I am so grateful for your experiences. You’ve given me hope for the shady area next to my garden! I’ve got a ton of leaves and debris so a digging I will go and piling. Good thing I adore winter squash! Thank you!
So good to see what “real life” in the garden for you looks like and how your challenges in the garden has allowed you to adapt rather than throw in the towel. I have had great success with container gardening this year. But ants and snails have been a big pest problem. I’ve hand picked over 300 hundred snails in Spring and over the Summer and even now I’m having a huge ant infestation both in my garden and inside my home. So dealing with it head on as I can’t wait for their army to invade further once the garden gets flooded by winter rains. Next year I’ll have to increase the size of my containers from 7 and 10 gallon to 20 gallon specifically so I don’t have to water as often here in zone 10b. I have also had great success in keeping up with my compost bin and worm bins (year 4) to help supplement my container garden with harvested castings and compost. In drought conditions compost has really been a life saver for me since I hand water everything and sometimes compost tea is the only thing that alleviates a hydrophobic garden soil. Also I moved a size up on my compost bin in late Spring. I’m going to have a 2nd compost bin installed this Fall since I’ve had such great results. Thank you Jenna for helping me to reflect and plan for the future. Its the first time I’ve had a chance all season to do so.
That crazy vine is a native plant in the cucurbit family, believe it or not. It’s growing wild on my property. Just looked it up for the name…I think it’s sicyos angulatus, bur-cucumber.
Oh cool!! I had no idea- I've never seen it before. Also called 'Star Cucumber'. Apparently it was used as both an edible plant and medicinal herb. Thanks so much for solving this mystery for me!!
Oh yeah, this year has been tough. I’m in central NY, 6a now. I’ve never had so many bad bugs and so few pollinators. This was the first year I felt like not quite a beginner, but if it’d been my first year…. Don’t give up!❤
NE Ohio here and luckily the drought isn't too bad here. The last 2 days have been nothing but rain so hopefully my pumpkins will be ok. My carrots are very happy and I recently learned that the carrot tops are delicious and much tastier than parsley ( I will be substituting carrots tops for parsley from now on). I am concerned how I will fare next year with my San Marzano tomatoes. Fingers crossed they like my garden. Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden and wonderful tips!
I use the hriguliur culture in my tallest raised beds, I also rake up leaves from previous years that are alive with mycelium and microbes and incorporate it into my soil. This year has been a hard yr for gardening with the drought, high heat and humidity in southeast Alabama .
Its interesting, I hear about the humidity a lot from those in the west but Ive spent years out there myself and to me when it its hot its hot, regardless of where you are.
Never heard that before and I’ve been in the Midwest my whole life. It’s not that bad. South of us from Tennessee to Florida would really qualify for that.
WOW!!!! So many things, your garden is so awesome!!!!! Too many things to comment on. I gave up along time ago what the "perfect " garden is, was, supposed to be. My garden is my garden. Good bad or otherwise, it is mY garden. More than the food I collect, it is the hummingbirds, butterflies, the array of pollinators, cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers,sparrows ( i might take them out), finches. My garden, drought or flood is a haven for all these creatures. I lost "Papa", a male Cardinal, that almost took seed from my hand last year, almost. we would talk, me and the cardinal, I miss him dearly. My focus in the garden is keeping the soil alive, with roots, I do not purchase one thing that goes into my soils. I harvest a few hundred pounds of worm castings annually if not more, biology rules!!!!! Jenna, Your videos are AWESOME!!!! God Bless You! Stay WeLL!!!!
I love hearing updates from your garden! I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of "Papa"- what a special bond that must have been. How is the asian jumping worm situation coming along?
@@GrowfullywithJenna Jumping worms suck! lol. I tried mulching my potatoes with aged straw, hoping the JW's would not be interested, WRONG. Not only did they use the straw, I ended up with a bunch of green potatoes, back to the drawing board. Grew 2 luffas in different soils, one had jumping worms from the previous 2 years the other one was a new bed without JW's. The JW's turned the one soil into a granular mess that would not hold water, even when I watered daily. As a result, that luffa suffered, leaves would wilt and eventually die, the plant is surviving. The other luffa has been growing and producing non stop. I will have to remove that soil this fall and put in clean dirt and amendments, aged compost, finished leaf mold and worm castings. In the early spring will do another living mulch of some low growing perennial. My beds with creeping thyme and oregano have very little JW pressure, even though I have been choppin and dropping comfrey all summer. Thanks for mentioning "Papa", fortunately he left behind not only memories, but his offspring are at the feeder and on the sunflowers daily. Stay Well!!!!
I have definitely struggled with the drought here in middle TN. I plan to switch most of my beds to a Hügelkultur style. For my raised beds, I am going to dig out some trenches and add logs into the beds. The silver lining is I’m still getting tons of big heirloom tomatoes. My plants are usually done by now.
Looks like core gardening with the compost trench, looks good. I finally have vole in my garden, doing a little bit of damage but fortunately not too much. Not nice to say this, but I hope the neighbor's cat will help take care of it. It does eventually bite through my insect netting to get to my raised beds. All my beds now have plastic fencing just as a deterrent to the raccoon digging the surface, though the vole is more tricky. The more pests I deal with the more I gear more toward container gardening. 98% of the corn I grew are destroyed by the squirrels. They ate all of them before I can, even using organza bags doesn't help, they chew through it. I grew a dent corn that has a cob that must be 16inches long, and the squirrel chewed it all, I have one seed saved. Next year, I will have to create a rectangular fencing structure to box in the plants, but it will need some kind of flexible top netting, so it can expand as the corn grows taller. I tried growing some bacterial wilt resistant cucumber and they all died from bacterial wilt from the cucumber beetles. So I quit trying to grow cucumber seriously from this point. Again I made the mistake of growing too many tomatoes, even for canning, and allowing them to ripe on the vine which is a proliferation for fruit flies. But after a decade I don't think it will be a problem anymore, I've grown more than 125 varieties and have my list of stables and don't need to experiment much new variety anymore. Pepper has been prolific despite coming late. I'm freezing and pickling all my peppers to eat through the winter. I buy practically very little amount of vegetables from the super market this year. It doesn't save any money because of inflation, but it at least free some money to buy meat and fruits. I'm amaze how much foods I can pack in the freezer now that I'm starting to do it. The main ones I'm freezing so far are peaches, bellpepper, peas, and spinach.
@@GrowfullywithJenna I've become more and more a fan of thicker skinned tomatoes since they stay on the vine longer, and resist insect damage and cracking better. I also prefer meatier and less watery texture. Probably my favorite eating tomato has been Opalka. It's a paste but have some oxheart growing characteristic, which from my experience they lasts and produces late into the season. It's a definition of perfect texture and balance, this is one I'll grow every year. Also the fruits don't have very much flies damage. For 2 pounders, Mega Marv is still my favorite. It is very meaty with little juice, and the skin is decently durable. It need to be growing on the cattle panels with 6ft of space and each truss reduced to one blossom. Rapunzel F1 is pretty much the most prolific cherry I've ever grown. I get 30lbs per plant growing them in Earthbox container. It does have slightly thick skin and resist cracking. This is probably the only hybrid I'll continue to buy as I'm weening off my reliance on hybrids. Sakura F1, while is prolific, have gotten a lot of fruit flies damages, it's just not comparable to Rapunzel in term of durability. My favorite cherry of all time currently is Pink Princess, it's somewhat new, but I've never grown a pink cherry before. It has a really exceptional smooth texture and flavor, low juice and low acid, so when you bite it there isn't that pop of acidic juice like most other cherries. 10/10 for the refined balance and smoothness. I'm sad to even think I won't be tasting it again in another 8 months. Black Cherry should be one of the stable in another climate, but it isn't much to speak of for Ohio because it simply doesn't do well in this climate. In Florida it performs exceptional despite the root knot nematodes there and is much sweeter. I've been trying out a few early determinate to see what do well in smaller containers. I've finally realized it is not ideal to be giving away indeterminate plants as they are not ideal for beginner growers. I like Siberian a lot, it's the perfect thick skin durable super market tomato. Clear Pink is my favorite for flavor, but it seems only average in vigor. For any new beginners, I just recommend them Big Beef F1 or Carmello F1. I am trying Carmello open pollinated right now into the fall, the website that sells the F1 version call the OP version a "lesser" variety. It seems to be producing pretty well, but not gangbuster, but healthy for this time of the year. Rutgar Improved would be my other alternative. I have a super prolific beefsteak but I don't know the name, maybe it's just "Beefsteak". Green Giant is still my number one favorite beefsteak for flavor. But this year was a bust with lots of stink bugs damage. The only blue/purple tomato I like is Great White Blue, which is a surprisingly relatively early and prolific beefsteak, which seems to produces a lot then peters out. Otherwise pretty much most of them blues are a waste of time. Favorite microdwarf is Fuzzy Wuzzy, it is labeled as dwarf, but it only grows up to maybe 1.5ft tall indoor. Flavor is very good despite the hairy skin. It's a beautiful looking plant. I would use slightly larger pots, 1.5 to 2 gallon.
We've also had heat and drought. The only things left in my vegetable gardens are zinnias, basil, parsley, thyme, chives, two okra plants and a single green bell pepper plant with 3 peppers struggling to reach full size. I pulled everything else. As soon as we get a frost, I'll pull the okra, the pepper plant, and all of the zinnias. I was out there today and ate the last two okra pods as I surveyed those gardens and the berry garden. Edit: I forgot about my lettuce. I'm growing cold hardy lettuce that I sowed, in ground, about 5 weeks ago.
Thank you Jenna for all of the work that you put into your videos. I have been working on my kitchen garden for a couple of years now and also planting stone fruit trees and making fig trees from clippings. I started with metal beds from water toughs, but am starting to wonder if that was a bad idea. I thought that it would keep pests from getting at my veggies.
We are not far south of you, in Highland County. I have never been so thankful for having a deep, healthy well. I do plan, however, to add more drip irrigation next year. I like to water, but not as intensively as this. Thanks for sharing all your insights, Jenna!
I’m in zone 7b in virginia 3rd year gardening. Last year excellent tomato harvest this year not so much we had barely a winter and the heat and bug pressure was the worst I’ve seen. Peppers and basil did great this year. Never had success with squash or pumpkins sometimes I would get 1-2 pumpkins. Only time have had success with my cucumbers had been when I grew on the deck in a bucket so going back to that next year. The squash gets ruined by squash bugs every year not sure what to do. Great success with my medicinal flowers and cutting flowers though!
Here with you in ohio this summer. We had one legitament rain on our property in July and August. First summer with a garden at our new home. Not a great year to establish one but always room for growth and learning. (Irronically, it is now raining and looks like rain for the next week)
i’m in Northeast Missouri so I am in the same miserable boat as you this year. My Future strategy: try to plant earlier if I can, i might try buckets or grow bags for the peppers, already bumped up the rain catchment, incorporate more shade, i must prune, mulch, and water my fruit trees/berries, if I want to have decent sized fruit. I love your ideas for a gardening battle plan. That cotton was gorgeous!
From Eaton Oh: I felt your drought pain! I was hoping for another week without frost as a reward for suffering 😂 but we won’t get that. Oh well. La Niña is returning. Should be wetter for us and not just from a hurricane. 🙌🏼
Since you asked: I've been taking daily records for7 years now. 2021 was my hottest and 2020 was my driest. At this point, 2024 is vying for both positions. I live in what used to be close to rain forest climate and rarely had to water the garden. In 2022, I realized I would have to water 2-3 times per week. This year, it would have been better if I watered every day. A local gardener had her garden grow well but, she watered her entire garden twice every day!
In Ohio as well but our garden is fairing ok. I admit that i drained my irrigation pond a bit too early, this year. Fortunately, it's not been a detrimental decision.
