Summer Gardens Part 2

apparently i do not quite have the "tomato fung shway" that i thought i did. had some banana peels that i thought i would bury around them because of the claims of the potassium and other great things that it breaks down into (if anything it would add mass to the compost mulch, lol). it only said i had to dig down a couple of inches, so here i go to try it out, all was going well so far until i got to my german johnson and great white. i start digging, and to my dread, i hear the horrible sound of roots ripping up. (apparently i have been watering too shallow). and now one day later the bottom half of both plants have gone yellow, ive obviously flubbed things up with my digging. anything i can do to reduce their stress a bit? a hot and dry summer is not helping things out either.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2014 4:53 PM

on the bright side, the mystery varieties are really coming along. banana peppers going berserk, and i did share one of my german johnson seedlings with mom, and its way ahead of mine in terms of production, lol

Hi Becky - I haven't made the buttermilk cake yet...... my grandson insisted on having cobbler. since he and his friend went out and got hot and scratched up picking the berries, I had to graciously concede and make cobbler. But, I still have enough berries to make buttermilk cake and it is in my immediate future.....right after I get the sourdough bread done this afternoon. Made my own sourdough starter! First time in about 30 years! I'm in the kitchen canning up veggies all day anyway... might as well make bread to go with 'em!
I canned up about 10 pounds of tomatoes today, made salsa with them. Here's a photo of my lovely tomatoes waiting to be chopped up!

Becky, you wrap the stalk and stems of the plants with foil so the SVB moth can't lay her eggs. If she does, they can't eat through the foil.

who says that vegetable gardening is boring? while i was out there giving my garden bed a watering down, a wasp came nearby me. i made sure to keep watch on him to make sure he wasnt agitated at me about something, lol. Then he made a dive bomb into my cosmos flowers and came back out with a leaf hopper and proceeded to enjoy a hearty meal. i believe that was the only time i have ever been glad to see a wasp, LOL

lily_love - I always plant my watermelons in full sun and water them every day unless it rains. I planted Amish Moon and Stars this year and they are doing very well so far.

jmc - Uh Oh! That doesn't sound good. I'd try putting some extra soil down on top of your "tear" along with some kind of gentle organic fertilizer and water it in well. Maybe some nice mulch to help keep the moisture in and the roots cool? Keep us posted on how it goes!

Thanks loisf10 for your reply. Good luck jmc.

"I'd try putting some extra soil down on top of your "tear" along with some kind of gentle organic fertilizer and water it in well. Maybe some nice mulch to help keep the moisture in and the roots cool? Keep us posted on how it goes!"

i have placed a layer of dried leaves throughout my entire garden bed after seeing the results of what happened to them, i remember a page somewhere said that its a good FREE mulch, and slow release compost all in one--as it breaks down of course. and tomorrow will be the feeding day.

For what it's worth, I have been told that even organic bananas have stuff on them that is nasty for good soil. I've stopped composting banana peels.

Thanks, Becky! Yes, it is bugs I'm worried about for my cukes. I have yet to grow any successfully. They aren't producing blooms yet, but I am aware of the pollination issue. I didn't know about the early morning routine, though, so I will try that, as well as attempting hand pollination.

Has anyone grown and lemon squash? I'm thinking of dropping a few seeds this weekend...

Jmc, hope you can get your plants happy again! I would think they'd recover nicely if the roots were re-covered with soil first, then the leaf mulch. Personally, I'd be too afraid to bury banana peels around my tomatoes, I have too many bugs as it is, don't need anything new attracting them lol.

All these rains have really beat up my poor sweet pea tomatoes! The plants' lower branches were getting soil splashed up on them during two days of sporadic heavy rain last week. And now, despite my best efforts, they are dying.. What to plant in their spot once they kick the bucket? It's the lowest part of my garden, kind of a wet spot during heavy rain. I'm open to suggestions :)

Lois, cake vs cobbler is a win/win in my book! Lol! And that sourdough sounds delish! Do you ever put fresh herbs in it?

i suppose the whole what to compost vs. what not to compost will be a forever debated subject, lol, because for everything that i see something say that its good for, theres an article hiding out there somewhere to try to say its bad, guess its a game of trial and error.

