2024 garden season

[kenmbz]

Something you may want to try I've had very good success with. 4-5 years ago I did a little studying up on scents animals don't like. Peppermint is at the top of the list. I ordered a quart of Peppermint extract from Olive Nation Peppermint Extract - PG Free Back then it was $18.99 a qt. Since then it has nearly doubled. But, in 3 years of use I've only used between 2/3 and 3/4 of that quart and have given maybe 8 oz. to a friend to see if it would deter squirrels in her garden. You only add 2 TBS per gallon of water and spray it on plants every 7-10 days, more often if you get some decent rains. There always seemed to be enough scent left to keep Deer, Groundhogs etc. away until I could spray again.

I put electric fence up 4-5 years ago and between the fence and spray kept animals from eating plants. Last year I experimented with just spraying and didn't plug in the fence. Deer walked through the garden but never touched anything. I sprayed everything with it from Beets to tomatoes, beans etc., and nothing was touched until the season was over, and even then took the Deer about a month to start browsing on the green beans.

I've probably got enough to get me through the coming year but will order another quart closer to Spring to have it on hand. I am fully convinced it works very well to keep Deer, Groundhogs, Rabbits, etc. from browsing on plants. It comes in smaller bottles if anyone cares to try it. Using only 2 TBS per gallon it does go a long way. You just have to stay with it and keep things sprayed. But I just mix it in with the organic pesticides I use killing 2 birds with one stone.

I prefer the grape tomatoes over cherry tomatoes, and not big on sweet. I prefer a more balanced flavor. Tami G, or Juliet, with Juliet being the favorite. They do get to a decent size, great to eat with a sandwich, on a salad, or a snack in the garden. They are VERY prolific..!!

I grow Mint and Lemon Balm. That does turn off the groundhogs, but the deer will get any taller stuff away from those plants.
I guess I can crush some to make the scent cover all the way up, but that gets very time intensive after a rain.

 

[DJ54]

I grow Mint and Lemon Balm. That does turn off the groundhogs, but the deer will get any taller stuff away from those plants.
I guess I can crush some to make the scent cover all the way up, but that gets very time intensive after a rain.

Yep, it's a lot easier to just put 2 TBS of Peppermint Extract per gallon of water and go. I usually spray organic insecticides after a rain anyway, so just add the extract and all done in one pass. I don't have a huge garden, only about a 1/4 acre but most is planted in 30" rows except tomatoes and cabbage. A 2 gallon sprayer will cover everything so 4 TBS every 7-10 days goes a long way.

 

[workinonit]

I have all of my gates and fence posts up and waiting for a time when I know I will be home to order the 4 rolls of wire. Fencing in about 3 acres. I just ran the disc over it a few days ago. Got the spot for potatoes tilled and ready to bed. I'll probably plant potatoes in a week or two.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'm going with a simple 2 strand braided electric fence to keep the deer out. It doesn't need to physically stop them, but psychologically. We have dozens of deer that walk right up to the house. So we will see how we fare.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I got tired of all the weeds in the sweet corn. And I admit that I'm not overly energetic about weeding beyond running a tiller between the rows when it's getting started.

So two years ago I tried some round-up ready sweet corn. WOW! Sure was neat driving the tractor through it and spraying glyphosate on my corn and watching the weeds burn down. Prettiest, cleanest stand of corn that I've ever had.

But the taste just didn't come close to Silver King or Queen or the other common sweet hybrids.

Not sure exactly what I'll plant this year, but I know I am going to have weeds in my corn again!

 

[sixdogs]

I’ve been buying a lot of cherry tomatoes lately, but store bought sucks.

What’s your fav variety?

I need to order some seeds soon!

I've been growing tomatoes for many decades and my uncle taught me how decades earlier. Today I just plant a few varieties. By far our best result in taste and value is with the Juliet, also spelled Juliette, tomato. It's a small egg sized fruit but works for us. It's hard to find but Fedco in Maine has it.

