Is anyone having luck with their garden?

Wow, with all of the scary stories everyone is posting it sounds like this year is a bad year for the garden. Is anyone having a good year? Reading all of the problems is making me nervous. I have had several bug problems and with all my vines just beginning I wonder if they will be attacked!!

If you have any incouraging stories please post them.

Little Thumb

So far so good, except for a few weeks battle with the cabbageworms. I also found a cuke beetle, but it was a short lived encounter. Fingers crossed!!!

So far so good!! See the pictures I put up yesterday HERE

Pete

IDK to be honest because our growing season seems to have just started!

The worst seems to be over here. I may get to be featured in the "What Not To Do" chapter of Mel's next book, but otherwise things are starting to hum along. My only problem is that I have not been able to put together a 6th box!

So far, so good for us. Very few bugs other than a couple of stinkers, and we always have grasshoppers. One of these days I'm going to borrow a chicken from someone and let it clean house!

Not a lot of tomatoes on the vine, but that's because we were still building beds and mixing Mel's mix when we should have been planting. Once it gets too hot at night, no fruiting occurs. Still, we have a few tomatoes -- including Romas -- and what's more important, the plants are healthy!

Peppers are going nuts. We have lots of sweet banana and rainbow peppers coming along. Cukes are bearing modestly, squash is blooming but not really robust -- probably needs a little fertilizing. Italian flat leaf parsley is happier than I've ever seen it. Walking onions are forming baby onions. Tomatillos are starting to bloom. As I recall, they bloom for quite a while before forming any fruit, and then you get hundreds.

Did I mention that we have several mystery tomato plants? Four were grown from seed given to us by a Hungarian woman. She's been growing them for years but couldn't remember their name. Other than being open-pollinated and indeterminate, we have no idea what they are. We also have two that germinated as volunteers in a pail of worm bedding that was left out in the sun and rain. Again, we have no clue.

My garden is doing amazing compared to last year in the soil. However, we have had more bugs then usual and have had other challenges as well. Somehow I don't think the bugs bothered much with my garden last year because the plants were so puny.

If I can get the card to my camera to work, I will update my pictures!

I finally got the picture on. This is two tomato suckers I put in rainwater 4 days ago.Hard to see but small roots are starting. What next? when to plant?

I've had some successes and some failures. Lost 3 plants (broccoli, cauliflower, and red cabbage) to an infestation of cabbage worms. Went out today and got some organic spray and gave everything a good dose to keep them from claiming more.

One success I've had is b/c of a tip I read on this site. We put pennies all around the top of my son's box, which is the closest to the compost pile, to keep out all the slugs. We weren't sure if it would work, but last night was wet so the kid's & I went out to take a look. Sure enough, there was a slug-fest going on. We took our flashlights and watched them climb the box, only to get to the top and try to climb over the pennies. Without fail, when they got to the pennies, each one turned around and went back down the box!

My son would love that idea of putting his pennies to good use like that.

I have nothing to compare this to, so I have to say I'm having great success! Dinner tonite was steamed broccoli, sugar snap peas, and a salad all that I picked today.

However, only 1 of my broccolis flowered. In the fall, I will not plant one to the east of the peas. The peppers aren't growing at all, and my one heirloom tomato is unhappy. Still - all the peas and salad have been fenominal!! The watermelons look great, and the rest of the tomatoes will be wonderful in a month or so. All-in-all, I'm very tickled with my garden and all it has given me.

Paintedlady wrote: We weren't sure if it would work, but last night was wet so the kid's & I went out to take a look. Sure enough, there was a slug-fest going on. We took our flashlights and watched them climb the box, only to get to the top and try to climb over the pennies. Without fail, when they got to the pennies, each one turned around and went back down the box!

You know you're a SFG'er if...battling and baffling slugs is entertainment for the family! :-)

I don't seem to have the slug problem I had last year. I've been sprinkling diamatomeous earth around the things they bother the most, and it seems to keep them away, plus today is the first day we've had rain for weeks. I'll need to sprinkle again when it lets up.

Patti

To have very little experience, I'd say we are actually doing pretty good this year. Our yellow squash plants have been and still are really producing. We've had many meals and I've already put some in the freezer and about to freeze more.