Becky - If you still want to try to save your tomatoes, I'd try the new soil with compost thing. Sometimes heavy rains will leach out what is left of the nutrients in the soil and it just needs a boost. Mid summer is the time to put down new soil and nutrients. I've done this with my poor abused green beans and they are now putting out new leaves and tiny beans.
As for the bread, I haven't tried putting herbs into the bread, but I have made herbed butter and brushed this on the top of the loaves when I take them out of the oven. Yummmm! Now I'm hungry!

jmc - I wonder many times if some of the things we read in magazine articles are just things that the writer "heard about from someone" and not something they've tried themselves. There's some really crazy advice out there! Since I'm an old-timey kind of gal, I like to use old-timey methods. Most likely doing more work because of it, but, I need the exercise!

Off to start on my Bread and Butter pickles...

Sorry if it sounded like I was knocking your banana trick.. Just saying if I did that here, something would for sure eat my plants, or at least dig them up..

I'm actually pretty lax on composting. I compost all kitchen scraps (no meat, dairy or processed grains), along with all garden waste. My whole batch of compost last year went anaerobic, it was in a drum that wasn't near big enough. Good news is it brought in a bunch of BSF, a good bug. Bad news is this year I had to start over, so I built a 4x4x4 fenced in heap and it's so much better already! I've been balancing greens out w aged hay and straw and it's been working like a charm.. Not quite damp, not quite dry. Plus the garden has been providing me w a bunch of greens this year so it's almost half full. Cant wait to use it!!

Lois I had no idea, but makes total sense. I'll be trying that :)

oh i had not taken any offense at all about the responses to the banana thing, lol, and you have to agree with lois on if it ALL isnt just heresay advice.

i myself use a huge plastic storage bin as my composter with holes punched in the top and bottom, and i just give it a good ol fashioned barrel roll every once in a while, lol!

"oh i had not taken any offense at all about the responses to the banana thing, lol, and you have to agree with lois on if it ALL isnt just heresay advice."

I'm glad to hear it, the last thing I'd ever do is knock someone else's efforts. Even if I had been at this for decades, there is ALWAYS something to be gleaned from others. I also agree with Lois, I have to recheck the facts when I get advice, just to be sure it's not BAD advice. And something's that works for one person in say, tennessee, may not be good advice for a person gardening in texas like me. Shoot, conditions are completely different further south in texas from where I am, and we're in the same state!! Lol

About your plastic bin, that's what my last one was. A large black trash can with 1" holes drilled all through it. I'd bungee the top down and roll it through the yard, but it got too soggy last year. The problems were probably 1. bad location and 2. being too small too keep up w the quantity of scraps I was adding. Learned my lesson!

Lemon squash, anyone?

Chances are, if it's an internet trope, it's wrong anyway. It rots: I compost it.

Lisa, I've never grown lemon squash, but I have some seed. The packet says "low water needs, large plant can be tied to a trellis, heavy yields til frost". Sounds good!

Thanks!

things still not looking good for my two beefsteak type tomato plants, and now even the mystery varieties are showing a little yellowing, im thinking its not so much root stress, as it is that they are literally cooking in the sun all day, as we have had a solid week of 90's + , and looks like we are in for another week of mid to high 90s, and my garden bed doesnt see shade until around 6:30PM. im thinking of perhaps just clipping off a few suckers that are starting to come up on them, and just rooting them and hope for a late crop--just as a back up in case these big main plants dont make it. and just keep the rooted ones potted up and somewhere that it gets shade a bit sooner in the day

Jmc-is this in the same area that you thought you had nematodes?

my tomatoes are in a different row than the carrots were, but still is the same garden bed.

When nematodes were brought into my garden with construction sand ( he is gone now) lol. My plants had what I call failure to thrive. I may have asked you this before but have you gardened in this area before?

yep, last year in fact was the first time it had even been converted into a vegetable bed (it used to be an old flower bed, but mom lost interest in it, so let me have it). Here are some shots from last year. One big difference in this year from the last is that last year was quite wet during the spring and early summer months. this year we are quite dry, and our region seems to be totally rain phobic. (writing this as a thunder storm--once again--dodges us by just a hair, as its been doing most of the summer, LOL!)

Well, if you yank any of the existing plants be sure to let us know what the roots look like. If the roots are knotted you may want to take the plants to a good nursery or your local extension agency.....if it is nematodes they had to come from somewhere tho?????

