The Gardening Thread

#1,251
#1,251
J-P said:
Rookie gardener here, I tried growing a couple species of heirloom tomatoes this year. The plants are healthy and doing great, but almost all of the tomatoes that they are producing are splitting. Someone suggested that it may be from overwatering, but we have had a really dry summer here in middle TN and I am only watering when the probe indicates the ground is dry. Is there something I can do to stop them from splitting like that?
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Not necessarily over-watering per se, depending on when you are watering. When tomatoes begin to color and hte closer to ripening they are you want to scale back. That's when they split easier. You will rarely see a split green tomato. I'd put the probe up as well. Tomatoes rely more on regular interval watering. There are varying opinions on what that is. My step son has his timer set for 2 20 minute waterings a day. For tomatoes specifically, some people soak them in pretty hard once a week. I ran my water during our drought roughly 2 hours every other day, then stopped when the rains came back.

Tip I've learned recently is to pick them before they are ripe and let them finish up indoors. Tomatoes have all the flavor they will have at about 3/4 ripe. The only thing you get from there to full ripe is the chance for heavy rains and splitting. I can attest this has not diminished the flavor of my Cherokee Purples at all.
 
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#1,252
#1,252
J-P said:
Rookie gardener here, I tried growing a couple species of heirloom tomatoes this year. The plants are healthy and doing great, but almost all of the tomatoes that they are producing are splitting. Someone suggested that it may be from overwatering, but we have had a really dry summer here in middle TN and I am only watering when the probe indicates the ground is dry. Is there something I can do to stop them from splitting like that?
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Also, certain varieties can be worse about splitting than others.
 
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#1,260
#1,260
GVF said:
Gonna get one of the low grow tunnels for my bday and put broccoli rabe and dwarf maters under it for fall and see what I get.

Need to seed those maters this weekend.
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I am going to try a couple of Cloudy Day hybrid tomatoes. I've started them from seed and have them planted in the garden. Idea is for them to be at peak during September and October. They are supposed to thrive in cooler temperatures. I have California wonder green peppers in the ground too. They thrive in the 70 and low 80 degree temps in the fall too. I have raised some monsters over the years by planting them around mid July so they peak in fall.
 
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#1,261
#1,261
norrislakevol said:
I am going to try a couple of Cloudy Day hybrid tomatoes. I've started them from seed and have them planted in the garden. Idea is for them to be at peak during September and October. They are supposed to thrive in cooler temperatures. I have California wonder green peppers in the ground too. They thrive in the 70 and low 80 degree temps in the fall too. I have raised some monsters over the years by planting them around mid July so they peak in fall.
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I never paid attention to the California Wonder temp preferences. Prob why I gave up on them as a summer grower. I planted some Lesya and Ajvarski Macedonian stlye sweet peppers I seeded this year and they have done pretty good. My son added a Mad Hatter and it has done real well. A bit thin skinned and thin flesh so more for fresh eating. Mad Hatter is hands down the best flavored sweet pepper I've ever tasted. I don't think it can be beat.

Will be curious to know how your Cloudy Day tourns out. Don't think I've heard of them. This will be my first fall attempt at anything.
 
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#1,262
#1,262
GVF said:
OK. It's now August. How has everyone's gardens gone. Mixed results for me this year. Looked fantastic everywhere early on, but some things just didn't go. I'm sure my maters got all fussy with the back and forth between 105 degree heat indexes and lack of rain to mid-80's wet weather. Just so-so on the maters. Good enough to enjoy fresh eating. We got a organic "farm" down the road for veggies if needed. I'm gonna re-plensih my seed supply this winter for next year. Some of my packs going on 3-4 years old. Also gonna move away from trying so many different heirlooms and go with a smaller selection of varieties and plant more than one of each. Need to tailor my picks more toward heat varieties.

Putting up a run of pickles. So got some extra cukes to supplement.

I also got vine ripe Romas for $1 a pound for some canning since my canner plant was one of the ones that broke off (one of my learned lessons on string trellising). My trial at verticle string trellising has done well despite the likely weather setbacks, but learned a few tips for next time. Next time will use that 4-6" a square horticulture netting instead of strings. Will be easier to tie up bearing side branches. Will stay with this version.

Corn was just a contribution to the critters. Cukes, Okra, Peppers, Egg Plant have done well. Melons have done well. Squash has been disappoiting. Barely enough for fresh eating. None to can. Maybe 3 zuchini so far too. Green beans OK, but disappointing. Should get a late burst. Plants still look good. I seem to have had pollination issues on squashes and pumpkins. But pumpkins are starting to put out fruit.

I should prob quit trying broccoli, except I am going to direct sow some in the next week for the fall run and see how that works out.

Laying cloth for weed control did not inhibit growth and performance. Wish I had done more, if not all areas. Corn prob not feasible, but everything else I plant can go with the cloth.

Drip irrigation was a home run idea, and only cost me $25. Rest was gifted.
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Small garden, started with 3 of each.

Tomatoes did great this year.
Green Peppers were good.
The one Ocra plant that survived has produced a good amount, but with only 1 its impossible to do anything.
Singular squash was doing great for a while, got a couple off of it, and a couple more on the way and it died before I could get any more.
red bell pepper did ok
cucumbers and onions didn't make it.
 
