and "Julio Iglesias"
Posted on 06/05/2008 10:10:48 AM PDT by Gabz
Please remember folks --- this article is from 2006!
June is here, and along with it, summer. Gone are the soft pastels of flowering vines such as jasmine and wisteria. The bolder, brighter summer colors of orange trumpet vine and the tropical colors of mandevillas are on their way. The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves. Crepe myrtles and gardenias and hydrangeas are showing off their colors. Now that the things we hate about warm weather are back in full force-all the mosquitoes, sand gnats, yellow flies, and various other nasty biting insects, along with the heat and humidity and scads of weeds—we’re once again questioning our sanity. Why, exactly, is it that we have another garden planted? Didn’t we promise ourselves last year that we weren’t doing this again next year? Somehow, in the long span between springs, gardeners always forget the bad things about gardening and remember only the taste of that first ripe tomato, or the joy of a freshly cut bouquet. The scent of warm soil calls us, compels us to dig and plant, as seductive as any siren’s song.
Among the vines that will be blooming are the wild roses. The white one that smells like cinnamon and spices blooms early, perfuming the air. Too bad the flowers aren’t much. Another one is a pretty little hot pink rose, one that seems to haunt ditch banks and other wetter areas. Do not feel sorry for this rose and take a piece of it home. No matter how cute and lonely it seems, like throwing scraps to a stray dog, once given any attention, it will never leave. Almost impossible to kill, it has thorns that proclaim it to be an escapee from the impenetrable wall around Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
The cool weather lasted much longer than we expected and crops will be correspondingly delayed. Tomatoes and other warm season crops will be coming off later, but all they need is some really warm weather, especially at night, and they’ll take off. Watch them for insect pests, they like warm weather also.
Ever check on your tomato plants one day and they’re fine, only to go out the next day to find the vines defoliated and most of the tomatoes almost completely eaten? The culprit is often huge, green caterpillars, called hornworms. Look closely, they’re masters of camouflage. Usually bright green with white stripes, they have a very distinctive horn on one end. If they’re on tomatoes, they’re called tomato hornworm. If they’re on tobacco, they’re called tobacco hornworm. Go figure! Same pest.
Guess what hornworms turn into? Hummingbird moths! If you’ve never seen one, the moths are truly delightful. They resemble a baby hummingbird and are just a little larger than a bumble bee. Hummingbird moths are tan in color, unlike their colorful namesakes, but they fly just like a hummingbird does. They can usually be spotted around flowers early in the morning or late in the evening. Sometimes they will come out during the day if it is cloudy, so if you see something that looks like a baby hummer, look closer. It might not be what you think it is!
One other word about hornworms. They aren’t hard to kill, simply pick them off and squish them. If you see white, rice looking grains on the hornworm, don’t kill it. What?! That’s right, don’t kill it. The rice grains are the eggs of a parasitic wasp. Guess what it eats? Tomato hornworms. Pick it off, certainly, and move it far away from your garden, into the edge of your yard or woods. The wasps will hatch and go find another hornworm to start the process all over again.
Mid June is time to plant pumpkins and gourds and winter squash. Winter squash? Winter squash is a term that means a squash with a hard shell that will keep during the winter. Butternut squash is a good example. Butternut will often keep a year or even longer. Summer squash is a term used to denote softer squash, such as yellow straight neck or crookneck. There’s nothing wrong with planting butternut earlier, it just keeps better if it’s planted later. The cooler weather of fall helps harden the shells.
If you planted Vidalia’s early, June is usually about the time to dig them. Wonderful sliced in quarters or eights and microwaved until tender with a little salt and butter, they are equally delicious stir fried with summer squash. Add a little zucchini and some eggplant and… Technically, the only onions that can be called Vidalia’s are the ones grown in Vidalia. The onions themselves are actually yellow granex. These can also be grown in the fall if you can find the plants. They don’t keep well because of their high sugar content, so enjoy them while they last. Hard to believe that Vidalia’s have about the same sugar content as a large orange.
Glad your dog(s) (and kids) were ok! The dogs always had ticks when I was growing up—lived on a farm. Other than Rocky mountain spotted fever, we didn’t know they carried anything. We knew to get the whole tick out, and to not get the blood on us, and to wash our hands when we were done. I can’t remember ever having more than a few on me the entire time i was little, and most of them were caught before they embedded—big brown dog ticks.
I really hate seed ticks, and they seem to be really prevalent. At least fireants don’t carry any diseases—that we know about!
The only thing dad ever burnt off us with his cig was leeches. Shudder.
We’ve had dogs lay around for a couple of days because they’d been bitten by a copperhead/rattler/moccasin but never had a dog have a reaction like you described from a tick, tubebender. The kids have gotten headaches and fever, sort of like the flu, and that was long before we had to worry about lyme.
Did a lot of tree climbing in my day, Alia! The worst thing that ever got me was one of those long caterpillars with spines that stick up. Wrapped my arm around the tree to hitch myself up farther and that thing stung the crap out of me. I let go, fell out of the tree, did a lot of screaming. It burnt like crazy, and I have the scars to this day—40 some years later.
