Just Terrible

 I planted like 30 tomato plants. Surely I should be awash in tomatoes, right? Nope. I've gotten tomatoes from like 2 plants. What went wrong? I think the problems are deer and chipmunks. Chipmunks chewed through the stems of three plants. Deer completely violated the plants out in the rock garden. But even with that issue, I should have gotten some tomatoes since they can't quite get at the whole plant thanks for the concrete reinforcing wire cages. But I have not see a red tomato. I think the culprits are chipmunks. I've definitely seen them scurrying away from the tomatoes. In the end, tomatoes were an utter disappointment. If I want to have some sort of tomato harvest next year I am going to need to come up with anti-deer/anti-chipmunk measures. I think I could put up some posts and wire to keep the deer at bay. But the chipmunks are going to be a bit tougher. Maybe some chicken wire around the cages?

Zucchini did pretty poorly this year as well. I got a few, but < 10. Out of like 7 plants. Only a couple of the plants did well getting started, and they're all completely gone now.

Cucumbers did poorly as well. I got basically one small harvest. They seemed to suffer from the heat and dried out way too fast even with religious daily watering.

Hot peppers did ok, I've picked a lot of them. Made some powder, froze some green chile and long hots. Probably the star of the garden this year.

Plans for next year:

• Deer proofing absolutely required 

•  Chipmunk proofing methods needed 

•  The peppers need bigger pots. Need to find a source of decent pots, maybe get a yard of compost or something to fill them. 

•  Better soil and mulching for everything in pots, especially cukes. Maybe a better location for cucumbers. 

•  A berry planter. The strawberries were good, though only got a few, and likely chipmunks ate a few. Maybe a shelter of some sort for them.

I didn't do anything with the planters out front along the driveway this year. Might plant some kale out there this weekend. 

Thinking a lot about maybe a hydroponic setup in the basement. I can afford decent lights and would be cool to get some basil, maybe strawberries or something.

As always, my battle cry is NEXT YEAR!

Current Tomato Setup aka Kiiiiiiind of Overdoing It

 I got my first tomato this morning! A little ping pong ball sized beauty hidden in the foliage by the driveway. I took a glance at the blog here to see which type it was and to my horror realized I didn't have a map. I mean, I have one, I'm not a maniac. But I didn't have it online. So I made a nice map for my self based on my sketches in the ol' garden notebook.

Couple notes. This morning's first tomato was an A Grappoli d'Invierno. Very prolific. The "hole" in the Rock Garden map between the Cherokee Purples in the front center is a little stump. Too big to get out easily. So I left it and put landscape fabric over it. Which has been a great decision! Keeps the weeds in check. The dotted green circle in the upper right of the lower section of the rock garden is actually not in the ground yet, haven't even dug the hole. But soon! It's still in the trough that I originally planted it in. Of the remaining plants, it's the biggest, strongest, most powerful one. Even already has fruit on it. Will it survive? Good question. The current 5 on the right in the lower section of the rock garden bed are doing not so great. Partly no doubt due to it being in the 90s here the last couple days since I planted them. And I waited too long to transplant. And there's a metal pot placed over another tree stump in the middle of that area - maybe that gets too hot for the plants? Unsure. I _think_ they'll make a comeback. Also the top right Roma in the upper bed is sagging a bit as if it's not getting enough water. I think they could all do with some mulch of some sort to help hold the water in. I will see about that this weekend. All told 32 plants. The odd one is a Roma in a bucket.

To Do List:

• Plant some basil somewhere
• Build strawberry bed out of salvaged 4" x 4" by 10' posts from the fenced in garden. Where to put it?
• Transplant strawberries there
• Figure out where to put Serviceberries (3) and Blueberries (3).  Blueberries seem very happy. Serviceberries somewhat less so. On got attacked by a deer a little bit. They might have a rough time of things. Blueberries also need soil modification - Sarah says sulfur maybe??
• Find a spot for the Roma in the bucket?
• Clean out the back section of the rock garden. Perhaps load that up with zucchini.
• Clean out the back left section of the rock garden. Perhaps basil? If not find some place for basil. Containers?
• Clean out 4 stone planters by the driveway. One has garlic, that doesn't need to be cleaned out. One has kale that has gone to seed. I'm gonna let it, then maybe replant with those seeds. The one nearest the house has a metal mesh surrounding it, that will contain beans. The other two will be... I dunno. Strawberries didn't see to do well there. It is hot, and it is full sun. Either need some shadecloth or need to figure out something that likes that.
• Maybe lettuce in the little side bed in the back? Neighbor put up a 6' tall plastic fence. At any rate this needs to be cleaned out and harvest the rather-unlikely-to-have-produced-anything garlic in that bed. Maybe spinach?
• Old potting shed that I never used completely rotted out and fell over. Burn the remnants and maybe build a new one? Thinking more like a shelter for tools, shovels and the like.

