Philadelphia area gardening thread

[Jonnyhat]

Stump of the World
Wisconsin 55
Paul Robeson
Ron's carbon copy
Maglia Rosa
Yellow Brandywine
Brandywine Sudduth
Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues
Cherokee Purple Black
P20
Russian Apple Tree
Coustralee
1884
Valencia
Raspberry Giant
Siberian
Pink Sweet
Sophie's Choice
Rozovyi Myod
Big Rainbow
Tidwell German
Delicious
MOYA
Black and Brown Boar
Liz Birt
Black Krim
Isis Candy
Pinky Blast
Sungold
Dancing with Smurfs
Brandywine from Croatia
Pink Berkley tie dye

[Jonnyhat]

bump for the Philly thread, everyone make it through the thunderstorms unscathed?

[PhilaGardener]

This evening's storms seemed to pass South of us and clipped DE. How did you do?

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Jonnyhat

Stump of the World
Wisconsin 55
Paul Robeson
Ron's carbon copy
Maglia Rosa
Yellow Brandywine
Brandywine Sudduth
Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blues
Cherokee Purple Black
P20
Russian Apple Tree
Coustralee
1884
Valencia
Raspberry Giant
Siberian
Pink Sweet
Sophie's Choice
Rozovyi Myod
Big Rainbow
Tidwell German
Delicious
MOYA
Black and Brown Boar
Liz Birt
Black Krim
Isis Candy
Pinky Blast
Sungold
Dancing with Smurfs
Brandywine from Croatia
Pink Berkley tie dye

Johnny thats a really nice list. I've grown quite a few of those but there are many that are on my future grow list. Good luck with all of those!

Storms werent too bad here. Everything survived unscathed.

How did yours do?

Ginny

Ginny

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[PhilaGardener]

Today's Noontime front tore through here and left a lot of trees down and power out. My garden was blown all over; the peas in particular took a hit at their peak. Seems like one thing after another this year.

[Jonnyhat]

i staked everything really well with regards to my tomatoes, my Broccoli took a little hit but will survive... worst was my potatoes but i think they are just bent not broken. the pros and cons of having a fence line with 40+ ft Silver Maple, great wind protection... too much sun protection

[PA Wolf]

My area (Harrisburg) got hammered. A couple tomatoes wilted a little but have since rebounded. My cowhorn pepper is dead I believe. Ready for a few days of warm sun.

[gorbelly]

Hi Ginny,

I'm gardening in the burbs right outside Philly. This is my second year gardening here, but I grew up across the river in south NJ, where we always had a vegetable garden and grew tomatoes. The clay/loam soil holds moisture well but doesn't get swampy unless rain is extreme, and, though things can differ from place to place and yard to yard, it's generally pretty good in terms of mineral content. If we have normal rain patterns, BER is not usually a big issue. I always check to a depth of a few inches before watering, as the clay content can make soil on the surface look parched but even an inch or two down, it can still be nice and moist. Good mulch is hard to find around here. Straw is expensive and hard to get outside of Halloween time, pine straw is more of a southern thing, and garden centers and big box stores pretty mcuh only carry crappy dyed chipped hardwood mulch. So I usually just mulch with compost and leave it at that.

Early blight and septoria are very common around here, so preventative spraying for fungal disease is worth it. Powdery mildew on cucurbits is pretty much a guarantee as well. I haven't gardened here long enough to have problems with any soil disease.

Insect pests: stink bugs and various caterpillars where tomatoes are concerned. I haven't had big aphid or mite problems on my tomatoes, but have had aphid problems on some other plants and mealy bugs on beans, cucumber beetles and squash bugs on my cucurbits, and the slugs have been taking big chunks out of everything this year after a very wet period in May. I'm pretty sure slugs took out my burr gherkins last year by gnawing the stems to death. Caterpillars/loopers are a problem on brassicas, and flea beetles attack but don't really do serious damage to my eggplants. Leaf miners are ubiquitous. So far, I haven't had issues with squash vine borers.

Deer are thankfully not a problem where I am, but I deal with rabbits, and squirrels in particular. New to my yard this year: chipmunks. A big old family of them. They will probably end up being a problem once things start coming ripe, but they sure are cute and very industrious in the meantime. Last year, I had voles, which are the worst, but I think the chipmunks may have kicked them out, and I'll take a chipmunk over a vole any day. This year, we seem to have an explosion in the rabbit population. Fortunately, I'm not one of these people that needs a flawless lawn, and the rabbits seem to prefer the clover on the lawn to anything in the beds. So far. We have tons of bird life, but while they make it almost impossible to harvest any kind of berry without ugly bird netting everywhere, they haven't bothered my tomatoes, and they eat a lot of bugs. I've also had skunks and foxes (!) visit the yard, but I don't consider them problematic.

