5hrs is certainly enough to get good growth, and decent fruit. More is better for bumper-yield fruit, but should still get plenty w 5hr.
Careful with watering; every day is probably too much once plants are established - last year my spring garden was terrible because of all the constant rain.
Once my plants are established, I'm only watering when they need it, no sooner than every 3 days or so.
Too much can be as bad/worse than not-enough; daily watering can wash-away nutrients before plant has time to absorb them.
I've also noticed big difference between tap-water for watering -vs- (saved) rainwater.
Nowadays I try to use rainwater when starting/establishing - and tap water that sat in buckets a few days when low on rainwater, on young plants.
I'm using tap water for irrigation - only when the plants need it - 3 to 5 days or so between waterings only as necessary.
After a drenching rain, I don't water for at least a week or so.

Wow, thanks for the advice. I've been wayyyy over watering then. I do have 3 55 gallon barrels hooked up to my rain catchment system. I'll back off on the watering and use rain water only. My garden is rather small only 2 4x8 feet raised beds. Doing the square foot gardening thing.

My squash is producing very well this year. I’ve got more zucchini than ever. The spaghetti squash and butternut squash looks good and should start to pick some in the next week. Acorn squash is slightly slower.

Haven’t seen any vine borers thank goodness!!

Looking good Steve!

I was guilty of over watering too, until I went to a gardening class. Learned how to do the ol' poke test (for gardens), just poke your finger down into the soil. If it's damp even a little, don't water. If dry, then water. I had my garden set up to water on timers, and I was over watering pretty bad.

Small First batch of fresh fried okra!!!!

^^^ Your Mama cooked that

I usually make the African American version of food.........

Dang that looks good 😊

That does look really good. French fries and fried okra are really the only two fried foods I like. I could so much fried okra lol.

Went and picked up a few plants after work and got them transplanted. Had a little help from my buddy.

Ok...I am officially pizzed. Something is eating my tomatoes. I had two really nice big ones about ready to come off. Went out this morning and both were partly eaten along with two other smaller ones pulled off. What is eating them? I have coons, possums, skunks and squirrels.
Any commit as to who the guilty party might be. I plan on making war on all them. I will have plenty more coming but want to stop the mater poachers before things get out of hand. I plan on setting the live trap and doing target practice on the squirrels. Any suggestions welcome.

I had the same thing happen. I think it was rats. But could have been squirrels. I ended up moving them from my back yard to my farm an hour away. It set them back a bit transplanting them but so far no more partially eaten maters....

I finally got water at my farm. Just need to get the shutoff inspected then I can complete the water line to the yard hydrant.

Looking forward to not hauling water up there

I’ve got nothing to show this season. Chose not to plant any container tomatoes, due to the drought.
I’ve been waiting on Mr. bill to post his pics, since his garden usually produces earlier than most.

Always enjoy looking at everyone's gardens so I thought I might share a short video of mine.

That's not a garden - that's a Jungle!
Amazing looking plants!
Great idea on those tire stacks - I'm gonna have to try some potatoes that way. Thx for posting.

what size is that line / valve ? seems awfully small.

Dang. Mine haven't even bloomed yet.

Might be rats but I caught a possum last night. I think he is the guilty party.

It’s 3/4”. That’s all I need for now. I can upgrade if I ever build out there

Bummed! Totally Bummed!

I have no garden this year. Well, that's not totally true. I have a garden. But it has two-foot-tall tomato plants that have curly and cupped leaves. They make tiny flowers that drop off. I have pepper and squash plants that stopped growing two weeks after I transplanted them. They just sit there - won't grow, make no flowers.

So, what happened?

Here's what I've concluded. Earlier this year I purchased a cubic yard of "garden soil" from a local soil & aggregate supply yard. It was dark black with what appeared to be a nice mix of aged manure, peat moss, coarse sand and a small amount of shredded wood chips. It looked really good - a lot better than those bags of garden soil at Home Depot.

In early March I applied a three-inch layer of the stuff to all of my raised bed gardens and turned it into the top eight inches or so of existing soil. Two weeks later I transplanted all of my tomato, pepper and squash plants (about a dozen of each) into the gardens. They were really healthy plants that I'd started in 16 oz. Solo cups and carefully nurtured. Man, I was looking forward to a great garden this year.

After a lot of research, I've concluded that the new soil was contaminated with Grazon or Aminopyralid herbicide. That stuff is used on horse pastures and hay fields to eliminate all broadleaf growth, leaving just grass. When an animal eats grass or hay from such a field the herbicide enters its system and is excreted in the manure. When that manure is used in a compost mix it continues to suppress broadleaf plants (especially tomatoes and peppers) even if the manure is well aged. Classic signs of Grazon/Aminopyralid contamination in the vegetable garden soil are leaf curl, stunted growth and failed fruit production.

Check out the videos.

Well that really sucks… I was thinking of getting some of that for next year. If I do I’ll put it in an area that I can test it before committing to planting it further

Does it diminish over time?

I concur.

I feel for you. Went thru the same thing about 7 years and it was so frustrating to figure out what happened. I learned that when I want to add to my beds I use bulk mushroom compost. Problem solved and containers doing excellent

i did plant mine somewhat earlier than i should have,