June in the Midwest!

Your gardens look great! I have let mine go a bit since the tomatoes have started going crazy. Mainly just lettuce and some carrots leftover, which is fine because that's mostly what we eat. I need to overhaul it this weekend, though. And, I need to reposition some things so it will be lined up for a pretty fall.

I don't intend to randomly place things like I did this spring. I don't like the looks of that. I like organized placements. So, I have already mocked up some plans I intend to implement...when the time is right.

I had planned an update to show my fabulous pepper plants this weekend. But, I made the mistake of letting the dog outside last night. In the dark, she got even with us and our week of being busy and neglecting her. She attacked two pepper plants FULL of peppers.

She was so nice she brought them up on the deck and left them for us by the back door. I just lost about 15 peppers that were about 2 weeks away from ripening.....just in time for a birthday party we are having at the house with family. My wife was so happy for the fresh veggie tray coming, that she was really starting to talk about our peppers.

However, this morning, all I hear is her talking to the dog. "You had better find a good spot when dad sees this......naughty doggie."

When we went outside to check the damage, the dog wouldn't come down off the deck. She just sat up there with the saddest look on her face.

I swear dogs are like little kids. They know they are doing wrong, but just can't help themselves sometimes because they are so mad at you.

At least I still have 4 pepper plants left. Danged dog..........

I'm glad right now, I have cats. They have been so good about staying out of my boxes. I threatened them, quite loudly, lol. They know not to set foot in there. Although, they do jump over the two footers. BBG, I hope you post your plans for more organization, I think I need that too.

Rain, rain, daily rain for weeks. Thank God I used SFG this year. Other gardens are starting to really suffer. Mine are draining very nicely.

Here's some pictures-
Theres a couple of empty looking squares where I had lettuce. I just pulled that and planted some red onion bulbs.


The white boxes were worm home experiments. I just pulled those out yesterday. I didn't realize night crawlers weren't the right kind of worms for these boxes. Plus, the boxes were made of light plastic and too hot.



Another view. Wish I had a close up of the tomato stalks. They are as big as trees, I've never seen any thing like it. Most of them have several tomatoes on them too.

I will. I think I will actually work on a before/after piece when the fall gets a little closer.

I feel we all get revved up for spring to start, plant our tushies off, and start harvesting. Then, we get confused with the transition from spring to summer to fall, and the summer suffers in the SFG. Summer suffers because we are a bit burned out from all the spring hubaloo and WE are burned out a bit from summer heat. So, we get lazy and let things fall apart a little, especially with the limited choices of veggies to plant...unlike spring and fall. So, fall gets close and we get revved up again. At least that's how it seems to work with me.

A better plan, and more fortitude, will fix these dulldrums imo. That's what I intend to post about coming soon. So, a before and after "garden reset" would probably do well and help others.....and myself.

Does this sound like all of us...or is it just me??

I think that is a great idea. I often see posts about the summer garden, and i know mine seems to be blah in the summer. However, I do forget that my pole beans look ugly, but produce beans, and I get tons of tomato and okra, and while I might battle my squash insect pests, i still get squash --- but after having such a full and bountiful garden in the spring, it looks naked and dejected in summer even though it is still producing quite a lot. I also think that a thread along those lines would be a good place for people to add suggestions to what they plant for summer harvests?

btw - bbg - what variety of pepper do you grow? I am looking for a high volume variety - although what works well for you might not do so good for me. I have mine planted 1/sqft and am being better about watering this year, but still not a high producer. Trial and error on my varieties at the moment - and once I find a variety I like it will become my staple - still searching for my pepper

Sounds good to me. I am at the point now, where I have very little free space. But I will soon, as there are a few squares of onions to pull, plus, the spinach and some of the summer lettuce is about done for. Is your dog out of the dog house yet?

