August 2012, New England

Well, the growing season is marching forward and, oh so very slowly, my tomatoes and runner beans are catching up to the season. The peppers are finally looking promising as well. The brassicas and aubergine are busting out everywhere.






Peppers and cherry type tomatoes in Florida weave.


Late cukes and Brussels sprouts




My collection of compost material continues. Yesterdays score, some very light and fluffy coffee chaff from the local coffee roaster


and a few 30# bags of used coffee grounds added to the holding pen.



What's going on with your garden now and plans for the Autumn?

OH! and another thing... it's BLUEBERRY SEASON! I love pie! one of the best things in life.

Wow, beautiful pics! What kind of eggplants are you growing? I just got my first flower today so I think it'll be a while before I get anything even though I grew a kind called early long :p

Let's see... I just started getting a steady supply of pole beans, purple podded ones. They're so pretty and really productive! I got half a pound in one day. I'm saving them up to make dilly beans. I'm getting lots of sweet 100 toms every day, and I have one brandywine turning yellow. I've also gotten a few Oregon spring toms. I have seven summer squash ripening on two vines! I've never had that many at once. I also have the cutest little pumpkin and three lovely little melons. I should go take pictures sometime...

Broccoli, cabbage, Brussels, peas, and kohlrabi are up for fall. Just planted beets, second wave of bush beans, Chinese cabbage and kale. This is the first time I'm really trying for a fall crop, so well see how it goes.

Tomorrow we hope to harvest all the older peas , broad beans , garlic , fully developed & finished red onions and some carrot comp carrots so we have space for late summercrops of carrots, beetroot , parsnips, all yr round cauli and spring cabbages to mention just a few things .


Will also pick off all the courgettes, runner beans , french dwarf beans and peas off the newest vines for freezing as we are going away on holiday and don't want massive monsters on our return . We might be lucky and be able to harvest some strawberries & glasshouse tomatoes ( first of the year ) towards the end of the week just before we go and play.


I'll also have to spray against cabbage white butterflies as I saw two having a flitter over the cabbages this morning ..if left untreated we're likely to come back to a bundle of green slimy lace on stalks , it will also deter carrot root flies , black fly , white flies and aphids .


Also have to finish tidying up the flower beds , plant out dwarf marigolds, carnations, antirhinnum's , new stock of home grown asparagus , some celery and sow a few quick crops like lettuce radish and salad onions.

Plantoid, I hope you have a fine holiday after all that work! What are you spraying your brassicas with to take care of the worms? LS, the variety of aubergine is 'dusky'. I have a few other Asian eggplants in another bed.

I do not have anything ready to pick yet in my new garden but I finally do have things growing. The odd thing is that my seeds seem to move from where I plant them. And, I have one thing that I don't have a clue what it is. I will have to post a picture of it and maybe others recognize what it is because it does not look like a weed to me. Very strange!

So, in my garden I have swiss chard, bush beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, lettuce and scallion sprouting. In a pot I have cucumber growing (just leaves so far). I have tomatoes in pots but they are very slow this year. Something is wrong with my peppers. I have been harvesting a lot of basil and parsley though and a bit of thyme and rosemary. The rosemary is growing very slowly. Have a nice bunch of oregano in the pot and am just waiting to harvest it and try drying it. I just planted some mint (in a pot). I am not sure if it will overwinter in the pot but don't want it in the garden.

Oh and another 'funny' thing. I apparently threw some seeds into a pot one day and neglected to write it down. Things started sprouting and I plucked two out without thinking about it, then hesitated and noticed there seemed to be a bunch all the same and maybe they were 'something'. I think they are either spinach or lettuce (for all I know, I could have put both in there!). I vaguely remember putting something in that pot but when I went inside my house, I could not find my planting scheme paper and then I forgot when I did find my paper.

CPL, post some photos here when you can. Why do you think there is something wrong with your peppers?

That pie is mouthwatering! I LOVE PIE!

I've been harvesting radishes, bush & pole beans, beet & greens, chives, lots of herbs & swiss chard, carrots, pak choi, lettuce & kale from last spring, zucchini, cucumber and I think that's it. Only green maters still & pea size green peppers, and no melon or spag squash babies yet.

The fall crops that I planted and that are a'growing up - snow peas, turnip, kohlrabi, broccoli, kale, hidden lettuces, scallions, daikon and more carrots/beets/radishes. Cabbage and spinach haven't sprouted yet.

CC

camprn wrote:CPL, post some photos here when you can. Why do you think there is something wrong with your peppers?

