DaveH wrote:

My garden is modest this year. A 30' x 50' plot but only 2/3 full at
this point. I have:

16 caged and 10 staked tomato plants. German red, Reif Red, Pineapple,
Fantastic, various Brandywine strains, Anna Russian, Kotlas,
Delicious, Rutgers, Manalucie, Miracle Sweet, Orange Oxheart, Patio.

I grow pole beans on a large tomato cage. 5' dia, 8' tall. Blue Lake
this year. Cascade Giant is preferred, but not available from
Territorial this year. Fortex, Helda, Musica good in the past.

2 - Zucchini plants, also some basil and cilantro in pots.

That's it so far in zone 6. Modest. I used to grow corn, but the corn
available from local mennonites is superb so I no longer feel the need
to grow corn since it is rather labor intensive.

Everything is exploding from the ground so far. Spraying tomatoes with
Daconil--I've had massive blight problems. Amended soil with Espoma
Tomato-Tone, and feeding with Miracle-Gro tomato food. Prefer an
organic liquid, but M-Gro never fails.

Your Garden? Dave

Great idea Dave! Your garden sounds wonderful! I am envious of such a
large growing area. I'm on the edge of zone 6a and 6b. Unlike your
lushious 1500 sq. ft garden, mine is a modest 244 sq. ft comprised of
two 4' x 8' raised beds, three 4' x 10' raised beds, and a 6' x 10'
unraised bed. I have a small 6' 8' greenhouse and several planters that
increase my veggie growing capabilities. It is by far my largest garden
project yet! I'm using the square foot method for the raised beds and
rows for the unraised bed. I'm using dowels to stake up many of the
plants but will use trellises for the tomatoes.

I'm growing: 2 variety of peas, beans (pole, yellow wax royal
burgundy), lettuces (bristo mix, mesculin, grand rapids), radishes
(cherry belle, gourmet miz), squash (zucchini, acorn), onions (green,
spanish, red), potatoes, peanuts, carrots, cucumbers (bush, burpee,
straight eights), beets (detroit red), broccoli, brussel sprouts,
peppers (bell boy, jalepeno, hot, habanero), stawberries, cantelope,
watermelon, tomatoes (roma, brandywine, beefsteak, sweeties) and herbs
(thyme, lemon thyme, oregano, chives, sweet basil, red basil, mint,
lemon balm, rosemary).

All the gardens are very lush so I'm pleased. I'm battling overheating
in the greenhouse but think I've got the hang of it. So far we have
enjoyed strawberries, lettuces, herbs and radishes. The squashes are
setting up nicely. The zucchini will be ready to pick likely by the end
of the week if pick at the 8" length. The bush cucumbers are getting
close to the pickling stage and one is already too large for pickling.
The peas have quite a few pods and will be ready for picking soon. One
patch of peas is almost at the end of the dowel so I may have to add
trellises to allow them to continue growing upwards. Four more patches
are not quite that tall yet. One patch of yellow wax beans will be
ready to pick by the weekend.

The garden changes daily! I am really enjoying it. Like you, I had a
little blight on the tomatoes so sprayed them with Bravo. I am
considering using Miracle Grow simply because of the heavy load on the
raised beds. The soil mixture I used is about half compost but I worry
that won't be enough nutrients.