Posted on 06/03/2011 4:18:59 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Here in East Central Mississippi the heat has arrived. It was 101 yesterday and is expected to be in the high 90s and pushing 100 for the next week. A heat advisory is effect. My garden is surviving these hot afternoons. Some of my younger plants have needed watering every afternoon. My established tomato, squash and pepper plants have been doing well with a deep soaking of water about every three days. Looks like it is going to be a hot summer.
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They may have potato early blight. Fungicides labeled for use on vegetables and containing chlorothalonil may also provide control of early blight if they are carefully applied very early in the course of the disease and on a regular basis throughout the rest of the growing season.
Whew, we’ve gotten the rain they’ve had to the south of is this last week. 9 or so inches since last Wednesday. Fortunately it’s been hot and we had a fairly dry spell before that, so the garden is stable and holding up well. It needs to stop though.
Our Maryland soil has a great deal of clay. A neighbor of ours did well with melons after he added some sand to the soil. He got the idea when he would purchase watermelons on the Eastern shore (their soil has more sand). His melons improved greatly (not perfect mind you but they improved).
Yes wide fluctuations in soil moisture can be a big problem, avoid drought stress. An inch of moisture per week should be enough.
My garden does not like the upper 90 - 100 temps. All my squash plants are already dead. Tomatoes are doing OK, as are the peppers.
I’ll probably harvest all my onions this weekend. Most are baseball sized or larger. Cucumbers are still producing quite a few every day.
Thanks - maybe I’ll try that. Even though I’ve already planted them maybe I can mix some in around each plant.
The CDC is not releasing any info about the location of the cases. I am not worried - yet.
It’s shaping up to be a beautiful day here in Central Missouri. Sunny and headed for the low to mid 90°s.
We have a major cicada emergence going on at the moment, much to the delight of my ducks and chickens. I’m taking the meat chickens to the butcher shop later this morning. Will be very nice to have those nasty stinking things out of the brooder house.
The garden is starting to look a little better. I’ve replaced 8 tomato plants so far and will be replacing another 8 today. I’ll remind myself again next year why it’s not worth trying to get them out early. The snap peas are doing very well, potato plants are starting to bloom, garlic is getting close to harvest, strawberries are going nuts, blackberries are in full bloom, cucumbers and summer squash are up about 6”, and the weeds look real nice too.
My zukes still haven’t produced and all the wind we’ve had has done a job on the top leaves. There’s plenty of blooms though. Same story with the cukes.
Only found three of those little colorful bugs on the cauliflower and broccoli this morning but they’ve left the leaves a hole-y mess. Don’t know that it’ll make before the heat gets too much.
Melons do well in sandy soil in Texas so try the sand.
He also left some blossoms on the vine but pinched some of the others. I wish I could remember a good number for you per vine. Instead of getting a lot of little melons, he got some good sized ones in limited numbers. He also put straw under the melons once they were established and formed balls on the soil to keep the underneath from rotting. Good luck with this! I have always wanted to plant some of the seedless, small variety but we don’t really have the space or full sun.
I have problems with my tomatoes every year, and this year I’m determined to succede. Has anybody tried neem oil? It’s supposed to combat early blight, which they already have, and prevent late blight, which I battle every year. I have several heirlooms and I want to make this work.
The heat has also killed my lettuce. I try to stick by the water rationing schedule, but may try to sneak a little more H2O into the garden.
I can just see them using this to stop us from growing our own. Or maybe I am just paranoid.
G’mornin’ All. Can’t believe it’s Friday already. I’m waiting for Time Warner to come install a wireless router at my house so that I can reach my computer with my lap top from downstairs. How lazy is that?
Yesterday I bought an already planted strawberry jar. Any tips from any of you on how to take care of it? It’s a big one with really healthy looking berries in it. Does it need full sun (like on my south facing front porch on brick pavers in front of a brick wall — hot), partial sun (back deck facing north — cooler), or??? Should I place it on the ground, or up on a table? What about out in my circle/fountain garden on a table or on the ground — full sun except for the late afternoon and the shade from the rose bushes (see my FR home page)?
All advice appreciated. It’s in a clay pot with the pockets on the side. It looks to be about a 2 gallon pot. I’m worried about it drying out when I’m not home, yet I want it to get enough sun.
I heard Dr. Siegal on Fox yesterday say that the source of the e-coli is from cattle that are grain fed instead of grass fed. I want to know why that makes a difference?
He went on to say that the bacteria mutates in the cow’s digestive system and then is passed on to the manure which is then used on the vegetables when the bacteria is taken up into the veggie systemically. You cannot wash it off.
He left a couple of questions unasked and unanswered.
1) what difference does grain or grass make in a cow’s diet?
2) are we talking FRESH manure, or the processed kind (composted) you buy at the garden store?
Any thoughts?
What’s everyone’s take on the e-coli outbreak in Europe? It’s pushing 2000 cases.
I have a friend who told me about it last year,and I have some growing in buckets this year. They are the best looking tomatoes I have raised so far.
Strawberries were $1 lb. here so stocked the freezer with them and planted herbs in their pot. Yes, the pot dries out quickly so you need to check it more often. Place it out in the full sun and rotate it so all sides get sun.
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