This is my first try at growing peppers (and they are in pots). My pepper plants (red bell and cubanelle) are about a foot tall. I had some nice fruiting but the fruit really didn't grow much. The cubanelle grew to about 4 inches long and stayed green. I was waiting for them to get larger and the plant stopped producing flowers and any more fruit (about 6 fruit on plant at that point). I did some research which indicated that the plant will stop producing if the fruit is left on there too long. So I cut them all off this past Saturday. They taste rather harsh, though, so I am not certain if they were truly ripe. Also not sure if the plant is now a 'bust' or if it will start producing again. The bell peppers looked so cute on the plant but they are not as cute now, about a month later, since they are still only about 1.5" in size and still green.

Any guesses? Maybe not enough sun? I am 'sun-challenged' in my yard.

It may have just been the hot weather stalling the peppers. Don't fret too much, just let them do their thing. Peppers can take a long time.

Good to know, Camp. My little pea sized peppers are falling off the plant. Not all of them, thank goodness. But 3 so far.

What causes that?

CC

Glad to know I'm not the only one in the region with tiny peppers. Very disappointing for my first try. What kind are you growing? I just put in two plants so.....

My sweet peppers have small fruit and the poblanos just started flowing a few days ago.

Gosh cpl, I don't know what kind my peppers are. I'll have to check it out when I get home from work and get back to you. I have 3 in a pot and 3 in MM in the garden. And I think the peppers are too small to get a photo of but I can try.

Guess we just don't have enuff GDD's to have adult peppers yet.

'Scuse the laffter. I just learned about GDD's in another thread and will now use that excuse for everything that doesn't do what I think it should. Funny thing is, it's probably true.

What kind are yours?

CC

Haven't a clue what is meant by GDD's. As for the type of peppers, one is cubanelle and one is red bell. I don't know more than that because I bought them as starts from the local garden club in May and that is how they were labelled. Yes....they have been attempting to grow since then!

I am trying to further ripen the four that I have picked (cubanelles) to see if the plant starts producing now. Two are on the windowsill and two are in a bag with some tomatoes (which is supposed to hasten ripening). So we shall see about that.

Is anyone doing fall garlic planting this year? I'm thinking of pretty much an entire box of garlic - I use it a lot. Thinking of getting some heads of garlic at the farmer's market in order to start with an organic source. I believe garlic is a perennial, or can be, no?

Right now my tomato plants are VERY lush. They are just starting to turn color. I've had a few cherry tomatoes, and a couple big tomatoes are almost ready to pick. I hope the season holds out long enough for a lot of these tomatoes to turn. This year I did not pinch the suckers because last year hornworms did away with so many leaves. I'm glad I didn't pinch them. The gardening column in the paper did say, however, to remove leaves close to the soil line because a lot of plant diseases start from splash-up from the soil - he suggested I believe a mulch, and removing the bottom leaves. I just read that, so haven't tried it this year.

The peppers once again are a big disappointment, but I think I might know why. I think my boxes might be drying out more quickly than I'm realizing and they are not getting enough water. I realized this when I transplanted some strawberry runners the past few days, and they withered right up because the soil kept drying out. I find I'm having to water frequently in two boxes in particular. Maybe I should add a little more peat moss in those 2 boxes. I believe the peat is what retains water.

But, I did transplant strawberry runners in 8 squares to see what happens. Their roots were very short so I don't know if it will work. They did wither up, but I keep re-watering them, so I'm wondering if they will "take". If not, I'll have to find a way to grow the roots out - someone suggested putting them in water and roots will grow.

Getting green beans, peas are over, I have transplants in that I picked up a month back, some cabbage and broccoli and cauliflower, but I'm not seeing anything on those so they may not produce. I have one small eggplant and several blossoms. I had one yellow squash so far and am hoping for lots of squash and zucchini - we'll see (had to replant). I have carrots in just the plain yard and those are pretty ready. Oh, and the potatoes got so eaten by slugs that the plants are dying. I'm a little afraid to see what's under the straw in the potato tower, afraid maybe they might be ruined. Maybe tomorrow I'll pluck one and see how it looks. I think next summer I'm planting those in the yard too instead of taking up box space.

Having a lot of fun in 3 new boxes with compost ingredients. The boxes were full at one point with chicken shavings, and such, but they've really shrunk. I added coffee grounds from Dunkin, some broken up small sticks from the brush pile, our daily small ration from the kitchen, the pea vines... it's really fun making compost goulash.

