Tomatoes squash peppers and cukes my garden is a mixed success, how is yours doing.

Gardening is in many ways a roll of the dice, some seeds sprout, some don't. It's the same with plants whether bought from a nursery or propagated at home. Such is the case with my garden this year, some successes, some not so successful: I've had plenty this year. In this blog, I share the lowlights and highlights of my container garden.

I spend a lot of time searching the garden for the dreaded "Horn Worm", I've removed 5 this year so far. We're on a shared well, 17 homeowners share 4 water wells, we pay one bill a year $250.00 which means it is run on a small budget. Part of the water commune is the maintenance of a governing body, yes and all of the politics that come with it. They are the rule makers, and they run it well. One of the rules is watering hours, not watering between 9 am and 7 pm is one, it doesn't matter to me when I water. Normally before 9 am is my time to do just that, early risers enjoy the morning in a garden. Drinking coffee while running the hose I search for the "Tomato Worm", I have no secret to finding them, in fact, I am not very good at it at all, my friend Mike has found many of them.

I have in two containers nine tomato plants, two Roma's, one Beefsteak, two Russian heirlooms, and four Heinze heirlooms; the Heinze was started in the kitchens "magic window". My wife starts them in the South facing window over the kitchen sink, she is very good at it, as she is growing Orchards. She is not as successful tending an outside garden, so that is my duty.

The Roma's struggled this year, not with bearing fruit, we have gotten an enormous amount of tomatoes already up to now August 18, 2018. Starting off with a bang they almost immediately put on fruit, a lot of it, so much that I was tempted to pluck all of them off to allow the plants to grow into a healthy bush. In hindsight, I should have done just that, we made two big pots of sauce before trouble set in. Looking weak and unwatered I removed two Hornworms from them, I suspected the worms were injecting some sort of venom into the plants. I had never heard of it happening, or even if Tomato worms could inject anything into them while munching on the vines. I belong to a gardening forum so I posted the question if they were capable of it. A seemingly knowledgeable person answered that no they do not have the ability to poison the plants; leading me to believe I had more than one problem. It ends up I did and the other problem I was facing is me if it looks weak water it is my motto. Actually, I had been water too much and blight set in, I should have known that but its one of those things I have to learn over and over. I stopped watering them two weeks ago, one week ago I started watering again every 3rd day which is my normal summer watering schedule. One week later, after two days of watering the Roma's are making a comeback, once again loaded with fruit, it may be cured.  My Beefsteak is right next to it.

Tomato Worm. Enough said. 

My Beefsteak plant is healthy and big, dominating the box it is an impressive plant not exhibiting any of the weakness displayed by its neighbor the two Roma's. The Beefsteak was planted under the objection of my wife, she thought we would be better served by another Russian heirloom instead, we decided to plant one. During the past two months, we have harvested a total of 5 of what is suppose to be my "One slice covers a piece of bread" tomato. Having great flavor, good size, and a healthy appearance I'm afraid that plant fell on its face in production. This morning it was loaded with green tomatoes, I noticed them all while hunting for the Green Worm, the fruit is taking forever to ripen. Displaying no brown spots, splitting, or other discoloration normally a by-product of overwatering, this is a healthy plant; it's merely an underperformer. Unlike the Russian heirlooms next to it.

Russian Heirlooms are an odd fruit, the only way I know if they are ripe is feeling them to determine how "soft" they are. When ripe they are a weird green, black, and red, about 2 inches in diameter. They are however the best-tasting tomatoes I have had in my memory, and they are great producers, I pick at least 6 every day.  These plants are looking good and healthy as well, they challenge the Beefsteak for dominance in the height and width competition. The plants are healthy also, no blight, brown spots, or split fruit, they are real workhorses in the garden. The jury is still out on the Heinze in the far box.

Four Heinze are sharing the space with two bell peppers, good looking plants all four of them, bearing a lot of fruit, zero have turned red. Something is happening in that raised bed, it is taking them forever to ripen, remaining a beautiful dark green. Two Hornworms have been removed from them, I would like to blame the lack of ripening to something, but the worms won't do. It's not overwatering, too much fertilizer, or not enough; I use worm castings only in tea and mixed in the soil. It's been hovering around 100 degrees F.
(38 C.), then dipping to 58-62 degrees F during the day, (15.5 C = 60 F) that is a 40-degree differential, it seems extreme to me. It appears that the temperature is just not stable enough or high enough to benefit the fruit, another cause I have dreamt up, but it's not the same with its box mate, Green Bell Peppers.

