How's everybody's garden doing?

[subprep]

Good for you subprep!! I counted last night ... I have 16 tomatoes and a bazillion blooms. But GC reminded me I planted late too ... so ... there's still hope

ive had quite a few more tomatoes, I have this plant that makes teeny tiny tomatoes I can fit two on a quarter and its producing like mad. Its an heirloom variety I should send you some seeds :-)

 

[BadgeBunny]

ive had quite a few more tomatoes, I have this plant that makes teeny tiny tomatoes I can fit two on a quarter and its producing like mad. Its an heirloom variety I should send you some seeds :-)

I don't even remember what these two guys are but they are almost as tall as I am ... I go out and pinch off suckers every morning while I'm feeding and watering everybody and gathering eggs ... I am not ashamed to say I'm quite proud of myself because GC has not even been in the backyard this year ...

I'm really looking forward to a fall garden and have already started planning my spring garden for next year. I need to move some thing around. Like I think my tomatoes would actually do better if they were planted in the OTHER plot I have fixed up ... only I didn't have it when all this started this spring ...

Figure I will keep up adding square foot garden plots, a couple a year, until I don't have any backyard left ...

 

[subprep]

im going to do a fall garden too :-) I just dont know what im going to plant. So far I have plans for radishes LOL

 

[streak]

anybody know how long an orange pumpkin sit on the vine? or when do they HAVE to be picked? I have a few that were really really early bloomers.

 

[BadgeBunny]

im going to do a fall garden too :-) I just dont know what im going to plant. So far I have plans for radishes LOL

My OCD keeps me so far ahead of the game ...

Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, radishes, spinach ... not a whole lot of any of it ... I'm just doing a little at a time to see how it goes ... Those ducks have been a godsend, really. I haven't had to fight off a single bug of any kind this year. Last year those damned big green hornworm things at my tomato plants clear to the ground in one night.

The ducks lay their eggs in the shade between the two plants ... I know EXACTLY where to find them ... lol And the "rumors" are true. Ducks will keep the bugs out of your garden without destroying your plants ... try that with a couple of chickens ...

I'm looking for a Pekin drake right now so I can "expand" my flock ... I'm thinking about phasing out the chickens and just having ducks ... but I'm not paying $5 apiece for ducklings ... and not know what I'm getting ... TSC has ducklings but some of them are migratory ... and if you wind up with wood ducks they need a tree to roost in ... and besides ... these Pekins are no trouble at all as long as I clean their little baby pool out every morning and evening. They are so spoilt, they will "fuss" at me if I go out in the backyard and DON'T clean it out (it's the top off a 30-gallon barrel that I use to grow potatoes in.) GC left a "edge" on it that is about 4 inches "tall" if you turn the lid upside down and set it on the ground. It's PERFECT for a little wading pool for them. Plus, when I dump the water out and leave the hose running while I fill up the rabbits' waterer -- damn, I need to get that automatic waterer up and running -- it makes a nice swampy spot for them to play around in ... they LOVE it ... Best thing is, with the heat, it dries up by the next day so I don't have to worry about smell ... or bugs ... although I think the ducks would make short work of the bugs ...

 

[BadgeBunny]

anybody know how long an orange pumpkin sit on the vine? or when do they HAVE to be picked? I have a few that were really really early bloomers.

If you put some hay under them so they stay up off the ground, I think for a while. My grandma used to "thunk" hers. If they sounded hollow she picked them ...

 

[dennishoddy]

I've done the "thunk" thing. Works ok.

A Guru of gardening told me that its when the stem starts to die for melons.

 

[subprep]

please explain suckers to me. I know what suckers on trees look like but on tomatoes everything just looks like another branch...

 

[BadgeBunny]

please explain suckers to me. I know what suckers on trees look like but on tomatoes everything just looks like another branch...

If you leave them too long they will look like a branch ... but they won't put on blooms (or at least none of the ones that have gotten any size on them have here) and they divert resources the plants could be using on fruit production to producing leaves ...

[Broken External Image]

This guy says it's okay to leave a few ... so maybe they would produce fruit if I left them on ... I dunno ... might leave a couple and see ...

http://therustedgarden.blogspot.com/2010/06/pictures-pruning-tomato-suckers.html

Or I might not ... my plants are nearly as tall as I am as it is now ... and are 3 feet wide ... do not let it be said I cannot grow tomato plants ... lol ... NOW if they will put on half as many tomatoes as I have blooms (and I have a LOT of blooms) I will be able to call my itty-bitty garden a success this year ... Not something I have EVER been able to say in the past ...

 

[120 Acres]

If you leave them too long they will look like a branch ... but they won't put on blooms (or at least none of the ones that have gotten any size on them have here) and they divert resources the plants could be using on fruit production to producing leaves ...

[Broken External Image]

This guy says it's okay to leave a few ... so maybe they would produce fruit if I left them on ... I dunno ... might leave a couple and see ...

http://therustedgarden.blogspot.com/2010/06/pictures-pruning-tomato-suckers.html

Or I might not ... my plants are nearly as tall as I am as it is now ... and are 3 feet wide ... do not let it be said I cannot grow tomato plants ... lol ... NOW if they will put on half as many tomatoes as I have blooms (and I have a LOT of blooms) I will be able to call my itty-bitty garden a success this year ... Not something I have EVER been able to say in the past ...

Pinch them off and put them into wet dirt beside your plants. Lots of times they will take off and you can have a late season crop pop up for free.