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Fenika

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My greenbeans are getting larger. When does one pick them? They are shading my poor carrots, but I'll have tons of beans.
 

Ari Meermans

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The younger and smaller the bean, the more tender and flavorful it is. Of course, it's wasteful to pick them too small. General rule of thumb is about as big around as a pencil or a little smaller. If you miss any and they get too much bigger than that, just let them stay and dry and save for seeding next year's garden.
 

Fenika

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Kewl. Can one do a late summer planting of beans and snap peas?
 

blacbird

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Here I channel Jim Morrison:

I am the lettuce king. I can do anything.

We've had perfect weather for cool-loving green leafy stuff up here in the far north where I live, and salads 'R us. Five varieties of lettuce, spinach, orach, mache, mustard (both mild and spicy), mustard spinach, mizuna, swiss chard, three varieties of arugula, cress, chervil, dill, cilantro, sorrel, nasturtium, three varieties of bok choi, all thriving in my garden. Thriving, that is, until I devour them.

caw
 

shakeysix

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you are so lucky== all of our lettuce bolted weeks ago. most of the cool weather crops are gone. even my buffalo grass is turning brown. early summer. the nasturtiums are scorched and dying back. i think i had two blossoms before the weather turned too hot for them. ditto for my sweet peas. cilantro bolted and pulled out. not dill--so pretty but practically a weed here. my parsley made it all winter this year as did my strawberries.

i am getting tomatoes and peppers but no cantaloupes yet. the watermelon farm down the street has a lot of baby melons. the hotter the better. my zinnias are taking over. portulaca and rose moss are filling in the bare spots. grapes everywhere,--s6
 

blacbird

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you are so lucky

See below:

i am getting tomatoes and peppers but no cantaloupes yet. the watermelon farm down the street has a lot of baby melons. the hotter the better. my zinnias are taking over. portulaca and rose moss are filling in the bare spots. grapes everywhere,--s6

None of which I can grow here.

caw
 

shakeysix

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yeah but that is the charm of gardening. i'd trade my zinnias and rose moss ( but not the tomatoes or melons) for one batch of picture book nasturtiums tumbling over a raised bed or sweet peas climbing up the garden gate. and sometimes, with enough planning and coddling i can get something close. and then my friends from oregon or new york or illinois send me a picture of their garden and my illusions are shattered.

i used to teach life skills and english to recent immigrants. a garden in the back of the learning center was always a spring project. the viet namese students would go nuts planting sunflowers--big ones, little ones. it drove the mexicans and us nortes crazy because sunflowers are a pasture weed to us. but the viet namese cracked up when they saw some of our house plants--weeds to them.--s6
 

blacbird

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one batch of picture book nasturtiums

I have nasturtiums, not blooming yet, both for flowers in the front of the house, and a couple of big pots in the veggie garden for eating. Nasturtiums make fine eats in salads, both the young leaves and the flowers. The leaves are spicy/sweet, reminiscent in flavor of honey-mustard mixes, and pretty strong, like good cress. The flowers are a bit less tangy, but extremely nice, and look fabulous atop a salad. Anybody who hasn't tried nasturtiums to eat, but likes spicy greens, should give them a go.

caw
 

shakeysix

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their name means "nose twister. i fell in love with them while reading an article about the poet robinson jeffers that featured his garden. i never saw them in real life until i was in college in iowa.

it was 110* today. i just came in from the evening watering. the nasturtium leaves are brown spotted and curling. the sweet peas are withering too. it was a cool, rainy spring and i had hopes for them.

the calendulas are also listed as edible. they are hanging in there, still very pretty. are they really salad material? i diced several of my peppers and some green onion into a bowl of cold rice. dressed it with lemon juice and olive oil for a salad tonight. i'd throw in the calendulas if i thought i could.

i put down several dry panicles of annual baby breath under the sweet peas and nasturtiums so baby's breath will take their place. that crazy rose moss is loving the sun and wind!--s6
 
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Kenzie

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I've recently made my first real foray into growing edibles. We live in an apartment, but the upper floor balcony is huge (and very solid, as it's actually built on top of the living room on the first floor). We have an 8' x 2' x 2' planter box that we built, and are currently growing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, sweet peas and kale - mostly salad stuff.

The tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are growing beautifully, as are the lettuce for the most part. But I have noticed that a batch of lettuce seedlings I planted about six weeks ago (grew from second-generation seed I harvested from old bolted lettuce) have grown a bit, then stopped. Only one is nearing full size, the others are tiny. I would have thought they would all be full sized in six weeks? Any ideas?

(P.S. I am in Australia and it's currently winter, but I live in the sub-tropics so it doesn't get that cold. The lowest temp we've had is about 10C. We get full sunlight on the planter from sunrise until about midday.)
 

aliwood

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I've been picking red and black currants this week. They are partially ripe so I have them indoors with a banana now to finish them off. There was a total of 11 gooseberries on my bush. :Shrug: I guess last year's bumper harvest gave it too much of a workout. I've given it a prune and it can have the rest of the year off to recover. I also saw that my hazlenut bush is starting to form nuts. I guess that means that summer is almost over here then. I still have a heap of work to get the front garden sorted but my fruit is a real success. I'll try and remember to take a pic for you.
 

