all Beefsteak tomatoes, worst year I ever had Didn't get any peppers too.

[Gary Fowler]

Blight was bad for every thing this year, it even got to my trees and flowers. Had a couple of pear trees killed and I think cherry trees will not come back next year. Sprayed with all kinds of fungicide to no avail. I think what dies will just be gone as far as trees and shrubs. Everyone around he has the black mold that is killing of every thing except pines, sweetgum, oaks and cedars which it doesn't seem to bother. Cherry, willow, crepe myrtle, most vegetables and flowers are effected to some degree.

 

[mapper]

Tomatoes like a fairly sweet soil, if soil is acid calcium is needed to prevent blossom end rot. I have found that some varieties are more susceptible than others, San Marzano is the worst one that I raise.
I have found that a egg, garlic and Tabasco sauce mixture is a very effective deer repellent. It is fairly rain resistant and after a day or so does not smell. A gallon of the stuff at the big box store will set you back about $20, make it yourself and it costs $8-$10 for enough to last all summer. I mix it up in a two gallon bucket, 3 dozen eggs, a handful of garlic and a cup or so of Tabasco sauce. Run it in a blender till liquefied, let sit for a few days to ripen up a bit. Mix 2:1 water:egg mix. I use a pump sprayer to apply, when I pour the egg mix into the sprayer tank I place cheese cloth across the top to catch any chunks. Clean the sprayer after use, it gets pretty nasty if not.

 

[coffeeman]

What's the best way?

Buy it in season, cheap, from someone else that is better at gardening than you and has lots of time.

Our Tomatoes didn't do to bad. Started with a big plant from a store and that gave us a head start. Otherwise, our season is too short.

Potatoes (German Butter Balls) pretty small in size and number.

Peas and carrots , dismal!

Good advice. However, can I give up? Through high school and a couple years past, I planted about 8-10 acres of sweet corn, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes etc. All sold on a busy highway in front of my Dad's tavern. It was Dad's tractor & equipment, but it was my project. All profits were mine. Starting about July 4 my summer at the pool was no longer. But, going out in evening was great. I was living large. All the spending $$$ I needed. I had so many tomatoes, one day a few friends were at my place, and we had a knock down drag out tomato fight. Didn't hurt bottom line sales at all, had lots tomatoes. Had a Farmall H & equipment. I liked farming, especially because profits mine.

Bottom line: I can't believe that I can't grow a decent tomato & pepper crop. Is it the principle of the thing?? A close friend says, "The principle of the the thing doesn't count" if your losing money or time. There IS VALUE in the fun of it. Giant Eagle is my local food store and that sounds like a good place to pick my vegetables. Icing on cake; I earn gasoline credits for shopping there.

Decisions....decisions....... Coffeeman

 

[OldMcDonald]

Hi all
I planted a flat of tomatoes, Beefsteak. I picked those because an old name and I remembered them to be big & meaty. I gat so many that seemed to rot before ripe, because of deep cracks at the stem of tomato. Between the animals and and rot or blight not a good year. Also, Planted bunch of peppers . Thin skin , small and didn't do any good. Very small. Second year for garden and didn't do good. Used planting soil when planting. Same stuff in pepper hole. Watered good. spread some fertilizer in wide circle around plants. Cucumber plants did great.
2 plants gave us more than we needed .

SO.. in about a 100 words or less, whats the best way to do a garden; tomatoes, peppers cukes & squash

Cheers

No consolation to you, and I am a long way away, but I had exactly the same problem this year with tomatoes - cracks. Also two cucumber plants produced far more than we could use. I have been gardening (as well as farming) for over 60 years and I do not know the reason for either the bad tomato problem, or the excessive number of cucumbers. Peppers were fine and squash were almost as productive as the cucumbers. Again no explanation.

Some research has led me to the idea that some varieties are worse than others for cracking, and the level of cracking is variable in different localities. I will try a couple of F1 hybrid tomatoes next year and see what happens.