Shadegardener said:Don't forget gutters. Even if they're free of debris, water can sometimes pool in there.

Thanks for the reminder; I hadn't made it to the gutters yet.

Summer Squash Patch in my backyard. I have 9 different varieties of summer squash and zucchini growing there. Forgot to count how many squash plants. But there are many little fruits set already. Can't wait for picking time!

Anyway, this spring I moved daylilies from there to make room for the expended squash patch. Got enough room to plant and didn't fininsh moving daylilies. So am now back to the moving daylilies so that next year I have this as a veggie garden again. Daylilies moving elsewhere.

Beans will take a rest and then have another flush. I can't let it go to that because I have bean beetles so badly every year, they eat all the leaves then start on the beans so I end up yanking mine out and planting another crop in mid Aug., hopefully after they have done their cycle. This fall I am going to cover my beans with floating row covers since I read beans don't need pollinators. It's worth a try. I don't know about squash. I'd yank the cukes too, but you could possibly plant another crop in a few weeks?

We finally got to have the Sugar Snap Peas as a vegetable with dinner. First time they were post desert and second time it was raining too hard to pick more than 20 so they went into a salad. They were wonderful.

pirl said:We finally got to have the Sugar Snap Peas as a vegetable with dinner. First time they were post desert and second time it was raining too hard to pick more than 20 so they went into a salad. They were wonderful.

I didn't grow any this spring. But when I do they rarely get inside to be cooked. Not that I don't like them stir fried as I do. But I just eat them raw straight off the vine. Munch away.

Me, too. That's why the salad just got 20 of them!

Ya' know. "Summer and Fall Vegetable Gardens" is just plain depressing. We have hardly had summer, much less fall. Yes, I know after June 21 we are heading down hill, but really.... the garden flowers and vegies are burgeoning. To contemplate fall is beyond depressing.

I have planted bok choy seeds again. Trying for another crop. I found a wonderful recipe for bok choy and shallots. I 'modified' it from a fresh salad to a stir fry with round steak cut paper thing and rice. We will modify it again as we love the dressing. I blanched and froze broccoli for the first time. Not sure what I will use it for but just sayin'. Next need to try blanching and freezing spinach. I need more seeds and will hope for another crop to try blanching and freezing that.

Re: snow peas - I've heard that one can cut them back after the spring flush and that they'll continue to grow, producing more. Has anyone tried this? Always sad to see them go.♠

Thank you so much, Sandy! I'll give it a try.

Shadegardener said:Re: snow peas - I've heard that one can cut them back after the spring flush and that they'll continue to grow, producing more. Has anyone tried this? Always sad to see them go.♠

Cindy, my plants are always pretty dead looking by then; I've never tried cutting them back, I just pull them out to make room for something else. Might be worth a try, though... especially in a cool-weather summer.

Mary -- I totally agree about not wanting to think about fall... so far I think we've had 2 days that could have been mistaken for summer

Arlene (Pirl) -- you're welcome... but I don't actually know what it was that I said

Sorry! I meant Cindy but typed Sandy!

Ideally, garlic plants should go through a two-week dry period before harvesting. In my experience, rain/watering much during those last two weeks not only result in smaller blulbs, but those cloves continue to expand during the two-week "curing" period and will split the capsule/casing. There's nothing you can do about rain but you can control watering during those last couple of weeks.

If you have hardneck, the leaf stems will remain stiff and upright, and you have to go by the browning of the lower leaves. When half of the lower leaves have browned, that is the time to begin harvest. With softnecks and Creoles, the stems are soft and will literally begin to fall over near the ground level, and that's a definite sign that they need to be dug up. So you can use both visual methods to determine the time to harvest.

Ha! I tried to make it so that there were not so many new threads by combining Summer and Fall. I don't want to think about Fall yet either myself as there has not been much of summer as yet.

pirl said:Sorry! I meant Cindy but typed Sandy!

no wonder I couldn't remember!

Thanks Ken.

I dug one up and it was the same size as the ones I split for planting last fall, so I guess they're done. However, all of everything here is completely saturated, with standing water everywhere. We're averaging significant rainfall twice a day, most days, with very little sun or breeze to dry things out.

The one I dug, I cooked. It wasn't at all like I expected it to be. It was very sweet, with no sharpness or tang to speak of. Is this because of non-stop wetness, or do they spice-up as they cure? The scapes eaten raw were flavored as expected.

I don't know the answer to that question, Chelle. All mine start as single cloves and then form bulbs over the following 6-7 months. I have had a few hardnecks self seed and those never make much of anything, larger cloves or tiny bulbs. I really haven't tasted those, though I have a pint jar full of them. I will have to try some and see what the flavor/pungency is.

What varieties did you plant last fall? I feel pretty sure all your rains and lack of persistent heat is what did you in.

I don't know what kind they are. I picked them up from a local market grower. I figured if they can grow them right down the road, I should be fine growing the same ones in my yard. It was, and they did, but I'm thinking there was just too much wet this month.

MaryE said: ... I have used a pressure regulator, but also those Y things with the little shutoff valves can be used instead. I just turn it on a little, and go to the end of the last drip line. If it is dripping and nothing in between has popped loose, it works. We are on a well, with water pressure at 40 psi, according to the gauge by the pressure tank. ...

Boy, this thread gets longer fast!

I have also used "throttling" to rough-tune the water pressure.

I'm sure I would use water more efficiently if I bought all drip-line for beds, and only used mini-jet-sprayers on seed flats and seed beds. But I find it very annoying to have to avoid 1/4" polyethylene tubing when I weed. I'm still learning!

Meant to post this earlier but forgot I had it. This is what my garlic looks like now...once it's dug from the mud.