The 2022 Gardening Thread

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MoochNNoodles

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DD came in with a handful of really big cherry tomatoes so we had those with dinner tonight. They were SO good. I just have a typical husky cherry plant but they are some of the biggest I've ever seen on one. I think I will have peppers ready any day now. Those are bigger than expected too.

Any tips on how to know a pepper is ripe? They are Gypsy peppers; not a typical bell. I feel like they've been the same color for weeks! I don't know if I should pick one to try or keep waiting.
 

Winchester

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MoochNNoodles MoochNNoodles I'd pick one and taste it. I see that they take about 60 days to maturity. The first year we grew Carmens, we picked one when it was still green because we weren't sure. It was good, but we realized that we had to wait. Taste it and see if you like it.

Some flower pictures:
Butterfly.jpg


Rupert is hiding amongst the coneflowers in the front yard. Rick is going to trim the weeping cherry.
Coneflowers.jpg


LilyOne.jpg


LilyTwo.jpg


LilyThree.jpg


LilyFour.jpg


Some of the backyard flower bed
BackYard.jpg


Daylilies along the pool fence.
PoolFence.jpg


Red coneflowers
RedConeflowers.jpg


Ninebark Summer Wine Black.
Ninebark.jpg
 

Winchester

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And from the garden

Corn.jpg


Our patch of horseradish
Horseradish.jpg


PeppersTwo.jpg


Peppers.jpg


I'm going to start using onions. I just need to cure them first. We have a ton of Spanish onions and it doesn't make sense to buy onions when I have them in the garden. Some of them are huge.
PamsOnions.jpg


My red beet patch. Onions are along the side as well. We have six baby bunnies nesting in the onions. Mama gave birth to them there and she's been tending to them. How baby bunnies are supposed to hop down from a raised bed is beyond me. I'm sure they'll be snacking on my red beets!
PamsRedBeets.jpg
 

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Most of our flowers are aimed at attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. While all manner of bees have been working them over, and more than a few hummingbirds, until yesterday all I had seen of butterflies was a couple of those small white ones with a black spot on each wing. Then, finally, a monarch appeared among the coneflowers, but that's all, at least so far. Some of our neighbors have their lawns sprayed several times each season, and I wonder if that has anything to do with the dearth of them. We used to see monarchs, red admirals, and swallowtails aplenty, but not so much any more.
 

NY cat man

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I don’t know how you all have those beautiful gardens without rabbits and deer eating everything!
There is a 6ft fence around the back yard, where most of the flowers and all of the vegetables are. For the rest, I use a product called Critter Ridder. It comes in granular form and repels deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, and skunks, but is non-toxic and doesn't affect cats, at least Grumpy doesn't seem bothered by it. An application usually lasts a couple of months or so.
 

MoochNNoodles

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My yard is fenced but I've also had neighbors with dogs for most of the time here. We see a lot of deer in the area when we are driving; but I think because we have woods and open fields to graze they must find that enough to not try to jump into our yard. We had that happen once and you could tell they were running from something at the time. Fortunately it was winter so there wasn't anything to attract them to the yard.

I put sunflowers and cosmos on the side of the house this year. They aren't blooming but I think they are supposed to be deer resistant too. I put bunny fencing around my veggie gardens. It makes it hard to mow and weed-whack against it; but it does work to keep the bunnies out.
 

NY cat man

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I was looking over the bean plants to see if they were ready to pick again, when I spotted a Japanese beetle on one of the leaves. I killed that one, then got out the traps and hung them. As I hung the 2nd one, I saw one go into the 1st trap. When I looked, there were more than a dozen beetles already caught. And so it begins. On a brighter note, my tomatoes are coming along nicely, several are turning red, and I should have the first crop next week. I also replanted the string beans, as the first planting is starting to taper off. I may get another crop or two before they are done, though.
 

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We lost our beans (green and lima) to a massive bug infestation. We sprayed and sprayed, but it did nothing. As fast as the plants would come up, the bugs attacked them. I think we have six plants left. Rick is tempted to replant the green beans as it's not even the end of July yet. But we're also getting no rain, so we don't know what to do at this point.

I took some of our onions this afternoon and put them on the picnic table. We still have a ton in the garden. I took 12 in the house, cleaned and chopped and put them in the freezer. Went back out and took 4 more, cleaned and thinly sliced. They're in the dehydrator to be made into onion powder....if it works. The house smells of onion from the dehydrator.

I noticed that a couple of tomatoes are starting to turn. Peppers are not even close. I could take red beets, I think, as they're a really nice size and I don't want them to get too big.
Onions.jpg
 

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We had a bad storm come through yesterday and it knocked down or made a bunch of my sunflowers and cosmos lean or droop. I had to pull over 4 miles from home it was pulling my suv so much. It let up for a few and started in again right after we got inside; so I never got out to check on anything. They were well watered!

DD came inside this morning to tell me and by the time I made it out there she had the ball of garden twine and was starting to run a string to help them get back upright.:redheartpump: I have bamboo poles on hand so we used the fence at one end and a few of those. I staked a few sunflowers individually but I think everything will be ok.

One sunflower is finally close to blooming so hopefully soon I’ll have some nice pictures. They aren’t as tall as they should get yet. Half are the Russian Mammoth and half are only 4-5 footers. The cosmos are taller than the sunflowers so far! I did feed them earlier this week so maybe they’ll have a good growth spurt. I’ve been hoping it would be a good backdrop for family pictures.
 

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My garden's butcherbird always brings her lizards over to my hanging pot to eat.. I get to watch the carnage .:ohwell:
(taken through the window).. It's winter here so not a lot in flower, although the garden stays lush as it's semi-tropical where I am.

gotcha.jpg
 

NY cat man

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I should be picking tomatoes in the next few days, as both the Cherry Baby and Super Sweet 100 are almost there. The Gardener's Delight are not so far along yet. One thing I've noticed, though; the plants- all grown from seed- are not as 'leggy' as the store-bought ones from the past. They seem to be bearing as much fruit, only in a more compact form. The soil is my usual mix of compost, manure, and perlite, just the results are different.
 

Winchester

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We have tons of tomatoes, but they're not really turning color that well. The one that looked like it was was already starting to rot. We really need rain.
I am spending afternoons with my onions. The ones that I started to dehydrate on Friday night are finally dry enough that I can make onion powder.

One of five babies living in my red beet patch. Two hopped out of the raised bed last night and into the main garden. They can stay there, hiding under the horseradish, away from hawks. Plenty for them to eat. When we're up there working, we talk to them, so they're not too worried about us. I do hope mama bunny doesn't do this again next year!
Bunny.jpg
 
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