Gardening 2024 - Whatcha got going on this year?

[Kent88]

Haskap berries are quite popular with wildlife. I noticed an immature robin hanging around our mature bush. The branches are still pretty thin to handle that chonky bird, but it's held so far.

 

[Dland]

The annual question, how best to enjoy/use appox a half pound of fresh picked garlic scapes?

 

[day_trippr]

Those are killer in a stir fry! Tons of recipes out there...

Cheers!

 

[hottpeper13]

I let some get a bigger seed end then put in a paper bag and into the veg drawer in my kegerator set to 38*. In Feb when the stored garlic is going a slight green I do a low olive oil poach until there golden (garlic comfy). At this time the scapes have sucked up all the juice from the stem and the seeds grow to popcorn size with no paper. They're tiny bursts of spicy garlic and can be used every where.
Also they lacto ferment very well and last a long time. At present time my salads get 2 minced every day, because if you ain't forcefully expelling lettuce from your backside you're not eating enough.

 

[Agent]

Bag them in the beer fridge and totally forget about them for a month or two. Then use four or five in some eggs, feed one to your kid, and forget them in the fridge for another month until they finally start to decay.

 

[Deadalus]

Besides stir fry, I like scapes in home fries. Last year I beer battered them like onion rings.

 

[VApatriot]

Here's where we are this morning. I'm afraid I need to go buy 8' tomato stakes for the cherry tomatoes. They're all heirloom/indeterminate, started from seed. We have: Hillbilly, Pole Beef Stake, Purple Cherokee, Brandywine, Dad's Sunset, Marmond Garnier Rouge, Sungold Cherry, Chocolate Cherry, and Jelly Bean Cherry. Lots of peppers (only 2 are store bought), 3 kinds of egg plants, 3 types of zucchini and spaghetti squash, and a bunch of melons she wanted to try.

 

[whoaru99]

Speaking of tomatos, have a couple about ripe for picking.

Any old wives tales or facts if there is best time of day / conditions to harvest for best flavor?

 

[Rodent]

Speaking of tomatos, have a couple about ripe for picking.

Any old wives tales or facts if there is best time of day / conditions to harvest for best flavor?

I find maters always taste best if picked fully vine-ripened when I'm hungry

once tomato season hits, I'm usually guilty of strolling the vines moments before dinner to see what's ripe and ready. those get snagged and eaten within an hour or two.

 

[whoaru99]

Did a bit of browsing. Seems there is fair opinion they are best picked in the morning before heat of the day starts to pick up.

 

[corkybstewart]

We're in France this spring/summer so my garden is here-my house sitter has eaten all the asparagus and onions that come up every year in NM. As a first time gardener over here I got tons of advice from my inlaws who all have gardens. In my style I ignored most of it. Everyone told me to wait until May 15th to plant, that's the traditional "last freeze". Understanding that global climate change is real, and with my ability to look at longer term forecasts, my garden was planted before the end of April. As a result of my impatience, we are already eating cayenne peppers, zukes and within a few days we'll have tomatoes. My beets are doing great, bell peppers and eggplant have fruit but are a ways from producing. Unfortunately we had to go back to the states for a month to deal with a medical emergency so when we got back my spinach had bolted and gone to seed, and freaking weeds from hell have taken over. BUT, my inlaws are just now getting flowers on their plants so I'm gonna look like a genius when I start sharing tomatoes with them next week.

 

[Deadalus]

Using the longer range weather forecasts is reasonable, like 14 days is fine in my opinion. It is getting warmer and all but a freeze is more of a singular event so I would be cautious about moving it too far early without auxillary information like the forecast. Good sources also break up the percentage frost chance by 10% increments too, allows a better risk assessment. I wanted to do it too myself this year but I was recovering from surgery. My tomatoes and peppers wouldn't have been big enough but I would have cukes by now perhaps.

 

[Kent88]

 

[Kent88]

My black currants are mostly rotting near the ground. Apparently ribes need support. I have collected about half a gallon of good berries so far, which I'm storing in a Ziploc in the freezer.

I don't really know what to do with them. They aren't going to fit in with any fermentation plans I have. I tried plain currant jam a couple years ago and it was fine, but I wasn't wild about it. Are there any other fruits it jams well with?

 

[corkybstewart]

We're harvesting tomatoes daily, but no zukes yet. We have lots of cayenne, but no bell peppers yet. Out of a 50' row of carrots I had about a dozen germinate so I replanted last week. We had to make an emergency trip back to the States, while we were gone the spinach got ready, bolted and went to seed. So I'll harvest the seed for next spring. We're taking care of a brother-in-law's garden across the street while they spend a month at their beach house. He has plenty of zukes, but only a few green tomatoes, and today we'll eat the last of his artichokes.