Thank you for that last part at the end… this is my first year gardening and I am also in northeast Ohio! It’s definitely been a weird weather year, but I’m glad to hear also not the best for gardening since my stuff started dying out in August. Thank you for all the work you put into this channel!!
Worried about year to year drought here in north Illinois 5A.Learning that flowers like cosmos, marigolds and Mexican sunflowers seem to come right thru with little watering as well as bringing in the bees and hummingbirds. I love the raspberries you have grown and will try a crop of them. Thank you for showing the variety that can be grown in changing climate areas.
That is one good thing about the drought- it makes it very obvious which plants are the toughest in terms of dealing with a lack of water. My zinnias have been absolute champs through this!
I love your videos. Southern Delaware County here with a small but mighty garden. It does seem that every year in Ohio is different. Thank you for so much useful information. I could listed to you all day. 🙂
Over here by Cleveland, I’ve been hand watering. But I pretty much gave up on the raised beds. I’ve stuck to my Greenstalk towers on my deck. I just can’t get out and water everything after work before it gets dark this time of year. But I’m watching your video today at lunch, and it has been pouring rain off and all day. If we’re getting this much rain in NE Ohio, I’m hopeful you got some in your part of the state.
Thanks Jenna. I am a longtime gardener and this has been a truly strange weather year. We don't get a lot of rainfall in this area of Colorado, but had a cool and damp spring, almost everyday was ovecast like a gray blanket was on the sky so I did delay some spring planting. Then summer began and some record high temperatures. Had some things come up a week to 10 days earlier than normal and my vegetable garden still hasn't fully produced. I plan to use more mulch next year and some shade cloth. Glad you got some production from your plants, hope to have learned a few lessons this year to make things a bit better for next year. One of our extension agents tested some pepper growing in southern CO and found that those with some shading produced much better. Appreciate your information and videos.
My Colorado garden didn't fully produce either. I'm just now getting zucchinis and our first frost is probably right around the corner (it's Sept. 25th, elevation 6500 ft.). I harvested corn, but the plants were short, and so were all my neighbors' corn plants. My herbs didn't really survive at all except inside under a light, but my trees, coniferous, deciduous, fruit, nuts, all of them, are doing well, so I'll take that as a win for the year! 😅
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am north of Cincinnati ,This is my first year starting everything from seed . Overall I am pleased but the bugs have been crazy. I planted a fall crop of more zucchini and pie pumpkins about a month ago. They were doing great full of little pumpkins but the squash bugs have returned 🤦🏼♀️ I have learned so much watching your videos, thank you
This has actually been one of my better garden years. It didn't get very hot here in northern Michigan, though it does look like our first frost will be later than usual. That just means more time for veggies to grow!
I live in Ohio 6A also. My peppers have been slow to mature also. And for the first time, my hot peppers did not do so well this year. It was a surprise. With this weather, I'm still planting lettuce and mustards. My turnips didn't come up this year in the fall.
My peppers definitely struggled more this year than in years past. Typically they are one of my most trouble-free veggies. I kept telling myself I needed to plant some more lettuce-- with the rain that's supposed to be coming, maybe I can get some in yet!
@@GrowfullywithJennathat’s odd as it has been the best year for peppers Z5a, WI after all that rain let up. Did you have a lot of rain this summer? The Tabasco is the slow one again this year and it just might make it this year with all this late heat. Hope you get the rain we just had. I was racing to get some perennials in till the lightening started. I do think peppers like cooler weather and moist soil. They do sunburn easy as I had to move them around to tie them up several times.
It's been a very tough year here in south central Ohio (severe drought area). We were lucky we planted early and most of our crops were made by the time it turned really dry. The value of mulching, minimum till and hugelkultur have shined through this year. We fill our raised beds using a modified hugelkultur. The bottom half ( our beds average 34" deep) is wood fiber then soil and topped off with compost. All these beds made it through the drought with reasonable success. They are built over a typical wet area. Our Flower beds are threes years into just carboard and wood fiber mulch with composting and no till and I am amazed our dahlias and zinnias done amazingly well considering. They weren't as nice as past years but very nice for a drought year with very little supplemental watering. The tilled garden burnt to a crisp 6 weeks ago, but 80% of it was finished before the drought had serious affects. Our green beans and corn where fine because we had them out early. Sunflowers burnt up early and pumpkins done ok. If you doubted the mulching and no tilling management practices don't add benefits, this year should convince you. The funny thing for us is Our compost pile just plain dried out and wouldn't finish. That's ok it'll eventually finish when the moisture returns. I just won't have much for fall top dressing.
I live north of Pittsburgh on 6a/6b border. Weather here a few degrees cooler than Ohio, but the drought was very bad here too. I can water more because I'm older and garden on a smaller scale. My garden was greener, but that seemed to attract the deer which caused the worst damage ever
I love the wildness of the garden at this time of year. Whilst your garden has had to withstand a drought, here in the UK we have had no summer at all. It rained from October last year until May this year, so farmers' crops were ruined. There has been so little sun and the temperatures have been low. I am just praying for a better season next year!
The dryness is really bad here in eastern PA also. No meaningful rain (over .25") in almost 7 weeks now in my backyard. I do water almost every day to keep things going and keep praying for rain. For me this has been the driest in over 10 years. I'm sure we'll eventually get a flood to even things out lol. Good luck
@@GrowfullywithJenna Over a 5 day period of dreary weather I think we picked up around 7 tenths of an inch. Now no more rain for weeks the way it looks.
I am in ohio as well level 3 drought. In the spring I built swales in my garden. I did it right as the spring rains were ending. Hopefully next year i will know just how they do. Love your videos❤ thank you
Oh so glad to hear the rain made it to you guys! We had 5.88” last night to this morning and last rain 8/30. High fire and glad it poured!🎉 WI. Love reading the comments as there is always something to learn 😊.
I love your videos! I learn so much each time. I also love the positive attitude. I'm pleased with this year's garden although there are always failures and successes. The Spring was rough and I wondered if there would even BE a garden. But it pulled through and I'm hauling in the tomatoes and peppers. Cucumbers are fizzling. Onions were good although I need to increase the quantity. Potatoes were a learning curve and they also will get expanded. I'd love a recommendation for a DETERMINATE Paste Tomato! Hopefully, it will be very productive :)
Glad to hear that you had some successes this year despite the challenging conditions! I don't grow a whole lot of determinates, but Ten Fingers of Naples, a semi-determinate type, did well for me. I've heard from other folks in the region that Paisano and Bellatrix have done well.
Your all videos are very informative about vegetables , I am also preparing my soil for planting winter vegetables for example garlic , spinach , coriander , reddish ,carrot and other many vegetables How is your all family ?
Thank you so much for sharing all this information. We, in Iraq, have a very dry and hot summer. This summer the temperature reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I tried the Roth Stout method on my watermelon this summer and the results were excellent. I am still getting good fruit after about 100 days without giving the plants a drop of water. I am thinking of expanding this method to other types of plants next year.
Drought, heat, and disease all hit my garden like a hammer this year. About 3/4 of my bush beans were practically wiped out by a disease that I'm pretty sure it was carried there by the woodlice because of their proliferation this year in all of the mulch I used. One plant in that section was hardly affected at all so I didn't pick any beans from it and am waiting for them to mature and saving them for next year's planting
Hello, Jenna. Always good to see one of your videos, even of it is during the Midwest’s version of Death Valley. Your stuff still looks pretty amazing, despite a few things deciding to call it a season. I might be tempted to try growing that cotton, and if you do another winter squash taste test video for the new stuff, I’ll be ready with pen and paper for recommendations. Despite the dry stuff in Columbus, Ohio, my garden is still looking pretty okay. The biggest issue I had was rats getting my tomatoes; probably lost as many as I’ve harvested. Peppers are in my Birdies raised beds, and with soaked logs in the bottom half I think they’ve had a nice bit of help. Tempted to try a big pile of compost like you have for next year’s winter squash and pumpkins. Could be a fun new thing to play with. Thanks for you videos, and I hope you have a great week.
I had a rat problem in my garden a couple years ago, and they’re eating far too much to be a water issue. Plus, there is water in pans for the birds and squirrels. I found a few holes where they’re nesting, and they’ve learned to avoid the traps. It may be time to clear out the tomatoes now anyways. At least I’ve loaded up on peppers. Ten pounds of jalapeños and counting. Yikes. And one habanada plant that produces more than I can eat.
After losing almost all my cabbages etc to the cabbage worms I have purchased the netting and the hoops for next year. This was my first year with a bigger garden for food after leaving the city. We have experienced the drought being on the other side of Lake Erie in Niagara region. It finally broke today with on and off rain all day. Think I'm going to give the huegel (sp?) culture a whirl for next year. Thanks for all your tips.
I’m in SW Ohio, north of Cincinnati. We’ve only been dry for about five weeks. I’ve been watering my food crops for about five minutes in the morning and another five minutes at night. It’s been enough to keep things going. The main change I made this year was the addition of shade cloth. I’ve been utilizing it more than ever before because the sun this year has been brutal. My pests have been about the same. Squash bugs and cucumber beetles are the bane of my existence. I have been overrun with rolly pollies this year though. They love the seedlings, so I’ve had to fight them off in a few places.
Shade cloth has been a garden-saver here too! I used to never use it, now I don't think I could garden without it. I hear you on the squash bugs & cucumber beetles... ugh!!
How about making a shroom garden with some of that Hugelkultur wood in the shade somewhere? Just drill a hole into the gourds and make bird houses out of them. My brussell spouts all got eaten up by cabbage worms. They planted rye as a cover crop last fall. But you have to wait till the seed heads form before terminating it. That delayed our community gardening opening till Memorial Day, which delayed my onions, which really sucked this year. Small. Yours were HUGE! I had same Dixondale slips as last year, which were great. I’ll copy your Alisa Craig ones next year. My tomatoes were best ever. Still got some blight, but didn’t kill all the leaves - like last year. But we were under water twice last year. A week later, no more leaves. Definitely dry here, S.E. MI, Aug. and Sept. But we have drip tape watering.
Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge. I'm a little south of you and feeling the heat much like you. Looks like we may be getting some rain finally. I'm working on the various cover crops you have recommended over the years and luckily I am working on a much smaller scale so watering is not a major issue.
I enjoy touring your garden with you. Such a huge space! The sounds of rooster crows and faraway train horns adds so much to the experience. (thanks so much for not blasting music at us). Is that an electric fence around your corn patch? That is the only way I can see to keep racoons and squirrels out of the corn! I always look forward to your timely and valuable gardening info. And thank you for not saying "it is what it is" ! Also love seeing all your flowers mixed in with your veg.
It is not electric. Knock on wood... I've not had issues with critters stealing my corn. I think there is enough other stuff for them to eat around us without coming into the garden.
All of my squash plants got absolutely decimated by squash vine borers this year :( It was a rough one, that's for sure! Oh well, on to subsequent seasons we go!
