This is our container corn as of 6/8/14:
This is the same container corn as of 6/24/14:
Had trouble posting, this is my third try. Computer doing funky stuff, and fingers hitting wrong keys.LOL
Nothing new with the garden. It's time for the 3rd planting of corn. First has tassels and silking. Second went bust. Hoping 3rd times a charm.
Been extra busy with volunteer work. Will be spending the weekend catching up with gardening, indoor chores, and some swimming and R&R.
Hope all is well with you and your gardens. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
OK will every Yellow Blossom on my Tomato Plants evolve into a Tomato?
This is our container corn as of 6/8/14:
This is the same container corn as of 6/24/14:
Ah never in doubt. TWGT postings are as reliable as a Swiss watch. Well we had some good rains earlier in the week here in North Texas. All the greenies took a liking to the deep drink from above. Got 2 cukes now and also a cubanelle and anaheim pepper popped out nicely. The ‘maters are slow but the beefsteak variety seems to be doing the best. I gave them all a nice little covering of compost with cultivating too. Speaking of ‘Swiss’ the chard variety in pots took forever to get going but I’m picking a few leaves for the salads now. Now if we can only keep the dreaded triple digit temps at bay but next week the heat is on so they say.
Well, the bunnies have been dispatched, but not before they did a lot of damage. On a good note, I’ve talked hubby into several additional beds, all raised. Yay! I might start selling next year!
My first swing at potatoes here had excellent results. Salad greens are on their last legs and have gone on longer than I expected due to some much needed rain and moderate temps. Of special note this year were the peaches which were the best I can remember...ever.
Tomatoes are on the downside of their peak which was 20 a day of Celebrity and Purple Cherokee off of 8 plants. Also plenty of Roma and San Marzano. The latter have done very well and are quite tasty. I am also impressed with the Heinz Roma and will plant again if I can find them.
Peppers and okra of course and plenty of shallots and 1015s.
The blueberry experiment results are somewhat iffy. Only the first year after hollowing out a huge chunk of native "dirt" and filling with a mix of acid soil and peat moss. Almost impossible to keep them wet enough..or something. Think it's going to work out that store bought is a lot cheaper and better. No so the thornless blackberries which I expect would grow just about anywhere. Not as much fun as native dew berries but a lot bigger and tastier.
Despite a very warm spring just an excellent year for the garden.
Thonked a SVB moth on the head, but it was tougher than my thonking it. Went to get some bug spray, but by then it had left....not before it laid about fifteen eggs at various places on my Tromboncino Squash Vines, and probably some places I had missed. The eggs don't wash off. They have to be picked off. I wonder if there is some "natural enemy" to SVB moths..I know there is BT for the maggoty borer babies.
If I make it through summer without falling off my ladder which I use in my Cucuzza/Tromboncino obsession it will mean my guardian angel is putting in overtime.
Also today, I bought a pump sprayer so I can do foliar feedings on my plants.
Just came in for an iced (sweet) tea break (HOT & humid outside today) from moving the pots from around one of my raised beds. The ‘squash square’, an old sandbox with cattle panel around 3 sides, is home for my Trombettas (2) and the one Cucuzzi that I managed to germinate. The Trombettas in particular, are hanging off the wire since they have outgrown it and are grabbing on to everything in the pots! I’ve had to untangle their climbing tendrils from around clumps of garlic chives, basil, marigolds, tomato stakes, and each other. Anything that’s not moving, they’re grabbing! I’m clearing everything away from the squash square and putting it on the ends of my other two raised beds, which will take care of the ‘grabbing’ problem and neaten everything up. I’m sure the plants escaping the squash invasion will be much happier.
In other garden news:
Sugar Sweet cherry type tomtatoes - I’ve had 4 ripen & they are delicious.
Tomatoes (regular) - all 4 are fairly loaded with tomatoes & the Bonnie Original has one that should be ripe by the 4th of July.
Eggplant - harvested one small Ichiban & have maybe 4 more that are growing.
Cucumbers - quite a few 2 inch or so babies - looking forward to some Gurkensalat
Squash - harvested the first Trombetta (25-1/2 inches long) and used a julienne peeler to make almost-noodles (close enough), sauteed and made a sauce ... little Parmesan to top it off .... delicious!
Lettuce - cutting almost every night & surprisingly, even in the heat, it’s growing back
Radishes - harvesting as they get big enough - found out I love them diced in tuna salad
Peppers (bell) - really starting to bloom - hope I have a crop
Peppers (poblano & jalapeno) - growing ... which is progress ‘cause they got a very slow start.
Marigolds - starting to bloom - yay!
