2020 Victory Gardens

[jeffp51]

Also got 7 jars of raspberry jam, and I have taught myself to make sourdough bread.

[WhistlingBadger]

Also got 7 jars of raspberry jam, and I have taught myself to make sourdough bread.

I'll be right over.  Save me some!

[jeffp51]

better hurry, I am already down to 5.

[HH~]

Blackberry jelly always has gotton me big bulls!

Think they can smell it in my 3 day Assault pak!

BJ

Did not know wheat was a beauty contest? Hows sugar content hold up in beets when they sit that long? I know Hermans grew the bejesus out of them and flax.
Shawn

[WhistlingBadger]

Blackberry jelly always has gotton me big bulls!

Think they van smell it in my 3 day Assault pak!

Shawn

Hm, might have to try that some time!

[Eric Krewson]

I started dismantling all my trellises for beans and cucumbers and striping the unproductive areas of my garden in preparation for my winter greens patch.

I am still getting tomatoes, lots more than I can use, I have been delivering them on a regular basis to my shut in friends. This year I planted 4 new varieties to see if I could find a suitable replacement for the typical better boys I have always planted. I hit on two jewels this time and two losers.

The two winners made perfect tomatoes, no splits and very few rotten ones until the late season.  The first is a Defiant as seen in the counter picture background, an incredibly prolific tomato producer with 2 1/2 to 3" tomatoes. The second as seen in the foreground is called Mountain Magic, as prolific as a cherry tomato with perfect tomatoes up to 2" in diameter with the cherry tomato sweetness. Being late season tomatoes the ones in the picture that I picked yesterday are down in size from their peak.



Here is one of my Defiant plants, a little brown from the bottom but still putting on tomatoes and covered up with green ones. It is a determinant variety so it doesn't need pruning and only grows to the top the cage.



As I was carrying the trellis fence panels to the edge of my place for winter storage I found much to my dismay that that a hive of yellow jackets had started a colony right where I stored the panels and I was standing next to their hole. The first one stung me repeatedly through my sock but the other two got untangled in the fabric and couldn't get a stinger through.

I gave them the cup of gas treatment followed by a bucked covering the hole to kill the nest. When I took this picture I noticed they had a second hole and my treatment didn't kill the nest. They will get another treatment after dark this evening.

[YosemiteBen]

Yes sir! Those yellow jackets are nasty! Had a nest in my wall last summer. Can of Carb Cleaner shut them down good!

[DC]

You gardener guys may be able to help me. Last week I harvested my first Cherry tomato. Just as I was chewing the last bite I got a little mouldy taste. Not enough to spit out. Three hours later I was hugging the porcelain pony. Then I felt fine ate a good supper and felt fine all the next day. The day after that I ate another, different variety, cherry tomato and felt a little nauseous and weak for a while but never vomited. I haven't eaten any of my tomatoes since although I have eaten store toms with no problem. Sound familiar to anyone?

[WhistlingBadger]

I absolutely hate those things.  Our nest in above-ground spaces, not in the ground.  Have you ever seen those exterminators that pour melted aluminum down fire-ant holes to kill the colony, then dig it out and sell the sculptures?  I wonder if that would work with yellowjackts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI&feature=emb_logo

[Hawkdancer]

I absolutely hate those things.  Our nest in above-ground spaces, not in the ground.  Have you ever seen those exterminators that pour melted aluminum down fire-ant holes to kill the colony, then dig it out and sell the sculptures?  I wonder if that would work with yellowjackts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI&feature=emb_logo

That is a tricky way to do "sand casting"!  I have used Spectrcide Pro on Yellowjackets with good results.  Haven't noticed any around here yet, but do have a couple ant hills, will have to try the gas and bucket trick, could melt 5-10 lbs of lead and make a "sculpture", too!  Hit the yellowjackets after dark, though, and watch for a second hole!  As for the garden, we have a few cherry tomatoes ripening, and a baby zucchini forming up, got a couple small tomatoes from one bush and a bunch of blossoms.  Rhubarb is coming back, maybe enough for Jacie to make a pie for herself. 
Hawkdancer
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

Eric, I'm not familiar with that type(variety) of tomatoes but is that late blight affecting the leaves on them or is that their normal habit?  We never had blight when we lives in coastal SC but up here in the mountains it can be a real problem during wet summers. Two years ago we had 140" of rain, last year 100" and already this year we've had over 60" so far. Our normal average for the last 20 or more years is 70".
 Needless to say our attempt at gardening this year has been a bust as was last year and the year before that. 4 years ago when we had a great tomato crop the crows decided to take a bite from each ripe tomato, virtually ruining that year too. It's become cheaper and more practical to go to the farmers market and buy a few boxes of tomatoes($7 to $10 per box) for our stewed tomato base we put up and use the rest of the year.

[HH~]

Mountain majiks or fresh ate hybrids known for skins that very very tough. Rarely split. Called “Women buyer tomato”. They wont buy a split one!

I stopped planting them did not like the meat water ratio.

I planted betterboys and some old vintage varieties.

Still have prolly hunnerd lbs hanging! Feeding three or four families now. Will do juice next.

My kale is doing well as is my second potatoe crop

[Eric Krewson]

Pat, that is just late season blight, as we say "they are firing up". The Defiant is resistant to this blight so it moves slower than it did when I planted better boys. My loser varieties are completely burned up except at the very top.

[WhistlingBadger]

 My garden is definitely winding down.  Buckwheat is in, and the blue corn is ripening.  We had a few roasting ears Saturday night with some smoked ribs.  I don't think we're going to get any tomatoes this year, but the pumpkins and potatoes are coming along well.

Not much to do out there now except water every couple days.  More time for shooting. 

[Pat B]

When we get blight up here it looks like frost hit the plants overnight. One year we saw it hit and removed all the tomatoes, red, green and in between. A few days later they all had started rotting, even the green one.