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#1,263
#1,263
Got dwarf maters seeded for fall grow trial in the tunnel.

Direct sowing some more yellow squash and zuchini to see if that flies since my summer crop crapped. Seemed to have pollination issues this year.

Gonna add some butternut and a canadian variant of butternut. Couldn't find my seeds for those two and had to re-order yesterday.

Planted some whiteacre peas mostly for nitrogen input since they are small and I don't have the room to plant enough for harvesting. "bush" pea. They've spent most of the summer twiddling their thumbs. Out of nowhere in mid-august they have sent out long runners everywhere like crazy. Spent lunch yesterday unwrapping them from the peppers and beating them back to their space. Those things have gone nuts now. And went from nothing to vibrant, huge, and healthy green in two weeks.
 
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#1,264
#1,264
GVF said:
Got dwarf maters seeded for fall grow trial in the tunnel.

Direct sowing some more yellow squash and zuchini to see if that flies since my summer crop crapped. Seemed to have pollination issues this year.

Gonna add some butternut and a canadian variant of butternut. Couldn't find my seeds for those two and had to re-order yesterday.

Planted some whiteacre peas mostly for nitrogen input since they are small and I don't have the room to plant enough for harvesting. "bush" pea. They've spent most of the summer twiddling their thumbs. Out of nowhere in mid-august they have sent out long runners everywhere like crazy. Spent lunch yesterday unwrapping them from the peppers and beating them back to their space. Those things have gone nuts now. And went from nothing to vibrant, huge, and healthy green in two weeks.
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How do you store your unused seeds?
 
#1,265
#1,265
walkenvol said:
How do you store your unused seeds?
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Not GVF but general practice is to store in a glass jar and keep away from direct sunlight. I know plenty of nerds who store unused seed in the fridge. It is actually best practice for plants with a short germination window (weeks to several months) like Amaryllids. As far as I know, all vegetables seeds are viable for at least a year. I used to work in plant production and we would regularly use 3-5 year old vegetable seed stored in paper bags inside of a fridge.
 
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#1,266
#1,266
Any of yall grow the ground cherry or cuca melon? Cuca melons are great even as an annual vine. Great summer snack. Probably not as well known up into Tennessee. Ground cherries have a rich history throughout the US so yall would have no troubles. Imagine a sweet tomatillo and you've got the ground cherry.
 
#1,267
#1,267
walkenvol said:
How do you store your unused seeds?
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I keep them in their original seed packaging. Indexed by veggie group in a small carboard box that's just the right size. And store them in the bottom of a cabinet in the "sun room" that is more shade than sun. And air conditioned. Except my green beans. They stay in the freezer in a mason jar.
 
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#1,268
#1,268
One of my store-bought pepper plants was labeled a red bell, but it’s not. It grew relatively tall, but produced no fruit until now - two small green oblong peppers that I harvested when patches of black appeared on the skin. These are thin skinned, about the size of a jalapeño, but no “heat.”

The plant is flowering, again. I’ll post pics of fruit in the future. Any ideas as to identifying this plant?
 
#1,269
#1,269
Tin Man said:
One of my store-bought pepper plants was labeled a red bell, but it’s not. It grew relatively tall, but produced no fruit until now - two small green oblong peppers that I harvested when patches of black appeared on the skin. These are thin skinned, about the size of a jalapeño, but no “heat.”

The plant is flowering, again. I’ll post pics of fruit in the future. Any ideas as to identifying this plant?
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Maybe an anemic Pablano. Or if lighter green possibly a Cubanelle. Serrano? Always thought them to be a bit milder than Jalapeno, contrary to articles that say serrano peppers can be a bit hotter. Serrano and Jalapeno would be somewhat easy to get confused. Untl you can get a better pic, Im going with Serrano. The only real difference is they are longer and skinnier than Jalapeno.
 
#1,270
#1,270
Got my tunnel frame up for my fall dwarf tomato plant trial. I seeded 3 Purple Reign. 3 Sweet Scarlet. And 2 Velvet Night Cherry. So far, one of each has sprouted. All 3 are fabulous tomatoes. The purple reign is one of the best flavored of all maters.

My direct re-sow of yellow squash and zuchini has sprouted. See how that develops. Really need to get Broccoli Rapini down. But, the space is now ready. Got butternuts seeded again.

This will be the extent of my first fall garden.
 
#1,271
#1,271
GVF said:
Maybe an anemic Pablano. Or if lighter green possibly a Cubanelle. Serrano? Always thought them to be a bit milder than Jalapeno, contrary to articles that say serrano peppers can be a bit hotter. Serrano and Jalapeno would be somewhat easy to get confused. Untl you can get a better pic, Im going with Serrano. The only real difference is they are longer and skinnier than Jalapeno.
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Your suggestion of a cubanelle strikes a chord. In my experience, Serrano peppers are a bit hotter than your average jalapeño.
 
#1,273
#1,273
Tin Man said:
One of my store-bought pepper plants was labeled a red bell, but it’s not. It grew relatively tall, but produced no fruit until now - two small green oblong peppers that I harvested when patches of black appeared on the skin. These are thin skinned, about the size of a jalapeño, but no “heat.”

The plant is flowering, again. I’ll post pics of fruit in the future. Any ideas as to identifying this plant?
Click to expand...
It could be a nodapeno.
 
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