DogDiesel wrote:
Hello,

I'm hoping for some input. I'm pretty much done gardening this year. .
I've got a few tomatoes and peppers left. My eggplants did
awesome. I'm looking forward to next year already and my
improvements. Here's my biggest issue to overcome. I cant tell when
my veggies are ready to be pulled.

Some are ready when immature, some when mature but time isn't very
critical, some should be just right. There are "rules" for determining when
some are ready but these are not always so easy for everybody to apply.
Mainly it's a matter of practice and fitting your growing and eating habits
together.


I left the corn too long to the
point the kernals got a little crinkly and soft.

This one comes up every few months, look through some history of the NG.

The eggplants were lenient but should of been pulled.

When the rate of growth slows nearly to a stop cut them, the size that this
will be depends on conditions and cultivar.

Some lettuce bolted then I realized it was time.

Everybody gets caught on this sometimes. One day they look fine, next day
bolted. Try continuously cutting the outer leaves, you get plenty of salad
and when they come to the end you haven't lost anything. More open cultivars
are better for this. Also you will have less problem if you avoid growing
lettuce in the heat of summer.

Some yellow tomatoes got real soft last month.

For some fruits like tomatoes colour is a pretty reliable guide to ripeness.

I pulled some onion sets real early. Then lost the rest to
weeds mostly.
I've managed to get the weeds in check . The piles of hay and ground
cover actually worked really well. Ruth Stout wasn't full of crap.
My work load on weeds. was down about 75% .


I don't know Ruth but mulch is almost always good.

Bug issues were not an issue . I only had bugs on fallen tomatoes.
Flea beetles early on the eggplants. And Japanese beetles were held
in check by sacrificing the grapes for the corn.

I have more trouble with ants in the house then bugs in the garden.

You are lucky.

David