Hi greeneyes and everyone!
POTATOES
Since you started with potatoes, greeneyes, so will I. I’m glad that you have a lovely harvest happening. I had not realized it WAS harvest time! Maybe I may learn from this that my bad news may actually be good news!
For most of the time, my white store boughten potato plants which I cut up and planted had lovely green foliage. Now it looks like the Irish Potato Famine hit us! Very little green is left, and I had surrendered the idea that I have no harvest. But if you are harvesting, well, maybe I should just go with it, dig, and investigate!
Sweet potatoes continue to vine all over everywhere.
That’s the good news. Bad news is I’ve surrendered to the grasshoppers. I’ll get what I get! They have apparently left enough for the plant to still be thriving, so I do still have expectations of some kind of a harvest!
Amaranth:
Good news: GORGEOUS red seed heads!
Bad news: Darn grasshoppers have punched holes in every leaf!
Tomatoes:
Mostly good news here. The Atkins is very abundantly producing. The other varieties are producing well also. I guess the bad news would be that due to my skittishness about possible overuse of fertilizer, I did not feed them adequately, so they are probably smaller than they should be. But how would I know? I’m still a novice at tomato growing! They have all put out lots of vines and branches which escaped the cage. I’ve lifted them, heavy with fruits, to get them off the ground, and tied them to the cage with string, being careful that they have adequate support.
The Atkins are just a little bit larger than cherry tomatoes. Can anyone tell me, is this the usual size or are the poor things stunted from inadequate groceries?
Legumes:
Good news: All have produced very well, and some are even continuing to bloom and form. The Asian Trellis beans are my “goodest” news! They are AWESOME! Long trailing pods, and DEFINITELY require a trellis. As I mentioned previously, While I could have picked them green, I chose to let them all go to seed.
Bad news: The darn grasshoppers! LOL!
Cucumbers:
I had one tiny cuc to harvest yesterday.
Good news: several others are starting, but bad news, others have shriveled.
SQUASH
Bad news: Have had troubles with low production. While my zucchini plant produced one baby, it was trailing low to the ground and succumbed to poor conditions there and rotted. In fact the entire plant died. Since I added it as an afterthought to the pot, it just could not compete with its T Squash neighbor.
Good news: I even HAVE squash! The white bush squash produced 2 babies, which I harvested. The T Squash produced two, but bad news, one shriveled, and the other is still on the vine and growing. All surviving squash continue to bloom.
Peppers:
Several other peppers are reddening up. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to assess the heat factor!
Okra:
Good news all around. I love the 3 varieties I planted: Orange Jing, Eagle Pass, and Clemson Spineless.
Sunflowers:
Forming their seeds! They all appear to be good news, but but there may be bad news in the end, as early one, they were invaded by boring beasties. I tried to treat them, but we’ll see.
Those are the high points!
Darlin ran across this link on Yahoo this morning and suggested I should share it with all of you! There is a garden use!
Surprising uses for ASPIRIN
https://www.yahoo.com/health/5-surprising-uses-for-aspirin-94741099878.html
Thanks for the link. My Doc just made an observation that Aspirin is an underutilized and appreciated less than it should be remedy for so many things.
When potatoes bloom, is a good time to steal a few new potatoes if you want. Once the green dyes out it’s a good bet digging up time is here.
Sounds like overall there’s more good news than bad. Celebrate. If you would like to batter and fry any of that stuff, I have a tip for something quick and lite.
Take whatever cheap white wine you may have on hand, and combine it with flour to the desired consistancy. Roll the veggie in the batter and fry. (you can also dip it in seasoned flour after the batter, if you want).
This is a very light and great tasting crunchy coating to what ever you are cooking. (Secrets of a restaurant chef)
We need to point Marcella in the direction of your grasshoppers and let her loose—they’ll never know what hit them!
This year’s garden was pretty pathetic. We canned one small batch of tomatoes and have had enough for daily use. Got one zucchini, one usable eggplant and three bell peppers. The puppy, however, was five months old on August 4th, so we grew one thing properly this year.
Very interesting article your husband recommended. Thank you.
Squash and other curcubits don't transplant well beyond the seedling stage. Chances are , it wasn't competition, it was the transplant process.
POTATOES - they don't like lime (sweet soil) unlike most other garden plants .
Some folk use a small quantity of wood ashes to gently acidify the soil , and increase cellulose and fiber in the soil .
Potato HARVEST Sequence : plant prepared eyes in trench , cover ,allow growth, hill the rows, allow more gowth,hill the rows ,
plants will flower , last hill the rows , plant die back , harvest.
Grasshopper Control :
ENTOMOPHAGY : In third world countries they Learn how to roast/ toast and eat well. Add Tobassco and close your eyes. Considered by many to be Mexican delacacy
High value in Chitinin Excellent protein source known in 3rd world , and highly reccomended by the UN as a food source.
CHEMICAL : Ortho’s Bug-B-Gon, For grasshoppers, use products containing diazinon , or dibrom
ORGANIC : #1 encourage birds and wildlife with a bird feeder (sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet) which will gladly eat the grasshoppers ,
provide roosting bushes to encourage birds in the yard.
#2 crushed tomato leaves, made into a tea , strained , and sprayed on victimized plants will repel. Apply as necessary. YMMV
See my post #103 , and #64 about curcubit family and difficulty in transplanting.