Garden Reports AND Learned Anything New?

[Miatadude]

The deer devastated our gardens this year. The last few years my dogs kept them out, but then they started chasing cars. I put radio collars on them but now they cannot get out to the gardens. I am in the process of installing an in ground wire fence system. We did get plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and squash. The deer ate most of the corn, okra, sweet potatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas and butterbeans. I caught them out there the other evening.....and lets just say they won't be back. Next year will be better with the dogs keeping them out.

 

[VanillaGuerrilla]

The okra and beans doing great, tomatoes did good but got to tall and broke, corn sucked as always. Squash rotted. Cucumbers were like 3 inches long. Peppers and late planted tomatoes didn't grow at all.

 

[Sowega86]

The grand finale for tomatoes began last week and finished on Tuesday. I had so many that I had to give most away. I'd estimate 30 to 35 pounds. The plants have a few green ones remaining. And with the days shortening, the tomatoes are getting smaller. No more planting of the Park's Whopper variety. Next year, back to what works and which provides a longer harvest season- The Better Boy VFN Indeterminate tomato. It's tried and true for my 30 years living in South Georgia.

I am still picking two quarts of okra each week on 20 feet of row and hope that will continue until the frost in Oct/Nov. With the heat and weekly rain, the okra is now 5 feet tall and is branching which increases the yield.

Photo of last year's okra taken on November 2, 2016 alongside of the winter garden. This Silver Queen variety has a well developed root system and I usually have to wait until late winter to pull up the dead stalks some of which are comparable to tree saplings. Vidalia onions are planted just right of the okra and the green at the center right is the asparagus patch. The rest of the winter garden- seeds and transplants- had already been planted somewhat late due to a warm Fall.

 

[Sigo]

The deer devastated our gardens this year. The last few years my dogs kept them out, but then they started chasing cars. I put radio collars on them but now they cannot get out to the gardens. I am in the process of installing an in ground wire fence system. We did get plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and squash. The deer ate most of the corn, okra, sweet potatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas and butterbeans. I caught them out there the other evening.....and lets just say they won't be back. Next year will be better with the dogs keeping them out.

You're gonna wait till after hunting season to fix that fencing problem, right?

 

[Sowega86]

Hey, Green Thumbers! How are those gardens looking and what have you learned this season. My garden is doing fairly well. After losing my peas to fungus, I learned to detect it earlier and control it before it takes over.

All other plants are doing well. I did forget the necessity of flowering plants. I was not attracting enough bees, so my cucumbers and peppers are not producing as well as hoped. I got some marigolds and hanging flowers, and they are slowly bringing the bees back. In the interim, I go to the plants every afternoon and give them a gentle shake to get pollen moving about.

NOTE: Do not do this in the am, when there is still dew on the plants, because if there is any fungus in your garden, that's an easy way to spread it.

Because my yard is small, this is an experiment garden, done in buckets and towers. Once we move to our last place with some land, I'll be applying what I learn to there.

Putting everything on a drip system saves me a buncha time. My potato tower did fairly well. It fell victim to garden pests when I was out of town, so I had to harvest them a month early. I am using the smaller potatoes to try to seed for another tower. I tried doing the tower in layers of four, like one person advised. I think the plants were too crowded, because the potatoes were fairly small. This time I will plant two and add dirt as the plant grows higher.

My herbs are doing well. I have begun cutting and drying dill, thyme, lavender, parsley and basil. I add the mint to ice tea. THAT is good... I made some lavender butter and dill butter THAT was good too. We add the basil to cut up tomatoes, some pickled mozzarella cheese and added some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Then add it to spinach for an incredible salad. I will be turning basil into pesto this week. Oregano has been slow to grow. I think it was due to so much rain or the variety and a bout of fungus. They seem to be doing better now.

My collard greens are doing well. I have to keep an eye out for caterpillars, but other than that they are doing well with the heat since I have them protected against direct sunlight in the afternoon. The spinach and lettuce did well until it started getting hot. I will plant another batch of those toward the end on SEP.

The carrots did not do well. I forgot to thin them and they came in small. They made enough for a stew.

I am harvesting seeds for the second planting. I will start the seeds when I get back from TX in August. Wish me luck.

You can use a fine bristle paint brush to pollinate between flowers. If we keep losing bees, that may become the only way to pollinate.

 

[Miatadude]

You're gonna wait till after hunting season to fix that fencing problem, right?

Yes but there are 2 that will never eat from my garden again. They are now called jerky.

 

[jcountry]

I got a bunch of powdery mildew on my cucumber leaves a while back. Tried the baking soda/ water solution and it worked pretty well.

I also got me some soil from that garden place at Ga 85 and Ga 16 near Senoia. By far, the very best soil I have ever tried! My tomatoes were YUGE!
.

 

[Miatadude]

And now I have some huge fat green worms on my pecan trees I planted this past January. Sevin will hopefully kill them.

 

[redlevel]

 

[moosensquirrel]