re: 2024 Spring Garden Thread

Doesn't look like ill have many tomatoes this year other than cherries. Plants are growing and blossoming like crazy but not setting fruit.

The hotter it gets the more tomatoes will struggle and be more susceptible to disease, fungus, and insects. I fight blight at our place. I think I’ll have to move my tomato row next year to try and get away from it.

I feel the fruitless pain. Haven’t picked a single fruit this year. Cucumbers made tons of flowers but no pollinators. Started hand pollinating. Tomatoes took forever to flower for some reason. I have flowers but not sure if they’ll produce yet. Some flowers fell and it looks like there is a tiny ball in there so I’m still hopeful. I may pick up a 30% shade cloth to throw out to keep the sun off them a bit.

Also had 4 green bean plants and not a single green bean was grown. Pulled three yesterday because they looked diseased after the last 3 days of rain and I have one left that looks healthy but not a single flower after a month of growth

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Neem doesn't work for every insect. Use BT for worms/caterpillars

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Got ya. At this point I'm not worried about having an "organic" garden, so I'd freaking pump them with pesticides at this point if it's what it took to get me some veggies

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Don't give up. Gardening has a learning curve for sure. Once you know how to handle certain problems, it'll become easier to deal with them

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I had a good feeling this year, thinking I recognized where I went wrong last year, at least in the biggest area, but it's just as bad this year. I was pretty confident I had my soil right this year as well, but my plants seriously will not grow, much less produce. It's so frustrating.

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A few years back, some goober on the OT said growing veggies was as simple as planting a seed and letting it grow. If only.

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So he's never gardened

Next year I'm just going to have to suck it up and do an in ground. I just will have to redo my sprinkler system so I was trying to have to avoid that expense.

Anybody planting anything right now? I might as well pull up all my banana peppers, they are just taking up space looking like baby stalks with no leaves It's pitiful.

I haven’t been out of town. But I may as well have been lately. Been so busy at work that I’ve pretty much neglected the garden the past few weeks. Last week I found a little time one afternoon to make some pickles with the cucumbers. Made 7 quarts so far. Yesterday afternoon I managed to pick a few things and finally cleaned up the cured onions.

Squirrels for me

This heat is doing a number on the tomatoes and green beans. They are fading fast. Our peppers and squash haven’t done worth a damn this year so far. Weeds have gotten pretty bad this last 2 weeks. Gonna sweat through my clothes early on Saturday trying to knock them back.

What kind of apples are those? Always thought about planting an apple tree but never really looked into to what it takes to grow one in LA. I also like the bee boxes, you build them or buy them? I may have to get a set of my own since I haven’t seen pollinators the last two years. I also don’t know what all goes into beekeeping though.

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What kind of apples are those? Always thought about planting an apple tree but never really looked into to what it takes to grow one in LA.

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It is a variety called Winter Banana that I got from Stark Bro's. I had originally gotten a Cinnamon Spice at the same time for pollination but that one had a real tough time with the S. LA weather. It almost died the first year from apple rust and never could get going after that. The only year it bloomed was year 2 so I took it out. I was going to take this one out too but I really don't have anything else I want to plant so I'll let it go for now. I'll have to make a final decision this year on it though because Laura gave it a nice lean year 1 so if it stays, it needs to be corrected.

Apples take a lot of work especially in mild, humid climates. Apple rust can be a big problem along with some other diseases. If I had to do it over again, I would have at least gone with 1 variety more common down here like Anna or Dorsett Golden. I think if I would start fertilizing and spraying routinely, along with pairing it with another earlier flowering variety, I would have a lot more success. I'm not trying to kill myself over a handful of apples each year though. I would rather be more hands off and if it doesn't work out, move on to the next idea.

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I also like the bee boxes, you build them or buy them? I may have to get a set of my own since I haven’t seen pollinators the last two years. I also don’t know what all goes into beekeeping though.

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Thanks. Most of the boxes were actually gifts from and uncle and aunt/godmother. My uncle was big into bees until he developed an allergic reaction. His last time in a hive was actually my first time. One somehow stung him on the chin through his veil and his face and neck swelled to the point he thought he needed to go to the hospital.

The light colored boxes were some of his original gear he gave me when I started out and he was downsizing. The LSU colored ones are some he sanded down and repainted as a gift. The lighter brown was a gift from my parents and the dark brown is the only one I have bought. I wanted to try out a stain I found that is supposed to last a long time.

I love beekeeping. Watching them work and tracking their progress is extremely interesting and honey is just a byproduct (for me). There are a lot of good sources out there on beekeeping. I read up on it for about 2 years before making the plunge and don't regret it. The Backyard Beekeeper was one I found very helpful. Beesource.com was very useful since I could read about other peoples' experiences and get different perspectives.