this year. I didn't plant JBL's this year but a variety called Bumpkin which is slightly bigger. I think the seed co goofed up because I got mostly JBL's in my patch.

 

Trim the indeterminate plants like beefsteak and 4th of July. Romas are determinate plants, they only get to 4'

 

I've gone to all determinate plants. Fit the cages better. Only the grape tomatoes are indeterminate.