<p>Spent the morning working in the “garden”. The only thing that looks good are the tomatoes, if you ignore the fact that they are all still green. (in northern CT). </p>
<p>The report:</p>
<p>Cucumbers. Dying. From some sort of mildew. I think I harvested…2.
Summer Squash. Dying. I think it was the harborer of the mildew. Every plant is now almost dead, except for the one that’s thriving in the middle of the backyard. I pleaded with H to mow around it.
Zucchini. Dying. Seriously. Who kills zucchini?
Green beans. Doing ok, except only about 30% of them came up in the first place. Should be ready for the first picking, oh, probably next Wednesday, the day after we leave for a week-long vacation.
Parsley. The ants loved it. I have one plant left.
Peppers. Beautiful green plants, doing great. Um…but where are the peppers??? Fruit is just NOW setting? Really?
Celery. Who knows? I’ve never grown it before. When does it start to look like…celery?</p>
<p>I could have posted this on the “get it off your chest” thread. But wanted to know…am I the only one that feels so POSITIVE in the spring and so DEFEATED every August?</p>
<p>(Let’s not even discuss the flowers…and that mole…)</p>
<p>Boy do I commiserate with you on this one. I spent this morning hacking away at the overgrown and out of control rhododendrons (4 of them) in our front yard. Sheez, a few years neglecting to rake the leaves out and mulch (um, perhaps while overstressed raising teenagers and doing the college thing) and the plants suckered all over the place. A whole ecosystem including vining tree like weed thingees has taken over. I had to sit underneath with a nipper, a handrake and a small lopper to get things so you can see the ground on which to spread the mulch. Today was day three of the effort. Spreading the mulch will feel like easy labor compared to this.</p>
<p>P.S. I have never successfully grown zuccini. It always dies. What gives? After years of spotty vegetable gardening, I have switched to joining my local CSA. Getting my head around living in a retirement condo. Anyone tried those upside down tomato things? They look interesting…</p>
<p>I will be happy to commiserate with you. We live within the city limits–but near a large park. Two years ago, I made great plans to plant beautiful flowers in a bed outside my back door so that I would see them each time I left the house. I spent more money than I should have and left the plants on the ground before I planted them. It took me 3 days to get everything planted (I am slow and had to have time to think of the design). On the third day, they looked great! On the fourth day, every flower was missing. On the fifth day, every green plant was missing. That pesky groundhog waited until I was finished planting before he decided to nibble. Then he invited all of his relatives to finish off the plants. This year we have day lilies.</p>
<p>I had poor zucchini crops for the last 2 summers (and it’s so embarrassing for a gardener…with all of those zucchini jokes, I can’t grow zucchini???) But this summer I was determined to have success. Sooooo, I worked in lots of compost before planting, and planted them in a different part of the garden. I mulched with newspaper. Success! Had great crops of both cucumbers and zucchini. Don’t know if it was related to my efforts OR weather conditions (I’m in central PA, and we had a super dry spring, so I had to water). I think changing location helped, since previoously I had issues with both zucchini and cukes, I think they are susceptible to the same bugs.</p>
<p>I splurged this year- 3 herbs & a nice pot on the sunny deck.
Parsley- dead
Cilantro- dead
Mint- pretty good</p>
<p>Mojitos for all, but no guacamole. I wonder if we just don’t get enough hot sun in WA with a western exposure for those other things to grow. My southern exposure has some huge trees shading it, so it’s either morning or afternoon sun, but not both</p>
<p>Lotsofquests Haha - commiserate r us!</p>
<p>Justamom: DH can commiserate with you. We’re also in CT & he has been very frustrated the past few years. He’s also hopeful when he plants in the spring, but we’ve also gotten only 2 cukes, green tomatoes (so far), some lettuce (not as much as in past years), & herbs. We’d be better off shopping at the farmer’s markets, but he enjoys (?) gardening.</p>
<p>I planted about thirty eggplant plants that I grew from seeds and babied in my new greenhouse. The next day … they were GONE!!! A baby bunny sqeezed through the gate in my Great Wall of Chickenwire (DH, honey, I really did not need that gate!), and feasted all night on my newlyplanted garden. DH was so mad, he almost made a trip to Cabellas to get a hunting rifle! :eek: My tomato plants are doing well, but no ripe fruit yet. I finally got my first crop of zucchini; last year, I hardly got any. The cold, miserable June is the culprit.
