How was your gardening season?

[CANOPY SAM]

Despite the unusual weather this year, ample early rain, cool early season, then long dry spell, coupled with intense heat, we've seen some of the best vegetable production we've ever had.

I think it's safe to say, even with the late planting of our gardens, that in many areas we are seeing bumper crops. Our Pontiac and Russet potatoes are showing fantastic yields of big healthy tubers (easily 5-7 lbs per plant). Our Tendersweet carrots are big and delicious. We couldn't even keep up with the bush and pole green beans. We were harvesting 5+ gallons per picking, and that was every few days during the peak of the harvest. Same with our cucs...10+ gallons of picklers every 3-5 days.

Although the berries came a tad early, and the harvest season didn't last long, we picked hundreds of gallons of big delicious strawberries and raspberries. By the end of September we'll be picking bushels of huge sweet apples, and juicy big plums.

I had some concerns about whether our sweet corn would make it this year with the lack of rain and intense heat during the primary production time, but we've had amazing sweet corn production, largely due to just enough rain at just the right time. Had the same concerns about pumpkins and squash, but I was pleasantly surprised the other day to find numerous really big pumpkins and abundant buttercup squash beneath the jungle of vines.

And tomatoes and peppers! Wow! We've had single green pepper plants pump out 20-25 big meaty fruits, and they're still going! We've put up 35 pints of salsa, 10 pints of spaghetti sauce, 10 half pints of pizza sauce, eaten dozens and dozens of fresh tomatoes, and you can't even tell we've harvested anything from the tomato plants yet!

I guess sometimes the weirdest weather will result in terrific gardens!?! One thing I did notice this year, the weather seems to have been very favorable for weed production as well. Man have I been fighting the weeds! Big healthy, vigorous plants that bolt to seed in only days! Hope to get all that wrapped up, and cultivated before the cold sets in.

I was really close to pulling the trigger on an irrigation system this year. I get a little nervous when it starts to get too dry...our soil really drains nicely, a little too quickly when it's too dry. Hard to believe, but I didn't water a single plant this year. Not one. Except for our bedding flowers. Those I had to water almost every other day, all summer long.

How was your garden production?

[smurfy]

I guess based on your avatars location you should have done well!! . I have mixed results. my peppers, both green and jalepeno stink. green peppers haven't produced enough to make even 1 batch of salsa. my kalarabi .....gotz lotz but they don't what to seem to bulb. the maters are doing OK. GREEN beans did good, cukes are good also. onions did not fare well either. kinda mixwd bag if good and crappy.

[CANOPY SAM]

Oh yea, and onions! I'm done with the onion sets you can buy in bags, even hand-selecting the best ones out of a big bin.

The last several years I've gone with nothing but live onion shoots. This year I was fortunate to find "candy hybrids" at a local nursery. A sweet white variety. I was a little nervous about these little shoots surviving this spring, so I did hand water these early shoots a few times to keep em' going. Every single little onion shoot survived!

What a payoff! I'd venture we grew 200+ onions all the size of softballs! One of my favorite things in the garden is fresh onions. We pickled 20 half pints, and 10 pints of onions a few weeks ago. These pickled onions are the SCHNITZEL! Throw in a little hot peppers, a little dill, and man oh man do they go great with pretty much anything!

[smurfy]

I bought some of each. last year I had great success with the shoots. this year not so much. I order them from a company in Wisconsin.

I have been hearing a black walnut tree can cause issues and I have one right by the garden.

I have different plans for onions next year....as well as giving growing garlic a whirl.........now that I be educated in garlic growing.

[smurfy]

I do some canning of pearl onions. throw in some thai chili peppers with it!!!!!!

[delcecchi]

Black walnut trees give off a substance that affects certain plants.

Quote:

The roots of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra L.) and Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) produce a substance known as juglone (5-hydroxy-alphanapthaquinone). Persian (English or Carpathian) walnut trees are sometimes grafted onto black walnut rootstocks. Many plants such as tomato, potato, blackberry, blueberry, azalea, mountain laurel, rhododendron, red pine and apple may be injured or killed within one to two months of growth within the root zone of these trees. The toxic zone from a mature tree occurs on average in a 50 to 60 foot radius from the trunk, but can be up to 80 feet. The area affected extends outward each year as a tree enlarges. Young trees two to eight feet high can have a root diameter twice the height of the top of the tree, with susceptible plants dead within the root zone and dying at the margins.

