Mid-Atlantic - July 2015

Hey Everyone!

I had a fantastic time with Belinda Jensen (sfgteachers) and Amie Hall and of course Mel Bartholomew in the Lake George area. It took a bit of time for set up SOOOOO I've had NOOOOOO time in the garden.

How do you handle the summer months with vacations, etc.?

Kim, Glad you had a good time. I hate leaving my garden for even a day during the summer. I have to be away in August for 5 days. Covertly set the auto drips for everyday and hope. I prefer to take a vacation in October. We are planning a NY-Niagara-Maine loop trip first of October. When I get back, I can start summer cleanup and prep for winter crops.

I love my garden, but I need my vacation.  So I throw some shade cloth over my hoop house and hope that we get some rain while I'm away.   I realize that the japanese beetles will go to town on my string bean leaves, and tomato hornworms may take advantage of my absence, but I need to get away from work.

Have fun & be careful, Mike!


How FUN, Kim!  Wish I coulda been there too....

I KNEW IT!

sneaky little rascals.... 

Glad you had a great time Kim, must have been a great chance to mingle with like minded folks.

Since it's just the two of us here at the house, we tend to enjoy getting out of the area during the Winters. There's a lot of motivation when you look at the forecasts during February and see the lows of 10 to 20 degrees below zero for weeks on end. We'll visit the kids on the Gulf coast and it will feel like 'shorts' weather compared to what we just left.

Summer 'vacation' is being able to get outside around our place and enjoying the yard and garden.

All the Best
Brad

Has anyone else in this area had trouble with some plants this year?  My early season crops were awesome, (carrots, onions, peas, green beans) but some of my warmer weather crops are not doing so hot.  Cucumber yields are way down, twice the plants as last year, half the production and dying plants.  My spaghetti squash were going great until the past couple of weeks.  The 4 squash plants just died right after the fruits got huge.  The sugar baby watermelon are doing ok, 1 decent melon per vine, but the larger melon plants had one fruit shrink to nothing and one just stopped growing.  I have no new melons growing on any of the 4 vines. 

Pumpkin vines are yellowing, have one fruit between the two of them, and are just growing longer and longer with no fruit forming. 

One thing I noticed was the amount of pollinators is way down in my garden compared to last year.  I can count the amount of bees on one hand every time I go out to the garden.  Even with the huge mint patch that attracts everything, I have seen a dramatic decrease in pollinators. 

Tomatoes and peppers are going nuts.  I have harvested pounds and pounds of brandywines and mortgage lifters, albeit later than usual.  I have made gallons of pickled hot and wax peppers with the huge crops.  My strawberry plants in the cinder block edging look like a mini rainforest.  I also finally successfully grew some eggplant.  Delicious pan fried with a brandywine slice and a mayo and parmesan cheese dollop on top!

I am thinking it is not a MM issue.  It is discouraging, but the bounty from the successful crops is keeping me going.  I can't believe the season is more than half way done.  Good thing I froze tons of carrots and green beans for the long winter months.

I will plant my fall stuff soon, pole beans, green onions, kale, lettuce, etc.  Has anyone grown Jericho lettuce?  Great hot weather romaine-type lettuce.  I just harvested a head for my BLTs and even though it has been hot lately, the lettuce wasn't bitter nor did it go to seed.  Great lettuce.

Thanks for the tip off of the Jericho lettuce.

This summer's been brutal - I think it's weather-related.

zackshea wrote:Has anyone else in this area had trouble with some plants this year?  My early season crops were awesome, (carrots, onions, peas, green beans) but some of my warmer weather crops are not doing so hot. 

One thing I noticed was the amount of pollinators is way down in my garden compared to last year.  I can count the amount of bees on one hand every time I go out to the garden. 

I will plant my fall stuff soon . . ..

It seems that everyone is having trouble with some crop or another. The reduction in bees doesn't help.