What did you do in the garden today?

[jerryse]

I want to try this squash. In one of the comment answers said no SVB damage. I think it could be used as a zucchini in the immature stage.

 

[fuzzi]

I dug some purple potatoes today. My back needed a break from the up-and-down motion of dig/bend/pick up, so I pulled some weeds. Then I started thinking about the sweet potatoes (right next to the regular spuds, so not a long thought process). I really wanted to see if there might.... maybe ... be a sweet potato with a bit of size to it....

So I dug around the base of one vine a little bit and dug out two tubers. There are more in there, under that plant. And 19 or 20 more plants.

View attachment 3651291
I am blown away. Wow, just freaking wow.


Now I need to get them all dug before we get too many chilly nights. I'll cure them in the green house.

Health benefits of yams and sweet potatoes (they are NOT the same!)

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/10/04/yams-health-benefits.aspx

PDF attached in case the link expires.

 

[fuzzi]

We went to the beach for a few days, and I was pleasantly surprised that the gardens survived.

The turnips grew like gangbusters in three days, so much that I had to raise the netting!

The dirt around the collards and leaf lettuce plants was very dry but they are alive... although the lettuce plant on the lower right seems to have been nibbled...

The metal bowl in the (former) melon bed contains another 4 pack of collard seedlings. I'm planning to add compost to that bed in the next day or two, and plant the collards there.

The plum tomato plants haven't given up. I found two thumb-sized fruits on the ground, starting to ripen. I brought them inside, and found a couple more still green on the vine.

The German Johnson tomato plants are still trying to produce fruit. I found one green tomato. I don't expect any more.

The tiny melon I'd noticed on the vine rotted, but there's another one growing. I suspect it won't grow much more, the weather is cooling down.

The pansies are fine, forgot to get a photo.

 

[Smokerbill]

Plucked about 1/2 gallon of tomatoes off the vines, most of them pretty small. Still quite a few green ones out there, too.

The lettuce seeds are starting to sprout, and I think I see a couple carrots poking above ground.

 

[Smokerbill]

We went to the beach for a few days, and I was pleasantly surprised that the gardens survived.

View attachment 3652034
The turnips grew like gangbusters in three days, so much that I had to raise the netting!

The dirt around the collards and leaf lettuce plants was very dry but they are alive... although the lettuce plant on the lower right seems to have been nibbled...
View attachment 3652037
The metal bowl in the (former) melon bed contains another 4 pack of collard seedlings. I'm planning to add compost to that bed in the next day or two, and plant the collards there.

The plum tomato plants haven't given up. I found two thumb-sized fruits on the ground, starting to ripen. I brought them inside, and found a couple more still green on the vine.
View attachment 3652043

The German Johnson tomato plants are still trying to produce fruit. I found one green tomato. I don't expect any more.
View attachment 3652055

The tiny melon I'd noticed on the vine rotted, but there's another one growing. I suspect it won't grow much more, the weather is cooling down.
View attachment 3652054

The pansies are fine, forgot to get a photo.

Are those the turnips and carrots that you planted just a few weeks ago? If so, impressive!

 

[fuzzi]

Are those the turnips and carrots that you planted just a few weeks ago? If so, impressive!

Yep, the same. The weather has been perfect, 60° overnight, 80° during the day.

I've not done a lot of autumn gardening in the past, but was really happy with how the carrots and turnips turned out this Spring, and I wanted to grow them again. And then I planted collards and lettuce.

Next?

(planted the carrots and turnips on September 3)

 

[akroberts1085]

Dollar Tree has white plastic tags that go in the ground. They hold up very very well. I have found some from last year that laid in the ground and water and are still legible this year. I used a sharpie t

Anyone have a suggestion for low cost plant labels that won't fade out before the end of the summer?

I was using a Sharpie to write labels on popsicle sticks, but they wash out or fade away in no time. Are the UV "garden markers" on Amazon any better? Like these...

View attachment 3650191

Another option I was considering was using my P-Touch label maker to print out labels and stick them on something. I tried one P-Touch label on a popsicle stick, but it did not adhere very well. I think it would fall off in the first rain.

I had an old vinyl blind that I cut up into many plant label sized pieces. The sharpie marker on the vinyl fades too fast. I put those plastic vinyl labels away, but I'm going to dig them out and see how well the P-Touch label adheres to the plastic.

But I am open to any low cost idea. Thanks.

I have seen those Dollar Tree plastic tags. I thought the sharpie would fade on them as fast as the popsicle sticks or the vinyl blind markers I made. Just to be clear, were your Dollar Tree plastic tags outside in the sun and rain all summer?

Yes and also all winter which turned most of my yard into a lagoon.

 

[akroberts1085]

This is one from last year. It's been in the same place since I started the garden this Spring. I will post a picture of the garden space so everyone can see.

 

[Sally PB]

The tiny melon I'd noticed on the vine rotted, but there's another one growing. I suspect it won't grow much more, the weather is cooling down.

When I've grown melons, I do this:

Around the first week of August, I remove any melon that is not as big as my fist. If it isn't that size by then, it won't ripen by frost anyway. By getting rid of those (useless) melons, the plant pumps more energy into the melons that will ripen. They get bigger and sweeter.

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

We're getting some nicer weather around here... Maybe I'll get pictures tomorrow of our tomatoes, peppers, and such.