Philadelphia area gardening thread - Page 13

PA Wolf · June 3, 2017

How is the year treating everyone so far? Hopes for the year. New varieties? Pictures?

PhilaGardener · June 3, 2017

My tomatoes have never looked worse. They seem all stressed from the weather swings we have had this year. I am waiting to see what happened to them if this cold wet weather stops, but I don't think this is going to be a good tomato year. On the other hand, my peas are loving it!

gorbelly · June 3, 2017

The Maglia Rosas I put out early got set back quite a bit by herbicide from a careless neighbor. They're just starting to bloom now. The tomatoes I started late and put out late are doing much better. One of the cherries, Galina's, has flower buds.

My peas were also very set back by the herbicide, and I lost about 2/3 of the plants entirely (they just became hopelessly stunted and chlorotic). Strangely, my favas did not suffer more than some distorted foliage and are doing OK, but it's my first year growing them, and I have no idea whether their progress is on point.

I have lots of lettuce and radishes! Some peppers I put in early purchased as starts are flowering, and I'll be planting out my peppers and eggplants started from seed this week.

JRinPA · June 3, 2017

I'll probably be pulling the spinach this week to plant bush beans. It was great but is starting to bolt too much. Swiss chard has been nice. Peas look great - we have had a few meals and should have plenty enough to get sick of them. I planted A LOT. Beets are small...that hot April kind of hurt them I think. Romaine has been very nice. Eggplants and peppers are in for a couple weeks and look fine. I have them planted through black plastic and under AG19 and hoops. I planted a few feet of radishes, though they are probably getting too old now and will be too hot. I like eating a few. One type in a mix/medley was very mild, and I'd like to figure out what it was and plant them exclusively.

Our pear tree had a bumper crop last year. Very few flowers this year, and only in one section. That will be a small harvest this year. Between the big crop, dry summer last year, and hot February, I am not surprised at all.

Broccoli is starting to form heads, but I can't say if it is doing well. First time for me growing broccoli and cauliflower.

The only real problem we have had is slugs. Terrible terrible amounts of slugs in the raised beds I made last year. I had covered the beds with shredded leaves over the winter and I have to wonder if that is where they came from, but it seems like we are not the only ones around here with the issue. Everyone says slugs are terrible this year.

I have tomatoes in a few different spots. The cherry tomatoes that I do out front are planted in between two rows of peas. They are doing their best get up to the sun. Out back I have a row of heirlooms that are currently over black and under white. I think I have a Girl Girl's Weird Thing in there. That is new to me. At another spot I have some 2014 Lithium Sunset and Eva Purple Ball. I am looking forward to trying those. I may have some more first time plants that I can't think of right now.

My tomatoes look okay, good I guess, but haven't really taken off yet. All the plants at one of my spots seem to have an issue. The plants look great except that each one seems to have at least one branch where the end leaf looks burned. I just noticed this the other day and am still trying to figure what it could be. I don't know if that is nitrogen burn or what. I "potted up" my 2" soil blocks into a plastic cup of horse manure/shredded leaf/fish emulsion vermicompost about a week or two before I put them in the ground. I trench them all and the plants were broken down to the growing tip and just one or two branches, with about 12" of stem buried into a raised row of good finished yard waste compost with some epsom salt thrown in. Actually I think I threw some 10-10-10 in as well...might have been overkill!

I pulled one Mortgage Lifter from that group that had aphids. After a couple weeks of being planted, it had nice white 2" roots all along the stem, so there must be quite a large amount of nutrient uptake.

PA Wolf · June 4, 2017

Slugs have been terrible here in the Harrisburg area too

Adenn1 · June 6, 2017

My son's garden has been doing great. We had lettuce in early and have been enjoying it for the last several weeks...along with radishes. I got a good sized Stupice early and put it in a raised bed. We have a couple of small tomatoes turning and should be ready in a few days. Believe these will be my first tomato prior to the 4th of July. We planted a Sweet 100 and Sweet Million cherry's and both are setting fruit. Snap and snow peas are just now flowering, and the bush beans are pretty healthy. Will have to take some pictures.

gorbelly · June 6, 2017

Ditto on the slugs here in the Philly area. Really bad this year. Warm winter + wet May, I guess.

Aphids were bad earlier, much worse than in previous years, but once my thyme, alyssum, and sedum started blooming, the beneficial predators came in in droves, and the aphids are under control. Seeing lots of "little alligator" predator nymphs on my plants as well as tons of aphid mummies from parasitoids.

I've also noticed way more baby grasshoppers this year.

I think this is going to be a tough year pest-wise.

Adenn1 · June 8, 2017

Here are a few pictures of my son's garden. The first in the container is an Early Girl Bush. The second picture are snap peas, and the third bush beans (Provider and Contender) and some snow peas. Fourth picture is two ripe Stupice tomatoes and the last picture is some Sweet Million cherry tomatoes.

IMG_0670.jpg

Jonnyhat · June 11, 2017

i picked some sungolds yesterday here in downingtown, and my broccoli and cauliflower this year have been epic.

I went nuts and planted 137 tomato plants this year... bring on the heat!

I wrapped my one raised bed with plastic until Friday and with this crappy weather these plants are easily 3 weeks ahead of any just planted outside, my mortgage lifter plant is over 5ft

JRinPA · June 12, 2017

No, no, keep that heat back for a while. Today and tomorrow, okay, then it had better cool off. I have around 140 ft of peas that are beautiful and I want them to keep going for while!

gorbelly · June 12, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonnyhat

I went nuts and planted 137 tomato plants this year... bring on the heat!