Productive Weekend, Yet Not Productive

 There was a ton to do this weekend, I'm a bit behind. Peppers need to be transferred out of the big ol' troughs so they grow a bit better. I did prep some buckets for them, need to transplant though. That's the plan for Detil, Cayenne, Korean Dark Green, and Buena Mulata. And I need to figure out a spot for the New Mexico peppers. Hmmm. There are 4 unoccupied stone planters out front. Probably one will be beans, one will be kale, and the other two not sure. So those are possible spots. Also perhaps the little brick planters on the deck by the house for a few. That would work nice if it doesn't get too hot. There are probably 20 of them, so I can certainly experiment a bit.

I planted cukes as well. Youtube guru said the burpless varieties are less prone to bugs and mildew, so I got a few of those. For reference here is the setup with the buckets.

Also have a few straggler tomato plants left. No reason not to put them out in the rock garden. Seems like the tomatoes I currently have in the rock garden are loving it there.

Other random plans... There's a big spot in the rock garden cleared, and two other spots needing to be cleared and landscape fabric'd. I maybe plant up some extra zucchini in one of those. Also need to figure a spot for basil. Perhaps some other herbs. Strawberries are going to go in a planter I'm making out of the remains of the fenced in garden from the back - some long 4"x4" posts that I'm going to make a planter out of. The neighbor says he's putting up a fence, so that makes it a little easier to just put a planter there.

Also vaguely thinking spinach.

Getting warm out

Finally getting warm out. A bit before the first frost date, but weather.com suggests we're not gonna have any temps below about 50 in the next few weeks, so I think we're in the clear. I've been hardening off the seedlings for two days now. Yesterday was just for a couple hours, today was most of the day - they seemed happy enough. Last week I planted zucchini.

They're coming up already, woot woot! Winner for first sprouts is Fordhook.

I also planted a few tomatoes outside. Cherokee Purple in front, Black Cherry in the back.

Lots of tomato seedling left to go. Gave away 5 to Jill. May see if the neighbor wants any, I think I promised him a Cherokee Purple.

All of em!

Batch 1

Batch 2

Batch 3

Couple kale plants still left over from last year. I pulled a few that were moldy in the middle. The stems are like 2" across, huuuuge.

Kale

Garlic is looking amazing.

 

I bought some landscape fabric. The weeds in the rock garden can be insane. Going to put out some tomatoes up there, hopefully the deer don't feast on them.

Like 10% done

Got the fabric at the local mom and pop hardware store. They also had strawberries (Honeoye) and long hot peppers (maybe a local Philly thing?? I never find seeds for these.)

Junebearing Strawberries

We're off!

 As usual I have procrastinated, but since I targeted starting so early, I'm actually right on track. I guess that counts as a life hack! Anyway, I have started quite a number of different tomatoes and peppers. I've got seven fiberglass tough planters (like a long window planter) under the fluorescents right now and they're doing very well so far. One planter has a ton of weeds in it, but the rest seem good so far. I used clear packing tape to stick labels written in sharpie on the side of the planters. Will they stay stuck on? Will they fade? Who can say!

Seeds starting under lights

Have I mentioned garlic? I have 55 garlic bulbs and they look great so far! I'm optimistic for a nice haul of garlic this year.

One of the hardneck garlic beds

Some tomato seedlings already putting on extra sets of leaves.

The soil I have the seedlings in is somewhat sandy and seems to dry out pretty quickly. I need to keep on top of watering.

Gardenfest 2023 review/2024 preview

Update from 6/23/2023 - My prep this year was decidedly lacking. Rather than beat myself up over it, I decided to just roll with it. Last year I was very aggressive about bringing in pepper plants - 28 of them made it into the basement. Whereas last year things went swimmingly, with almost all plants making it through, this year it looks like only 8 made it. And whereas last year they really took off within a week of being put outside, these 8 survivors seem to be a bit less vigorous. Last year the overwinter leaves kind of fell off and new leaves popped up everywhere. This year the regrowth seems much more subdued.