Columbus Ohio and we're worse off. But I am still getting tomatoes and I do believe your teaching with mulch and I'm using some cover crops and your advice about drainage helps as many my beds I don't work the soil as I used to. . Still 100 percent fond of Midnight Snack and almost everyone's favorite I have tested over 50 people and 10 others I'd gifted Midnight Snack seedlings to. I allow a couple Volunteers near where Midnight Snack has grown several seasons they are still delicious but half sized and even the plants are half sized but they might be great as my cousin found the 9 ft Midnight Snack can be over sized for some gardens.. I planted buckwheat and the huge radishes as cover crop hopefully they get rain as the weather man claims coming soon. I followed the sunflower with tomatoes for the 4th season and it was definitely my favorite method to raise the tomato . I'm planning on laying some branches from a willow tree for a raised bed much as you show at the beginning of the video I am getting almost no grass clippings from my neighborhood due to drought. My pepper is so dry I'm testing that they might be Ok for dehydration but it a test. Hopefully next year will have rain as needed Tobacco box gouges are they a type that be carved.? You don't have so much grass clippings either I think if it's good for worms it's good for garden soil. Test don't disturb a root ball of one or more of your big sunflower but simply plant an tomato seedlings in the root ball not tilting just following the sunflower it's my most productive method of raising tomatoes and this year definitely handle less water and I've repeat this 4 seasons so it passed my test and peppers seems to like it too but my first season with the peppers.Next year I'm raising a whole 3 x50 ft row of sunflower as cover crop Found my first hook worm catpipilor it was full of the wasp lava and dead hopefully the wasp young hatch off Thanks
This is the first time I've heard of leaving sunflower stalk undisturbed and following with tomatoes next season. I'm thinking it's going to be worth trying out. Thanks for sharing
@@osmia Okay to cut back the stalks but leaving the stumps so you can locate the sunflower root ball and don't disturb the roots that where you place the tomatoes seedlings them roots holding air also micro life and making your compost underground for your seedlings and you don't need to dig.I been following the sunflower 2 seasons then back to the sunflower in a cycle of life. I've been working with this method for four years and it's my best for protection,the easiest method and the cheapest. ... I'm 73 really soon. I'm been trying several methods as I might not be rototilling someday in my future and don't want to not have veggies. . please teach and tell other people that can't or don't have a tilter raise sunflower on a raised bed for drainage then following have great results with tomatoes and I did very well with this testing of peppers but just trying them this one season. One of my Black Krim in this method got 1.27 lbs and usually my biggest average tomatoes are from this method average 20 percent larger I believe on average. Big THANKS
Sorry to hear you're worse off, John-- but glad the tomatoes are still producing. The tobacco box gourds can indeed be carved, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. And we've had no grass clippings at all for about a month- they are sorely missed in my garden. Luckily the leaves are already starting to fall, so I'll have leaf mulch soon. I think I've already cut all my sunflowers, but I'll have to try that method at some point in the future!
@@GrowfullywithJenna I'm 73 and setup a cover crop of sunflower 3 ft wide and 50 ft long and it's gonna to be in a double row of tomatoes and plans 22 ft x4 ft that will be home for peppers and peppers only got a 4 plant test but as you teaching cover crop and drainage is big important I'm thinking with the beds built most seniors can do this in tiny areas if needed as I don't know how long I'll be rototilling myself. That hurlliculter (. misspelled) mound you plan pumpkin and If there's any sunflower root ball still undisturbed that would be awesome and you have great tomatoes then you compare with your tomatoes that would be a true test.or as you say try next season believe your mom or father could show other seniors how they can easily eat great tomatoes all summer and late fall. I've been eating tomatoes since June 19 and slicers since June 29 so happy to have tomatoes 3 months plus and you have helped me the most. TH-cam's " I am a Organic Gardener" has started my following the sunflower basic and he also builds the soil. I'm thinking if I can raise garden worms they feed my soil is my basic method Thanks
Yeah I think you’re right. They always congregate like that. And the bulge on the hind leg gives them away. I keep hoping to find assassin bugs but haven’t seen one yet…plenty of leaf footeds though 🫠
@@GrowfullywithJenna as a note I have also seen groups of leaf footed bug nymphs on the wild bur cucumber here 😕 although maybe it’s a good trap crop for them? 🤷♀️
@@GrowfullywithJenna You're welcome. They fooled me big time this year. I thought I had an army of assassins protecting my plants, until I saw a bunch of them on one of my young pumpkins, they did enough damage for it to rot off..
I always look forward to your videos!!! I love your garden!!! I’m dealing with the same thing weather wise here In Cincinnati. I’ve got my carrots, beets, cabbage, & broccoli going for fall. I am holding out on planting my lettuces, spinach, & mustard till it cools off a bit. I’ve been mulching my plants a lot this year to help retain water and keep the soil cool. It’s been helping a lot in this drought.
Enjoy your videos. You're my zone 6 guru. My veggie garden is tiny so I can afford to water. No drought damage, but the squirrels were busy digging and eating my beautiful tomatoes - even though I put water out for them.
We feed the squirrels and chipmunks, and they seemed to leave our tomatoes alone, although I found many nuts and seeds that they buried in our grow bags
I garden on The Rock (Marblehead) next to the lake. Dry, dry, dry. We continue to enjoy lots of sunshine so the water is still warmish. No sign of spotted lantern fly yet. Be well everyone
I have some volunteer Seminole squash under the elderberry hedge. It’s mostly in the shade from the large bushes. These squash are just outstanding right now. This drought has been depressing for me, but the bright spot has been learning from what is still doing so well. (In central OH)
❤this year enjoyed a lot with you channel, you help me a lot with the english, you speak slowly and Cain, can copy you pronunciation ❤. I put in practice some of you tips y knowledge here in my small garden. This year begging with 6 plants of butterscotch that I planted but only give me one 😂😂 the next year can trie with other stuff. The strawberry are bigger but don’t have any fruit yet. I want put in the basement to protect of the weather when the snow came. I had some of tomatoes. One sweet potato in my kitchen give me plants and put in two pots, and some littles in water in the kitchen 😢😢 I hope the plans no die until think what do with them 😂😂 I have some lettuce and leek, cilantro, green onions, sweet pepers and bell pepper, arugulas and chards. All work really good here in pots. 🎉
We're in northern Ohio. We've had tons of those white moths going after our broccoli and tons of Mexican bean beetles. We've also been seeing lantern flies everywhere.
PEI Canada here. We have had record heat and record dry all summer. I have water more this year than I did in the previous 4 combined. I need to figure out a watering system for my fruit trees. The deep mulch helped a lot but the ht and dry made them much more susceptible to insect pests. I am expecting a frost anytime now so I have slacked in weeding and such. Soon I will put everything to bed and have stacks of dandelions drying out to die.
Did a LOT of watering this year. Pretty happy with my harvest but had the same problems with bugs and powdery mildew. Oh well, there’s always hope for better weather next year!
SE PA 7B similar conditions. Challenging periods this year....heatwaves, then flooding rains, and now drought. Planting tomatoes deep has helped during these drought times. Started tomatoes from seed, when plants were 5" tall I planted them out on May 1st. 5" plants in a 12" hole, as the plant grew out of the hole I trimmed a set of bottom leaves and added soil to the hole. ( one of my tomatoes is 12ft long with tomatoes along the vine). New this year...No dig, arched cattle panels, Espoma bio start when planted, 1/2 finished compost as mulch, holy basil and marigolds planted with tomatoes. Thanks for the share Jenna, love your content.
Hi Jenna, I'd be interested in your rainwater harvesting set up. In my former garden I collected Rainwater from my garage roof in an 1000l IBC tank and as my garden was VERY long I pumped some of that water aaaaaaaaaaall the way to the back of the garden in two 200l plastic barrels. Most years that was enough. I used an electric pump, but I could have used gravity, had I been smart enough to install the tank on some sort of plattform. And you mentioning the sheep manure made me think of sheep wool - I heard that it is a fantastic mulch. I have not tried it myself, yet, as I couldn't get my hands on it. Hope, you get some rain, soon
I share my rainwater collection system a bit in this video, starting at around 7:50: th-cam.com/video/2wVMBWbTsEA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SdidbYMOEbB8MEqo&t=474 I've heard the same about wool, but have yet to try it!
@@GrowfullywithJenna Aaah, thank you for the link. Yeah, with that size of the roof, you can add many more IBCs. I'd probably put some on the far end of the garden along the fence and let them do double duty as a trellis and/or windbreak.
Thank you, Jenna! I loved all of the information you shared with us. I’m just starting a new garden and you inspired me to add some hugelkultur beds to the garden plan. I hope to start them now in the fall too and get it planted in the spring. I was gardening in NYC this year and we were affected by the drought too. I also want to plan for a more drought resistant garden in the future.
Removed the last few tomatoes (San Marzano) and pulled out the remaining plants today (9/22/2024). The squirrels have been attacking them routinely recently. Also stripped and pulled some pepper plants that never grew that much this year. In spite of their small size, they did provide a good number of peppers. Only thing left are the larger pepper plants and some additional small pepper plants that just did not grow hardly at all that were planted in a different area of the garden. I figure those will stay until the frost gets them later this fall. These have quite a few small peppers left on them.
I live in zone 5b in WI and haven't yet pulled all of my summer crops.I will do so over the next 10 days then plant a mix of vetch,clover and oats as cover. I used that cover crop last season and had no problem with it germinating although I did water a bit as we had a drought here last year.
Thanks Jenna for all the great information and tour! I'm still harvesting green beans, i always do Kentucky climbers non gmo and soon I'll dig up my sweet potatoes also non gmo organic that i started my own slips
We are having the same issues here on our homestead in New York's Hudson Valley. We had rain in the spring followed by high temperatures and drought the rest of the season. It is heart breaking. We have actually been having issues with our deep well, so I had to stop watering everything 2 months ago. Many of the plants in the five small greenhouses, and several large gardens dying as I have to stand by and watch. I agree with you Jenna. We are going to have to adjust how we grow in the coming years.
That's heartbreaking. We are finally getting some rain today here (near West Point) but it's been brutal. The trees on the mountains took a beating from the gypsy moths in early summer and now I think they are turning early from the dryness. In 2022 we had catastrophic flooding, so the only thing predictable about the weather is that it is unpredictable. I hope things get better for you.
I saw you at the Ohio Ren Faire and before I could place where I knew your face from, you were lost in the crowd! Hope you had a great time and I may have "fan girled" to my husband a bit...
This is so cool!! I'm impressed that you even recognized me with the costume and makeup on 😆. We did have a great time (it was my daughter's first time there since she was a toddler)... I hope you did too!
Weather cycles. Curious why you think you’re gonna have drought conditions more often? Some years you’re dry and some you’re too wet…just nature and patterns. Oh and that pumpkin was a monster! Sweet :)
Seminole is really a remarkable variety! Better resistance to pests & diseases than most modern squash varieties... I need to bring that one back into rotation.
My Jerusalem artichokes didn't fair well here in Colorado, either. A lot didn't survive an early drought, and what did come up didn't get nearly as tall as in the past. 🤷♀️
i thought it was necessary to thresh carrot seed from the chaff but i found they didnt want to separate and they didnt mind growing from this mixture this year.we do have a range oven that makes seed drying easy
West central Missouri has had more drought years than “normal” for ten years now. Adapting with more wood chips heavily applied over layered mulch. Leaving water bowls out for wildlife so they are less inclined to eat tomatoes for liquid. Removing stressed out apples. I don’t dig anymore, but may consider it if we get a backhoe for the tractor. Water is our most expensive utility in the summer. Not enough water in the pond and wells are not viable here.
Love your great videos. I’m right next door to you in Indiana. So yes it’s been a hot dry September here too We got a bit of rain today here in Indy so maybe we’re through the hot dry end of summer. I’m primarily a flower gardener specifically in dahlias and lantana which of course I have to dig every fall to keep from freezing, but I do have a small veggie plot. I wanted to tell you about an experiment I’ve done with carrots this year. First off, rather than planting in rows I broadcasted the carrots seeds lightly much like I might plant grass seed over a bed appropriately 20 by 4 feet back at the end of July. I covered the bed with shade cloth and set up an auto sprinkler to water twice a day and got great germination. When the carrots got to be two to three inches tall I thinned them to about three inches apart. I presently have a great stand of carrots which I will start harvesting in a month or so as needed and into the winter to see how long I can still get carrots. Recently though I had a thought that I would like to run past you. I’ve seen your video comments on Daikon radishes or tiller radishes as you call them. I purchased some tiller radish seeds to experiment with but I’m wondering if carrots might not work the same way as a winter cover crop? I’ll confess it seems bizarre to consider a perfectly good carrot crop as a cover crop but carrot seed a believe are a lot cheaper than what I paid for those radish seeds. And a lot easier to plant! In any event I plan to leave a few of my carrots in the ground over the winter just to see what they do next spring and see if they help break up my garden plot soil. Any thoughts?
