So how is everyone's garden doing so far? Did you try any new varieties this year? Any big suprises? Any big disappointments?

I planted Mr Big peas this year because they were an All-American Selection winner but they were a disappointment. They grew very tall but didn't produce a lot of pods, and the pea development within the pods wasn't very great either. I only got one meal out of a 4' row. Part of the problem may be due to where they were planted, I'm beginning to suspect that one of my beds is a little too close to the black walnut trees. I'm going to plant a fall crop in a different location and see if I have better luck.

I planted two varieties of pole beans; Kentucky Blue and Purple Peacock. I've been happy with both so far, they're heavy producers with good taste cooked fresh, I haven't canned any yet. The only problem I've had is that the japanese beatles love the Kentucky Blue plants. They have almost completely devoured the leaves, even with picking them off every day. The Purple Peacock plants haven't been hit nearly as hard.

I also had good luck with Iride beets and Tyee spinach. I have my fingers crossed with the tomatoes, I stepped up the watering and that seems to have helped with the blossom end rot problem.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

Answers

Hi Sherri I planted Mr. Big DUD peas this year and got very few peas and the biggest part of them was the pod. Our garden is sorta in a resting period and getting ready for another round.We planted purple hull peas, kentuckey wonder green beans and lima beans over the weekend. My cucumbers are over and pickled. We have a big problem with cucumbeer beetle and the deseases they carry but have had very good luck with County Fair cucumber the past few years. They were recomened in organic gardening that the beetles didn't like them. Happy gardening. Sherry

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

My very first attempt at growing corn. Some stalks are showing tassels. I am excited and filled with trepidation. I have to read more about corn. I think I'm going to try hand pollinating, as I have a very small stand (it was an experiment), and I doubt that I can rely on the wind.

I also saw a few small, green acorns (squash) before I left for the weekend. Haven't really looked at them though. Tomatoes continue to grow and develop fruit, but no ripe ones yet (since I planted so late). Also, fine weed crops that I must deal with, hopefully this week when it gets a bit cooler -- if the weather reports are really correct!

My "on the deck" garden (planter boxes and Earth Boxes) is doing well. I've harvested the Little Gem lettuce, and eaten some of it -- need to eat up the rest. I have been harvesting the Tatsoi for the birds, and looks like I can finally start in on the beet greens and Swiss chard for them soon too. I don't like beets, so if I get any actual roots to develop, I'll be giving them to a friend. I think I've got some Thumbelina carrots growing -- there's foliage anyway. The tomatoes on the deck are doing well too. In fact, so well that I need to get off now and tie them up some more before it gets too dark.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

(Dancing)(and singing) --

I've got ripe tomatoes!!! Tomorrow I pick them!! I didn't have time for it tonight, but the first bunch on Fourth of July is ripe now. Should have a mess of zucchini ready tomorrow as well for picking, today I took in another pile of kale for the critters and parsley. I'm really glad I planted so much of it, because something (earwigs, I think) is eating the lettuce up.

The hollyhocks I planted last year have bloomed, and are a lovely single pale yellow. I've also got a fair bit of miniature hollyhocks (Malva) in pale pink that will likely be setting seed too, if anyone wants seed for that. It is very tolerant of dry soil, establishes a huge root system that doesn't want to be moved, and comes back very reliably even in zone 4A/3. I'm not sure what else will be setting seed this year, other than the chives for sure, as well as the wild orgegano, both great bee plants.

Hm...let's see...I haven't grown the decorative kale before, but it has done very well (Nagoya Red mostly), but the scotch kale went great guns last year, so I figured it'd do fine. The leeks and shallots are new for me, and like I said, I'm really itching for a pair of x-ray glasses to see what is going on underground.

I haven't planted peppers before, but I put in 3 chili peppers and three bell type peppers (golden, blushing beauty, and chocolate, I think), mainly because I had room this year, and the chili peppers are setting fruit pretty well. I figure I can use what I need for chili and give the rest to Joy for her parrot. I also got some freebie brussel sprout plants, so I put those in and they're coming along really well, bugs don't seem to like them like they like the kale. I also planted bok choy for the novelty of it, and it's growing so fast that I'll probably have to start giving it away. Right now it's a prime baby vegetable size, very tender and succulent, so I've got to figure out something to do with them all.

I'm trying scarlet runner beans and they're blooming, but no pods. The hummingbirds seem to be enjoying them anyway, so all is not lost, I'd have grown them just for the hummers if nothing else. Maybe I should just start eating the flowers, since they're edible.

Last year I planted some yellow zucchini/crookneck crosses and I didn't like them very well, they didn't agree with my digestion as well as the 8-Balls did. I happend to find a pot of Spineless Beauty zucchini (green) at a garden shop and bought that and planted it, and it is very productive and easy to pick. The leaves are still rough as are the stalks, but not uncomfortably so. It's also a bush type plant, which is really nice when you're trying to do square foot gardening.