Really? I'm concerned that the tomato flowers won't pollinate in this heat. I've been playing with planting out later instead of racing to plant out earlier, but my big concern is that we'd have another very hot summer and I'd get problems with fruit set right as the plants are blooming heavily.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRinPA

No, no, keep that heat back for a while. Today and tomorrow, okay, then it had better cool off. I have around 140 ft of peas that are beautiful and I want them to keep going for while!

Most of my peas died from the herbicide drift from my neighbor earlier this year, but I'd also like my remaining plants to produce a bit longer. There's really nothing like fresh snap peas straight from the garden. Yum!

June 6, 2017	#186
Adenn1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philly Posts: 559	My son's garden has been doing great. We had lettuce in early and have been enjoying it for the last several weeks...along with radishes. I got a good sized Stupice early and put it in a raised bed. We have a couple of small tomatoes turning and should be ready in a few days. Believe these will be my first tomato prior to the 4th of July. We planted a Sweet 100 and Sweet Million cherry's and both are setting fruit. Snap and snow peas are just now flowering, and the bush beans are pretty healthy. Will have to take some pictures. __________________ Mark

June 3, 2017	#181
PA Wolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: PA Posts: 46	How is the year treating everyone so far? Hopes for the year. New varieties? Pictures?

June 3, 2017	#182
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	My tomatoes have never looked worse. They seem all stressed from the weather swings we have had this year. I am waiting to see what happened to them if this cold wet weather stops, but I don't think this is going to be a good tomato year. On the other hand, my peas are loving it!

June 3, 2017	#183
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	The Maglia Rosas I put out early got set back quite a bit by herbicide from a careless neighbor. They're just starting to bloom now. The tomatoes I started late and put out late are doing much better. One of the cherries, Galina's, has flower buds. My peas were also very set back by the herbicide, and I lost about 2/3 of the plants entirely (they just became hopelessly stunted and chlorotic). Strangely, my favas did not suffer more than some distorted foliage and are doing OK, but it's my first year growing them, and I have no idea whether their progress is on point. I have lots of lettuce and radishes! Some peppers I put in early purchased as starts are flowering, and I'll be planting out my peppers and eggplants started from seed this week.

June 3, 2017	#184
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	I'll probably be pulling the spinach this week to plant bush beans. It was great but is starting to bolt too much. Swiss chard has been nice. Peas look great - we have had a few meals and should have plenty enough to get sick of them. I planted A LOT. Beets are small...that hot April kind of hurt them I think. Romaine has been very nice. Eggplants and peppers are in for a couple weeks and look fine. I have them planted through black plastic and under AG19 and hoops. I planted a few feet of radishes, though they are probably getting too old now and will be too hot. I like eating a few. One type in a mix/medley was very mild, and I'd like to figure out what it was and plant them exclusively. Our pear tree had a bumper crop last year. Very few flowers this year, and only in one section. That will be a small harvest this year. Between the big crop, dry summer last year, and hot February, I am not surprised at all. Broccoli is starting to form heads, but I can't say if it is doing well. First time for me growing broccoli and cauliflower. The only real problem we have had is slugs. Terrible terrible amounts of slugs in the raised beds I made last year. I had covered the beds with shredded leaves over the winter and I have to wonder if that is where they came from, but it seems like we are not the only ones around here with the issue. Everyone says slugs are terrible this year. I have tomatoes in a few different spots. The cherry tomatoes that I do out front are planted in between two rows of peas. They are doing their best get up to the sun. Out back I have a row of heirlooms that are currently over black and under white. I think I have a Girl Girl's Weird Thing in there. That is new to me. At another spot I have some 2014 Lithium Sunset and Eva Purple Ball. I am looking forward to trying those. I may have some more first time plants that I can't think of right now. My tomatoes look okay, good I guess, but haven't really taken off yet. All the plants at one of my spots seem to have an issue. The plants look great except that each one seems to have at least one branch where the end leaf looks burned. I just noticed this the other day and am still trying to figure what it could be. I don't know if that is nitrogen burn or what. I "potted up" my 2" soil blocks into a plastic cup of horse manure/shredded leaf/fish emulsion vermicompost about a week or two before I put them in the ground. I trench them all and the plants were broken down to the growing tip and just one or two branches, with about 12" of stem buried into a raised row of good finished yard waste compost with some epsom salt thrown in. Actually I think I threw some 10-10-10 in as well...might have been overkill! I pulled one Mortgage Lifter from that group that had aphids. After a couple weeks of being planted, it had nice white 2" roots all along the stem, so there must be quite a large amount of nutrient uptake.

June 4, 2017	#185
PA Wolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: PA Posts: 46	Slugs have been terrible here in the Harrisburg area too

June 6, 2017	#187
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Ditto on the slugs here in the Philly area. Really bad this year. Warm winter + wet May, I guess. Aphids were bad earlier, much worse than in previous years, but once my thyme, alyssum, and sedum started blooming, the beneficial predators came in in droves, and the aphids are under control. Seeing lots of "little alligator" predator nymphs on my plants as well as tons of aphid mummies from parasitoids. I've also noticed way more baby grasshoppers this year. I think this is going to be a tough year pest-wise.

June 11, 2017	#189
Jonnyhat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Downingtown, PA Posts: 337	i picked some sungolds yesterday here in downingtown, and my broccoli and cauliflower this year have been epic. I went nuts and planted 137 tomato plants this year... bring on the heat! I wrapped my one raised bed with plastic until Friday and with this crappy weather these plants are easily 3 weeks ahead of any just planted outside, my mortgage lifter plant is over 5ft

June 12, 2017	#190
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	No, no, keep that heat back for a while. Today and tomorrow, okay, then it had better cool off. I have around 140 ft of peas that are beautiful and I want them to keep going for while!