Giving Up

[Naughty]

thank you much for this post - this is my first year trying to grow a garden this big - and i had been depressed to see how many plants were just not doing well. now i can see that even the "experts" have setbacks and focus a little more on the ones that ARE growing.

now if i can just find out what is taking bites out of my green beans ... lol

 

[NwMtGardener]

Hey, welcome! My green beans are getting seriously munched on this year, not sure what's eating them... I just put out more seeds because I have so few left!!

 

[wifezilla]

Rolly polly, earwig, slug... All love beans. Get some crushed oyster shells and spread those around the plants.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Well I'm glad I did an experiment this year. I had chinese red noodle, dragon tongue, blue lake, kentucky wonder, and tried and true green bean my family has grown for generations.

chinese red noodle, dragon tongue, and blue lake FAILED miserably. The tried and trues and kentucky wonder look absolutely great. So this weekend I'm reseeding the other bamboo teepees with kentucky wonder beans.

Now if I can just figure out my tomatoes. The two I have in my beds (rich organic soil) are doing so well, they have branches that are bigger than most of my last years regular plants. I kid you not they are humongous and loaded with fruit. Then there is the ones in the ground not but 6 feet from the beds. The soil never had a garden before and was part of my horses corral for years. It was his favorite bathroom spot. So over winter I closed it off and this spring tilled it up good and even added some lime. I planted with a little Epsom salt and they grew some. With all this freak weather we've been having and tieing them up, they all look stressed. Now even the ones in my cages look stressed and have curled leaves. They have very sparse leaves. I need some advise on putting on foliage to my stressed tomatoes. We have a long season here and if I wanted late tomatoes, now would be planting time if you think I need to start over.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Just so that you know, my family's garden tomato plants look the same, even some have died off. It has to be the weather conditions or a blight.

 

[digitS']

Hangin', if the large plants are loaded with fruit, are you concerned about it ripening? Corrals can have serious problems with accumulated salts. I think only time and rainwater can flush away those salts.

Another critter that likes to take bites out of the end of green beans, I'm sorry to say, is the ubiquitous vole (meadow mouse).

It may turn out that yesterday afternoon was the coolest ever on that date in some locations hereabouts. I was surprised to learn that last year was about the same, tho'. Maybe I should be getting used to this kind of spring.

Happened before or not, this part of the world is now behind Fairbanks, Alaska, all of the listed Colorado cities, and most cities in North Dakota - according to the weather service. You may be able to find your town on this webpage and compare your community's warmth (or lack of it) with other US locations (click). Some places in TX, LA and elsewhere are absolutely cooking and that's gotta be tough!

The list is a little confusing and many cities are not on it. For some reason, they have New York (NY) coming before North Carolina (NC) in the alphabet and some other strange things. The -9999 simply means that the WS does not have sufficient records on Growing Degree Days to show an average. But, as I say, it can be used for comparison with other places in the US.

It gives me hope that we may be able to stay ahead of Nome but I don't want to jinx my garden by being definite about that . A slow warming trend here is predicted!

Steve

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Nope, they look spindly hardly no leaves, they are about 3 to 4 feet high and no tomatoes at all. They look like a Charley Brown Christmas tree, lol.


These are pictures before the storms, but they've only gotten taller and not bushy-er. Hardly no leaves.

 

[digitS']

Ex-screamly hot in Athens, GA lately! Highs in the 90's/lows in mid 60's for the past month.

I wonder if that has anything to do with limited development of tomato leaves at this early stage . . .

Hangin', I also see that you may have thunderstorms today with a danger of lightening strikes and "pea to nickle sized hail!" Run for cover!!

Oh wait . . . that's only a 20% chance. Still, the radar map looks scary!

Steve, alarmist

 

[cwhit590]

Hey hey strangers! So what's this I hear about Steve GIVING UP?!?

It's interesting to hear about everyone's season so far. The weather has had its ups and downs here....but nothing too extreme right where I live...the warmer weather just took its sweet time in coming!

At this point, it's looking like my season will be more challenging from the critter and varmint side of things: turkeys dustbathing in newly planted rows, deer running around sampling and trampling stuff, moles tunneling everywhere, herds of little bunnies jumping for cover every time I turn around , aphids and potato beetles galore....ay yay yay! What's next?

I must say though that all the plants are doing well...no major losses yet. My snap peas and snow peas are blooming and looking great....can't wait for those to start producing.

For everyone who's having a rough time this year....don't give up!

 

[digitS']

Hey, C ! !

There you go man, keep as cool as you can.

Face piles
And piles
Of trials
With smiles.

It riles them to believe
That you perceive
The web they weave
And keep on thinking free.

digitS' & The Moody Blues