Good to hear that blueberry bushes do well in this climate. I just put in three - two dwarf hybrid and a regular fairly tall one. I bought the dwarf bushes and then read that you needed another variety to cross-pollinate to get the fruit to set. Thus, the standard bush as well. I've never grown blueberries before, so I went ahead and got the other variety. We had wild raspberries growing up and I seem to have what appears to be another raspberry bush on my property - probably left by birds. I think I need to try and transplant it as it is in an area of shade.

We tried to grow paw paws last year from seed, but they didn't take. Looks like another trip to Great Falls late this summer for more. Now to just get those carrots and radishes in the window box planters this weekend.

I have five blueberry bushes in a bed adjacent to the eastern foundation of my house, not at all an ideal spot because concrete (as in brick mortar) is alkaline and blueberries love acid, also during afternoon there is no sun. But the soil is well amended with sphagnum moss, iron, aluminum and sulphur, and I top dress with Hollytone, and the bushes are just covered with blueberries.

We planted paw paw saplings from Edible Landscaping in 2000, they are still there but very slow growing. We planted fig trees then, too, along the southern wall of the house, and they have been producing for years, as is the one plum tree that survived our awful builder's clay soil. The paw paws are planted in an area of mature hardwoods with soft, moist but well drained soil, which is what I thought they liked.

I think maybe paw paws are just slow.

How do you all control birds and other critters from eating all of your blueberries? Netting?

Bird shot works well.

What an eggcellent idea!
http://www.eggling.com/eggling/index.htm

It's a funky spring we're having-cool & wet. Most of my veggies are just sitting there, waiting for some heat. I did get a big blueberry bush, 'Blueray', planted an akebia, & picked up 2 squash-Supersett yellow crookneck & Aristocrat zucchini, & 1 more pepper-Ancho Villa poblano. Oh, & 3 alpine strawberries for a container...

Thistle, where did you find the strawberries? I've been searching for a place other than DeBaggio that carries them.

Haven't seen them yet this season, but Country Pleasures Farm from Frederick County, MD is known for selling the berries at the Sunday market, Dupont Circle. Perhaps you could ask the farmer since some farms let you buy their plants as well as their produce.

The garden is finally starting to show signs of life thanks to some real sun today. It's about time!

Of all places, I saw a few different varieties of strawberries at Home Depot in Fairfax and at Merrifield.

Alpine strawberries?!

Not sure about the Fairfax circle location, but I'm almost positive that there were alpine strawberries in the organic plant section at Merrifield.

I got the last 3 alpine strawberries at Holly, Woods, & Vines. What's left now is Chandler (June bearing) & Ozark Beauty (everbearing). Disclaimer-I work p/t at HWV & it just killed me this weekend to hear people talking about the vegetables-'these tomatoes look rough'-well, it's been cold at night, sometimes warm during the day, inconsistent watering (tons of rain), lots of wind-you'd look pretty rough, too! These veggies just need to be planted (tomatoes, deep &/or sideways), given some sun/heat & love, & they will catch up! Throw on some compost, manure, tomatotone & do a harvest dance...

So... did you get the AeroGarden? There's an e-Bay listing for a 36-day free trial. Otherwise, the lowest list price I saw was $97 (incl shipping); one bid currently at $65; and others selling at $130.

I planted a variety called Perennial in late April. Found some at Johnson's Nursery on 108 between Olney and Laytonsville. They're already bearing a little (I just bought two plants -- should have bought way more!)

I found a super sunny spot in my yard for some containers with okra. Clemson Spineless seeds. Keeping fingers crossed for that.

The rest is doing well -- lettuce, arugula, parsley, basil, sage, rosemary, tomato, peppers (banana, green bell, tabasco, and jalapeno). Even trying some watermelon and cucumber this year! The recent sun and warmth have been very good for things. And it's alll enclosed with deer netting after a very disappointing experience last year.

We don't have an issue with that. Well, maybe we would but we have cats. Critter-killing cats that leave dead animals on the doorstep every day.

