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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I estimate wind gusts here were up to 50 mph. I have no way of confirming that yet.
I know 70 miles to the south in San Antonio, they measured gusts of 70 mph.
Well thai basil was supposed to be one, LOL. Cinnamon basil is still good along with sweet basil.
We are growing hot peppers primarily for salsa and curry. Habaneros, super chiles, thai dragons and cajun belles.
Spices are lemon grass and basil for curry. For salsa, it is mostly cilantro, but lemon sage as well.
Others are rosemary, tarragon, lavender, sage and thyme.
Hey that is great news. Raised beds tend to dry out quickly so check often. Also you may need to fertilize more often.
There are no stupid questions...Let me test that theory: I am growing a giant pumpkin plant. It's growing like crazy, and I even had to cut it back and retrain it after it began strangling my peace-loving tomatoes. The problem is that it is not growing any fruit. The delicate-looking flowers, about 30 to 40 in number, wilt after a day or two, so there is a small window for pollination. I am considering doing it by hand. The plant is generally very healthy, but demands lots of water.
Where am I failing?
This is our first garden in Georgia after 25 years in Alaska. We are at least a month behind experienced gardeners but we are happy with first garden here. Our neighbor’s garden was wiped out three nights ago by deer. We had a deer visit one night, about a dozen prints and no damage. I hope and believe it was because of the 1/6th pieces of Dial soap we have all over. A Wisconsin study showed Dial was one of the best repellents. It is an experiment so we will see.
We also put in non-hybrid seeds to begin producing our own in case of a “Grid down” scenario. We didn’t plan ahead well to contain cross pollination. We manually pollinate some squash/melons, etc., close up the female flower and flag the fruit so we know which ones to use for seed.
Been here 8 months and already starting to say y’all.
Wash in several changes of water and remove stems. Blanch 2 minutes, avoid matting leaves. Drain and cool. Pack into plastic freezer boxes, leaving 1/2 inch head space, label and freeze (per the Ball Blue Book).
That’s a very impressive herb garden in addition to regular vegetables. You can save the coriander seeds. Cumin is also big in curry and goes good with lamb. You might be where it is warm enough to take a store bought ginger root, plant it and get results
Burpee’s and Park Seed (new owners at both, I believe) are coasting on their laurels...not doing business with either again. Seeds from Totally Tomatoes disappointing, so I’ll probably be passing them by next year. The seeds I have most been impressed with are the OUTSTANDING ones offered by Baker Creek (5 stars!!!), Seed Savers, and Territorial. I use the latter for anything I can’t get from Baker.
my tomatoes keep rotting before they get ripe...:(
I’ve been very impressed with Johnny’s Seeds lately. I’ve ordered a bunch of stuff from them over the past couple of years and have been very pleased. In particular, they offer tiny seeds, like carrots, “pelletized”, which adds a coating to the seed that looks like icing off a Krispy Kreme doughnut. This makes the seed about the size of a BB and they’re much easier to plant. No thinning required. I’ve been growing an F1 hybrid carrot called “Napoli”. Very sweet and over 90% germination.
I don’t like spending money on New England enterprises; but I did buy some Dot Pots from Johnny’s...they’re great. Those carrots do sound interesting...easier than planting those little boogers one at a time. :-)
Sounds like blossom end rot, caused by a calcium deficiency. They have liquid calcium in the stores that you mix with water and spray on the plants. You'll get good results quickly.
Bottom side? Probably blossom end rot. This is primarily caused by a calcium and magnesium deficiency, but it can also be caused by over watering or too much rain. Try scattering a tablespoon of Epsom Salt at the base of each plant. If they are rotting on the sides it's probably a fungus. Try spraying them with Neem oil about once a week to kill the fungus.
BER? If so; you need some lime...
Espoma’s ‘Garden Lime’ has a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium and magnesium...just what the doctor ordered. :-)
Doctor is very wise.....
Hey Justa post 26 has a pumpkin question. Can you help out?
Taters are doing good too. I grow them in old tires. and have 9 stacks going in straw, gonna put the third tire on each stack this weekend, judging by the looks of it, I may have to go 5, maybe even more tires high before harvest. Last year I got over 200 lbs of spuds growing them this way.
Sweet taters are doing good too, but I may have been a little short sighted when planting them. I only stacked four tires high in four stacks, and I probably should've done six stacks of six, I might still be able to correct that.
Wife and son are planting zukes, cukes, and crooknecks today.
Maters are doing good too. This morning I brought in about 5 lbs of "Arkansas Travellers", mmmmmmmmmm.
I'm doin a happy dance.
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