re: 2023 Spring Garden Thread

Fall tomato cuttings started!



Now that the tomatoes are pulled and out of the way, am I supposed to do anything with these purple hulls? Or do they just flop over on themselves?

I’m not sure. I just read that it takes weeks to root so I guess by the time they root and are transplanted to pots, hopefully it’s cool enough (September maybe)

Nice… I guess then depending on how quickly they root I’ll have to keep an eye on where I put them out. If I cut them too early there’s always next year.

Pumpkin and watermelon vines. I can barely walk around them.


Will this be the first pumpkin of the year?



I’ve been going out every couple of days with a pair of tweezers and plucking off all of the SVB eggs I can find. I know I will never get all of them, so I can’t tell if they are still coming around laying or if it eggs I missed before. But, there seems to be fewer and fewer each time. The vines are rooting at the nodes so that should help. All I can do is keep spraying and plucking off eggs as I find them and hope for the best. It worked last year.

We got some much needed rain yesterday. Right before the rain came it was a bit cooler so I got as much work done as I can doing some cleanup. I pulled the eggplant and remaining tomatoes, and started doing some weeding. Also went out this morning before church. Still got a lot of work to do. I really neglected the garden over the past couple of months cause we’ve been so busy. So I’m gonna keep working at it to whip it back into shape.

Wow the pumpkin vines… I planted my seeds a few weeks ago and I just can’t get them to grow past having a few true leaves. Had the same problem with squash in the spring… they just wouldn’t grow.

Fertilizing with 1/4 strength miracle grow every 2 weeks. Any idea why they aren’t growing?

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Have you side dressed with any fertilizer? That and some light pruning may help.

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I fertilized them a second time last week. Also pruned the lower branches yesterday. I'm wondering if I should "cull" peppers as well? The Big Jims on this plant turn red when they aren't much bigger than a jalapeno, now. The first group of them that I picked were about 8" long.

I thought maybe it was because they are in a pot but the plants I have in the ground are doing the same thing.

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Wow the pumpkin vines… I planted my seeds a few weeks ago and I just can’t get them to grow past having a few true leaves. Had the same problem with squash in the spring… they just wouldn’t grow.

Fertilizing with 1/4 strength miracle grow every 2 weeks. Any idea why they aren’t growing?

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What varitety are you growing? I'm not sure what could be your issue. I couldn't get butternut squash to grow worth a darn this spring, but the pumpkins that I put in the same spot are blowing and going.

I'm growing 3 varieties. 2 extra large varieties (Captain Jack and Gold Medal), and a smaller one (sugar pie). The sugar pie variety is the one in the foreground in the picture and is the one with the female flower with the bee. It is growing like crazy! The 2 large varieties are struggling a little more in this heat. But they are growing ok. I grew Connecticut Field last year and they were similar. Struggled a little bit in the heat, but they eventually got going.

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I fertilized them a second time last week. Also pruned the lower branches yesterday. I'm wondering if I should "cull" peppers as well? The Big Jims on this plant turn red when they aren't much bigger than a jalapeno, now. The first group of them that I picked were about 8" long.

I thought maybe it was because they are in a pot but the plants I have in the ground are doing the same thing.

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I think a lot of the times the first set of fruit are larger because they mostly grow on the main stem. The fruit on lateral branches tend to be smaller. Maybe some strategic picking of some of the smaller peppers might help the rest gain some size.

Also try feeding them weekly with a water soluble fetilizer. Something with higher P & K and low N.

I did not know you could cut tomatoes and start them that way.
I assume they need some sunlight to help them out while they sit in the water. Are you putting anything in the water to supplement root growth?

My Husky Cherry and Grape tomatoes are still pumping out tons of tomatoes in this SLA heat. They just won't stop. I thought they would have died by now. They cherry tomato plant is massive. I had to cut the top off when it got to about 6' tall and all it did was start spilling over on all sides. It's like a gigantic bush now.

Cleaned out my garden this past weekend. I want to plant something. Is there anything that I can plant right now?

Also, anyone ever do spinach? How does that work out?

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Cleaned out my garden this past weekend. I want to plant something. Is there anything that I can plant right now?

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Not spinach
I have sweet potatoes, okra, eggplant, and Butternut squash going in a summer garden.