Garden 2020

glenn57 wrote:

I pulled my onions today. Totally disappointed.

Oh bummer! Bad crop? We grew onions a couple of times and the crop was good, but we decided to make room for other veggies instead the last couple seasons.

This is one of the “new” variety of Roma tomatoes. These things are huge when compared to a standard Roma. I have fairly large hands and this critter is easily baseball size. Back in under the bush there is one that makes this one look tiny.

I have ten of these plants and they’re all full of these super sized chunks so I should have a banner year for canning stock. Still have sauce from last year but need to can tomatoes this season. Right now many of the plants are approaching 7 feet tall and have tomatoes set darned near to the top of the plants. I’ve never had a Roma variety perform like these.

I plucked one of these chunkers Thursday to slice for BLT’s and found a very tiny seed cavity. They have a great flavor for a Roma variety and are not sloppy with juice.

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>glenn57 wrote:</div>
I pulled my onions today. Totally disappointed.

Oh bummer! Bad crop? We grew onions a couple of times and the crop was good, but we decided to make room for other veggies instead the last couple seasons.

yea to say the least……. i had a bumper crop last year. actually just used the last of last years onions up yesterday!!!!! i want to make 2 batches of salsa and a batch of a soup starter i can and i’m guessing most well be used in that. i have some tennis ball size, the rest are smaller, and i planted nearly 2 lbs of onion sets.

i have a black walnut tree at one end of my garden, i’m beginning to think that plays into it. some things i notice dont do well on that end, like the onions and radishes come to mind. but other things like dill, tomatoes etc dont seem to affect them.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

This is one of the “new” variety of Roma tomatoes. These things are huge when compared to a standard Roma. I have fairly large hands and this critter is easily baseball size. Back in under the bush there is one that makes this one look tiny.

I have ten of these plants and they’re all full of these super sized chunks so I should have a banner year for canning stock. Still have sauce from last year but need to can tomatoes this season. Right now many of the plants are approaching 7 feet tall and have tomatoes set darned near to the top of the plants. I’ve never had a Roma variety perform like these.

I plucked one of these chunkers Thursday to slice for BLT’s and found a very tiny seed cavity. They have a great flavor for a Roma variety and are not sloppy with juice.

dang Tom, those are big for Roma’s!!!! my tomatoes are so-so. but i made a very bad mistake in my tomatoes this year. i was up north for 5 days, when i got home the weeds took over, and i was in a hurry to put down grass clippings so i decided to spray the weeds with roundup. it was perfectly still with NO breeze. it still carried over. DO NOT USE ROUNDUP ANYWHERE IN A GARDEN!!!!!!

i pulled and replanted 4 plants and there are about 4 that are alive but look pretty sick. never again.

My onions are doing great. And still growing, but I expect the tops to begin browning soon.

The shallots and garlic were dug yesterday and will get hung today. Happy with both of those. I’m going to mulch in some of last years grass clippings where these get planted to help add a bit to the soil.

Moles must not like garlic or shallots. They have tunneled right up to these two plants and stopped dead. Didn’t go right or left, the tunnels just stopped. Same with the onions.

I need to find an easy way to test garden soil for as many things as possible within reason. I know there’s electronic pH probes and all kinds of test tube testers. But, is there one superwhamadyme electronic tester that covers most of the main parameters?

How do you evaluate garden soil for needed supplements?

U of M Extension does them for about $25.

I had one pint of dill pickles not seal last weekend, I mixed up a box of beer batter shore lunch and deep fried them. AMAZING!

Attachments:

1. 

   F45CE500-AA48-4478-B609-B1B077D98949.jpeg
   

MNdrifter wrote:

I had one pint of dill pickles not seal last weekend, I mixed up a box of beer batter shore lunch and deep fried them. AMAZING!

your own little state fair treat.

on occasions when one of my jars dont seal, i put it in the frig. let the pickles do there melding with the rest of the ingredients for a couple months then eat them first!!!!!! works good, but see you got it figured out!!!!!!

It was weird Glenn, I haven’t had a misfire on lids in years. Just that one last week. Not sure what happened. 🤷‍♂️

Could be anything. Didn’t get the lid on right, a little something on the rim. First thing I would look for is a little chip in the rim of the jar.

I had my garden tested last winter at the U of M. I sent in a dirt sample in a sandwich bag. I got the results bag in 2 weeks. They tested for nitrogen phosphorus and potash. My garden is 20×35 they had me a 24lbs. of nitrogen. My garden has never putout like it has this year. I will be adding nitrogen every year from now on.

fishingstar wrote:

I had my garden tested last winter at the U of M. I sent in a dirt sample in a sandwich bag. I got the results bag in 2 weeks. They tested for nitrogen phosphorus and potash. My garden is 20×35 they had me a 24lbs. of nitrogen. My garden has never putout like it has this year. I will be adding nitrogen every year from now on.

Tom Sawvell has mentioned this before that this milorganite is a great source of nitrogen. I also throw all my used coffee grounds in my garden.

I wouldn’t bother with a soil test. For less money than that you could add triple 19 or 19-19-19. It’s all your plants will need. I tilled in the reccomend amount then gave plants a side boost by tilling some in around the young plants. Garden is by far my best. All this was recommended by a farmer. They do know there stuff. Triple 19 is equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium

My corn has reached 7′ and is in tassel stage. The cobs will be in a few weeks. By my farmer friend advice added a nitrogen boost 3 weeks ago and wow.
Tomato plants are 6′ and loaded with fruit. The squash, cukes are flowering and growing like crazy

Attachments:

1. 