The Green Bell Peppers are not bolstering my confidence in gardening abilities, I have had a garden for the past 25 years at least, but maybe I have been doing it wrong all along and this year's failure with Bell Peppers is the litmus. I have at least two problems with them, I planted four and ended up with 1-1/2. Yes one and a half plants, how can that be you may be wondering, in a word, Possums, one to be exact. Eating the roots by digging a deep hole, one hole at each plant then munching away at what must be a delicacy to them. The growth on one plant is stunted to 1/2 the size of the other, but that one is not very successful either, it is stunted, but alas life finds a way. One Bell Pepper is on the vine, one, I build these little wire fences around them for protection but the sharp-toothed beast digs under them. Never give up I say, so I turn my back, look for a few more worms and turn my attention to the Cucumbers.

Cucumbers love the sunshine.

My Cucumbers are doing mediocre, wonderfully blossoming vines, I planted two of them and train them on a trellis, they now span 8 feet. It's an impressive plant, I have rarely had as much growth from two cucumber plants, many flowers, pollinators are working them and no sign of suffering from too much or too little water. This huge impressive plant is yielding an average of 3 cukes a week, I am disappointed in these plants as well, we live on cucumber/tomato salad all summer long. Not so this summer, we are either out of tomatoes or out of cukes, I should start a conversation with the plants I understand that may help. It would be nice if they were performing as well as one other nightshade.

The jalapenos are going nuts this year, I have harvested hundreds so far and there are more on the plants. Five of them were planted, I bought plants at a big box nursery against my original plans. I haven't had problems with big box plants when bought early in the year, later on, the plants are weak looking making me think twice before that purchase. But these worked out great, I planted them and within a month they were loaded with the peppers. I make my own chili seasoning, that is until my wife started making "poppers", my powder takes a backseat. I use it as a deterrent to the above-mentioned Possums, and other little furry creatures, it works wonders and it doesn't hurt the freeloaders. Now I have plenty of Jalapenos for both, and I am a happy camping in the field of these guy's. Next to them is a spreading bonanza, it may be that end of the garden.

My Acorn Squash has redefined what a squash vine looks like, this thing is huge and has countless squash on it with many flowers clinging on. I planted them in my onion box that never did really well, I got some onions but not the huge amount I was expecting. We had roasted some for dinner one night, I brought the seeds out to the garden and planted them in a trough down the middle of the 6-foot box. I had no idea every seed would sprout as they did, followed by an explosive growth I now have a 4 foot high 8-foot diameter plant. It's good we eat a lot of squash. I planted other squash as well.

My Honey Nut squash seeds were given to me by a friend, I have never eaten one but from what he says they are very tasty. Those vines are doing fine, but they also have a challenge in their box. I originally planned for the Honey Nut to occupy the entire box however low and behold up pops a volunteer Pumpkin. The rogue plant went wild as the Acorn Squash has, four pumpkins immediately started growing, I thought they were the Honey variety. Boy was I wrong, but these Pumpkins appear to be different from those I have grown in the past, these may be suitable for eating. I have talked my wife into cooking one later this week, these are about the size of those shot out of a Pumpkin cannon if you've watched the "Pumpkin Chuckin" on television you know what I mean. Ten inches in diameter, the strange thing is the four of them look identical, it may just be a Pumpkin Pie plant. Soon I will find out.

My wife and I usually eat a lot of garden vegetables during the summer, the squash normally lasts well into the winter, and I grow Potatoes all year round. I have questionable success with the tubers during the summer, I have planted spuds for the fall already and they should do well, being ready around Thanksgiving. I like the Jalapenos in late Autumn, they are Red and Green from Thanksgiving until Christmas, it's fun.

Christmas colors.

My fruit trees did nothing this year, no Cherries, no Peaches, and the Red Squirrels got all of the apples. I have another Peachtree growing, starting from a seed 1-1/2 year ago it is now transplanted to the ground and is about four feet high and full of leaves. It's actually two seeds that sprouted together, I thought maybe one would make it, well they both did. I twisted them together so when it gets full grown it will have a unique trunk, I am hoping.

Gardening is great, there is something about planting a seed and watching it grow into this big plant that produces food, all of those vegetables created by just one small seed, it truly is a miracle. Thanks for reading and sharing my blog, leave a comment or suggestion, just say Hi! Thanks again.

jacquesandkate  EmergencyKitsPlus.com