My vegetable garden and flower gardens are a mess. We have had 3 back to back heat waves and due to my afib I can’t handle the heat. Guess I have turned into a fair weather gardener. I have grand plans but I am not so good lately at executing them.
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The 2024 Gardening Thread
- Thread starter AbbysMom
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DH picked nine tomatoes today from our garden. I was planning to send him to the Weird Table Store for tomatoes, but I think we are set. One of them looks different, so I think it may be one of our pink brandywines. The man who planted them threw away my little name tags, so I don't know for sure. It's the only plant with potato leaves, but I doubt if DH will remember which tomato came from where.
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Thanks to an incredibly long heat wave, I am the proud owner of green tomatoes. 
These little guys popped up in my garden. I have no idea what they are. Any ideas? They look like "wild wonderberries." The birds certainly seem to like them.
These little guys popped up in my garden. I have no idea what they are. Any ideas? They look like "wild wonderberries." The birds certainly seem to like them.
I have dahlias planted in various locations on our property, but always planted some it pots on the deck where can see them when we're eating. A couple times this week when looking at the pots there was cat poop in them. While it is not unusual for the ferals that are here to do their business in beds but they don't commonly go in pots. Problem is the poop is just loaded with worms. I have no idea what cat this is. I walked down the road an spoke to two people who are cat/ feral friendly they don't know what cat it could be. Another person closer to me has not been home.With this many worms the cat won't be doing well at some point. They are most likely doing this early morning or over night.
Last year we had an orange kitty pooping in a crepe and it was neon orange. I was concerned that it might be a kidney issue.We set traps to get a vet assessment but it was to late she was in complete organ failure.
I will check with my other neighbor tomorrow if they are not back today. Sometimes we are just behind the eight ball here, between trying to control and manage to feral population and people dumping their unwanted pets here.But this cat is saying look here look what's up with me.
The plants are surprisingly doing well. But the cat worries me. I just thought it could be this little dilute looking tortie kitty. I have seen that little one, but he/she looked to thin to me. Hopefully I get more information tomorrow.
Last year we had an orange kitty pooping in a crepe and it was neon orange. I was concerned that it might be a kidney issue.We set traps to get a vet assessment but it was to late she was in complete organ failure.
I will check with my other neighbor tomorrow if they are not back today. Sometimes we are just behind the eight ball here, between trying to control and manage to feral population and people dumping their unwanted pets here.But this cat is saying look here look what's up with me.
The plants are surprisingly doing well. But the cat worries me. I just thought it could be this little dilute looking tortie kitty. I have seen that little one, but he/she looked to thin to me. Hopefully I get more information tomorrow.
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iPappy
they could be seriously small Green Zebra tomatoes. Or some variety of "purple" tomatoes, such as Indigo cherry tomatoes. Which are the worst tomatoes I have ever tasted, BTW.- Joined
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I picked the first two cherry tomatoes today, as well as the last of the green beans. I pulled the bean plants and reseeded the bed. I figure there should be time enough to get a second crop, but only time will tell.
The Patriot blueberry bush is done, but the Sunshine Blue bush is ripening nicely. I picked these two because they are shade tolerant. The fruit might ripen quicker if they got more direct sun, but given our situation with two large trees directly to the south, that is not to be. More than a third of our back yard is in at least some shade all day, except in the morning or after about 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon. It complicates things.
The Patriot blueberry bush is done, but the Sunshine Blue bush is ripening nicely. I picked these two because they are shade tolerant. The fruit might ripen quicker if they got more direct sun, but given our situation with two large trees directly to the south, that is not to be. More than a third of our back yard is in at least some shade all day, except in the morning or after about 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon. It complicates things.
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I'm kind of excited to see what they look like in the next few days or weeks. I like tomatoes, but I'm not crazy for them and if they just sit there and turn into bird food I'm fine with it. It's just very odd that they just appeared like that.
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Mom planted green beans and they're coming on quickly. I've canned about 4 batches and there will probably be 2 more or so.
iPappy
this sounds kind of gross, but if you didn't buy a mislabeled plant, it could have came from a seed that a bird "plopped" in your yard. My uncle said the best tomatoes he'd ever eaten were from that situation - a bird must have pooped in an odd area and the plant grew. I took several tomatoes home with me that day and they were good. The best tomatoes I've ever eaten were raised by an elderly man whose wife brought back two Homestead seeds from the beach. I saved some seeds, watched a YouTube tutorial but couldn't get them to grow, even though I have grown plants from seeds before. He wasn't selling to make money; he donated everything he made to his church. He said he would be back the next year if he was able, but we never saw him again.
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Two questions for all of the gardeners - any preferences between chrysanthemums or rudbeckia? I'm looking for a good perennial Fall bloomer. It looks like rudbeckia might be more toxic to cats, but I've love some opinions!