Well Jenna this will be my 3rd attempt to comment 😂 I originally had mentioned about the over abundance of beans and what I would do with them and then you mentioned it in your video the exact same. If you need a great stringless purple pole bean get Trionfo Violetto-Then you can be like the gardener with all those zucchinis😂😂 Been using shade cloth on fall crops and I leave it on half way so it covers the west side. I cleaned the freezer and realized we don’t need to grow so much, but we all know we will plant extra anyways. The weather-we had drought as there was no rain since 8/30th and extreme heat in upper 90s also Until last night and this morning we had a whopping 5.88”😮🎉. We needed it! Hope it’s made it your way. I noticed the birds attacking the sunflowers more aggressively than last year and a future prediction that maybe our cold winters may return after being on vacation for 2 years. Been too warm. I have shade fabric over the fall crops, don’t know how things will go as we have cooled down now, but the heat we’ve had was something else in WI, Z5a. We use a sump pump with hose to drain rain water from tanks. It works great as it’s too far to be carrying buckets. I tweaked the irrigation system also and highly suggest a simple setup. We have a front and back garden with small orchard and water in shifts. I agree about weather extremes and may be the future. The nino and Nina weather pattern flipped this summer so we will see. I will wait as long as I can to plant garlic and definitely mulch heavily like last year and pull it off in spring as it prevented too much growth and die back and had huge garlic for it. Everything did well this year except squash and tomatoes were watered down and early blight, but had just enough. The Silver Queen corn and sweet bell peppers were Huge this year. I just bit into what I thought was a Lunchbox sweet and it was the one you showed 🥵-Yikes! I was worried about peppers as I watched them turn lime green in everyday rain 😬. I’m still picking and will soon hit zucchini avoidance level😂😂😂. It is weird that the cherry 100s seem to be picking up speed though. Our weird fun crops to try were eggplants, sorghum and amaranth. Now just need to figure out how to use them-the chickens always have ideas😂. I get confused on berries-what you have I call blackcaps, what I have growing I guess is a blackberry (Heaven Can Wait) and then is there also a black raspberry? The blackberries are the size of half dollars and larger seed, but I guess that is where the Omega oils are. Well I finished the video and thoroughly enjoyed it as they are always jammed with info! Since last year we did install a simple irrigation system that has saved me time and being out in that heat but this year I didn’t need it until now and thankfully the mosquitoes left!! They were hideous in this jungle environment. I didn’t mulch heavily this year because we had SO much rain and switched to a granular fertilizer and got out between downpours to get it down. The sun returned and things started to get going except it was too late for tomatoes as they stunted. I did have Great success with brassicas in a low tunnel and by April 15th I had plants in and that’s early for here. It was a lot of work covering and uncovering but nice return. I think we’re all ready for a break. I wonder how they keep up in areas growing year round, but I suppose a person wouldn’t have to grow as much to preserve and just have fresh vegetables.
I’m here in southern Ohio this drought has been crazy we got just a tiny bit of rain today but know where near enough for plants. For me I think I’m going to shut my garden down sooner then I normally would between the drought and the aphids I’m pretty wiped out with the garden this year.
I am in zone 6a also, and I think my peppers are all lagging this year as well. I've been watering, but I still wonder if it's the heat/drought doing it. Now that we got some cooler, weather and rain, they seem to be growing better again.
Here in Chicago - I guess we had drought conditions. My garden is much smaller compared to yours so I pretty much go ahead and water every morning unless we had a good rain. I heard you mention Triticale. I bought some of this seed to harvest for flour. I don’t know much about it. Is it grown for a cover crop or can it be used for flour? I also wanted to grow winter wheat. Have you ever tried growing it? I can’t seem to find much content on it that isn’t for farming large fields. I always enjoy your garden tours!
I live just west of you in the quad cities. I too am interested in winter wheat as a cover crop. Had a pretty good harvest of corn and watermelon but the flowers really were the show of the garden and especially the cosmos and Mexican sunflowers which not only brought hummingbirds and bees but a few monarch butterflies. Cheers
It can be grown both for grain and make a good cover crop (the same with winter wheat). I've only done these two in mixes, and I've never tried harvesting the grain-- but I know it's do-able. The advantage to them (the same as winter rye) is that they can be planted later in the fall then other cover crops.
Well your garden looks better than mine. I’m just outside of Wilmington Ohio and this drought and heat has just devastated my garden. Hopefully next year is better.
I did grow your Aji de Colorado Alipino peppers. I have 2 plants in pots at home and they are HUGE plants. Looks like a winner! I might try over-wintering my peppers. I’ll try those triple delights next year. I’m looking for something long and sweet. Nurseries just carry bells and hot ones. No longer the sweet ones. The problem is the pepper seeds just don’t seem to germinate unless it’s hot out. Then it’s a little late for them to mature before frost. I can’t get an early start on those long sweet ones I want. Pepper seeds seem challenging. Your Agrothrive 3-3-5 on seedlings (and later boost) was a HUGE tip. Good top of the barn ladder overview. Keep doing that. And MORE!
Hey, how about a quickie short stating you are OK with the Helene Hurricane. I heard they had some damage in Dayton, OH? I think you are more by Lima. - But... don't really need to know. We got nothing in Michigan. Crazy how close, inland, and nasty that got. ~200+ dead?? My other web homesteaders and gardeners have been commenting on their storm issues. We're all sort of a community. Just brought together by the web.
I'm in SE Ohio in the "Exceptional Drought" section. My water bill has almost doubled from having to water to frequently. Some things finished early and some suffered quite a bit, but others didn't seem to care. I'm trying to just ride it out at this point and planning for next year. I am looking into more drought tolerant plants for sure.
@@GrowfullywithJenna We did, finally! We got about 6" of rain which helped tremendously. They say we are still in a drought, but it's green now and plants are bouncing back.
Jenna, how you handle the cucumber beetles and squash bugs. All of my summer and winter squash didn’t make it once the drought hit in early august with the pest pressure. I have tried neem oil, insecticidal soap, and hand removing but it never seems to prevent early deaths. I am growing in 6a Central Ohio and have looked for heirloom summer/winter squash that are from Ohio but haven’t found and varieties so far that seem to work with our hot humid and this year dry weather.
My tactic is to keep the plants netted until the start blooming, and them keep them coated with Surround kaolin clay after that point. I still have TONS of squash bugs in particular, but they don't kill the plants. I also tried applying beneficial nematodes meant to help with cucumber beetle populations one spring- I noticed a decline in their numbers, but it wasn't a well layed out test, so I don't have conclusive evidence of the effectiveness.
Was that a rabbit hopping through your garden in the wide shot during the intro? About 56 seconds in on the lower left side. No doubt long gone by now.
Wow! What an eye! Yes, it was. That is my 'pet' rabbit 😆. Somehow it got into the fence and I can't get it out. She (or he) has not done much damage other than to eat all the leaves off my bean plants, so I've not worried to much about her.
Hi from NW Franklin County. We are so dry as well, but finally got some real rain these past 2 days. The flowers and veggies are fairing much better than my lawn, which is fine. I really think the amendments to the soil has helped retain water. Random question - are those overalls from Duluth?
It seems that all of my hot chiles are more productive than my sweet peppers (capsicum)- very open to suggestions on varieties for high production of sweet peppers. (I will try the sweet pepper mentioned in the video.) Thanks!
The worst afffected drought area in Ohio here. 😩It’s been miserable. There’s literally no grass even growing. All dead. I’ve had to water nearly everyday for the past two months. Not use to this .. when it’s usually like a rainforest around here.
Have you ever grown purple sprouting broccoli in your zone? (same as mine). Some grow them in spring for fall harvest and some plant late summer to harvest in early spring the same time as asparagus. I just can't seem to be successful with it.
Yes- my favorite is 'Burgundy' purple sprouting broccoli. I've trialed many other varieties of purple sprouting broccoli, but most of the other purple types are bred for climates with moderate winter climates and longer, cooler spring & fall climates. They don't tend to do well here, where the winters typically gets too cold (for short spells) and the spring gets too hot, too fast. When I have gotten sprouts off of them, they are typically bitter and tough due to the weather conditions. Burgundy was bred for climates more similar to mine, and I plant on the same schedule I would a typical heading broccoli.
@@GrowfullywithJenna that's an amazing reply and very helpful thank you! I will look for that variety since we have the same climate. Also thank you for your fennel video. I successfully grew beautiful fennel from your suggestions 🤗
Your Brussel sprouts are SO MUCH farther along than mine. I was late to transplant them. Started indoors in mid early May, but I didn’t transplant till mid August. When did you transplant yours?
I transplanted mid-July this year. It's also an early variety (Silvia) which matures about 90 days from transplant, versus some of them that take 110 to 120.
I am so grateful for your experiences. You’ve given me hope for the shady area next to my garden! I’ve got a ton of leaves and debris so a digging I will go and piling. Good thing I adore winter squash! Thank you!
that hen was so proud of herself in the background.
So good to see what “real life” in the garden for you looks like and how your challenges in the garden has allowed you to adapt rather than throw in the towel. I have had great success with container gardening this year. But ants and snails have been a big pest problem. I’ve hand picked over 300 hundred snails in Spring and over the Summer and even now I’m having a huge ant infestation both in my garden and inside my home. So dealing with it head on as I can’t wait for their army to invade further once the garden gets flooded by winter rains.
Next year I’ll have to increase the size of my containers from 7 and 10 gallon to 20 gallon specifically so I don’t have to water as often here in zone 10b. I have also had great success in keeping up with my compost bin and worm bins (year 4) to help supplement my container garden with harvested castings and compost. In drought conditions compost has really been a life saver for me since I hand water everything and sometimes compost tea is the only thing that alleviates a hydrophobic garden soil. Also I moved a size up on my compost bin in late Spring. I’m going to have a 2nd compost bin installed this Fall since I’ve had such great results.
Thank you Jenna for helping me to reflect and plan for the future. Its the first time I’ve had a chance all season to do so.
I'm glad to hear that even though you've had challenges, you're meeting them head on for next season! Best wishes for a fantastic season!
That crazy vine is a native plant in the cucurbit family, believe it or not. It’s growing wild on my property. Just looked it up for the name…I think it’s sicyos angulatus, bur-cucumber.
Oh cool!! I had no idea- I've never seen it before. Also called 'Star Cucumber'. Apparently it was used as both an edible plant and medicinal herb. Thanks so much for solving this mystery for me!!
@@GrowfullywithJenna sure thing! I noticed it all over the place last year and just had to figure out what it was 😅
love your garden im in the UK we have lots of rain but i just love watching your garden tour
Oh yeah, this year has been tough. I’m in central NY, 6a now. I’ve never had so many bad bugs and so few pollinators. This was the first year I felt like not quite a beginner, but if it’d been my first year…. Don’t give up!❤
NE Ohio here and luckily the drought isn't too bad here. The last 2 days have been nothing but rain so hopefully my pumpkins will be ok. My carrots are very happy and I recently learned that the carrot tops are delicious and much tastier than parsley ( I will be substituting carrots tops for parsley from now on). I am concerned how I will fare next year with my San Marzano tomatoes. Fingers crossed they like my garden. Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden and wonderful tips!