I'm very tired of pulling weeds in my regular gardens. I have several old ones that I can't make into SFG's. A rock garden full of weeds is my next challenge. I hate that thing-days and days of being on my knees in rocks. Knee pads only help so much. Do not know what to do with it and can't spend a fortune on having it regraded, new rock put in and new plants. So, yeah, I'm burnt out on that. Still in love with my sfg though.

Pulled up the spring greens today and planted kale, green and wax beans and carrots. Will plant another square of carrots next week and then and set until it is time to harvest the onions and garlic which will free up squares for fall salad crops.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I swear dogs are like little kids. They know they are doing wrong, but just can't help themselves sometimes because they are so mad at you.

I know how you feel! When my 10 yr old was about 4 or 5 he went out side one day and cut all of my blooming flowers off. Down to the ground! (With my kitchen sheers). So after that I would send him out side with the sheers to cut grass just for the fun of it. Didn't take long to cure him of cutting my plants off.

I'm just kinda hangin' out waiting for the last spring crops to finish and the summer ones to get a move on, and picking strawberries like crazy. My kids come in from playing every day (at least when it's not raining, sigh) with red-smeared faces from all the strawberries they snitch. We're going to be gone for awhile right when the beans will be ready, but we have good friends who jumped at the chance to take care of the garden for us for a share of the produce.

I like the idea of a thread to discuss organization/summer planting ideas. I, too, have trouble transitioning from spring to summer, mostly because my spring plants never do what they are supposed to do on schedule, and then my summer plantings are late, or whatever. Maybe I shouldn't be so schedule-oriented.

Hey, kiwirose, I like your signature line. That's my goal, too...to feed my family with homegrown, pesticide and herbicide free produce. I don't have room for that many square feet, though, but I'm going to try to squeeze in as many as I can, a little more each year.

Good to see so many wonderful gardens!

Wow, Stripesmom! That is one beautiful patio garden! I'd like to sit and sip coffee out there and watch your veggies grow.

BBG, Definitely! This is my first year gardening at all and I'm very confused about the season transitions. Maybe I'm planting too late, but it seems like the next season's stuff is ready to go in before the previous season is finished. I'd love to see what you come up with!

BBG - My first season too, and I agree that your posting would be a huge help. Since the heavy rains gave me a late start, I had no success with my spinach, have slow growing lettuces and carrots, and would love to know how to get in front of the fall season as I am moving through the summer transition. Thanks for looking ahead for us!

Thank you Hyzleyes! You are welcome to come drink coffee or iced tea if it's too hot. Next week, looks like an iced tea kind of week around here. I have a huge garden planned for next year out front, but I have to get the old man to help me build the boxes. Or, just to let me put them where I want. We have a 3 season porch we were building about 5 years ago, that is incomplete for a lot of reasons. It has two layers of plywood down that are warped, but would be great for putting boxes on (then drilling holes in for drainage). We can't finish that porch for several years, so I'd like to make it into more sfg's. I think I'll be known as the crazy lady with the garden on her porch next year, lol.

Awesome. Then, we'll hopefully have something by mid-July....but don't hang your hat on it. I may move on it faster if I saw some of your frost dates were coming quickly. Remember, broccoli and cauliflower do well in fall gardens, but they take forever to get to harvest. So, 12 weeks in advance of frost is about what we are looking for. For some of you up north, that may be only 6 weeks away. Keep me posted on YOUR timing. I live so far south in the region, I may be rocking the fall garden with the mid-south peeps because of my hoops. My goal is Turkey Day for shut down to give you an idea.

As for the pepper variety, I have 3 kinds. (Btw, the dog took three more this afternoon! I have one still in the ground, of course the one doing the worst. I was able to save some rootballs and replant....hopefully. But, I think my peppers just took an irrepairable hit today.)

My three varieties WERE (lol): Yellow bell, California Wonder, and MiniBell. The mini's were going absolutely bonkers with fruiting. The CA's were doing pretty well, giving me 3-4 per plant at only 18-24 inches high. And, the yellow had one good pepper on it, but 3 more just setting in. I literally had dozens coming.