I thought Juglone was a person who was a fan of the band Insane Clown Posse.

[smurfy]

I googled it a while back and yea I think it was from ohio state university...........like 25 pages long of info.

never had anything DIE but lotz of not so good growing .

[harvey lee]

Peppers and Jalepenoe's have been abundant. I was a bit concerned about a couple tomato plants but we have been canning and freezing tomatoes for a few weeks now.

Biggest and nicest shaped tomato plants we have ever had. I could only hope next year or any other could produce this well.

Grape tomato plants were ok, had plenty to eat but we did not have to give them away like other years.

[Moose]

Cukes and beans were outrageous this year. I planted my onions in with the beans and they did really well. The squash are coming but not a lot of production. I do Tomatoes in pots and was kinda worried at fist with some blossom end rot but the second setting turned out well after I put some Epsom salt in the pots. Blueberries sucked only 4 berries on 2 plants and the birds ended up getting those only the second year on the plants so we'll see next year. Raspberries were OK but usually we do better on the fall harvest.I think I cut them down to far in the fall to get a good first harvest.

[JeremyCampbell]

Corn and tomatoes are not good but seems like the carrots and herbs did well.

[pushbutton]

Had a buch of small onions that I never got to last year, overwinter, so ended up with the biggest ones I have ever had. Planted the cucs and melons to early resulting in very poor germination and harvest. My peppers also took a beating, but while not great yields, they are maturing very well. Surprised how well the maters did....up to my eyeballs in them and did the salsa thing last week, and sauce/whole canning this upcoming weekend. That last heat spell really kicked the maturing into high gear. Great summer for the greens, except for spinach...can't figure that one out. Brassicas's are all doing well except for the green cabbage which am bummed about because picked up and old slaw crock that i was going to stink up the house with. Root crops are also doing great.....all in all a pretty good year.

[paceman]

Having a great year with the garden. It is only our 2nd year having one and it is a blast. My son and I spent a lot of time out there and we have been reaping the rewards. Lots of peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, cucs, tomatoes, squash, corn, Pumpkins are still going nuts. Only a few watermelons, cantelopes and the potatoes didn't really turn out. Have sunflowers that are 12' plus tall. Gardening is an awesome stress reliever!

[smurfy]

for the first time in a lot of years my carrots look like some little bug was chewing on them underground????????

[flipper]

Peas were good. With the cool July they were the gift that kept on giving.

Greens were very good and lasted late with the cool weather. Spinach was a bust.

Beets were excellent.

Onions were good.

Sweet corn was late but good.

Green Beans were very good.

Cucumbers sub par but got enough to make our pickles\

Peppers mostly turned out ok except the Bells were very poor.

Tomatoes are coming now, much later than average and I would say below my average yield.

Summer Squash turned out good

Pumpkins, Gourds, and Squash are doing ok but we have lost some plants due to the bugs.

Gardening was more of a challenge this year but still got lots of goodies.

[KEN W]

My season was so-so.Good but late tomatoes,cole crops,cantalope,berries,and corn.Watermelons were a bust this year.To cold.Same for peppers,and green beans.Potatoes developed blight and died back early.Onions were planted to late to size up.

[jentz]

Our garden which looked like a failure in June July has run amok with most everything.We had rain when needed until Aug.Just picked the second planting of corn and canned it,Made Chili yesterday from garden maters,onions,celery,bok choy,Poblano peppers,Anahimes.With oregano,cumin,cilantro seed.Got 9 quarts and tomorrow plan on 12 quarts a spaghetti sauce.80 pepper plants now the drying begins for paprica,Anchos and all the winter treats!

Failure to almost excellant!!

[delcecchi]

Canned Corn? Isn't that Catfish bait?

[smurfy]

my peppers where a bust.....both the jalepeno and green bells. pulled the plants last nite. cukes appear to be nearing the end also.

