How is your vegetable garden coming along??

[Invisibleflash]

My garden isn't huge, but of good size about 25x60, I've worked this hard clay for the 27years we've lived here and I find that every year some things grow and produce really great, some things make a decent showing and some things just don't bother........and every year those change.

One example being winter squash that I've had trouble with for several years, but I'm a diehard and keep planting it anyway. Finally, this year has paid off. Having overplanted more seeds than I would have ever needed and nearly every dang one of them have sprouted and now taking over a good chunk of real estate out there.

Well, mostly the spaghetti and hubbard squashes. I had also planted some sweet meat and sweet dumpling, but in containers and not nearly as vigorous

Everything else out there is in the mediocre or non-existent stage......and that includes zucchini.

Anyone else having a great squash year??

I only grow fruit trees. Gave up garden. You have to be a slave to it here. Once fruit trees are established they can do alright on their own. I just need more land for more trees and a greenhouse to grow fig and warm weather persimmons.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

Do you have a long summer season? You might try starting your plants indoors in small pots then transplanting them outdoors once frost has passed.

You need a very friable soil with good drainage, well mulched and kept moist. Add lots of compost and bone meal.

What are you planting with the squash? Could an adjacent plant not be compatible? Do you have ample bees around?

How has your weather been? You have male and female flowers which can be harmed by bad weather at the time of blooming.

The spaghetti squash is at one end, and the hubbard & mystery squash is at the other end, of a double row of peas.

Usually I plant peas on or around St Patricks Day and most years do well, but this year I didn't until the first week of April. Warmer weather stuff went in about mid May/early June and our growing season can go into early October, but this year it's been alot cooler so some things have struggled.

I do try to start tomatoes and peppers in Feb or March in the house before transplanting out in May-ish. But I often have better luck with volunteer tomatoes.

As for the bees, yes lots of them, but they spend more time on the blue tansy, borage and comfrey flowers than the vegetable garden

Your soil looks too dry and the squash need more room to sprawl. You should be using a moisture and pH probe to assure proper water content and nutrient availability.

I had watered after taking the pics, but the soil does need more work.

Thank you.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

I only grow fruit trees. Gave up garden. You have to be a slave to it here. Once fruit trees are established they can do alright on their own. I just need more land for more trees and a greenhouse to grow fig and warm weather persimmons.

I do have a couple of apple trees, though one needs cut down and the other moved to a better spot. I had tried growing a fig tree, but was too close to the property fence and in the garden and needed to come out. Why I planted it THERE in the first place, I have NO idea.

I have also had plum trees, cherry trees, and peaches, but they all had leaf curl even with copper. The plum trees were weak and broke from heavy winds and peaches on the west side of the Cascades are near impossible to grow healthy trees. So I'll stick with apples, much easier in that regard....though this year coddling moth as been an issue.

 

[toobfreak]

I had watered after taking the pics, but the soil does need more work.

You need to till deeply in the spring and get lots of organic matter deep for good drainage. You should get a couple of water and pH probes. Here is a combo unit that appears to do it all:

Amazon.com: Soil Moisture Meter, 4-in-1 Moisture Meter for Plants, Tester for Moist, Light,Nutrients, pH, Soil Test Kit, Great for Garden, Lawn, Farm, Indoor & Outdoor Use, No Battery Required : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com: Soil Moisture Meter, 4-in-1 Moisture Meter for Plants, Tester for Moist, Light,Nutrients, pH, Soil Test Kit, Great for Garden, Lawn, Farm, Indoor & Outdoor Use, No Battery Required : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

You need even moisture throughout the soil, moist but not soggy. And you need a pH around 6.0 to 6.5. I see you have lots of wood chip mulch, over time, that tends to make the soil acidic. If too low, you can raise it by adding some ground lime (don't use hydrated lime).

 

[JustAnotherNut]

You need to till deeply in the spring and get lots of organic matter deep for good drainage. You should get a couple of water and pH probes. Here is a combo unit that appears to do it all:

Amazon.com: Soil Moisture Meter, 4-in-1 Moisture Meter for Plants, Tester for Moist, Light,Nutrients, pH, Soil Test Kit, Great for Garden, Lawn, Farm, Indoor & Outdoor Use, No Battery Required : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com: Soil Moisture Meter, 4-in-1 Moisture Meter for Plants, Tester for Moist, Light,Nutrients, pH, Soil Test Kit, Great for Garden, Lawn, Farm, Indoor & Outdoor Use, No Battery Required : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

You need even moisture throughout the soil, moist but not soggy. And you need a pH around 6.0 to 6.5. I see you have lots of wood chip mulch, over time, that tends to make the soil acidic. If too low, you can raise it by adding some ground lime (don't use hydrated lime).

