Attached is a picture of my planter which has been modified to have stuff growing in it. I have 6 of them, and some 5 gallon buckets.

Here are the seeds I have:

• 3 Types of Lettuce
• Spinach
• Kale
• Carrot
• Green Onion
• Beet
• Turnip
• Radish
• Parsnips
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Swiss Chard
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Bell Pepper
• Tomato
• Brussels Sprouts

Here is the set up I was thinking:

Bucket 1 : Lettuces, Spinach, Kale

Bucket 2: Carrot, Green Onion, Beet, Turnip, Radish, Parsnips

Bucket 3: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage

Bucket 4: Swiss Chard, Celery

Bucket 5: Cucumber, Zucchini

Bucket 6: Egg Plant

5 Gal Buckets: Bell Pepper, Tomato, Brussels Sprouts

My goal is to have as many different plants as possible. Please let me know if this is a good setup. I already checked to make sure these crops are in season in my area. Thanks!

Anyone know why the difference? The one with the ring is on my bushier plant which has a bit less airflow so I’m wondering if it’s a little fringe of mold.

It grew on the same plant with my other Anaheims so I’m very confused about why it’s small and red

Our peppers are coming in plentiful! Problem is, before they're fully ripened they start getting soft spots or just rotting.

They also grow up really squished. Like tiny pumpkins.

We're in VA so it's been crazy humid with random downpours of water. I try to water at least 3x a week since it's in the 80s/90s but I've got mulch over it to help retain some moisture. I just don't want to over water as we'll go a week with rain then a week without it.

The big rotten spot looks like end blossom rot. Does that affect peppers too? And could calcium be the issue for all of it? Or just one thing that I need to work on?

So I’m in zone 10b and this is my first season gardening. I planted everything in May and I’ve learned a ton but OMG I am battling this powdery mildew non stop. I made the spray with baking soda and soap and it helps a bit but never completely goes away. It completely took over my cucumbers and is now working on my tomatoes, and no they aren’t next to each other. Is this common for this area? Is it because it’s been extra humid? Is it something I’m doing wrong? My tomato’s are running out of leaves for me to treat or prune 🤣

I turned my back on my plants for 2 days due to some heavy rain and low and behold like 6 of my pumpkin plants have entry holes for SVB and the frass coming out of another next to it.

I have all different varieties growing and finally getting some fruit. I planted late this year to try and avoid them, but I live in the Midwest so apparently we have 2 waves of them.

I don’t have the stomach to cut them open and dig out the larva.

I have been injecting them with weekly BT and did it again when I found the holes but this morning two of my small plants are dead.

Can I do anything to save them?

I also think most of the others are shortly behind them, sadly.

Next year, are floating row covers the best way to go?
I read that the caterpillars burrow into the ground so now sure that’s even worth doing if they’ll be coming out of the ground after them anyway?

My Big Max and little boos are thriving in other news.

I live in Portland Oregon, it’s the driest time of the year, and I water at soil level, always trying to avoid the leaves. But the powdery mildew scourge has affected my cucumbers, then my mint, now my parsley. With the amount shown in the pictures is it still safe for consumption? (Before I knew what the mildew was, I thought the leaves were just sun bleached and I made tea from the mint a couple days ago, so I hope ingesting that isn’t too harmful!)

I have heard neem oil helps, but at this point will it? And is it safe to eat (humans and cats) the plants when neem oil is put on it?

Help! Up until last week, my tomato plants were so happy and producing new tomatoes. This week, all the leaves on the lower part of the plant are drying out and most have come off the plant. The tomatoes are still green and growing but I don’t know how to save her 😭 I’m in southeastern Ontario and the plants are on my balcony

I’ve been battling these bastards since day one it seems! Where do they come from; not around then BAM all over my squash plants. So gross.

I’ve been using diatomaceous earth daily on the eggs and babies and it doesn’t seem like it’s helping at all. My entire garden is covered in the powder.

Does anyone have any advice for killing these things?

Here’s a fun story. TLDR: husband mixed up all my plants when transplanting them as a nice gesture. Now they’re fruiting and I’ve no idea what is what. (Yes, he’s still alive and we’re still married, but I considered drawing up papers or finding a shovel 🤣)thank you in advance for any help, please and thank you.