Basil - Japanese beetles are putting a hurting on them, but I’ve been able to cut some for cooking.
Herbs (thyme, oregano) - growing well
Garlic chives - being harvested today - sowed seed in some pots & few came up, but the ones that did are big enough to do something with.
I have 5 empty pots after all this .... now I have the fun of figuring out what else I can/should plant. :-) One thing’s for sure - I want an herb garden next year, two more 4x8 raised beds, and some system devised for the Trombetta/Cucuzzi squash to grow on ... my cattle panels aren’t big enough & there are no trees nearby!
Great to hear of your beautiful weather.
We have been getting some much needed rain lately. One inch a couple of days ago, but I didnt check the gauge today when I was out. We did get a short rain shower today though. Nothing left here but peppers of various kinds, bananas and various hot peppers, all doing good.
Will harvest the sunflowers in a week or so. Tobacco going very slow. Tomatoes finally taking off. Peppers may be a flop for the spring planting. I'll start some more next week.
Too many cukes, and they are never ready when the daughter is around to take them. grrr....
/johnny
Simple discoveries excite me! For many years to combat squash bugs I’d spray pyrethrum at the crack of dawn and go down the rows squishing the individual bugs. What I found this season to deal with the squash bugs is to do so at night. During the day they tend to want to hide from the sun so they hide on the under sides of the leaves making it quite the chore to turn the leaves to find them. I have found that by doing the search and destroy campaign at night with a good head lamp they are much more visible on the stems and tops of the leaves, and it seems the light ‘freezes’ them because they don’t run away either. This is a HUGE advantage for me since I am tending about 140-150 summer squash plants this year. Haven’t had to spray pyrethrum yet, though I do foliar feed.
For people in the West with hard packed soil, dry conditions and frequent high winds, I found a way to retain water in soil for plants outside of greenhouses (hay, grains, etc.).
Dig a trench. Do so in line with a contour if on a slope (more or less keep the trench level). Bury wood in it (rotten trees, limbs, whatever), and cover it back up with soil. Keep the surface more or less smooth and level with surrounding soil afterwards. Let the wood rot in the soil. Try growing grains or whatever along that area after a couple of years or so. The soil should stay loosened up for a long time, and the water shouldn’t evaporate so fast during windy days.
The apple tree the moose munched on a couple weeks ago looks like it might survive. Harvested all the bokchoy and gave away 1/2 at the senior center. My spinach was the best I’ve ever tasted, I’m still picking leaves off as they get big enough.
Arugula wants to bolt but I keep it at bay, so far, by pinching off the bigger stalks. Still lots of good tender leaves for awhile. Started picking kale and swiss chard this week. Beets are up. Took the walls of water off the tomatoes yesterday. Beans and peas are leaping up, ready to grab onto their guiding strings. Pumpkin is spreading out, I’ll need to thin out a few plants.
Garlic looks great. Potatoes are starting to flower. Just starting to get warm here in Montana, 90’s coming next week; things should really start to take off.
Hi greeneyes and everyone!
The daikon radishes have bolted and are putting out some gorgeous little flowers. Can someone tell me when I would want to try to harvest them?
Red amaranth growing, but no heading yet.
T squash, white bush squash, zucchini show evidence of blooming, but no babies yet.
Orange jing okra has produced one pod, which has been harvested.
Plodding along, and just learning to watch it all grow! Intervening when and where I can.
Sorry about computer problems. Just went through that myself. Pansies still hanging in there despite the heat. Stems break when trying to pick a flower. So planted petunias in their place. Lilys are blooming and oh so fragrant!
We had our first salad from the garden tonight -
[oops ... meant to post on 27th not 20th thread - pardon previous post!]
I am absolutely horrible at planting/spacing seeds, especially if they’re tiny and a lot of them are. If they’re too close together (which happens a lot), then I have a hard time bringing myself to thin out the plants. Sigh. My radishes aren’t that great because I didn’t thin them & if my onions were doing anything, they’d have the same problem.
Like a bolt out of the blue, it dawned on me that maybe I could make ‘seed tapes’ so I ‘binged’ the topic and came up with two decent links for starters. Reading the comments was instructive as well .... I think I’m going to try this out!
Make your own seed tapes:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Own-Seed-Tapes/
Another one that looks even easier:
http://www.gardengirltv.com/how-to-make-seed-tape.html
I’m doing a fall garden so I’ll find out before next spring if it works for me or not.
Getting a lot of tomatoes. Big boy and Romas are ripening like no tomorrow. Still picking a number of beans too.
Cukes are almost 5' tall. Should I let them grow higher or stop them?
Actually getting squash fruit this year. Looking good.
