Posted on 06/04/2010 5:00:06 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners! Wow June is here already. I hope all of your gardens are flourishing. Can you believe that last year at this time there were freeze and frost warnings for the North, Northeast and some of the higher elevations? This year the freeze warnings seem to be contained within a certain household in Tennessee. I just had to say that, couldn’t help myself!
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Not clever, but frugal in some ways and I improvise well on occasion ;-) I knew those remnants of polypipe would come in handy one day.
Oh, I cut my seed potatoes in several pieces, each with several eyes. Then, I just put all of them in the bottom of the Smart Pots. The potatoes were “browning”, and I honestly didn’t think they’d grow. I’ve got potatoes all over the place now. I was following the Hiram method too, and 3 pieces didn’t seem like enough. Well, one thing led to another, and they all grew. I think “stuff” is grwoing in there that I didn’t even plant. I have 3 pieces left that I haven’t planted, and they still look good (not rotten). I just may plant another bucket, or bag, just to see what happens.
The “fancy, dancy” smart pots are fancy dancy because I ordered them on-line and paid a pretty price for them, while other people are planting in cardboard boxes, old tires, paper sacks, etc. They are black felt — probably the same as you have.
I’m in SE Wisconsin.
Does your friend's tomato plants have flowers - fruit yet?
One plant has flowers. The other plant may have one flower (the spindly one). They are just SO TALL. She put them in larger pots, but I still don’t think they are large enough. My experience with growing tomatoes in posts is that tomatoes need lots of room for the roots. Last year I planted 2 tomatoes in 2 identical pots. (A ceramic/stucco type.) The pots were identical, except for size. The plants were the same size to start, and the one in the larger pot grew large and produced lots of decent sized fruit. The plant is the smaller pot was much smaller and produced smaller (although good tasting) fruit.
Picture #2 was slower to develop. In fact, I thought it would be a dud and that I'd probably have to yank it. There was practically nothing there when I left town on May 29th and on June 3 it looked like this:
Will these heads keep growing, or should I harvest them now? Why are they so small. They've had daily water, even when I waas gone.
I understand...one fingerling didn't seem like "enough", either; but sometimes you need to listen to that small internal gardening voice that tells you not to overdo it...glad I did. It's not the amount of seed potatoes, but the number of eyes that sprout. I suspect more show up AFTER they are buried and out of sight. :-)
You know how your neighbors run like hell when they see you coming up the walk with ANOTHER basket of zucchini? I have a feeling ours will be running from all the potatoes we will have to share...
Even of you wind up with small ones; they are still great for cauliflower and cheese soup...
I would say that Cauliflower should be on the dinner table tonight. Of course it is also good raw...
Last year some folks stopped visiting because I was loading them up with eggplant and okra. I had to resort to tossing it into the beds of passing pickup trucks. :)
No one runs from free home grown potatoes!
It may be Flea Beetles putting the small holes in the lettuce leaves?
I would take some of the okra. The eggplant I get enough for my wife and I from our three plants. I even tried an eggplant lasagna with some of them - turned out to be a big time failure!
For some reason; I have childhood memories of despising eggplant; so I haven’t tried it since...nowadays; I might actually like it...I probably just need a good recipe. Now okra..? That’s not happening. I doubt my wife or cats would let me bring it in the house.
I had 135 seed tater 'chunks'; so now I have 135 plants...we'll see. :-)
Can't throw anything out...I feel guilty. I actually 'potted up' twenty 'volunteers' that I found in my onion patch last night...
Please help me.
I would think most people would like to get a few taters now and then. They can be stored for awhile. Now zukes are another thing.
Eggplant is WONDERFUL wet-battered and deep-fried, with a spicy dipping sauce. That is the only thing that makes me plant eggplant. Found a good recipe for eggplant casserole, but it ended up tasting just like the squash casserole and squash is easier to prepare.
Shred the zukes and freeze it. You can make zucchini bread all winter long! I don’t know of much better than a cup of hot tea and a thick slab of warm, buttered zucchini bread.
Wow...it's 'Audrey, Jr.'...did any farm animals go missing?
Dang! That is one huge eggplant! Mine will never see that size. You have that beautiful cow pen soil to work with. Just wow!
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