What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

I never have. This might be the first year I do; they're getting pretty big and bushy, and I have a lot of plants.

So... um.... how do you prune tomatoes?

 

[NewBoots]

Does anyone not pinch or prune tomatoes?

I trim back the crazy growth on the indeterminates (especially the cherry types) late in the season when it's clear it's too late to produce anything before the weather gets too chilly. I planted my determinants first this year and they don't get pinched or pruned at all, but the indeterminates will get pinched back until they're too far ahead of any real chance for control.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

It looks very nice, you guys did a great job.

@karenerwin, welcome back!

View attachment 3155256
This is DP's big pond made from a stock tank.

These are various shots of this years beds:
View attachment 3155258
View attachment 3155259
View attachment 3155260
More garden with our sweet Penny.

View attachment 3155261



And does anyone know what this plant is? The bush it forms is a good 6' tall or more but those flowers are only about 3/4 of an inch long? They're all over around here and Picture This can't identify them.
View attachment 3155262

It’s a type of butterfly bush. Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds love it. However, it’s a bit invasive.

 

[Sally PB]

Thanks for the info! I'll be pinching off a bunch of suckers tomorrow.

 

[WthrLady]

Shade cloth posts are all up, the anchors are all on.
I need to roll out the cloth and still make the wire chain that holds them to the turnbuckles, but that has to wait a tad. I MUST cool off. Not a hint of wind. (SO perfect for putting up cloth.) It's like being an ant under a magnifying glass out there and the pollen. Grrrrrr.

 

[Sueby]

I feel like I try hard to keep them (the indeterminates) pruned but they get out of hand very quickly. I do keep the bottoms trimmed to keep blight away. I also top them & pull any flowers at the end of the season to ripen what's there.

I have surprise tomatoes come up every year somewhere. Kind of a grab bag if I let them go to see what I end up with.
FEED IT FEED IT !

That's how I get my sungolds every year - volunteers from last years plants that got out of hand.

Hey raised bed fans.
Saw these on craigslist this morning. ($25 each!!)
View attachment 3158499

I would love a couple of those for $25!

 

[Acre4Me]

Tomatoes: I wait until they reach the tops of the cages and then start to trim the bottoms for airflow. If they are on bare dirt, clip off any that touch the ground whenever they touch the ground, bc it can spread disease. I try to keep track of what is determinate or not -some aren’t obvious. Do not do much trimming on a determinate, it will curtail your yields, but bottom branches removed does help airflow. You can practically hack some indeterminates to the ground and they be nearly as big again in a week or so, but, I don’t recommend that course of action, bc you would wait longer for tomatoes.

 

[TJAnonymous]

My mother taught me to prune the bottom 12" between the ground and leaves. If anything hangs lower than 12" threshold, cut it off

 

[CaroleW]

Yes any tomato branches touching ground have to go. And later I trim the bottom branches off up to almost where the fruit is ripening and just keep going up the vine on indeterminates triming branches off as the next bunch ripens and is picked. IF I can keep up with it all!

 

[Acre4Me]

We are back to one barn cat -the original Penny. Who is just 4 years old. Thor has moved out with the adult kid. Penny is soooooo happy he is gone. She lazes around, purrs, let’s us scratch her belly, purrs some more. She really hated having another cat there. Kinda funny. She still hates being picked up.

Appears we have one new layer, and that new layer laid in a shunned nest box!! Yay. So, 1 out of 18 layers has begun. We should have too many eggs soon. A good thing to have. It’s been too long we have been buying eggs!

Watered everything today. Whew! It’s hot. Soaker hoses snd sprinkler did most of it, but done by hand.

Sweet potato slips finally in the way! Apparently the varieties I picked (over 200 to pick from I think) were slow to sprout slips. Bed is ready. I’m using black plastic for heat, and I’ve seen it recommended. I also cut out pvc rings as planting guides/to hold back

the plastic/tell me where to water. Wow, it’s messy using a chop saw to slice 50+ slices from a pvc pipe. Of course, the shop vac I had hooked up to try to control the mess didn’t work bc the suction tube came off and I didn’t notice it.