2023 garden season

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Started harvesting the short day onions and summer squash the other day. The big tropical cactus we have in the house started blooming last night, it has 14 blooms on it again. they are 4 or 5 " across.
 

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Well it looks like my frost protection and watering efforts paid off. The strawberries this year were some of our best yielding yet! This was what we picked in one night at their peak, an entire flat's worth off of a 4x40' patch. :oops:

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And we've actually had some rain in the past week so that has been a huge help, things look a lot better now. Strawberries are finally winding down and peas are in their peak production time, but once those are done I should finally have some time to get straw spread. I'll try and get some pics once that happens.
 
Green beans, elderberries and white potatoes were the big producers this spring/summer, squash got hammered by bugs only giving out about 15 from 3 plants and cucumbers seemed to catch sudden death after producing only 3. The biggest surprise has been the chinese long beans, decent production of beans with rapid growth and a pure joy to pick being waist to shoulder height so there is no need to bend to pick and their size means there is no need to search for them. Ended up with about 35 pounds of white, red and yukon gold potatoes from the 4x15 patch I planted. As other members on here warned me the purple potato variety was a flop... planted 4 pounds of their seed and got 5 potatoes after only 2 plants survived. Next year I will let them sprout out further before planting and not cut them into eye sections . Okra is starting to produce although still small at only 2 feet tall (grew 7+ feet last year) and last but not least the sweet potato vines look like kudzu after only 100 days...they always feel like they take forever taking 130+ days.
 

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am feeling powerful :muscle:

tomatoes on the vine, tomatoes in the refer, and tomatoes on the counter. we plan on burgers tonite... if the weather gives us a break... :barbecue: actually, cheese burgers... and hopefully with fries! got fresh buns, Large yesterday... and that boston bib should go great! ~ i just want tomato, lettuce and slice of onion on mine...

not quite this bad, (good) but seems close... :lol:

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:givebeer:
 
With me it's squash of any type. Dang beetles get the plants eventually.
we got 2 yesterday. store bot. zukes and summer. garden fresh too mild, imo. i like store bot better. vine boreres here! have to start early. seed up sets in early Feb, and get in ground. then u can expect a crop. but the lil red dots show up and can't fight them.

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It's peppers for me. Don't know what it is but it's very difficult to grow peppers here on the new property.

Is anyone else dealing with a lot of predation problems this year? I don't know why this year is so bad, we've never had near this much damage before, but they are going after everything. Loopers are going after the brassicas, rabbits ate my entire crop of carrots when they came up, CPB in the potatoes already, birds have stripped some pepper and tomato plants bare. We've even had coons wandering through the yard, I'm sure it's just a matter of time until they are into something.

Gardening for me has always been a hobby and a bit of stress relief, but this year between the predation problems and the really dry weather, it's been a real struggle.
i can't get corn on cob to do well. grow zone 9. well. sweet that is. one yr sweet candy pkt had field in it. it did very well! lol. tall as my hse roof! no joke. i just buy it. i have tried... so i tossed in the towel.

but come HH

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Okra. Never can get it's a grow over 2 ft tall and only get four or five off each plant and they all get eaten by the bugs.
will grow like weeds here... miss a day of harvest once they start... and look out!!!! i like them under 2".... and fried just fine

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Had okra here for several years, always topped out at 4 to 5 feet tall but we never cared for it and the people who we gave it to moved away so I quit planting it.
some vegs taste better, imo... but okra fresh picked young n tender hard to beat, imo. like black-eyed peas... not the
tastiest, but add some salt and butter... i'll have a 2nd bowl... :)
 
we got 2 yesterday. store bot. zukes and summer. garden fresh too mild, imo. i like store bot better. vine boreres here! have to start early. seed up sets in early Feb, and get in ground. then u can expect a crop. but the lil red dots show up and can't fight them.

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I'm pretty sure that those are squash bug eggs. A very damaging pest too. Squash vine borer eggs look very similar but are usually found singly, not in masses.
 
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Today was a good day! 3 pounds of beats, over half a pound of green beans and some cucumbers!
nice! we still are getting some cukes. has been a bumper crop year here for us. not so every year. this year both the cukes and taste never seemed to quit. i have beets to ck on today. may pull them. do the tops as spinich and if got some good enuff ones, plan on picked beets! yum
 
sometimes when up at my ranch, i look out over one of my paddocks... and think of it as a nice, well maintained garden! it is images of yours that comes to mind... thx for the pix!!

i don't garden there. but i do keep several compost bins. mite one day. i have a friend that had good results with brussels here in g z 9. nice sized so far. got some of those seeds/pkt. plan to try a late summer start. no doubt will try one or two up at ranch as cooler there in fall months...

young brussels
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sometimes when up at my ranch, i look out over one of my paddocks... and think of it as a nice, well maintained garden! it is images of yours that comes to mind... thx for the pix!!

i don't garden there. but i do keep several compost bins. mite one day. i have a friend that had good results with brussels here in g z 9. nice sized so far. got some of those seeds/pkt. plan to try a late summer start. no doubt will try one or two up at ranch as cooler there in fall months...

young brussels
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Thanks!

I was just thinking of starting some brussel sprout seedlings. I start collards each spring and they often live up until January or Feb and am hoping to do the same with brussel sprouts, except starting later. In the summer brussel sprouts get buggy around here and the heat is hard on them just at the time that harvest should be beginning. As you probably know store bought brussel sprouts can be highly contaminated with pesticides.
 
Thanks!

I was just thinking of starting some brussel sprout seedlings. I start collards each spring and they often live up until January or Feb and am hoping to do the same with brussel sprouts, except starting later. In the summer brussel sprouts get buggy around here and the heat is hard on them just at the time that harvest should be beginning. As you probably know store bought brussel sprouts can be highly contaminated with pesticides.
DiPel is a good organic bug 🐛killer for cole crops. I picked BS one year on January 1. In the snow.
 
First harvest of the season up here in Northern Michigan besides a couple batches of peas ( which were delicious ) and a few Anaheim's (which are extremely early for some reason ). Won't see a ripe tomato or a cucumber for at least a month, but everything is coming along despite the drought we've had.
 

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Dang! I went and did it. I just planted two peach trees this Spring and I was out weed whipping today. You guessed it. I hit the stake and the line caught and hit the trunk of the sapling. scoured the bark half way around.

I don't guess there's anything that can be done? Wrap it in something or use pruning dope?
 
For japanese beetles I use milky spore, it takes time to get down into the soil but it really decimates their grub larva. I'd say it killed them back 95%+ in my soil after treating 5 months ago. I have some organic microbe caterpillar killer I inject into my squash leaf stems that kills off the borers can be used as a spray that has killed all the pest caterpillars. Right now around here its the sap suckling bugs (stink bugs) and grass hoppers causing damage so they get shot with carbaryl.
 
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