My Vegetable Garden Got Frosted - Now What?

[@mlarson3455]

I also have a 2 pumpkin harvest this year…and at that, one of those plants was a volunteer. It did the best out of every winter squash plant in my garden this year. Just awful…Vancouver WA Zone 8

[@SusansInTheGarden]

What a weird season, eh?

[@MichaelSmith-je4qv]

Welcome back!! Thank you for bringing us along through your garden . Mike (now retired) managed our garden for his first time this year. Your efforts to help us over the years, but especially this year, have been invaluable! We know you will also retire some year but we’re extremely grateful you carried Mike through his first garden season while I had to take care of other obligations. ( did not notice jet lag effects at all! You are amazing)

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Hello! Thanks so much for your kind comments! I'm glad the videos have been helpful.

[@donnalavoie4950]

Wow. Just learning you were in the Maritimes including PEI. I am from the Island and no frost here yet. I hope you enjoyed. No frost here yet.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Hi, Donna. We had a wonderful trip. You live in such a beautiful location. I was pleasantly overwhelmed with how friendly and courteous everyone is on PEI.

[@joycedagostino8869]

Glad you had a great trip and I'm sure you were glad to be back home and checking your garden. When did you plant the buckwheat? That's great that it produced some blooms that are late season food for the bees.We had strange weather and many things late this year too. My turnips are moving along slowly, has been warmer than average so hope that they manage to speed it up a little soon!

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Hi, Joyce. I planted the buckwheat on Aug. 22.

[@JeanneKinland]

Thanks for sharing your garden.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

My pleasure, Jeanne!

[@krazedvintagemodel]

Welcome home Susan! Thank you for your ongoing gardening insights. So enjoyable to visit someone else's garden! 🍂🌻🎃

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Thank you so much!

[@jimjimmerjim]

I remembered you talking about the Supremo paste tomatoes from a video last year. This spring I ordered the seeds and got them growing. The small plants were the most pathetic looking tomato seedlings I have ever grow. We planted 5 of them in late May, and they just took off. So far, we have canned 22 pints of the Supremo tomatoes, and there are far more still on the plants. I have the Blue Beech tomatoes on my list for next year. Thank you for your videos. It is really helpful to see what grows well in our area.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

I'm so glad to hear the Supremo tomatoes performed well for you. Ours got off to a terrible start this spring but have really redeemed themselves over the past few weeks. I'm so glad you are enjoying my videos and finding them helpful. Thanks for letting me know!

[@mollysmith6055]

Glad you had a nice trip Susan and you didn't seem loopy at all. With our 29 degrees tonight I'll be covering what I can but my big cattle panel arbor is loaded with immature Red Runner beans. It is too tall to cover and I'm worried about leaving the beans to the frost yet they are too immature to harvest. Like so many other things this summer they struggled to get going and are definitely behind. Ah well... Your Blue Beech tomatoes are amazing! I can't get over the size of them, bigger than your hand. Thank you for always informing and inspiring us.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Hi, Molly. That's so frustrating about your runner beans. This has truly been a challenging year, with lots of our crops being behind schedule in the production dept. Yes, the Blue Beech tomatoes are huge! Thanks so much for your nice comments. I'm so glad these videos are helpful.

[@carlydillon6926]

I grew up watching Anne of Green Gables and the whole series....how was your visit to Prince Edward Isle?? It looks so beautifully! Im glad you had some garden goodies to come home too! Nice tomatoes and harvest bench! I have the same one but I had a student build it for me with local lumber. I found the blue prints online. I also went to Walla walla last month to see a band and wine taste and thought of you!

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Prince Edward Island is just gorgeous! Beautiful vistas everywhere. Fairly small population comprised of the most friendly and considerate folks I've ever met.

[@HelenT-xv6zm]

I LOVE Cascadia peas! We are in Virginia and they did great for me and grew well until it got too hot this summer. I hope to grow them in the fall too, next year.

