Re: Bob how's your garden?

by **tGreenWay** 2021-04-17, 22:35

aualum06 wrote:
tGreenWay wrote:

You mean like a perennial, right?. Annuals generally die off after one year, perennials return yearly. I did have some impatiens survive the winter last year in a couple areas that had its own protection. That was a real surprise, because impatiens hate cold temps.
And yep, at the end of the season, let the tomatoes that didn’t get picked or hadn’t fully ripened overwinter right on the ground, or bury them a couple inches down. Some of the seeds will sprout the next year. I’ve never had that not happen.

Yeah that is what I meant. It's probably why I don't plant flowers lol

It took me a couple of summers to get the two straight. Bob how's your garden? - Page 4 502811600

by **Nordic** 2021-04-17, 23:02

tGreenWay wrote:
Nordic wrote:

Will try the mini-matoes. Good tip.

It drove me nuts trying to grow large tomatoes. I failed miserably at getting the water amount just right. Usually ended up over watering and they’d all split open. The ones I got to grow perfectly usually died by its own hand if I didn’t pick them at just the right time. They’d be so heavy they’d completely pinch off the vine, so it got no water or nutrients. I do grow a mean Roma tomato, though.

BTW, unless you already know what you’ll use to fertilize your maters, I recommend this:
https://www.amazon.com/Tomato-tone-Organic-Fertilizer-YOUR-TOMATOES/dp/B0011UEKKE/ref=asc_df_B0011UEKKE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193139379506&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8848283755751903894&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1019264&hvtargid=pla-312930845475&psc=1

It’s a widely used and effective fertilizer. The company also has other products for other vegetables and plants/flowers such as roses.

Nice. I use a lot of their stuff now. Just put down their blood meal on the plants/flowers

by **Nordic** 2021-04-18, 16:29

Tulips coming in nicely

Bob how's your garden? - Page 4 20210410

by **Nordic** 2021-04-18, 16:30

Tulips coming in nicely

by **tGreenWay** 2021-04-18, 20:50

Nordic wrote:
tGreenWay wrote:

It drove me nuts trying to grow large tomatoes. I failed miserably at getting the water amount just right. Usually ended up over watering and they’d all split open. The ones I got to grow perfectly usually died by its own hand if I didn’t pick them at just the right time. They’d be so heavy they’d completely pinch off the vine, so it got no water or nutrients. I do grow a mean Roma tomato, though.

BTW, unless you already know what you’ll use to fertilize your maters, I recommend this:
https://www.amazon.com/Tomato-tone-Organic-Fertilizer-YOUR-TOMATOES/dp/B0011UEKKE/ref=asc_df_B0011UEKKE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193139379506&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8848283755751903894&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1019264&hvtargid=pla-312930845475&psc=1

It’s a widely used and effective fertilizer. The company also has other products for other vegetables and plants/flowers such as roses.

Nice. I use a lot of their stuff now. Just put down their blood meal on the plants/flowers

I had to stop using their blood meal years ago. My dogs would lick it up and rub their faces in it. Bob how's your garden? - Page 4 502811600

Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, not just their faces. They’d roll around in it.

by Rick Saunders 2021-04-19, 11:36

Nordic wrote:
tGreenWay wrote:

Basic garden for me. Lettuces, carrots, peppers, tomatoes. Adding some herbs this year b/c my wife has gotten into cooking. Might add something else. We’ll see. BTW, I’m pretty much only doing grape-size tomato varieties anymore. It’s something we eat several nights a week, and it’s easier to grow than other types of full size tomatoes, and the yield is insane as long as blight doesn’t float into town. I don’t do this to save money, because I don’t. I do it because I like to, I know how they’re grown because I grew them, and like DWags said, they taste better than anything you’ll find anywhere else.

Will try the mini-matoes. Good tip.

Try Juliet variety.

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-05-14, 12:52

built a raised garden this morning for our backyard. What variety of tomatoes do y'all tend to plant that grows best?

by **Floyd Robertson** 2021-05-14, 12:56

Robert J Sakimano wrote:built a raised garden this morning for our backyard. What variety of tomatoes do y'all tend to plant that grows best?

I don't really know the answer, but can you throw a few beefsteaks my way? They've gotten hard to find.

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-05-14, 13:36

Floyd Robertson wrote:
Robert J Sakimano wrote:built a raised garden this morning for our backyard. What variety of tomatoes do y'all tend to plant that grows best?

