I have young squirrel(s) eating my green tomatoes. Been here 30 years never seen it before. It really sucks. My sister on the Lake of the Ozarks plant theirs in a cage. The grays squirrels love tomatoes and only when they are about ripe. We have had eaten two red tomatoes so far and tons of the little orange ones.
What’s growing - 2025 Garden Thread
- Thread starter ISUCyclones2015
- Start date
TomatoesPlants or tomatoes??
Mine have been turning red. I have 15 Romas and 20 San Marzano plants that I started from seed.
Wowsers that's a lot of canning/freezing/selling.Plants or tomatoes??
Mine have been turning red. I have 15 Romas and 20 San Marzano plants that I started from seed.
Making marinara/spaghetti sauce along with salsa. Take a lot of tomatoes for marinara sauce.
Had to add this from tonight. Bacon Cheeseburger with grilled Vidalia onions, garden tomatoes, garden canned pickles, and home cured buck board bacon.
One peach tree yet to ripen, some pears and plums coming from friends and the tomatoes are finally going to explode, but the rest of the garden harvest is in the jars and on the shelves. I make a habit of over planting to ensure I have enough even in a poor year and just as much to share with others. Shared about 30 pounds of beets and 10 gallons of green beans. Picking green beans is not my favorite pasttime but it did put smiles on a few faces.
In the past i have reused carefully inspected canning lids with great success simply for economics--couldn't see spending 25 cents per lid to preserve a 50 cent jar of beans. Wife just received an online order from Walmart for 100 widemouth lids for around $15 and we are placing an order of a "flash sale" of 200 small mouth lids for $18.69, so I thought I'd share that info if anybody can use it.
Broke my personal best for largest peach with the new leader coming in at 10.95 oz. Fareway has Mizou Peaches for sale at $3.00/pound so that one was worth about $2.25
The rain this year may have contributed.
In the past i have reused carefully inspected canning lids with great success simply for economics--couldn't see spending 25 cents per lid to preserve a 50 cent jar of beans. Wife just received an online order from Walmart for 100 widemouth lids for around $15 and we are placing an order of a "flash sale" of 200 small mouth lids for $18.69, so I thought I'd share that info if anybody can use it.
Broke my personal best for largest peach with the new leader coming in at 10.95 oz. Fareway has Mizou Peaches for sale at $3.00/pound so that one was worth about $2.25
The rain this year may have contributed.Blew away my previous record for peach size today 16.95 ounces. The record was set in Georgia in 2018 at 1 lbs. 12 oz. so I have a way to go, but who would have guessed they would get this size in Iowa? The Missouri peaches at Fairway run about 7 1/2 to 8 ounces.
Edited to add: To put this in context, If you ate a meal, and then given this peach for dessert, would/could you eat it all? Probably still a pound after the pit is removed.
Edited to add: To put this in context, If you ate a meal, and then given this peach for dessert, would/could you eat it all? Probably still a pound after the pit is removed.
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First time I’ve ever had this happen canning.
30 lbs of San Marzano tomatoes to what would have been 9 quarts of sauce.
30 lbs of San Marzano tomatoes to what would have been 9 quarts of sauce.
Most often caused by too great a temperature difference between the jar and what you are putting in it. I’ve had that happen when cold packing green beans and adding boiling water so now I pay more attention to that.
I'm not much of a gardener. We have a little area along the side of the house where I plant 4 tomatoes, 4 peppers and green beans. I've always done the bush style beans and had great success. This year I couldn't find the bush beans so got the pole beans. Never ever had any experience with them. I put some wire fencing behind them and the grew up nicely.
I'm literally getting one bean every 3 days. Lots of blossoms. But now I'm getting little barely developed beans the are turning yellow and dying on the vine before they every become a real bean.
Any way to save them this year? What did I do wrong. I do notice the plants are wrapped around themselves quite a bit and then the ends are hanging down in the front.
I'm stumped.
I'm literally getting one bean every 3 days. Lots of blossoms. But now I'm getting little barely developed beans the are turning yellow and dying on the vine before they every become a real bean.
