Dr. Magill
Life of the Party
Last spring was pretty harsh for gardening
2023 Garden Thread
- Thread starter mcswny
- Start date
One of the clones I made of made of a rhody from mom's place in Seattle is blooming this year.
My wife is into petty I’m into tasty. I have 2 Early Girls, and three Romano and two buckets of new potatoes. I’m hoping for a good crop of wild Oregon grape this year, as well as my huckleberry, and blackberry These three will be made into jelly
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The vegetable and berry garden is looking good; with the warm weather have been watering nearly every day.
Have 4 4 x 12 raised strawberry beds that are loaded, 6 10-foot rows of raspberries that are looking good but once again there are only a few bumblebees doing the pollinating. The blueberries (have 14 bushes) are a bit of a mixed bag with the early bushes having few berries the mid-season are loaded and the lates are OK.
The vegetable section is looking good with onions (2 types), potatoes, pea pods (all ready 15 inches tall), broccoli, beets, kale,Swiss chard, carrots, a section of butter crunch lettuce, a section of 4 variety leaf lettuce, first planting of pole beans up and growing, the second planting goes in the ground tomorrow, a row each green and yellow zucchini, row of table queen acorn squash and a row of Kabocha squash (a new planting for me), eight 24 foot rows of corns (5 inches tall), 10 tomato plants and 12 pepper plants, 1 egg plant and a couple basil plants. So far staying a head of the weeds so with a bit of luck should be eating well this summer.
Also have a pear, an Asian pear, a frost peach that is so loaded I'll have to thin at least 75% of the set fruit, and new this year is a Fiji apple (no blooms this year) and a Transparent apple that has apples set.
Curt
Have 4 4 x 12 raised strawberry beds that are loaded, 6 10-foot rows of raspberries that are looking good but once again there are only a few bumblebees doing the pollinating. The blueberries (have 14 bushes) are a bit of a mixed bag with the early bushes having few berries the mid-season are loaded and the lates are OK.
The vegetable section is looking good with onions (2 types), potatoes, pea pods (all ready 15 inches tall), broccoli, beets, kale,
Also have a pear, an Asian pear, a frost peach that is so loaded I'll have to thin at least 75% of the set fruit, and new this year is a Fiji apple (no blooms this year) and a Transparent apple that has apples set.
Curt
I was looking at some tomato info recently and came across a video.
The guy in the video was promoting removing the early blossoms which would help the plant grow and be healthier. He said he did a side by side comparison and the plants he removed the early blossoms from produced more tomatoes than the plants he didn’t remove the early blossoms from.
It was on the internet, so it had to be true, right.
What do the tomato experts here think. Fact or bs?
SF
The guy in the video was promoting removing the early blossoms which would help the plant grow and be healthier. He said he did a side by side comparison and the plants he removed the early blossoms from produced more tomatoes than the plants he didn’t remove the early blossoms from.
It was on the internet, so it had to be true, right.
What do the tomato experts here think. Fact or bs?
SF
I pick all the early flowers off, nothing allowed to form fruit until late June, sometimes mid June but most of our tomatoes need 85-95 days so late June to late September is the first window, with early July to October the second window.
Given our heat issues, mid July gives the most tomato flowers in our set up.
Early fruiting stunts the plant, robs energy is my guess. Left one on a few years ago, had a small fruit when we planted in May. Fruit sat forever at the base of the plant, and when it finally ripened it was not very good, almost woody and tough, while the plant was a poor producer.
Given our heat issues, mid July gives the most tomato flowers in our set up.
Early fruiting stunts the plant, robs energy is my guess. Left one on a few years ago, had a small fruit when we planted in May. Fruit sat forever at the base of the plant, and when it finally ripened it was not very good, almost woody and tough, while the plant was a poor producer.
Yeah I do this as well. Not particularly science based, just figured it should put its energy in growing. I generally do the same for berries and fruit trees except I don’t allow them to fruit for the entire first year. Just let them get establishedI was looking at some tomato info recently and came across a video.
The guy in the video was promoting removing the early blossoms which would help the plant grow and be healthier. He said he did a side by side comparison and the plants he removed the early blossoms from produced more tomatoes than the plants he didn’t remove the early blossoms from.
It was on the internet, so it had to be true, right.
What do the tomato experts here think. Fact or bs?
SF
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
If a tomato is an indeterminate variety, which most are, isn't it designed to just keep growing and fruiting all summer? I'm inclined to pick off the blooms anyways. Especially if they are a foot tall and still in the 4x4 cell they came in like the Ananas Noire my daughter convinced me to get this weekend at the farmers market. I got 200 tomatos and she still needs a "pretty one that looks like a rainbow."
Tomato ice cream?
A
Anonymous member 148
Guest
I just got carried away, too many cool varieties. We use a lot of tomato, pizza/pasta sauce, sopita, sun dried... I want to can some, juice some, sauce and freeze some (I have a 9x18 walk in freezer so I have the space). I will also be giving a bunch away of course. I will do a tomato sorbet haha! Frozen Bloody Mary? Frozen Gazpacho? I have done a lemon/radish/black pepper sorbet for a restaurant
till I found out they were using it as a frozen ball of salad dressing that slowly melted overy the lettuce, kinda cool.
My better half thought the front of our north facing house was a bit boring so 2 years ago I built this arbor and we planted a couple of clematis plants along with a few other shade tolerant plants. They have staggered blooms, with this being the first one. In the 2 years, both have climbed the 10 feet up the arbor and are working their way across the top. We're very pleased with them.
Gary
how tall were they when you planted? We just planted one about 3’ tall. Did not know they grew that tall.
18" or so! They are vigorous growers. Depends if the variety, we saw a lot in the 8-12' range. These have heights of 20+' since we wanted to get it up and across. Longest vines are probably 16ish feet now. Being Northside, we picked 2 different shade tolerant varieties.Gary
how tall were they when you planted? We just planted one about 3’ tall. Did not know they grew that tall.
Montana Broughton star is the pink blooming now
Jackmanii is a deep purple that will bloom in a few weeks
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You will be pleased with what the clematis can become on a trellis. Here is one over the entrance to my little guest house. Actually here are several different ones there that bloom at different times.
I did some research but just want to confirm some things based on the current rabbit thread. I have a corner of my lot that catches hell. The garbage truck has taken it out twice plus other vehicles have ended up on it.
I cleaned it up some today. The plan is to plant cucumbers, zucchini and yellow summer squash that the myself and my neighbors can pick and use throughout the summer.
It sounds like rabbits will eat these plants and the veggies on them. Is that correct?
I’ve got a lot of rabbits around here and some occasional but rare deer sighting, so I’ll need some fence. For the rabbits, would 24” tall fencing be adequate to keep them out?
I plan to upgrade the soil once the plants I have started go into the ground.
SF
I cleaned it up some today. The plan is to plant cucumbers, zucchini and yellow summer squash that the myself and my neighbors can pick and use throughout the summer.
It sounds like rabbits will eat these plants and the veggies on them. Is that correct?
I’ve got a lot of rabbits around here and some occasional but rare deer sighting, so I’ll need some fence. For the rabbits, would 24” tall fencing be adequate to keep them out?
I plan to upgrade the soil once the plants I have started go into the ground.
SF
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I think 24" would work. Some might say 3 feet.
Divad
Whitefish
Sounds like a perfect stew, rabbit included.