Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Elise Woods on September 3, 2010 at 4:34pm

The only things that grew really well in the hot and dry conditions this summer were: black-eye peas, swiss chard, melons and sweet potatoes.

Permalink Reply by Joseph McGrath on September 4, 2010 at 4:52pm

Hi Elise, it's sad, but I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that had troubles. This year was my first - I've got about a 1/2 dozen potted plants outside my office at work. I got maybe 2 zucchinis, and a few small tomatoes and 0 peppers. My herbs are doing okay and the strawberry plant is looking good (I learned that strawberries take 2 years). Still so much to learn!

I'm going to try to get my condo started with worm-composting. I think I could use the quality fertilizer!

Permalink Reply by Diane Blust on September 4, 2010 at 5:53pm

I had a reasonably good year in the garden and probably would have had a better year if I had done things like planted additional cukes in late June. At any rate - lots of herbs, including dill reseeded from last year, tons of basil (will be making pesto ths week), about 8 lbs of cukes, green beans (the best were actually purple Violet Triumph - still waiting for the Scarlet Runners), okra, various lettuces/romaines, fennel (for seed - bulbs didn't set this year), tomatoes, figs, a huge crop of scallop squash (25 bags blanched and frozen), and black beans.

My rhubarb is in its second year, but doesn't look like it will yield anything edible this year. I think I need to move it to another spot in the garden.

Beets were a flop... Blueberries and blackberries haven't done well and need to be moved. Zucchini was poor - just a couple, but I was trying to force them in an area with marginal sun.

I also have Jerusalem artichokes in my wildflower garden but I plan to leave the roots in the ground this year; I want them to multiply.

The fall/winter garden is in: lots of lettuce in front of a south facing brick wall for fall and winter harvest. I've also started several pots of lettuce (mesclun) to keep indoors in the sunroom/greenhouse. Other fall crops are: Russian kale, turnips (greens and regular turnips), mustard, cabbage, sprouting broccoli (will winter over for a spring harvest), beets, arugula, radishes. I have no idea if any of this will work, but I'll let you know.

Permalink Reply by Elise Woods on September 5, 2010 at 5:58am

I forgot the basil. It did wonderfully well with little water and lots of heat. Cucumbers don't want to grow well in my garden for some reason. Beets are now coming up for the fall crop. They only grow well in spring and fall. It was just too hot for beans. My garden is in full sun all day. The beans got blossoms but very few produced beans. I'm thinking of investing in some shade cloth for next summer.

Summer raspberries were overcome with the heat and hardly produced. The fall raspberries are not doing well, either. If we have a few days of cooler weather they start to produce more berries and then it gets hot again and they stop. There are a lot of blossoms on them.

Fall crops just getting started. Lettuce is up. Two leaf turnips, pac choi, beets, kale and cabbage. Carrots and parsnips started earlier are doing pretty well. I have to keep the greens under row cover to keep the flea beetles from eating them before they get enough leaves to survive.

Today I will be putting up the frame for low tunnels (about 3 feet high). This year I have 2-foot pieces of rebar which I will pound about a foot into the ground of both sides of the bed at 4 foot intervals. I bought flexible 1/2 inch water pipe which I will cut into 7 foot pieces and place the ends over the rebar to anchor it. That makes the frame. I have both lightweight and winter-weight row cover fabric that will go over the frame at appropriate times. I may order some greenhouse plastic to put over the heavy row cover in the event of a big snowfall.

Lots to do!

Permalink Reply by Diane Blust on September 5, 2010 at 8:32am

Elise -I just came in for a rest from planting and potting. Will head back out in a bit. Sounds like your greenhouse/tunnel will be great. I have a couple of those "pop up" greenhouse (Flower House is the brand I think). I'm not sure I will set them up this year.

Happy gardening!