It's Gardening Season - Yay!!!!

[Astronuc]

You could go back and edit it.

You mentioned that you had one heck of a hailstorm, and that you lost some of your plants.

[greenleaf1]

ah yes....   lost most of my cabbages, and my tomatoes and beans aren't looking good.  Hopefully they'll recover.   

I'll try the capsaicum for the raccoons!

[Astronuc]

That must have been some hail storm.

We have had mostly heavy rains, but only several inches, not 8 or 12 inches like we had last October.

The areas around Scranton and Wilkes Barre, Pa, and Binghampton, NY had several inches of rain in 48 hrs.  Binghampton flooded, but the levees protected Wilkes Barre, so far.  Hopefully they won't have any more rain for a while.

[greenleaf1]

We got an inch and a half of rain in less than an hour and my back yard was just covered in pea to golf ball sized hail.  All I could do was stand on the porch and fret!!!

BUT, we just ate the sweetest peas from our garden so not a total loss!  And everything else is perking back up nicely.

Yeah, sounds like you all have had much more water than you need out there!

[Astronuc]

I haven't seen any hail in our since we moved here.  We've had heavy snow 24+ inches (61+ cm) and even lightning during snow fall, but never hail.

We also dodged the bullet again last weekend.  Saturday evening we had heavy storm with high winds.  About a mile west from us, there was some tornadic (cyclonic) phenomenon and several trees were blown down and one house damaged.  It is amazing that the damage is confined to a small area of a few acres.  Properties across the street and either side of the one property had little or no damage.  It looks like what ever it was just dropped right on top of one house and surrounding yard.  The property is on the other side of a ridge from us, but we are at the top of hill, so we are potentially vulnerable to this kind of phenomenon.  Several years ago, there was a tornado that touched down and ran in a straight line for about 2-3 miles and cut a path about a 100 yds or so wide.  Trees were blown over or shattered, and several houses damaged.  That thing stopped about 2 miles from us - just two ridges from us.  It had been moving in our direction and had it continued, it might have been right on top of us.   We have been quite lucky so far.


Oh, yeah.  I discovered blackberries on our wild brambles.  I knew we had the brambles, which occasionally have small berries, but this year for some reason, the berries are more plentiful and the brambles are much thicker.  Maybe its the rains we've had for the last month.  The wild blackberries certainly taste different than the cultivated berries.

The blueberries and raspberries are ripening and we are now collecting Japanese beetles.

I harvested a couple of zucchini yesterday.  I have 4 zucchini plants and 4 summer squash that are doing quite well.  Each plant has several zucchinis or squash.  Some of the first fruit didn't mature.

I also planted some more hot pepper plants - habañero, serrano, kung pao, and a hot Portugal pepper plant.

[Astronuc]

but never hail

  Well, I should have said rarely or hardly ever.  We just had a thunderhead develop over our house, and it dropped some hail before quickly changing to heavy rain.  Fortunately the hail was pea size (about 1/4 - 3/8 in ). 

We have received some light hail in the past, but it is rare that we do - I mean it sprinkles hail - unlike in W. Texas, where I have seen the ground covered in inches of hail.

[Charity]

I actually feed the racoons marshmellows and grapes. We put them up in trees, under rocks and inside rotted logs about 600 yards from the garden. The creek is another 100 yards farther, so they take there treats there to eat. Seems to keep them busy enough to leave the garden alone.
I tried everything..even the powered hot peppers. I think mine even enjoyed the spice!

First blossems on squash and pumpkins!

[Astronuc]

The habañero, serrano, kung pao, and a hot Portugal pepper plants have started producing fruit and still have a few more flowers.

The serrano actually came with fruit and the peppers have grown in size.

The habañero pepper fruit has grown in size, and the hot Portugal and kung pao are just starting.

I harversted several more zucchinis and summer squash.  They are fairly large (length: 8-10 inches/20-25 cm and diameter: 2-2.5 inches/5-6.3 cm).  More are growing. 

We have several bowls of raspberries and small bowls of blueberries and wild blackberries.

My wife's tomato plants have green fruit, the lettuce is still doing well, and the sugar peas are still producing.

[Patty]

Hi Greenleaf!

I think potatoes must respond to day length, because the second batch I grew didn't make spuds for me. Did you find spuds when you looked?

I'm planting some cooler crops now - leeks and carrots and beets. I may get another crop of corn (planted August 1st) but it's a little dicey. We swapped produce at the community garden today, and I brought home a bag full of tomatillos which we promptly turned into salsa verde. It was very, very good over grilled chicken. Also broiled the older leeks and carrots (planted last spring) and drizzled with olive oil - Yum - and a side salad of cucumber/tomato.

The blueberries are muddling along, they look chlorotic but I have fed them so I don't know what else to try.

[Astronuc]

I think I might try beets and maybe turnips next.  The squash and zucchinis are about done.

Patty, are the leaves of the blueberries yellow or brown?  Other than making sure the soil pH is about 5.5 - 6, I am not sure what you can do.   I look around for some ideas.

[Patty]

The leaves are yellowing with green veins.

I had added a ton of sulfur to the soil, so the pH should go down (from around 8.0 )  eventually. I planted the berries in acidic planting mix. I have fed with the recommended food.

I planted four plants, different varieties, and one seems to be doing better than the others (Sunshine Blue, which is more tolerant of higher pH.)  Two are a little chlorotic and the fourth is very chlorotic. The fourth is very close to the retaining wall, and I have heard that such proximity raises the soil pH.

I planted four varieties in the hopes that at least two would make it. So, things may work out (I hope so) but I don't know what else to try. I've been to the berry forums on Gardenweb and I think I've mostly heard all the ideas that might make a difference (adding vinegar when you water, etc.) Still, if you come across anything, I'll be all ears.

[Astronuc]

Here are some of my Habañero peppers.

[Charity]

Those are some nice looking peppers! A few pepper jellies took the spotlight in our little local fair.
 Everything did well in the garden this year, we had to give much of it away. I'm going to try and dry some of the squash{acorn and butternut} for soups this winter.

[Astronuc]

{acorn and butternut}

That's what I need to do next year.  I think it's too late for a new crop - cool weather and less sunlight is coming.  Equinox is Saturday (Sept. 23, 2006, 12:03 AM EDT, 04:03 GMT), which is simultaneously Friday (Sept 22, 2006, 11:03 CDT).

I did zucchini and summer squash this year, but I prefer acorn and butternut.  I also need to start sooner.

I do want to try beets, turnips, parsnip and carrots though.

[Patty]

It's time to plant garlic, no matter where in the US you live.

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/

The blueberries are looking a bit better. Two are now in the 'green' category. I'll give them more sulfur and more food in the next couple days. I'll check the pH again too.

Astro, your peppers are beautiful. We've had a good year on peppers, and I have stuffed bells a couple times. They need a few weeks still before they can come out, and and I am itching to get the garlic planted there. So, it's making me itch for more garden space.

What do you do with your peppers? Any good jelly recipes? I've never tried that, and it might be a way to use the younger peppers.