IzzysfureverMom
almost got me with echinacea because of the goldfinches.
Second question - I have a pepper plant that I grew from the seed of the pepper. It has been a couple of years but the thing never blooms. Are the seeds from the pepper sometimes "asexual" or whathaveyou?
IzzysfureverMom
almost got me with echinacea because of the goldfinches. Second question - I have a pepper plant that I grew from the seed of the pepper. It has been a couple of years but the thing never blooms. Are the seeds from the pepper sometimes "asexual" or whathaveyou?
I have had chrysanthemums that have come back year after year. They provide great fall color. Rudbeckia like Black Eyed Susans are easily divided for more plants and bloom profusely, but can have toxicity issues. The echinacea I grew from seed so it did not bloom the first year. They are wonderful bloomers and now reach 4 feet tall and attract birds.Two questions for all of the gardeners - any preferences between chrysanthemums or rudbeckia? I'm looking for a good perennial Fall bloomer. It looks like rudbeckia might be more toxic to cats, but I've love some opinions!
Second question - I have a pepper plant that I grew from the seed of the pepper. It has been a couple of years but the thing never blooms. Are the seeds from the pepper sometimes "asexual" or whathaveyou?
Rudbekia are pretty fool proof, and I've found will come back in the same spot as the year before, but will also create new plants via self seeding. But even here in Canada, they're more of a mid-summer bloomer, than fall bloomer. My ones that get full sun are already blooming, those with less sun will be blooming soon. The blooms do last a long time though.
For fall, chrysanthemums are probably the longer bloomer. Garden centres sell tons of them in pots, but most of those ones can't be planted and grown as perennials. Here's a link that explains it. Are Mums Perennials? Which Mums Come Back Year After Year
Other good fall blooming perennials are Autumn Joy Sedum
Here's Everything You Need to Know about Growing and Caring for Autumn Joy Sedum
And the absolute latest bloomer I have is Montauk Daisy, aka Nippon Daisy
Nippon (Montauk) Daisy: Vibrant Blooms for Late-Season Gardens!
We have finished picking and freezing our corn. We did it in 3 batches. I dried corn this year and I'm already sorry I didn't dry more. From 5 full trays, I only got not quite 2 pints of dried corn. Rick dearly loves dried corn. We did 130 ears of corn; that doesn't include what we gave to neighbors, to my sister, and five ears that we threw away.
Oh, and I have a corn cob story to tell. After I took the corn off the cobs, Rick took the cobs up to our compost pile. Well! The raccoons had a party in the compost! There were corn cobs all over our yard and in our neighbors' yards. Rick walked around, picking up corn cobs. There was even a cob over by the WeShed. The coons also got into the garden, but fortunately, we had all the corn picked, so it wasn't a huge deal. Still, they managed to have quite the party.
And now it's time for peppers and lima beans. These are Carmen peppers and we really like them. They're very prolific and very, very sweet.
Oh, and I have a corn cob story to tell. After I took the corn off the cobs, Rick took the cobs up to our compost pile. Well! The raccoons had a party in the compost! There were corn cobs all over our yard and in our neighbors' yards. Rick walked around, picking up corn cobs. There was even a cob over by the WeShed. The coons also got into the garden, but fortunately, we had all the corn picked, so it wasn't a huge deal. Still, they managed to have quite the party.
And now it's time for peppers and lima beans. These are Carmen peppers and we really like them. They're very prolific and very, very sweet.
When I was a kid in Kansas Corn Cob Jelly was a thing. It sounds strange but it actually is pretty good. It kind of has an apple taste to it.
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Beautiful! And I got quite a laugh at the raccoons having a corn cob party!
My sunflowers are more glorious than I envisioned right now. The middle bed still has one cosmos variety that hasn’t bloomed and one plant needs to be set back up. But overall I’m really enjoying all the bright blooms this year. It does a lot to cheer me up.
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The raccoons were like kids in an almost literal candy store! I am so happy it's sween corn season! I've already had a couple ears and can't wait until the grocery stores get the local stuff! YUM.
MoochNNoodles
I love your flowers! We tried cosmos for the first time this year. They are so pretty.The peppers are coming on full force. I no sooner got done chopping peppers yesterday than Dear Richard came into the house with a large Tupperware bowl full of peppers. I'll work on them today. He also got a few lima beans, a lot of flowers, but little in the way of beans. Still, what we're getting is very nice. We only got a couple tomatoes.
One of our neighbors, saw Rick in the garden. He brought 3 corn cobs over and said, "I think your 'kids' were partying again last night!" I really wish we could have gotten them on video. Wait til we do apples later on in the fall!!