I don't really know the answer, but can you throw a few beefsteaks my way? They've gotten hard to find.

I believe I saw a couple of those this morning? Maybe.. the Lake Lansing Meijer had quite a few varieties.

at the moment, based on my less-than-impeccable research, I'm leaning toward Big Boys or Celebrities. Seems like the key is the depth in which you plant them, they like a warm soil, lots of water.. but not too much water. I'll probably give some of the organic fertilizer y'all were talking about a try.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-05-25, 12:55

My fence is half done, I ran into some structural issues with one of the posts that I’ll have to deal with, then I went and had a baby and suddenly it was planting season. I’ve got 12 tomatoes, 6 pepper varieties, 3 cucumber, 3 zucchini, 6 lettuce and celery, 1 squash, 1 okra, and 1eggplant. Am I over doing it for a rookie? Yeah, prolly. There’s plenty of space for more though and everything is spaced out appropriately so I think it’ll be okay

by **Floyd Robertson** 2021-05-25, 13:12

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:My fence is half done, I ran into some structural issues with one of the posts that I’ll have to deal with, then I went and had a baby and suddenly it was planting season. I’ve got 12 tomatoes, 6 pepper varieties, 3 cucumber, 3 zucchini, 6 lettuce and celery, 1 squash, 1 okra, and 1eggplant. Am I over doing it for a rookie? Yeah, prolly. There’s plenty of space for more though and everything is spaced out appropriately so I think it’ll be okay

You will have zucchini coming out of your ass.

It's been awhile since I've planted, but that's how I remember it lol.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-05-25, 13:14

Yeah, my other half loves zucchini so I just went with it. I’m indifferent personally, but I got my absurd amount of tomatoes so she gets zucchini

by aualum06 2021-06-09, 13:51

3 quarts of strawberries today. Need rain badly

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-06-09, 18:11

aualum06 wrote:3 quarts of strawberries today. Need rain badly

been watering everyday in East Lansing. We've had a few very localized downpours but the kind that hits the ground and rolls off.

Tomato plants looking good. Cucumbers and peppers, too. Pretty much pillaged our cilantro plants already for fresh salsa.

by aualum06 2021-06-09, 18:43

Robert J Sakimano wrote:
aualum06 wrote:3 quarts of strawberries today. Need rain badly
been watering everyday in East Lansing. We've had a few very localized downpours but the kind that hits the ground and rolls off.

Tomato plants looking good. Cucumbers and peppers, too. Pretty much pillaged our cilantro plants already for fresh salsa.

Yeah, we haven't even gotten a good downpour in a few weeks. I think my tomatoes got poisoned somehow, one plant died immediately, but the other three are finally blossoming and showing new growth

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-06-09, 19:02

aualum06 wrote:
Robert J Sakimano wrote: been watering everyday in East Lansing. We've had a few very localized downpours but the kind that hits the ground and rolls off.

Tomato plants looking good. Cucumbers and peppers, too. Pretty much pillaged our cilantro plants already for fresh salsa.

Yeah, we haven't even gotten a good downpour in a few weeks. I think my tomatoes got poisoned somehow, one plant died immediately, but the other three are finally blossoming and showing new growth

tomatoes seem to be a moody little bunch.

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-07-17, 16:33

How are the vegetable gardens?

My tomato plants are insane. They are 5+ feet tall.. very rich, organic compost and biblical rain, guess.

Cucumber plants are pretty prolific but no yield as of yet. Couple of more weeks.

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-17, 17:33

I lost several vine plants to rabbits, which seem to be in abundance this year. Lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes all doing well. The biblical rains did affect the Roma variety with leaf curl. They seem to be recovering well.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-17, 17:48

I’ve gotten a cucumber and three jalapeño so far. Crazy amount of cucumber flowers but just the one fruit so far. The sections growing up the fence have been decimated by rabbits but there’s plenty just on the ground that are safe. Tons of tomato’s on their way. The roma are smaller than the rest (normal? No idea) but producing. The cherrys are struggling though, with basically half the plant dying on both of them. Zucchini sake thing as the cucumber, tons of flowers but just one fruit growing so far

by **The Pantry** 2021-07-17, 18:28

Roma are smaller. Great for red sauce.

by aualum06 2021-07-17, 18:43

My garden is interesting this year. My bell peppers I have no idea what's going on, my tomatoes don't seem to have many tomatoes, maybe some cucumbers end of the week when I get home.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-17, 19:26

The Pantry wrote:Roma are smaller. Great for red sauce.