Any way to save them this year? What did I do wrong. I do notice the plants are wrapped around themselves quite a bit and then the ends are hanging down in the front.
I'm stumped.
The only thing I can come up with quickly that fits your scenario without further information is possibly variety. Indeterminant varieties should produce as long as the plant remains healthy before frost, determinant varieties tend to produce their whole crop in a short window. Guessing here, but if they are still blossoming, they are probably indeterminant, so that would lead to my second guess that they are suffering from some pathogen, either an insect problem or plant disease. Third thought to complicate matters would be a watering issue.
Weatherband radio said we got down to 24 degrees at 8:00 this morning so garden is essentially done. After a few hiccups early, with ample rain and later than normal "ave. first freeze date" (Sept 22) the garden was very productive. Got to share more than normal excess, and received some nice "gratitude" gifts in return, including a smoked pork loin and lots of farm fresh eggs.
Spent yesterday rescuing tomato cages and picking any tomatoes that showed signs of ripening to finish on the countertop so will be enjoying them for another week or so. Even grabbed a few larger green ones that will eventually ripen--they won't be as flavorful when they do, so they'll taste like the store-bought.
I harvested the ripened green bean pods and will sit in front of the telly in my shop to shell them for next year's seed-- looks as if I'll have enough to plant about 5 miles of row, so the excess will end up in bean soup.
On Sept 2 I planted spinach from seed saved from the spring crop and harvested a couple grocery bags full so far. They got covered last night so will still be able to harvest for a week or more with our forecast--a few chef's salads and the balance to the freezer for future recipe use.
Hope your harvest was bountiful this year and that we're all here to do it again next year!
Spent yesterday rescuing tomato cages and picking any tomatoes that showed signs of ripening to finish on the countertop so will be enjoying them for another week or so. Even grabbed a few larger green ones that will eventually ripen--they won't be as flavorful when they do, so they'll taste like the store-bought.
I harvested the ripened green bean pods and will sit in front of the telly in my shop to shell them for next year's seed-- looks as if I'll have enough to plant about 5 miles of row, so the excess will end up in bean soup.
On Sept 2 I planted spinach from seed saved from the spring crop and harvested a couple grocery bags full so far. They got covered last night so will still be able to harvest for a week or more with our forecast--a few chef's salads and the balance to the freezer for future recipe use.
Hope your harvest was bountiful this year and that we're all here to do it again next year!
I roasted my green tomatoes, along with peppers, onions and garlic. Blended it all up and going to add lime juice and chicken base for a salsa Verde base thing to freeze. Turned out way better than I expected.
I roasted a lot of tomatoes and froze them for sauce this year. It was way easier than cooking them down for hours, especially the non paste tomatoes.
I roasted a lot of tomatoes and froze them for sauce this year. It was way easier than cooking them down for hours, especially the non paste tomatoes.
I garden with my 13 YO grandson. This year he wants to grow sweet corn which we have not done before. Looking for any suggestions on good varieties (live in Cedar Rapids). Prefer something fairly early and hardy.
Also, does anyone have any experience starting it inside and then transplanting? We probably only have room for 20 plants do it would not be a hassle.
Also, does anyone have any experience starting it inside and then transplanting? We probably only have room for 20 plants do it would not be a hassle.
I laughed when my brother who moved to LA told me that the garden centers there sold 6 packs of started corn plants (from the view of an Iowa corn farmer), but if you and your grandson would enjoy the experience, why not? Also, not entirely necessary, but beneficial to plant 4 rows of 5 than one row of twenty for pollination purposes. No comment on variety as that's a preference thing. Good on you for exposing the youngster to this endeavor!
I have never transplanted corn. Corn likes direct plant in my experience. You need to plant more than 20. I tried around 8x4 raised bed that had around 30 plants and there wasn’t enough pollination to make full ears. Maybe someone on CF has a recommendation for minimum size.I avoid peaches and crap, and go with something more sugar content. Johnnys seeds has a good selection. Our seed dealer Iowa Missouri Seeds sells some of the best sweet corn I have ever tried. But that is two hours away from you. That is awesome and wish you and your grandson the best.
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