Does anyone have a decent garden this year?

[trud]

Or is everyone washing out? I hear the same thing from farmers. Lord knows what there'll be to eat in awhile.

I was expecting to lose my house to rising sea level, not expecting to starve.

[blue neen]

1. We have three EarthBoxes on our deck.

With those, we've been able to avoid the "Tomato Blight" of the past couple years (which is supposed to be really bad this year because of all the moisture).

We planted two tomato plants, 2 regular pepper plants, and 4 hot peppers in the EarthBoxes. In the flower beds, we put 2 zucchinis and 1 eggplant. So far, so good.

Western PA had quite a bit of sunshine over the weekend and today. Let's hope it stays that way--can't wait to have those fresh tomatoes! :)

[trud]

2. planters

I do have a few things in planters on my deck. Those are doing better. Maybe because of drainage...

[lpbk2713]

3. I should have started earlier.

I'm in 9B (Central Florida) and my squash and cukes are starting to die off from the heat.
My tomatoes and peppers are still doing OK though.

[Denninmi]

4. Way too early to call here.

I'm running about 3 weeks behind on everything, but it could turn out fine in the end. Hard to say yet. At least the torrential rains have let up a bit -- it's rained, but mostly at night or a brief passing storm, not the all day every day flooding rains.

[NeedleCast]

5. Bad in Maryland (baltimore area)

March was cold and cloudy and I couldn't get my seedlings out to harden. April was unusually wet and cool. May has had a few good weeks then it rained for four days straight and hammered everything. Oy. Feel like I'm taking two steps back for every step forward.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. So far so good in Raleigh - though the 90 plus days are starting again.

I've got about 140 tomatoes in pots, 60 peppers, 16 eggplant - in what was my driveway! Hoping for regular rain and cooler temps...we shall see!

this is what things look like

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/1/post/2011/05/home-stretch-of-planting-a-few-pics-of-progress.html

[bvar22]

7. So far, so good...Central Arkansas.

Asparagus was great.
Strawberries fantastic, but are about done.
BlueBerries are a couple of weeks away, but look good.
Wild Blackberries also look good.

Everything in the veggie garden also looks good at this time,
better than last year.
We have had an abnormal amount of rain/flooding in the area, but we live on a hill that drains well.

Peaches, Plums, and Apples failed due to a late freeze, and a strong sustained wind storm that simply beat the young fruit off the trees.
(This was the same storm system that destroyed Tuscaloosa.)

We are hoping for a moderately wet June.

Good Luck and Fertility to all.

[Paper Roses]

8. Still pretty bleak in MA. Maybe the next few days.

The stock in our local nursery is pretty sad looking. I will pick up some flats on Saturday but have no real hope for a bountiful crop, just too wet.
Last year was not very good, prospects for this year are worse. Too much rain, too little sun.

[Lisa0825]

9. I am in a drought.... I feel guilty watering, but I don't use much water for anything else.

I started a little late. I have about 11 tomatoes from quarter to baseball sized... just waiting for some sign of ripening. I have teeny tiny green beans just starting to grow after the blooms fell off. My corn seems stunted. Finally got 6 stalks past the 6 leaf point, 21 total.

It's just me here, so I don't need a lot, but I hope to get a small harvest.

[mopinko]

10. kinda crappy here. lost a bunch of peppers.

put seedlings out to harden, and the cold and damp and lack of good sun just shriveled them up. waited until i thought we were on the other side of it to plant my tomatoes, and had one day of sun, then back to the cold and rain. can't believe i have the heat on.
course, lettuce and peas are very happy, and my grass looks awesome.

[trud]

12. grass

Yes, why is that? My lawn is flourishing like the green bay tree, while the veggie garden, pretty much zilch.

[mopinko]

13. grass loves cold weather. especially if it is wet.

goes bad when the molds and fungi show up, tho.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. So far too wet and cold, but there have been a few promising days.

Since any hot weather plant would not grow much yet, I am not concerned. They will do well if we get hot here. I just planted a few peppers and tomatoes in pots just in case the rain never stops!

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. Finally - heat broke in Raleigh - best garden I've had in years

pictures at this link

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/1/post/2011/06/some-pictures-the-latest-on-the-driveway-garden.html

[trud]

15. Craig

It gets hung up with "transferring data from www.facebook.com"

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. Very weird - since I don't have a FB acct! Link works for me...other DUers???

You can also try this -

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/

and choose my nctomato blog from the right hand menu. Weird!

