AMKuska's 2021 Garden

[AMKuska]

Happy day!!!!

My neighbor, also an avid gardener, called me up in a hurry yesterday to let me know there was a ton of tomatoes at a local store marked down to 4 for $5! I bought all the romas, a sauce tomato called "Health Kick" and a few beef steaks.

They survived the night

 

[flowerbug]

Another bad day in the garden, it hailed all day yesterday. mild damage to pepper plants, but the squash were spared.View attachment 40701View attachment 40702View attachment 40703

sometimes it seems that everything conspires against you and you shake your fists at it all. then tomorrow you get out and keep going.

i've had severe hail shred my gardens a few times and the plants do recover if they're not outright killed. it just means patience and peristence and sometimes just shrugs of the shoulders as i go out and plant something else.

 

[Zeedman]

Happy day!!!!

My neighbor, also an avid gardener, called me up in a hurry yesterday to let me know there was a ton of tomatoes at a local store marked down to 4 for $5! I bought all the romas, a sauce tomato called "Health Kick" and a few beef steaks.

They survived the night

I'm assuming you meant plants, in which case, that is quite a deal - and right on time. Hopefully that will at least partially compensate for the loss of your previously-planted tomatoes. Glad to see you get a good break.

 

[AMKuska]

I'm assuming you meant plants, in which case, that is quite a deal - and right on time. Hopefully that will at least partially compensate for the loss of your previously-planted tomatoes. Glad to see you get a good break.

Oops, yes plants! They're doing well so far. No signs of transplant shock, toddlers, or teenagers messing around in there yet.

 

[AMKuska]

Just a quick update - the plants are still alive. There's almost nothing to do though. The plants are growing really well, the mulch means zero weeds, and my only beef is it seems to dry out really fast. I had to evict two slugs having sex from my nappa, but other than that there have been no signs of pests or disease.

 

[AMKuska]

It looks like none of my in-ground pepper plants will survive the end of the year. Next year I'm only going to plant in pots because those ones are still doing well. The difference is I can move those, so when it hails/there's a heatwave, they can get shelter.

Unfortunately the heatdome did a number on my plants. There's only 3 of my pepper plants left alive. My tomatoes are battered and the heat caused some of the flowers to drop off, but there's a few fruit set and a few flowers clinging that look okay. I predict a bummer year for tomatoes too.

I also believe now that my fruit set problem I had last year with squash are related to heat. Once again all the fruit on my giant cincerella pumpkin plant all turned yellow and dropped off. This is fresh, disease resistant seed, fresh potting soil, a very healthy plant, an entire beehive added to the area, etc.

Last year the fruit drop off also coincided with a massive heatwave. I can see new fruit forming so we'll see if those survive.

All in all it looks like this is going to be yet another bummer year.

 

[flowerbug]

with squash plants i often have a lot of initial blossom drop and then later on things improve so i'd say don't give up. as long as the plants are healthy let 'em go and hope they'll set some fruits.

bee hives may help for some but native bees are more suited for pollination. insect hotels and some specific areas set aside for bees that are the ground nesters really help them out. for an area on the ground i have some spots where i put chunks of bark on the clay soil and that seems to be things they like to nest in. once they start nesting they can be very defensive so i keep it weeded until i see the bees around then i stop until after they're done building their nests for the season.

 

[digitS']

Stay with it AMK' . Hey, I saw some birds, today!

I just don't understand peppers. They all look okay but mine haven't grown.

Peppers have 1 good year outta 10. I'm sure that they don't perform as well as some locations even on a good year but they are twice that of average that year. If it's 99% the weather, whatta ya gonna do?

Give those tomatoes time.

Yes, native bees. One was tormenting me while I was running the tiller this morning. The wooly aphids aren't bad this year but I'd had about all I could take from them. What is it with those pests and people's eyes?! Anyway, I asked the bee what he wanted from me and if it was a swat.

Fortunately, he must have decided that the garden paths weren't really of his concern and I wasn't venturing into the beds or lawn next door.

Steve

 

[AMKuska]

with squash plants i often have a lot of initial blossom drop and then later on things improve so i'd say don't give up. as long as the plants are healthy let 'em go and hope they'll set some fruits.

bee hives may help for some but native bees are more suited for pollination. insect hotels and some specific areas set aside for bees that are the ground nesters really help them out. for an area on the ground i have some spots where i put chunks of bark on the clay soil and that seems to be things they like to nest in. once they start nesting they can be very defensive so i keep it weeded until i see the bees around then i stop until after they're done building their nests for the season.

the bee thingy is for mason bees.

 

[AMKuska]

Well, things are looking a bit less dismal in the garden.

The Cinderella pumpkin has at least 2 pumpkins that are beyond the usual drop off point.

Here's a zuke that's about ready to eat.

Pickle in the making? Too soon to tell if it will keep.

Grass basket I'm working on from some long grass...the grass did real well in the heat.