Fenika

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The lettuce might need fertilizer, of the right balance, if the temperature and daylight are sufficient. Mine isn't growing but it's been 80-90F (about 30ish C. My scale gets messed up after room temp, heh)

Ali, I don't think any plant should be trimmed in summer. They need the leaves to get energy. Same for bulb plants whose flowers die in the spring. But your gooseberry has all summer. Check the soil sometime this summer and make sure all is well. I believe you should wait till fall for major soil changes though. Not sure for a berry plant...
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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Grrrrr... too much rain and too much heat = black spot on my newly planted roses. Gotta go get some garden sulphur. Grrrrr...

In other news, my alliums were in their full glory last week. Gorgeous! The delphiniums are starting to bud (yay!), and my nasturtiums and Icelandic poppies are blooming. Plus my herbs are going to town! I need to make something with dill, because I've been hitting the basil pretty hard. Need to let it replenish a bit.

But I am loving summer this year. I need to carve out another few beds before winter sets in.
 

Fenika

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Omg, so nomable.

And Hip, we need pics!
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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Omg, so nomable.

And Hip, we need pics!

I have some from a few weeks ago, need to take some more! And have to get the old man to help me download them. Whenever we're not downloading, the cord disappears, and I don't know what he does with it.

Will try soon!
Hip
 

Kenzie

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The lettuce might need fertilizer, of the right balance, if the temperature and daylight are sufficient.

I thought that was likely, but then again everything is planted in good quality potting mix that I mixed a decent amount of vegetable-specific fertiliser in before planting. That was about 3 months ago - so perhaps the cherry tomatoes have used a lot of the nutrients up? They are fruiting like crazy.
 

Fenika

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'vegetable specific' only means good for many different veggies in the garden. Zucs like high Nitrogen while tomatoes and peppers will get more leaves and less fruit with high nitrogen. Er, something like that.

Look up what proportion each plant likes and get at least two fertilizers. One with relatively high nirtogen and one with less. It's the first number when they give three numbers on the front. And don't forget the calcium.

What highs and lows are you getting? You said 10 as a low?? You migh build a basic cold frame or tunnel with ample ventilation just to give a little warmth boost and help them grow rather than be happily hanging out.

And yeah, nice bagged soil is only fertile about 3 months, so you are due. I highly recommend organic fertilizer as plants react better to it and the price is not that great. Some include calcium but crushed egg shells work wonders.
 

Shadowflame

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I know my garden is going to need work, though things are growing well for now.

Basically I have a 6x15 foot plot without any real prepping. The soil here is mostly clay with about 2-6 inches of topsoil. (much less where there has been recent development)

This fall, after harvesting, I'm getting some pig/horse/cow manure, a few bales of straw, hopefully a load of topsoil and some sand. Tilling all of that in then planting some winter wheat. hopefully that will balance out some of my nutrient issues.
 

Shadowflame

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I've been getting green beans out of my garden for weeks. Last night, my first two tomatoes. I've got cucumbers and squash on the way. And deer...

:(

My oldest called me yesterday at noon asking if I knew of any work back behind the house. Apparently, there was some buldozing of some brush. It also startled a deer from his/her hiding spot, righ into my back yard.
Last night, the black turtle beans were browsed. Sometime today, more beans and some of the cucumbers.

I asked my fiance to "water" the garden when he feels the need. Tomorrow going to a friend's house to get some doggie do-do to scatter around. I also need some cheap fishing line to put up where it is jumping the fence. (The deer will get spooked at something they can't see)

And things looked so pretty!
 

L. Y.

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I hve been trying my hand at growing gladiolus--var. Priscilla, Black Walnut, and Comet--and they all seem to love the tropical weather where I'm from.

The problem I'm having is the blooms of the Black Walnut and Comet are not as dark as thye should be. I don't know iif I have a mislabeled batch, or if the weather/soil has anything to do with it.

Anyways, still loving them!
 

Tepelus

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This hot and dry weather is driving me nuts. I've been outside hand watering every evening, and on my days off work in the morning and evening if I can. Most of my plants look good or are looking all right, but I am tired of it. I need to get some weeding done but by the time I finish watering in the morning it's too hot to be outside, then in the evening I wait until about 7 when things have cooled and water until sundown. So the weeds just keep growing and beoming more numerous. It's supposed to cool down some on Thursday so I can maybe get some weeding done, and also hopefully get some rain, but I won't be holding my breath on that.
 

Fenika

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We are having a serious drought here too. I've been watering like mad, twice a week for the raised beds and nearly every other day for the potted plants.

I am getting nice zucchinis and basil and squash and will soon have tomatoes and peppers. I just harvested all my broccoli but one, and that will likely go soon too. My green beans are a bit stringy, so I'll save seeds from them.

And eventually we'll get proper rain and my trees will stop dropping their leaves. Native friggen trees.
 

Tepelus

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There is rain in the area as of right now, but it never rains at my house. It always goes just to the south, or just to the east, or north, or it disappears before it hits us coming from the west. The dog is going wacko because she can hear thunder and knows there is rain, but not here.
 

backslashbaby

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The rains have been missing us, too :( Just my little area; there are thunderstorms I can hear and see the lightning. So frustrating.

My garden is holding up OK. I have stink bugs trying to kill my zucchini, though! What is an organic or not-toxic-to-bees remedy for friggin stink bugs? I have more leetle toads now (so cute!!!) but they aren't much good yet at stinkbug patrol :D

I keep stepping on honeybees, too. That hurts :ROFL: No, I'm not getting rid of all my clover or wearing shoes in the garden. I'm stubborn that way! :D