It's growing but not all that well. Fluctuations in temps has really stunted the peppers and cukes and then the rain came and is still coming. One week of high heat sent the spinach into bolting mode as well as the radishes. The pests came out in droves this year.. colorado potato beetles, slugs, aphids, baby grasshoppers, cutworms, and I am waiting to see if and when the squash beetles will make their appearance. The buffalo flies or black flies or whatever you want to call them are devouring me as well. On the upside the flowers and grass are growing well and the weeds are having a bountiful year. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention the cabbage worms, I removed the row cover too early. The strawberries are making a showing and tiny blueberries are appearing if the birds don't peck them to pieces. The greenbeans and tomatoes are looking well so far. Garlic looks to be doing very well. Eggplants are coming along since I removed them from the garden and planted them in pots. The beets and swiss chard are chalked up as failures for the Spring crop. Potatoes are coming along but I will not plant Yukon Gold again, seems to be a tremendous lack of eyes in this brand, will go back to red potatoes next year. Have cut the lettuce twice and had to replant it to get what little I did get. I tried the newer strain of black seeded simpson and it was a wipeout so went back to the standard black simpson. E.Millinocket,Me.

Mscratch,

Thanks for the post. We are having similar issues this year as well. Peppers and cukes here as well are having problems. Broccoli here is taking over. So are the pumpkins and squash. Tomatoes for us are almost to the tops of their cages. Cherry's are producing fruit although not ripe yet of course. Peas are about 2 feet tall. Lettuce we have also cut twice as well but had some rotting issues as first with the romaine and green beans look fantastic. We have had Cabbage Worms on our broccoli and many slugs. No aphids except for my Four O Clocks so far. Have had a few Japanese Beetles as well. Kids have had a handful of blueberries as long as we can keep our 2 year old Chocolate Lab out of them. Onions are growing great. Garlic and herbs are super here for us as well however the leeks aren't growing like I had hoped. We seem to be rid of the black flies but the mosquitos have moved in instead. Thanks again for the reply. Keep in touch.

Jess

Both my perennials and my antique roses are having one of their best years ever! My annuals are having one of their worst---they really need more sun. I lost one delphinium , but the one that survived is just starting to bloom and is spectacular! (I'll try to get pictures posted soon) The veggie garden is practically consumed by weeds---I hope that it will be sunny this weekend so I can tackle it!!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Gardens ---Joan's Roses

Mainerose,

Your roses are outstanding!! My flower beds are actually doing really well. The annuals I put in are faring well. My cosmos are already about 3' tall and in full bloom. Zinnias are getting ready to bloom all though leaves look horrible. Morning Glories and Sweet Peas are doing well. Keep me posted and good luck.

Jess

I picked the first cucumber last week and another this morning. The firs tomatoes were picked yesterday. They came from one of the greenhouses. I picked peas, broccoli and onions for the first time this morning. Also, endive, kale, boc choi, tatsoi, basil and more beet greens. We finally got the rain we needed Saturday night and things are starting to produce well.

Wow!! You must have started much earlier than we did. Although, I think the broccoli and onions here are about ready to harvest and peas are just forming pods now but nothing else is ready yet. Sounds like great fun!! With this heat this week, things should really shoot up for all of us. Thanks for the post.

Jess

Here in the Midcoast, the greenery is flourishing. Some veggies, such as cabbage and beets, never sprouted from their seeds: they must have been too cool, waterlogged, and also chomped by cutworms. Successful ones: peas, first pods eaten today: pumpkins, squash, onions, tomatoes, pepper plants, pole and shell beans, potatoes like never before, cilantro and lettuce, lettuce, lettuce! Much of it was self-seeded Black Seeded Simpson and Buttercrunch. We've had so many salads. Now the lettuce is bolting and we will have to bid it adieu. The cherry tomatoes on the deck have green fruits. The basil and dill are up but not big. The Swiss chard is huge, carrots ready to thin. Sunflowers in the veg garden are 4' tall.
The pear tree is full of fruits, twice as many as last year. The new blueberry bushes from Miller's are doing well. The old ones have nice fruits, green still. Raspberries are going to be good. No Japanese beetles yet here.
We have tried to keep up with the weeds, but the weather and work has kept us from doing the best job we can. Today I am going out there with my hoe for the first time in a week.
The flower garden is wild. Weeds are huge. My Madame Hardy rose has never looked or smelled so lovely. The Delphiniums-on-steroids are fighting the Bleeding Hearts-on-steroids for room. Clematis is a huge success, all 4 year old plants are climbing and blooming, or have big buds ready on them. Henryi clematis is spectacular. Peonies were great. I never tried to put out annuals this year, except the pansies which seeded themselves. All the perennials are crowding each other for elbow room.

Paulaj,

Does your pear tree bear fruit every year?? Ours had tons of fruit this year but none at all this year. I am having a simalar season with my perennials as well. They are all on steroids!!

Cosmolover, so far so good with my pear tree. I've had it 6 years. It gave me three pears two years ago, 40 last year, and looks like at least 60 this year. There is an old pear tree in the next yard, and it has had a hard time lately but is still flowering. It does not have pears that are fit to eat. We are lucky that the blossoms did not suffer in the late frosts.
Mainerose, what beautiful roses you have! I love those antique roses.