The wood chip mulch is in the pathways of the container garden, behind that are berms/swales with straw mulch in the pathways. As the berms are harvested, the plan is to plant cover crop seed mix, to grow for now, then turn under in the spring. I also have a compost bin going that will get the majority of the plants at the end of the season, and other spent plants will be turned under to compost in place.

I do or did have a probe thingy saying most of the soil is actually too sweet and I did add a bunch of peat moss in the spring but I don't think enough. I do have a huge cedar tree and a couple of other pine/fir needle type evergreen trees that I'll be cleaning up the dropped needles and adding to the compost, that will lower the ph and NO on the hydrated lime

 

[toobfreak]

I do or did have a probe thingy saying most of the soil is actually too sweet

Yeah, if the soil is above 7.0 in spots, that could be your problem. This Fall, I'd check it all over and down deep. 6.5 is a good pH for squash.

 

[braalian]

It would cost more to start a garden than the deals my wife finds in the local grocery stores.

It’s a hobby

 

[JustAnotherNut]

It’s a hobby

True enough and in many cases a lifestyle I guess you could call it.

It may be a lot of work and even expense in the beginning, but to me and most gardeners the rewards far outweigh the challenges.

I know exactly what went into that tomato or green bean or corn, because I put it there. Choosing good seed, working the soil, no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, all natural, and truly more organic than anything sold as such in the stores.

Nothing better than to 'grocery shop' in your own backyard and reaping the harvest, that you KNOW won't be recalled for E. coli or salmonella or whatever harmful bacterias due to mishandling.

Better quality, better nutrition, better flavor than anything in the store and picked, cooked, prepared and eaten within hours, not days or weeks. Unfortunately, I am stuck with store bought at times for various reasons, but that is what keeps me gardening every year....for the times I am my own store......and is now nearly free

 

[braalian]

I’ve always kinda like the idea of gardening but have never had a yard or garden to do so

 

[Compost]

Anyone have any idea what this squash is??? It is growing out of the same spot as the hubbards. The only squash seeds I have are the hubbard, spaghetti, sweet meat and sweet dumpling and this doesn't look like any of them


View attachment 1141379

I don't know what kind of squash that is. That's happened to me too- a mystery squash just appeared where other squash had been. I let it grow hoping to figure out what it was but never did. Ultimately, there were three or four on the vine, I fed them to my ducks.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

I don't know what kind of squash that is. That's happened to me too- a mystery squash just appeared where other squash had been. I let it grow hoping to figure out what it was but never did. Ultimately, there were three or four on the vine, I fed them to my ducks.

I'll let it grow no matter what it is and probably eat it too. Even if it's some kind of crossed hybrid, that won't matter unless I was going to save seeds from it, which I'm not and why I had planted so many varieties.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I don't know what kind of squash that is. That's happened to me too- a mystery squash just appeared where other squash had been. I let it grow hoping to figure out what it was but never did. Ultimately, there were three or four on the vine, I fed them to my ducks.

.

I've got a mystery squash that looks like the Howden pumpkins I planted there two years ago. No pumpkins there last year. The new pumpkins look like the ones in the photo, kind of, but then I have an explanation -- one hardy seed that lasted over two fierce winters, in a raised bed. I'm talking the winter that was often between -30° and -40°.

It's a really prolific plant too!


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[JustAnotherNut]

.

I've got a mystery squash that looks like the Howden pumpkins I planted there two years ago. No pumpkins there last year. The new pumpkins look like the ones in the photo, kind of, but then I have an explanation -- one hardy seed that lasted over two fierce winters, in a raised bed. I'm talking the winter that was often between -30° and -40°.

It's a really prolific plant too!


.

Another factor would be if you had left any squash or pumpkin to rot down in that spot, or had turned under the innards of one for the seed it sit, then germinate and sprout..........if not, then it could have been dropped from a bird or other critter from a neighbors yard that did.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Another factor would be if you had left any squash or pumpkin to rot down in that spot, or had turned under the innards of one for the seed it sit, then germinate and sprout..........if not, then it could have been dropped from a bird or other critter from a neighbors yard that did.

.

However it happened, if it is the kind of pumpkin I grew, the neighbor kids will be thrilled. My pumpkins were quite large and well-shaped for carving!


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[JustAnotherNut]

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However it happened, if it is the kind of pumpkin I grew, the neighbor kids will be thrilled. My pumpkins were quite large and well-shaped for carving!


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It really is a mystery, just because of your weather conditions.

Here being more temperate and the only volunteers that I get are tomatoes and potatoes yearly and peaches now & then from pits that presumably are from many years ago when I bought boxes of peaches for canning and all the pits and peels went into the compost.

I have let a few of them grow in hopes of getting a more healthy and acclimated tree, but no such luck as they too succumbed to leaf curl. In fact, I found a sprout growing just this spring and had to pluck it up

 

[Foxfyre]

My garden isn't huge, but of good size about 25x60, I've worked this hard clay for the 27years we've lived here and I find that every year some things grow and produce really great, some things make a decent showing and some things just don't bother........and every year those change.

