How did everyone's garden turn out?

TheHobbyist

TheHobbyist

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Just wondering how the forum members gardens turned out this year.

The wife and I canned about 200 quart jars of tomatoes, got a ton of brussel sprouts, rhubarb, earlier in the year lots of kohlrabi, fresh mint, basel, thyme, spearmint, strawberries, tomatillos, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, and have some pumpkins going for decoration and then pumpkin pies...peppers and all sorts of stuff.

Did your gardens do well? What types of dishes have you made?

Do you can them or just eat them and give them to friends and family while it is in season?
 
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My cousin does a family 3/4 acre garden for all our family members. And plants about 80 mator plants, tons of squash, cucumbers, okra, ETC. And it did horrible. The only things that did any good was squash and okra. We had a very hot summer with little to no rain. And he set up water stations trough out the garden an it still didn't help. About every 10 to 12 feet he put a 5 gallon buckets with 3/8" holes all around the bottom and watered it regularly. He thinks the city water didn't help. I'd also guess rain water is the best thing for the plants. But what he did get was beautiful, but hardly any mators, corn, beans etc. it was his worst garden in many years. And it wasn't for the lack of of trying!

He usually has the prettiest garden!
 
It's getting about time to plant some tomatoes down here.

I haven't grown any in well over four years.

My Giant Schnauzer made it impossible to plant veggies or low lying fruit.

He'd get up in the morning and go grazing for cherries, mulberries, Picking tomatoes and anything else I might have enjoyed.

Dang. I miss that big clown.
 
We grow organic vegetables for sale and for our own use: beans, okra and other vegetables but not to the extent that we once did. We also have a couple of acres in blackberries. This year the yield has been about average with the berries being a little more abundant than normal.

We gave up canning vegetables for our personal use three years ago and moved to freeze drying. Canned foods are good for about three to four years while freeze dried foods will last up to twenty-five years. It's a lot less work and mess than canning. Freeze dried foods retain 97% of their nutritional value compared to about 40% for canned. Freeze dried also provides a non-preservative food source. In the process we discovered that there are local restaurants that will buy the freeze dried out of season.

For the home gardener, who doesn't need the large industrial freeze drying unit, there are smaller units available for under $300.
 
SW MP15 said:
My cousin does a family 3/4 acre garden for all our family members. And plants about 80 mator plants, tons of squash, cucumbers, okra, ETC. And it did horrible. The only things that did any good was squash and okra. We had a very hot summer with little to no rain. And he set up water stations trough out the garden an it still didn't help. About every 10 to 12 feet he put a 5 gallon buckets with 3/8" holes all around the bottom and watered it regularly. He thinks the city water didn't help. I'd also guess rain water is the best thing for the plants. But what he did get was beautiful, but hardly any mators, corn, beans etc. it was his worst garden in many years. And it wasn't for the lack of of trying!

He usually has the prettiest garden!
Click to expand...
Really? I'm about an hour north of you, and I think it rained every day here in July, and about half the days in August.
My garden flooded out, and I am on top of "the ridge". I should have planted rice this year.:D
 
Retired last year, sold the 2400 sq. ft. home and purchased a 1400 sq. ft. patio home (no exterior maintenance, no yard work, no snow removal, etc). Have a 650 sq. ft. private patio area, so I am doing "container gardening" with a dozen 16" diameter pots.

Cucumbers did very well, a treat every day. Bell peppers did extremely well, feeding all of the neighbors for weeks on end. Lettuce was excellent. Tomatoes didn't do worth a darn, never matured or turned ripe, just a couple of hundred medium green hard rocks from the size of a golf ball to a tennis ball. Everyone I know in southern Colorado has had similar experiences this year with tomatoes, but no explanation seems to be available.
 
Dry weather got most of mine. I turned the main garden last week getting it ready for next spring and planted kale, mustard. rape, turnips and collards in the salad patches. I guess I'm too dumb to learn. Larry
 
My garden is only 20x20 but has produced ultra amounts of tomatoes, green beans, pole beans, and green peppers. We have had no rain for months so I watered every day. Tried a new variety of green pepper called Intruder. The plants look like little trees. Heavy producers.
 
I helped my son with his first garden this year. He had great success with his hot peppers...probably picked over 150 habaneros. His Sweet 100 cherry probably produced over 300 cherry tomatoes. Cucumbers got his with bacterial wilt early, but we started a second crop of Diva and they are fruiting now. Got more bush beans coming along and lettuce and other greens going in ground soon.
 
Squirrels got half the corn. Bugs took out the green beans, squash, and cucumbers. No rain has finished off the tomatoes and peppers. The okra has been absolutely amazing through all this and can't seem to pick it often enough.

If we can ever get some rain here I'm going to till it all up and do a large patch of greens. Way more than I could ever eat but I share them with neighbors and folks I work with. I enjoy giving the stuff away that I grow probably as much or more than eating it.
 
Rabbits got my major garden of corn broccoli and beans. I shot 35 and thought I had gotten most. They were coming in at night in droves. went out in the dry land with a shotgun and took care of 41 in under an hour. Too late by that time. In the small garden for our use we did good on beets tomatoes lima beans are coming right now... everything seems 2 -3 weeks late this year. Onions are good Black raspberries did ok..Reds sucked. Had a bumper crop of apples so applesauce is abundant here. Made 170 pints and gave away at least 50 pints...plus 6 or so bushels of 'em.. Only have 2 trees. Did ok on peaches. If we can get another 10 days of no frost lima beans will do ok. Third planting was ok after many rabbits were eliminated. Terrible year for the most part. We usually sell500 dozen ears of corn and 20 5 gallon buckets of green beans. Now the Deer are trying to dig up the taters which were pretty skimpy too. Bad year here
 
Rain?

gregintenn said:
Really? I'm about an hour north of you, and I think it rained every day here in July, and about half the days in August.
My garden flooded out, and I am on top of "the ridge". I should have planted rice this year.:D
Click to expand...

Our yard and bushes burnt up. My yard, that I normally cut once a week during the summer, I only cut once every 2 or 2 1/2 weeks all summer long. And then it was a dust bowl. I heard last night We are still behind on rain fall amounts for the year. A little spring fed creek behind our house, that is Usally beautiful, has almost dried up completely this summer. And We've lived in our house almost ten years and never seen the creek look like that.

Just checked the weather, we're expecting another week of mostly 90 degree weather, with little to no rain chances for another week. A very unusual summer and looks like it may be another crazy hot fall???
 
My Wife has a plot at the Community Garden and She grew Green Beans ,Kale and Swiss Chard,Red Onions and Leeks.
I was surprised at how much she was able to grow in such a small space.
She even gave some away to People that never tried Kale or Swiss Chard which by the way is excellent when cooked with Oil,Onions and a bit of Garlic.
 
I have two Honey Crisp apple trees. last year, we had 3 apples. This year, so far I've dumped one wheelbarrow full of windfalls already and have as many on the ground now. Several branches are broken from the weight, several neighbors have taken bags full already, and we are planning to start canning and freezing later this week. I try hard, but can only eat 2 or 3 apples a day.
 
:o Im known to have a brown thumb. Take a look at my garden: :o
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Seriously--mine die while others thrive--like my next door neighbors does:
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