Posted on 05/01/2008 10:06:23 AM PDT by Gabz
My zucchini and cucumbers are flowering and producing and my tomato plants are flowering again after removing the first buds. My Cherry tomato has 2 fruits about the size of a large pea and many more flowers blooming. And my Sugar Baby watermelon plants are thriving. No runners off them yet but they are leafing out well.
I have already picked a first crop of radishes (20 or so). There is another crop sprouting.
I’m sure you were..........I know how you are about your chocolate!!!!
Snowed 6 inches in about 20 minutes this morning in CS, then the sun came out and melted it all away...now snowing at 3:49 pm...don’t have to water the lettuce I seeded 5 days ago!
LOL the other girl who workd with me came back from lunch yest and held up a pack of dark choc bars. I looked up and said, “Ooh, you got choc for me!” She burst out laughing and replied, “US! US!”
I found the most wonderful chocs at Walmart. Cranberries, blueberries and pomegranetes covered in dark choc.
I don’t know if I could stand choc mulch or not! I might wake up and find myself grazing! LOL
I’m so glad your fig is in recovery mode!
My green beans are up a couple of inches—43 here last night but I don’t think it hurt them. Potatoes look great—I was sure they had drowned. Got the cukes and squash and watermelons and canteloupes and hot peppers planted.
I love fresh field peas. They are small, a little greenish/purplish/brownish pea. My Aunt always cooked them for the big family gatherings,they were really tasty with corn bread. I wish I knew where she got them. No way I can grow the quantity I would need.
I’ve got some Blue Lakes going for canning and some Roma’s for fresh. The Roma’s taste great but lose their flavor when you can them. Blue Lake is what Del Monte plants, and what we’ve always planted.
Field peas are known by a bunch of other names—crowders, etc, and by variety names. Try your local seed store. Dixie Lee is a good one to plant if you want shells and snaps. Mississippi Silver/purple are good ones for shelling. So is Colossus. Stay away from Iron Clay peas. All they’re good for is cover crop. It’s just about time to plant field peas. You want to fix the cornbread, or should I?
Sorry your tomatoes didn’t make it. My dad lost a bunch of tomato plants as well. Good thing you’ve got lots of backups.
I’d like to plant out my tomatoes and other plants soon, but I’m still a little nervous. We’ve had three nights of freezing temps in a row this week. Thankfully it was just in the low 30’s though, not the 20’s. That should be the last of it, but the weather’s been strange lately.
A local orchard in the town I grew up in closed last year after they lost their whole crop. Hopefully the freeze wasn’t deep enough this time to do as much damage.
That's very good to know. What sauce tomatoes keep their flavor well when they're canned?
Also, I tried canning corn. It processed properly, no problem with spoilage, but the corn was all dingy looking and the quality wasn't as good as I expected.
I checked my canning guides and they say to use a variety that cans well. Gee, that's real helpful. I tried googling it and couldn't come up with anything.
Does anyone know what varieties of corn can well, keep their color and quality?
RD and I were talking about roma green beans. The roma tomatoes can great and they make really good sauce. Lots of meat and fewer seeds. They also juice well. A friend of mine used to can hers, minus the seeds, and put a jar in with her baby green limas. Yuummmyy!
Corn—I don’t know. We always froze ours and used Silver Queen, so there wasn’t much color to lose. :)
43 isn’t cold enough to freeze green beans! I plant about 165 plants a year in Colorado Springs, and have even been down to 32 and didn’t kill ‘em.
Concerning Monday's tornado in Suffolk, was watching the weather reporters with a bit of trepidation. Didn't know where that storm was heading. Suffolk is not far from the Beach. I now have a better understanding of what it must be like in tornado alley. My prayers are with them.
Bookmark for me for after final Suday
Good thing! They were just sprouting. Have had them come up blind if they got too cold—just a straight stem that never develops leaves. Damn squirrel has decided to dig them up now! Have 3 rat terrorists but they do more damage peeling rubber than the squirrel does with his digging!
So we have another chance for frost or freeze again early next week.
Time to punt to save the tomatoes.
The buckets and straw helped some with a frost and didn’t do a thing for our freeze, but 22 is pretty tough on most stuff, except the peas. Didn’t bother them at all.
Anyway, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of some way to insulate the tomatoes against the cold without resorting to those overpriced water holding tomato shields.
My new brainstorm is those cheap styrofoam coolers you can get in the supermarket for summer picnics. I think if I place a bottle of warm water next to the plant and cover it with a cooler and make sure there’s no gaps at the soil line, they should keep it warm enough to get through the night.
I’ll let you know how it works.
But man I hate to find another reason to justify keeping junk......
Now the sun is coming up and I get to go out in a few minutes and pullllll offf all that covering and spend more time folding after I allow the moisture to dry off than it took to unfold and cover.... Fun, I sure hope I get some strawberries....
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