Nice growing LSS....

I guess it was mid may. If there is ONE thing I can grow it's okra. It's actually kind of hard to eff it up.

***correction.. It was actually the third week in April.***

Last week Wednesdays harvest


was out of town Friday - Sunday and came home to lot's of tomatoes

Did you ever get the powdery mildew disease under control?

Very nice indeed...

Nope. It's pretty much taken that tomato plant and some leaves of that cuke are dying.

My watermelon had been doing really good. Then I went to check on it yesterday and several of them had black spots on the end and a couple had fallen off of the vine. It's fenced off all the way around so nothing is getting in the garden. Any ideas what could be the cause of this? Overwatering???? I appreciate any advice.

Use neem oil, Its a organinc "fungicide" (which is what powdery mildew is) ,miticide and pesticide. Also make sure you have good air circulation. I usually cut off about the first foot of leaves at the ground up. Also google powdery mildew and there are some inexpensive methods to treating. There is one I remember with butter milk ,or regular milk. I think the lactic acid in the milk kills the bacteria. Powdery mildew is caused by too much humidity/moisture. Most times because we get to much water on the plant leaves. Its does not do any good to water the plants leaves . Especially in the evening , the water will sit on the leaves for hours causing powdery mildew and other bad things. I have very little powdery mildew problems . I always use a soaker hose and try to water early morning and early after noon about 7am and 5-6 pm. The main thing is not to let the water sit. The problems with powdery mildew that have are caused by the morning dew. I will usually cut the 1-2-3 leaves off and treat with neem oil on a weekly schedule.

Organic pest control

First off In no way am I claiming to be a expert , just want to pass on what is working for me. Not for everyone,or every situation. Last year I had to kill off my garden because It got over whelmed with pest. This year (knock on wood) problems are minimal. First thing is knowing your enemies. Also, I do not use sevin dust, even though its been used for years, I just cant bring my self to use it in my garden. It kills all your beneficial bugs also, bees, lady bugs,frogs ,snakes, EVERYTHING. I do have a bottle of sevin dust but its not for my garden I put it on bushes and on the ground around the perimeter of the garden. Places where bugs will hide and cross on their journey to my garden. I use Neem oil(mix a teaspoon of dish washing liquid with it), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem_oil its organic and has been used for many more years than sevin dust. Neem oil does not affect or has little effect on your benefecial bugs, bees lady bugs etc. Neem oil kills the plant eaters and thats it. Ladybugs, bees ,and ants are not plant eaters. One thing thats most important to remember is to use it as a "preventative" , its not a kill all when your overwhelmed with pest or fungus. Rotenone , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotenone , Now this is bad stuff Its about as bad as sevin dust but "organic". I use this for a kill all on the spot. BUT I NEVER SPRAY IT ALL OVER THE PLANTS. I put it in a sprayer bottle and spray on the bugs when I see them so very little ever gets on the plant itself. Here lately I bought some of the ecosmart brand beetle (kills cucmber BEETLES)spray they have for sell at the depot. I mixed some rotenone in the bottle and it kills even cucmber beetles on the spot. I keep the bottle in the garden area and pick it up when I am walking around the garden , see a bug spray him , dead bug. STINK BUGS, these are tough bugs to kill with the chemicals I use. But instead of getting out the sevin dust I got a small vacuum vacuum them off the plant and destroy else where. If a stink bug is not on your plant he cant reproduce in your garden. In fact you off course could walk around with the dust buster and vacum up all bugs and use even less pesticides. If you dont keep up with the bugs this year they will be back in full force next year since most over winter in the dirt. I did loose some squash plants this year but it could of easily been different If I knew what I was looking at. I got the squash vine borer on some plants and since the pest over winter I just pulled them and planted new plants. I have heard of people in injecting rotenone in the stem, slicing the stem and pulling the worm and useing a small wire in the hole and scraping the in side of the stem to kill the worm but I pulled them. If I would of kill these flying bugs when I seen them I might not of had the problem with the vine borers.

rotenone? Really.. I'd only seen that in association with trying to poison ponds and kill off all the fish.

Off course , its natural, there has been arguments but I'll leave that up to you to do your home work. Sevin will kill and do more damage than rotenone in your pond setting. I use it but only spray the bugs and what maybe 1 leaf at a time.
I have heard of folks also using rotenone to get fish to eat. Heres some reading that has to do with rotenone. Use it wisely and read the directions..... http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_t3200_77.pdf

http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/rotenone.html

http://www.biconet.com/botanicals/rps.html

This stuff kinda compares to the killing power of sevin but its organic so I believe it breaks down in 3 days and does not affect ground water. Sevin is great stuff also, plant and roots do not absorb it and there might be a time where I have to use sevin . On the home garden basis I dont think I need sevin, a big scale garden might prove otherwise. But , I will try organic stuff first just because. I dont like using sevin in the garden just because it kills everything it get in contact with including all the good bugs. Then you have to do things like manually pollinate your plants.
Birds eat caterpillars/bugs , frogs eat flying bugs, etc, etc. You will see more activity of natural bugs and animals taking care of your bug problem. With organic gardeing you let things kinda take care of themselves and get in when things get out of hand.