[Dotch]

Gardening season? Mixed bag and still ongoing. With soils unfit in April, 15" of snow between May 2nd and 3rd then water standing on the main garden until mid June, we got off to a shaky start. Some things have done surprisingly well despite the late planting dates. Some notes from this planting season:

Green beans - tremendous. Planted late June. Lost track of production after 10 gallons. Sweet corn - planted June 30th. Sucked. Early maturing variety, emerged well, put N on and we looked good in July. Poor pollination, leaf rust, earworm and lack of moisture in August doomed this crop. Fortunately there are a few thousand acres nearby. Tomatoes - late but coming on. Responded well to no till. Old fashioned yellow pears are 6' tall. Great flavor on Celebrity and Super Fantastic, not huge fruit, but did I mention there are 30+ plants? Winter squash - a bust. Did not respond well to no till. Squash vine borer and lack of rain toasted most of them. Zucchini - Never had a crop failure and this year was no exception. Cukes - getting more and more but having insect issues. Sprayed for cucumber beetle and corn rootworm adults that can't seem to leave the cukes themselves or their flowers alone. I hate chrysomelids! Late summer radishes - Awesome! Planted late July. Caught the last July rain and cool weather just right. Crisp, not woody or pithy, nice bite to them. Late summer leaf lettuce - Another home run! For laughs I planted more spring-type radishes and lettuce August 31. Spotty emergence on some lettuce varieties but radishes look great so far. Snap peas - Planted late July, the Cascadia's are looking good. Flowered like mad through the heat thanks to my watering efforts. Appear to be setting lots of pods. Keep the powdery mildew away and we should be golden. Winter radishes - Looking good. Planted late July. Sampled one of the Dragon hybrids. Wicked heat! Mouth still numb the next morning. Red Meats are large and the daikon type is coming on. Some cooler weather now should help sweeten them up.

The main things are we've had plenty to eat, lots to share, and we're not done.

[mrklean]

This was my first year gardening and i was really happy green beans were awesome, blueberries were better then i thouht they would be, green pepers were ok nothing special cucumbers are still going strong.

[CANOPY SAM]

I'm going to have to start doing more really late plantings of cucs and beans. We had fantastic production this year, even without bee hives on our property, but everything was pretty well wrapped up by mid-August. I'd like to still be picking fresh beans and cucs that aren't overgrown and woody.

Wow Dotch, you really like those radishes, huh? You lost me at Old Fashioned yellow pears 6' tall....30+ plants? Does this mean a pear orchard with 30+ trees?

[pushbutton]

I always tell myself am going to do more late planting, but when it comes time to actually do it, the bugs are out, its hot, weeds are everywhere .....and I don't do it

Old fashioned pear:

[harvey lee]

Wife canned another 18 quarts last night and now we are nearing the 50 quart mark and we still have many tomatoes in the garden.

Guess now it is time to make a few batches of salsa as we still have alot of green peppers and ton'e of Jalepenoes.

I picked 70 more Jalepenoes this am and the plants still have dozens left.

Time to make some Jalepeno's with creamed cheese and bacon wrapped for the smoker. man, I can make a meal out of these.

Cut the jalepeno length ways in half, take out the seeds, fill like a boiat with creamed cheese and then wrap with a half slice of bacon.

Then in the smoker for approx 45 minutes, and I finish them off on the grill for about 15 minutes to crisp up the bacon.

The are not hot at all but still have the jalepeno taste.

[Dotch]

Sweet pic pushbutton! Those are them. A lunchbox favorite in the fall when I'm soil sampling. I counted tomato plants last nite and there are 37. I get the leftovers from the greenhouse that are going to get dumped, hence the relatively large number.

Yeah Sam, a friend got me started on the winter radish thing a few years ago. Little did I know that it would include the daikon type that are being sold for a cover crop as "tillage radishes" this year on prevented plant acres. I gained some knowledge about growing them more by accident than design. I tried planting spring type radishes the first time last year in late summer. I had several packs that went unplanted in the spring and there was info about it on the packages. I was pleased with the results. They also worked well in my lunchbox. My yard and garden not to mention my innards have become a laboratory of sorts. I'm a real scream in a boat after I've been eating winter radishes and drinking beer. Luckily I can swim.

[smurfy]

ive tried planting radishes for fall. DOTCH, can you explain more about this winter radish thing? are these a different radish seed then the ones you plant right away in the spring.?