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 The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves.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.
If I had read your article about those nasty green horn worms last year ... I would have known what was happening to my tomato plants! I know what to look for now ... they were very destructive and they like the new growth leaves which really hurts the plant!
If you ever see little small dark green - kind of squarish looking - droppings on your plants or on the ground you got a Horn worm eating up higher! The first one I found was almost as big as my little finger and just as green as the stem he was perched on!
We always caught them as kids—ran around the yard in the dark carrying a glass mason jar. CPS would have had a field day with my parents! We don’t have many lightning bugs, but I haven’t lost my touch!
Yuck! Cicadas! I remember when they did one of their 20 year hatches. They ate everything—clothes off the line, screens—and noisy! My gosh.
Amazing how something that huge can blend! Talk about camoflage!
Wind and rain has been doing the samething to my pepper plants. I finally staked them a couple of days ago. Do you have a recipe for the hot pepper vinegar?
My guys stuff a jar—olive oil jars work well, or anything with a plastic removeable inner cap, pours better—with hot peppers and pour vinegar over them until the jar is full. Use cider vinegar, not white! LOL
They eat it on collards, fish, #2 son puts it on just about everything.
Oh, and worm poop? It’s called “frass”.
Something you can add to your list of things you never wanted to know!
Greens with out hot pepper vinegar ... no way, gotta have it.
What kind of peppers do you use?
It snowed this AM.
Ahhhhh... New Mexico.
My guys prefer cayenne—they fit in the bottles better, and this year they’re trying Super Chili. I think the sc’s are going to be too hot for what they want. Smirk.
We planted some big chili’s. Sposed to be mildly hot for stuffing and grilling. We’ll see.
You can freeze hot peppers, but they tend to contaminate everything in your freezer. :)
Well I am not getting frassed on this year!
Snow?! That’s a four letter word! It’s 92 here in the shade. Sigh. Why can’t it just stay 75 year round? LOL
Yep, snow. It didn’t stick due to the 50 mph wind, though.
Too funny!
I think they’re worse than they used to be—no one in the county grows tobacco anymore, and the poor wee things have to have something to eat!
Yikes! We had wind like that Sun nite, but just hail—no snow!
We used to do the same thing with horseflies! My dad would find a particularly big one and bring it home in his handkerchief. My neighbors thought we were nuts.
We are just beginning to get the lightning bugs. I am not so bold a grandma as to let them go in the house.... I will however let them live in a jar and be a "night light".
Ticks! (spit) Demonic little insects... curses upon them. We have managed to get them off us without any digging in yet... except for Mr G. They seem to be plentiful this year. We have also had to de-flea our little dog for the first time ever. She is still scratching and not happy.
As to gardening.... I am waiting for my neighbor's tomatoes to come in so I can have some. 8-)
Oh and I have 7 Sugar Baby watermelons now. Will the plant just keep on producing all summer? One is so large my wife wanted me to pick it. I is not ready yet. The one she thought I should pick is just a little smaller than a soccer ball the others are between softball size or a little larger! They grow over night!
YIKES!!!!
We finally broke the spell of the cold warnings last week. It's been upper 70s/low 80s now for more than a week and temps are supposed to be in the 90s over the weekend.
Green usually.
Watermelons produce for awhile and then they fizzle. Heat gets them, I guess. Sounds like you’ll definitely have one for the Fourth! The stems curl up like a pig tail when they’re ready.
I had never heard of tomato hornworms before I found one on my tomato plants one year.
I about set some kind of Olympic standing long jump record.
I know the feeling. We continue to have a lot of wet, though even though the temps have finally gone up!
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