Our 2nd year attempt at SFG.

Year 1 was impressive with things like peppers and eggplants.  I was harvesting both until our first freeze near Thanksgiving.  Tomatoes last year however we had tall plants, but I over trimmed, had yellerish leaves, almost all tomatoes had cracks, and we only ended up with 2 edible maters.  Squash vine borers (not what I call them when there are no youngsters around! ) killed all my zukes and squash, so I spent the off season growing fall stuff, and planning, researching, and preparing.

We also expanded to a third box, in hopes of  overcoming some of last years issues by sheer numbers.

We started planting a few things around the last week of April, when it was still cool in the evenings, and growing seemed slow.  Now things seem to be winding up, including diseas

2nd year for this box, we planted some stevia for our unsweet tea, some peppers, 1 squash, and 1 eggplant.  It looks so barren in this pic, but only for a few weeks.



We skimped on the dirt in the newer box, and it is showing, as the mels mix boxes are growing probably 30-40% higher and thicker stemmed than the non mels mix.



Also tried the toilet paper/stocking around the stem/aluminum foil around the stocking procedure to thwart the bastid vine boreres.  Failed and lost 1 plant, but the other one is out of control.  I don't see how anyone can try to use 1, 12x12 inch square for a plant that can easily cover an entire 4x4 foot box lol.



Thhis is the 2nd year box recently, as you can also see in this pic, I have some sort of fungus on my cuke leaves, which I have tried vehemently to spray a $19 bottle of organic copper something fungus killer, to no avail, and my tomato plant on the left I think has blight, which I'm not sure how to battle except cut those leaves off?



We also built and painted a trellis for the new box, as we have cukes and maters and the wife wanted pumpkins along the back row, and peppers and a carrot box in the front.  The pumpkins were planted only 2 months ago, and have now had to be turned down and are probably in length 13+ feet long, with a couple of pumpkins in the tennis ball range.  We've had 2 high wind storms come through already and it has held up but the more foliage that covers the area the more nervous I'll become.





The MRS has harvested over 200 strawberries in a 1 foot by 4 foot area.  




All in all, I am being forced to change my persona.  I am THE most impatient person in most have ever met.  This is the toughest time for me, in that it's hard to just "wait".  Especially when I see posts of other people around me already harvesting.  Last year I could NOT stop trimming stuff, and I ended up with a tomato plant that had a 2 foot stem, with 2 leaves on it .  Then I complained about it not producing lol.  

SFG is extremely simple, but you can't fix stupid.

Loved your post . think your strap line should be the last words .... & claim it as an original comment as it is worth $ billions

" SFG is extremely simple, but you can't fix stupid. "

Beautiful trellis and gardens. Thanks for sharing. Don't be so hard on yourself! (Though you did make me laugh. )

Be patient it will work out in the end. For me this year patients is killing me. I moved to MT and things just start off so slow and are taking forever to grow. I grew up in GA where by this time of year I would have already had harvested spring crops and moved on to summer one. Than got moved to NE where by this time the green beans were producing. But here everything just seems to takes so longer. For instance I found my first pea blossom yesterday:D

Love your trellis. Is it staked into the ground at all?

The strawberry box harvests are awesome! Your strawberry SFG gives me hope for our yield. I have 10 squares planted, and we're just starting to have more than 1-2 berries/day.

I love your pictures, looks pretty good to me.  Like mschaf I am celebrating the first pea blossom....

On the tomato leaves are they just rolling or is there other sign of disease?  Rolling is usually a sign of too much or uneven watering and some varieties are very susceptible to it especially if pruned too much.  It does not usually effect the productivity of the plant though.

The tomato leaves are yellow and curling and have some concentric circles on the bottom branches.  I bought some epsom salt, but I'm not yet sure of how to apply it correctly.  I've heard about 4 different ways.

The trellis is mounted to the box, which has 22 cubic feet of dirt in it, so I hope I'm ok. 

Most of the people I get advice from around here are row growers, and think I plant stuff too close together, it's too crowded, they won't produce etc.  Then they come see it later and the year and ask what type of fertilizer I use lol (none). 

The patience is my weakness.  I can't stand to look at my 401K and see it only move .02%.  If one of my workers is 2 minutes late, I start to get ill.  Now I have to wait for plants to start producing.  Sometimes I stare at them, as if that will help.  I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts. 

If there is a way to stop the growth of my fungus on my cukes, or possible blight on my maters, I'm all ears,

And thank you very much.

I have learned a LOT by reading this forum! (doesn't mean I'll apply it correctly though)

Maybe you could curb your impatience by planting some things that produce earlier? Granted I am about to start my first SFG this Fall, so I don't speak from experience...but I am planning on planting plenty of greens to go along with my tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers...that way while I'm waiting for those plants to produce...at least I've got some chard, lettuce, kale, arugula, and radishes that I can harvest. Good luck!

Call the nc state extension agent.  That is the best source of info on blight.  I have been spraying my tomatoes and roses with copper fungicide to head it off (if possible)  Only limited evidence, but there is some that 1 regular aspirin tablet dissolved in 1 gal of water and sprayed when the plants are young helps them build up their own immune system.  I have been doing both.

May I make another suggestion.  Plant some new tomato plants in another spot or in some 5 gal buckets.  Blight is contagious.   This way you may get some fall maters.  Wish I lived closer.  I have 3 suckers with great roots growing in some water and no place to plant them.


Kay