2020 Veggie Gardens!

Lambchop · August 7, 2020, 12:18am

Pics of maturing & upper garden photos. A few gratuitous flower shots.

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The upper garden is East/West, the tomatoes by the fence are facing north, raspberry bushes in lower back are north/south. The two raspberry patches produce an amazing amount of berries. The plum tree in upper back only note a colander full of fruit, with just a few prune plums on the way. Grafted tree. Couldn’t find the grapes within the vines just now, but they’re there. In front yard our blueberry bush the birds are mostly getting this year, and beloved hydrangea. Oh if you look closely on the trellis, you can still see a few blooming wisteria. Deck painting nearly complete. Before pics located in the Other Things to Do During Covid QT thread.

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 12:43am

Wonderful! What is the tree in the eleventh picture? Is that the plum? Also, is your deck wood or something else?

Lambchop · August 7, 2020, 12:49am

That’s the plum tree, about 29 years old now. The deck is cedar, and we bought the texturized paint to reduce slip n slide in the wet months @shrinkrap.

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 7:44am

Latest tomatoes.

bogman · August 7, 2020, 10:41am

Pretty tomatoes shrinkrap! Is that Pink Berkeley Tie Dye in the lower right corner?

After 7 weeks in the 90s, with staggering humidity, the tomatoes here have a lot of deformities. Even when there was no rain, everything gets saturated with dew which doesn’t burn off for hours. Still some things like truly jungle conditions. Sponge Luffas (Luffa cylindrica) have gone nuts.

Those trellis poles are 12 feet tall. There are large luffas maturing all over the trellis.

Most are around two feet long.

Luffa acutangula, which goes by Silk Gourd, Chinese Okra, Ridged Gourd, Angled Luffa, Si Gwa and a host of other names, is a close relative grown for food. The ones below are growing on a 7 foot tall X 30 ft. long trellis.

If you look closely, in the middle right side, there’s part of a cactus I grow to make nopales. The edible fruits can be picked when about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. At this stage, only the ridges need to get peeled off a little and the skin is tender.

When the fruits are larger, they need to have all the skin removed with a vegetable peeler.

Water Spinach, Ipomoea aquatica, grow well in very damp soil. I put a plastic liner under the bed to hold moisture.

Here’s a closer look, showing thin and broad leaf types:

The only peppers growing this year are Peruvian Aji Amarillo. The plants are six feet high.

While they have a few pods, the hot weather causes them to go sterile. The main crop will come in around Sept.–Dec. Metal hoops, greenhouse plastic with a small heat source, will extend the season.

If the raccoons don’t steal the crop, I’m hoping to get some Floriani Red Flint polenta corn.

Floriani has a delicious, complex flavor, unlike other polenta corns. In the lower left, you can see one of the more common weeds, amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus). I used it to make a very tasty version of Callaloo, Caribbean style cooked greens.

Silver Queen okra and a 30 foot long trellis of Bandy butterbeans are coming along:

Silver Queen is an old heirloom. It’s very stocky and much shorter than other okra I’ve grown. Bandy lima have purple seeds when shelled fresh and black seeds when dried. The fresh flavor is much better, smooth and sweet. Bandy is also more heat tolerant.

National Pickling cucumbers have been producing about 4-8 pounds a day. 18 pounds are in a Harsch crock, fermenting into Kosher /NY Deli style dills. Relish and vinegar dills are also getting canned weekly.

Time for chores!

naf · August 7, 2020, 12:14pm

Very lovely garden! Those sunflowers! I bet you’re self sufficient in vegetables? What plants are they in the bed of photo 7?

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 2:49pm

The striped tomato is one from the dwarf tomato project, Dwarf Sweet Firebird. I believe it isa cross of Berkley Tie Dye.

I bet! You’ve got a lot of variety! I think Ihave a picture of your rocotillo plant here, and one of my mother in laws scotch bonnet. My Aji Amarillo has some pods, but none ripe, and I have three pods on my rocotto.
And some frying peppers, and pickled Fresno’s.

![IMG_20200802_194859|525x700]
Scotch bonnet
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Rocotillo

kobuta · August 7, 2020, 2:50pm

You grew a kitty! Looks good - how much fertilizer did you have to use?

Lambchop · August 7, 2020, 2:53pm

Thanks @naf! Pic number 7 is Blue Lake Bush Beans (regular green beans, like haricot vert). H was supposed to plant the pole beans (much easier to pick), but accidentally bought the wrong ones.