Hi all,

This is a picture of my garden taken a couple of days ago from a vantage point in the northern third of the garden, looking South. That part of the garden behind me is still "under construction." Purely as a hobby, I am an amateur zinnia breeder and zinnia enthusiast. So zinnias and strawberries are the only "crops" in the garden.

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This has been an exceptionally good year for our strawberries, and the chipmunks and birds are very grateful to us. We've gotten some nice strawberries, too.

The zinnias in bloom were planted indoors under lights last March. I have a lot of zinnias emerging in the seedbeds. A few younger zinnia seedlings under lights are awaiting transplanting out into the garden.

MM

MaineMan,

Your Zinnias are so lovely. I think mine were planted too closely so I thinned them out a little and have been watering them carefully from underneath and they are beginning to look much better. I had my first one open yesterday as I got a late start on mine.

I thought I would add my pics too. Pics of flowers,chickens, house, etc. My organic garden was started May 22nd. It is doing very well. 4 foot tall potato plants, huge brocolli, and zuccinis, which have tons of zuccinis starting. Lots of lettuce and arugula. All herbs doing great. No JB's yet. Hopefully never.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flowers n Hens

The outside garden looks pretty good with all the abundant sunshine we've been having this year. The fruit trees are loaded, especially the pears, with more fruit than I have ever seen before. Cauliflower has been terrific, greens, etc, have been doing well. Corn is knee high.. The hoophouse is producing tons of cukes and the tomatoes in there look great. BUT, I am besieged by cucumber beetles, both inside and outside the hoophouse. Has anyone else noticed a huge number of these this year?? They are so bad, in fact, that they have eaten the growing tips out of many of my squash and melon plants. I have tried spraying rotenone/pyrethrin but it doesn't appear to be that effective, because they are so numerous. I am wondering if the deep snow cover protected the grubs of these beetles? I saw my first Japanese beetle yesterday, I am wondering if anybody out there has used mosquito netting on their fruit trees/bushes to keep the JBs from ruining the fruit?
Happy Gardening and have a great summer!

Jim

This is the first year I have ever had a vegtable garden so it's all trial and error for me right now. I planted watermelons and cantelopes which sprouted about a month ago but didn't really start to grow until the last few days. I imagine it's because of the lack of sun from all those dark rain clouds recently. I have an unlimited source of manure since I have 2 horses so you can bet I loaded the melon beds with it! I also planted cukes which died and I had to replant them but the second batch is thriving. I planted onions from sets and they sprouted fast and the greens look great but the bulbs themselves still arent much bigger than the sets starting out. Next I have tomatoes which I started early inside and looked great but when I planted them outside a week after memorial day they discolored and all but two died so again I replaced them and the new ones are doing great! I have 1 fruit on them already. Next I have habenero and jalepeno and green peppers all bought as maturing plants becuase my seeds never sprouted. All are just starting to get buds on them now. Two weeks ago I planted radishes and they are just going crazy. By far they have been my most successful vegtable by seed. Carrots never came up, perhaps still too warm for them? Also from seeds I planted 4 sun flowers that are about 3ft tall now. Harvested some oregeno today, its really taking off. I haven't had any problems with pests with the exception of one lone light brownish colored beetle on my basil which is doing ok. Also not having an issue with weeds as I mulch almost my whole garden with the bad hay the horses won't eat.

Well, I must say my gardens looked great for June and part of July. Now, thanks to a horrible wet stretch of weather, they mostly look like a weed-infested soggy mess [sob]This has not been my best year for gardening. It started out with tainted potting soil, so my annuals have been less spectacular than usual, and the weather has not helped. Now, of course, I have come down with severe bronchitis, so I can't do much even though it's sunny (Yes, I know I'm whining). A few bright spots---great roses, sweet peas, and my love-in-a-mist has bloomed like gangbusters as have my stargazer lilies. They are doing so well that I had someone knock on my door last Saturday---a lovely young lady who was getting married that day and wanted some for her wedding. I gave them up gladly! The vegetable garden has been a total washout---literally. And since we always wait until late to hay our field (to protect ground-nesting birds) we don't even have our first crop in. Let's all hope this weather pattern has broken and we have a lovely, long fall!!

Well, the season is winding down now and I ended up having to buy cucumbers as mine did not produce anything but nubs. The greenbeans produced extremely well this season as did the squash and zucchini. The second planting of radishes have done well. The tomatoes are coming along but the weather this year confused nearly everything that I planted, as well as a pollination problem with the cool, wet, weather early on. The broccoli and cabbage did not do well and the peppers are probably a loss other than the hot varieties. The eggplants are producing but are tough as leather. The garlic did well and the onions planted from seed are real nice. My mini melons would have done beautifully if someone hadn't stolen them! I potted up the herbs and they produced nicely. The flowers and roses had a very nice year once the bugs had their fill. The raspberries produced a small crop for the first time this season and I look forward to an abundant crop next year hopefully. Actually, the garden produced better than I anticipated considering the hoard of bugs and the weather. We did manage to go and pick 12 qts. of wild blueberries this month and they are everything that people rave about! It was a hot, sweaty, job but well worth it. I am going to get 5 blackberries off my canes this season, as they are in their 3rd season and they sure were pitiful when they arrived for planting in March that year with 4 foot of snow on the ground, but they survived.lol.. makes you wonder why nurseries even say they will ship the correct time of year for your planting area. By the beginning of Sept. I will be pulling the veggies out and collecting the flower seeds for next season...and waiting for the new seed catalogs to arrive this Fall.