I use the hriguliur culture in my tallest raised beds, I also rake up leaves from previous years that are alive with mycelium and microbes and incorporate it into my soil. This year has been a hard yr for gardening with the drought, high heat and humidity in southeast Alabama .
We moved to Cincinnati last October from Colorado. After our first summer here, I finally understand the phrase "air you can wear."
Its interesting, I hear about the humidity a lot from those in the west but Ive spent years out there myself and to me when it its hot its hot, regardless of where you are.
Haha- air you can wear is right!
Never heard that before and I’ve been in the Midwest my whole life. It’s not that bad. South of us from Tennessee to Florida would really qualify for that.
WOW!!!!
So many things, your garden is so awesome!!!!!
Too many things to comment on.
I gave up along time ago what the "perfect " garden is, was, supposed to be. My garden is my garden. Good bad or otherwise, it is mY garden.
More than the food I collect, it is the hummingbirds, butterflies, the array of pollinators, cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers,sparrows ( i might take them out), finches. My garden, drought or flood is a haven for all these creatures.
I lost "Papa", a male Cardinal, that almost took seed from my hand last year, almost. we would talk, me and the cardinal, I miss him dearly.
My focus in the garden is keeping the soil alive, with roots, I do not purchase one thing that goes into my soils. I harvest a few hundred pounds of worm castings annually if not more, biology rules!!!!!
Jenna, Your videos are AWESOME!!!! God Bless You! Stay WeLL!!!!
I love hearing updates from your garden! I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of "Papa"- what a special bond that must have been.
How is the asian jumping worm situation coming along?
@@GrowfullywithJenna Jumping worms suck! lol.
I tried mulching my potatoes with aged straw, hoping the JW's would not be interested, WRONG. Not only did they use the straw, I ended up with a bunch of green potatoes, back to the drawing board.
Grew 2 luffas in different soils, one had jumping worms from the previous 2 years the other one was a new bed without JW's. The JW's turned the one soil into a granular mess that would not hold water, even when I watered daily. As a result, that luffa suffered, leaves would wilt and eventually die, the plant is surviving. The other luffa has been growing and producing non stop.
I will have to remove that soil this fall and put in clean dirt and amendments, aged compost, finished leaf mold and worm castings. In the early spring will do another living mulch of some low growing perennial. My beds with creeping thyme and oregano have very little JW pressure, even though I have been choppin and dropping comfrey all summer.
Thanks for mentioning "Papa", fortunately he left behind not only memories, but his offspring are at the feeder and on the sunflowers daily.
Stay Well!!!!
I have definitely struggled with the drought here in middle TN. I plan to switch most of my beds to a Hügelkultur style. For my raised beds, I am going to dig out some trenches and add logs into the beds. The silver lining is I’m still getting tons of big heirloom tomatoes. My plants are usually done by now.
I'm glad to hear the tomatoes are still producing!
Looks like core gardening with the compost trench, looks good.
I finally have vole in my garden, doing a little bit of damage but fortunately not too much. Not nice to say this, but I hope the neighbor's cat will help take care of it. It does eventually bite through my insect netting to get to my raised beds. All my beds now have plastic fencing just as a deterrent to the raccoon digging the surface, though the vole is more tricky. The more pests I deal with the more I gear more toward container gardening.
98% of the corn I grew are destroyed by the squirrels. They ate all of them before I can, even using organza bags doesn't help, they chew through it. I grew a dent corn that has a cob that must be 16inches long, and the squirrel chewed it all, I have one seed saved. Next year, I will have to create a rectangular fencing structure to box in the plants, but it will need some kind of flexible top netting, so it can expand as the corn grows taller.
I tried growing some bacterial wilt resistant cucumber and they all died from bacterial wilt from the cucumber beetles. So I quit trying to grow cucumber seriously from this point.
Again I made the mistake of growing too many tomatoes, even for canning, and allowing them to ripe on the vine which is a proliferation for fruit flies. But after a decade I don't think it will be a problem anymore, I've grown more than 125 varieties and have my list of stables and don't need to experiment much new variety anymore.
Pepper has been prolific despite coming late. I'm freezing and pickling all my peppers to eat through the winter. I buy practically very little amount of vegetables from the super market this year. It doesn't save any money because of inflation, but it at least free some money to buy meat and fruits. I'm amaze how much foods I can pack in the freezer now that I'm starting to do it. The main ones I'm freezing so far are peaches, bellpepper, peas, and spinach.
What are some of your favorite tomato varieties, if you don't mind sharing?
@@GrowfullywithJenna I've become more and more a fan of thicker skinned tomatoes since they stay on the vine longer, and resist insect damage and cracking better. I also prefer meatier and less watery texture.
Probably my favorite eating tomato has been Opalka. It's a paste but have some oxheart growing characteristic, which from my experience they lasts and produces late into the season. It's a definition of perfect texture and balance, this is one I'll grow every year. Also the fruits don't have very much flies damage.
For 2 pounders, Mega Marv is still my favorite. It is very meaty with little juice, and the skin is decently durable. It need to be growing on the cattle panels with 6ft of space and each truss reduced to one blossom.
Rapunzel F1 is pretty much the most prolific cherry I've ever grown. I get 30lbs per plant growing them in Earthbox container. It does have slightly thick skin and resist cracking. This is probably the only hybrid I'll continue to buy as I'm weening off my reliance on hybrids. Sakura F1, while is prolific, have gotten a lot of fruit flies damages, it's just not comparable to Rapunzel in term of durability.
My favorite cherry of all time currently is Pink Princess, it's somewhat new, but I've never grown a pink cherry before. It has a really exceptional smooth texture and flavor, low juice and low acid, so when you bite it there isn't that pop of acidic juice like most other cherries. 10/10 for the refined balance and smoothness. I'm sad to even think I won't be tasting it again in another 8 months.
Black Cherry should be one of the stable in another climate, but it isn't much to speak of for Ohio because it simply doesn't do well in this climate. In Florida it performs exceptional despite the root knot nematodes there and is much sweeter.
I've been trying out a few early determinate to see what do well in smaller containers. I've finally realized it is not ideal to be giving away indeterminate plants as they are not ideal for beginner growers. I like Siberian a lot, it's the perfect thick skin durable super market tomato. Clear Pink is my favorite for flavor, but it seems only average in vigor.
For any new beginners, I just recommend them Big Beef F1 or Carmello F1. I am trying Carmello open pollinated right now into the fall, the website that sells the F1 version call the OP version a "lesser" variety. It seems to be producing pretty well, but not gangbuster, but healthy for this time of the year. Rutgar Improved would be my other alternative. I have a super prolific beefsteak but I don't know the name, maybe it's just "Beefsteak".
Green Giant is still my number one favorite beefsteak for flavor. But this year was a bust with lots of stink bugs damage.
The only blue/purple tomato I like is Great White Blue, which is a surprisingly relatively early and prolific beefsteak, which seems to produces a lot then peters out. Otherwise pretty much most of them blues are a waste of time.
Favorite microdwarf is Fuzzy Wuzzy, it is labeled as dwarf, but it only grows up to maybe 1.5ft tall indoor. Flavor is very good despite the hairy skin. It's a beautiful looking plant. I would use slightly larger pots, 1.5 to 2 gallon.
We've also had heat and drought. The only things left in my vegetable gardens are zinnias, basil, parsley, thyme, chives, two okra plants and a single green bell pepper plant with 3 peppers struggling to reach full size. I pulled everything else. As soon as we get a frost, I'll pull the okra, the pepper plant, and all of the zinnias. I was out there today and ate the last two okra pods as I surveyed those gardens and the berry garden. Edit: I forgot about my lettuce. I'm growing cold hardy lettuce that I sowed, in ground, about 5 weeks ago.
Thank you Jenna for all of the work that you put into your videos. I have been working on my kitchen garden for a couple of years now and also planting stone fruit trees and making fig trees from clippings. I started with metal beds from water toughs, but am starting to wonder if that was a bad idea. I thought that it would keep pests from getting at my veggies.
We are not far south of you, in Highland County. I have never been so thankful for having a deep, healthy well. I do plan, however, to add more drip irrigation next year. I like to water, but not as intensively as this. Thanks for sharing all your insights, Jenna!
I know I’m very happy we installed irrigation last year. I couldn’t keep up in the drought.
@@dustyflats3832 I have been wanting to for a long time, but this year has definitely been very incentivizing!
I’m in zone 7b in virginia 3rd year gardening. Last year excellent tomato harvest this year not so much we had barely a winter and the heat and bug pressure was the worst I’ve seen. Peppers and basil did great this year. Never had success with squash or pumpkins sometimes I would get 1-2 pumpkins. Only time have had success with my cucumbers had been when I grew on the deck in a bucket so going back to that next year. The squash gets ruined by squash bugs every year not sure what to do. Great success with my medicinal flowers and cutting flowers though!
I'm glad to hear that despite the challenges some things did really well for you!
Here with you in ohio this summer. We had one legitament rain on our property in July and August. First summer with a garden at our new home. Not a great year to establish one but always room for growth and learning. (Irronically, it is now raining and looks like rain for the next week)
Agreed that we should plan and adapt our gardens for ongoing extreme weather. I too am experimenting with hugelcultur beds.
I’m in Newark Ohio, my garden has been loving the few days of rain!!
I got corn borers. I can't get ahold of the Department of Agriculture I don't know what to do
i’m in Northeast Missouri so I am in the same miserable boat as you this year. My Future strategy: try to plant earlier if I can, i might try buckets or grow bags for the peppers, already bumped up the rain catchment, incorporate more shade, i must prune, mulch, and water my fruit trees/berries, if I want to have decent sized fruit. I love your ideas for a gardening battle plan. That cotton was gorgeous!
I'm sorry to hear that!
I also need to increase my rain catchment system.
From Eaton Oh: I felt your drought pain! I was hoping for another week without frost as a reward for suffering 😂 but we won’t get that. Oh well.
La Niña is returning. Should be wetter for us and not just from a hurricane. 🙌🏼
Since you asked:
I've been taking daily records for7 years now.
2021 was my hottest and 2020 was my driest.
At this point, 2024 is vying for both positions.
I live in what used to be close to rain forest climate and rarely had to water the garden.
In 2022, I realized I would have to water 2-3 times per week.
This year, it would have been better if I watered every day. A local gardener had her garden grow well but, she watered her entire garden twice every day!
Wow... I knew this year was bad... didn't realize quite how bad!
In Ohio as well but our garden is fairing ok. I admit that i drained my irrigation pond a bit too early, this year. Fortunately, it's not been a detrimental decision.
Thank you for that last part at the end… this is my first year gardening and I am also in northeast Ohio! It’s definitely been a weird weather year, but I’m glad to hear also not the best for gardening since my stuff started dying out in August. Thank you for all the work you put into this channel!!
Worried about year to year drought here in north Illinois 5A.Learning that flowers like cosmos, marigolds and Mexican sunflowers seem to come right thru with little watering as well as bringing in the bees and hummingbirds. I love the raspberries you have grown and will try a crop of them. Thank you for showing the variety that can be grown in changing climate areas.
Have to agree about the flowers you listed, they can take the drought. I’m surprised coneflower doesn’t as they always wilt here Z5a, WI.
That is one good thing about the drought- it makes it very obvious which plants are the toughest in terms of dealing with a lack of water. My zinnias have been absolute champs through this!
I love your videos. Southern Delaware County here with a small but mighty garden. It does seem that every year in Ohio is different. Thank you for so much useful information. I could listed to you all day. 🙂
Thank you 😊.
One thing's for sure- Ohio gardening keeps us on our toes!
