Garden Geeks thread

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I don't know what's going on with my green beans. Tons of vines, lots and lots of blossoms, and virtually no beans. We watered very regularly through the drought, and have been getting good rain recently. My wife picked some up from a truck farmer and he said they had 400 feet of green beans. His most recent picking was only 2 pounds, so it's not just me. I think it has to be something to do with the drought. Maybe whatever pollinates the blossoms took a hit??? Frustrating, because there's nothing else in the garden I love like those beans.

A real desperate measure is to use q-tips to take pollen from the stamens and spread it on the pistils......I've never done it on beans, though. tried it on squash and pumpkins and it worked.

picked about a dozen hot peppers earlier in the week. tomatoes looking good so far (fingers crossed!). our bush beans continue apace. I don't know how you folks with pole beans find the time to pick them all! Our 3' x 5' bean patch has me out there two or three times a week!

and for visual appeal, the zinnias look great. It's fun to sit in the shade once the sun swings around, sip a cold one, and watch the butterflies and occasional hummingbird flit around.

 

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

The beans are still doing great; wife threatens to pull them out we have so many.

The tomatoes are still OK; we canned 6 quarts this weekend.

We picked all the concord grapes we had and made 16 jelly jars of jelly.

Sunday I picked the first (biggest and ripest) watermelon; we tried it today and it was GREAT. We've got about 6 more, including one moon-and-stars variety. That plant didn't do as well.

The peppers are very slow this year, and we might not get any more. Carrots are pretty good. Onions are very good.

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

BIG tomatoes still, and lots of them.

Recently planted fall crops of beets, spinach and turnip. Also sowed more summer and zucchini squash seeds in mid August. I may be late planting the squash. Hopefully we'll get some before first frost.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We picked all the concord grapes we had and made 16 jelly jars of jelly.
.

My grandfather grew Concords for Welches, god those things are sweet. Wish I had some growing, they are some tasty

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Dam squirrels are eating the tomatoes again!

 

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

My grandfather grew Concords for Welches, god those things are sweet. Wish I had some growing, they are some tasty

The concord grape jelly is pretty good. My favorite is the red (and a few black) currant jelly I canned back in June.

 

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

The concord grape jelly is pretty good. My favorite is the red (and a few black) currant jelly I canned back in June.

(Sorry for replying to my own post) BTW - it's RAINING in the madison area!!!!! First time in about 3 weeks. Don't have to water the garden tomorrow!

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

There are two things that I always associate with the end of summer and the beginning of autumn: the sound of crickets in the evening, and the appearance of flowers on the morning glories. The morning glories again are in the height of their magnificence.

 

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Garden was a total disaster this year. Not one cucumber. I didn't even get parsley to grow.

I did get basil, but I grew that in a pot.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Will be looking to plant some tomato plants in the near future as the temps are starting to moderate nicely. Wife picked up some various seeds we'll probably try out also. Probably won't do much more than that, for now.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We planted our spring garden a few weeks ago. Two nights ago we saw the first little plants popping up. Peas, carrots, onions, and beats are coming out. Still waiting on the potatoes, green beans, zucchini, and cucumbers. The romaine lettuce, spinach, and broccoli we planted back around New Years are all thriving. We've been eating the lettuce and spinach and the broccoli should be ready to start harvesting in the next couple weeks. I need to get a couple trellises built for the green beans and peas.

As for our fall planting, the tomato plants all got zapped by our five days of nights in the low 20s in January (just planted 3 new tomato plants). Pepper plants are just recovering. Kael is going strong.

Probably will try putting in a few sweet potatos in soon and we're toying with the possibility of putting in some grapes.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I've got to order seeds, tough to think about with a foot of snow on the ground. Need to get tomatoes and Peppers going. Not sure what I'm doing for a garden this year. Beans and squash are going to be my biggest crops. I can pick and freeze lots of beans easily, Squash keeps until February and both are "legal"for me to eat

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I've got to order seeds, tough to think about with a foot of snow on the ground. Need to get tomatoes and Peppers going. Not sure what I'm doing for a garden this year. Beans and squash are going to be my biggest crops. I can pick and freeze lots of beans easily, Squash keeps until February and both are "legal"for me to eat

Having the same probelm getting motivated to order. 15 more inches of snow today

 

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Where do people order seeds and plants from? I got a blueberry plant from Spring Hill Nursery last year, and they have some other stuff I'd like (some cool sedum things), but I'm curious about other companies.