One example being winter squash that I've had trouble with for several years, but I'm a diehard and keep planting it anyway. Finally, this year has paid off. Having overplanted more seeds than I would have ever needed and nearly every dang one of them have sprouted and now taking over a good chunk of real estate out there.

Well, mostly the spaghetti and hubbard squashes. I had also planted some sweet meat and sweet dumpling, but in containers and not nearly as vigorous

Everything else out there is in the mediocre or non-existent stage......and that includes zucchini.

Anyone else having a great squash year??

I gave up trying to garden after my experience with homegrown tomatoes that cost roughly $10 apiece, and watermelon and cucumbers that didn't make at all.

I envy those of you in areas where you can really grow things. In Kansas and Texas I had great vegetable gardens that produced prolifically with little effort and low cost. Can't do that in Albuquerque though.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

It really is a mystery, just because of your weather conditions.

Here being more temperate and the only volunteers that I get are tomatoes and potatoes yearly and peaches now & then from pits that presumably are from many years ago when I bought boxes of peaches for canning and all the pits and peels went into the compost.

I have let a few of them grow in hopes of getting a more healthy and acclimated tree, but no such luck as they too succumbed to leaf curl. In fact, I found a sprout growing just this spring and had to pluck it up

.

I like the idea about the possibility that a plant will create a healthier version of itself after growing in a particular climate for a year or two. Naturalizing itself, is the term, I think.

I got just the opposite with beans -- for several years I saved blue lake pole beans for the next year's planting, when I lived in Washington. Then I tried planting them here in SD. The first year's crop was okay, but the year after that was really disappointing. I do have one other theory -- year one, I planted them in a particular spot, and the next year, I planted them just a few feet from the neighbor's fence, and the neighbor sprays all kind of poison on his lawn. ARGH!

South Dakota has a law that says you can be constrained from spraying poisons within something like a hundred feet of an organic farm, but I don't know it that applies to residential gardens.

I got what I thought was a potato volunteer this year, but it grew and grew and refused to bloom. I dug it up and it was nothing resembling a potato under the soil. Another mystery.

Too bad about your hardy peaches that don't seem so hardy after all!


.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

.

I like the idea about the possibility that a plant will create a healthier version of itself after growing in a particular climate for a year or two. Naturalizing itself, is the term, I think.

I got just the opposite with beans -- for several years I saved blue lake pole beans for the next year's planting, when I lived in Washington. Then I tried planting them here in SD. The first year's crop was okay, but the year after that was really disappointing. I do have one other theory -- year one, I planted them in a particular spot, and the next year, I planted them just a few feet from the neighbor's fence, and the neighbor sprays all kind of poison on his lawn. ARGH!

South Dakota has a law that says you can be constrained from spraying poisons within something like a hundred feet of an organic farm, but I don't know it that applies to residential gardens.

I got what I thought was a potato volunteer this year, but it grew and grew and refused to bloom. I dug it up and it was nothing resembling a potato under the soil. Another mystery.

Too bad about your hardy peaches that don't seem so hardy after all!


.

YES Blue Lake Poles are the best. The more you pick, the more they produce and one of my most reliable vegs. Once in a great while they get some rust, but not usually

Just shoot the neighbor & be done with them. j/k


Ya wanna know something weird about peaches? I can eat them canned or with cream & sugar and be the best tasting thing EVAH. But to eat a fresh peach as is, it tastes like gasoline. I can't do it. Another oddity.......Peach flavored Snapple Tea, regular or diet also has a little gasoline taste to it

I and my youngest son was just talking about this the other day when I told him about the gasoline taste. He gives me a weird look and says "Mom??? How do you know what gasoline tastes like....have you been siphoning???" My response 'Well....not lately but I have back in the day....... I swear it was the first time I've ever seen him so visibly shocked, he's usually the 'cool as a cucumber' type

 

[Cellblock2429]

My garden isn't huge, but of good size about 25x60, I've worked this hard clay for the 27years we've lived here and I find that every year some things grow and produce really great, some things make a decent showing and some things just don't bother........and every year those change.

One example being winter squash that I've had trouble with for several years, but I'm a diehard and keep planting it anyway. Finally, this year has paid off. Having overplanted more seeds than I would have ever needed and nearly every dang one of them have sprouted and now taking over a good chunk of real estate out there.

Well, mostly the spaghetti and hubbard squashes. I had also planted some sweet meat and sweet dumpling, but in containers and not nearly as vigorous

Everything else out there is in the mediocre or non-existent stage......and that includes zucchini.

Anyone else having a great squash year??

[p/----/ Well, the gophers, squirrels, birds, and rabbits all give it a thumbs up.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

[p/----/ Well, the gophers, squirrels, birds, and rabbits all give it a thumbs up.

Yeah, I gots me some of those too........damn little buggers anyway.