We had really hot and dry weather the last two years. I had to use a shade clothes over the tomatoes to keep them from scorching. I recommend using something to shade the tomato plants that also lets the heat out.

will definitely look into some form of shade, im thinking some kind of mesh type material.

i clipped off a sucker from the Great White and in the process of trying to root it--just in case.

also i would like to add that the yellowing has crept further up the plant just a little bit, and the leaves at the bottom that were first yellowing up are now starting to brown and crisp. i should also add that there are no spots on the leaves, like you would have with blight, they are just yellowing up, then eventually browning

This message was edited Jul 2, 2014 11:40 PM

I use an old lace type tablecloth for shading, so far it seems to be working. I clip them on the PVC that is either hoops or trellis.

I'm interested to hear about the lemon squash, Linda. Hope it grows for you.

We've been mostly in the 70s with an occasional 80s. Yesterday it was 100. Yoiks!

While searching for ripe figs yesterday, I reached into the leaves with my right hand, and immediately I got this stinging sensation that felt like pure fire! Quickly moving, I got 2 more stings on my left hand. While running away, I got another 2 stings on the back of my arm. Screaming in the yard, DH came running out & discovered a REALLY BIG yellow jacket nest on the tree. And they were really mad!! Meanwhile, my hands and arms were on fire. I applied some benadryl cream and held ice packs over the areas. Five minutes later, it still was burning & the itching started all over my body. With lips starting to tingle and swell, I knew I was in trouble. And of course, I used my last epi-pen about a month ago & didn't get a refill. Since there isn't an emergency care center within a 10 minute drive, I had to call 911. They gave me more epinephrine but had to take me to an ER for treatment. More epinephrine, IV benadryl. Luckily, the swelling went down, so I didn't have to have a tube put down my throat. Was sent home after a couple of hours and just slept for 12 hours. This morning, the sting areas are still sore, but all other symptoms are gone.

So just a reminder to myself & all of you. If you're sensitive to bug stings, keep an epi-pen always around.

Jo-Ann

PS: DH went out after dark & gave the nest a good dosing with wasp spray. The nest was about 3" by 5" and new larvae were emerging. I don't particularly like killing bugs that don't eat my plants, but when they start attacking me, they have to go!

My goodness, Jo-Ann!!!

I'm so glad that you are OK! I neeeeeeed you around a good long time.

Just yesterday I reached for the last of your strawberry jam. I mixed it together with some organic crunchy peanut butter and enjoyed the best sandwich!!

Keep those pens handy!

Linda

Oh my goodness, how scary. I'm really glad you're okay.

13Turtles
I got stubbed yesterday too.
I was digging out an Hibiscus plant because it was just buried by shrubs and I got stung twice in my arms .... aaaouuuccchhh
I went inside and apply the special sting relief pan and I was ok !!
Gardening could be dangerous !!

Tons of veggies lately - pictures coming soon !

yikes! Glad everything worked out ok in the end.

So an update on my poorly tomato plants, i went ahead and clipped off the yellowed branches. And still suspecting the sun being too hot and intense, i took some tulle mesh fabric, double layered it and clothes pinned it over top of the tomato plants for a redneck style shade cloth, lol.

I may just buy enough to cover the entire top of the gardening area and just peg the fabric onto the green poles, after all, it really doesnt block out the light a whole lot, just enough to make it a tad less intense.

jomoncon - Sounds like you had a narrow shave there! I really hate yellow jackets! They are mean little critters. I keep meat tenderizer around to make into a paste and put on any kind of sting or bite. It breaks down the proteins in the venom. But I don't think any of the "simple remedies" would have helped in your case. Thank goodness for 911! And thank God you are okay now.

Finally got my cukes put up into Bread and Butter pickles. I need to put down some soil and compost on the plants, they are still producing but not as fast. Next batch gets to be Kosher dills.

drthor - really looking forward to your veggie photos!

Really hot and dry here today.... anybody know how to do a rain dance?

Wasp and bee stings are nothing to brush off. JoAnn I hope you got your epi pen refilled!! I always use a baking soda & water paste on bee stings. Works like a charm, unless you're allergic to them.

Hubby harvested today. Here's his haul.

So I'm thinking a picture would be nice. (Can you tell I've worked 10 hours today and yesterday??)

Uh, I'm on my way over Stephanie.