Hello, gardeners! Going to pop in for a moment with a question. I will be back to catch up on my garden (lots of wonderful things are happening. There's a strawberry that got nice and red overnight, the herbs are doing great, the tomato in a container is just growing and growing, and the stuff in the ground is not dead yet, so I'm excited!) Oh, and I've probably pulled a forest of maple seedlings.... >.>

but I have a bit of a problem. In one area by the ground and in my raised bed, I have been noticing some leaves yellowing and some leaves being bitten. Also, the plants look a little stunted. I'm not sure what the problem could be - the soil is rich with peat and stuff, as far as the lack of growth goes. Maybe, for the lack of growth, I just need to give it some time?
But my larger problem is ants. There are red ants crawling all over my plants and I have a feeling they are causing the plants to yellow or have half-eaten leaves. Is there a way to get rid of them? I don't exactly want to poison them, but I would like them to leave...

The tomato in the container with potting soil is doing great, obviously because of the richer Miracle Gro with fertlizer and stuff. The ones in the ground are not doing as well, obviously, but I'm wondering if I should do anything to help them out a bit. I'm wary of using chemical fertilizer because of the cats, so...
Well, the ant question was the main reason I came in... thanks in advance! Exciting news: two of us gardeners were able to meet over the weekend, and Jo got to see my garden in person. It was really exciting to show her the plants in RL and explain them. ^_^

I'm not sure how it'll affect the plants, so it probably should come from someone with more experience, but red pepper will drive the ants away from an area. It's an easy and simple ant repellant. And it's cheaper than insecticides. I've not used this in anything other than a flowerbed type setting before.

Ah, I hadn't heard that about red peppers, starkat. Good to know! I hope that can work for you, Bella.

And, YES, it was amazing to see Aitb's gardens and pots in person! I took pictures earlier in June. It was obvious her plants are very well cared for. May they yield a lovely harvest for you!

When I left for the Moot on June 7, all my rows of veggies had just barely broken the surface, but what a relief it was to go away actually seeing those little green shoots. Two weeks later, upon my return home, they had (obviously) grown a very decent amount, and I am so happy being able to take care of them all again. I took pics the other day, so will post a link when I get them up. We have cucumbers, beans (yellow and green), tomatoes (4 kinds), parsley, peppers (red and green), peas, corn ... more to get a giggle from the antics of the squirrels in the autumn than anything else, lol, and if the rows yield a few cobs for us, all the better.

My perennials (which I will expand on another time) are doing pretty well, some more than others. As a fence had to be replaced on one side of our yard, my husband was a careful as he could be in his work, but understandably a couple got a bit trampled. However, they are not permanently damaged. Whew!

My annuals (geraniums, dusty miller, impatiens, snapdragons, portulaca, sunflowers, nasturtium, among others) are coming alive. Beautiful! I planted the sunflowers from seeds, as always, and it's quite fun to see them grow taller and taller, then finally bloom gloriously as their sunny heads sway above our own.

It's far too hot and humid to do much gardening this week, so I am out early each morning watering a bit and weeding. I do need to purchase a few more plants/seeds to fill in certain spots, and hope to get those bought this week yet. After all, it's nearly July!

I'm sorry I haven't had time to reply to everybody's posts, but it sounds like a few of you have successful gardens going on. My own backyard garden is doing great!
~The onions have reached the point of being useable. They're about 2" in diameter and will continue to grow rapidly.
~The sweet potatoes and cantaloupe are doing much too well. I think I planted them too close together. That area will be a tangled web here in another few weeks.
~My peppers look really good. Despite getting the wrong kind of pepper originally, the Big Bertha peppers are outpacing everything else and have a few small peppers on them.
~My tomatoes are all loaded. Gonna have to find something (or lots of somethings ) to do with tomatoes before they turn!
~The herb garden continues to be out of control One of the next things on my to-do list is to hack the sage down to size as it has stopped blooming.
~On a sad note, my mushrooms didn't make it But my sister's mushrooms turned out quite well. If you're friends with her on FB, go take a look at the pic she uploaded because it's pretty incredible.
~My husband got me a Bourgainvillea plant for mother's day. It's sooo pretty. (Pic on FB) It's a drought resistant plant that likes the heat, but it does NOT like cold so I'll have to bring it in over the winter and baby it. Hopefully that I'll be able to keep it alive then... Here's a link to the Wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea

Ah, how I love hearing about the progress of gardens.

Your tomatoes are loaded, fk?! Wow. And ours are just young plants still. But wait until another month from now ... *drools at the thought*

Sorry about your mushrooms. I haven't checked out Aravanna's photo yet. *runs to do so after this post*

We've talked about the Bougainvillea on FB, and I will be asking you (or Ara) any queries, especially as the colder seasons approach.

We are supposed to get a steady rain day tomorrow, so finally this yucky humidity will be gone (for a few days anyway). Looking forward to having the gardens good and soaked after a humid, dry spell.

After one of our ancient fences had to be replaced, the clematis suffered a bit on the surface, but we finally got the trellises back up, so hopefully they will feel comfy again and behave themselves.

If you're not on FB, I don't think you can see these (sawwy), but here are my first garden photos of this year.