I'm gonna say it again........danged dog!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:My three varieties WERE (lol): Yellow bell, California Wonder, and MiniBell. The mini's were going absolutely bonkers with fruiting. The CA's were doing pretty well, giving me 3-4 per plant at only 18-24 inches high. And, the yellow had one good pepper on it, but 3 more just setting in. I literally had dozens coming.

I'm gonna say it again........danged dog!

I am sorry your pup got your peps again. We love our pets, but they do insist on driving us crazy don't they!

Thanks for your pepper info - I guess I shouldn't be so hard on my peppers - for some reason I thought they got bigger and had more fruit on them - I have a cali wonder too - it is about the same height and has 3 peppers on it! opps - perhaps I just need to plant some more next year it is all just a great learning adventure isn't it! This spring, I learned that 20 collard plant is about 16 more than our little family of 3 needs lol

good luck reviving your root balls

I thought 6 pepper plants would be more than enough. Of course, I was counting on some of my seeds failing AND having trouble with fruit setting. I never thought about "doggy taxes."

A brief explanation into the mind of my dog. My wife and I were trying to figure out why the dog went after the plants. After all, she hadn't messed with the garden in more than a month. But, the other day, I got stupid. I took an immature pepper that fell from the plant and just chucked it out into the yard.

The dog chases ANYTHING thrown. My fault because I run her ragged most days with tennis balls and frisbees to keep her worn down a bit.....and calmer. Well, she chased the pepper. I said, "no," but it obviously didn't take on the first shot. The next thing I know, I'm down 5 pepper plants!

She was only trying to play in the yard with her new toy.

The more I think about it, the smarter she is. However, she's so smart, she's actually stupid this time....lol.

...just proves there is no bad dogs, just bad training!

She did bring them back!

I prefer training that was done "too well."

I had a neighbor's dog that was trained to fetch the Sunday paper. He never stopped. He grabbed 8-10 every Sunday. As a result, his owner would curse every Sunday while returning all the papers. He advocated never teaching a dog to fetch. I coming around to his line of thinking.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I prefer training that was done "too well."

I had a neighbor's dog that was trained to fetch the Sunday paper. He never stopped. He grabbed 8-10 every Sunday. As a result, his owner would curse every Sunday while returning all the papers. He advocated never teaching a dog to fetch. I coming around to his line of thinking.

Love it!

I would advocate having the dog catcher instruct him on how to observe pet tie up laws.

Check this cucumber vine out!! It's already 8 feet high. Please tell me I don't need to add an extension to an 8 foot trellis?! LOL.



Tomatoes are going, cukes are taking over, lettuces still in tact, beans starting to give a nice yield......just another summer in the Midwest!

BBG, you may have to just add more trellis and get a tall ladder, lol.

After weeks and weeks of rain, winds up to 70mph and hail, finally, no rain yesterday or today. There may not be rain here for a week, or so the weather person says. I think, they are saying that to keep the entire state from having to start taking prozac.

Here's my patio SFG last night. This is a really nice place to be at the end of the day.


Here's my baby cucumber over to the left of the picture- blossom at the end-


And finally, what the old man and I have really been waiting for, the tomatoes-at least some of them-cherry tom's on the left, regulars on the right-


I haven't pruned the leaves as heavily as some do. I think they help to shade the ground and keep it cooler. I do keep them off the MM, at least I try to keep up with them.

My peas and strawberries are almost done. Everything else is big and beautiful, except for the cukes and peppers. My cukes, however, are only about 10 in high but have 5 flowers on them. My peppers (Jupiter) are only about a foot high. the tomato is about 2 ft high and has flowers. I finally transplanted my watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings that kept refusing to grow more than 3 in high, hoping that they would grow in the garden. the watermelon lost its leaves but the bare stem is still there looking good except for lack of leaves. The cantaloupe is OK. I planted some seeds in case the transplants die. i love everybody's pictures! One of these days I will try to post pics, but I can't seem to find the time to do it.

Happy summer!

BBG, sorry to hear about your peppers!!