I have no idea whether they come for the blueberries as we get little presents of dead critters year round.

My okra-Cajun Delight-has been eaten up by some kind of bug, so I'm spraying them (& the tomatoes, peppers, & eggplants) w/ Neem. The blueberry has been planted out & I'll share w/ the birds (although the berries don't seem to be ripening, yet). Tomatoes are doing OK, but I wish it would warm up a bit. I'm taking a bunch of 'reject' tomatoes, & planting them in different beds throughout the yard-at least, we got a good, soaking rain tonight...

I made it out to DeBaggios and got three different types of eggplant and purple tomatillos. Also catnip, purple ruffles and Thai basil. All my herbs save the rosemary and thyme were completely demolished by a mysterious unseen herbivore, but they are coming back now. This weekend I will get the tomatoes in the ground. The sweet 100s already have fruit... I feel like a delinquent parent.

Here's to the slow, steady rain! I put a sugar baby watermelon plant in the ground just before it started. Summer will be here soon!

Every wildlife conservation organization recommends that cats be kept indoors. While loss of habitat is the primary reason for the drastic loss of migratory and other songbirds, the second biggest reason is domestic cats. Cats kill literally millions of birds every year.

'Tis true, 'tis true, 'tis all too true. And after these cats die I am never going to have outdoor cats again.

Much happiness in the garden this week! Everything is flowering. I anticipate the watermelons, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes to come. I also have three volunteer cucumber plants. Since this is our first summer in this house, I have no idea how they got where they are, but I'll let them grow to see what happens.

I also have a plethora of little pepper plants. As is the usual, the ones I really wanted came up sparsely, and the ones I didn't really care about came up in spades. If anyone is interested in a "murici" pepper plant, PM me. I've got them potted up in pairs and they are yours for coming to get them. This is a cultivar of Capsicum chinense from the Brazilian Amazon. Hot hot hot and shaped like a tiny cherry pepper, but yellow, orange and red. They are named for the murici fruit, Byrsonima crassifolia, because of the similarity in shape. I'll be very surprised if they make peppers this year, they are about three inches tall now, so you would need to be dedicated enough to overwinter them. But I'll bet your neighbor isn't growing them.

Picked this week from the garden:

• 10 large cucumbers
• Several bunches of shallots
• 6 large potatoes
• Several quarts of peapods
• Several quarts of green beans
• 1 pint raspberries

That sounds like the perfect harvest size-I went away for about a week & had to depend on 'the kindness of strangers' (well, not really, neighbors) to do my watering, but I understand there was quite a bit of rain. I have tomatoes-Sungold & a couple of big, fat Turkish Orange egglant, a few tiny Ichiban eggplant, & various hot peppers-& everything's still alive! (well, 1 tomato plant has serious blossom end-rot). My friend that I visited in NC still has lettuce & beans, tomatoes (raised from seed, about 30 plants in huge buckets), cukes, & his corn is looking pretty good-I ate alot of farmstand corn while I was there...

Help!, I need eggplant recipes-maybe just ratatouille? Tomatoes are just starting to kick in (the Sungold cherry tomatoes are in the lead), lots of Ichiban & Turkish Orange egglant (which are so cute-they look just like tomatoes & the bush is bending over because it's covered in fruit), lots of peppers-Thai hot, serrano, jalapeno, Holy Mole. Cucumbers have migrated to my neighbor's side of the fence & are gradually being smothered by passionflower, blackberries & hops not doing much, but I seem to be growing world record size mosquitos....I also have 3 box turtles in my back yard now & I was overjoyed to see one cruising along yesterday with a fat slug in his mouth...

If you don't mind Cajun or Creole cooking, they do some interesting things with eggplant dressing. Usually a mixture of eggplant and seafood or ground beef and rice. You'll find a few recipes through Google on eggplant dressing. Also, the term "dressing" down there doesn't mean stuffing.