Our peppers are really producing as well and my cherry & Roma tomatoes are loaded. Our Better Boy tomato plants are very healthy looking but don't have many blooms. I'm not sure what is up with that and I suppose neither does anyone else.

Our zuchinni started off well, something happened but they are producing more new growth and blooms. So we are still hopeful about them.

Cucumbers and herbs (rosemary, parsley, oregano) doing fine. We had a good crop of strawberries this year too.

I've only planted 1 canteloupe plant but it has many blooms & is looking very healthy.

We did find 4 tomato worms on 1 of the Better Boy plants. Thankfully we plucked them off before they could do much damage.

With my garden in Maine, things start later than many places but so far my year is better than my first one last year. I learned from my mistakes and I got an earlier start. Starting my own seed this year was a blast. My plants are looking good. Blossoms are showing on some of the tomatoes and I've already harvested radishes, lettuces, spinach, Swiss chard and broccoli and a couple handsful of strawberries.
Problem today. Went out and found all the strawberries I was waiting to ripen were gone. I guess the birds got to them first There are still lots of little ones yet to grow so I covered the row with light insect barrier. That should deter them. I want my strawberries.
No bug probs yet though. I coverd my cabbages with light insect barrier a week ago against possible flea beetles. Nothing yet.
I'm hoping for a great harvest this year.

The earliest of my sugar snap peas are blossoming.

I am VERY pleased with our SFG so far this year. But I think we all can sympathize when we read some of the posts and the problems with bugs, fungus, etc. that folks have had to deal with. It really can be disheartening. But don't give up!

My spinach has been excellent. With the hot weather though, it's beginning to bolt. I have Swiss Chard big enough now to eat in its place.

All our greens have done very, very well. We still have lots of Green Ice, red oak leaf, mixed greens and several heads of mini romaine. Last year I planted all my lettuce at once, but this year I spaced the
plantings out every two weeks and we are harvesting the benefits. Carrots, I'm still not sure 'cause they're too small to pull. First round of radishes were perfect, but the second planting has not survived the heat. Right now they are serving as a flea beetle fodder -- ha!

Sugar snap peas have been doing VERY well. Our favorite way to eat them is to steam them for 2 minutes, chill in ice water and eat! Tonight I added some to a "garden confetti" pasta salad.

Some of you might be jealous of my broccoli. It has been prolific! I just cut another 4 cups this morning. Here's a picture from June 1. I have had that much come on two more times since that picture was taken.



Tomatoes and squash have grown fast in the heat! I was so worried about my puny tomato plants I started from seed myself, but they look so good now!

What's not doing so well is my bell peppers and my French filet beans. I planted Calif.Wonders and an early rell bell pepper. Not sure if it's the compost mix or what. I've been giving them doses of Epson salts and fish fertilizer (diluted of course and not at the same time) and they have perked up a little. As for those beans, something is eating them underground and I don't think it's moles or voles. These bean seeds are very small, so I think some bug is having a picnic. Some have come up, but I've had to replanted some spots for three times. An yes I have kept them covered with netting. If those squares of beans don't work out, I'll plant them in another square -- that's one of the really cool things about SFG'ing!

I've got herbs galore, and I use them almost everyday in something.

We had a really good rain today and the rain barrel is full again. Life is good.

Patti

Forgot to add that my volunteer strawberry patch garnered us over a gallon of strawberries, plus fed every bug, bird & rodent for 1 sq. mile.

I'm very pleased with my first SFG. Very productive so far & growing great. I was fortunate enough to have found composted manure from a local dairy farm for my Mix & think that's why everything grew so large. I'm definitely an SFG convert. I love the "no weeds" part.

I have decided to do a few things differently next year.

3 x 3 isn't enough room for zukes or yellow squash. Don't plant carrots or onion in the other squares within the squash space - carrot foilage rotted & onions just didn't do anything.

Don't bother with Spring planting of cabbage. The cabbage worms made lace of them. I knew they would, but couldn't help myself. I'll do a Fall crop later.

9 bush beans per square is too much. I planted Roma bush & they grew huge & the plants in the center didn't get enough sun under the top foilage - some leaves rotted & beans were sparse.

