Now is the time to start thinking about gardening for this year.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Well....it's a flag.....and it's about Blueberries, but it's not very Piratty.

[Pat K]

Avery Martha Stewarty type flag.

[KBCraig]

Never underestimate the rage within.  My rage within might come alive at the sight of someone molesting my blueberries.  I can picture myself as a fat lilywhite Rambo crouched in a corner saying "they drew first blood not me"

If blueberries were salmon (and Anton were John West)....

John West Salmon "Bear Fight" ad

[porcupine kate]

I guess it is a good thing that my blueberries are to new to worry about a raid from Anton.

I think I need to put some sort of fencing around my onions.  It looks like something just decided to lay down on a third of the onion plants.
The one thing the cutworms aren't going after is a bed for some critter.

[AntonLee]

I would never aggress against someone's blueberries since I would never want to have someone aggress against mine.   I practice the Non-Bluegression Principle.  I am a Bluebertarian.

I've been noticing strawberries missing.   I think it's squirrels.  :cocks 22:

[brycen]

Can't see your picture.

I liked the reference to the NBP. 

[porcupine kate]

I would never aggress against someone's blueberries since I would never want to have someone aggress against mine.   I practice the Non-Bluegression Principle.  I am a Bluebertarian.

I've been noticing strawberries missing.   I think it's squirrels.  :cocks 22:

Good to know you are a Bluebertarian.  I can share blueberries with you.

For your strawberries I would recommend getting 1 inch chicken fencing or some similar material and build a cage to go over the strawberries.  last year the critters got every last one of my strawberries.   This year they are coming along nicely with their big green cage to protect them.  Turkeys also love strawberries too.  They make a nicer dinner than the squirrels do. 

[AntonLee]

the strawberries are in a basket hanging, for a while it was a little too close to the birdfeeder for my liking.  Someone suggested cheesecloth draped over and tucked into the basket would do the trick for the hanging basket.

[jerry]

Photo update on the gardening.
The peaches are looking peachy.
The blueberries are turning blue.
And the hops are starting to flower.

That's the good news.  Bad news to follow in the next message.

[jerry]

This is a photo of THE apple on my apple tree.  I guess I'll have to buy some apples for the Apple Harvest Cider Making Festival.
The last frost occurred just as the trees went into full bloom.
The pear trees fared even worse.  I couldn't find even ONE to take a picture of.

[AntonLee]

the few blueberries I got (1st year) were shared by me and birds.  My strawberries seem to be growing faster than squirrels or birds can eat them.  Some of them are plain old retarded looking.  They do taste good though.

my peppers, tomatoes, and jalepenos are coming in nicely.

[porcupine kate]

Being gone fro 3 weeks has done a number on the garden.  Most of it was watered while I was gone.  I came home to find most of my pansies called it quits in the heat.   I need to trim back the pole beans they are trying to take over the cherry tree.  One of the zucchini plants needs to go.  I don't have room for 3 of them.  I will take it out tomorrow and put something else in that spot. 
The onions have all fallen over so I need to dig them out.  The garlic has also all started falling over.  I don't think either have done well this year.  I need to get more light in the garden.  So much of the garden has suffered from not enough sunlight.  I just don't have any other option to have the garden anywhere else.

My tomatoes are doing great.  Most of them are 6 feet tall at this point and are setting fruit.   I discovered a little blossom end rot on 2 of the plants I forgot to give Epsom salts to.  I removed the tomatoes and gave them lime, Epsom salt and organic plant food so they should be just fine.

The celery and the Swiss chard look great.  The peas are just about done which is good since I need the space to plant the fall broccoli and Kale this week.  I am trying succession planting this year.  The peppers are a little slow but I know with my shade issues that was going to happen.  The carrots are slow too. 

I can't grow pumpkins.  First critters kept digging up the seeds than I come back from NJ and find the seedlings gone.  I think I will plant something else in that pot.  It still has one nasturtium plant.  I might put cucumbers in it.

This fall I need to seriously trim back some of the trees so I can get more light.
I am going to hold off building cold frames till I can trim back the trees.

The broccoli is sprouting and is quite tasty.  I wish I had planted more of them. 

[cathleeninnh]

Well, you can call me the lazy gardener. I wanted to see what grows all by itself without over encouraging anything. I watered and sometimes I pulled a few weeds, but that is about it.

Radishes - I got more greens than roots, but they tasted good.

Onions - I love seeing those green tops. The sets grew from tiny large pea size to a bit bigger than large pearl size. 40 or so slightly bitter.

Tomatoes - I put out 6 plants, 5 took. The first ripe tomatoes came about 2 weeks ago. We have had about 8 nice ripe ones to eat so far and have another dozen or so that I hope ripen. Not enough to freeze.

Green beans - ended up with 8 or nine bushes that produce not quite a meals worth of beans every other day. Awkward amount. I have been throwing them in salads and casseroles, blanching and freezing small amounts here and there.

winter squash - that stuff grows and flowers like crazy, but where are my squash????? I have had one small acorn squash and see another small butternut growing.

guess what???? cantaloupe seeds in compost may sprout! We got this little cantaloupe!

hey didn't I plant some hot peppers and eggplant?!?!?!?  oh well.

[Kat Kanning]

Flowers w/ no fruit...needs epsom salts.

[PassionatePantherrr]

Things did fairly well, considering that our garden was fairly neglected for the latter half of the season. Have a few Hokkaido squash and Spaghetti Squash sitting on our kitchen table... Still have more turnips, carrots, and Hamburg Parsley/parsley root to harvest, need to dig and see what the Jerusalem artichokes produced, have a couple of leeks (have to see if I can find the couple of celeriac I planted too), and a couple of red cabbage to harvest (I'll direct seed those next year). The tomatoes did alright (yellow pear did the best), Tomatillos did rather well (much better than I'd expected, I'll plant them again next year), Broccoli did well (need to collect more seedpods, variety was Calabrese), Cucumbers did well, super sugar snap peas did reasonably (saved a few seeds, probably need to get some more for next year), Asparagus/yard long beans didn't do well, but I've saved a few seeds, to see if it was just getting acclimated to our climate. Got a few Turkish eggplants (little and orange), probably need to start them a month earlier indoors (they should have had tennis ball size fruit, ended up with ping pong ball sized). Lettuce did well, beets/chard didn't (soil here probably needs boron), peppers also had issues, but those that did fruit were good (some of the Paprika peppers were hot, some mild, not sure on the variation). Only got a couple of Acorn squash (small but tasty), zero pumpkins, one tiny Sugar Baby watermelon (which was tasty!), Zucchini did fine, Used the last of it, plus my tiny Turkish eggplants, carrots, turnips, parsley root to make a large pan of roasted veg with balsamic vinegar and olive oil... Mmmm.
If anyone wants to assist with digging up some of the root veggies, I'd be happy to share the harvest.
My apologies for the run-ons, baby is slowly working on making his/her appearance, so I'm sort of distracted.