What did you do in the garden today?

[Bugseye]

Nicely done! It looks great.

 

[Rostercogbern]

Thanks Bugseye the first garden I ever planted but enjoying ever but of it

 

[AlHawk]

Peredovic BOSS blooming. I didn't know it but these sunflowers are multiple bloomers. These three have 2-3 more small flower buds on them lower on the stalk. That was a surprise but the extra seeds will be great! Also, the size is smaller than I expected at only 3'-4'. Label said "grows tall". Four feet isn't tall when your from the Midwest (KS & MO) and the sunflowers are 8-10' tall. Still grateful for them.


Harvesting tons of Peppers and Tomatoes. Many of my tomatoes are splitting open and I don't know why. Some are also rotting on the vine. Never had this problem before. I'm thinking it MAY be because of all the rain we've had this past week. My garden is remarkably devoid of pests except for Mockingbirds who love ripe tomatoes.

 

[lazy gardener]

I just love seeing all of the pics of folks gardens! Beautiful. Nothing more relaxing than being in a garden. Unless it's cuddling a sleeping baby. Or squeezing a puppy with oh so soft fur and that new puppy smell. Or stroking a purring cat. Or smelling the fresh air on a rainy day. Or....

 

[Bugseye]

Yes, AlHawk, I'd guess the rain if it were my garden. I'm curious to see what's happening in my garden with all this flooding rain. It's too early up here for tomatoes, and even my peas are dragging along. I do want to harvest some spinach, lettuce and yokatta na, even though they're still small. And yes, LG, you've covered most of my relaxation bases.

 

[pattyhen]

Let me first state that if I was a farmer we would starve to death and lose the farm in no time at all. I started my tomatoe plants indoors and also watermelon and cantelopes. I did everything the directions said to do. They all come up I had no problem there. Then they just stood there and stopped growing. I mixed some fertilizer half strength and put that on them. Nope that didn't work. I must say we had lots of days with rain and no sunshine so that might have been a factor in the stunted growth. When we finally did get some sunshine I put the midgets out in the shade. Lots of the plants laid over and never stood back up again then dried up. The watermelons died first then the cantelopes bit the dust. I had two remaining tomatoe plants that were 3 inches tall survive. They were over a month old and still were that size. Well I almost gave up on those and bought 4 tomatoe plants. I put two of them behind two fences so my chickens and ducks could not get to. I planted and mulched and they looked so good. The next day I went out and I now have 2 sticks sticking up from the mulch. Something ate all the leaves off the two plants and I now have sticks. Good thing I planted the other two plants in a big flower planter on my patio. These two are still surviving and I also put the 2 midget plants that I started in with them. They are still standing also.

Yesterday I put some epson salts around the two stick tomatoe plants thinking that whatever ate the leaves may not like the salt. Who knows they might just take off and grow more leaves but I'm not counting on it. I'll still water the sticks and hope they grow.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Let me first state that if I was a farmer we would starve to death and lose the farm in no time at all.  I started my tomatoe plants indoors and also watermelon and cantelopes.  I did everything the directions said to do.  They all come up I had no problem there.  Then they just stood there and stopped growing.  I mixed some fertilizer half strength and put that on them.  Nope that didn't work.  I must say we had lots of days with rain and no sunshine so that might have been a factor in the stunted growth.  When we finally did get some sunshine I put the midgets out in the shade.  Lots of the plants laid over and never stood back up again then dried up.  The watermelons died first then the cantelopes bit the dust.  I had two remaining tomatoe plants that were 3 inches tall survive.  They were over a month old and still were that size.  Well I almost gave up on those and bought 4 tomatoe plants.  I put two of them behind two fences so my chickens and ducks could not get to.  I planted and mulched and they looked so good.  The next day I went out and I now have 2 sticks sticking up from the mulch.  Something ate all the leaves off the two plants and I now have sticks.  Good thing I planted the other two plants in a big flower planter on my patio.  These two are still surviving and I also put the 2 midget plants that I started in with them.  They are still standing also.  

Yesterday I put some epson salts around the two stick tomatoe plants thinking that whatever ate the leaves may not like the salt.  Who knows they might just take off and grow more leaves but I'm not counting on it.  I'll still water the sticks and hope they grow.  

If you can get cedar shavings, that may help with your bug problem. Cedar is a natural bug repellent. Planting Marigolds may help too, that is what I am trying this year.
My largest problem right now is it us the end of May and I am still dealing with frost. I just lost all my lovely bean plants to a 37° cold snap :/

 

[lazy gardener]

Let me first state that if I was a farmer we would starve to death and lose the farm in no time at all. I started my tomatoe plants indoors and also watermelon and cantelopes. I did everything the directions said to do. They all come up I had no problem there. Then they just stood there and stopped growing. I mixed some fertilizer half strength and put that on them. Nope that didn't work. I must say we had lots of days with rain and no sunshine so that might have been a factor in the stunted growth. When we finally did get some sunshine I put the midgets out in the shade. Lots of the plants laid over and never stood back up again then dried up. The watermelons died first then the cantelopes bit the dust. I had two remaining tomatoe plants that were 3 inches tall survive. They were over a month old and still were that size. Well I almost gave up on those and bought 4 tomatoe plants. I put two of them behind two fences so my chickens and ducks could not get to. I planted and mulched and they looked so good. The next day I went out and I now have 2 sticks sticking up from the mulch. Something ate all the leaves off the two plants and I now have sticks. Good thing I planted the other two plants in a big flower planter on my patio. These two are still surviving and I also put the 2 midget plants that I started in with them. They are still standing also.

Yesterday I put some epson salts around the two stick tomatoe plants thinking that whatever ate the leaves may not like the salt. Who knows they might just take off and grow more leaves but I'm not counting on it. I'll still water the sticks and hope they grow.

Dig around the base of those tomato plants, and see if you find any cutworms. Some cutworms chew off at ground level, others shinny up the stem and eat the leaves. Any slime on the leaves? That would indicate slugs.

 

[pattyhen]

Thanks for the tips I will get some cedar and put around the sticks. There are no leaves left on the plants to check for slime. They ate all the leaves but I can check around the plants and see if I see any worms.

I do have some success with my lettuce I forgot to mention. I bought those seed tapes and put those in two planters. The first try got flooded out and none come up. I planted again these were coming up real good. My chicken jumped on one of the planters and knocked the whole thing over. I did salvage a few and replanted but the other pot is doing well. It's about 4 inches tall now it's leaf lettuce.

We also had problems with our yard. We have ducks and chickens running around the yard. We had no grass what so ever. My husband planted 160 pounds of grass seed. We put the ducks in the back yard I think they were the problem. They were rooting in the mud and digging up all the grass. We finally have grass except for the back yard where the ducks are. We cut the grass for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The chickens did eat a lot of the grass seed as my husband was throwing it out but it survived. There are a few bare spots but not many.

 

[TerryH]

We do the double whammy. We plant marigolds in the tomato rows and use cedar much for all the walkways in the garden. Still have to fight the bugs occasionally but not as bad as it once was. Apparently we live in the bug capitol of planet earth.