Garden #3

[Elijah Gunn]

Here is the official Elijah Gunn garden report for 2010.

Raspberries, and blackberries.
Since transplanting them 2 yrs. ago they are doing pretty good. Almost all of them survived the transplant. We had good rain this year so I didn't have to water them very much. I did put some compost on them which really made the canes get long, and they are even sending out new canes. I've got about 2-3gallons of berries in the freezer that will be made into jam.

Onions
We had some onions in the pantry that had really started to sprout. So I figured, "What the hay?", and planted them in the garden. Of the 6 onions I planted 3 have flowered,and gone to seed. I haven't dug any up yet, but when I do I'll let you know what I find.

Potatoes
I planted 5 pounds of red potatoes this year I think they did well, but again I haven't dug any up yet.

Rhubarb
I lost the stalks in a late frost so I didn't get any this time.

Strawberries
They are still where I first planted them and covered with weeds. I'm getting 2 new beds clear for them over by the raspberries Then I'll transplant them there. Any advice on how to keep the strawberries from getting so many weeds?

Green Beans
The whole garden got a late start this year, and the beans are only just now starting to produce. About 1/2 of the bean plants were started with saved seed from last years crop.

Radishes
I saved seed from last year. All the radishes were small,but I think the reasons why are that 1. the weeds got too thick, and 2.the ground needs to be fertilized/composted. In fact I think I need to compost the whole garden because everything in it could be doing better than it is. I think that is this years biggest lesson.

Peas
This is the 1st time I ever grew peas. They are sugar snap peas, the kind where you can eat the pod as well as the peas. I'll snack on them when I'm out in the garden working. I even put up a section of fence for them to climb on. Two things I learned about peas are. 1.Plant a LOT of them ,and 2. They are only going to be ready to be picked for a few days before they start to get tough.

Corn
The stalks are all tasseld now, but not much in any ears developing yet.

Tomatoes
This year it looks like I'm going to have a good harvest of tomatoes. I made real sure to keep these guys weeded, feeded, and watered. I'm growing Roma, and better boy. I used 12 12 12 fertilizer, some leftover tomato food from last year, epsom salt, and a little lime.
On a side note. Last years tomatoes mostly got blossom end rot so they ended up in the compost pile. Well, I used some of that compost in with my blackberries, and now I have several volunteer tomato plants in my blackberry patch. And they are making tomatoes!!! I didn't think that could happen with commercial tomato seed. Only heirloom seed. Anyway, if the tomatoes make it to maturity I definetly plan to save their seeds. for next year.

Cucumbers
They are done for the year, they did ok, and gave me 19 quarts of dill pickles.

Marigolds
I like to have them in the garden,pretty to look at, and they help keep out pests. I had a bunch of volunteers that came from last years plants.

Well... thats it for now. I'll come back and update this as I finish out the season.
 

[longwinters]

We always mulched our strawberries with straw.  Very few weeds.

Long

[steg]

Elijah, as to the volunteer tomatos, they are from hybrid stock and they will germinate just like any other tomato seed, but the problem is that they will tend to revert back to one of the parents stock, which usually arent that good to start with but have some good qualities that they wanted to incorporate into the tomato that was going to be grown that season. they will continue to revert as the seeds are replanted, and you may waste an entire season by doing this, It has happened to me, before I found out just what was happening.

I save my tomato seeds, but they are a heirloom varity Prudence Purple, I've tried many heirloom varieties, and setteled on this particular variety, I have been growing tomatoes saved from the first crop of this variety that I grew for over 30 years now, yeah I like em, LOL..................steg

[Elijah Gunn]

Thanks steg, so if I'm understanding what you say the seeds I get from the volunteers this year (2010) will be ok for next year but the seeds from next years crop (2011) will produce a less quality crop for me and each year after that will be a little worse till they revert back to stock. Right?

Ill try the straw longwinters. I used some to mulch some of last years tomatoes and it did work ok.

[bilmac]

Probably too late now but I dried some of my snap peas this summer and it worked out pretty good. They dry easy and reconstitute easy too. I have been throwing a tablespoon or two of the dried peas in my lunch noodles.

Roma tomatoes are heirlooms, if that is what volunteered then theoretically you may have a pure strain. I wouldn't mess with them though. If you want to save seed get some seed next year that you know is a pure heirloom strain and then take care that it doesn't cross with any other tomatoes you are growing. It almost isn't worth the hassle unless you worry like me that there may be a time coming when garden seed may not be as easy to get as it is today.