Over here by Cleveland, I’ve been hand watering. But I pretty much gave up on the raised beds. I’ve stuck to my Greenstalk towers on my deck. I just can’t get out and water everything after work before it gets dark this time of year. But I’m watching your video today at lunch, and it has been pouring rain off and all day. If we’re getting this much rain in NE Ohio, I’m hopeful you got some in your part of the state.
I'm so glad to hear you got some rain! We had some here, but not nearly enough.
Thanks Jenna. I am a longtime gardener and this has been a truly strange weather year. We don't get a lot of rainfall in this area of Colorado, but had a cool and damp spring, almost everyday was ovecast like a gray blanket was on the sky so I did delay some spring planting. Then summer began and some record high temperatures. Had some things come up a week to 10 days earlier than normal and my vegetable garden still hasn't fully produced. I plan to use more mulch next year and some shade cloth. Glad you got some production from your plants, hope to have learned a few lessons this year to make things a bit better for next year. One of our extension agents tested some pepper growing in southern CO and found that those with some shading produced much better. Appreciate your information and videos.
My Colorado garden didn't fully produce either. I'm just now getting zucchinis and our first frost is probably right around the corner (it's Sept. 25th, elevation 6500 ft.). I harvested corn, but the plants were short, and so were all my neighbors' corn plants. My herbs didn't really survive at all except inside under a light, but my trees, coniferous, deciduous, fruit, nuts, all of them, are doing well, so I'll take that as a win for the year! 😅
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am north of Cincinnati ,This is my first year starting everything from seed . Overall I am pleased but the bugs have been crazy. I planted a fall crop of more zucchini and pie pumpkins about a month ago. They were doing great full of little pumpkins but the squash bugs have returned 🤦🏼♀️ I have learned so much watching your videos, thank you
This has actually been one of my better garden years. It didn't get very hot here in northern Michigan, though it does look like our first frost will be later than usual. That just means more time for veggies to grow!
I'm glad to hear it!
I live in Ohio 6A also. My peppers have been slow to mature also. And for the first time, my hot peppers did not do so well this year. It was a surprise. With this weather, I'm still planting lettuce and mustards. My turnips didn't come up this year in the fall.
My peppers definitely struggled more this year than in years past. Typically they are one of my most trouble-free veggies. I kept telling myself I needed to plant some more lettuce-- with the rain that's supposed to be coming, maybe I can get some in yet!
@@GrowfullywithJennathat’s odd as it has been the best year for peppers Z5a, WI after all that rain let up. Did you have a lot of rain this summer? The Tabasco is the slow one again this year and it just might make it this year with all this late heat.
Hope you get the rain we just had. I was racing to get some perennials in till the lightening started.
I do think peppers like cooler weather and moist soil. They do sunburn easy as I had to move them around to tie them up several times.
It's been a very tough year here in south central Ohio (severe drought area). We were lucky we planted early and most of our crops were made by the time it turned really dry. The value of mulching, minimum till and hugelkultur have shined through this year. We fill our raised beds using a modified hugelkultur. The bottom half ( our beds average 34" deep) is wood fiber then soil and topped off with compost. All these beds made it through the drought with reasonable success. They are built over a typical wet area. Our Flower beds are threes years into just carboard and wood fiber mulch with composting and no till and I am amazed our dahlias and zinnias done amazingly well considering. They weren't as nice as past years but very nice for a drought year with very little supplemental watering. The tilled garden burnt to a crisp 6 weeks ago, but 80% of it was finished before the drought had serious affects. Our green beans and corn where fine because we had them out early. Sunflowers burnt up early and pumpkins done ok. If you doubted the mulching and no tilling management practices don't add benefits, this year should convince you. The funny thing for us is Our compost pile just plain dried out and wouldn't finish. That's ok it'll eventually finish when the moisture returns. I just won't have much for fall top dressing.
I live north of Pittsburgh on 6a/6b border. Weather here a few degrees cooler than Ohio, but the drought was very bad here too. I can water more because I'm older and garden on a smaller scale. My garden was greener, but that seemed to attract the deer which caused the worst damage ever
I love the wildness of the garden at this time of year. Whilst your garden has had to withstand a drought, here in the UK we have had no summer at all. It rained from October last year until May this year, so farmers' crops were ruined. There has been so little sun and the temperatures have been low. I am just praying for a better season next year!
The dryness is really bad here in eastern PA also. No meaningful rain (over .25") in almost 7 weeks now in my backyard. I do water almost every day to keep things going and keep praying for rain. For me this has been the driest in over 10 years. I'm sure we'll eventually get a flood to even things out lol. Good luck
I hope you got some rain over the last week!
@@GrowfullywithJenna Over a 5 day period of dreary weather I think we picked up around 7 tenths of an inch. Now no more rain for weeks the way it looks.
My peppers 🌶 stopped getting red when temps dropped and I am getting some blossom end rot. There goes my year end hot sauce plans lol
I am in ohio as well level 3 drought. In the spring I built swales in my garden. I did it right as the spring rains were ending. Hopefully next year i will know just how they do. Love your videos❤ thank you
I'd love to hear what you think of them next spring!
Got to love ohio weather. I'm sitting here watching the rain pour down as you talk about the drought. An hour earlier and my garden was just as dry.
I think it's coming my way!!!
Oh so glad to hear the rain made it to you guys! We had 5.88” last night to this morning and last rain 8/30. High fire and glad it poured!🎉 WI. Love reading the comments as there is always something to learn 😊.
@@GrowfullywithJenna🎉🎉🎉
I love your videos! I learn so much each time. I also love the positive attitude. I'm pleased with this year's garden although there are always failures and successes. The Spring was rough and I wondered if there would even BE a garden. But it pulled through and I'm hauling in the tomatoes and peppers. Cucumbers are fizzling. Onions were good although I need to increase the quantity. Potatoes were a learning curve and they also will get expanded. I'd love a recommendation for a DETERMINATE Paste Tomato! Hopefully, it will be very productive :)
Glad to hear that you had some successes this year despite the challenging conditions! I don't grow a whole lot of determinates, but Ten Fingers of Naples, a semi-determinate type, did well for me. I've heard from other folks in the region that Paisano and Bellatrix have done well.
Your all videos are very informative about vegetables , I am also preparing my soil for planting winter vegetables for example garlic , spinach , coriander , reddish ,carrot and other many vegetables How is your all family ?
The family is well. Hope you & yours are doing good also!
Thank you so much for sharing all this information. We, in Iraq, have a very dry and hot summer. This summer the temperature reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I tried the Roth Stout method on my watermelon this summer and the results were excellent. I am still getting good fruit after about 100 days without giving the plants a drop of water. I am thinking of expanding this method to other types of plants next year.
Drought, heat, and disease all hit my garden like a hammer this year. About 3/4 of my bush beans were practically wiped out by a disease that I'm pretty sure it was carried there by the woodlice because of their proliferation this year in all of the mulch I used. One plant in that section was hardly affected at all so I didn't pick any beans from it and am waiting for them to mature and saving them for next year's planting
Smart to save seed from that healthy section!
Hello, Jenna. Always good to see one of your videos, even of it is during the Midwest’s version of Death Valley. Your stuff still looks pretty amazing, despite a few things deciding to call it a season. I might be tempted to try growing that cotton, and if you do another winter squash taste test video for the new stuff, I’ll be ready with pen and paper for recommendations. Despite the dry stuff in Columbus, Ohio, my garden is still looking pretty okay. The biggest issue I had was rats getting my tomatoes; probably lost as many as I’ve harvested. Peppers are in my Birdies raised beds, and with soaked logs in the bottom half I think they’ve had a nice bit of help. Tempted to try a big pile of compost like you have for next year’s winter squash and pumpkins. Could be a fun new thing to play with.
Thanks for you videos, and I hope you have a great week.
Have you had issues with rats before? Do you think they were after the water/juice from the fruit since it's been so dry?
I had a rat problem in my garden a couple years ago, and they’re eating far too much to be a water issue. Plus, there is water in pans for the birds and squirrels. I found a few holes where they’re nesting, and they’ve learned to avoid the traps. It may be time to clear out the tomatoes now anyways. At least I’ve loaded up on peppers. Ten pounds of jalapeños and counting. Yikes. And one habanada plant that produces more than I can eat.
After losing almost all my cabbages etc to the cabbage worms I have purchased the netting and the hoops for next year. This was my first year with a bigger garden for food after leaving the city. We have experienced the drought being on the other side of Lake Erie in Niagara region. It finally broke today with on and off rain all day. Think I'm going to give the huegel (sp?) culture a whirl for next year. Thanks for all your tips.
I’m in SW Ohio, north of Cincinnati. We’ve only been dry for about five weeks. I’ve been watering my food crops for about five minutes in the morning and another five minutes at night. It’s been enough to keep things going. The main change I made this year was the addition of shade cloth. I’ve been utilizing it more than ever before because the sun this year has been brutal. My pests have been about the same. Squash bugs and cucumber beetles are the bane of my existence. I have been overrun with rolly pollies this year though. They love the seedlings, so I’ve had to fight them off in a few places.
Shade cloth has been a garden-saver here too! I used to never use it, now I don't think I could garden without it.
I hear you on the squash bugs & cucumber beetles... ugh!!
How about making a shroom garden with some of that Hugelkultur wood in the shade somewhere? Just drill a hole into the gourds and make bird houses out of them. My brussell spouts all got eaten up by cabbage worms. They planted rye as a cover crop last fall. But you have to wait till the seed heads form before terminating it. That delayed our community gardening opening till Memorial Day, which delayed my onions, which really sucked this year. Small. Yours were HUGE! I had same Dixondale slips as last year, which were great. I’ll copy your Alisa Craig ones next year.
My tomatoes were best ever. Still got some blight, but didn’t kill all the leaves - like last year. But we were under water twice last year. A week later, no more leaves.
Definitely dry here, S.E. MI, Aug. and Sept. But we have drip tape watering.
All very beautiful and you are such an experimenter which is perfect for your long term viewers.
Thank you so much!
Looks like a pretty wonderful harvest in spite of the weather conditions!
I liked the hugelkultur info on holding moisture.
Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge. I'm a little south of you and feeling the heat much like you. Looks like we may be getting some rain finally. I'm working on the various cover crops you have recommended over the years and luckily I am working on a much smaller scale so watering is not a major issue.
I enjoy touring your garden with you. Such a huge space! The sounds of rooster crows and faraway train horns adds so much to the experience. (thanks so much for not blasting music at us). Is that an electric fence around your corn patch? That is the only way I can see to keep racoons and squirrels out of the corn! I always look forward to your timely and valuable gardening info. And thank you for not saying "it is what it is" ! Also love seeing all your flowers mixed in with your veg.
It is not electric. Knock on wood... I've not had issues with critters stealing my corn. I think there is enough other stuff for them to eat around us without coming into the garden.
All of my squash plants got absolutely decimated by squash vine borers this year :( It was a rough one, that's for sure! Oh well, on to subsequent seasons we go!
Hi Jenna,it's been really dry here in Greenfield IN. this year for us also.
We had a few sprinkles earlier today, but it didn't last long at all!
Columbus Ohio and we're worse off.
But I am still getting tomatoes and I do believe your teaching with mulch and I'm using some cover crops and your advice about drainage helps as many my beds I don't work the soil as I used to.
. Still 100 percent fond of Midnight Snack and almost everyone's favorite I have tested over 50 people and 10 others I'd gifted Midnight Snack seedlings to.
I allow a couple Volunteers near where Midnight Snack has grown several seasons they are still delicious but half sized and even the plants are half sized but they might be great as my cousin found the 9 ft Midnight Snack can be over sized for some gardens..
I planted buckwheat and the huge radishes as cover crop hopefully they get rain as the weather man claims coming soon.
