Posted on 05/15/2021 6:40:39 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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They have golf ball size or bigger tomatoes on them now. Spider mites are usually the biggest problem when the summer heat sets in.
A few year ago my husband built me waist high beds with frames above. This year I covered everything with chicken wire to keep out the birds.
We had baseball hail a week ago but the wire saved my tomatoes.
https://www.bigblogofgardening.com/prune-tomato-suckers/
Snip...
Thank you for posting!
additional information! (Which I just learned from the linked site!)
Snip...
“Suckers grow in sequence, from the bottom to the top of the tomato plant. The higher up on the plant a sucker appears, the weaker it is, due to a lower concentration of sugar. Tomato suckers are especially assertive in the heat of the summer when the plant is producing lots of fruit, so be diligent and keep pruning, because the suckers are siphoning off nutrients from the rest of the plant.”
(And this, which I knew!”
“There’s also a second method of pruning tomato suckers, called “Missouri pruning”. In this method, you remove all suckers that appear below the first fruit cluster. For all other suckers, let them develop two leaves, and then pinch or prune off the tip. This will stop the growth of the sucker, but allow the leaves to remain, which shades the tomato fruit below and aids in photosynthesis. Shading the fruits is helpful in avoiding sunscald.”
If you have hot humid summers with lots of sun....
LOL x 10!! I’m passing this on .... :-)
Yikes! Well yes, like that, but check out other sources! here its about $12-$13 1Ft sq!
The reason would be to prevent dirt from splashing onto your tomatoes and infecting them with fungal disease and to make it easier for you to move around in your “Tomato alley!”
Maybe someone else has another suggestion, maybe black plastic?
Heartwood!
Cutworms...parasitic nematodes?
Ground hog!
https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/braised-groundhog-recipe/
Dollar store...Get bags of fleer bubble gum to feed to the chipmunks and squirrels....Gum goes in, but does not come out. (And you will not Kill your coopers hawk with poisoned chipmunks!)
(Not sure how this will work if you have nearby woods...I am in a suburb with a limited number of trees.)
See:
They sell something like this for about $1 at the dollar store around the 4th of July. Get some red and silver ones, leave them in the concrete base, or pull them out and put them in poles around your berries and see if they scare the birds while they flutter in the breeze.
The explanation given is that the shimmering is like fire and the birds avoid it. I have had good luck with them so far.!) Worth a try!
good luck
Spent the day here near Atlanta landscaping a front yard, with camellias, abelia, yucca, Encore azaleas, gardenia, crape myrtle, and iris. A beautiful combo. We trucked in 3 scoops black mulch, 2 scoops fill dirt, and 1 scoop landscape mix. Great job. I have a good crew. They make me look good.
.
WOW! I’ve never seen that before. Cool. :)
Hahaha...that’s become the strory of mu life!
I have a corner of my house yard that needs help. It has a lovely Juniper shrub that I pruned last year to look rather Bonsai-ish. That can stay.
The rest just needs to be nuked; it’s a weedy mess. I need some large rocks hauled up from the pasture, and a lot of mulch or maybe stone. Am thinking of making a small-ish Japanese Garden, based on the Juniper that’s already there, and I do want to plant a tree in memory of a good friend we lost last year. (Not Covid; heart attack.) Maybe a Japanese Maple - which I have always wanted. The backdrop are a mature Colorado Blue Spruce and a Norway Spruce. The Japanese Maple would have protection from the wind in winter.
Probably more small evergreens, to keep with the theme. Partial sun, maybe 4-5 hours a day. I want it LOW maintenance, and I’m also open to a bench for sitting and a birdbath or something like that. The area is 10 feet deep and 12-15 feet wide; kind of pie-slice shape. It was once a planted perennial garden, but due to neglect (not mine, LOL!) all but a few spring bulbs have petered out.
Juniper Bonsai. Japanese Maple. Evergreen Backdrop. Maybe some Hakone Grass or other perennial grasses? I already have Karl Foerster grass along the front of the house with the smaller Viburnum and a clump in with my roses.
Any suggested shrubs/grasses that I might be overlooking? Zone 4-5. No rush. I know this is a busy time of your for you! It’s probably not happening this year; I’ve got too much on my plate already; but it’s fun to plan. :)
I’m planning a fun day week after next with a friend that’s new to the area to take her to all of my favorite greenhouses and garden centers around here. And then I’ll do the same with my Mom. Win/Win! :)
I’ve been STALKING the local Super Walmart Garden Center when I pick up ordered groceries on Fridays. Plants are pretty much the ONLY thing I will still wear a @#$%^&*! mask for to go out and buy. ;)
Off the top of my head, Blue Star juniper that grows short and small, mondo grass, Iris/Japanese Iris. Does the plum yew grow in your zone (I’m in Zone 7b). Here we have the ‘Dukes Plum Yew” which is fuller. I love using it. Fatzia variegated? Lots of rock and pea gravel, simple. Here we have ‘2-man boulders’ which work as ‘seats’ atop a 1=man boulder. Just thoughts...
Mugo pines are very nice, low growing and when planted in a row can give a carpet effect.
Got any extra vegetables hanging around? From Garden and Gun Magazine,
fabled N/O's Commander’s Palace makes Bloody Mary mix every couple of days from scratch, blendering celery,
carrots, and fresh tomatoes, plus horseradish to taste, then steep...... two key ingredients: Creole seasoning and Crystal
hot sauce. Get fancy and top w/ sugarcane into skewer swords, garnished with peppers and pickled okra.
RECOMMENDED Creole seasoning by Tony Chachere’s, 1 1/2 oz. Crescent, Magnolia, or Tito’s vodka,
1/2 cup V8 or tomato juice, tsp prepared horseradish, 2 splashes Worc, 4 dashes Crystal hot sauce, 2 dashes Tabasco.
Garnishes: sugarcane stick**, jalapeno pepper, cherry pepper, pickled okra, freshly ground black pepper, and coarse sea salt
Can add two shakes of Tabasco for a double dose of Louisiana heat. At the restaurant, bartenders skewer garnishes on a piece of sugarcane. At home, a cocktail pick will do.
Just watched this FB video and thought of you and your greenhouse. Also a very interesting site.
https://www.facebook.com/110476287276149/videos/233704558512424
I finally read your post, and it’s wonderful! Thanks for the great big smile!
Folks, farming is not meant to be fun. It’s repetitious drudgery.
I’ve passed the 3 week mark on garlic mustard removal. I took a break today to do a poison ivy spray in the woods, near where people walk. That was a fun time. Vinegar & salt ...
Worked last summer to suppress the PI.
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