 

[corkybstewart]

View attachment 851325

The annual question, how best to enjoy/use appox a half pound of fresh picked garlic scapes?

This is the first time I've ever heard of scapes. Can I do the same with chives and other onion type plants?

 

[Rodent]

Squeezed in a bit of gardening time before work this morning ...

We’ve been above 100F for daily highs for over a week now, with 105-108F for our high the past three days. ‘Artwork’ broccoli is really shining and living up to its advertised ability to withstand high temps without bolting. Exposure is full sun from sunrise to sunset, so these are getting blasted full-on every afternoon in the hot sun. Heads and side shoots are tender and super tasty, even when harvested during our hot spell. I’ll grow this variety again next year for sure.

p.s. the white powder is the BT dust I applied on Sunday. It has eliminated all signs of those pesky green worms, and is harmless to all but soft bodied garden pests


(edit: fixed the variety name to 'Artwork' from what I had incorrectly listed as 'Art Work')

 

[Deadalus]

Squeezed in a bit of gardening time before work this morning ...

We’ve been above 100F for daily highs for over a week now, with 105-108F for our high the past three days. ‘Art Work’ broccoli is really shining and living up to its advertised ability to withstand high temps without bolting. Exposure is full sun from sunrise to sunset, so these are getting blasted full-on every afternoon in the hot sun. Heads and side shoots are tender and super tasty, even when harvested during our hot spell. I’ll grow this variety again next year for sure.

View attachment 852753

View attachment 852754

View attachment 852755

p.s. the white powder is the BT dust I applied on Sunday. It has eliminated all signs of those pesky green worms, and is harmless to all but soft bodied garden pests

Very nice, that's great as far as bolting. I always have trouble with that. I haven't timed my planting well enough for cooler temps. Do you do anything special for increasing head diameter? I think it's generally the heat or variety but mine are never large. I've been increasing spacing too but have approached a limit due to keeping all brassica types in one bed since I use row cover too. I use BT too but those butterflies are relentless here!

 

[Rodent]

Very nice, that's great as far as bolting. I always have trouble with that. I haven't timed my planting well enough for cooler temps. Do you do anything special for increasing head diameter? I think it's generally the heat or variety but mine are never large. I've been increasing spacing too but have approached a limit due to keeping all brassica types in one bed since I use row cover too. I use BT too but those butterflies are relentless here!

I actually planted about two weeks later than I planned to this year, so imagine 'Artwork' would produce even larger heads if given a bit more time to set up house before the warm weather started knocking.

I tried a couple broccoli plants from Home Depot last year, but they never did anything given we go from last killer freeze in late May to daytime highs in the mid 80s within a couple weeks. This winter I read an article from a local Master Gardener who noted she was having solid success with a couple 'heat tolerant' varieties (but she never named what they were), and that got me scouring seed companies to see what was available.

All I've done is get my soil pH down from 8.2 to 6.5, amend the raised row with organics, peat, and Maple leaves I composted after shredding them with a mulching mower. I water via soaker hoses along the row daily (2-3x daily in our current heat wave with ultra-hard well water) and use diluted liquid fish fertilizer every other weekend. Dusted with BT last week after finding several green worms crawling on the leaves. O, and harvest before the flowers swell too far (and then become bitter)

I saw one plant start showing signs of bolting earlier today, but all of the others are happy as can be.

Definitely need to increase spacing between plants next year on both the broccoli and squashes (heat tolerant varieties of green and yellow zucchini + a bush version of Delicata) Since getting the soil Ph adjusted to slightly acidic, everything is growing like mad. Amazing what this simple (and often overlooked part) done for the good this year. The maters planted at the end of May are already larger than they grew the entirety of last year, and the melons have overrun to where I need to start pruning lest they escape down the retaining wall and into the driveway.

 

[Rodent]

I actually planted about two weeks later than I planned to this year, so imagine 'Art Work' would produce even larger heads if given a bit more time to set up house before the warm weather started knocking.

I tried a couple broccoli plants from Home Depot last year, but they never did anything given we go from last killer freeze in late May to daytime highs in the mid 80s within a couple weeks. This winter I read an article from a local Master Gardener who noted she was having solid success with a couple 'heat tolerant' varieties (but she never named what they were), and that got me scouring seed companies to see what was available.

All I've done is get my soil pH down from 8.2 to 6.5, amend the raised row with organics, peat, and Maple leaves I composted after shredding them with a mulching mower. I water via soaker hoses along the row daily (2-3x daily in our current heat wave with ultra-hard well water) and use diluted liquid fish fertilizer every other weekend. Dusted with BT last week after finding several green worms crawling on the leaves. O, and harvest before the flowers swell too far (and then become bitter)

I saw one plant start showing signs of bolting earlier today, but all of the others are happy as can be.

