Re: The August garden report (loooong)

>  Next year the vegs will be cut way back

Cyndi,
Do you think if you keep saying this it will actually happen?

Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSR" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 12:19 PM
Subject: [CHAT] The August garden report (loooong)


> I'd like to be able to write about how great my ornamental garden is
doing,
> but unfortunately the vegetables took almost all my time this year. The
> teahouse garden is doing okay, I just dug up and gave away hundreds of
> bearded iris out of there, thanks to whoever mentioned Freecycle on this
> list. The iris were there before the teahouse garden and I thought I could
> work them in, but in the end they just didn't look right. My husband was
> able to weed in there for me, it's the one place he can't really mistake a
> weed for something I planted.
> My dry garden is also doing okay although it's in need of a little
weeding.
> My desert willow (Chilopsis) are really growing and blooming, and the
> spineless Opuntia cactus has actually been blooming on and off since
spring.
> Penstemon bloomed great and some of the salvia are still blooming as well.
I
> found penstemon seedlings there earlier this year which was fun.
> The cottage garden...well, it's pretty weedy so I won't talk about it,
other
> than to say that the third Chrysler Imperial rose (I've killed two) is
> growing and blooming, with the perfume exactly what I wanted.
> In the vegetable garden, I planted way more than I needed of just about
> everything. And it has been a weird year, which I guess is due to the
> incredibly wet winter. I had powdery mildew on my summer squash. At least,
I
> think that's what it was, never seen it before but they were covered. I
> ended up spraying with a mix of baking soda and light horticultural oil,
> which didn't remove it from the older leaves but it is no longer
spreading.
> And I don't have whiteflies or leafhoppers this year, usually they are a
> real pest. That's nice.
> I planted four different beds with six tomato plants each. That was nuts,
I
> never would have had time to deal with that many tomatoes if they had all
> produced. However, they didn't. I had blossom end rot so bad in two of the
> beds - they had Big Mama and Viva Italias - that not one of those plants
has
> produced a useful fruit. I know all about the causes and tried all sorts
of
> things but to no avail. I think I'm going to spring for a soil analysis
and
> see if anything jumps out to be done. The other two beds did okay. I
planted
> Classica and Super San Marzano paste tomatoes in one, they did quite well
> with big crops from each. The other area was my fresh-eating tomatoes. I
put
> in Black Plum, Rose, Heatwave, Sunmaster, and Red Pear. The Black Plum
> started off well but something did it in; I haven't looked through my
books
> for the exact disease but there were huge chunks of just dead shriveled
> leaves on it, and it didn't grow fast enough to outpace that, although it
> isn't quite dead yet. It also had a little problem with BER. Otherwise I
> liked the fruit, maybe ping-pong ball size, good flavor. The Red Pear is
> very interesting looking, pear-shaped and fluted, but didn't set many
fruit
> and they are rather wet and flavorless to me. Huge plant though. Rose is
> quite nice, a dark pink medium size, more fruit than Red Pear, and a
strong
> grower. I liked its flavor too. Sunmaster and Heatwave are always good
> performers with strong growth, medium size red fruit, and they set well
> except in the most extreme heat. They both tend to crack somewhat.
> A little disappointed in the melons. I usually grow Ambrosia canteloupes
and
> Galia, a green melon. This year the Ambrosia all rotted on the vine about
> when they were getting ripe. Don't know what caused that except maybe the
> temps right then were hitting over 100 consistently. There are more melons
> setting now.
> My herb bed could have done better. Last year I direct-seeded basil,
> cilantro, parsley and dill, then left on a 3 week vacation. When I came
back
> there were so many weeds! The basil outgrew it all and I made gallons of
> pesto for the freezer. This year did the same thing except for the
vacation.
> The weeds also returned but I had trouble separating them from the herb
> seedlings. The basil didn't sprout. Never saw the cilantro. The parsley
was
> overcome. But the dill triumphed and I picked and froze a zillion dill
heads
> for making pickles later. Which brings me to the cucumbers...still
> attempting to take over my kitchen in the sheer volume of fruit
produced...I
> will never plant six cucumber plants again. Never. On the plus side, I
will
> not run short of pickles ever, and people at work seem to appreciate cukes
> more than zucchini. Go figure.
> Lastly the peppers, I doubled up the number I usually plant and they are
> almost all thriving. I can freeze those. I shouldn't jinx it by saying so
> but I rarely have problems with peppers. The jalapenos, Anaheims, anchos
are
> great. The bells have a little bit of BER but not like the tomatoes. The
> Italians (giant Marconi) had a little trouble - a couple appear stunted -
> but there are plenty of good sized peppers. Roasted red pepper sauce,
> grilled red peppers, sauteed peppers and onions, chile rellenos, mmmm. I
> love peppers.
> And that's about it. Next year the vegs will be cut way back and I will
> attempt to devote myself to the cottage garden, which sorely needs
> renovating.
>
> Cyndi
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index