<p>That’s true. Roots seek out gravity. I would think upside downs plants will have roots growing to the top. I would also think it messes up the way water circulates to the leaves.</p>
<p>I haven’t been much of a gardener this year, but here’s my report:</p>
<p>I didn’t plant any tomatoes but I’ve got one volunteer growing. I think it’s a Brandywine. It’s only got flowers, so I don’t know if I’ll ever get tomatoes from it.</p>
<p>Parsley came back from vacation and it was unhappy. I think it may be in year two of biennialness which doesn’t seem fair since I bought it this year.</p>
<p>Nasturtiums, so of them suffered from lack of water so the leaves are brown, but they are blooming like mad and taste great.</p>
<p>Cilantro has gone to see too soon like it does every year, however you can harvest the seeds (when for some reason they get renamed coriander.)</p>
<p>Thyme, oregano, mint and lemon balm are all going great guns. </p>
<p>Chives are okay, but thinning a bit.</p>
<p>The blueberries got eaten by birds and all but one raspberry plant died because the place they were planted has gotten so shady. (Neighbors trees so I can’t do much about it.)</p>
<p>Lettuce has bolted, but honestly I was amazed it lasted as long as it did in this weather.</p>
<p>Just came back from Berkeley where the gardens were gorgeous. I’m so jealous!</p>
<p>Ha! I hit a new low with my gardening last summer. I actually used my lawn mower later on in the summer to MOW between my rows of veggies as the weeds got so bad!! It’s so exciting in the Spring to plant the garden but later in the summer…</p>
<p>I tried the upside tomato thing too and didn’t like it. You have to plant a “determinate” tomato plant (one that will only grow to a certain height, like a patio tomato). It was never happy.</p>
<p>I’m happy now because I use the “basket” thing to hold stacks of little plant pots in my shed. Since it hangs up, it helps save space.</p>
<p>shrink- I have one kid who lived in Spokane for undergrad and one beginning med school there next week, ask away</p>
<p>Parsley is a biennial and cilantro is a fast grower then bolts and makes seeds. If you want cilantro regularly you have to plant it every couple of weeks, you can’t stop the bolting.</p>
<p>The best thing to do with herbs is to not plant them in very good soil put a lot of rocks in the soil make sure they have REALLY good drainage and only water when dry.</p>
<p>We moved in to a new house once and the best place for herbs had been “mulched” with rocks. I dug out a ton of them then gave up and filled it in with dirt over the remaining rocks. It was the best herb garden I ever had.</p>
<p>Attack of the killer zucchini!!! It looks like DH and I will be eating zucchini for the rest of the month. I also have a nice, 5-inch head of cabbage (planting cabbages was an experiment), and the cauliflower will be ready for picking next week. The “Armenian” cucumbers were a huge disappointmen, but the “Cypress” cucumbers are doing very well.
Fruit… There was not a single cherry on any of my 3 cherry trees this year 
(last year I collected a bucketful), and the only apples I will get are the yellow transparents. There isn’t a single quince on the usually prolific quince tree either…</p>
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<p>I like this, BB. Even if you do brag about your zucchini. 
That defeat is particularly humiliating. Like I said in my OP, who kills a zucchini? (I feel like the kid in “A Christmas Story”. No zucchini fritters! No stuffed zucchini! No zucchini bread! No zucchini muffins!)</p>
<p>What’s getting me this year is the feeling that it’s ALWAYS SOMETHING. Something happens one year, you keep after that thing the next year, and it’s something else that gets ya. You name it. Squash bugs, cucumber beetles, ants, rabbits, early blight, powdery mildew, bacterial wilt, blossom-end rot, too much rain, not enough rain…and on and on and on!!!</p>
<p>All I can say is - I’m glad I’m not a farmer!!</p>
<p>The only things going well for me this year are my huge rhubarb plant and the plum tree - apples and pears look pretty sad, and don’t get me started about what the Japanese beetles have done to my grapevine…my basil screams for water just about every day…</p>
<p>As for the other veggies - I’ve long given up in favor of my neighbors’ roadside stands. About the same investment money-wise for none of the work.</p>
<p>I got tired of throwing money into gardening this year. The deer eat most things.</p>
<p>Tomato plants nurtured from seeds, in a pot, bit off about 5 inches from the dirt (sigh). One remaining cherry tomato plant, happily yielding sweet little fruit. Tried the hanging upside down garden. First big wind just whipped the poor thing to death. Very sad.
Basil good, parsley good, my one jalapeno plant may have a baby pepper showing. Cilantro died almost immediately. I thought about venturing into zucchinis next year. Now that I know the sense of failure that can result, I’m now very hesitant.</p>
<p>Justamom, this year I do have something to brag about! 
But last year, not so much - my zucchini and UFO squash plants wilted and rotted away in the 90-degree heat despite my tender love and care :eek: I usually give a veggie several tries, and if it fails three times in a row, I cross it off my gardening list, like I did with radishes.</p>
<p>My zucchini and squash have done great but for the first time, my onions have let me down. Tonight is leave a zucchini on your neighbors’ porch night, I might be out dropping off some zukes.</p>
<p>Somemom, thanks! That was supposed to be Whitworth and Gonzaga.</p>
<p>Its been a very tough spring in the PNW. I left the tomato, squash, zuccs in my hot box for an extra month. </p>
<p>Note: Avoid heirloom squashes and off branded seeds.
We’ve a smaller garden this year. The volunteer ‘lambs quarter’ have done very well. Make good soup.</p>
<p>Blank critters. Things they don’t eat one year they decide to feast on the next… Oh well, I’m supporting the local economy every year I buy annuals… Should have used the stinky anti deer/rabbit stuff- but it kept raining or we wanted to sit outside or… Trying to sell the house so want it to look good but don’t want to make the time/money investment to revise things. Frustrated gardner here.</p>
<p>^^^^We tried the stinky anti deer/rabbit stuff. Don’t waste your money.</p>
<p>You all are making me feel very lucky indeed. I am finally getting some cherry tomatoes (11 yesterday…). My blueberries are amazing–a bowl every other day–my new raspberries (a thornless variety called Amity) are producing despite not being <em>planted</em> until May 31st… The corn is tasseling. There are tiny pumpkins on the vines. The lettuces still taste sweet. The basil is finally growing (all of 2" high!). The roses have recovered from the black spot. (I’ve never before lived someplace where the recommended care for roses is “cut them back hard in January and neglect them the rest of the year.”) I even got two whole cups of strawberries yesterday from the strawberries I planted in May. Not all the grapes got pollinated (my pollinators were slow to start this year) but it looks like the yield will be good anyway. The potatoes have been excellent this year too.</p>
<p>(The previous owner of the house put in concrete raised beds in the sunniest area of the yard. They’re quite amazing. No slugs need apply, they keep the soil warm, and they’re easy to weed, very little bending over.)</p>
<p>We too have suffered from high heat, unusual for a barrier Island. It has taken a toll on the string beans and squash, but the tomatoes are OK. I had a good crop of beans 3 weeks ago, then they stopped producing. They are flowering again now. I usually put new bean plants in every few weeks and the last two sets are just puny, dried out looking. I have an apple tree that my 18 year-old D grew from seed in 2d grade. It had a ton of flowers in the spring, two dozen apples in May, and now we are are down to about 10 spotty apples. I don’t know how to grow apples.</p>
<p>Liquid Fence DOES work around here, but not when left in the sprayer in the garage. Also have the problem of the woods trying to retake its territory- those darn saplings kept growing and shading more yard. Time to move and let the next owner revamp the hillside.</p>