Bill's Garden in June

[b54red]

I am loving my new support system for my tomatoes and I am trying it in a limited way on my bell peppers. I just got my tomatoes lowered in my first planted bed so here are some pics of the plants after lowering. The bed has two rows of tomatoes and one row was leaned in one direction and the other row was leaned in the opposite in order to lower the plants without breaking or kinking the main stems.

Bill

[Mojave]

Really nice!

[b54red]

I thought it would be easier to not put all the pics in one post so here are some more. All of my 3 main tomato beds are exclusively grafted tomatoes. I have a couple of the hybrid rootstock that I am using growing along the fence just to see how they taste and grow. My beans are about finished and I still don't have any okra in the ground and may not even plant any this year. I am unable to keep up with what I do have planted.

1st- My second major tomato bed that was planted a couple of weeks later than the first.
2nd- First fruit to blush on a BHN 640 which is one of my rootstock varieties.
3rd- Second fruit to blush on a Crista hybrid which is another of my rootstock.
4th- The tomatoes on the fence row that are recovering from iron deficiency.
5th- Newest tomato bed planted on 5/31.
6th- My squash plants.
7th- My main bell pepper bed with drop lines for support.

Bill

[lexusnexus]

Your garden looks great. What is the plastic piece between the stem and tomato? The 5th picture from the bottom.

Dan

[b54red]

Originally Posted by lexusnexus

Your garden looks great. What is the plastic piece between the stem and tomato? The 5th picture from the bottom.

Dan

Those are J hooks. I'm trying them this year for the first time. The other plastic piece is called an arch and it is used to give the stem a gradual bend to help prevent kinking. I'm trying some of them for the first time this year. They both seem to work and they are fairly easy to use compared to tying up stems.

Bill

[RayR]

Garden looks great Bill. Where are all those Alabama diseases that you tell us about? Everything looks so clean and healthy.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by RayR

Garden looks great Bill. Where are all those Alabama diseases that you tell us about? Everything looks so clean and healthy.

Ray did you see the tomato plant in the last picture in the first post I made in this thread? It has no leaves for the first four feet that is why 3 whole clusters are hanging in the open. I cut off one to two five gallon buckets of foliage every day or two. I will say that the diseases haven't gotten critical yet because we have had a nice dry spell for a week with lower than normal humidity during the daytime. Right now our humidity is only 67% at noon when it is usually above 80% this time of the year in the middle of the day and near 100% all night nearly every night. The plants are always dripping wet in the mornings til about 10 o'clock. I also think my new support system is forcing me to be more vigilant with my pruning and the plants are remaining more open to air flow and sunlight which helps dry them faster and reduces disease buildup.
Just as soon as we get a week with daily rain or drizzles the disease will appear with a vengeance. I'm just hoping that I have gotten a good amount of fruit off of them before that happens.

Bill

[heirloomtomaguy]

What kind of squash is in your picture Bill?

[peppero]

LOOKS GOOD TO ME BILL.

JON

[b54red]

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

What kind of squash is in your picture Bill?

I don't know what kind it is but it isn't nearly as good as the variety I have grown for the past 10 years or so that for some reason Burpees quit carrying. The variety that was so productive and dependable was called Butter Bar hybrid and it was the most vigorous and productive squash I have ever grown. It was far superior to any type of yellow zucchini I have ever seen and I only really needed two or three plants to have all we could eat and give away. It would produce in a couple of days what this variety produces in a couple of weeks.

Bill

[heirloomtomaguy]

Originally Posted by b54red

I don't know what kind it is but it isn't nearly as good as the variety I have grown for the past 10 years or so that for some reason Burpees quit carrying. The variety that was so productive and dependable was called Butter Bar hybrid and it was the most vigorous and productive squash I have ever grown. It was far superior to any type of yellow zucchini I have ever seen and I only really needed two or three plants to have all we could eat and give away. It would produce in a couple of days what this variety produces in a couple of weeks.

Bill

Thanks. Reason i ask is that i planted 6 orange glo watermelon seeds in my garden and 5 plants are watermelons 1 plant looks exactly like yours. Im letting it grow to find out what i get. I hate it when you buy a seed packet and one of the seeds turns out to be different. They all looked alike when i planted them. Oh well the wait is on.

[BucksCountyGirl]

I don't know what kind it is but it isn't nearly as good as the variety I have grown for the past 10 years or so that for some reason Burpees quit carrying. The variety that was so productive and dependable was called Butter Bar hybrid and it was the most vigorous and productive squash I have ever grown. It was far superior to any type of yellow zucchini I have ever seen and I only really needed two or three plants to have all we could eat and give away.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Agreed, Bill! I was so sad they stopped carrying it. I'm having a hard time finding an acceptable substitute but the hunt is on...

[b54red]

Went out and watered again this morning at daylight and found to my delight that a few of my grafted plants are showing fruit with a little bit of blush on them. With the heat we are experiencing now I don't think it will be long til I am picking a good bit of fruit.
Of course that is dependent on the birds, squirrels and mice leaving me some. The squirrel population has exploded around here again and that has me worried but my pack of miniature dachshunds are more worried. They must have sore throats by now with all the useless barking they are doing every morning and afternoon as the squirrels dart from tree to tree well out of their reach. I guess hope springs eternal.

Bill

[b54red]

I started picking on the 19th finally but most were small or split. These are photos of the ones picked from the 19th through today except for the ones we ate and I did give a good bag to my dentist this afternoon. The greener ones needed picking because we have had several inches of rain in the past couple of days and I had a lot of split tomatoes a day before they were fully ripe. Two weeks without a drop of rain then 2 inches in less than 24 hrs is asking for trouble. Took these tonight on the back porch with my phone so they may not be too sharp.

[Brandon558]

Very nice... Everything looks great!