Let's talk about 2016 Tomato Growing Season

[Jared77]

I had the same issues. My garden was atrocious. I got my first ripe early girls in August. What I could get was damaged by rabbits and deer. Pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, it didn't matter. Had it all from poor germination, to damage, to fruits not setting or ripening.

The weather played havoc on what I was hoping would be a great year. Tons if watering and soaker hoses for nothing.

Im already planning a few changes for next year. Going to start some things in a cold frame (pumpkins/squash/gourds) and aggressively stagger a few other things to help offset things so I'm not behind on a planting when a poor germination happens. I've done cold frames before with great results just haven't had the time the last couple years to do it. Need to make it a priority or not get frustrated when a plan doesn't come together.

 

[Zeedman]

Well, it was a mixed year for me; some things did terribly, some did really well. Everything was planted late due to an extended wet Spring, so all of the transplants were getting leggy... but a very late Autumn freeze more than made up for the late start. Tomatoes did OK, and I had plenty to make canned salsa; just not the banner year I had in 2015. Peppers were loaded, and due to the late frost, most ripened - my best year ever. Best year ever for okra as well, the late summer cold snap that usually begins their die-back was a no-show. Pole beans did really well, filled a freezer with snaps, and harvested over 40 pounds of dry seed.

Eggplant, though was disappointing. So were all cucurbits, except for bitter melon (which never seems to have a bad year here). No winter squash this year.

 

[seedcorn]

What I think, can't prove.

1). We had a late spring with cool nights that set plants behind.
2). Then dry, that set plants behind.
3). We had a lot of foliage that put ripening way behind.

Plus some MORON put old soybeans on his garden giving it a shot of nitrogen and carbon..... when I find him, am I going to chew him out!!!!!!!!

 

[so lucky]

@Zeedman, what part of the country do you garden in? If you said in another thread, I didn't catch it.
It's getting to be a real challenge to second guess the weather/climate every year. I laid soaker hoses all through my garden this year. Maybe used them once. I need to figure out how to raise the level of the soil in the garden, without adding a bunch of yucky expensive purchased dirt. Maybe dig out the paths and pile it on the rows. If I do that, we'll have the driest growing season on record.

 

[aftermidnight]

As I said before worst tomato year ever but what was strange I had a good crop of cucumbers, could be because I had them planted in my waist high planter box. Yacon did very well, a couple of the plants even flowered. Beets were so-so had them planted too close to a short row of Ozette fingerling potatoes which reached out and flopped over my beets but once the potatoes were dug the beets gave a big sigh of relief and put on some growth.
Beans were good, no matter what the weather is here I've always seem to get a good crop and enough seed from all to keep me happy. I harvested seed from all of them, even the Sicitalian Black Swamp which although planted the same time as the others, bloomed much later in the season. The one exception, that weird outcross from the beans I was growing for Russ. In the end over 200 pods on that vine, you could see the bulges in some of the pods where the beans should have been, not a single bean in any of them.
Sea Kale and Skirret are in their second year, what is it they say first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap .

Annette

 

[Zeedman]

@so lucky I updated my profile to show location, east-central Wisconsin. We seemed to be in the strike zone for rain this year; even after the Spring torrents finally subsided, the rainfall was consistent throughout the summer. It never dried out, even in August when I normally need to irrigate. The only time I ever watered was when putting in transplants. Crops that like a lot of water - peppers, soybeans, cowpeas, water spinach - really thrived. I often had to trudge through the mud to harvest, especially as by beans were drying down... but given that, it was a really good year overall.

@aftermidnight it sounds like that bean you mentioned might have been a sterile, inter-specific cross.

 

[digitS']

Maybe dig out the paths and pile it on the rows. If I do that, we'll have the driest growing season on record.

I do that. permanent 2' paths and 4' beds. My garden soil drains quickly and this country is arid. Of course, I run water twice a week and put down 3/4" each time. At sometimes, more ...

If this seems like very much, you haven't paid attention to what California produce growers are doing in their climate to grow much of the nation's food! They are mega users of their state's water.

I try to flatten the top of my beds and provide them with a slight concave shape. The paths are packed hard just by the pounding of my big feet. I'm not sure how much but I imagine that water in the paths tends to move laterally, into the beds. I really don't think that the beds dry out much below the top inch or so.

Steve

 

[Jared77]

What I think, can't prove.

1). We had a late spring with cool nights that set plants behind.
2). Then dry, that set plants behind.
3). We had a lot of foliage that put ripening way behind.

Agreed 100% especially with the first 2.

Had some germination issues, and very late setting fruit. Plus we had deer and rabbit damage to lots of new shoots. They normally don't bother my garden but with things being so dry (I went a month between mowings at times) they ate what they could. Lot of really short corn here for quite a while till we got the late season rains.