Gardening

[Bartcephus]

Harvesting from the garden. Well, I have more tomatoes than I can shake a stick at. Squash did awesome. The habenero peppers are real producers. Getting to harvest some okra. Potatoes did so well I planted another row this past week end. Planted some zuccini squash, canalope, watermelon, pumpkin, bell pepper, hot peppers just to see if I can get a second crop. Onions were all used up in May. Several of my first planting of peppers did not make it. My peas, beans and corn all failed from the spring planting. I don't really know what went wrong. My cukes have died off save one plant and it is finally producing. But my most proud achievement is I got to harvest a WATERMELON. Yahoo!!!! First time I ever harvested a watermelon. Oh and so sweet, right off the vine. Another week and I'll get a couple of more! The vine is going EVERYWHERE and has little watermelon all over it. Just amazing. I just love this stuff! Oh, last year the fruit trees didn't produce, (well, the fig tree produced so late and then they got a frost and fell.) The peach and plum trees didn't produce though. I pruned them back this year and they were loaded with fruit.... until sometime in the last week or two POOF! they all disappeared. No seeds on the ground or other evidence. Can't figure what happened there either. Folks this is just awesome... Tractor has made gardening fun.

 

[lakngulf]

Folks this is just awesome... Tractor has made gardening fun.

Good job Bartcephus, sounds like some "producing" going on. It is awesome to see those little seed turn into some much to eat, and GOOD eating. I love to look at my plate and see red tomatoes, yellow squash, green cucumbers, and the colors just keep on coming.

You must have some good open space to give watermelons a try. Glad they turned out so well for you.

 

[jinman]

Bart, I haven't got watermelons yet, but I've had three super-sweet cantaloupes so far and I should pick three more today. I would have another nice one, but a darn possum got it. I caught him the next night in my trap, so he is no longer a problem.

My blackeyes and purple hull peas failed twice (less than 30% germinated) and I finally just bought a bag of peas from Walmart and planted them. They are growing like crazy and I'm picking lots of peas. My wife wants me to plant twice as many next year because we love shelling peas while watching TV and then she blanches them and freezes them. We eat peas from our garden all winter long.

Watermelons sure do take up lots of space. My dad used to have us plant watermelons in hills 10' apart in both directions. Then, as they grew, we'd pull the vines in line and he would plow between the hills with a tractor in one direction. Then, we'd move the runners the other way and he'd plow across the field. Once or twice and the plants had so many big melons on them that you couldn't move them around anymore. We had a 2-arce spot to grow watermelons and we sold a bunch off of that sandy spot in Denton.

 

[Bartcephus]

Jim,

My peas and beans germinated as I had 12" high little plants for a bit. Grass caught up and no more beans or peas. Seemed like they just disappeared. Could be my poor cultivation efforts there. Corn did not germinate well at all. Out of three rows about 100' long, I only had three short lived stalks come up.

I always wondered why people didn't plant the dried beans and peas they put on the table. Now I'm going to have to try that too. LOL I'm running out of dirt though. I have no irrigation system set in place, I am, at the mercy of nature.

Regards,

Bart

 

[jinman]

I always wondered why people didn't plant the dried beans and peas they put on the table. Now I'm going to have to try that too.

Bart, a few years ago, I planted four 60' rows of pinto beans right out of the bag off the Walmart shelf and they produced like crazy. I made a chicken wire trellis for them to grow on between rows. I had so many beans that I was begging people to take them. I finally just gave up and let them dry on the vines. The cooked ones had much more taste than the ones in the store and the young pods could easily be snapped for green beans. So far, I've had nothing but good luck with my "grocery aisle seeds."