Fruit and vegetable gardens 2023

H.A.F.

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
I gave up fighting my chipmunks. I haven't really had them eat anytthing for food. They tunnel and re-tunnel to get from here to there without a hawk snagging them. They would tunnel right through the rootmass of a tomato or pepper plant, but just because it was in the way. Once I got that and left them alone I haven't had issues.
 
H.A.F.

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
My tomatoes are a hot mess. All I have are cherries and one yellow tomato that has a few fruit. I quit pruning and let them make as much biomass as possible, and I have a few hornworms as a result. But they are easy to find when it's lush green and there's a naked top. Most have been parisitized by wasps, and I actually saw one doing the attacking - cool stoner shit!

But my peppers are mostly on fire now. I have shitty little plants with 3 limbs and 3 huge peppers. The Shishito I just started snipping the big ones and letting them drop and it's still full. The sugar rush peach, sugar rush red, and rain forest are the next three and all are making all the peppers I'll need on the hot side. That's about 40 peppers. I got about 20 a week ago, and the same a week before that. And it keeps going... The rest are just waiting to get ripe. not really pumping out more numbers.
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The Chiltepin wild pepper tree started inside last winter and re-vegged outside this spring. I'll see if it winters and comes back. It makes as many as the shishito, but I am just letting them dry on the vine now unless I want a fresh one for cooking.
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The tomatillos are slowing down but I got pounds of them from one plant. I get a few a day now and have all the salsa I need. I can make a killer sauce with the cherry tomatoes but I'll take ideas on the tomatillos. I have to snag them as they start turning and let them ripen on the counter, then toss them in here as they do. I have a few bags in the deep freezer already. I think I'll make a day of it after the plants are dead.
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treefarmercharlie

treefarmercharlie

🍆
Admin
I’ve canned and given so many tomatoes away this year. I ran out of jars and space so I kept putting off processing them so all this wound up in the shit pile because it sat too long. I’m kind of pissed at myself for letting it go to waste, but I’ve canned over 50 pounds of tomatoes, given away probably another 25 pounds, and eaten a shitload of them all summer. The green beans got tossed because I didn’t realize they were in the counter and they started drying out
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H.A.F.

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
TreeFarmerCharlie said:
I’ve canned and given so many tomatoes away this year. I ran out of jars and space so I kept putting off processing them so all this wound up in the shit pile because it sat too long. I’m kind of pissed at myself for letting it go to waste, but I’ve canned over 50 pounds of tomatoes, given away probably another 25 pounds, and eaten a shitload of them all summer. The green beans got tossed because I didn’t realize they were in the counter and they started drying out
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dried beans are seeds if they were ripe when picked
 
D

Deleted member 60

Guest
And here we are...waiting for red tomatoes. We're also fighting an intruder....maybe a Wood Rat....could be a squirrel or chipmunk as well. Fucker likes to just take a good bite out of a ripening 'mater. As a result we are now taking the blushing tomatoes inside to finish ripening.

Temps are droppin' here. We dodged frost last week but tomorrow night I'm gonna have to cover the maters and strawberries to be safe. Still 75/45'ish and sunny as Hell w/10 UV everyday... but you can still see things slow down with the cool nights. You can also see some of the ganja turning purps. Still a few weeks needed...and it looks like it will happen...

Still maters out there....2 dozen or so hardball sized onions....carrots...strawberries have 50-75 blooms on 'em....and the 8-10 habs/sugar rush/etc peppers. Gonna bring most of em into the greenhouse to finish...and some to fruit again (anaheims/poblano)....but we are gettin' there.

Definitely a decent year.
 
H.A.F.

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
One of my biggest surprises has been the poblano pepper tree. I am going to prune this back before it dies completely this winter and see if it comes back. It has easily 100 peppers of various sizes on it but I have only harvested a few so far. With this many peppers I don't know how big they'll get so I am waiting on a good shaped and sized one to turn a little so I know the size limit
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They are small store size now, but I am hoping for Mexican restaurant chile rellenos size that are more meaty.
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Fiddler's Green

Fiddler's Green

Just a regular vato
Pumpkin #2 on the right came off the same vine and weighed in at 157 pounds.
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Pumpkin #1 was pollinated to itself and pumpkin #2 was open pollinated.

We still have 2 growing that are very similar to each other but showed differences in vine shape, color and fruit size that are starting to ripen and need a couple more weeks. Those were open pollinated as well.

The seed pack stated 120 days to harvest and the first two follow that schedule.

The kiddo decided we will save the "S1" seeds as a backup and hunt through the ''F1s'' from the open pollinated bunch. I think I might try running the S1s and see what one fruit on the vine might turn out next year.
 
H.A.F.

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
For the gourds I have these, and it's still making more. I'm up to 7 now and am running out of those cheap bucket grids. Biomass!
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some of the beans I put with the 3-sisters survived long enough to make me some seeds for next year.
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I am all about wild stuff that is edible, and this lions mane makes about the 5th shroom type that is easily identifiable as "won't hurt you" I have within a stones throw from the back porch. This sourwood log had a lions mane on the other end last year. I cut that one off and put it in the worm bin. This one i'll let do whatever it does and maybe make spores or spread or something.
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My back garden is a controlled jungle now. the tomatoes are all just draped all over the clothes rachs and the beans are on most of the fences. The dahlia turned out to be a good bean support and the bees love them. The red noodle beans are making a lot now, and I have no clue what the ones in the foreground are. when one gets ripe I may figure it out.
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I have another bean that is not pollinating so I have no clue what it is other than a bean. It makes the coolest flowers though
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My poblano tree is gonna keep me in peppers until next spring. I just put them on a fork and hit them with a dab torch to crisp the skin, then wash them off, de-seed and freeze. Perfect level of heat for anything, and I can always add more.
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Last, a public service announcement. With my tomatoes just left to go feral it's impossible to scout them and not miss a well camoflaged hornworm. Save the wasps!!! They find these bastards way better than I can, and once found they zombie up and don't eat a thing. This one got a few,
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and this one got gangbanged
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