Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Veggies and Varmints. ROI and Rotting. (A Real-Life Gardening/Composting Thread)

Critch · 07-23-2019, 01:36 PM

As a little update on my growing:

1. Zucchini: Started well, got a few good zucchini but the plants just stopped and started looking bad. I'm not sure the constantly damp soil in the containers is good for zucchini so I'll try something different next year.

2. Beets: Wasnt expecting much, didnt get much. A whole container and 16 beet plants produced one reasonably sized/shaped beet.

3. Green Beans: Green beans produced pretty well, but at the end of the day they're just green beans, a fairly boring non-tasty harvest.

4. Parsnips: Waiting til the end of the month to pick them, but not expecting much. Plants look big and strong, but picked one and the parsnip was small. So probably a one-and-done experiment this year.

5. Brussel Sprouts: Looked great, grew well and then got hit by green cabbage worms. Just about fought them off and plants starting to look strong when the cross-striped cabbage worms turned up. Gave up on Brussel Sprouts for this year, the leaves were all stripped away, but I'll try again next year with all the plants under netting.

6. Peas: Easy, and you cant beat snap peas straight from the garden. Not a huge amount, but still a win.

7. Egg plants: Still growing and looking strong and flowering, but no actual egg plants yet.

8. Cucumber: Doing ok, we went for a slicing cucumber this year and last year's pickling was probably a better choice for snacking and regular picking.

9. Peppers: A good amount of yellow banana peppers for pickling, and a few snacking peppers. Peppers in pots on my deck just seem to do well, despite the occasional Hornworm. One of them took out half a plant and two whole peppers in two days, it was a huge thing when i found it.

10. Tomatoes - wide variety, not doing great but starting to load up with green cherry tomatoes. Most of them are in my raised garden and I think fertilizer problems and not enough direct light has held them back. I bought one big tomato variety by mistake, and it looks like it may be the star of the show if the green tomatoes actually turn.

Thats the original list, I've cleared out some (Peas, Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans) and planted some late seeds in their place. I know have a few varieties of lettuce, swiss chard, kale and spinach growing in their place.

So far not a great summer's haul, luckily we still have supermarkets near by because we'd be starving if we were going self-sufficient on my garden.

07-23-2019, 01:36 PM	#118
Critch lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Herndon, VA	As a little update on my growing: 1. Zucchini: Started well, got a few good zucchini but the plants just stopped and started looking bad. I'm not sure the constantly damp soil in the containers is good for zucchini so I'll try something different next year. 2. Beets: Wasnt expecting much, didnt get much. A whole container and 16 beet plants produced one reasonably sized/shaped beet. 3. Green Beans: Green beans produced pretty well, but at the end of the day they're just green beans, a fairly boring non-tasty harvest. 4. Parsnips: Waiting til the end of the month to pick them, but not expecting much. Plants look big and strong, but picked one and the parsnip was small. So probably a one-and-done experiment this year. 5. Brussel Sprouts: Looked great, grew well and then got hit by green cabbage worms. Just about fought them off and plants starting to look strong when the cross-striped cabbage worms turned up. Gave up on Brussel Sprouts for this year, the leaves were all stripped away, but I'll try again next year with all the plants under netting. 6. Peas: Easy, and you cant beat snap peas straight from the garden. Not a huge amount, but still a win. 7. Egg plants: Still growing and looking strong and flowering, but no actual egg plants yet. 8. Cucumber: Doing ok, we went for a slicing cucumber this year and last year's pickling was probably a better choice for snacking and regular picking. 9. Peppers: A good amount of yellow banana peppers for pickling, and a few snacking peppers. Peppers in pots on my deck just seem to do well, despite the occasional Hornworm. One of them took out half a plant and two whole peppers in two days, it was a huge thing when i found it. 10. Tomatoes - wide variety, not doing great but starting to load up with green cherry tomatoes. Most of them are in my raised garden and I think fertilizer problems and not enough direct light has held them back. I bought one big tomato variety by mistake, and it looks like it may be the star of the show if the green tomatoes actually turn. Thats the original list, I've cleared out some (Peas, Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans) and planted some late seeds in their place. I know have a few varieties of lettuce, swiss chard, kale and spinach growing in their place. So far not a great summer's haul, luckily we still have supermarkets near by because we'd be starving if we were going self-sufficient on my garden.