Triangle Gardner’s end of Summer / early Fall Update thread (Oriental: organic, fence)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I’m curious to hear how all of your harvests are going; particularly those of you with fruits and veggies.
Here’s my Third Quarter Garden “Earnings Report”
Apples did very well this year. Red delicious, Golden, McIntosh all had high yield with little disease. Proper application of Rally 40 to stop cedar apple rust and the lack of a late hard frost were contributing factors I suspect.
Peaches were numerous mid-season with good yield. Scuppernog grapes were exceptional as well as figs.
American and Oriental persimmons did well as usual, however there is a Fuyu that’s in it’s third year only so not much there.
Paw paws were moderate, however my instructions for improving pollination weren’t followed so that may have weighed down yield.
On the low side blueberries, plums, and pecans were sorely disappointing. No plums this year for some reason. I forgot to treat the female pecan trees in December so that’s my fault.
Feel free to share your garden yields!
Oh, and if anyone around RTP grows any kind of sour cherries successfully I would love to hear about it!
Cucumbers: plentiful, quality good.
Basil: abundant, quality excellent.
Eggplants: plentiful, quality excellent until the past week.
Tomatoes: satisfactory. Always wish for more and better!
Non-astringent persimmons: abundant but flavor bland.
Astringent persimmons to be harvested after first frost.
Insects were less of a problem than recent years.
We rely on hand-picking to control pests.
It's hard work but we protect our neighbor's honeybees.
This was my first garden here and all things considered we did ok. Most issues were bug related.
Zucchini -was going strong until the vine borers destroyed them all
Basil - still doing well
Tomotoes - meh, We got some but had lots of issues including hornworms and leaf footed bugs, blossom end rot on one plant.
Eggplant- still producing
Herbs other then basil - did not do well... : (
If the wildlife in my yard would leave my fig tree alone it is growing nicely.
If the wildlife in my yard would leave my fig tree alone it is growing nicely.
Each year, as the persimmons change color from green to orange, I erect a temporary fence around the trees. If given the chance the deer would eat all!
The garden spot has a permanent fence. Deer come at dusk in the evening and early dawn. Beautiful animals but always hungry.
I toss blemished tomatoes over the garden fence. Canada geese aren't fussy and they love tomatoes! To say a goose "eats" a tomato isn't quite accurate -- a goose devours a tomato!
Low-lying tomatoes are within reach of the box turtle. That's okay, we always have enough to share with the official state reptile.
Each year, as the persimmons change color from green to orange, I erect a temporary fence around the trees. If given the chance the deer would eat all!
The garden spot has a permanent fence. Deer come at dusk in the evening and early dawn. Beautiful animals but always hungry.
I toss blemished tomatoes over the garden fence. Canada geese aren't fussy and they love tomatoes! To say a goose "eats" a tomato isn't quite accurate -- a goose devours a tomato!
Low-lying tomatoes are within reach of the box turtle. That's okay, we always have enough to share with the official state reptile.
.
The deer are unbelievable, I need to do something to protect the fig tree, otherwise that poor thing will never grow!
We had a resident turtle in our garden too! The kids loved to see it and I think the turtle appreciated the food.
Tomatoes- pretty much disease free, good production, good flavor. No significant pest damage.
Bush beans- did well 'til mid July then aphids I think were too much.
Pole beans- OMG. I had no idea they would take over the way they did. OMG. Productive, vigorous, somewhat pest resistant, OMG. Will plant only 6 seeds next year!
Summer squash- did great 'til early August and combination of mildew and borers did them in.
Butternut squash- still growing but looking weak. Fruit is on the vine, but I don't know if they'll make it.
Potatoes- had a combo of supermarket spuds and store-bought organic. Neither did especially well, and I probably won't bother with expensive organics seed potatoes next year.
Sweet potatoes- could *not* get any to sprout and send out shoots. Finally just stuck one in the ground and after two weeks, a few leaves are coming up. It's too late in the season so it won't produce anything, but they're pretty leaves anyway.
Peppers- meh. I think they didn't get enough sun.
Sunflowers- hardy and productive 'til hot, humid August, then they folded.
Corn- had a good start and harvested a couple dozen through July, then corn rust showed up. Also, I didn't care for the varieties that I grew: Sugarbaby and Delectable. I'll try something different next year after solarizing the beds.
I have a flimsy six-foot plastic fence and raised beds. A landscaper told me that deer will not jump into what they perceive as uneven footing, and it may be true. I've never lost a thing to deer.
Each year, as the persimmons change color from green to orange, I erect a temporary fence around the trees. If given the chance the deer would eat all!
.
My American persimmon trees are 25-30+ feet high, so the deer can't reach most of them until they fall to the ground, unfortunately these are astringent. Not sure what will happen with the Fuyu once it is fruiting, it's not that tall and will most likely be pruned in an open vase configuration when the time comes.
Mine was a bust but my healthy garlic crop made up for it.
Tomatoes - between the bugs, the squirrels and the mystery disease that killed most of them off - nope, but there are some nice ones on there now. Oh yeah and the aphids
green beans - good until the mystery disease got them
cucumbers - I didn't plant them, so that they were a bust is ok because I guess they grew from last year's rotting one. Mystery disease.
basil - great until this week, strangely dying
green peppers - got one that my dog beat me to, mystery disease
garlic - COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY AWESOME. Growing a lot more next year.
Last year's garden was much better. I have to figure out what happened here.
Question for all of you - these are raised beds - given that something odd spread to all of it and killed it off, do I want to dump the soil in those beds and start all over with new soil next year?
Tomatoes. I had to fight for them, but they're doing well.
Green Peppers. Never got going.
Zucchini. First year. I got one lovely zucchini and then the powdery mildew killed it.
Pumpkin. Powdery mildew got it too.
*
HOW does one avoid/get rid of powdery mildew once it shows up? Nothing worked for me.
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