2017 Gardening thread

[txtimetravler]

Bird netting, pellet gun and a dog. That's my defense to birds.

[txtimetravler]

Coming along

[ShoootLow]

Looks good, Will. I have no garden this year, so I'll just envy you. The deer devoured everything I planted. Hope to get the fenced garden done before fall planting season. We can have chickens starting September. Anyone have experience with a chicken coop in an enclosed garden, 40'x60'?

[bentstick]

you can have chickens or a garden in that space, not both

[FLASH_OUTDOORS]

How early are you picking them? I'm about to have a handful or black krim and Cherokee purples and I don't want the dang birds to get them



Mortgage lifters and the pinks are a little behind the others. I have no idea what the one they've been eating is, they're left over seeds from last years heirloom variety that decided to germinate and sprout on their own

I pick them when they are like this



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[jbhunting39]

Sweet [emoji535] is coming in nicely. Can't wait to try it.


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[ItsLeo]

I keep a doggie bowl full of water next to my tomatoes. Birds will drink the water instead of pecking the ripe tomatoes.

Having birds near the tomatoes is a good thing if they have water. They leave the fruit alone, and eat tomatoe worms.

[ItsLeo]

My Cherokee Purps from tonight

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Nice I'm growing the Cherokee Purples this year too. Fantastic tasting tomatoes.

I got a late start on them this year because of a couple late freezes and a super nasty hail storm in March.

[jlp04c]

I am growing Cherokee Carbon, a hybrid. waaaaaaayy more impressed with them than I was Cherokee alone. Mucho greater yield.. ill determine taste hopefully by weeks end! The above damage could be birds.. could be rats. Another trick I've seen is to clamp a strawberry plastic container around the cluster of tomatoes to protect from rats/birds.

[tbeak]

Milk jug tented my tomatoes a week and half back. Along with some fertilizer they have tripled in size. It sure why I didn't tent them to start.

[chunkinlead]

I think my squash has blossom rot. What can I do to keep this from happening?


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[tbeak]

I keep a doggie bowl full of water next to my tomatoes. Birds will drink the water instead of pecking the ripe tomatoes.

Having birds near the tomatoes is a good thing if they have water. They leave the fruit alone, and eat tomatoe worms.

Did not know this. Good tip

[Codypatt1]

You can also hang red Christmas ornaments on your trellis around the tomato plants. Got to do it before the fruit starts turning red though and they've gotten a taste of them. When they peck the ornaments and find out they are nothing, they aren't interested.

[tbeak]

Chunkinlead you need to add calcium to your soil. Several methods will do it. For long term I add egg shell into my soil. And add periodically throughout the year. A foliar calcium spray would also work.
Watch your watering schedule. If you can don't water at night. This allows moisture to stay on the fruit thereby exacerbating the situation. Water in the morning and try not to just soak the plant with a water stream. Water along the base and edges trying to not wet the fruit. A morning water will allow the fruit to dry during the day as well

pH plays a role as well. But you have to know the pH of your soil.

[Texas Grown]

I wonder if a Citrical tablet ground up and diluted in water, then added to the base of the plant watering area, would help prevent bottom rot.