Definitely need to increase spacing between plants next year on both the broccoli and squashes (heat tolerant varieties of green and yellow zucchini + a bush version of Delicata) Since getting the soil Ph adjusted to slightly acidic, everything is growing like mad. Amazing what this simple (and often overlooked part) done for the good this year. The maters planted at the end of May are already larger than they grew the entirety of last year, and the melons have overrun to where I need to start pruning lest they escape down the retaining wall and into the driveway.

just saw that I misspelled the broccoli variety name - it's 'Artwork' and not 'Art Work' My prior posts were edited and now have this error corrected.

I also have a couple plants of 'Lieutenant' that is heat tolerant and holding up ok. it has decent heads still, but is not as outstanding as the 'Artwork'

 

[Dland]

This is the first time I've ever heard of scapes. Can I do the same with chives and other onion type plants?

Probably you can. The main purpose of harvesting, or removing the scapes is so the plant puts more energy into the garlic bulb instead of flowering. If one does not remove the scapes, garlic cloves tend to be quite a bit smaller. This probably would apply to other aliums grown for their bulbs or cloves, if typically they are harvested after time they would normally flower.

 

[VApatriot]

here's a couple casper the friendly eggplants.

 

[corkybstewart]

My first 100% garden salad of the season. Lettuce, tomatoes, chives, and basil. Dressing is my wife's homemade vinaigrette.

 

[Rodent]

Catching some of the last apricots of the season in a batch of jam. I had zero apricots this year due to the few blooms on my young trees getting hit with a killer freeze the day after they were in full bloom, so these five pounds of Robada apricots are from a neighbor's tree.

Aren't they gorgeous?! Robada apricots are my favorite for their color, flavor, and enormous size. These were cleaned up and coarsely diced

then mashed with a BHPM*

Add sugar, lemon juice, and pectin, bring to a boil, and jar for hot water bath canning. I got 10ea 1/2 pint jars of scrumptious apricot jam plus a bit extra that I had on muffins for breakfast this morning.

The color is just outstanding, and thanks to the BHPM it has an excellent consistency with chunks of apricot goodness.

Sadly this is the only apricot jam I'll make this year. Hopefully the weather is better during flowering time next year and there's more apricot jam to be made.

*Big Honkin Potato Masher (BHPM)

 

[Rodent]

Broccoli harvest this morning.

Not pictured is an equally generous harvest of tender secondary side shoots/heads.

I continue to be impressed with the 'Artwork' F1 hybrid and its ability to perform like a champ with close to three weeks straight of daily highs at/above 100F. So far only one plant has shown early signs of bolting, and those where I previously harvested the initial main crown are loaded with tender secondary side heads (aka Broccolini)

I'm going to start seeds in Aug in anticipation of planting a crop that will mature in time for a Fall harvest.

 

[Kent88]

When my in-laws built a new house I planted a few things in their yard, including 3 apple trees. I know they say that you shouldn't expect anything for the first 5 years, but they still looked underwhelming after that. I started giving them fertilizer spikes in the spring and it seems to have helped one in particular.

 

[Agent]

Being gone for nearly two weeks during peak growing season is fun to see the progress, except for the sheer dread of overwhelming weeding.

The sunflowers have made the ultimate sacrifice so the pumpkins and corn could approach maturity in the deer food plot.

Beans and cukes are starting to come on hot and heavy.

 

[corkybstewart]

I have a question for you gardening experts. Over the past month my zukes have quit producing edible fruit. My BIL across the street has the same problem, and a sister in law from the other side of France is experiencing it. The fruits get about 4 inches long, then turn yellow and fall off. All three of us had a decent harvest going until recently-we just finished the last of our good zukes. One of my plants has a fruit that's still healthy at a slightly larger size so maybe it's a temporary aberration and we'll all get back to having too many zukes.
Is anyone familiar with this problem and have solution?

 

[day_trippr]

Haven't run into that problem, though we only just enjoyed our first cuke (and first summer squashes) yesterday.
With all the rain we had early this summer everything seems to be running slow. Zukes may be another week or so...

 

[Rodent]

I have a question for you gardening experts. Over the past month my zukes have quit producing edible fruit. My BIL across the street has the same problem, and a sister in law from the other side of France is experiencing it. The fruits get about 4 inches long, then turn yellow and fall off. All three of us had a decent harvest going until recently-we just finished the last of our good zukes. One of my plants has a fruit that's still healthy at a slightly larger size so maybe it's a temporary aberration and we'll all get back to having too many zukes.
Is anyone familiar with this problem and have solution?

how is the soil and it's moisture level?

curious if there's possibility it's either blossom end rot or a symptom of overwatering