Today, 03/10/2024 - Last year was unimpressive. I got a few zucchini (planted late, did not keep up with them well). Tomatoes were pathetic. Definitely focusing on other things. This year, as I perpetually say, will be different. There is at least some hope that I may do a better job. I've already started some peppers and I'm working on tomatoes today. I've cleaned out some of the spider webs in the basement (lol, what a metaphor!), and I've got my first batch of peppers under lights. 

The hot pepper selection was interesting. I dug through my last 12 years of seed packets and came up with the following that I started last weekend:

• Poinsetta - None sprouted.
• Hungarian Hot Wax - None sprouted.
• Caperino - None sprouted.
• Pablano - None sprouted.
• Habanero - None sprouted.
• Sweet Banana - None sprouted.
• Pepperoncini - None sprouted.
• Tabasco - None sprouted.
• Buena Mulata
• Cayenne
• Datil
• Korean Dark Green 

So only the last four sprouted. Maaaaaybe I'll get some of those. I think my problem is that I have a lot of old seeds.

Today I also planted 

• Serrano
• Jalapeno
• Anaheim/Big Jim - a New Mexico type of chile

Went a lot heavier on these than the other types, these are the ones I enjoy the most. I really, really hope the New Mexican type of green chiles do well, I'd like to get a big enough harvest to justify getting a roaster. A hand cranked, propane fired roaster would be really fun, and a great way to prep them. 

Spent some time today deciding which types of tomato to plant.

• YES - Rutgers - These are reliable.
• YES - Black Vernissage - See how they stack up to Cherokee Purple
• YES - Brandywine - Low output but maybe do 1.
• YES - Beefsteak - Low output but maybe do 1.
• YES - Spoon - These are fun.
• YES - Black Cherry - Pretty, good flavor. Get loads of tomatoes.
• YES - Yellow Pear - Yes, looking for a nice range of cherry colors this year.
• YES - Roma - Doing sauce mostly, so yes.
• YES - A Grappoli D'Invierno - Got a lot of these.
• YES - San Marzano - Mostly using them for sauce, so no brainer here. 
• YES - Cherokee Purple - My favorite!
• YES - Napa chardonnay - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
• YES - Green Doctors - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
• YES - Red Cherry, Large Fruited - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
• YES - Sungold - A great cherry variety.

Decided against these.

• NO - Brandywine Pink - Low output.
• NO - Gezahnte - I don't think these fared well.
• NO - Mortgage Lifter - Never get much from these

The two major themes this year are cherry tomatoes - I want a nice variety of colors, and tomato sauce, so somewhat of a preference for paste types. I also am being less tolerant of varieties that produced poorly. I want to make up for my lack of tomatoes last year and see if I can have a great year.

Other things on the agenda for... soonish... eggplant, ground cherries, and huckleberries.

Another big theme this year is berries. I had elderberries for a few years, but they got lost in the backyard jungle and never saw them again. The black raspberries that used to be everywhere in the back are largely gone. I think the jungle swallowed them up as well. Last fall I hired a landscaper to clear the back yard. Expensive, but the change is very dramatic. I will definitely have some extra space for plants.

Another berry project - I took cuttings from a blackberry bramble at the community garden and put them in water. They're sprouted nicely, I will see if I can start them in soil soon. I also put some blueberries and blackberries from work and put them in the freezer. Will defrost them soon and see if I can grow plants from the seeds. And finally will need to hit the nurseries in the area to see what else I can scrounge up. Strawberries would be awesome, but I think I will try a variety of things if I can find them.

Some scavenged photos of the mediocre attempt that was 2023...

Peas

Got some peas at least

Tomato seedlings. NONE came up.

Baby zuke

Zukes always give me something for my effort

Yum

My one tomato. Miserable! Got a few at least.

Lotta kale.

Okra flower. I got some pods but I think I left them on the plant too long.

The Final Buzzer

 Well, it's official, the 2022 season is over. Tuesday morning (11/15) we had a hard frost. We'd had some light ones, but the basil held on, though not flourishing. I did a final pick of basil a couple weeks ago and had some pesto. But this frost turned all the remaining plants to mush. Except kale. KALE DON'T CARE. Actually the dill looked ok, too. Funny, I grew dill but never picked or used any. I brought the oregano inside, along with the peppers.

In the end, I brought in 28 pepper plants on 10/16. The basement seedling tables are packed with peppers now. If I can get them through the winter I will have a huge head start next year.

Peppers for overwintering!

They seem pretty happy with their situation despite the absolutely savage cutting back of the plants and removing all their leaves. But in the last month they have blown up, and they almost all have an explosive growth of new leaves on the remaining sticks.