Good luck! I hope we get a good season so that you can enjoy your Philly gardening experience. I was worried after that cold, wet stretch in May followed by the extreme early heat, but it looks like things have leveled out a bit. Anything that likes moderate/cool weather bolted very early this year, but maybe the tomatoes will be good and make up for it!

[Jonnyhat]

of the 43 plants I have at home 11 have tomatoes!! Magila Rosa is the furthest along

in me secondary garden I staked 50 of the 70 plus tomato plants I have growing today. my arm hurts.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Hi Ginny,

I'm gardening in the burbs right outside Philly. This is my second year gardening here, but I grew up across the river in south NJ, where we always had a vegetable garden and grew tomatoes. The clay/loam soil holds moisture well but doesn't get swampy unless rain is extreme, and, though things can differ from place to place and yard to yard, it's generally pretty good in terms of mineral content. If we have normal rain patterns, BER is not usually a big issue. I always check to a depth of a few inches before watering, as the clay content can make soil on the surface look parched but even an inch or two down, it can still be nice and moist. Good mulch is hard to find around here. Straw is expensive and hard to get outside of Halloween time, pine straw is more of a southern thing, and garden centers and big box stores pretty mcuh only carry crappy dyed chipped hardwood mulch. So I usually just mulch with compost and leave it at that.

Early blight and septoria are very common around here, so preventative spraying for fungal disease is worth it. Powdery mildew on cucurbits is pretty much a guarantee as well. I haven't gardened here long enough to have problems with any soil disease.

Insect pests: stink bugs and various caterpillars where tomatoes are concerned. I haven't had big aphid or mite problems on my tomatoes, but have had aphid problems on some other plants and mealy bugs on beans, cucumber beetles and squash bugs on my cucurbits, and the slugs have been taking big chunks out of everything this year after a very wet period in May. I'm pretty sure slugs took out my burr gherkins last year by gnawing the stems to death. Caterpillars/loopers are a problem on brassicas, and flea beetles attack but don't really do serious damage to my eggplants. Leaf miners are ubiquitous. So far, I haven't had issues with squash vine borers.

Deer are thankfully not a problem where I am, but I deal with rabbits, and squirrels in particular. New to my yard this year: chipmunks. A big old family of them. They will probably end up being a problem once things start coming ripe, but they sure are cute and very industrious in the meantime. Last year, I had voles, which are the worst, but I think the chipmunks may have kicked them out, and I'll take a chipmunk over a vole any day. This year, we seem to have an explosion in the rabbit population. Fortunately, I'm not one of these people that needs a flawless lawn, and the rabbits seem to prefer the clover on the lawn to anything in the beds. So far. We have tons of bird life, but while they make it almost impossible to harvest any kind of berry without ugly bird netting everywhere, they haven't bothered my tomatoes, and they eat a lot of bugs. I've also had skunks and foxes (!) visit the yard, but I don't consider them problematic.

Good luck! I hope we get a good season so that you can enjoy your Philly gardening experience. I was worried after that cold, wet stretch in May followed by the extreme early heat, but it looks like things have leveled out a bit. Anything that likes moderate/cool weather bolted very early this year, but maybe the tomatoes will be good and make up for it!

Gorbelly.... what great info!! I read it through three times already... :-) that was very interesting. Its amazing how many differences there are between Florida gardening and Philly gardening.

My plants in the pots are doing well. The ones in the ground are not growing as fast due to too much shade from the massive tree canopy surrounding most of the yard. It was worth a try though. Below are the ones in the pots which have been planted I think for two weeks.



Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Jonnyhat

of the 43 plants I have at home 11 have tomatoes!! Magila Rosa is the furthest along

in me secondary garden I staked 50 of the 70 plus tomato plants I have growing today. my arm hurts.

So exciting!!! I just love love love Blush and have always been meaning to try Maglis Rosa... :')

Did the potatoes and other things bounce back from the storms?

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by PA Wolf

My area (Harrisburg) got hammered. A couple tomatoes wilted a little but have since rebounded. My cowhorn pepper is dead I believe. Ready for a few days of warm sun.

PaA Wolf,

How is your garden doing now? Did tge cowhorn bounce back?

Ginny

[Jonnyhat]

the potatoes did bounce back with the exception of 2 that are still leaning. I need to hill them this week.

Worked outside for about 4 hours in this heat at my other garden, got everything staked and tied.

[PA Wolf]

Fishergurl, the cow horn is dead. My potted tomatoes are huge and have tomatoes now. Carrots are sprouting as of today. Red and green peppers doing quite well. Strawberry and watermelon going slow but look good. Edamame is growing fast. I'm excited to pick some fresh fruits/veggies with my kids, the garden is teaching me patience :-)

What are you growing down in sunny FL? Any citrus?

[Jonnyhat]

I pulled 4 heads of Broccoli today! and both purple and standard cauliflower are coming in nicely.