Thought I'd start off....

Well, another rainstorm passed us by. We were supposed to get an inch and a half to 2" and barely got 1/10". Drought conditions here..we really NEED that rain and it keeps going around us! It's been a tough year for alot of veggies.

We had some unexpected wild thunderstorms overnight! The rain was needed and welcome, although we're not in a drought this year.

I seeded some Corbaci sweet peppers today. Not a good year for tomatoes, for us humans anyway! The squirrels seemed to enjoy them.

Rain passed us by here yesterday too. Squirrels are enjoying tomatoes here also but fortunately we've got tomatoes coming out of our ears this year. Only one little lonely pickling cucumber though thanks to spotted cucumber beetles, striped cucumber beetles, & stinking squash bugs.

antsinmypants said:Rain passed us by here yesterday too. Squirrels are enjoying tomatoes here also but fortunately we've got tomatoes coming out of our ears this year. Only one little lonely pickling cucumber though thanks to spotted cucumber beetles, striped cucumber beetles, & stinking squash bugs.

I'm jealous! I'll be lucky if I get half the tomatoes I got last year

My Blue Beauty tomatoes were just about to ripen as the hurricane hit the coast, and where I live (North Alabama) it must've rained 3in in one day. All of those tomatoes cracked beyond what I thought was possible. Luckily, I moved all my seedlings and my dwarf lemon tree that is in a pot inside. My poor little lemon tree would've drowned!

Aw Sydney, that sucks! I'm so sorry!

I'm waiting for my tomatos to ripen, which they are doing so very slowly, but I have far from a bumper crop this year. Alot of other things were disappointing including squash of all things. So much for so much zuchini I had to beg people to take it. I was looking forward to trying a chocolate zuchini cake recipe I found. Oh, well..there's always next year. My swiss chard, eggplant and perpetual spinach seem to be the REAL winners this year. Critters ate other things including scarce tomatoes.

My herbs, kale, and beans are winners this year.... My hot peppers are doing well too.... But, my sweet peppers are barely holding their own. My cukes & melons were horrible, my winter squash all cross-pollinated and I have some weird hybrid of a honeynut squash and a fairytale pumpkin.... My sunflowers we're almost ready and then snapped from some sort of bug damage in the core.

Like I said before....

Cause 2020

vma4922 said:Aw Sydney, that sucks! I'm so sorry!

I'm waiting for my tomatos to ripen, which they are doing so very slowly, but I have far from a bumper crop this year. Alot of other things were disappointing including squash of all things. So much for so much zuchini I had to beg people to take it. I was looking forward to trying a chocolate zuchini cake recipe I found. Oh, well..there's always next year. My swiss chard, eggplant and perpetual spinach seem to be the REAL winners this year. Critters ate other things including scarce tomatoes.

Please share the chocolate zucchini cake reciepe!!

Have not tried it yet due to NO zuchini, but happy to share the link to the recipe:
(described as a cake-like brownie):

https://feelingfoodish.com/cho...

Bow that I think about it more, if anyone got my Honeynut Squash seeds from last year, you are getting a very vigorous plant, but that pesky open pollination created something different.... I'll know soon if it is better or just different, but just wanted that out there.

Since my Honeynut seem to have crossed with the fairytale pumpkin, would people be interested in those seeds?

No thanks. I don't have enough space for an experiment. I had a volunteer hybrid last year that gave me 35 pounds of something I would only eat in a famine. They are compost now. Some crosses produce great commercial hybrids. Hammer's seeds could be wonderful. I'll let someone else try them and tell us what I missed out on.

I'm posting some photos from the Papaver rhoeas mix I have listed here to give an idea of the color range.

Sorry to hear you guys are having rain troubles, from droughts to drowning plants, it sounds like this just wasn't a good year for gardening--how sad! Here's to a better 2021.

We didn't have a good year here, either, but I don't think I can blame the weather at all. Between old seeds, faulty irrigation, and no time for weeding, we really didn't get much this year. I am holding out hope that when I go harvest potatoes soon, they will have been successful. All of my garlic went to seed (so the garlic bulbs are too small to realistically harvest) but it is just as well since I don't have many other seeds to harvest this year. And, oddly, I had 4-5 zucchini plants growing out of a hill that I seeded twice and then gave up on because I didn't see anything growing for the longest time. Now I have weirdly-shaped little zucchinis growing out there that could be Dark Star or could be Black Beauty, hard to say which seeds took.

I've noticed a trend in most of my garden geoups this year. Beginners who started gardening because of the quarantine seem to have had amazing gardens, while veteran gardeners have struggled with even the basics. Just one more thing that covid messed up.

okieheart said:I've noticed a trend in most of my garden geoups this year. Beginners who started gardening because of the quarantine seem to have had amazing gardens, while veteran gardeners have struggled with even the basics. Just one more thing that covid messed up.

I didn't think about that, but it's true in my observations as well after you pointed it out

What's something you learned this year gardening?

For me, it was to manage my expectations in a small space. I'm not going to be able produce all the food I eat in a year in the space I have to grow. That was my goal when I started out this year, and I VERY quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. It was a year of letting go of expectations and just growing things because it's fun. I also learned to always overestimate the materials you need, whether it's soil, space, or anything else really. I truly enjoyed my experience (first time gardener!) and am so excited for next year

I learned never to take a good year for granted.... This year has been rough

learned to can, freeze and dehydrate in good years. This year the peach flowers all froze off, but we are finally using the peaches I home canned in 2016 when we had a crazy bumper crop. They taste even better than I remembered. Last year I dehydrated bushels of peppers. This is the year of the summer squash. I have just enough canned tomatoes from last year to make it through this winter, so I'm hoping for a tomato bumper crop next year. What I've realized is that I can grow enough food here to feed us, but we have to accept what grows, and live without the crops that fail. Today's new crop was "Forellenschluss" lettuce from seed swap seeds (thank you to whoever I got that from). It made a delicious salad.

DraDiana said: learned to can, freeze and dehydrate in good years. This year the peach flowers all froze off, but we are finally using the peaches I home canned in 2016 when we had a crazy bumper crop. They taste even better than I remembered. Last year I dehydrated bushels of peppers. This is the year of the summer squash. I have just enough canned tomatoes from last year to make it through this winter, so I'm hoping for a tomato bumper crop next year. What I've realized is that I can grow enough food here to feed us, but we have to accept what grows, and live without the crops that fail. Today's new crop was "Forellenschluss" lettuce from seed swap seeds (thank you to whoever I got that from). It made a delicious salad.

How are you preserving your summer squash?