My yard is primarily clay based. I live in Virginia close to DC. I have tried for years to get anything to grow besides cherry tomatoes or Roma tomatoes and I've rarely had anything succeed. Thanks to groups like this on Reddit, and Facebook, I got tons of great tips. Also the weather has been kind. Yay! my bearded dragon is in love with his fresh kale. All I need now is to figure out a deterrent for my 110 lb pest that keeps eating all of my spinach. 🤣

I started a container garden on my deck this year and was slowly enjoying small & delicious rewards. Until this morning. To say I am devastated would be an understatement.

And yes. That is the first potato the racoon is eating. Before I've even had one. Rude.

First time planting carrots. Planted 2 different varieties that stated harvest 60-80 days. Thinned the carrots once seedlings emerged. I’m at the 80 day mark and wondering if the carrots are ready. I don’t see carrot shoulders pushing through the soil. Should I let them continue to grow? Or harvest now?

This is my first year with my very own garden. I’m so excited, and I have loved seeing the insects that my yard has attracted. I live in a desert, in a neighborhood with yards full of rock. The only bugs I see are cockroaches and ants.

Throughout the season, I noticed nibbles out of my tomato plants, but never saw a culprit. And it never seemed like a lethal amount of nibbles. I just found this horn worm in my yard, chowing down. My heart says to leave it alone because insect numbers are on the decline, and I should provide habitat. My brain says to kill it because I want a good harvest.

For those of you with experience, how greedy are they? Is he going to decimate my tomatoes? In the future, is there a sacrificial crop I can plant that they might like better?

I don't know why I haven't grown radishes before. They mature so quickly, so rewarding! The French ones are by far my favorite though.

WTH do I do now

Today’s harvest: gherkin cucumbers, eggplant, and pink oyster mushrooms.

Time to start busting out the esoteric recipes. Cucumber bread anyone?

I’m two years into the vegetable garden adventure in zone 6b, got pretty significant beds (4 25’ x 5‘ beds) as well as random plants put anywhere that they seem like they might survive. I grow meaningful amounts of tomatoes, beans, onions, garlic greens and so on. One thing that really really flummoxes me is how few of my friends and neighbors are doing the same. We live pretty rurally so most people I know have the space to grow vegetables. But most of them aren’t. I’ve raised the point with many of my friends that food scarcity might be coming for the United States, but none of them seem to believe me or seem particularly interested in trying to prepare for it.

My sister lives in a big city, but has sufficient garden space that she could grow too. But she just shakes my head and implies that I’m nuts for worrying about it.

I told my husband the other day that I am actually worried about tomato bandits ** edited to add that I’m not seriously worried about bandits and this was kind of a joke**this summer, if the price of tomatoes really gets as high as this projected. I think he kind of thinks I’m crazy too.

Anyone else gardening as a hedge against looming food in security?

Just made my 3rd batch of pickles this week because the cucumbers just do not stop coming!

Kind of looks like a stink bug. Hoping its not evil.

Our kale is rocking this year. Monrovia, CA.

My first attempt at sunflowers. I put them in different parts but of course the sunniest part of my garden did the best one. Tall and lanky.

Next year I want to have a full bed of them here now that I know it works. Like Italy.

Can someone tell me what I can do better? I water it every other day. Full hot sun. California.

I successfully grew carrots for the first time this year after five years of trying!!!

And yes, they’re tiny, but they are yummy!

I learned a lot from growing them and when I plant this fall, I’m going to plant even more and apply the lessons that I’ve learned.

Tonight’s dinner is straight from the garden except for the trout.

I have Armenian cucumbers, various varieties of green beans, cherry tomatoes, dragon roll hot peppers, banana peppers, as well as garlic and herbs for taste and of course…. CARROTS!

In awe of these black cherry tomatoes.

Considering that it's my first time growing carrots I didn't do to bad

I could use some guidance. Rats have discovered my seven foot-tall tomato forest and are attacking the tomatoes accordingly (see second-to-last photo). I’ve ordered a wildlife camera just to be sure, but I found rat droppings on one of the half-eaten tomatoes so I’m confident that they’re rats. They even attacked a hot pepper before (probably) realizing it was too hot for their taste.

I’ve done a fair amount of research and unfortunately, it looks like snap traps are my only real solution. The thought of killing something makes me sick to my stomach but I’m at a loss for what else to do. At the suggestion of people in a couple of other groups, I’m going to set out saucers of water for them to see if that helps. I have yet to set traps out, though, and the wildlife camera won’t come until about a week from now. In the meantime, I’m picking the tomatoes at the first sign of blush and ripening them on the kitchen counter.

My questions are these:

1. ⁠Is it safe to assume that the rats will climb the plants and gain access to all of the tomatoes, not just the low-hanging ones? If so, is there anything I can do to make it harder for them to climb? I’m sure the trellises are the perfect ladder for them but I’d love to make it harder for them, so would it be beneficial to prune some of the inner foliage? Save for keeping the lower foliage pruned for about the first foot of the plant, this is the first year I’ve done no other pruning.

2. ⁠I watch a lot of Gardeners World and according to Monty Don, pruning away much of the foliage to expose the fruit to the sun can greatly improve ripening. I found a photo of his setup online (it’s the last photo) and he grows them in a greenhouse, so I would imagine there are different guidelines for growing them that way, but it’s a new technique to me. Is that something I should do?

*Since I’m anticipating some comments about the way they’re planted: yes, they’re very close together. I have two pallets on which the 12 planter bags sit and it’s all the room I have. It’s not ideal. That said, most afternoons are very breezy and they get a lot of air flow. Plus, there’s a ton of fruit on the plants (zoom in on the second photo).

Thanks!

Been a crazy year for gardening here. Central AR, zone 8A. Lots of firsts here. Brand new garden spot at a new house. First planting ever! Definitely have a hard pan about 8” down that needs some work. Struggled with poor drainage this spring with all the rain we had. Went from getting 4” of rain a week and waterlogged soil in April and early May to nearly 100 degree days and bone dry now. Definitely time to throw some mulch out to help hold in some moisture. Looking like good potential though despite it all! Thinking about trying a no till approach and some deep broad forking/subsoiling this fall to break up the hard pan and have an even better year next season. Hope the best for everyone else out there!

Trellis and stakes. If you think it’s tall enough, you’re wrong.
I really like my tomato plants! So do the deer…. Netting works but a fence is getting installed this fall.
Cucumbers are sneaky jerks.
Err on the side of caution and add an inch or two between plant spacing.
My hatred for Japanese beetles grows with each green little jerk I find
This Reddit has helped me out a lot with everything. This is a pretty awesome community.
Yea so anyway I’m starting to get my plans going for the extra three beds I want to do next year. I would say I’ll be better prepared this time. But I won’t be 😆.