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Does anyone know if you can take the big green tomatoe's that havent turned yet and put them in the window sill or something?
You most definitely can. A couple of years ago I had tomatoes out the wazoo. Before frost came I brought them all in and just had them everywhere. I picked them in November and I had tomatoes until February. Even the little ones that are starting to dry up and wrinkle a bit are quite tasty. It's like the flavor is concentrated in them. I have also heard of just leaving the tomatoes on the vines, pulling the vines, putting them in a protected not freezing area(like a basement) them covering with straw or blanket. I would put them on a pallet to keep them off of the floor. To me that would use too much space.
I purchased 10 Earthboxes hoping to have the biggest harvest ever! I started out really strong showing off my Charlotte, NC garden and tomatoes before anyone had any. Late spring, some animal which I think were squirrels started enjoying my tomatoes and veggies. They would sometimes pick them and leave me half or sometimes leave them right on the vine and eat 1/2. You could actually see where their little hand held the perfect fruit. I was so upset I called critter control. Unfortunately they do not do anything with squirrels so someone on FB said to make a mixture of hot sauce and dish soap and put that on the plants. This got rid of the squirrels but killed all of my plants. I have yet to enjoy a tomato sandwich from my garden. After this huge investment of earthboxes, my husband is giving me a hard time that I have the most expensive non producing garden in the world. I am getting ready to pull it all out and start with fall vegetables. Hopefully I can keep the squirrels away.
I purchased 10 Earthboxes hoping to have the biggest harvest ever! I started out really strong showing off my Charlotte, NC garden and tomatoes before anyone had any. Late spring, some animal which I think were squirrels started enjoying my tomatoes and veggies. They would sometimes pick them and leave me half or sometimes leave them right on the vine and eat 1/2. You could actually see where their little hand held the perfect fruit. I was so upset I called critter control. Unfortunately they do not do anything with squirrels so someone on FB said to make a mixture of hot sauce and dish soap and put that on the plants. This got rid of the squirrels but killed all of my plants. I have yet to enjoy a tomato sandwich from my garden. After this huge investment of earthboxes, my husband is giving me a hard time that I have the most expensive non producing garden in the world. I am getting ready to pull it all out and start with fall vegetables. Hopefully I can keep the squirrels away.
You may have to tent your plants.
I've seen people use mosquito netting with good results, also have heard that people use this technique on fruit trees.
The peaches, grapes, figs, sage, basil, and oregano did wonderfully. The chiles and jalapenos are ok. But overall the garden was somewhat disappointing.
I have a flower garden, and it did wonderfully this year. From springtime all the way through July we had tons of rain, and the flowers sure did love it. I had beautiful color all summer long. I've had to water quite a bit during the last four weeks, but the garden is still thriving. Now, my zinnias are so pretty - love the bright colors! I'm saving the dead flower heads for planting next spring!
Mine gave me maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of what it produced last year, even though some of the seeds were from left over packages from last year or what I saved from garden produce from last year. Other seeds were fresh this year. Everything was the same....same plot of ground, same soil preparation and fertilizing, same covering with black plastic, same irrigation system with soaker hoses. We had good rainfall the first half of summer and then it was scanty but I had the soaker hoses to make up for lack of natural rainfall.
The spaghetti squashes were about 2/3 the size of last year's crop and not even half in total number produced even though there were more plants. The tomatoes did not bear as well and the Amish Paste grown from seeds saved from last year were not as big nor as plentiful. (Last year the first ones were as large as a small cannon ball.) The Cherokee Purples did very well, however. Total tomato crop was down from last year. The green peppers were not as large this year either, nor as many. Some were from saved seeds and some from seeds purchased from this year. Zucchini did not bear well but yellow squash was prolific. I also grew Eight Ball Zucchini (round zucchini). The first ones were soft enough to slice and bake but the rest were hard as baseballs, like a hard pumpkin. The beans did fairly well....but maybe a little less than last year. I planted Long Island Cheese squash and got only three squashes. One of them is a perfect specimen but the other two are smaller and misshapen.
I have half a dozen habanero pepper plants and they don't have very many peppers on them. (First time I have tried habaneros.) Maybe they just need a longer growing season with consistently hotter weather than what we have here in SW Nebraska. (It's pretty hot here most of the summer.)
I planted giant Russian sunflowers from leftover seeds from last year. Last year they grew to be 10-12 feet tall with sunflowers 15 inches in diameter. This year they were about 5-6 feet tall and with flowers no more than 7-8 inches in diameter. The other sunflowers I grew were also puny.
The giant pumpkins, also planted from seeds left over from last year, are half the size they were last year.
A few other people in my area have said their gardens didn't do as well this year so I'm wondering if this also happened in other areas of the country.
So.....was it a good year, a so-so year or a bad year for your garden?
I would have to agree with you. Our tomatoes started off early and were the best and biggest we ever had, but that was short lived. Due to one of the hottest summers in history here, nothing really gave us what we are used to except our jalapenos. They just won't stop.
I did can about a dozen quarts of tomatoes and have enough jalapenos in the fridge to pickle maybe 5 or 6 pints next week. Our squash was almost a joke, but our green beans did surprise and satisfy. As usually, my cukes did not like me, so, although I am still getting a few. I am still getting blossoms, don't know it they will mature.
I didn't plant my sweet pots as usual, guess I will survive. All in all, it was barely a fair year. I will just wait til next spring and start over.
I tend to share when my garden gives me more than I can eat or store. My local feed and seed store has said they will donate to my garden next year, they want the tomatos, the Sugar Baby Watermelon, and some of my Cantalopes. I'm not sure where David is, but.....my N.C. garden was an overachiever, at one point in time, I was picking a bushel of ripe tomatos a day, (I had 2 and a portion rows, in all about 53 plants, Celebrity, German Johnson, and Better Boy and one lonely Cherokee Purple, (I'll plant more of them next year, great flavor, wonderful sandwich)
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