Don't plant trellised cukes at the end of the bed next to corn - very hard to pick the cukes that insist on growing on the wrong side of the trellis next to the corn.

I used the smallest size fence posts from Tractor supply to stake my tomatoes with. Posts are 5' tall after driving them in the ground, tomatoes are much taller & after reaching the top of the posts have fallen over to the side. I just can't bear to "top" them because they have so many blooms & tomatoes.

I posted pics on my blog yesterday.

Not to worry! Things in my garden have been a bit slow due to days (or should I say weeks) of rain and not very much sun. I know when the sun comes out everything is going to take off. The peas I planted in April are just about the same size as the ones I planted the second week of May. Temps really play a part in growing! Just be patient and you will be rewarded!

My garden is doing well, but I am glad that this is not my first year gardening. Things have been so different. We went 6 weeks without rain, then a couple weeks with a lot of rain quickly and finally we got three reasonable amounts of rain in a week. The garden has been slow to take off. I am in zone 7 and ate my first tomato and cheese sandwich last Saturday. Yummy! Then this week the cucumbers finally started to arrive. I think they are late. Some plants bolted this year that have done well in the past, but I actually have summer squash and zucchini. I am the only person in the world who cannot grow zucchini easily. I might have out smarted the cut worms or it is just too early to tell. I might also have to up the price I pay for dead squash bugs. Since we have been aggressive in looking for eggs, I have seen fewer bugs. The bug collectors are not happy. I have not won the battle with moles and voles however we seem to be at a standstill. All in all the garden is doing well.

Patty in Yorktown

Plenty of battles with various pests, but really my first year growing veggies is going great. I harvested excellent spinach and I'm eating freshly picked mixed salads every day (several types of lettuce, mizuna, arugula). I had my first harvest of delicious tenderstem broccoli (I think they're called broccolini in the US), and they were much better than the ones bought at the supermarket; the broccoli is heading beautifully and lthe biggest one ooks like it will be enough for 4 people on its own! I'm harvesting all sort of herbs all the time, and made pesto with the basil surplus. I harvested a few batches of bok choy (delicious!) and I have some tsoi sum that should be ready in two weeks. The tomatoes, chilli and peppers are doing great and they have started to fruit, and the eggplants are flowering. The snap peas are flowering like crazy, and they have the first pods showing. The french beans are growing nicely and they have started climbing up the trellis. The two cabbages look perfect, and one of them will be probably ready in two or three weeks. The zucchini are showing a ton of tiny buds, and one tiny, tiny zucchini. The only thing that is very, very slow are the carrots, but that's because the broccoli next to them has grown so huge that it covers about 6 squares and its leaves are blocking all the sun for the carrots.
Really, despite a few problems, if you consider that I'm a total beginner, this SFG method (together with the advice found on the web and on another couple of excellent veggie growing books) has worked really well for me!

This is our second year sfg all of the corn, radish, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatos are growing. No fruit yet.

The pepper plants are super slow nearly dying off but with epsom salt they are starting to perk up.

Planted another box of tomatos and peppers yesterday and finally got the beans/peas in.

Yep I'm real behind this year.

We've harvested dozens of cherry tomatoes, especially red currants, which are tiny and full of flavor. We also got dozens of beans this weekend, and I picked another handful today! All of our tomatoes are loaded with fruit that's slowly ripening, and the first non-cherry tomato we got was a Flamme, which was bright orange and delicious! I love gardening! It's so soothing to my mind and when things are looking down, I go out and train squash or cucumbers or weed and everything feels alright again. Plus, I finally have a reason to like summer! I've always preferred winter and fall, so that's quite a change!

This is my first year doing a SFG. I only have one 4 x 4 garden, but it is doing well. (Crossing my fingers) The carrots are growing, both cherry tom & reg tom have green tomatoes, my cucumbers are flowering, bush beans are flowering, basil growing (smells good); but my pepper is not growing very well.

I am also growing pumpkins out of the box along my house with some of Mel's mix and they have flowers.

This is the best garden I ever had growing!!

Thank you MEL!

Happy Gardening Everyone....