I'm new to this topic and to the site in general but I enjoy gardening and plants alot. I have a degree in Restoration Horticulture, unfortunately my classes didn't involve much in the way of caring for plants in a hot dry climate, which is where I ended up moving to after graduating.

I have two tomato plants which have been doing well until recently. For the past two weeks the flowers have died and the branches show significant die-back. There are a few new branches but they have stunted growth. I've tried more water and some fertilizer but that only solved the problem for about four days. The plants are in gardening soil from Home Depot in a plastic container and in a location where they get about 3-6 hours of sunlight a day. Part of the problem could be the humidity here is usually around 6-15% and the average temps from May-September varies from 70-108 degrees fehrenheit. I'm not sure what exactly to do. I've already lost the strawberry plant and my cucumber. Any advice for someone who's new to vegetable gardening in a hot dry climate?

Hey HyperWing What's Restoration Horticulture? It sounds very interesting. I mean I can guess, but it's not a field I'm familiar with.

On the subject of tomatoes, last year we were getting the weather in KS that the west coast is getting now. With diligent daily watering my outdoor tomatoes in full sun survived and thrived. It was only when I went on vacation and my friends only watered every other day that they started dying back. But even then they still produced well into the Fall. Tomatoes can take the heat if they're getting enough water (we were well above 110 last year, even hitting 120 a couple times) I think because they can shade themselves and stay cool underneath. I know I never bother to prune mine so my tomato patch turns into a jungle.
Having said all that, I tried growing tomatoes in a pot one year, it didn't work out at all. They put on a couple tomatoes and then they were done, so I didn't do it again. I guess I don't know enough about fertilizer and stuff so I don't know what they need when they're restricted like that.

Hyperwing, do you have an area where you can plant things in the ground? Or are you limited to pots? Cause I'm kind of a noob when it comes to container gardening. And is your stuff outside or inside?

Welcome, HyperWing! I am very curious about Restoration Horticulture too.

The one time I tried growing tomatoes in a container, they did not do well, sadly. To this day I am not sure why. (We live in Zone 5 in Ontario, Canada.) However, albeit with a few exceptions, when I plant tomatoes in the ground, they do exceptionally well all season and well into the autumn. Having said that, mine are not growing at this point as prolifically as usual, because I was away for two weeks, and they did not get as much TLC as I would have given them.

Something that I have heard helps their growth (although fantasia's experience tells differently ) has been to get rid of any suckers that grow. I was told this by a market gardener years ago and have tried to keep that up. So, I'm not sure how mine would produce otherwise.

Something has been eating my corn (already!!! ), so I have replanted a few small sections ... though much of it is still thriving and growing 'like a weed'. Peas and beans are doing well, as are the peppers. The cucumbers seem to be slower than normal this year ... maybe because of all the rain we have been receiving. I so love going out and tending the gardens each day. Best part of summer!

I have planted a myriad of flower seeds around the gardens, and am curious to see how they do. Of course, I see birds, bunnies, and squirrels digging in those areas too, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Something that I have heard helps their growth (although fantasia's experience tells differently ) has been to get rid of any suckers that grow. I was told this by a market gardener years ago and have tried to keep that up. So, I'm not sure how mine would produce otherwise.

Oh I SHOULD be doing that. I'm just way too lazy. Because I don't bother with pruning the suckers, my tomatoes are smaller than they would be otherwise.
This only applies to indeterminate tomato plants though. Don't prune determinate varieties.

I have so much to learn yet: what is the difference between indeterminate and determinate varieties? I could Google this, but would much rather ask in here.

Determinate tomatoes grow to a certain size, stop growing, and die on their own. Indeterminate tomatoes grow and produce for forever... or until they get hit with a hard freeze. Almost all of the tomatoes I grow are indeterminate, but my mother-in-law likes Early Girls and those are determinate.

Anybody have any experience with stevia. I've got two stevia plants in two pots (approximately 6 inches deep, with a top diameter of about 6 inches). They're alive, and they're healthy looking, but they're not growing very much. Then again. . . the sun hasn't shone here in 2 weeks. . . perhaps they're drowning :S

My mint and rosemary, on the other hand, are doing very well.

How do you know when these herbs are ready to be picked and dried?

I grew Stevia one year (just tagged you in the pic on FB), but natural though it may be, the artificial sweetener taste was so overwhelming to me that I just let it go. I don't recall it ever getting very big, but I also didn't take care of it.

How do you know when these herbs are ready to be picked and dried?

I think most people just pick sprigs of them whenever they need them. That's what I do anyways. Since both mint and rosemary will winter over, I wouldn't pick the whole plant.

Since both mint and rosemary will winter over, I wouldn't pick the whole plant.

Even in our winters?

I know spearmint will. Did some quick googling and it said rosemary is hardy through zone 6, which is what you're in. My only hesitation in saying "yes, they'll be totally fine" is that you have them in pots instead of in the ground. So because of that you may want to provide them with some kind of protection like building a fort out of straw bales or something like that and you should be good to go.
Mine wintered over just fine three years ago when we set record low temps here in KS (-19F if I recall correctly).