Garden Log

[Jpsilver]

@C40: I live in the North of Italy.

[George the original one]

At the coastal Oregon house, blueberry season started August 1 (seriously, you can set the calendar by the timeliness of the berries ripening) and is now winding down. This year's haul has been 50 pints with probably a couple more pints available next weekend. Most of the haul is frozen, some is given away, and a couple pints per week are eaten fresh with ice cream or packed into my lunch for the office. Wife made some scones last week with fresh berries, too. The frozen are primarily used in waffles or anything else we dream up.

The amazing thing is all these berries come from only 3 or 4 mature bushes! Whoever originally planted them put them much too close together, so they've grown into a blueberry hedge. They really enjoy the benign neglect we give them.

[llorona]

@GTOO: That's an amazing haul!! We have one bush that gave us blueberries this year, but only a pint or so. I like using blueberries in buttermilk pancakes.

[jacob]

I like in a small studio apartment with little access to sunlight. I don't own much stuff so I have a decent amount of floor space. Is it worth the cost to grow an indoor garden with some kind of UV light to use instead? I don't pay electricity so that wouldn't matter. I'd be happy if I could produce a near daily serving of spinach or kale if possible.

Look up aerogarden. It's possible, but I don't know if it's worth the cost.

[Pronoid]

I like in a small studio apartment with little access to sunlight. I don't own much stuff so I have a decent amount of floor space. Is it worth the cost to grow an indoor garden with some kind of UV light to use instead? I don't pay electricity so that wouldn't matter. I'd be happy if I could produce a near daily serving of spinach or kale if possible.

Look up aerogarden. It's possible, but I don't know if it's worth the cost.

Right on. Thanks. I have been interested in hydroponics but haven't come across that product before.

[jennypenny]

This is about what I gather every day or two. I also pick a tomato or two for a sandwich every day.



The zucchini is slowing down. I'll probably pick 10 or so cucumbers from our second batch this weekend. There are still plenty of onions and tomatoes. I have beanstalks that Jack would be proud of, but no beans at all. I'm not sure why that is. Overall, a strange year. The oregano and basil weren't happy, but I have tarragon that's the size of my hydrangea bushes. Everything is very dry. I try not to water, but I'm forced to right now if I want to keep the plants going a while longer.

Next up ... window farms in my sunroom.

@ffj -- I *love* the chick pics.

[jennypenny]

Today's haul of tomatoes. I didn't get to the peppers yet. I pulled the onions because I want to turn over that bed for cool weather plants this weekend. The onions are ugly, but delicious.

I have to deal with my herbs soon. I'll harvest quite a bit for drying, and then start moving them inside for the winter.

btw ... I grew orange cherry tomatoes this year ('sun gold' maybe?) and I love them. They aren't as sweet and have a *slight* citrus taste. They have great skins that don't split and last much longer on the vine if I don't get to pick them right away. I'm going to grow a lot more of those next year.

[TheFrugalFox]

Some nice veg there Jenny. It's spring here so need to get in the garden ASAP - some pictures of what the result could be helps.

[jennypenny]

It's September 23rd, and I finally have my first beans...




So. Sad.

[George the original one]

At least your green beans weren't eaten by rabbits.

[jennypenny]

We are working on covering the raised beds so we can use them all winter. We're a little late getting started since it's been so warm that the tomato and pepper plants are still producing a ton of produce.

Here's a video that shows what we're attempting to do. We had some rolls of painters plastic in the garage, so we're using them instead of greenhouse plastic. Once we figure out what we're doing, we'll invest in something better if necessary.

----

Our first attempt. No plastic cover until I get the seeds in this week. The PVC came in 10' lengths for $2.75 each. No cutting required.

[RealPerson]

I have the hoops and plastic, but I don't know what can be planted at this point. Any suggestions? I also saw a video where they used incandenscent Xmas lights to warm up the hoop garden, but we don't have those. Any ideas on how to keep that warm in the winter, or at least prevent freezing?

[jennypenny]

I'm going to try lettuce, spinach, cabbage, arugula, and peas. A local farmer told me peas work when the weather cooperates. I'm not going to heat the beds. I'm also going to cover the tomato and pepper beds to try and keep them going another month or two.

What we picked this morning. Crazy to have this much so late in the season.



Oh yeah, and another 7 green beans.

[Jpsilver]

How often do you, intensive gardeners, deal with pests?

This summer I grew a total of 4 or 5 zucchini plants (in containers), only 1 remaining... First the powdery mildew (manageable), then cabbage loopers... I ended up having to cut the plants off and throw them away because the worms were spreading to other plants.

Anyway, next year I will likely not grow zucchini (I don't like it that much to be honest), but I will definitely try growing some butternut squash. Being from the same "squashy" family, I expect the cabbage loopers to attack again, so I'd like to know if you can give me some advice on how to deal with them.

On the other hand I'd also like to know if there is any vegetable that you consider to be less prone to pests than normal.

Thank you.

[llorona]

@JP: We grew kale in an Earthbox and those little green worms were all over it. At the time, we were living in a condo a couple floors up. We picked them off by hand daily and flung them to their deaths three stories below. They like to hide, so make sure to check under the leaves of your plants and in nearby crevices.

I'm pretty new to gardening, but you might want to research companion gardening as a way to ward off pests. Recently I noticed that my basil and spinach seedlings have been getting chewed up, so I've been experimenting with neem oil.

[subgard]

For the caterpillars, insect netting is the standard advice for small areas of plants. It prevents moths and butterflies from laying eggs on the plants. I haven't used it yet, but I intend to next year.

For the squash varieties, you need to open the netting in the day time to allow bees to pollinate the blossoms. Most of the caterpillars are the result of nocturnal moths (With the exception of the white cabbage butterfly, but you can keep brassicas covered all day, as they need no pollination.)

On the other hand, you could cultivate a population of paper wasps (yellowjackets, red wasps, etc). Paper wasps are voracious predators of caterpillars. In years when there are lots of yellowjackets, caterpillars are a nonproblem. This past year had very few yellowjackets, and I had to give up on most brassicas and the squash season was cut short.

Next year I intend to invest in netting and not depend on the wasp population.

[jennypenny]

Still going ...




I hadn't been in the garden in over a week and I think DH only picked twice during that time, but still ... it's so nice to have produce coming in this late, especially when I'm basically neglecting it. I'm focused on winter gardening now.


Does anyone have any recommendations for netting alternatives? I need it for my squash, fruits, and berries for next year, and it's expensive.

[George the original one]

I went with wire poultry fencing. Durable, can be reused in multiple ways. Definitely keeps rabbits & birds out of the strawberries. Due to our massive blueberry harvests, the birds have had no noticeable effect; rabbits seem to gnaw on the occasional new twig, so we finally fenced them out of the young bushes.

However, it will not stop mice or moles or voles.

[Redbelliedhound]

Love all of the gardens on here!!

We got started a little late, but this year my husband built me some raised irrigated garden beds inspired by Jack Spirko. I'm sad to see fruit season end, as I was enjoying picking apples, peaches, and pears off the tree daily. On the up side my garden beds are now full of turnips and squash. We've been pulling turnips daily and using the greens in all of our veggie dishes. I'm excited for next season. I'm determined to only go to the store for meats, cheeses, milk, and eggs next year. In a perfect world we'd have our own chickens, but our current township zoning doesn't allow it. Booo!

Does anyone have experience growing artichokes? I had three this year but I wasn't sure when to harvest and they have long since gone to bloom. I'm curious when the harvesting time is.

[jennypenny]

Winter rolled in, so we had to bring in the last of the tomatoes. I guess I'm making fried green tomatoes for dinner tonight.