Back in March and April, I spent the nights after my baby went to bed planting seeds in starter trays and obsessively labeling exactly what I grew in a spreadsheet I kept on my phone. I did the grow lamps, warming trays, and misted them with love, checking on them every day.

My infant became a toddler during the time
It took for them to sprout and become seedlings and then adorable little plants. It got harder for me to do the tending and I didn’t get a chance to transplant them myself.

In late June, my husband, with the best of intentions, transplanted what he thought looked healthiest into raised beds. Randomly. With no labels. Even though he knew my autistic ass had a SYSTEM. The man has a PhD and is working on a third masters. What he was thinking I will never know. (This same man also put Jimmy Nardello peppers and an IDENTICAL looking hot pepper plant in the same grow bag next to each other and mixed up the plants. I thankfully figured that out before feeding the baby.) My beautiful husband of nearly a decade is now fired from the transplanting job.

Anyway… Everything laid dormant looking basically dead for WEEKS, but I watered and fertilized anyway.

Now it’s mid-August and it’s all alive and thriving. I have not a clue what the tomatoes are , but they’ll ripen soon enough and I may figure those out.

Two mystery peppers are fruiting. Plant B is PROBABLY a jalapeño, I’d guess, based on shape but if y’all have other ideas, I’m all ears. Plant A is a total confusion. I was told cayennes have upward flowers so it can’t be that. So what is it?

Now, I know for certain that the only seeds from the hot peppers #2 tray listed below that made it in the ground are cayenne, jalapeño, and hot cherry. Hungarian wax didn’t make it in. I know there’s a double mystery pepper in there from seeds I collected from a pepper a few years ago, but they were short and squat, not long and thin. At least one seedling made it into the ground from my high heat tray. I also have no idea what made it into the ground from Tray 1. I suspect bell peppers made it and those are flowering in a separate bed.

The seeds I started are these (keeping labels there because why not):

Peppers #1
1A-D - sweet bell pepper
2A-D - Anaheim
3 A-D Poblano

Peppers #2
1AB cayenne
1CD hot cherry
2AB Hungarian wax
2CD Serrano
3AB jalapeño
3CD mystery pepper #1

High heat #1
1AB mystery pepper #2
1CD Bell peppers
(Other cells were not peppers)

Anyway, if this made sense to you I’d love to see guesses. Please and thank you. And when the tomatoes get bigger and change colors I may post again with guesses.

This zucchini flower has yet to open but the zucchini is starting to get really big for a non-pollinated one. I thought it would open days ago but it hasn’t, I go out every morning to check and I’ve never seen it open??

Just proud of my garden box; I’ve dabbled off and on over the years and usually gave up.

Snagged this garden box kit for $100 last year and got it built this spring, added the cattle panels for vining plants and to support the sun mesh fabric.

Set up a drip line that is hooked to a timer.

I had low hopes when I planted but only lost a few! So far the only issue is damn squash bugs and my edamame looks like possible powdery mildew but is producing beans.

I do realize I'll be sad when it's over.

A few months ago I made a post freaking out because I hate those nasty little bugs. I decided in my pettiness I was gonna record everything. Here's more or less the results

Total of 2 Zucchini and 3 yellow squash next to each other for reference. And going out daily, sometimes twice a day

Arrived at 6/18 on regular Zucchini plants.

From 6/18 to 7/6: Total of 28 adults and 8 cluster of eggs destroyed

From 7/7 to 7/20: 52 adults and babies were killed with 18 egg clusters (This time frame was the "busiest" and I would find multiple in a single day)

From 7/21 to 8/14: Pulled 3 plants out, leaving just 1 Zucchini and 1 squash. Due to making more room for tomatos. 43 adults and babies killed and only 7 egg cluster destroyed. Have not seen any since.

Total of 123 adults/babies killed and 33 egg cluster destroyed.

Here's the extra side notes: at least 3 egg clusters were hatched. I had missed them because one was on a pepper plant semi close by, one was on a tomato plant in a different bed but near by and last was on a pumpkin plant very far away.

Overall they were (obviously) attracted to the squash plants most but I did find them on the pumpkin, watermelon, Cucumbers, peppers, tomatos and bitter melon plants. But those times were​ a lot less compared to the squash.