Also harvesting onions which I could use a ton of too, may have to expand the onion bed next year.

When the tomatoes start really turning, I'll probably be bagging up a lot of those and throwing them in the freezer to cook with later.

Oh, and I had a dinner of sauteed onion and green beans in olive oil, and put it over spaghetti with shredded parmesan cheese - yum.

Glad for this forum, to get ideas, see pictures, and hear tips and plans. (sorry this is so wordy!)

It's all sound great NHG! And to think last year you had such doubts!
If I may, a few suggestions.
Don't add more peat, that will dry the boxes out more and add no nutritional value to the growing mix. I usually add a wheelbarrow full of compost to each bed before planting.

I think everyone's peppers are being a bit slow. There is still plenty of time for them to come along!

I too used a whole 4x6 bed for my garlic last year. It was all softneck. I am going to trade for some hardneck with a gardener friend. I am so excited for scapes next spring.

The tomatoes will come on pretty soon. We have about 6 weeks of summer growing left and I am sure it's going to finally be full gangbusters of tomatoes. I can hardly wait!

NHGardener, sounds like your garden is doing great! I love reading what everyone has going. Sorry to hear about your peppers, I know how that feels. I have never had any luck with bell peppers in my garden. The jalepano and banana peppers (which I don't like), on the other hand, have grown like mad. Your water theory might be right. Do you mulch? I didn't mulch last year but I did this year, and I only have to water half as much as I did last year. As for adding more peat for moisture, actually all three ingredients in MM hold water in their own way, so I would say add more compost because you don't want to starve your plants of food by having more peat.

Ok, now for the reason I'm replying! I'm planning on planting some garlic this year. I bought a kind called German extra hardy form seed savers exchange last year and harvested my first heads last month and they've been drying in the garage. I'm going to save a head or two and plant them again this fall! That's the cool thing about garlic. You only need to buy it once.

Thanks for the advice on the compost for dry boxes. At first I thought compost, but when I looked up peat, I saw mentioned that it retains moisture. But I'd rather add compost.

The feed store guy here said if you can get a thick layer of compost under your pepper plants, when the pepper plants send down roots they hit the compost and get very thick and sturdy (and that's a good thing). I may try extra compost in the pepper beds next year and see if that helps. I've only tried bell peppers.

That is great about garlic, that you only have to buy once and then replant the cloves. I find that with the strawberries too - I was planning on buying more plants next spring, but if I can get the runners to transplant, those are free. There are a ton of runners, once I get my new plants surviving I'll probably offer the runners to anyone who wants transplants - hate to see them go to waste.

Speaking of strawberries, after months of total neglext, look what I found on my Junebearing Allstar this morning:


Now THAT'S my kinda plant!

Even tho my bell pepper plants are poopy, the jalapeno plants look great! How do I know when I'm suppose to pick them?



cpl, my bell pepper plants are California Wonder. I posted a photo on the 'Need Pepper Advice...' thread. Check out the advice. It's helpful.

CC

CC, my first year strawbs are blooming again too... I'm no complaining!

I sprayed my tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine plants with copper again this morning. Call me paranoid, but I don't want to lose it all to blight or anthracnose like last year. Fingers crossed to remain disease free.

Before I sprayed the plants I took 7.5 pounds of aubergine. YUM!
I am dehydrating a bunch and will have some for supper.
I would like to make and freeze some Baba Ganoush







I did OK at the Fair this year, despite a new canning judge who was lacking some basic canning information; "What's a cold pack"? I heard her say... She disqualified my tomato juice because it separated.... guess I have to fix that for next year.

Congrats to the strawberry blossom people, the fair winner, yum on the beautiful eggplants! Mine are black beauties (?) - I wonder if they ripen a little later than the aubergines.

NHGardener wrote:Congrats to the strawberry blossom people, the fair winner, yum on the beautiful eggplants! Mine are black beauties (?) - I wonder if they ripen a little later than the aubergines.

Aubergine is just another name for eggplant. The variety I picked today is 'dusky' and I think it had a 60 day to harvest window. I believe 'Black Beauty' has an 80 day window. So you should be getting some for the table pretty soon!

Look at all those ribbons. Nicely done, Camp! What's the diff between the 2 honeys besides the comb in one?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Look at all those ribbons. Nicely done, Camp! What's the diff between the 2 honeys besides the comb in one?

CC

Thanks and Yup you got it, that's the difference. It was a different judging class called chunk honey. The extracted honey is the same.