It's been really hot (90) here, and sunny, plus we had a BIG drenching rainstorm about 5 days ago and everything has been putting on a major growth spurt. The rain kind of knocked down the potatoes a bit so they aren't quite so picturesque as they were, the other bed of potatoes is ready for hilling up, they're really making up for lost time.

The leeks are looking pretty good, and the shallots have tons of tops, I'm getting *really* curious as to what is going on below ground. I haven't had good luck with most onions in past (other than chives), so I'm quite excited about these two crops apparently doing well. The lovage is setting seed this year, so if anyone is interested in having some to try, it looks like I'll have plenty to share.

Some bug is gnawing on the kale, leaving large holes in the leaves and eating them quite creatively. I'm not sure what it is, but fortunately, the critters don't mind the holes in the leaves, and the plants are growing so fast it doesn't seem to matter. One decorative kale and a decorative cabbage bolted, so I snapped the flower stalks off, and they are both growing multiple tops, even without splitting the stalk into quarters.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Garden, what garden? It's been too hot, I'm sitten in the shade! I will have to get with it soon tho. the tomatoes are coming! TRen

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Boy, where to start? I put some pics on the pic page a bit ago. It's a jungle out there, looks green and nice now since all the rain. Lots and lots of tomaotes, lots of ripe ones. Peppers about 2 ft high and lots ready to pick. The squash is so-so, the Zucinni wilts all the time wheather I water it or not it seems, the other squash is looking much more beautiful. Watermelons and cantalope are taking over the whole west side of the garden and I can no longer mow those walking paths. Bring on the cantalope!

I had a plate full of tomatoes for lunch the other day, just tomatoes! I have too many allready, but that's ok with me. Time for BLT's! Where's the bacon. I have tons of cherry tomatoes and tommy toes ready too. All over the garden. Now I need help eating and canning it all! My freezer is full of milk in 2 and 3 liter bottles.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Not great , but not bad. 600 pounds of tomatoes ( with the 24 plants it should have yielded at least 1500 according to the book that described the rings, ), 20 lbs of dried cow peas (about what was expected), 20 pounds of dried green beans, 30 pounds of dried okra and its still producing, steady brocolli with about 5 pounds dried, 10 pounds dried turnip slices , 20 pounds dried cucumber slices, 40 pounds dried yellow squash. The jalepenos were a flop this season. Getting ready for the late crops now.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Jay, I really love to read about your efforts with your square foot garden! My beds are 3 foot wide and of varying lengths due to the geometric layout of my garden. Do you monocrop your beds, or do you intersperse different varieties of plants with each other? Do you companion plant? Was it you that posted the idea about glueing seeds to paper towels with Elmer's glue for easy planting in square foot gardens? I did that this year and it worked out great - well, except for my co-workers reserving me the rubber room at work, thinking that I had finally gone completely over the edge! (They think I've been teetering on the edge for quite some time now!) Of course, I put the seeds way too close together on the paper towels (just like I used to do in the garden!), but I am sure I will eventually learn to space them farther apart.

Back to garden report: Jim wanted to know how my potatoes did in the raised beds. Lousy. Almost enough out of 2 - 3X3 beds to put in the crock pot with a couple of messes of green beans. Back to the row garden with them!!

Volunteer tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, have a lot of green tomatoes set on the plants that I planted on purpose, and some of the last ones we planted in mid to late June are now blooming. I forsee myself putting up tomatoes along with applesauce this year, rather than with peaches as is the norm! First batch of sweet corn (honey and pearl)is done - good flavor but the ears didn't fill out well due to the heat and lack of rain; I don't even try to water it as we have such a large plot of it. Second planting is ready now and I need to take some to Cass, but I am really disappointed in the flavor of it. It was Florida Stay Sweet, an all yellow ear. Third planting (of honey and pearl again) is just now starting to tassel.

Bird House gourds are doing great on the compost ring (54" tall livestock panel (16') bent into a 5'-6' diameter circle), thinking if I have a permanent chicken pen next year about planting them on it but don't know if the birds would eat them as they grow. I have visions of all my trees sprouting gourd wren houses and my mosquito population being reduced to nil!

Roma green beans did not germinate well in the raised beds or row garden either one. Top Crop, Bush Kentucky Wonder and Yellow Wax all germinated well; row garden ones are blooming now and will be my main crop for canning this year. Carrots did okay, but not sure I will plant them again in sided raised beds, possibly a single large planting in a wide bed in the row garden. Pop hates wide rows as he likes to be able to run the split row tiller down the paths between rows, he's already told me "No more double bean rows!" (We'll see!) Unc's pole limas are doing well, but his Henderson Bush Limas (butter beans) did not germinate well and then the deer took a liking to what did come up. I have 3 - 25' rows in my garden that look pretty good so far. We planted 2 days apart, him first, and he soaked his seed first, while I just threw mine in the ground. I planted mine pretty deep.

