Gardening Thread- Show me your gardens!

I’m about to pull up all the garden. Nothing is producing much at and the plants that are…aren’t producing good fruits. I have two cantaloupe still on the vine but they’re softball size and not making much progress.

 

Planted the 6 elderberry sticks this spring. They’re about 18” tall now but no fruit.

 

post it! Others might use the info!

 

I am a new homeowner and just got into gardening. I have lots of fruit right now! I am in zone 8b.

Peach tree


Blackberries

strawberries. I am also growing blueberries. Loving it so far! Looking forward to sharing tips

 

Looks good, it is an addictive hobby.
Is it a dwarf peach? Asking because I had planted a full size peach, thinking "I will just keep it trimmed". No such luck, peach forms fruit on the new growth, so I could not really trim it much. Mine is 12 years and is almost 20 feet wide.
I went with dwarf size nectarines later for that reason.
Peaches and nectarines are VERY susceptible to red rust and worms. Read up on the "bowl" tree trimming, peaches need a lot of good airflow, in zone 8b you have more humidity than I do in zone 7b. We trim apples, pears, peach, nectarines, cherries, figs every other year (too many to do in one year, so we do it in 2 batches). Remember to trim blackberry canes after they bear fruit. Normal blackberries flower on prior year canes, they need to be cut out afterwards. If you nip the tips of the blackberry canes, you will encourage sideways growth, increasing berry yield.

This is very effective on red rust and other fungus, safe for edible plants, follow the label directions:

$40 Dow AgroSciences 173917 Eagle 20EW Fungicide, 16oz-1 Pint

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S6ZZFM

This is for worms and other insects, use after fruit starts forming, so you do not harm pollinating insects. Spray. Made from chrysanthemum flowers.

$18 Bonide Pyrethrin Garden Insect Spray Concentrate, 8 oz Ready-to-Mix Fast Acting Insecticide for Outdoor Garden Use

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035HA0AK

Fruit safe systemic (i.e. sucked in by the tree thru the roots and distributed thru all leaves and wood), applied once a year:

$30 Bonide Annual Tree & Shrub Insect Control with Systemaxx, 128 oz Concentrate, Year Long Protection and Insect Killer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ITL19A

In the fall plant a double ring of garlic around your fruit trees, it discourages borers (I lost a cherry and a plum to them, before I started planting garlic).
Garlic needs chill hours to sprout. Alternatively, keep gloves of garlic in the fridge at 38-40F for 2 weeks, then plant. Might need to do in Zone 8 anyways.

PS blackberries love acidic soil. Save your coffee grounds and dump them at the base of the plants, sans the coffee filter.

 

I have traps too….and about 3k rounds of .22 ammo.
7 beavers, 5 otters, 18+ raccoons, 20+ possums, 8 stray cats in last year, several yotes . And squirrels….

Oh yeah,3 skunks. I call it bomb squad mode when I have to dispose one of those from a live trap. It’s an art.

 

Maybe you just need a little hot oil?

this popped up in my Facebook groups today…

 

Im not that hungry

 

ENJOY!!!! I'll pass

 

My Ouachita is starting to have some good berries.

 

Neighbor is giving me a bunch of raspberry plants. I just have to go dig them up. They arent maybe 18" tall. Im guessing missing nitrogen? The plants look healthy i forgot to take a pic. I need to prep a row for them before i go get them.

Any tips?

 

Those matoes are huuuge! Very nice heathy harvest.

 

So, canning tonight. Trying to get 6 almost quarts out (amber jars are 28oz to the fill line, not 32)
Started with 13.25 lbs of tomatoes. 1 spice packet per 6lbs of tomatoes or 10 cups of proccessed maters. We ended up with 22 cups, but we cook our sauce down for thicker consistency and more tomato flavor.
Made from Cherokee purple, German striped and little German black.
Tomatoes are soaked in cold water with lemon juice for 5 minutes. It kills bacteria. Make sure to clean the sink beforehand


Cut out cores, bad spots, then blanch. I weighes mine, and was right at 12.5lbs.
Put in the boiling water for about 3 minutes, than ice bath. Skins will start peeling. German stripies took 4 min, small Germans 2 min.


Set up the proccessor with a large, salsa, screen, quarter larger tomatoes, and go to town.




Everytning has been run thru once.


I then run skins thru 2 more times, and then scrape the screen. See how much more tomato pulp I get?
Waste bowl is on top of proccessor.


Wash the jars, put them in the pot, bring to boil. Cover the pot to speed up the proccess
I like amber jars for marinara sauce, but you do not have to. It is our first year using ambers.




Turned sauce on before jars started to boil, because we wanted to thicken it.
2 packets of seasoning, since it is a double batch.
We really like Mrs Wages flavor.



Once water with jars starts boiling add in rings and lids to sterilize, boil for 20 min. Stir the sauce in the meantime.
After 20 min, pull out the jars, pour water back in the pot, fill them to fill line, take extra water from the pot, so you can reach the lids and rings with a magnetic picker upper. Fill with a funnel.


I still wipe the jar lip with a clean paper towel dipped in boiling water to make sure the lip is clean before I put the lid on. Use silicone pad to hold the jar while screwing the ring. Do not overtighten. Air needs tp be able to bubble out of the jar while they are cooking.




Then put jars back in the stock pot, add water that you took out, if needed. You need 2" of water above the lids to allow for boiling and evaporation.



Cook in boiling water for 40 min. Start the timer after water starts boiling, not right after you put jars back in. Once the 40 min timer goes off, turn off the stove and leave jars in hot water for 5 min, then pull out carefully. No knocking, too much tilting, etc. Set them to cool overnight and do not touch.

4 out of 6 popped (lids sealed) within a minuted after pulled them out, 5th a bit later. Waiting for the 6th pop. Hopefully, it will come. If it does not seal, I can reheat and proccess that one jar. We have 6 or 7lbs of tomatoes left, enough for 1 batch. If I need to, I will add it to that batch.

 

Awesome saice!

 

6th lid was sealed by this morning. So 6 more quarts to put away. I think we have 24 quarts of marinara and 12 pints of salsa, so far.

 

Oh my words! Yummy?!

 

Had one of those strip the leaves clean off in less than a couple hours. Voracious AF.

 

Great "how to", much appreciated. The Mrs has made two batches of tamarind jam. Now i think i can help do the canning.

 

Bet thats good