After many years of triumphs and defeats, my gardening philosophy is "plant a good variety, enjoy whatever does well, and don’t mourn the “dead”. :)</p>
<p>Our groundhog also likes tomatoes but seems to be colorblind. He takes one bite of a beautiful but green tomato and then throws it away. And goes on to the next one . . . one bite and discard. H gave up on the tomatoes this year.</p>
<p>The garden is beautiful. The summer is too hot to sit in the screened porch, yet the tomatoes are taking forever.</p>
<p>somemon; in MY part of the the west coast, cilantro and parsley are a fall-winter-early spring thing, both annuals, and mint is like a “good” cancer…hope it’s in a pot!</p>
<p>Also, I am putting in green bean seeds every two weeks. SOME of them will have to get the ideal weather!</p>
<p>No groundhogs around here (thank you kitty for keeping a watch on the garden), but not really a green thumb either. Last year DH, was very enthusiastic about the possibilities. He plants seeds. Seeds?! Yep, basil seeds, tomato seeds, parley seeds. Of course, they never even saw the light of day. (read: never sprouted.)</p>
<p>This year, I took on the challenge. I cleared our small eastward-facing garden from last year’s torrent of morning glories that I mistakenly planted about 12 years ago. (They take 10 years to actually flower? Do they spend the first 9 years spreading out into a maze of growth about a foot underground?) </p>
<p>I planted only tomato plants. I loved to see how healthy they looked so I got a few more plants a week later. (5 altogether) Now those plants are taking over my entire garden, both in height and in width. I’ve been back to the garden shop twice to get more stakes and wires, but still those beauties look untamed. Everyday, I discover more red presents waiting to be plucked and tiny green babies promising that I’ll be richly rewarded until the frost.</p>
<p>Next year, I’ll know to spread the plants out so they aren’t out-doing each other for every bit of sunshine. And maybe I’ll figure out how to grow more tomatoes than tomato leaves.</p>
<p>Shrink- how far north are you, weatherwise? Eureka, so like me in WA or warmer? Would they sell plants that are ready to die? seems like I had to wait until June to even find any to buy</p>
<p>"Would they sell plants that are ready to die? "</p>
<p>Absolutely!</p>
<p>“seems like I had to wait until June to even find any to buy”</p>
<p>That’s them!</p>
<p>Or at least for me…half way between Sacramento and San Francisco. Usually sort of Mediterranean; but VERY hot and dry in the summer. I don’t know if it’s a “day length” thing. I like to plant my parsley and cilantro in September, but it’s near impossible to get new plants then. Actually I think they are biennial, not annual. So there is a LITTLE flexibility. My parsley plants from “morningsun herb farm” are now going to seed. Good for the pretty caterpillars and butterflies, but not for eating.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.morningsunherbfarm.com/ssp/home[/url]”>http://www.morningsunherbfarm.com/ssp/home</a></p>
<p>Hmm, I would think if I plant them in the fall they will die when the freezes come and the short days of winter could be rough, too. Maybe I should plant them in inside pots like African violets and see what happens.</p>
<p>You get freezes? I am about 60 miles inland , but rarely lose my parsley to freezes. Nevermind then.</p>
<p>We even get some snow…just enough that night blooming jasmine & even geraniums don’t survive the winter :(</p>
<p>Hmmm… what’s Spokane like? Willamette and Whiitford are on “the list”…</p>
<p>We are scorched to death here in Maryland. The only thing really thriving is a tropical vine called Malabar Spinach. When your pepper plants wilt, you know it’s too damn hot!</p>
<p>And why is it that hot peppers are always more productive than sweet peppers? How many cayenne peppers can I eat, they are like fire!</p>
<p>One tip for everyone - I have something called “flower magic” (a liquid, high phosphorus fertilizer) I bought to try to encourage my plumeria/frangipani to bloom. It worked. That was 3 years ago and now I also use it on my tomatoes and peppers. It helps the tomatoes bloom very well. Some pepper plants just don’t want to produce though. At heart, they think they’re perennials and they have all the time in the world. Maybe someone will cross them with a sunflower and get the ball rolling. </p>
<p>I just came back from the Adirondacks where everything is blooming like it’s May. We need more rain and a few days under 90 degrees!</p>
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<p>Don’t. I’ve planted a tomato in ground and same tomato in “uppsydownsy” thingy. The normal tomato is doing fine but the uppsydownsy tomato is weak, thin leafed, few flowers. I’ve heard the same thing complaint from others who planted last year. </p>
<p>NatureMom says never try to improve on something that she said is law. Roots inground, below and green stuff above. Period.</p>