That sounds good, maybe dirty rice? (I'm a copout, use the Tony Chachere's mix w/ gound beef -chicken livers-ugh!) w/ eggplant. My favorite way to eat eggplant so far seems to be fried-eggplant parmesan or the delicious ziti w/ fried eggplant I used to devour at Elizabeth Pizza in Wilmington, NC. I'm trying to get used to eggplant in Thai curries, but I'm not there yet. I also have some okra on my okra plants & I like those fried, too!

Yeah, something like dirty rice but different than what is served at Popeye's!

What variety of okra did you plant? I planted Clemson Spineless seeds in pots and put them in the sunniest part of my yard --no flowers yet much less fruit. Still, the plants look healthy so I may see some in August after all! Hope I will have enough for a gumbo.

My 3 okra plants are Cajun Delight & I let them sit way too long in a tiny cell before planting, & they're planted in a bed where they get only half day sun, so I'm surprised they're blooming at all. This bed (w/ a windmill palm & a Japanese maple) got all my leftovers (I dug out a ton of bearded irises & gave them to my neighbor), the 'discarded' tomatoes, peppers, okra, Japanese anemones that I couldn't figure where else to put. It's on the S/E side of the house & will get a few more oddballs before I'm done-'Harlow Carr' clematis, ginger lilies, I might try & put in a fatsia before fall....

I'm also adding a few more hardy hibiscus, in a boggier part of the yard-I have 1 'Plum Crazy' & I'm adding another & a 'Fantasia', I think they'll fit in well w/ the elephant ears & bananas, also have canna, calla, eupatorium, & passiflora-the other plant that is taking over is pycnanthemum-mountain mint-it's a THUG, but I don't have the heart to dig it out, because the bees LOVE it-I've never seen so many honeybees!

Sounds beautifully tropical! Do they overwinter well?
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yesterday:

Anyone know what a potato plant is supposed to look like?

Kind of low and bushy with thick stems, tomato-ey leaves, and typical nightshade flowers. Every now and then you can get a fruit on one and it will look like a tiny tomato. Although it's best not to eat it.

I'm jealous of all the people that got a jump start with greenhouses or grow lights. I'm impatiently watching those tiny green tomatoes. This week I'm going to start preparing the beds for fall greens.

Thanks, I am trying to determine what might be weeds and what might be potato plants in that section of the garden.

We harvested our first things this past weekend finally. Some japanese eggplant, a few very hot peppers and some grape tomatoes. Looking forward to harvesting more soon!

I'm starting to plan what types of fruits I want in the yard, and I am seriously considering currants, both red and black, and maybe gooseberries too. I want to plant things that I can't otherwise find around here. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations after having grown them?

Frustrated with trying to find these relatively unpopular fruit, I planted gooseberries and Josta berries(a gooseberry black currant cross) in my Capitol Hill back yard. It is really too hot in the city and prefer new England,the Midwest or great Britain. The Josta berries would just drop all their leaves after a meager harvest. The gooseberries gave a decent harvest for a few years but were pretty stunted from the heat. If you were out in the mountains a bit like Winchester or in Lancaster PA. I bet you could do it. Some will suggest partial shade to help with the heat but I'm skeptical.Try to get the most heat resistant available.
One aside note,I lost custody of the berry bushes when I divorced and moved to Alexandria but my children would harvest when they visited their dad and bring them home. It was deeply touching. Kids are smart.

That's a little disheartening. For some reason, I was under the impression that they did pretty well here. Did you buy the bushes locally or through a catalog? We have decent air circulation in the yard since we took out a bunch of old shrubs, and a storm gave us some unexpected new sunny areas that I want to exploit. I may end up sticking with blueberries and raspberries.

I bought them from what was then called Edible Landscaping in Afton VA. I think they go by another name now. I have bought quite a few things from them. They are noted for having interesting hard to find items such as rose plants grown for their hips. I figured the odds were best if they started out relatively local. I did know enough to do that. It's not wise to buy plants from a very different zone no matter what they say!

I wasn't trying to question your gardening skills, I was mostly trying to find out a good place to buy interesting fruit plants.

