Back to Eden Gardening

Mary, I'm sure glad you were able to save your sage! I'll be interested to see that as well....so far most of the tomato plants are growing well and setting on bloom, but I'm not seeing good, thick vines and big tomatoes like we've always had in the past, pre-BTE.

Could be due to me doing things all wrong or it could be that it is what it is and only time will tell if it gets better than it is.

If I side dressed with bagged fertilizer, I'm sure I could coax better growth in this garden but I'm trying to avoid the use of them if I can.

With so many gardening variables it's hard to point to BTE as the culprit in good or bad. In theory it just makes so much sense to me that it's hard for me to think that it wouldn't be the way to go.

Mary

I know! And now I'm pretty much committed to it, so it's just a matter of patience and learning to work with this method, though I don't feel competent to do so....I'm much more successful at gardening when I just till it, plant it, mulch it.

Beekissed said:

I wait all garden season for that first mater sammich, so this is a good day! The rhubarb was wonderful as well...tart, crunchy and just wonderful!

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I've never had rhubarb. Do you use it like lettuce? Once I get my garden going, I want to plant new things.

Beekissed said:

so far most of the tomato plants are growing well and setting on bloom, but I'm not seeing good, thick vines and big tomatoes like we've always had in the past, pre-BTE.

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My tomato plants haven't done very well. Two have just withered up and died. I do have one that is growing good and producing. I dug it out of my compost bin when I tore it down. I also planted two more that I got out of my spare chicken run. They are now starting to grow after being replanted.

The rest of my garden is doing pretty good. I don't have a lot of produce yet, but most everything is growing. I have been getting some yellow squash and I have some zucchini growing. I have pumpkins, watermelons & cantaloupe producing. In fact, they are starting to take over the garden. My okra is getting tall, not blooming yet.


This is my garden about a month ago.


Here it is now. It has grown quite a bit.



I am in the process of expanding my garden for next year. I've gotten two loads of chips. One load has been put on my new garden section. I will probably put the next load on my orchard.

I do know one thing I will do different next year. I will make the spacing between my rows much wider. I would also like to plant my pumpkins, watermelons & cantaloupes in the orchard. They take up so much room.

WOW!!! I think your garden is lovely!!!! Much more lush and full than mine, that's for sure. Good job! My squash and such are just now getting good growth on them but they are about 1/10 the size of yours at the present time.

Rhubarb is most often used in jams, jellies or pies....it's like a sour stalk of celery but without the dip in the middle. We like it raw...just skin the stalk and add salt. YUM.

My tomatoes seem to have a blight right now...it will remain to be seen if they snap out of it. I've pruned off the affected branches but probably succeeded in spreading it further while doing so. My Mom always says, "It will be what it will be" and I have to agree....there's not much one can do about it but wait and see.

Oh, there's all kinds of sprays they recommend but we are in the middle of a rainy and stinkin' hot July, so no amount of spray will stay on those plants.

Your garden looks great Henless!

henless said:

I've never had rhubarb. Do you use it like lettuce?

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Just to be clear, you don't use the leaves, just the stalks. The leaves are poisonous.

Pics of the BTE this season....blighty tomatoes and all.



This pic shows them trimmed up on the bottom, attempts to remove the blighted fronds...didn't work or stop it from moving upward. I had also cut them off at the top right before this pic to try and stop them getting taller than the trellises, but have since given up on that, as they exploded into growth after that and grew another foot or so since this pic. Those trellises are around 6 ft tall.



Taters...all tops, no bottoms....



Those peaches....still not ripe, a month after the others are long ripened and gone. In previous years they have bore fruit and ripened together, so not sure what is going on with this tree.





Next year if I'm still here, I'm not putting anything out in this garden until June, except maybe early crops like lettuce and such. We've always tried to get a garden in by the middle of May but I've found that this BTE just sits there, not growing much at all, until the middle of June. Why bother obsessing over it until then?

I think you have a fine looking garden Bee. Plus it looks so clean!
And you are at least getting some returns from your plants.

Mine is a discouraging failure all the way around. The grasshoppers are taking what little was actually growing.

I would consider contacting your Land Grant College Veg. Crops Dept. and/ or your Ag. Extention Office to get a feel as to what is actually going on with Veg. crops in your area and specifically your back to eden gardening this year. Get and follow their advice.