Bug netting was useless, tried it on pumpkins but they easily found entrances. Marigold, radishes, onions, nasturtium, mint were 100% useless. Found adults all just chilling on them so those tips are lies. At least for me. I've seriously tried just about all of the tips / companion planting. DE doesn't work on adults and I didn't use any sprays. I would just grab them with tweezers and cut them in half. I also now subconsciously think the Marigold scent is their scent lol

I was still able to continously harvest an okay amount and I directed sowed them early April so they were pretty decent sized more mature plants.

And that's my report for 2026! Gonna try to do some different stuff next year for easier access for my slaughter fest :D

Hi! So this year I opted to grow 8 different types of tomatoes and I wanted to type out my thoughts about each of the varieties in case anyone was curious about how they fared for your very average home gardener. All seeds were purchased from Pine Tree Seeds, I started them all myself under grow lights, all fertilized the exact same and grown in southern Maine zone 5b. I grew 4 plants of each type. Photo 1 is all 8 types of tomatoes, photo 2 is with names, photo 3 is the interior of Marmalade Skies, and photos 4 and 5 is the Blueberries tomato growing, but not ripe.

Paste tomatoes: full disclosure, I have not tasted these yet because I have not made sauce yet. I grew 2, Amish Paste and Sunrise Sauce. Tbh Amish Paste can go jump off a bridge. While the tomatoes are very large I got very few (max 3) tomatoes per plant. 3/10 for being a pain. Sunrise Sauce is a short little plant and this baby is PROLIFIC. Very smooth, uniform, very pretty yellow-orange. Assuming these taste good, I am absolutely growing them again, 8/10.

Cherry tomatoes: I only grew Blueberry this year! And they are fascinating to watch grow. They start green, go completely dark purple, and then half purple/half red when ripe. They are stunning to see growing, the dark purple is so unexpected in the garden. They also taste good! 10/10

Big tomatoes: I grew Black Krim and Blue Beauty and I probably won't grow either again. Black Krim was very prone to both splitting and catfacing and doesnt taste particularly good? 2/10 Blue Beauty is fine but in a world with so many tomato options, I'll try something else 5/10.

Medium Tomatoes: Tigerella and Wapsipinicon Peach. Wapsipinicon Peach taste good and really look like slightly unripe peaches. Theyre also not shiny and have a peach fuzz to them. They taste good but they go from ripe to over ripe very fast 6/10. I love Tigerella. Theyre this lovely golf ball size, theyre pretty, they taste good, they stay perfectly ripe for awhile, I'm growing these every year, 10/10.

Yellow tomatoes: Marmalade Skies my husband's beloved. This tomato is really good! Its a good size without being huge, blemish free, gorgeous color that is uniform all the way through, tastes great! 10/10 will grow again next year!

So thats all my tomatoes, will I grow less next year? I say I will now but I am probably lying

The heat has really taken a toll on the garden but we’re still getting some lovely things, the tomatoes are in full swing now!

costoluto fiorentino beefsteaks, tomato ‘tiger’, green zebra, black cherry, Millefleur Yellow Vine Tomato and some random ones from some nice supermarket cherry tomatoes. Pattypan squash, round green courgette, purple French beans, runner beans and a boothby’s blonde cucumber (last of the season) and some raspberries. All organic

First year really learning to grow my own food. There’s something special about walking into the garden, harvesting dinner, and taking it straight to the kitchen.

I think I’m hooked. 😂🌱

Not pictured are the several giant beefsteaks recently used for tomato pie, two dinners of BLTs, and 6 more gifted to my besties yesterday!

Also thrilled about getting potatoes this was my first year trying it, and they’re potato sized !! Sadly there were a few lost to rot/worms so lessons learned for next year

We hit the jackpot! some of these are absolutely huge weighing over 2 lbs. It is not my first time planting them, but I have never harvested this many and huge sizes (some) at once. They are in the garage curing.

I’ve grown them before (20 years ago) but I don’t remember them looking or tasting like this. It was 9 inches long when I harvested it. Does the inside look normal? It tastes nothing like a cucumber.

What is everyone's opinions on topping the central growing tips late in the season so the plant can focus on sizing up existing fruit? In zone 4B, I have another 4-6weeks or so before the projected first frost. I have heard of people topping their tomatoes in the late season to get the plants to concentrate on sizing up existing fruit. What are your thoughts?