Good to know. I know what the fruit looks like but I really didn’t know about the plants themselves.

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-17, 19:37

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:
The Pantry wrote:Roma are smaller. Great for red sauce.

Good to know. I know what the fruit looks like but I really didn’t know about the plants themselves.

Can’t remember how long it takes Romas. This is the first year in awhile I’ve grown them. This is the time of year when I start getting edgy about blight. Constantly keeping an eye out for it cuz it will mess you up bad if you’re a tomato.
Like Pantry said, use Romas for red sauce, and I slice them for Caprese Salad, and salsa.
BTW, if you’re doing well with blossoms, your vegetables aren’t far behind. But both rabbits and squirrels will eat the blossoms, screwing you over. If you can’t fence it off, buy some Plantskyyd or Green Screen and put it around and between your plants. I prefer Plantskyyd, but Green Screen works, too, and it’s a Michigan company.

by **The Pantry** 2021-07-17, 19:52

Coworker has been growing pot in his basement for years. Has a green thumb. Built some raised beds in his backyard for veggies. Uses organic methods. Gave me some tomatoes last year that were excellent. This thread is a reminder to ask him for more. Will gladly pay for them.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-17, 20:12

tGreenWay wrote:
Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

Good to know. I know what the fruit looks like but I really didn’t know about the plants themselves.

Can’t remember how long it takes Romas. This is the first year in awhile I’ve grown them. This is the time of year when I start getting edgy about blight. Constantly keeping an eye out for it cuz it will mess you up bad if you’re a tomato.
Like Pantry said, use Romas for red sauce, and I slice them for Caprese Salad, and salsa.
BTW, if you’re doing well with blossoms, your vegetables aren’t far behind. But both rabbits and squirrels will eat the blossoms, screwing you over. If you can’t fence it off, buy some Plantskyyd or Green Screen and put it around and between your plants. I prefer Plantskyyd, but Green Screen works, too, and it’s a Michigan company.

I put so much goddamn work into that fence that if anything does get in and I see something has been eaten I’ll probably just blame birds so that I don’t have a mental breakdown and start trying to kill squirrels with my teeth.

The celery got a little fucked before I finished the fence, which was just like two weeks ago, but it survived. Growing anything substantial before the end of the year will be a question, but it’s on its way back.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-17, 20:17

Next year I’ll fuck with fertilizer and shit. I haven’t used anything, which I know will hurt production. Problem was that a) We had a baby in prime garden set up time but more importantly b) I didn’t realize it but I build the garden on top of what I think used to be a shed. Every time I’d start tiling somewhere I’d have to unearth a huge slab of concrete before I could move on. Or a tree root, those too. There wasn’t really good time to get all that ready, plus the fence, and fuck around with the peet that I have free access to. Next year I won’t have to deal with much of that (there’s a whole fenced off section with nothing planted in it because there was no time, so that area needs to be cleaned still) so I’ll have more time to just focus on the soil.

by **The Pantry** 2021-07-17, 20:27

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:
tGreenWay wrote:

Can’t remember how long it takes Romas. This is the first year in awhile I’ve grown them. This is the time of year when I start getting edgy about blight. Constantly keeping an eye out for it cuz it will mess you up bad if you’re a tomato.
Like Pantry said, use Romas for red sauce, and I slice them for Caprese Salad, and salsa.
BTW, if you’re doing well with blossoms, your vegetables aren’t far behind. But both rabbits and squirrels will eat the blossoms, screwing you over. If you can’t fence it off, buy some Plantskyyd or Green Screen and put it around and between your plants. I prefer Plantskyyd, but Green Screen works, too, and it’s a Michigan company.

I put so much goddamn work into that fence that if anything does get in and I see something has been eaten I’ll probably just blame birds so that I don’t have a mental breakdown and start trying to kill squirrels with my teeth.

The celery got a little fucked before I finished the fence, which was just like two weeks ago, but it survived. Growing anything substantial before the end of the year will be a question, but it’s on its way back.

Not much into gardening but always wanted to try growing brussels sprouts. Pretty sure they get planted this time of year for fall harvesting.

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-17, 20:34

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:Next year I’ll fuck with fertilizer and shit. I haven’t used anything, which I know will hurt production. Problem was that a) We had a baby in prime garden set up time but more importantly b) I didn’t realize it but I build the garden on top of what I think used to be a shed. Every time I’d start tiling somewhere I’d have to unearth a huge slab of concrete before I could move on. Or a tree root, those too. There wasn’t really good time to get all that ready, plus the fence, and fuck around with the peet that I have free access to. Next year I won’t have to deal with much of that (there’s a whole fenced off section with nothing planted in it because there was no time, so that area needs to be cleaned still) so I’ll have more time to just focus on the soil.