I dunno about Vicks for hemmorhoids, tho.. that has got to be someone yanking a chain. Well... the reader did write it felt "zingy" for a few minutes.
In the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", windex is the miracle cure. Vicks has always been one of those "gotta haves" in my medical cabinet.
Good Lord, gardengirl -- a. Where was your farm where you grew up? b. What caterpillar has those kinds of stingy spines?? Yikes. When I was about 10, I cared for two coccoons, named them after my parents, and they did become butterflies. lol. I grew up in a rural setting; first paid job was collecting manure; but then I got promoted to shooting crows.
I'm still, by Southern standards, a newbie to the South. In such a humid zone, I'm constantly in awe over the range and types of insects and fauna. I've got something coming up in my back land, which I did not plant, I know is not a weed, and I visit it each day to see "what's happening". My first thought was a variegated fern; but now I'm leaning towards flower. I've had excellent vegetable gardens all my life; but now, in this newer zone, I've been letting the land and sun and rain, teach me. I'm almost 4 years here, and I'm ready with plans! My vege garden is very limited, at this point. But I have already mapped out huge beds; and take it one step at a time. Land is on a slope, the east/west sun path dissects the land in back.
Biggest problem I had back where I came from was not insects; but varmints.
I've got a scar, gardengirl, for about as long as yours: My brother fashioned his Sugar Daddy (on a stick) into a spear, I taunted him, and he nailed my hand, Heralding his choice in candy over my freshly picked orange! Yep, 40 years later, I still have the Sugar Daddy Scar.
Grew up in southern Ohio. Moved from an 80 acre farm in the middle of nowhere to a trailer park in eastern NC. Talk about culture shock!
That’s what seed ticks are. Keep reading—or don’t—Grin.
They live, or I guess, hatch, in swarms. Millions of them, just waiting for some innocent sucker—ha, ha—to walk by. They’re minute specks, and if you think regular size ticks make you itch, you have no idea. My skin is crawling jsut thinking about them.
As for the caterpillar, I have no idea what kind it was, only that it was white/tan, more like hair than fuzz, and it had black spines sticking up. Don’t see them very often, but I give them a wide berth when I do! Evidently they’re widespread, just not many of them. Thank God!
Where are you living now? Your “weed” sounds like it has possibilities! Weeds are just plants growing where you don’t want them! Sounds like you’re in a good spot, and if you need varmints.... Gardening in eastern NC with it’s attendant heat and humidity and bugs is...interesting! We’re flat, and sandy. I wouldn’t knowwhat to do with an actual hill anymore. My kids think the highrise bridge is a hill!
I hear you on the sugar-daddy spear! It’s a pure wonder any of us survived to adulthood! LOL
Had a customer bring me some fig cuttings earlier in the year. He’s from downeast, and people there tend to...exaggerate...a lot. Figured he was pulling my leg when he told me the cuttings came from a fig that produced baseball sized figs. The cuttings he brought rooted, and they look good.
He came back today and brought a fig. It is literally as big as the palm of my hand, and it weighs 7 1/4 oz! That, my friends, is a lot of fig newtons! Haven’t tasted it yet—just want to look at it and drool. :)
He also told me he pours a bucket of salt water from the sound on it every so often. Can’t wait to see if the cuttings produce as well as their parent or if it has more to do with soil and care!
.
Yours is a Davis Island fig, which I thought were big until I saw this one!
MMmmmmmm...What airline flies into your area? I’ll bring my sleeping bag and a bib...
Snicker—cue Mutley
Didn’t mean to be funny-—it just came out that way!
It’s hard to grow figs up here, but some people manage it. I think we can grow the variety, “Brown Turkey” figs up here.
I think I’ll cut out the Middle Man and just eat the cookies. :)
I was watching Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” and could not help but make the connection and laugh. Madeline Kahn just said Woof! Sorry, once more, again!
and "Julio Iglesias"
We have plenty of brown turkey. i didn’t know figs would survive that far north! Brown turkeys are golfball size and pretty sweet.
Have you tried the raspberry newtons? Oh my gosh!
Haven’t seen that in ages. I love Gene Wilder. His character in/as Willy Wonka was inspired. The new one with Johnny Depp is like a pedophile’s wet dream. I hate it that they had to take a wonderful children’s movie and totally ruin it.
Brown Turkey = 1
Cashmier (Celstial) = 5
Black Jack = 2
Gardengirl = 0 but it is just doing great!
I am so impressed!
Most of the homesteads down east have a fig or two growing in their yards, some bt and a lot of the same as our DI. The Davis Island cuttings came to us via a customer, from Davis Island. Deserted now and privately owned, there were homes there once. The figs thrive there all by themselves. DI figs are larger tahn a brown turkey fig but I have no idea what type they actually are.
Sounds like you and the mrs will be eating figs about mid July! Ours had figs on them til about the middle of Dec last year.
Have fun! There are tons of fig recipes out there.
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.