Our Pathetic excuse of a garden!!!

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dirtsailor2003

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
Oct 4, 2012
21,947
4,224
Bend Oregon
We usually have an awesome garden. This year the weather didn't cooperate and everything got of to a slow start. Right after we seeded we had a week of freezing, then a bunch of wind and rain. Somehow the dogs got in there and messed it all up. The thing that are growing are growing in bunches and I just decided to let them go to seed! Our tomato plants are only 8" tall and the pepper plants are about the same! last year we had hundreds of tomatoes. The only thing that is growing great are the pumpkins. Probably have a bunker crop in time for halloween!


We harvested the lettuce in the lower left for dinner last night.
 
Lynn doesn't like my lack of "weeding" in the Victory Garden.  BUT.....in my defense....it has been raining soooo much...I can get out there and do anything. Going to try tonight.  Weeds outta come out really easy.  
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Kat
 
Lynn doesn't like my lack of "weeding" in the Victory Garden.  BUT.....in my defense....it has been raining soooo much...I can get out there and do anything. Going to try tonight.  Weeds outta come out really easy.  
biggrin.gif


Kat
The front yard that we tore out is becoming a weed sanctuary!
 
We had good intentions this year..... then I went back to work (which was a good thing.  I quickly figured out in retirement you can either have time to do the things you want, or the money to do the things you want - but not both).  Now I sit in traffic 1 hour each way and after a 9 hour day and 2 hours total Atlanta traffic, it sort of kills the desire to get out and get grubby in the hot, humid Georgia summer weather.

Looks like we will have pumpkins though.  We had one from halloween sitting in one of the small containers last year and it broke down.  I have a wonderful looking pumpkin vine with lots of blossoms right now.  All the rain has made that vine very happy this year.  Has not started to set any fruit at the blossom bases yet.  (and yes those bags you see are compost and other soil amendments.  Like I said we did have good intentions.... then life got in the way).


 
We had good intentions this year..... then I went back to work (which was a good thing.  I quickly figured out in retirement you can either have time to do the things you want, or the money to do the things you want - but not both).  Now I sit in traffic 1 hour each way and after a 9 hour day and 2 hours total Atlanta traffic, it sort of kills the desire to get out and get grubby in the hot, humid Georgia summer weather.

Looks like we will have pumpkins though.  We had one from halloween sitting in one of the small containers last year and it broke down.  I have a wonderful looking pumpkin vine with lots of blossoms right now.  All the rain has made that vine very happy this year.  Has not started to set any fruit at the blossom bases yet.  (and yes those bags you see are compost and other soil amendments.  Like I said we did have good intentions.... then life got in the way).


Nice looking pumpkin patch Dave! Ours haven't flowered or started trailing yet, for here it's still a bit early. Last year we ended up with 36 pumpkins. The boys thought it was necessary to carve a good bunch of them!
 
While I was out there taking the pumpkin vine photo, I noticed our one apple tree is in very poor shape.  Not sure what this stuff is as I've never seen it before, but the leaves are covered in it.  May be related to the tons of rain we have had this year?

Any ideas on what my apple tree has come down with?  All the leaves have those multi-colored spots on the top.  The underside of the leaves all have raised bumpy bits almost like it was an insect.  I tried to crush them and it's not an insect or egg, it's a growth in the leaf.  I don't remember seeing it about a week ago. Weird.....

Fukishima blight?  (yes I made that up)



 
Dave I have no idea what you have going on there. What kind of rain do you have in your neck of the woods?????
 
I've never seen anything like this before.  All the other plants and flowers look fine so I don't think it is in the rain (chemical wise).  We have had a lot more rain than normal this year but the air quality has been great IMO.

Like I said Fukishima blight?  I may need to sneak out there tonight and see if it glows in the dark.....
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Well, thanks to the University of Georgia and Google, we now have a diagnosis......

Cedar-Apple Rust

I have no idea where the cedar that started this is, as I don't have any.  Must be in the neighbors yard?  According to the info on the web, it requires both plants for the life cycle and can cause total leaf drop in a bad case.  Mine looked pretty bad.   bummer.......

---Edit---

Apparently the spores can blow up to 1/2 mile from the Red Cedar and infect apple trees.  How the heck am I supposed to find the source with that spread?
 
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That sucks.  I don't remember it being this difficult to grow stuff years ago, but I lived in a more rural area then.  I have all but given up on my back yard garden here in the "burbs".

Three years in a row my squash and cucumbers have gotten powdery mildew and died.  During the same three years, we have had a period of rain every year my tomato plants basically drown.  Even when I nurse them back the birds eat them.  I used to pull them when they blushed, but now they are eating them when they are green.

The little bit of expense and the work would be well worth it, but I'm tired of doing it for nothing but a mess to clean up.
 
 
Well, thanks to the University of Georgia and Google, we now have a diagnosis......

Cedar-Apple Rust

I have no idea where the cedar that started this is, as I don't have any.  Must be in the neighbors yard?  According to the info on the web, it requires both plants for the life cycle and can cause total leaf drop in a bad case.  Mine looked pretty bad.   bummer.......

---Edit---

Apparently the spores can blow up to 1/2 mile from the Red Cedar and infect apple trees.  How the heck am I supposed to find the source with that spread?
Yeah that sucks! From what I've read it only occurs East of the Rockies which is why it didn't look like anything I have seen here. Also from reading it is more likely to occur when there is a good amount of moisture. So the large amounts of rain were a contributing factor.

"During rains, after the telial horns absorb water, the teliospores germinate to produce a germ tube (basidium) from each cell. Four basidiospores are produced on each basidium (Fig. 4). At optimum temperatures, basidiospores are produced within 4 hours of the horns absorbing water"

"INFECTION OF APPLE

Before apple can be infected, adequate moisture must be present in a temperature range of 8-24 C (46-75 F) to allow for formation of basidiospores on cedar galls. Then, the basidiospores will infect apple when susceptible leaf and fruit tissues are wet for certain lengths of time at specific temperatures (Table 1 ). Leaves are most susceptible to infection when 4-8 days of age, and fruit are susceptible from tight cluster through bloom."
 
I've lived in this area my entire life.  I've earned every grey hair on my old tired head and I have never heard of, much less seen this before.  I guess as least it's a colorful show before it kills off my one apple tree.

Bummer is I have no idea where the red cedar that started this is, so even if this tree dies and I plant another next year...... same problem!!!!!  Arrrrrrrrr.......

Ok, rant over.... we now return you to your normal thread
 
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