How did your Maine garden grow? (Albion, Penobscot: to buy, organic, move)

[birdinmigration]

I got a pretty good yield --

lots of snap beans and green beans
lots and LOTS of tomatoes (and I hope the frost holds off, I have many unripe ones out there)
incredible overachieving huge zucchini ("is that a zucch in your garden or are you happy to see me?")
strawberries, but ants got most of them
cherries
blackberries
bulb flowers very good

Not so good --

very few blueberries, huh
no apples at all
once again, basil, lettuce and herbs taken out by slugs/bugs
pumpkins seem to have powdery mildew or blight, this always happens
roses, just covered with japanese beetles, arrrgh

Well, I'm a beginner at this, relatively speaking. Someday I hope to be a smart gardener like our friend Maine Writer!

[IHeartMaine]

Your story sounds familiar with a couple of exceptions (I'm in Albion).......

We had loads of blueberries.

Lots of apples on the trees.

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The snails/slugs were horrible this year! The rain had both bad and good effects........it retarded tomato and pepper growth.........but it also helped stuff like melons and other stuff that require a lot of water. One thing for sure.......it was one wacky summer weather wise!

[IHeartMaine]

By the way........looks like we could be in the clear for at least another week with no frost.

[mainebrokerman]

my garden did pretty good

this year i used vinegar as a weed killer and it worked pretty good, for the real pesky weeds, i used boiling water on them,,,,this works great with no chemicals

[Zymer]

Corn did great, tomatoes, onions, cukes did well. Pumpkins did OK, one lonely little watermelon, but the butternut squash only now has little tiny squashes on them. Still fighting the downy/powdery mildew- Neem oil is helping somewhat, but hoping the frost will hold off for a while. Got one Hubbard squash, have no idea where it came from, they were all supposed to be Butternut?

[Maine Writer]

Well, I'm a beginner at this, relatively speaking. Someday I hope to be a smart gardener like our friend Maine Writer!

Keep growing and you'll have it down pat soon. Me, the smart gardener (thanks for that! ), has mega weeds this year. I'm going to put up a couple of gallons of stewed tomatoes with onions, peppers, celery and herbs on Sunday. My plants will get pulled up and tossed because they have blight.

[namder1]

veggies didn't do well at all. Great berry year tho.

[Newdaawn]

I don't do veggies, only flowers but had a great year with my perennials. I think we had only about a dozen Japanese beetles and I flicked those off into soapy water. A few slugs but not a real problem considering the amount of rain. This is the first season there was no mildew on my phlox, also surprizing. Right now I am enjoying the huge blooms on my hydrangea - a white one - and also had 3 on my "new" pink one. These contrast very well with the black eyed susans which seem to last for weeks. Right now trying to decide which bulbs to order. There are some stunning iris available. Earlier in the season my climbing rose bush had the best show ever. I wish it were a re-bloomer.

[birdinmigration]

Well, Newdaawn, I don't know why I have so many Japanese beetles, it's just crazy. I'm in coastal York County. I thought they were a June problem, but it just goes on and on. That said, I'm pretty happy with the rose roots I bought at Mardens in the spring. We'll see how they winter though!

I'm going to plant in some irises and maybe even dig in a small pond. I have a low wet spot in my front yard, I might as well 'go with the flow'. I've noticed that more and more of my neighbors have iris clusters, and you're right, they are stunning.

Maine Writer -- yeah, every year, my pumpkins have blight. I should just give up, pumpkins are so cheap to buy. I think all those blighted plants have to be bagged and put in the trash, you can't even compost them, am I right? Yeah, the weeds and crabgrass! Too much! Someone on facebook said that the jewelweed (with the small orange flowers) makes an excellent tincture for mosquito bites, poison ivy, etc. I'm going to pull some up, boil it and see.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by birdinmigration

Well, Newdaawn, I don't know why I have so many Japanese beetles, it's just crazy. I'm in coastal York County. I thought they were a June problem, but it just goes on and on. That said, I'm pretty happy with the rose roots I bought at Mardens in the spring. We'll see how they winter though!

If you're using traps, move them as far away from your property as possible. Traps attract the beetles. My father's lawn is a mess because of the grubs. The beetles stripped the pear tree of its leaves in less than two days. He used a non-organic pesticide on the lawn for the first time ever because they're so bad. They're in central Penobscot county.

Maine Writer -- yeah, every year, my pumpkins have blight. I should just give up, pumpkins are so cheap to buy. I think all those blighted plants have to be bagged and put in the trash, you can't even compost them, am I right? Yeah, the weeds and crabgrass! Too much! Someone on facebook said that the jewelweed (with the small orange flowers) makes an excellent tincture for mosquito bites, poison ivy, etc. I'm going to pull some up, boil it and see.

If you keep a very hot compost pile going it's probably ok. I'm sending mine to the landfill in a trash bag. Jewelweed is great for all of those and helps soothe sunburn. It's fun to pinch the tip of the seed pods and watch the seeds fly with little kids. Or without little kids...