June 16, 2010 Harvest (Picture 1 of 2):



35 Tomatoes (mixture of Homestead, Big Boy, Better Boy, and Early Girl), 27 Roma Tomatoes, 7 Lemon Boy Tomatoes, 44 Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes, 9 Large Cherry Tomatoes, 5 Gypsy Peppers, 3 Yellow Squash, 2 Zucchini Squash, 12 Cubanelle Peppers, 2 California Wonder Peppers, 4 Pimento Peppers, and 25 Sweet Banana Peppers.

Picture 2 of 2:



15 Anaheim Chile Peppers, 5 Cayenne Peppers, 5 Hot Banana Peppers and 6 Hot Jalapeno Peppers.

Whats the square footage of your garden? Nice haul.

It's only about 1000 or 1200 sq. ft. It's not as big as I used to grow, but I have the pepper rows 25 inches apart and the plants in each row 18 inches apart. Then I have the tomato plants between 32 and 36 inches apart and the plants 18 inches apart...Keeping the rows straight really helped this year...I'll probably be expanding it just a bit in the winter to make room for more cucumber and melon plants...

Dont know what part of Tx your in , has the heat started to affect your plants?

I'm in NE Bosque County (about 1.5 hours SW of you...YES...Primarily the tomatoes and squash. I moved the tomatoes this year (it was time to rotate) and they have been affected by the wind/heat...It's been like a blast furnace so I'll be planting a fall garden and replacing my tomato plants for the first time...Oh well, now I need to design something to block the wind before next spring...

The season is pretty short here it seems. I'll be looking into getting my "summer" crop started a little sooner next year, maybe a green house . I just replanted some squash and want to see how it will do going into fall. I read a second crop should do pretty good , so I will see. Keep us updated with planting a fall crop as I want to do so also. I will be working on my soil over the winter. Its not what I want and have added whats recommended after soil test. Its still to clay like but twice as good as last year but It could be better.

If you can get your hands on some Sandy Loam and a bunch of horse poo or quail poo, I'd add that to the soil. It'll make a world of difference...

Ok well, I'm pretty upset about my garden.

Here's what I've harvested from 24 square feet in raised beds using the sfg outline

1 cuke
1 zuc
3 sweet 100 tomatoes
2 handfull of peas
6 dinky dink potatoes
1 bell pepper
3 jalapeños

everything is pretty much turning brown except the peppers and cukes but I have to self pollinate those

talk me out of never gardening again

I will do no such thing...Now then, the peppers and okra should be doing pretty well in this heat...They need fertilizer, sun and water...Oh and to get the peppers to produce shake them like you do the tomato plants...EVERY day...

LSS ????

what kind of fertilizer you using?

I've never re-planted tomatoes. When should we do that? It might be to hot and dry right now? I've got tons of tomatoes on the vine but all the plants are drying out and turning brown BUT I did get the best, biggest and most tomatoes ever this year for some reason?

Second year in a row bugs(small ants this year) got my corn. I went ahead and harvested it and got about 30 ears but had to cut the tops off...what do you do?

This year I want to be prepared for "fall-winter" gardening?

I just use Miracle Gro...This next spring, I will be adding a large amount of quail poo and leaves to the soil before planting...

I'd really suggest adding earthworms right after the next good rain. They do a lot...

This has been my best year for tomatoes as well...Every variety of tomato Neil Sperry and other gardening experts say can't be grown in my area have produced beautifully...I have a lot of limestone in my soil (since the house sits on a limestone cliff) and that does help with production. It also helps that I was living here full time and able to spank the tomato plants every day or every other day...

With the ants, there's not a lot you can do except put out grits or pour boiling hot water on the mound (if they aren't too close to a large amount of plants)...

I'd get the tomato plants in no later than mid-July...

+1


problem I see are maybe some over crowding , How many plants do you have in this 24 square feet? 1 zucchini squash plant can use all that space by itself. Plants are funny like that , if there over crowded they will slow in growth and production.
2. having to self pollinate. you have to make sure you get the plant pollinated and this could be a daily thing.

What soil have you used and what ferts?

Last year around Oct I build a few beds that are pretty spread apart. I put down a mixture of composts, leaves, coffee grounds, peat, soil, grass clippings... The cukes and squash are planted on the sides of the beds to give them plenty of room to roam off the sides so I don't think that's an issue.

After thinking about the whole situation for a good while last night, I think I've come to two conclusions as to why my garden is failing.

1. I think I used too much peat
2. Last night I dug down a foot or so to check moisture and about 6 inches down the soil is very wet and there's no way it's from the amount of watering I'm doing. I think the beds are on an area that doesn't drain at all.

So I think I need to ammend the soil and somehow get better drainage.

I'm not giving up just yet but I do need to know what I should do to get some drainage. I was thinking about pulling the soil out then removing a foot or so of dirt and replacing that with something that will drain and/or drilling holes in the side of the bed.

Thoughts