Very early in June my garden

[b54red]

Below are some pics taken yesterday before the diseases make everything look bad.

The first two pictures show the beds with my grafted tomato plants that were set out on March 17th in the first bed and April 1 in the second bed. I've already lost a lot of lower foliage to diseases as you can see; but it is really better than most years. The grafts have really made a difference so far this year with a huge lessening in fusarium.

3rd are my four squash plants that are really pumping them out right now.

4th are my beans which are recovering from losing a lot of leaves to Gray Mold but are still producing well.

5th is my bed with the bulk of my peppers in it. They are far behind this time last year.

6th is a view showing my cucumbers growing at the ends of the beds. Many of them got hit by Gray Mold as well.

7th is a bed with a mix of grafted tomatoes and some peppers planted between the middle of April and the middle of May.

The rest are just pictures of various tomatoes showing some fruit set.

Bill

[greyghost]

Despite the problems you're having, Bill, they really look beautiful. Hope you
have a great harvest. Darlene

[BucksCountyGirl]

Looking really nice so far!

[RebelRidin]

Thank you for sharing. I always like to see others peoples success and yours is looking very nice indeed.

[LDx4]

Bill,

Everything looks great! Your efforts to combat all the disease look like they're working!

Lyn

[whistech]

Bill, That is a beautiful garden. I can see that a lot of hard work went into it. Are the squash you are growing the early yellow zucchini? I grew twp plants of them this tear and they were the deepest yellow color I have ever seen. They produced good until the squash vine borers found them.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by whistech

Bill, That is a beautiful garden. I can see that a lot of hard work went into it. Are the squash you are growing the early yellow zucchini? I grew twp plants of them this tear and they were the deepest yellow color I have ever seen. They produced good until the squash vine borers found them.

They are a variety called Butter Bar that is sold by Burpees. I do have one green zucchini at the end of the row and 3 of the Butter Bars. I have been growing them for over 15 years and they are usually amazingly productive and hearty. Everyone in the family is usually sick of squash by the time the vine borers do their dirty deed. I keep the lower stems dusted with Sevin and it really helps keep them from getting started. Of course eventually they always find a way to get into the squash vines.

Bill

[Dewayne mater]

Bill - that is tremendous fruit set! Looking great. Are those trusses on grafted plants and what varieties are shown? Is that normal for you to have that type of clusters of fruit set? Jealous!

D M

[jerryinfla]

Nice, really, really nice Bill! That's an interesting way to support your beans -- I think I'm going to try it myself.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Bill - that is tremendous fruit set! Looking great. Are those trusses on grafted plants and what varieties are shown? Is that normal for you to have that type of clusters of fruit set? Jealous!

D M

This is not normal for my garden. I have had individual plants set a lot of fruit some seasons but never so many different varieties with so much fruit. Many varieties that rarely make a tomato are loaded up this year.

All I planted this year were grafted plants. I think the first picture of fruit is a Giant Belgium graft, the second is a Delicious graft and the third is a Crynkovik Yugoslavian. The above mentioned varieties have been worse than stingy in the past. I think some of the credit must go to the grafting because at the very least it has delayed fusarium which is a real bummer when it comes to fruit set. I also think keeping them regularly watered and regularly feed with Texas Tomato Food has been a huge factor. I have been feeding them every week since they went out with TTF and usually having to water in between. I experimented with my fall tomatoes last year feeding them every week til the ripe fruit stage and I had a good fruit set despite late summer heat. The only problem I had was finding a food source that could be delivered in a more exacting way. I found it hard to tell if I was giving the plants too much or not enough with the soluble fertilizers. I now use a calibrated hose end sprayer and give the ground under them a thorough soaking with my sprayer set at slightly less than the recommended amount per gallon. Each plant is probably getting several gallons of lightly fertilized water a week now that they are larger and so far they have liked the pampering.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by jerryinfla

Nice, really, really nice Bill! That's an interesting way to support your beans -- I think I'm going to try it myself.

Jerry it makes picking so much easier and the vines stay out of the dirt as well as most of the beans. I have the wire ties just tight enough on the vertical conduit pieces that I can move them up or down as needed but they will stay where I set them. As the beans get taller I just raise the crossbar.

Bill

[kath]

Wow- everything looks great, Bill- thanks for the peek into your garden. You've got so many beautiful tomatoes- glad to hear you're having such a good year so far.

kath

[tjg911]

despite all the heat, humidity, bugs and soil diseases bill all your plants look so healthy! lots of hard work, don't we all know!

tom

[aclum]

Hi Bill,

Ditto to what everybody else has said!! Things look great and it's wonderful that the grafting seems to have paid off so well. I know how hard you worked at it!

Actually your garden reminds me of my own quite a bit - lots of conduit, zip ties, dirt paths, 6" raised beds, string trellising, etc. Feels quite "homey" to me <g>.

Anyway, congrats on your success! Hope you can continue to hold off the fusarium, etc.

Anne

[mikej]

Yes they all do look great. I also like the idea of the conduit to hold up the beans. I grow conk peas and am planning on planting some pink-eye purple hull in mid-August. I think I will brace them up like that. What do you use on the ends of the conduit that you can raise them as they grow?