Yes, we’re eating a lot out of the garden, but supplement with lettuces, potatoes, and other items we don’t or can’t grow. The fresh garden stuff tastes really wonderful!

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 3:04pm

I was just about to ask about picking! Any advice on picking the bush beans? I seem to only get a few “just right” ones at time, but thats pretty much all my back can handle.

Lambchop · August 7, 2020, 3:07pm

I take a little Rubbermaid stool out with me to sit on. It will help save your back. We get tons of beans usually, so it can take awhile to get them picked @shrinkrap.

bogman · August 7, 2020, 4:05pm

Shrinkrap, I grow Blue Lake Pole beans for that reason. Plus, they are far more productive. Downside: they take longer to start setting and you need at least a 5 foot tall trellis. You can make string teepees with a central pole or use that reach-through trellis netting; that’s what I use. Trellising also keeps the beans off the ground. Here, the heavy dew and rains can ruin a crop of bush beans; they rot.

Sometimes, a garden kneeler helps a lot. I’ve got one which folds and can be used as a seat or kneeler with handles to help you get back up. I got two, one was from amazon and complete junk. The other came from Gardener’s Supply and has held up, so far.

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 4:19pm

I would love to grow pole beans but I grow in containers and haven’t been able to make the supports work.

I have tried a little step stool, and thank you @bogman and @Lambchop for reminding me to find something that works a little better. I believe iveseen one with wheels so you can scoot around.

small_h · August 7, 2020, 4:46pm

I use these for my container tomatoes & cukes. Might be an option for you:

bogman · August 7, 2020, 5:10pm

Hmm… there might be a way to tie strings to something tall and use stakes, in the containers, to secure the soil end. Once the bean vines wrap around the string, they’ll anchor it to the ground. you could position the strings for your convenience. They could be 10 feet long, but only 5-6 feet off the ground. Since you’re growing in above ground containers, the strings would need a steep angle to avoid getting too tall.

Another possibility is to make the trellis outside of the containers, but close enough so the vines can find it (with a little help). My trellises are offset, uphill from the planting bed by 8-10 inches, so I can rototill the beds without getting caught up in, and damaging the trellis. It also makes it easier to weed, thin, etc.

Lambchop · August 7, 2020, 6:02pm

Lol unfortunately she’s self fertilizing these days. She’s a serial killer, but used to hunt for the trophy’s only to bring into the house for us. Now, she’s escalated to eating her prey…we try to stop this, but can’t watch her 24/7. If we’d known about her tendencies, she’d have been an indoor cat only. Our old cat hunted, but never to the extent this one does.

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 8:00pm

Thank you! I have had success with tomatoes and cukes, and this year I’m even trying watermelon on trellises ( a different challenge but still a challenge), but pole beans seem a different animal. I am inspired to try though.

shrinkrap · August 7, 2020, 8:09pm

Thank you so much for the time you have taken to respond so thoughtfully.
I’m going to take a minute to digest that.

I always have to factor in when growing vs buying makes sense for me. I know I said I wish I could grow pole beans, but there are lots of amazing buy options here, and I subscribe to a CSA.

Right now I prioritize “scotch bonnet " and " seasoning peppers”, red, orange, and yellow sweet/ frying peppers, sugar snap peas, Blenheim apricots, figs, some specific garlic varieties and their scapes, fingerling potatoes…and some things I’m forgetting. I love growing beautiful tomatoes, but I might love growing them more than eating them.

I’ve been trying green beans because they’ve seemed easy and I’ve been pleasantly surprised for not so much effort. My containers are on a concrete sport court, and a redwood deck, so I can’t bury stakes. Not sure if that’s the idea. When not buried, a lot get top heavy and blow over, perhaps mostly if I let the container get dry.

In any case, I feel very fortunate to do what I do.
Thanks all!

shrinkrap · August 9, 2020, 2:12am

This is my latest watermelon! There is what sort of looks like a grasshopper toward the bottom right, just above the flower. Is it a grasshopper or something else? Maybe a katydid? I’ve doused the plant, and him or his brethren with diatomaceous earth a few times.

Uh-oh. Just read katydids might be good guys.

bogman · August 9, 2020, 10:40am

The vast majority of katydids are plant feeders. Here, they can do quite a bit of damage and seem to always go for the various potted gingers. Those mandibles can give one serious bite!

That one is a female. The sickle-shaped abdomen is used to slice plant stems and insert eggs.