The good news in the garden this week is that somebody forgot to tell my one sugar baby watermelon vine that it was for small spaces. It has spread over three meters in all directions and has three ripening melons and more little ones all through the vines. Happiness is an unexpected bounty of watermelons.

Just saw this response -- I haven't bought it yet (mostly because my frequency of "real" cooking has been so low) but am definitely still considering the possibility.

Help!!! For some reason this year, we're not getting ANY of our tomatoes to ripen. We've got lots of large green tomatoes that rarely break (the few that do break and start to ripen usually get eaten by deers in the neighbourhood but that's another story).

Is anyone else running into this issue? I've read online that too much watering can cause this problem. Also, that temperatures need to be above 85F or so before ripening happens. Any truth to this? We've got a drip irrigation system that waters the plants. We've cut back to once a day for 30 mins.

Any suggestions?

Ours has not been quite so severe, but it has definitely not been a good year for tomatoes. Probably 1/4 of the crop size we had last year.

Zucchini and cucumber, however, have more than doubled from last year's crop.

But are your tomatoes ripening at all? We've got a decent amount of tomatoes...but all green and staying like that.

I am just starting to get some ripened tomatoes and that's after 90+ days! I figured I wasn't getting enough sunlight because of shade from my trees and the neighbor's tall fence. I don't think it's the watering from below. Watering from above followed by heat like we had in June could have caused some disease but it doesn't sound like that's what is happening for you. Guess it's just a strange year! I don't know about 85 degrees but I hear you need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.

Mine are just starting to ripen as well. So far we've harvested a mere five yellow pear tomatoes despite the large numbers of green ones on various types of plants. Some have even fallen off green. The eggplants and peppers are also creeping along very slowly. In contrast, I picked our first watermelon yesterday, and there are seven more ripening on the plant. It's a mystery.

I've had very slow ripening as well, and suspect it's due to low temperatures, but don't know for sure. I feel a bit relieved to know I'm not alone.

But about the watering: you're probably overdoing it.

Some interesting information at Maryland Home and Garden Information Center . A few highlights:

"Deep, regular watering; a mature, fruiting plant requires 1-2 gals water twice a week during dry periods." BTW this is true for almost all plants - 'tis better to water deeply and thoroughly occasionally than to water a little bit frequently (which encourages shallow rooting).

Also, failure to ripen can be caused by short days, low sunlgiht, crowding, and too much nitrogen.
Uneven ripening can be caused by cold temperatures, poor soil, and crowding.

The document linked to above is a fantastic resource. Check out other fruit and vegetable guides on the same website.

Thanks! That's a couple of suspects for me: low sunlight and too much nitrogen. I hadn't added nitrogen in years, so this year I probably added too much.

I've pulled a few tomatoes before the squirrrels could get to them and ripened them in the house in a sunny spot. Think that'd work with a bunch of Romas?

I know it will, because I do that, too. There are about 5 lbs of Romas sitting in the kitchen ripening as we speak. Don't pick them too early, though.

eta: 5 lbs minus after a visit from turbogrrl

You're a great resource, Elizabeth! Hope to meet you and thank you in person at a DR event one of these days for sharing your knowledge! Maybe the Fall picnic.

Not much luck on the big tomato front, but we have harvested probably 300-400 cherry and grape tomatoes this season.

Nice!

Question: did any one else have unusually bad any pest problems this season? My tomatoes were hit hard by flea beetles and beet armyworm.

interesting - lucky for me I am having the oppostite experience from many posters this year - in fact I'd go as far as to say this may be my best year ever for tomatoes (and other veggies). Mine started ripening nicely 2-3 weeks ago and its been a tomato fest ever since - probably gotten at least 30-40 large tomatoes with another 20-30 still ripening (from 8 or 9 plants).....interestingly, my cherry tomatoes which are normally very reliable wern't great this year with only one plant producing in the way it should....also awash in jalapenos, serranos and several types of sweet peppers

Sept/Oct will bring butternut squash and pumpkins. I must try cucumber next year.

eggplants were a little dissapointing this year though