WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JULY 15, 2016

freerepublic | July 15, 2016 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

Posted on ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2016‎ ‎3‎:‎32‎:‎57‎ ‎PM by greeneyes

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.

No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I have been in, ‘The Biz’ for TWO DECADES now...and this season, due to time and space constraints, was the first time I’ve used those Jiffy cells.

I LOVED THEM! What a perfect invention - and they’re refillable.

Very impressed. Highly recommended.

[SaveFerris]

Cool! It was an accidental find while looking at Lowe’s with friend (it’s their garden, officially).

Question for all you pros: When do I pull the tomatoes? When they start to turn orange or do I wait for red?

I’m hesitant when I still see green because I’m not sure what the “table ripe” window is. TIA

[STARLIT]

You are way past me on the understanding of the computer and html. LOL Thanks.

[STARLIT]

Thank you very much!

[Ladysforest]

Huuum. Well, as much as I want more peaches, I do love all the birds that visit that tree - I watch them from my dining room window. Now that catnip idea I might give a try to over by my cottage (pretty shed, LOL) and see if the kitties will hang out there to give the groundhogs the fidgets. With my luck they will team up and attack me.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I always leave my tomatoes on the vine until red/ripe. They taste much better!

At the END of your growing season, but before a hard freeze (32 degrees & below) if you have a lot of full-size but still-green tomatoes, you can wrap each separately in b&w newspaper, store them in a single layer in a box or basket, and keep them somewhere cool and dark (unheated basement, or a garage that won’t get below 40 degrees) and they’ll ripen up just fine, in a few weeks.

[SaveFerris]

Thanks. I’ll try that.

I pulled a red tomato 2 days ago - found a huge black stripe on the bottom which I cleanly cut off - it was like an eye.

Hope that was good enough - appears to be so.

Got 3 or 4 slight red/orange/green out there. I’ll just wait.

[Ladysforest]

OMG! I totally need to get one of those. I wish I had thought of that this spring!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That ‘stripe’ was probably Blossom End Rot. It’s caused by a lack of calcium.

Give your tomato plants some powdered or liquid bone meal to prevent this in the rest of the ripening fruit.

It’s not a disease; it’s a nutrition issue. Calcium is the first element that leaches out of our soil, and most of us don’t have a lot of calcium in our soil in the first place.

For future reference, throw a handful of powdered bone meal into the planting holes of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and zucchini. They can all get Blossom End Rot.

It won’t hurt you, but you should try to prevent it in the rest of your ripening fruit. Do a dressing on your cukes, zukes and peppers if you’re growing those, too. :)

[SaveFerris]

OK that explains why some folks say put crushed egg shells on top of the dirt in a layer.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. I throw crushed eggshells in the planting hole, too. Geraniums and roses also love calcium. Makes them BLOOM like crazy.

You will also see MUCH better production out of your veggie plants with added calcium. My Grandma used to pour milk at the base of her tomato plants. Same principle. :)

[SaveFerris]

I was wondering if milk was a possibility!

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SaveFerris]

I don’t have any eggs for a day or two. Will some whole or 2% milk work for now? I could sprinkle a bit.

[Qiviut]

It's been a busy week! Starting Saturday a week ago, I decided to fence my raised beds to keep the crows out. The fence is made from PVC pipe (3/4") and plastic mesh. Three beds were fenced by Monday evening, but the weather was so hot that trying to do the 4th bed was a real pain - I finally staged everything on the front porch & zip tied the mesh on the frames one at a time in the living room. Wish I'd had that idea earlier - much nicer working in AC!

Since the fencing started going up, the crows have not been showing up. Twice I've seen them - once a "scout" landed on the board fence for a minute or two while the rest were in an old apple tree raiding green apples and I've seen them in the back yard. They have not been in the field around the garden at all. As a result, no more veggie damage and my tomatoes are coming in as of Friday.

Sunday a week ago, I cut back the basil plants & made pesto - got 3.5 cups - I love the stuff. I also put up a quart of "Kinda Sorta Sour" (Alton Brown recipe) refrigerator pickles last Monday. Today I put up a quart of his bread and butter pickles recipe.

The eggplants are doing beautifully and I found a Chinese Eggolant with Garlic Sauce recipe that I love - the texture of the eggplant in the dish is really good - a far cry from my previous unhappy attempts to stir fry eggplant.

Dusted off my FR picture posting & here is a pic of the raised beds with the "anti-crow" fencing. :-) The beds on the left are 4' x 8' & the ones on the right are 4' x 10'. The longer beds required an additional half panel to make them work like I wanted. I've just tied the panels together & they are light, easy to move to mow, and access to the garden is good as well.

[tubebender]

LOL… Several years ago I ordered a carton of those Jiffy Pellets and got 2 cartons. Too bad you don’t “Live up the road a piece”...

[tubebender]

I buy crushed oyster shells at the farm feed store to deter slugs & snails plus add calcium to the soil

[SaveFerris]

nice

[Freedom56v2]

Wow the roof?!?! I had no idea they could do damage like that—for the most part, our chipmunks damage sidewalks.

[Alas Babylon!]

I harvest the tomatoes a little early, otherwise, they’ll often rot on the vine. They WILL continue to ripen after being picked.

It’s hard to say exactly when I’ll pick them. When they’re showing some good color, earlier if I see any spots that might turn mushy. I lose a lot of them that way. Sometimes I’ll see a good one, especially those close to the ground and then grab it; splat! A fully mushed one! Sometimes a slug, bird or mouse will take a bite and cause premature rot.

Better to throw those out!

[tubebender]

I also bought a bag of cheap marbles for ammunition in the sling shot...