And I'm glad I re-read about the blueberry plant - I don't need two to get it to flower, but it does need to go through a freeze. I had it inside over the winter, so I moved it. Hoping to see some blueberries this summer (well, growing ANYTHING in my garden would be an improvement over last summer). I will also be more prepared for the little ****ers that eat strawberries.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Where do people order seeds and plants from? I got a blueberry plant from Spring Hill Nursery last year, and they have some other stuff I'd like (some cool sedum things), but I'm curious about other companies.

I get all of my seeds from Jung. Good selection and variety. Their catalogue does a nice job describing everything.

I believe they've been around a long time - my grandparents used to order from them.

http://www.jungseed.com/

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For climbing green beans, I'm getting ready to build a trellis for them to climb up. Any thoughts/input on the best way to construct a trellis?

I've been reading about where you build a frame on the sides and across the top and then run strings down from the top for the green beans to grab onto and grow up. From what I've read, using string makes it easier to harvest due to the flexibility of the hanging string and also to clean up at the end of the season, as you just snip the strings and throw it all away instread of picking dead parts of plants from out of a metal mesh or some such thing.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

It's hard to think garden with 8" of snow on the raised beds yet, but I am designing an irrigation system out of 3/4" diameter pvc that all I will have to do is plug the hose in, turn it on and walk away.

It's supposed to be 41 today, but's it's not going to crack 40 for the next week.

 

[MattS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For climbing green beans, I'm getting ready to build a trellis for them to climb up. Any thoughts/input on the best way to construct a trellis?

I've been reading about where you build a frame on the sides and across the top and then run strings down from the top for the green beans to grab onto and grow up. From what I've read, using string makes it easier to harvest due to the flexibility of the hanging string and also to clean up at the end of the season, as you just snip the strings and throw it all away instread of picking dead parts of plants from out of a metal mesh or some such thing.

I've never tried this with green beans but I have done it for other climbing plants (flowers). It works well for those.

 

[Carter]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For climbing green beans, I'm getting ready to build a trellis for them to climb up. Any thoughts/input on the best way to construct a trellis?

I've been reading about where you build a frame on the sides and across the top and then run strings down from the top for the green beans to grab onto and grow up. From what I've read, using string makes it easier to harvest due to the flexibility of the hanging string and also to clean up at the end of the season, as you just snip the strings and throw it all away instread of picking dead parts of plants from out of a metal mesh or some such thing.

I have my climbing green beans growing on a fence constructed of 2" x 4" welded wire. I have a 4' tall run topped with a 3' run, so it's 7' high by 44' long. Not only do the beans love climbing it, but they're supposed to be planted every 2" so it's perfect for the wire. I also use zip ties to attach a soaker hose to the very base of the fencing, on the opposite side where I plant the beans. For what it's worth, I highly, highly recommend the Fortex beans that I get from Jung's in Wisconsin.

http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=01157&c=86&p=Fortex+Filet+Pole+Bean

They are really wonderful, and keep producing until the frost kills them.

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For climbing green beans, I'm getting ready to build a trellis for them to climb up. Any thoughts/input on the best way to construct a trellis?

I've been reading about where you build a frame on the sides and across the top and then run strings down from the top for the green beans to grab onto and grow up. From what I've read, using string makes it easier to harvest due to the flexibility of the hanging string and also to clean up at the end of the season, as you just snip the strings and throw it all away instread of picking dead parts of plants from out of a metal mesh or some such thing.

I used to do the strings and it works well, except it's time consuming restringing each year.

Now I use plastic coated 2" x 4" wire mesh. The reason... I have 3 boxes with wire trellis's so I can rotate crops annually. I grow my cucumbers vertically on trellis's also. It's not so bad pulling the old growth out. I get most of the big growth off in the fall, put in it in the compost bins, then when the stems are good and dead in the spring, they basically fall right off the wire and I just till it in.

Or, use poles. Go out in the woods and cut some straight 1"-2" diameter hardwood tree branches or saplings. Stick 'em in the ground and plant your beans. Take the poles out of the ground in fall, or wait until spring, and pull the old growth off. Reuse the poles the next year. Quicker than restringing.

I've tried them all and find the wire to be the easiest. It takes some time and material expense to build the trellis so it will last, but once they're done, I've been using the same ones going on 15 years now, with no sign of having to replace. I fasten the wire with galvanized heavy duty staples, all hand nailed.