Your 2025 Garden

[fuzzi]

Same here, rain started a couple hours before it was forecast.

My melons have been tasteless this year, wondering why, as they were ripe. I gave one to the chickens, and they ate it, seeds, flesh, down to the rind.

 

[R2elk]

Same here, rain started a couple hours before it was forecast.

My melons have been tasteless this year, wondering why, as they were ripe. I gave one to the chickens, and they ate it, seeds, flesh, down to the rind.

Too much water and missing trace minerals can lead to "tasteless" produce.

All of my produce got much tastier when I started using azomite which is trace minerals. I am on a sand dune so everything washes through very quickly. People with good soil don't need to apply it as heavily or as frequently as I have to.

 

[Sally PB]

I dug some potatoes today, and had one for dinner. With onions, garlic, and eggs. Home grown dinner. to the grocery store.

Has anyone ever used a shade cloth over tomato plants to help prevent sunscald? It's a big problem for me, so I was thinking I'd drape a white bedsheet over some plants that have a lot of big green tomatoes on them.

 

[fuzzi]

Too much water and missing trace minerals can lead to "tasteless" produce.

All of my produce got much tastier when I started using azomite which is trace minerals. I am on a sand dune so everything washes through very quickly. People with good soil don't need to apply it as heavily or as frequently as I have to.

We have a lot of rain here, and the area I planted on was recently cleared. The ground was compacted from the machinery, was mostly clay, so I put a layer of chicken run litter (well composted) over the dirt, and planted the melons in boxes of dirt mixed with compost. I'd used the box method a couple years ago with great results, not sure what the difference was.

The two elderberry bushes I planted in the same area are doing great.

 

[fuzzi]

I dug some potatoes today, and had one for dinner. With onions, garlic, and eggs. Home grown dinner. to the grocery store.

Has anyone ever used a shade cloth over tomato plants to help prevent sunscald? It's a big problem for me, so I was thinking I'd drape a white bedsheet over some plants that have a lot of big green tomatoes on them.

I stopped cutting off the suckers, haven't had sunscald since.

 

[Sally PB]

I stopped cutting off the suckers, haven't had sunscald since.

The only suckers I cut off were very early in the season, to trim off shoots/leaves near the ground.

One problem is most of the plants have fallen over, pulling the cages over with them. Even the ones I had poles in. Obviously, the poles were no match for the heavy, bushy tomato plants.

I'll get enough tomatoes for canning, making salsa, and fresh eating. That's the whole point of the tomato garden. And yes, they have taken over almost the entire garden.

When I plant out the starts in the spring, I space them out so far apart that I'm sure I'll have enough room to walk around. Hahahaha.

 

[R2elk]

One problem is most of the plants have fallen over, pulling the cages over with them.

I put at least 3 stakes with each tomato cage spacing them equidistant around the cage. None of the cages are tall enough for the Indeterminant varieties.

I recently added a metal fence post to the Groundswell tomato that is so heavily foliaged and tall that it took the cage over even with its 3 wooden stakes. It is helping but that plant is practically reaching the ground after crawling out the top of the cage.

 

[NanaK]

My melons have been tasteless this year, wondering why, as they were ripe.

When we have lots of rain melons take in a lot of water and it dilutes the flavor. Melons picked during dryer weather have a more concentrated flavor.
I have never used azomite that @R2elk mentioned. I need to investigate that.

Has anyone ever used a shade cloth over tomato plants to help prevent sunscald?

I have shaded tomatoes with old white bed sheets, scraps of window screen, what ever I had. Works great to keep the sun from rotting them.

When I plant out the starts in the spring, I space them out so far apart that I'm sure I'll have enough room to walk around. Hahahaha.

Hahaha > This is what those sweet potato slips said when I planted them.
They have a short trellis and 3 ft on each side for a 6 wide the length of the row. There was a walking space on each side.
If they produce well I may have to rethink their placement in the garden.

 

[Nomadicus]

I'm going to try the azomite on the sandy ground I have with tomatoes that can often have none of that home garden flavor. They can often taste like picked green for shipping store bought.

 

[R2elk]

I'm going to try the azomite on the sandy ground I have with tomatoes that can often have none of that home garden flavor. They can often taste like picked green for shipping store bought.

That is what the Northern Exposure was like for me before giving them azomite.

I kept growing it anyway because once canned I could taste no difference between them and other tomatoes and they are by far the best short season tomato I have ever grown.

Once I started using azomite, the flavor and texture both greatly improved.

There are other trace minerals available but once I started using azomite, I have never felt the need to check out the others.