anybody out there a gardener? How's the harvest this year?
I've been doing so much traveling this year I haven't been able to do much. But I did help my friend David start his first garden and got to see the results this week. I was at his house around the first of june. A little late for planting things in seattle, but we tried anyway. I'm a big fan of the ruth stout method, so we planted some tomatoes, peppers and zukes. Then put down some hay around the plants. David watered once in a while. Now the plants are huge! Bounty!
Tomatoes were pretty good this year; still got a little blossom-end rot, even though I limed. Basil practically grew into trees. Didn't know what to do with all the cucumbers; staking them and letting them grow up instead of out works out very well. Planted crooknecks instead of zuccini, which was a huge mistake. Ended up with a very low yield of very tough-skinned fruit.
I think blossom end rot has to do with calcium (lime) in the soil and having ready access to water. Apparently, if the plant gets too dry, it will tap into the fruit for water to stay alive.