Posted on 07/29/2016 2:22:50 PM PDT 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.
Love my vacuum sealer too. So much easier than canning. I will probably still can pickled peppers and pepper relish.
That’s pretty good - I love peppers and onions.
You are welcome. Production is sounding pretty good despite the drought. Basil is doing very well here too.
I’ve got everything in containers, which helps during a drought imho. Easier to water.
Sounds like a good year for your garden. I am thinking about fall planting, but feeling pretty lazy, so may just do cover crops and take a rest.
Watched pot never boils syndrome. LOL
Indeed!
You might want to buy some row covers to extend the season. I sometimes do that here.
- Awesome Zuke production here, also.
- Cukes are all done, but we've already started new ones to try and squeeze another season out of them.
- Jalepeno's are just about ready to come off, but the Bells are still weeks away.
- Tomatoes are big, but not yet red - maybe next week.
- Too hot for lettuce and spinach right now - they seem to just come up and bolt!
And that's our Central Konnecticut report. Have a great weekend, y'all.
Thanks for the tip!
It was a surprise to me too. They had never bothered them before, but I think that’s because I always put it in front of the patio door, and the dog would bark and scare the squirrels away.
They didn’t actually eat them either. Just took a bite and threw them on the patio.
You are welcome.
We got 3.5 inches of rain this week which has revived the garden in a big way (yay!) and the grass is growing again (booooo!).
The tomatoes are really coming in and I think I have enough for either a tomato pie or a batch of salsa, maybe both. I think I’ll do the salsa first. I did have to stake up all my tomato cages Wednesday after a major T-storm (some areas lost power & had trees down) Tuesday night. Two of the new cylindrical ones blew over because the tomato plants were so big, they offered a lot of wind resistance & the ground was so soft from the rain, that the tent stakes pulled up. Next year, I’ll put in a nice tall stake when I first put the cages up & then I won’t have to worry about them.
Today, I spent a good part of the day making a pan of Moussaka - used up all the Black Beauties on my one plant. I also used venison burger. It was worth all the work (although it might be a while before I do it again) & was delicious. I still have an Ichiban plant that is producing.
Earlier this week, the crows finally got over being shy about the new fencing around my raised beds. I have to admit I laughed and laughed, watching them stalk around between the beds, staring at all the beautiful tomatoes they couldn’t get to. The fencing took a lot of work & it wasn’t cheap, but it is definitely effective. I’ve also been in/out of the garden quite a bit and the fencing isn’t a pain to deal with.
Put up another quart of sour pickles this week -the cukes are “done”, even with the rain so that will be the last pickle batch. The basil needs cutting back again and I don’t think there’s enough for pesto so I’m going to freeze whole leaves .... have a vacuum sealer so that should work well. I’m getting peppers (finally!): Garden Salsa hot peppers, hot banana peppers, jalapenos, Grand Marconi & Big Berthas. I also have one pimiento pepper plant that is producing - first year growing pimientos.
After this year’s successes and failures, I’m already thinking about what I can do next year to plan my garden more efficiently. As plants come out now, I need to start looking at a fall garden - waited too late last year, but this year I’ll have more room to start plants earlier.
Stay cool if you’re in the heat wave & I’m praying for rain for the drought areas since we were blessed to get enough to make a difference this week.
Glad to hear the crows have been outfoxed a bit. Sounds like a good harvest too.
beginning to transition to late summer/early winter crops. problem is it has been so darned HOT the past week that the plants are really suffering and i hope things cool down a bit to let the next crop come on.
btw - wife grew sunflowers with 16 inch diameter heads - huge.
I usually lose my squash to worms/bugs, but when I am able to get them growing I often need to hand pollinate
My walmart hybrid tomatoes, planted in humongous pots, have me a bumper crop.
But 5 of the much-touted heirloom tomato plants, also in big pots, produced neither flowers nor fruit.
I used the same miracle-gro potting soil for all.
Papaya are not really trees, just very big plants. They produce heavily until they reach about 10 feet high. Then I cut the whole plant off at about 3 feet off the ground and wrap the trunk in black Plastic. The roots will send up several shoots. I leave the strongest one and remove the others. The plant then bears heavily for a again for a couple of years
My herb garden did better than my veggies this year.
At least my food is going to be savory and spicy! :-)
I had a trinidad moruga scorpion in a container next to several container bell peppers.
once the furry little thieves moved past the bells and ‘discovered’ the scorpion I never had a problem with thieving again.
I KNOW what happened because the morning after the last night I had predation problems I found a nearly ripe scorpion pepper halfway down my driveway with one squirrel/chipmunk sized bite out of it.
I nearly had a coughing fit laughing and the neighbors looked at me funny.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.