***2026 Garden Thread***

[AFM22]

Some glimpses of the garden right now

New tomato trellis is working great:

Close up of black krim. so ready for this to ripen :

Sweet alyssum by the carrots

Some nasturtium showing off its color:

Summer squash and cucumber establishing and hopefully fruiting soon:

Planted some popcorn a couple weeks ago

A zinnia hiding in the lilies

Harvested some radish and dill today

 

[Hydro2.0]

Some glimpses of the garden right now

New tomato trellis is working great:

Close up of black krim. so ready for this to ripen :

Sweet alyssum by the carrots

Some nasturtium showing off its color:

Summer squash and cucumber establishing and hopefully fruiting soon:

Planted some popcorn a couple weeks ago

A zinnia hiding in the lilies

Harvested some radish and dill today

The last few years my tomatoes have either split on the vine or turned black on the bottom. Any suggestions?

 

[AFM22]

The last few years my tomatoes have either split on the vine or turned black on the bottom. Any suggestions?

Both of those are inconsistent watering.

the splitting is from starting to ripen and then getting a big rainfall once the skin hardens.

the second is blossom end rot, which is from a lack of calcium. Once calcium is added to the plant it goes to a destination and stays there, like how calcium sticks to our bones. It won’t pull calcium from one part of the plant to move to another, it always comes from the soil.

99% of the time there’s enough calcium in the soil, but it doesn’t have water to transport it from the roots to the fruit.

to fix the BER add some bone meal to the soil every 2-3 weeks and just make sure it’s getting enough water throughout the summer

 

[AFM22]

These are the ferts I use on my tomato.
I do a small handful of the 4-6-5 every 2 weeks, and a small handful of the bone meal every 3-4 weeks. You can get both at any box store.

 

[Hydro2.0]

These are the ferts I use on my tomato.
I do a small handful of the 4-6-5 every 2 weeks, and a small handful of the bone meal every 3-4 weeks. You can get both at any box store.

View attachment 1342997
View attachment 1342999

Just sprinkle in the garden or do I need to till into the soil ?

 

[AFM22]

Just sprinkle in the garden or do I need to till into the soil ?

Rub it into the top half inch of the soil around the base of the plant with your fingers

 

[lonestar50]

My garden is way behind but the garlic is probably a few weeks away. Some of the leaves are starting to turn brown

 

[yoshi121374]

Starting to get tons of cherry tomatoes, and a few of my big tomatoes are finally turning. I'm kinda proud of my eggplants, and I just made some baba ganoush with them.

 

[Lindemann]

The last few years my tomatoes have either split on the vine or turned black on the bottom. Any suggestions?

I add a three finger pinch of this around the roots when I transplant my tomatoes. It significantly reduces blossom end rot.

 

[m.knox]

I add a three finger pinch of this around the roots when I transplant my tomatoes. It significantly reduces blossom end rot.

So far so good on my end. We have clay soil so I am constantly conditioning with Calcium Sulfate (gypsum) to get the calcium available. This year, I tried organic kelp + fish mixture from GS Plant Foods. Seems to be working really well.

Phucking BER is a drag. One year I lost almost 50% of my canners.

 

[AFM22]

View attachment 1348004View attachment 1348005

Starting to get tons of cherry tomatoes, and a few of my big tomatoes are finally turning. I'm kinda proud of my eggplants, and I just made some baba ganoush with them.

You must not have any toddlers. My cherry tomatoes don’t make it from the plant to the house.

 

[yoshi121374]

You must not have any toddlers. My cherry tomatoes don’t make it from the plant to the house.

No kids, the wife does love to snack on them though. I planted a ton of dwarf cherry tomato plants because we live snacking on them.

 

[AFM22]

No kids, the wife does love to snack on them though. I planted a ton of dwarf cherry tomato plants because we live snacking on them.

If you get too many, you can take about 30 of them, get a pan real hot add a little olive oil and blister them. Stir them till they start to break down. Drop the heat a little. Add some starchy pasta water from the noodles, then salt, basil, onion powder, and garlic and you can make a fast sauce in about 12 minutes

 

[AFM22]

Getting some nice color around the garden







And a bonus look at my beets about a week behind

 

[IA2OH]

I started some native rain gardens out of necessity in Ohio about 6 years ago now. Standing and puddled water and massive mosquito problem so bad I had 8 tiki torches around our deck when we moved in just to go outside. Solved the problem and 2 years ago stayed veggie gardening in a raised bed I built but still figuring out how to do it. Only thing I’ve done fairly successful was tomato’s then cucumbers but the cucumbers died suddenly both years after a small crop. This was earlier in the spring. Have 3 kids oldest turning 6 on Friday so haven’t had time yet to really dive into veggie crops like I should. But love the perennial and shrub etc gardening with native plants. Insane amounts of pollinators and fireflies in our yard now.

 

[IA2OH]

Here’s some more pics just now with the veggie garden


Here are some updated flower photos but it’s a green time will flush out more in fall with Asters and Coneflowers and such. Here is native Rosa Carolina supports 100+ species of native caterpillar super important.


Native Wild phlox
Native bee balm monarda fistulosa top pollinator attractant in the USA these are 6-8’ tall. Next to button bush and native sedges and big bluestem etc. Lots of native mints in there.

 

[AFM22]

Cucurbit flowers are so underrated.

 

[AFM22]

Pulled a pound of green beans today just in time for the 4th

 

[AFM22]

First summer squash and cucumber today