Sugar Baby and Tiger Baby watermelons are getting close to ripe, the Sugars set a lot more fruit on than the Tigers. Hale's Best Muskmelon is way ahead of Luscious on melons set on and my Honeydew melons are just kind of sitting there. Cukes are coming on well, at last! Yellow zucchini not doing well, green zucchini doing okay. Squash borer or wilt is attacking some of the pumpkins, but they are all blooming and some have set fruit. Beets, radishes, lettuce, peas, broccoli all done. I pretty much said to heck with a fall garden since I got my summer one out so late!

Oh - sunflowers are losing their petals already - Goldfinches and dove think they are in 7th Heaven!

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Polly,

We have raised bed gardens and did some companion planting this year. We have 3 beds that are 4' x 20" (think I posted one time that they were 16'), so far. Our best years, production wise, have been since using raised beds and the Square Foot method. This year everything is doing well (except cucumbers and lettuce) but is growing slowly due to the rains and cool weather we had early on in the season. I can't wait for those tomatoes! Went to the Amish roadside stand two days ago and bought some. Beautiful and yummy too. They were selling for 50 cents a piece.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Polly, We have been experimenting the SFG to a traditional this season. Now our next garden experiment will be a caprpet path and landscape timber raised bed row garden variation on the traditional and I am going to add five more squares to the SFG next season using carpet and timber squares. I am thinking that there should be no between row weeds to contend with and the walk will be softer to. I'm actually extending the carpet under the timbers to the edge of the planting area. Next possible setup is timbers and concrete walkways.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Terry; when you companion plant, do you plant individual squares of the various types of plants, or do you intersperse them within the squares? When you use sqare foot gardening, do you use 1'X1' squares, or do you plant larger areas to a single crop? Last year, I planted my bush beans in 3'X9' beds, this year did them in 3'X3' sections of the beds - liked them better as a full bed. I think I will try to use bigger areas rather than plant a 1 foot square section of a certain veggie here and there.

Jay; what type of carpet did you have in mind to use? I ask because a participant on another board that I go to had bad experiences with foam backed carpet and also with polyester carpet. The foam flaked off and made a mess and the weeds grew through the polyester carpet and then it unraveled badly when he tried to take it out.

Pop may have been bragging on his row garden looking better than my raised beds, but I noticed that after out 3" rain the other day, he didn't venture out to "his" garden, preferrring to stay out of the mud in mine!! I put down a layer of cardboard in my pathways and then piled wood chips from the tree service about 6" deep on top. I used cardboard rather than plastic becuase it is water permeable; that way the chips wouldn't slip and slide and also the water would be available to long roots growing out under the beds.

-- Anonymous, July 28, 2001

I'm using office grade carpet layered over black mulch plastic. We tried just the plastic and it didn't hold up to the walking traffic.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

"Terry; when you companion plant, do you plant individual squares of the various types of plants, or do you intersperse them within the squares? When you use sqare foot gardening, do you use 1'X1' squares, or do you plant larger areas to a single crop? Last year, I planted my bush beans in 3'X9' beds, this year did them in 3'X3' sections of the beds"

Polly,

I do both with the companion planting - Individual squares of various plants and planting them here and there between other plants. For instance, marigods I plant five in a square but dill I put in the middle of my 4' section between tomatoe plants. Most crops I plant in larger areas than the 1'x1' square. My bush beans are in an area 4' x 9' (reach 2' from one side and 2' from the other side).

I put newspapers down on the pathways between gardens and around the outside edges of each and then cover those with straw. It works pretty well - have to pull a few stray weeds from time to time.

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Oops!! Should have read "marigolds".

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Double oops!! Should have been tomato not tomatoe. Why is it that everything seems to be spelled correctly (after checking) but after posting the words all change? :-).

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Forum gremlins. Actually, Cindy and I go in and change things around to mess with your head. That IS a joke! ;-)

Yesterday, I got 3 delicious cukes and 3 ripe jalapenos -- this is a big deal for me! I've only ever grown tomatoes successfully, and potatoes semi-successfully. More are coming along too, and I'm waiting for the tomatoes to start showing some color.

The acorn squash are getting bigger. How do I know when to harvest them? The corn is tassling, at least the Golden Bantam is. The Inca Rainbow (or is it Rainbow Inca) isn't, yet.

In so many ways, this garden is full of failures -- things I didn't get to, weeds I haven't conquered, things I wouldn't do again. But I am learning SO much, that I am quite pleased with the whole thing. I suppose I should start taking notes about what I want to do differently next year!

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001