I hate growing in soil I’m not familiar with. You never know what has leached into it previously. That’s why I use raised beds and fill it with dirt for which I’m paying too much, but keeps me unconcerned about quality.

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-17, 20:34

That’s good to know, Pantry. I might add some Brussels sprouts very soon.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-17, 20:39

I’ve got a sprout plant. So far it just hangs out and grows, not too much to it yet.

by **The Pantry** 2021-07-17, 20:40

tGreenWay wrote:That’s good to know, Pantry. I might add some Brussels sprouts very soon.

There's a couple roadside homes/small farms right next to each other not far away. They usually have stalks of sprouts for sale around Halloween.

by **The Pantry** 2021-07-17, 20:43

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I’ve got a sprout plant. So far it just hangs out and grows, not too much to it yet.

Likely not this early in the season. From what I understand they like somewhat sandy soil.

by **Robert J Sakimano** 2021-07-17, 23:09

tGreenWay wrote:
Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

Good to know. I know what the fruit looks like but I really didn’t know about the plants themselves.

Can’t remember how long it takes Romas. This is the first year in awhile I’ve grown them. This is the time of year when I start getting edgy about blight. Constantly keeping an eye out for it cuz it will mess you up bad if you’re a tomato.
Like Pantry said, use Romas for red sauce, and I slice them for Caprese Salad, and salsa.
BTW, if you’re doing well with blossoms, your vegetables aren’t far behind. But both rabbits and squirrels will eat the blossoms, screwing you over. If you can’t fence it off, buy some Plantskyyd or Green Screen and put it around and between your plants. I prefer Plantskyyd, but Green Screen works, too, and it’s a Michigan company.

have mine raised up and fenced in. Jalapenos have done well. I've gotten 4-5 peppers. Seems like both the tomatoes and cukes have taken over everything else.

Lots of flowering on my cucumber vines but no fruits yet. Soon, I hope.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-19, 16:10

I have a question, first time caller long time listener- I have 4 zucchini/squash plants. Besides growing very large, they’ve produced many flowers. But, only one fruit so far, and many of the flowers just sort of end up falling off the stem. Is this normal or a problem? The plants look otherwise very healthy. Thanks, I’ll hang up and listen.

by gomersbro 2021-07-19, 16:33

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I have a question, first time caller long time listener- I have 4 zucchini/squash plants. Besides growing very large, they’ve produced many flowers. But, only one fruit so far, and many of the flowers just sort of end up falling off the stem. Is this normal or a problem? The plants look otherwise very healthy. Thanks, I’ll hang up and listen.

Not all flowers will be attached to fruit. Many early flowers are male without fruit. Completely normal. With four plants in a couple weeks you will be complaining about too many zucchini.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-19, 16:51

I mostly use the zucchini to throw at people walking by on the sidewalk so I should be ok. That makes sense though

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-19, 16:56

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I mostly use the zucchini to throw at people walking by on the sidewalk so I should be ok. That makes sense though

Can I have some of them, Travis? I want to toss rotted zucchini at the geese on campus, but only the ones I catch pooping on sidewalks. :poop:

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-19, 16:56

BTW, gomersbro is right, with four plants you’ll have a buttload of zucchini in a little while, assuming vermin don’t eat the blossoms.

by **Travis of the Cosmos** 2021-07-19, 17:05

tGreenWay wrote:
Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I mostly use the zucchini to throw at people walking by on the sidewalk so I should be ok. That makes sense though

Can I have some of them, Travis? I want to toss rotted zucchini at the geese on campus, but only the ones I catch pooping on sidewalks.

I’ll drop them in the river over here in a bag marked “swill” and depending on the flow you can pick them up on campus in like a half hour.

Who am I to explain the standard swill delivery process to you though

by **tGreenWay** 2021-07-19, 19:25

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:
tGreenWay wrote:

Can I have some of them, Travis? I want to toss rotted zucchini at the geese on campus, but only the ones I catch pooping on sidewalks.

I’ll drop them in the river over here in a bag marked “swill” and depending on the flow you can pick them up on campus in like a half hour.

Who am I to explain the standard swill delivery process to you though

True. I’ve been here before.

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