I followed the sunflower with tomatoes for the 4th season and it was definitely my favorite method to raise the tomato .
I'm planning on laying some branches from a willow tree for a raised bed much as you show at the beginning of the video
I am getting almost no grass clippings from my neighborhood due to drought.
My pepper is so dry I'm testing that they might be Ok for dehydration but it a test.
Hopefully next year will have rain as needed
Tobacco box gouges are they a type that be carved.?
You don't have so much grass clippings either
I think if it's good for worms it's good for garden soil.
Test don't disturb a root ball of one or more of your big sunflower but simply plant an tomato seedlings in the root ball not tilting just following the sunflower it's my most productive method of raising tomatoes and this year definitely handle less water and I've repeat this 4 seasons so it passed my test and peppers seems to like it too but my first season with the peppers.Next year I'm raising a whole 3 x50 ft row of sunflower as cover crop
Found my first hook worm catpipilor it was full of the wasp lava and dead hopefully the wasp young hatch off
Thanks
This is the first time I've heard of leaving sunflower stalk undisturbed and following with tomatoes next season. I'm thinking it's going to be worth trying out. Thanks for sharing
@@osmia Okay to cut back the stalks but leaving the stumps so you can locate the sunflower root ball and don't disturb the roots that where you place the tomatoes seedlings them roots holding air also micro life and making your compost underground for your seedlings and you don't need to dig.I been following the sunflower 2 seasons then back to the sunflower in a cycle of life. I've been working with this method for four years and it's my best for protection,the easiest method and the cheapest.
... I'm 73 really soon. I'm been trying several methods as I might not be rototilling someday in my future and don't want to not have veggies.
. please teach and tell other people that can't or don't have a tilter raise sunflower on a raised bed for drainage then following have great results with tomatoes and I did very well with this testing of peppers but just trying them this one season.
One of my Black Krim in this method got 1.27 lbs and usually my biggest average tomatoes are from this method average 20 percent larger I believe on average.
Big THANKS
@@JohnJude-dp6ed I was thinking to leave the stalk to have it to tie the tomato to
Sorry to hear you're worse off, John-- but glad the tomatoes are still producing.
The tobacco box gourds can indeed be carved, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.
And we've had no grass clippings at all for about a month- they are sorely missed in my garden. Luckily the leaves are already starting to fall, so I'll have leaf mulch soon.
I think I've already cut all my sunflowers, but I'll have to try that method at some point in the future!
@@GrowfullywithJenna I'm 73 and setup a cover crop of sunflower 3 ft wide and 50 ft long and it's gonna to be in a double row of tomatoes and plans 22 ft x4 ft that will be home for peppers and peppers only got a 4 plant test but as you teaching cover crop and drainage is big important I'm thinking with the beds built most seniors can do this in tiny areas if needed as I don't know how long I'll be rototilling myself. That hurlliculter (. misspelled) mound you plan pumpkin and If there's any sunflower root ball still undisturbed that would be awesome and you have great tomatoes then you compare with your tomatoes that would be a true test.or as you say try next season believe your mom or father could show other seniors how they can easily eat great tomatoes all summer and late fall. I've been eating tomatoes since June 19 and slicers since June 29 so happy to have tomatoes 3 months plus and you have helped me the most.
TH-cam's " I am a Organic Gardener" has started my following the sunflower basic and he also builds the soil.
I'm thinking if I can raise garden worms they feed my soil is my basic method
Thanks
Those may actually be Leaf Footed Bugs(foe) rather than Assassin bugs.
Yeah I think you’re right. They always congregate like that. And the bulge on the hind leg gives them away. I keep hoping to find assassin bugs but haven’t seen one yet…plenty of leaf footeds though 🫠
Oh you're right!! I didn't look closely enough at them. Darn it!
Thanks for letting me know.
@@GrowfullywithJenna as a note I have also seen groups of leaf footed bug nymphs on the wild bur cucumber here 😕 although maybe it’s a good trap crop for them? 🤷♀️
@@GrowfullywithJenna You're welcome. They fooled me big time this year. I thought I had an army of assassins protecting my plants, until I saw a bunch of them on one of my young pumpkins, they did enough damage for it to rot off..
Such a beautiful sky behind the tree tobacco
I thought so too!!
I always look forward to your videos!!! I love your garden!!! I’m dealing with the same thing weather wise here In Cincinnati. I’ve got my carrots, beets, cabbage, & broccoli going for fall. I am holding out on planting my lettuces, spinach, & mustard till it cools off a bit. I’ve been mulching my plants a lot this year to help retain water and keep the soil cool. It’s been helping a lot in this drought.
Enjoy your videos. You're my zone 6 guru. My veggie garden is tiny so I can afford to water. No drought damage, but the squirrels were busy digging and eating my beautiful tomatoes - even though I put water out for them.
We feed the squirrels and chipmunks, and they seemed to leave our tomatoes alone, although I found many nuts and seeds that they buried in our grow bags
@@gaardengrl I find walnuts buried in grow bags. We have 5 black walnut trees in my backyard so it's quite the gathering center. LOL!
Those little rascals!
I garden on The Rock (Marblehead) next to the lake. Dry, dry, dry. We continue to enjoy lots of sunshine so the water is still warmish. No sign of spotted lantern fly yet. Be well everyone
I hope you got some rain over this last week! We got a little here, but not enough.
I have some volunteer Seminole squash under the elderberry hedge. It’s mostly in the shade from the large bushes. These squash are just outstanding right now. This drought has been depressing for me, but the bright spot has been learning from what is still doing so well. (In central OH)
❤this year enjoyed a lot with you channel, you help me a lot with the english, you speak slowly and Cain, can copy you pronunciation ❤. I put in practice some of you tips y knowledge here in my small garden. This year begging with 6 plants of butterscotch that I planted but only give me one 😂😂 the next year can trie with other stuff. The strawberry are bigger but don’t have any fruit yet. I want put in the basement to protect of the weather when the snow came. I had some of tomatoes. One sweet potato in my kitchen give me plants and put in two pots, and some littles in water in the kitchen 😢😢 I hope the plans no die until think what do with them 😂😂 I have some lettuce and leek, cilantro, green onions, sweet pepers and bell pepper, arugulas and chards. All work really good here in pots. 🎉
I'm so glad to hear this!
And I'm glad to hear all of those veggies & herbs are doing well in pots for you!
My veggie garden took a hit😣 However the flowers I planted are beautiful!!
I’m glad to hear your flowers are beautiful!
We're in northern Ohio. We've had tons of those white moths going after our broccoli and tons of Mexican bean beetles. We've also been seeing lantern flies everywhere.
PEI Canada here. We have had record heat and record dry all summer. I have water more this year than I did in the previous 4 combined. I need to figure out a watering system for my fruit trees. The deep mulch helped a lot but the ht and dry made them much more susceptible to insect pests. I am expecting a frost anytime now so I have slacked in weeding and such. Soon I will put everything to bed and have stacks of dandelions drying out to die.
Did a LOT of watering this year. Pretty happy with my harvest but had the same problems with bugs and powdery mildew. Oh well, there’s always hope for better weather next year!
SE PA 7B similar conditions. Challenging periods this year....heatwaves, then flooding rains, and now drought. Planting tomatoes deep has helped during these drought times. Started tomatoes from seed, when plants were 5" tall I planted them out on May 1st. 5" plants in a 12" hole, as the plant grew out of the hole I trimmed a set of bottom leaves and added soil to the hole. ( one of my tomatoes is 12ft long with tomatoes along the vine). New this year...No dig, arched cattle panels, Espoma bio start when planted, 1/2 finished compost as mulch, holy basil and marigolds planted with tomatoes. Thanks for the share Jenna, love your content.
Hi Jenna, I'd be interested in your rainwater harvesting set up. In my former garden I collected Rainwater from my garage roof in an 1000l IBC tank and as my garden was VERY long I pumped some of that water aaaaaaaaaaall the way to the back of the garden in two 200l plastic barrels. Most years that was enough. I used an electric pump, but I could have used gravity, had I been smart enough to install the tank on some sort of plattform.
And you mentioning the sheep manure made me think of sheep wool - I heard that it is a fantastic mulch. I have not tried it myself, yet, as I couldn't get my hands on it. Hope, you get some rain, soon
I share my rainwater collection system a bit in this video, starting at around 7:50: th-cam.com/video/2wVMBWbTsEA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SdidbYMOEbB8MEqo&t=474 I've heard the same about wool, but have yet to try it!
@@GrowfullywithJenna Aaah, thank you for the link. Yeah, with that size of the roof, you can add many more IBCs. I'd probably put some on the far end of the garden along the fence and let them do double duty as a trellis and/or windbreak.
Thank you, Jenna! I loved all of the information you shared with us. I’m just starting a new garden and you inspired me to add some hugelkultur beds to the garden plan. I hope to start them now in the fall too and get it planted in the spring. I was gardening in NYC this year and we were affected by the drought too. I also want to plan for a more drought resistant garden in the future.
I'm glad to hear it! Let me know what you think of the hugelkultur beds!
@@GrowfullywithJenna Thank you! I will :)
Removed the last few tomatoes (San Marzano) and pulled out the remaining plants today (9/22/2024). The squirrels have been attacking them routinely recently. Also stripped and pulled some pepper plants that never grew that much this year. In spite of their small size, they did provide a good number of peppers. Only thing left are the larger pepper plants and some additional small pepper plants that just did not grow hardly at all that were planted in a different area of the garden. I figure those will stay until the frost gets them later this fall. These have quite a few small peppers left on them.
I live in zone 5b in WI and haven't yet pulled all of my summer crops.I will do so over the next 10 days then plant a mix of vetch,clover and oats as cover. I used that cover crop last season and had no problem with it germinating although I did water a bit as we had a drought here last year.
Thanks Jenna for all the great information and tour! I'm still harvesting green beans, i always do Kentucky climbers non gmo and soon I'll dig up my sweet potatoes also non gmo organic that i started my own slips
Sounds great!
We are having the same issues here on our homestead in New York's Hudson Valley. We had rain in the spring followed by high temperatures and drought the rest of the season. It is heart breaking. We have actually been having issues with our deep well, so I had to stop watering everything 2 months ago. Many of the plants in the five small greenhouses, and several large gardens dying as I have to stand by and watch. I agree with you Jenna. We are going to have to adjust how we grow in the coming years.
That's heartbreaking. We are finally getting some rain today here (near West Point) but it's been brutal. The trees on the mountains took a beating from the gypsy moths in early summer and now I think they are turning early from the dryness. In 2022 we had catastrophic flooding, so the only thing predictable about the weather is that it is unpredictable. I hope things get better for you.
I'm so sorry! It really is heartbreaking.
I saw you at the Ohio Ren Faire and before I could place where I knew your face from, you were lost in the crowd! Hope you had a great time and I may have "fan girled" to my husband a bit...
This is so cool!! I'm impressed that you even recognized me with the costume and makeup on 😆. We did have a great time (it was my daughter's first time there since she was a toddler)... I hope you did too!
Tysm for another great video and loads of great info.
Weather cycles. Curious why you think you’re gonna have drought conditions more often? Some years you’re dry and some you’re too wet…just nature and patterns. Oh and that pumpkin was a monster! Sweet :)
Seminole is really a remarkable variety! Better resistance to pests & diseases than most modern squash varieties... I need to bring that one back into rotation.
I garden in West Virginia. We are currently in a 25 year drought. The struggle is real. 😊
I'm so sorry to hear that!
Awesome
My Jerusalem artichokes didn't fair well here in Colorado, either. A lot didn't survive an early drought, and what did come up didn't get nearly as tall as in the past. 🤷♀️
I've considered moving mine to a shadier, lower-lying area of our property for next year.