[Curmudgeoness]

18. If I went to the right spot, are you growing everything in pots?

I saw pictures of a driveway full of pots. Are these transferred into a regular garden later? Or is this another experiment and it is only part of your plants (yikes)?

[NRaleighLiberal]

19. I grow all tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in pots!

We've been in our house for 18 years and our main garden has built up lots of disease - fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt, etc - as well as reduced sun exposure from maturing trees. So yes, I find that pot growing allows me to control the conditions - most sun, least risk of disease. Plus...I've found that peppers and eggplant yield significantly more fruit when grown in pots - they love hot roots!

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Interesting. I am just this year experimenting with pots.

I have half my tomatoes and peppers in pots and half in the ground. I have sun/shade problems here too, along with lousy soil where there is sun, and I am too lazy to augment to soil and get rid of all the creepy plants that are all over the place (like you are sure to know, don't plant mint.) So I am trying pots too this year. It does make sense, but I worry about them getting enough nutrients for the full season. They also dry out really fast. It is good to hear that you have success.

[NRaleighLiberal]

26. I just blogged an update for today - having a very good year so far

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/1/post/2011/06/took-lots-of-pics-today-just-a-few-below.html

As long as I keep things well watered - and am doing more frequent feeding this year - I think I can get through what looks to be a brutal high temp period around the corner!

[ellenrr]

31. how are your tomatoes doing?

Mine not too well, maybe next year I'll try peppers.

[Retrograde]

17. still cool and wet in California

Listening to the weather report yesterday I was convinced they picked up the March forecast by mistake. It's still raining (the rain usually finishes in mid to late April) and it's been in the 40s and 50s. The tomatoes are not happy: the peppers are even more peeved. The bean seeds all rotted before they sprouted.

The weeds, however, are doing fine!

[roody]

21. The favas love this weather.

[shanti]

24. well, the cukes are happy!

i've harvested three of them so far and eating one in a salad tonite. everything else is coming on slowly. have a few small tomatoes, crookneck squash, green beans on the vine already. the peppers need heat, which we haven't really had so far. i expect them in july though.

[JDPriestly]

22. I had some nice arugula and lettuce in my tiny backyard garden (mostly pots)

in Southern California. Looks like I will have great tomatoes this year. I have beans coming up and hope to plant more. I also hope to plant some melons and squash (trying zucchini on poles this year).

We'd love some of that water you can't use. We never have enough.

[WhiteTara]

23. Creating tunnels to keep the water off

can help. My little greenhouse kept things going until it was possible to plant. We went from drowning to so hot in about a week. Now I have to get everything in the ground and finish my drip system.

[Lugnut]

25. My tomatoes and cukes are on a roll.

The rain prevented me from getting the plants in as early as I wanted to but they are loving the heat and humidity we're been having. They're strong, healty and growing like mad!

[Le Taz Hot]

27. Late but looking good.

California had unusually mild weather all through May and the first week of June so everything is late. However, the hot weather started last week and my garden is humming. Been eating squash for about a month now.

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. Off to my best start in years.....a few videos posted of progress

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/1/post/2011/06/lots-happening-out-there-in-the-gardentook-a-vid-clip.html

[Lugnut]

29. So far, so good.

The tomatoes are thriving with all the rain we've had. The cucumbers and squash are as well. My daughter already harvested enough basil to make a nice batch of pesto. We've had several days of hot, humid weather in addition to all the rain. I'll have to tie the tomatoes up again tomorrow.

[bvar22]

30. Started Well, but now too hot and dry (WestCentral Arkansas).

Late freeze, and harsh wind storms KOed the fruit trees. No peaches, plums, or apples.
The early veggie crops (Onion, Garlic, Strawberries, Asparagus, Peas, Broccoli, Cauliflower) were all great,
but temps soared to near 100 in mid May, and less than an inch of rain.
Still, most everything is doing well (we irrigate from a spring) except tomatoes (too hot to set much fruit, still some hope)),the BlueBerries (so-so), and the wild Blackberries (dried up).
Watermelons, Cantaloupes, Beans, Cukes, Zucchini, Basil, mint, Dill, Borage, doing OK.

We still have some hope for our tomatoes if we can get a break from the heat.
The plants are healthy and making plenty of flowers, but not much fruit set so far.
We have started some more tomatoes from seeds, and will experiment with growing them in afternoon shade.

Good luck to everybody.

:hippie: