Gardens 2012

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I planted both of them Saturday. I started to take pics, but the batteries dies. I'll get some up soon. Here is what is planted.

Raised bed garden
Tomatoes- 1 Celebrity 1 German Johnson 1 Mr. Stripey 1 Brandywine.

4 Habanero pepper plants and decided to try a Ghost pepper plant.

I have a 5 foot long hill with pickling cucumber seeds and will be putting a small trellis behind them. 50 sweet corn seeds also. My over 60 onions are doing well also.

In ground garden.
Each tomato variety has 4 plants each. Early Girl, Beefsteak, grape, Rutgers, and a yellow kind I can't think of the name of.
2 kinds of slicing cucumbers.
3 kinds of sweet peppers.
50 feet of potatoes, Pontiac red and Yukon gold.
planted 30 pole bean seeds (Kentucky wonder).
1 Zuchinni
1 yellow straightneck squash.
3 Gold Star cantaloupe plants in a hill and 2 hills of Hales best seeds.

[OJ (Original Junkie).]

Gonna try and get mine planted this weekend. Was too busy opening the pool and cutting trees over the weekend to do it.

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This is a row of the Walla Walla onions (Cooper on lookout)


Closeup of the bulbs forming. I thought I planted shallow, but not enough so I had to dig around them. From what I've read, you get bigger onions if they are exposed and only the roots are under soil.


Tomatoes in the back. From left to right- Celebrity, German Johnson, Mr. Stripey, and Brandywine.


Closeup of a German Johnson tomato. Supposed to go over a pound.


Bhut Jolokia aka Ghost Pepper


One of the 4 Habaneros


Hill of around 20 pickling cucumbers. The trellis will go behind the hill.


Yesterday I decided I needed to plant a watermelon plant in the middle of my corn. Ended up with 3 Crimson Sweet watermelon plants in the pot for 79 cents.


Now for the other garden. Slicing cucumbers


Sweet and Jalapeno peppers with a few tomatoes infront


Glod Star Cantaloupe


Squash and zuke


More tomatoes (Rutgers, cherry, Big Beef, and a yellow kind)


First time growing Potatoes. Yukon Gold and Pontiac Red


2 Falls ago I planted garlic and harvested last summer. Apparently I missed some of the smaller ones and they are growing again.


I didn't even bother showing my bean plants. Just like last year there is something eating the roots of them after they pop up for a few days. Once they are dead I pull them out and there is no roots left. Also, something is eating holes in the leaves and the cukes too. I can't find what is doing it so I'm going to check after dark with a flashlight. I'm guessing cucumber beetle.

[OJ (Original Junkie).]

I got a rabbit I have to deal with. little bastard ate one okra plant and all of my brocolli. He's good as dead.

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At least he ate the crap out of the garden. ;D. Live trap him and then take care of him. May be a groundhog too.

[OJ (Original Junkie).]

Nah, its a rabbit, tracks all over the garden.

[woodeye]

How often do you water your garden? I don't want to over/under water.

[OJ (Original Junkie).]

I've been watering mine every other evening the past few days. Once the plants are established i cut back because more water means more weeds.

[SPLASH]

Yup, you want the soil moist for the first 2-3 weeks after planting so the roots can grow and expand both out and down. After that they will tell you when they need a drink. Look for droopy leaves, if they are drooping they need a drink. Don't go by drooping in the heat of the day though, some plants like tomatoes and peppers will droop during hot days, but perk back up as the sun goes down.

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My potato plants grew about a foot taller since the last photos so today I hilled them up. In a couple more weeks I will do it again.
First I dug a trench a foot deep, loosened the soil at the bottom and pushed the cut side of my seed potato into the soil. I covered them with 4" of soil. about 2 weeks later I had plants emerging. The idea is to keep covereing the stems (and leaves, no big deal) with soil and you will get more potatoes that way. When I am finished with hilling them after the next round, the hills will be a foot above the ground. Hoping for a lot of potatoes. I planted 3 1/2 pounds of each variety and hoping for 24 pounds of patatoes of each. That would give me a 8-1 return ratio and I'd call that a success for the first time growing them. Best I have heard on the garden forum from down south is an 18-1 ratio.
I have tomatoes starting on the big heirloom varieties in the raised bed and the vines were just about to lean so I put 54" cages on them. I may build the pickling cuke trellis tomorrow. They won't need it for atleast another week or so though.
I'm struggling with my corn and cantaloupe seeds. The corn came up pretty good, but each row sprouted 5-8 plants instead of 10. I have replanted in hopes of having 10 per row. The corn patch looks horrible with weeds because I don't want to get in there and pack down the soil until all plants sprout. My cantaloupe plant I bought is doing ok. It's a little on the light color side for my liking, but I have quite a few male flowers. Once the female flowers appear, I will start fertilizing with bone meal to promote more female flowers and fruit development and hopefully the leaves will darken. The 2 hills I planted seeds in sprouted no plants. I think they were bad seeds. Too late to reseed those.
The bean saga continues. Something is eating the leaves, but the few that have grown a little taller are doing ok. I planted 8 seeds in cups. Hopefully they sprout and I can transplant them after they get some good roots on them.
Looking for Woodeye to update his garden thread.

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A week or so ago I noticed I lost a pickling cuke plant. Not died, lost! Just a hole where it once was. I figured it was chipmunks again.
Yesterday morning I was coming back from Home Depot from buying my supplies to build the trellis and I saw the chipmunk in there and it ran off with a cuke plant in it's mouth. "Bastard"!
A short time later I came out of the garage to go and weed some in the garden when I heard noises coming from inside the metal downsprout where it curves from the downspout of the eaves and comes out to the grass. I knew it was the chipmunk in there. I ran and got a block of wood from the garage and blocked the end of the pipe. I had to go and get a camera person to video it. I pulled the pipe off and quickly dumped the bastard into a trash can.
YUP, it was the cuke thief! He now resides about a mile away. ;D

[ScoutB]

You let him live?

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Women!

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I measured the height of my 4 tomato plants in the raised bed.

German Johnson- 35"
Mr. Stripey- 33"
Brandywine- 30"
Celebrity- 27"

I have fruits on all and 3-4 clusters on them. I will start a new thread about tomato plant pruning.

I'm very happy to see my Watermelon plants in the corn patch are finally growing. The leaves have greened up and vines are shooting out. First male flower yesterday. I fertilized with bone meal mid last week and will again end of this week. I simply pour the powder around the plants and scuff up the soil so it isn't exposed and then water with the soaker hose for a couple hours. Bone meal is more P than N and promotes blossoms.
Largest corn is a couple inches shy of my knee, pickling cuke plants are growing great and should be reaching the netting on the trellis in the next week.

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Cantaloupe and radishes in the front.



Nice size sweet pepper for that plant.



Potato tops after being hilled about a foot.