Also good if you know how to grow tomatoes is Burpee's Steak House. Some years are better than others but they are a huge tomato that tastes great and one slice makes an overlapping tomato sandwich. Very popular.

Let me add that we always start our own seeds and that way we have fewer diseases.

EDIT--we grow 11 plants a year and got 426 lbs of fruit last year and 480 lb the year before. We eat all we can hold, ditto for the dog and we trade with restaurant for take out.
The other two varieties we grow are Steak Sandwich and Supersteak from Burpee.

 

[DJ54]

"By far our best result in taste and value is with the Juliette" That's one I grow (see pic below). That's a good price through Fedco. Holmes seed wants that price for 10 seeds. I'm going to have to look through their online catalog and compare prices. I should have saved a few for seeds, as the one below is a volunteer from the previous year. I've read where with and F1 hybrid you may very well get the same tomato for a couple of years. I'll try to remember to do that this year and compare next year.

For canning/eating tomatoes, I too tried more that several varieties over the year. I don't care for a sweet tomato I like one with a balanced flavor. So, I'm down to Celebrity Plus and Beefsteak. Both very meaty and solid inside. Most are 10-12 oz., easy to wash up and get a lot of tomato product from them. I'm not sure if it's the soil, or nutrients but have had many compliments on them. One fellow drives 30 miles to come pick surplus tomatoes for canning. I got him some plants from the same place I got mine several years ago. He stopped by to pick some for a taste test. He said mine don't taste as good as yours, go figure.

Also pictured is a Beefsteak I cut through the center when prepping to can just to show how solid they are. Actually pretty close to the Celebrity but seem to tolerate blight a tad better.

 

[sixdogs]

DJ54
On the Juliet, I'm a little careful buying Juliet seeds. We bought from Fedco last year and they were true but I have bought others in prior years that were not. Maybe 5 or so years ago there was a "Juliette" tomato that did not look the same in the pictures. Maybe it was a typo but I avoided that spelling and stay with the bigger name seed sellers to feel better. The Juliet can he hard to find and last year everyone was sold out early. Beats me.

 

[DJ54]

DJ54
On the Juliet, I'm a little careful buying Juliet seeds. We bought from Fedco last year and they were true but I have bought others in prior years that were not. Maybe 5 or so years ago there was a "Juliette" tomato that did not look the same in the pictures. Maybe it was a typo but I avoided that spelling and stay with the bigger name seed sellers to feel better. The Juliet can he hard to find and last year everyone was sold out early. Beats me.

I've had very good luck with seeds from Holmes. I believe that is where I got the first ones. Being the seeds are only viable for 4-6 years in normal storage, 10 seeds will be plenty for me only setting 2 plants which will make way more than I'll need. I am going to save a couple and save the seeds and see what I get compared to the originals.

 

[sixdogs]

"By far our best result in taste and value is with the Juliette" That's one I grow (see pic below). That's a good price through Fedco. Holmes seed wants that price for 10 seeds. I'm going to have to look through their online catalog and compare prices. I should have saved a few for seeds, as the one below is a volunteer from the previous year. I've read where with and F1 hybrid you may very well get the same tomato for a couple of years. I'll try to remember to do that this year and compare next year.

For canning/eating tomatoes, I too tried more that several varieties over the year. I don't care for a sweet tomato I like one with a balanced flavor. So, I'm down to Celebrity Plus and Beefsteak. Both very meaty and solid inside. Most are 10-12 oz., easy to wash up and get a lot of tomato product from them. I'm not sure if it's the soil, or nutrients but have had many compliments on them. One fellow drives 30 miles to come pick surplus tomatoes for canning. I got him some plants from the same place I got mine several years ago. He stopped by to pick some for a taste test. He said mine don't taste as good as yours, go figure.

Also pictured is a Beefsteak I cut through the center when prepping to can just to show how solid they are. Actually pretty close to the Celebrity but seem to tolerate blight a tad better.


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Your Beefsteak tomato picker looks pretty good. Is it as meaty as it looks?