Great vid!
Thanks!
i thought it was necessary to thresh carrot seed from the chaff but i found they didnt want to separate and they didnt mind growing from this mixture this year.we do have a range oven that makes seed drying easy
That's good to know!
Chemtrail in the back ground => that's why the drought in the west and flooding in the east
West central Missouri has had more drought years than “normal” for ten years now. Adapting with more wood chips heavily applied over layered mulch. Leaving water bowls out for wildlife so they are less inclined to eat tomatoes for liquid. Removing stressed out apples. I don’t dig anymore, but may consider it if we get a backhoe for the tractor. Water is our most expensive utility in the summer. Not enough water in the pond and wells are not viable here.
Leaving the water bowls out for wildlife is a great idea!
Love your great videos. I’m right next door to you in Indiana. So yes it’s been a hot dry September here too
We got a bit of rain today here in Indy so maybe we’re through the hot dry end of summer. I’m primarily a flower gardener specifically in dahlias and lantana which of course I have to dig every fall to keep from freezing, but I do have a small veggie plot. I wanted to tell you about an experiment I’ve done with carrots this year. First off, rather than planting in rows I broadcasted the carrots seeds lightly much like I might plant grass seed over a bed appropriately 20 by 4 feet back at the end of July. I covered the bed with shade cloth and set up an auto sprinkler to water twice a day and got great germination. When the carrots got to be two to three inches tall I thinned them to about three inches apart. I presently have a great stand of carrots which I will start harvesting in a month or so as needed and into the winter to see how long I can still get carrots. Recently though I had a thought that I would like to run past you. I’ve seen your video comments on Daikon radishes or tiller radishes as you call them. I purchased some tiller radish seeds to experiment with but I’m wondering if carrots might not work the same way as a winter cover crop? I’ll confess it seems bizarre to consider a perfectly good carrot crop as a cover crop but carrot seed a believe are a lot cheaper than what I paid for those radish seeds. And a lot easier to plant! In any event I plan to leave a few of my carrots in the ground over the winter just to see what they do next spring and see if they help break up my garden plot soil. Any thoughts?
Well Jenna this will be my 3rd attempt to comment 😂
I originally had mentioned about the over abundance of beans and what I would do with them and then you mentioned it in your video the exact same.
If you need a great stringless purple pole bean get Trionfo Violetto-Then you can be like the gardener with all those zucchinis😂😂
Been using shade cloth on fall crops and I leave it on half way so it covers the west side.
I cleaned the freezer and realized we don’t need to grow so much, but we all know we will plant extra anyways.
The weather-we had drought as there was no rain since 8/30th and extreme heat in upper 90s also Until last night and this morning we had a whopping 5.88”😮🎉. We needed it! Hope it’s made it your way.
I noticed the birds attacking the sunflowers more aggressively than last year and a future prediction that maybe our cold winters may return after being on vacation for 2 years. Been too warm.
I have shade fabric over the fall crops, don’t know how things will go as we have cooled down now, but the heat we’ve had was something else in WI, Z5a.
We use a sump pump with hose to drain rain water from tanks. It works great as it’s too far to be carrying buckets. I tweaked the irrigation system also and highly suggest a simple setup. We have a front and back garden with small orchard and water in shifts.
I agree about weather extremes and may be the future. The nino and Nina weather pattern flipped this summer so we will see. I will wait as long as I can to plant garlic and definitely mulch heavily like last year and pull it off in spring as it prevented too much growth and die back and had huge garlic for it.
Everything did well this year except squash and tomatoes were watered down and early blight, but had just enough. The Silver Queen corn and sweet bell peppers were Huge this year. I just bit into what I thought was a Lunchbox sweet and it was the one you showed 🥵-Yikes! I was worried about peppers as I watched them turn lime green in everyday rain 😬. I’m still picking and will soon hit zucchini avoidance level😂😂😂. It is weird that the cherry 100s seem to be picking up speed though.
Our weird fun crops to try were eggplants, sorghum and amaranth. Now just need to figure out how to use them-the chickens always have ideas😂.
I get confused on berries-what you have I call blackcaps, what I have growing I guess is a blackberry (Heaven Can Wait) and then is there also a black raspberry? The blackberries are the size of half dollars and larger seed, but I guess that is where the Omega oils are.
Well I finished the video and thoroughly enjoyed it as they are always jammed with info! Since last year we did install a simple irrigation system that has saved me time and being out in that heat but this year I didn’t need it until now and thankfully the mosquitoes left!! They were hideous in this jungle environment. I didn’t mulch heavily this year because we had SO much rain and switched to a granular fertilizer and got out between downpours to get it down. The sun returned and things started to get going except it was too late for tomatoes as they stunted. I did have Great success with brassicas in a low tunnel and by April 15th I had plants in and that’s early for here. It was a lot of work covering and uncovering but nice return.
I think we’re all ready for a break. I wonder how they keep up in areas growing year round, but I suppose a person wouldn’t have to grow as much to preserve and just have fresh vegetables.
I’m here in southern Ohio this drought has been crazy we got just a tiny bit of rain today but know where near enough for plants. For me I think I’m going to shut my garden down sooner then I normally would between the drought and the aphids I’m pretty wiped out with the garden this year.
Oh you've got worse drought than I do here! Shutting down the garden early doesn't sound like a bad plan. I hope next year goes a little better!
I am in zone 6a also, and I think my peppers are all lagging this year as well. I've been watering, but I still wonder if it's the heat/drought doing it. Now that we got some cooler, weather and rain, they seem to be growing better again.
Here in Chicago - I guess we had drought conditions. My garden is much smaller compared to yours so I pretty much go ahead and water every morning unless we had a good rain. I heard you mention Triticale. I bought some of this seed to harvest for flour. I don’t know much about it. Is it grown for a cover crop or can it be used for flour? I also wanted to grow winter wheat. Have you ever tried growing it? I can’t seem to find much content on it that isn’t for farming large fields.
I always enjoy your garden tours!
I live just west of you in the quad cities. I too am interested in winter wheat as a cover crop. Had a pretty good harvest of corn and watermelon but the flowers really were the show of the garden and especially the cosmos and Mexican sunflowers which not only brought hummingbirds and bees but a few monarch butterflies. Cheers
It can be grown both for grain and make a good cover crop (the same with winter wheat). I've only done these two in mixes, and I've never tried harvesting the grain-- but I know it's do-able. The advantage to them (the same as winter rye) is that they can be planted later in the fall then other cover crops.
Well your garden looks better than mine. I’m just outside of Wilmington Ohio and this drought and heat has just devastated my garden. Hopefully next year is better.
I'm sorry to hear that!
I did grow your Aji de Colorado Alipino peppers. I have 2 plants in pots at home and they are HUGE plants. Looks like a winner! I might try over-wintering my peppers. I’ll try those triple delights next year. I’m looking for something long and sweet. Nurseries just carry bells and hot ones. No longer the sweet ones. The problem is the pepper seeds just don’t seem to germinate unless it’s hot out. Then it’s a little late for them to mature before frost. I can’t get an early start on those long sweet ones I want. Pepper seeds seem challenging. Your Agrothrive 3-3-5 on seedlings (and later boost) was a HUGE tip.
Good top of the barn ladder overview. Keep doing that. And MORE!
Hey, how about a quickie short stating you are OK with the Helene Hurricane. I heard they had some damage in Dayton, OH? I think you are more by Lima. - But... don't really need to know. We got nothing in Michigan.
Crazy how close, inland, and nasty that got. ~200+ dead??
My other web homesteaders and gardeners have been commenting on their storm issues. We're all sort of a community. Just brought together by the web.
I'm in SE Ohio in the "Exceptional Drought" section. My water bill has almost doubled from having to water to frequently. Some things finished early and some suffered quite a bit, but others didn't seem to care. I'm trying to just ride it out at this point and planning for next year. I am looking into more drought tolerant plants for sure.
I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with exceptional drought- I hope you got some rain over the last week!
@@GrowfullywithJenna We did, finally! We got about 6" of rain which helped tremendously. They say we are still in a drought, but it's green now and plants are bouncing back.
Jenna, how you handle the cucumber beetles and squash bugs. All of my summer and winter squash didn’t make it once the drought hit in early august with the pest pressure. I have tried neem oil, insecticidal soap, and hand removing but it never seems to prevent early deaths.
I am growing in 6a Central Ohio and have looked for heirloom summer/winter squash that are from Ohio but haven’t found and varieties so far that seem to work with our hot humid and this year dry weather.
My tactic is to keep the plants netted until the start blooming, and them keep them coated with Surround kaolin clay after that point. I still have TONS of squash bugs in particular, but they don't kill the plants. I also tried applying beneficial nematodes meant to help with cucumber beetle populations one spring- I noticed a decline in their numbers, but it wasn't a well layed out test, so I don't have conclusive evidence of the effectiveness.
Was that a rabbit hopping through your garden in the wide shot during the intro? About 56 seconds in on the lower left side. No doubt long gone by now.
Wow! What an eye!
Yes, it was. That is my 'pet' rabbit 😆. Somehow it got into the fence and I can't get it out. She (or he) has not done much damage other than to eat all the leaves off my bean plants, so I've not worried to much about her.
Hi from NW Franklin County. We are so dry as well, but finally got some real rain these past 2 days. The flowers and veggies are fairing much better than my lawn, which is fine. I really think the amendments to the soil has helped retain water. Random question - are those overalls from Duluth?
Yes- they are from Duluth. My favorite overalls for hot weather!
It seems that all of my hot chiles are more productive than my sweet peppers (capsicum)- very open to suggestions on varieties for high production of sweet peppers. (I will try the sweet pepper mentioned in the video.) Thanks!
I've had the best luck with bull horn/corno di toro types in general for sweet peppers. They perform much better here than bells in general.
The worst afffected drought area in Ohio here. 😩It’s been miserable. There’s literally no grass even growing. All dead. I’ve had to water nearly everyday for the past two months. Not use to this .. when it’s usually like a rainforest around here.
I'm so sorry to hear this!
I've had to buy shade cloth here in western Oregon so I can have some lettuce and cabbage 😔
I never used shade cloth till a few years ago. Now I don't think I could garden without it!
Are you sure those are assassin bug nymphs? The back legs look flaired like leaf footed bug nymphs, though it's hard to tell in the video.
I was wrong- they are leaf footed bugs... I didn't look at them closely enough!
we got a little sprinkle today lol
Yep- I was hoping for more. All in all I got about 2" here over the last week. We needed a lot more than that.
Have you ever grown purple sprouting broccoli in your zone? (same as mine). Some grow them in spring for fall harvest and some plant late summer to harvest in early spring the same time as asparagus. I just can't seem to be successful with it.
Yes- my favorite is 'Burgundy' purple sprouting broccoli. I've trialed many other varieties of purple sprouting broccoli, but most of the other purple types are bred for climates with moderate winter climates and longer, cooler spring & fall climates. They don't tend to do well here, where the winters typically gets too cold (for short spells) and the spring gets too hot, too fast. When I have gotten sprouts off of them, they are typically bitter and tough due to the weather conditions. Burgundy was bred for climates more similar to mine, and I plant on the same schedule I would a typical heading broccoli.
@@GrowfullywithJenna that's an amazing reply and very helpful thank you! I will look for that variety since we have the same climate.
Also thank you for your fennel video. I successfully grew beautiful fennel from your suggestions 🤗
Your Brussel sprouts are SO MUCH farther along than mine. I was late to transplant them. Started indoors in mid early May, but I didn’t transplant till mid August. When did you transplant yours?
I transplanted mid-July this year. It's also an early variety (Silvia) which matures about 90 days from transplant, versus some of them that take 110 to 120.