What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

or were they too tender when I was trying to harden them outside?

I had excellent results starting my tomato plants inside the house this year, 8 weeks before my last frost date, which was something like the 29th of May. On nice days, I would start to take my plants outside for hardening off during the daytime.

I watched a YouTube that discussed what happens if you try to set out your tomato plants too early. If they don't killed by a late frost, they might get severely stunted in their growth. Bottom line, the recommendation was just to wait until your average last frost date has passed and then transplant your starts.

Also, probably in that same video, it mentioned that peppers should not be put out into the garden until 2 weeks after your average last frost date. So, this year I waited until mid-June to transplant my peppers. It was the best year ever for my peppers, but I think a lot of that also had to do with my new raised beds with fresh topsoil and compost.

All lessons learned...trying again next year.

I know. The more I learn, the more I realize that I still don't know very much.

Having said that, this was perhaps my best gardening year, ever. I'm very happy with my results and plan on increasing what worked for me this year and trying out some new stuff next year. Always looking forward...

 

[Smokerbill]

I picked the zucchinis today, one big one and three smaller ones. And then I pulled up all the plants and threw them down by the compost pile. Summer squash season is over. I picked all the cucumbers too, and I'll be pulling those vines out shortly.

I might throw some leaf lettuce seeds into the ground. Carrots too.

I need to put together a compost sifter with some of my remaining 1/2"X1" rabbit cage floor wire. It'll be a simple rectangular frame with the wire stapled on.

 

[chickengr]

What does the baking soda do?

When I'm cooking potatoes for anything but mashed, I don't peel them. I use a pair of exfoliating gloves on my hands to scrub them, and cut out any questionable spots on the skin.

I have been told to keep veggies in water with baking soda to neutralize chemicals.

 

[Sally PB]

how does everyone water their gardens? What works best for you? Gotta come up with a new system for watering and sure wouldn't mind suggestions.

For the garden that the hose doesn't reach: I have an IBC tote that we put about 150-200 gallons of water in, and then use that to water the garden. Bucket of water, and an empty large cottage cheese container as a scoop. At least that way, I know all the water goes around the base of the plant.

For the garden within reach of the hose: I've also done the "fill the bucket and scoop water" method. This past summer when it was SO DRY, I started using a hand sprayer instead. My raised beds are mounded, not contained, so water poured by a plant just ran off. I could pour v-e-r-y slowly, but that took too long. With the sprayer, I sprayed the soil around the plant as much as possible, to keep the water off the leaves.

Unfortunately, most of her tomatoes had sunscald.

Yeah, mine too! And then that area would start to rot. I'm going to think of ways to shade the plants next year. Even those with good leaf coverage were no match for the hot sun we got this year.

FWIW, I did not have any problems with blight or sunscald, but I am way up here in northern Minnesota and it would be very rare for me to see any sunscald.

Ok, so that ONE thing I can envy about your climate. The 6 month long winter... nah.

I did update location.

Where in Michigan are you? I'm in the greater Grand Rapids area. (Most people don't know where the metropolis of Belding is.)

 

[Sally PB]

Today is the end of tomato season. I'm canning the green tomato salsa. I ran out of regular lids, so the last 3 cups are in containers in the fridge. Salsa on fried rice. Salsa on my tacos. Like the ad for Frank's (?) says, I put that *%#@ on everything!

 

[CedarLane]

I had excellent results starting my tomato plants inside the house this year, 8 weeks before my last frost date, which was something like the 29th of May. On nice days, I would start to take my plants outside for hardening off during the daytime.

I watched a YouTube that discussed what happens if you try to set out your tomato plants too early. If they don't killed by a late frost, they might get severely stunted in their growth. Bottom line, the recommendation was just to wait until your average last frost date has passed and then transplant your starts.

Also, probably in that same video, it mentioned that peppers should not be put out into the garden until 2 weeks after your average last frost date. So, this year I waited until mid-June to transplant my peppers. It was the best year ever for my peppers...

I was glad we didn't try planting at our "last frost" date this year or they would have been frosted off! Supposedly we can plant earlier but we usually wait til Memorial Day Weekend. This year was even later than that.
Interesting about waiting until 2 weeks after last frost date for peppers

Where in Michigan are you? I'm in the greater Grand Rapids area. (Most people don't know where the metropolis of Belding is.)

We are in the southern Thumb area. I know where Belding is and have been there a few times. Some friends of mine lived there back in the '80s/'90s. Keep telling my DH we should travel through town sometime when we are over there. Haven't been there since the '90s.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Finally got 3 pickling cucumbers. These are the first in 2 seasons. That was all the garden work today. I washed 3 more pounds of tomatoes and put them into the freezer. Then I sliced and washed a bunch of leeks then put them into the freezer. Then I sliced the okra, toasted them a bit and tossed them into the refrigerator. I had planned to start the peach preserves today but I didn’t have enough sugar on hand. I made a quick trip to the grocery store. If the hurricane is definitely not going to wreak too much havoc on us on Saturday I may start the preserve’s tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be able to can them on Saturday. Fingers crossed.
Oops! Almost forgot about these.

 

[gtaus]

Supposedly we can plant earlier but we usually wait til Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend is my transplanting weekend as well. Except for the peppers, which I wait another 2 weeks.

I am trying to learn about cool weather crops that can be planted in early May, for my zone 3b, and maybe get a little jump start on growing food. I guess there are some crops that do better in cooler temps and can survive the frosty nights. Maybe next year I'll get an earlier start outside in the garden.

 

[Farmer13]

We have been growing these type cold weather plants from the mustard family for many years.
https://www.rareseeds.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=TATSOI+GREENS

 

[Sally PB]

I love Baker Creek for seeds. I have not had great luck with Bok Choy and related greens. I need to try them again in a different spot, I think.