[@marilynm8812]

Loopy can be fun. My peas grew very slowly and no blossoms. I did eat a few cuttings. Dealing with more shade and tree roots. My butternut squashes have powdery mildew as did the plants. Should I just leave them until I cook them or wipe them off after they cure? Thanks. Glad you got away and had a great time.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Hi, Marilyn. Wow, I've never actually had the powdery mildew on the fruits but you should wash them thoroughly and let them dry. Then use them whenever you're ready. Thank you for your nice comments.

[@deniseerskine858]

I'm north of you in DP. I had a temp of 24 already.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Wow, that's cold!

[@dustyflats3832]

Ok, how can I get turnips and beets to bulb up faster? They are both frustrating me. We had 33 degrees Monday morning and nipped many plants and looks like we will definitely freeze next Monday-Z5, WI. Fall cauliflower doing well now, but struggled with all that late heat and drought even with shade cloth-hope they make it. Strange year indeed, tomatoes didn’t like the rain, peppers, corn and beans loved it, cucumbers not great, squash and melons are good to weird as I think they cooked in that hot spell earlier. The squash are oozing after picking and never had that before-chickens like it. Time to create low tunnels over cauliflower and clear the rest, prep beds and plant garlic soon. We had voles appear out of nowhere and need to eradicate them. Never had them in my whole life.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

Yes, this has been such a challenging growing season. Re: the turnips and beets, did you add bonemeal to the soil at planting time? That's what they need (rather than nitrogen) in order to form their bulbs. Voles are super frustrating. If they're in an ornamental area of your yard, you can use a repellent such as Mole Chaser (yeah, I know they're not moles but it works on both). The active ingredient is castor oil. There are also some organic repellents that you likely can use in your veggie garden. For example, PlantSkydd -- just be sure to check the label. Snap traps work well, too. I don't know if you have a copy of my book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, but there's a chapter on dealing with various types of critters in the garden. There is more information about moles in it.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@SusansInTheGarden I added Espoma garden tone and then triple phosphate later. The bonemeal is high phosphorus with a bit of nitrogen and see no N in Espoma triple phosphate 🤷‍♀️. I know too much N will give all leaves. Maybe it’s potash? I have different soils and I’m too cheap to get a soil test as it wouldn’t tell me much except for whatever section it’s from. The leaves are similar to your, but I see no bulbs. Maybe needs more time here-seems too long. I never seen a vole in all my years and spotted one January before last and seen trails under leaf mulch in snow. I did notice some bulbs missing also. We used peanut butter on rat traps early spring and got two in one trap 👏🏼👏🏼. The gophers we got most of them by using celery leaf. Not sure what the voles like best when there is a whole garden to choose from, but I see holes everywhere. Then I see a plant like yarrow or celery nibbled to the ground and wonder if it was a vole or did the gophers return. Then I use the trowel and find tunnels and know why a plant is doing poorly as too much air and they could be eating the roots. The milky spore kept the moles away for about 10 years and didn’t treat the whole garden, mainly the lawn and they Also reappeared this year. It’s definitely something I need to fix before it’s out of control and can’t use poison and prefer not to. They are harder to detect than gophers as they are so small. All that rain this summer was a huge problem. I’m still baffled over the voles and where they came from. I will try sticky traps in a 4” tube also. Thank you Susan!

[@helenedecker3317]

In this video you mentioned using a shredder. Would you mind sharing which one you own? I’ve been on the fence about whether or not I need one.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

It's a Troy-bilt. To be honest, we've had 3 different shredders over the past 30 years and all of them get clogged! So I can't necessarily recommend this one in particular. They are helpful but unless you buy a super high-end model, they're also a pain.

[@helenedecker3317]

Ugh! That’s what I was afraid of. Guess I’ll stick with the hand pruners.

[@SusansInTheGarden]

@@helenedecker3317 Sorry about that!