   20200726_071639.jpg
   

My green beans are done. They produced quite well. I picked one zucchini last week with more on the way. Tomatoes have been coming for 2 weeks now and I’ve been eating sweet corn almost every day for a week.
There’s a doe and 2 fawns in my neighborhood. Friday morning I tilled the garden and I saw her tracks in the garden yesterday. The only think she bothered were the giant sunflowers. Ate all the leaves off one plant and started on another. I only have 3 of them so I fenced them off. I hope it deters her.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

This is one of the “new” variety of Roma tomatoes. These things are huge when compared to a standard Roma. I have fairly large hands and this critter is easily baseball size. Back in under the bush there is one that makes this one look tiny.

I have ten of these plants and they’re all full of these super sized chunks so I should have a banner year for canning stock. Still have sauce from last year but need to can tomatoes this season. Right now many of the plants are approaching 7 feet tall and have tomatoes set darned near to the top of the plants. I’ve never had a Roma variety perform like these.

I plucked one of these chunkers Thursday to slice for BLT’s and found a very tiny seed cavity. They have a great flavor for a Roma variety and are not sloppy with juice.

I also planted a burpee seed like this called super sauce hybrid. They seem to be doing good amazingly the plant is very small compared to the other tomatoes plants.

supercat wrote:

I also planted a burpee seed like this called super sauce hybrid. They seem to be doing good amazingly the plant is very small compared to the other tomatoes plants.

WE had some weather last night that brought some much needed rain and some not needed wind, but these really tall Romas are still standing tall. Lots of ripe ones now so the processing begins tomorrow.

I’ll be saving seed from these big honker romas, just in case they’re a screw-up from whoever started the plants.

I’ll be saving seed from these big honker romas, just in case they’re a screw-up from whoever started the plants.
[/quote]

I know you can save seeds from any plant and they will grow again but I was always told unless they are an heirloom variety the new plants can develop different growing patterns and can develop diseases. What have you found?

supercat wrote:

I’ll be saving seed from these big honker romas, just in case they’re a screw-up from whoever started the plants.

“I know you can save seeds from any plant and they will grow again but I was always told unless they are an heirloom variety the new plants can develop different growing patterns and can develop diseases. What have you found?”
[/quote]

You are exactly right! They will also mutate back to part of one of their original traits. It may not be what you wanted.

In my case I saved seeds from a cherry type that I was told that it was a heirloom, well, I’ve now got a strain that is a large cherry about the size of a golf ball that I plant every year. Wonderful mader sliced in half with hard boiled eggs for breakfast. We call em “Goof Balls”.

glenn57 wrote:

i have a black walnut tree at one end of my garden, i’m beginning to think that plays into it. some things i notice dont do well on that end, like the onions and radishes come to mind. but other things like dill, tomatoes etc dont seem to affect them

Pretty sure if you were having an issue with your black walnut tree your tomatoes wouldn’t be doing so well. There is something in their leaves and roots that’s not good for them. Cant think what its called but had to move a garden because of it.

Tomatoes don’t do well near a black walnut (it’s called juglone). I learned that the hard way.

Almost time for that first BLT of the summer!

Attachments:

1. 

   20200726_171305.jpg
   

We’ve been doing BLTs lately with the heat. Nothing like a BLT when its hot and a person doesn’t feel like cooking a whole lot for a meal. We do two pounds of bacon at a time and use what we need for blt’s that meal then bag the rest and hold it in the fridge for another couple meals.

I made bruschetta last night for our dinner using our tomatoes 3 nice ones, chopped], shallots [1 chopped clove], garlic [1 clove minced] and basil[6-8 leaves chopped fine]. Olive oil and coarse grated parmesan cheese round it out served on garlic toast made of a split loaf of Italian bread, then broiled lightly. No vampires around last night.

JEREMY wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>glenn57 wrote:</div>
i have a black walnut tree at one end of my garden, i’m beginning to think that plays into it. some things i notice dont do well on that end, like the onions and radishes come to mind. but other things like dill, tomatoes etc dont seem to affect them

Pretty sure if you were having an issue with your black walnut tree your tomatoes wouldn’t be doing so well. There is something in their leaves and roots that’s not good for them. Cant think what its called but had to move a garden because of it.

my tomatoes are right next to the onions on the end of the garden by the black walnut and are doing fine, i only need to keep the friggin roundup outts the garden!!!!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20200726_183717.jpg
   

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Almost time for that first BLT of the summer!

We had them last night, tomatoes from the garden and the Covid hog’s bacon was a great combo! I’m no marketing genius but Covid Hog probably isn’t the best term , the hog we got from farmer who couldn’t get their hogs to the closed processing plant due to covid doesn’t really roll off the tongue either.

My garden has been a little slow on the production, but should be bringing in stuff by the bushels in the next week or so.

Squirrels! I have lost most of my tomatoes to those tree rats. Put out my Havahart trap and caught 4 in two days but they keep on coming and I don’t have many left. Lot of Grape and cherry plants producing good but they leave half eaten larger ones all over. cant shoot them cause I live in the city.

Air rifles are quiet. Are you letting them go down the block after you catch them?

NO.