Learned about it in Botany class many many moons ago. It contains plant hormones that keep the flower set until fertilization. I have a degree in plant sciences but can’t grow anything but cacti!! LOL
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Very nice! My old geezer won’t even bark atvthe deer. I think he must share his dog food with them… lol
nice zukes - my fruits haven’t opened up yet, but have a few that are pinky sized or so … the male flowers have opened up so any day now.
I only get rabbits in my backyard and one of my dogs likes to take care of them for me … that and the marigold seems to keep them away.
The current state of things:
Cucumber, bell pepper, basil, two tomatoes in containers, potatoes on the back side, corn and beans on the right, surrounding the main bed. Not pictured - brussels sprouts container, blueberry bush.
I did notice some cabbage worms on the Brussels, but mini-murder hornets showed up, ate their faces off, and devoured their young. Thank you, mini-murder hornets.
A medley of cucumber, broccoli, radish, kale, beets, zucchini, spinach, marigolds, and tomato. All started from seed right in the bed. I think I’m at 13 out of 30 squares sprouted so far. Happy with it for my first go around. Dropping in some more stuff (carrots, cabbage, lettuce, etc.) in a few weeks.
I keep holding out hope that the corn will last, but I’m down to three stalks. Jerkface squirrels or birds or whatever keep gnawing them in half. Pole beans finally popped up, so I’ll start a squash or two there soon.
The bed’s first yield. It was popping out over the soil-line, but turned out to not be ready yet. Still though, I’m stoked. Also, funny enough, this was from a seed pack I grabbed from the dollar store and it’s all doing pretty well. The spinach was also from there and has been coming up pretty good. Not that seed packets are crazy expensive, but 99 cents vs. two-fiddy could add up over a while.
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Nice Chris - I have a few I took the other day
My first harvest of green beans from a bush variety. Since I have harvested about 4 total pounds or so over this past week.
3 Zucchini plants and 2 cucumber plants, 1 rosemary and 1 marigold. I had more cukes planted in there but my dogs and son took care of those for me.
and the first zuke I harvested. Was about 9 oz and was great in our bibimbop I cooked last night.
Not pictured:
4 cayenne and 4 bell pepper plants - not doing great - I’ve had better production in previous years in containers with these.
2 container Romas. Same thing - have had better production in past years with these in containers.
1 thyme and 1 oregano - both doing gangbusters. But herbs tend to grow well for me.
Behind the zuke/cuke bed I have 1 canteloupe and 3 watermelon plants in ground. watermelon have about 4 germinated fruits that are still tiny - 1 vine is about 4 ft, 1 about 6, 1 about 7 or 8. Canteloupe is about 4 ft but I haven’t noticed any germinated melon yet. Hope it’s not a bust, I like me some canteloupe.
As mentioned, I have about 55 bush bean in a raised bed which are producing a lot of beans. Always about 4 to 8 oz harvested a day so far. In the same raised bed, I have 4 celery which are looking good - kind of skinny stalks to this point, but still growing.
8 tomato plants - 4 mountain pride, 2 indigo ruby and 2 sweet 100.
In 2 - 4 x 4 beds behind my raised bed, I have 2 indigo ruby and 2 sweet 100 per bed with some newly planted spinach, kale, and Swiss chard which are looking promising for the late sowing I did.
For next year, I’m looking to prep a new bed for strawberry runners and will be planting garlic for overwintering in a 4 x 4 bed I’ve been prepping and amending.
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Looking good here in south west Quebec
Heat wave is going strong. 30oC plus a solid humidex so feel like 40
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Not sure of the reason but I haven’t talked to anyone down here whose peppers did well. Nobody.
Hmm … odd … I bought these as seedlings … previous years I grew from seeds I got from johnnyseeds … I think these were burpees for both varieties
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Did you can them or freeze them?
These are in freezer.
But we can sometimes also. Just a good skill to keep up.
@Chris_Colucci
Are you using soil or the square foot garden mixture?
Freezer is just easier, especially when it’s this hot.
Squash bugs finally made their appearance.
Killed 6 adults and 20ish babies this morning.
Have you tried diatomaceous earth? I just dumped a ton around the base of the plants and had great luck with it keeping them away.
Never used it for anything other than fire ants (which it works great).
Thanks for the heads up.
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I had read about the official square foot mix, but the folks at my local nursery suggested I just go with a combo of raised bed mix, top soil, and compost. So the bed is filled with about 75% Coast of Maine’s Organic Raised Bed Mix, and the rest is a combo of top soil and homemade compost.
I tried the sq ft formula several years ago.
No weeds, but mediocre production imo. Plus plants needed topside stability.
Just kept amending it until it sort of went back to top soil
Thought you would get a kick out of this.
My parents must have missed it over and over…
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