Lamh Foistenach Abu! I hope all of you will stop by.
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I've harvested lots of red, ripe tomatoes, by the way. Mine came in relly early. But now the plants, which still have a few pink-turning big tomztoes n them, are looking poorly, and there's very few blossoms and no new fruit-set.
I'm wondering if "wrecked" or “exhausted” tomatoes could be cut back at this point, resulting in renewed growth and increased production until the first killing frost. I'm thinking you could cut them back pretty far, leaving some foliage, esp. branches that are still looking good. Then apply a good dose of balanced fertilizer and water to renew growth and increase production.
Is that worth a try, especially on a sprawling indeterminate plant that still has a good root system?
Alternatively, could you bend down and re-root your better branches via layering?
I am open to any suggestions, and I suspect other gardeners have similar interests right about now.
The water lines are in to four points in the backyard...the vegetable garden raised beds, the rose garden and fire pit, the chicken coop area and the pond/waterfall area. Jack will finish filling in the trenches today.
The yellow cherry tomatoes are ripening and sweet. We have some blossom end rot on our Romas. Next year, we will do a better job with our vegetable garden...we may have to with the current economy and administration!
You NEED to see this. Some say the way he speaks or his mannerisms may drive you a bit nuts (didn't bother me, so I don't get it), but you have to stick with him until the 3-minute mark or so...trust me.
Holy cow!!! Has anyone else ever seen this guy's videos before? This was posted in 2009, and he has over 470 other videos posted on his YouTube channel. I have watched a few, and they are packed with loads of interesting information for the raised bed/high-impact gardening crowd. Gardening tips and ideas galore...
Amazing. This is what everyone's front yard should look like. :-)
Thanks Red_Devil 232.
That finished off the peas. Besides what we ate, we ended up with a quart of dried soup peas, plus 200 for seed; not bad from a packet of 100. The blue pods really make finding them easy; they can't hide against the pea green foliage.
I've also been digging the Norkotah Russets and Yukon Golds, finishing yesterday. The Yukons were so-so, but the russets were a terrible disappointment: few; small; not a single baker...nothing like last year's crop. The Red Pontiacs still have a week or two to go before harvesting; I'm really hoping for good news from them.
Most of the Walla-Walla and Sweet Red onions are out of the ground, and curing. Really happy with them!
Last Sunday, I dragged out the smoker grill, and fired up with a mix of mesquite charcoal and apple wood, plus a mix of hickory & cherry chips for smoke. Three cut up fryer bunnies, and two split chickens, plus fresh pattypans, garden oinions, and small potatoes were on the menu for us and and another couple. Several packages of BBQ rabbit went into the freezer for future quick meals. The chickens were in 8 week old “in-betweeners”: too big to be game hens; too small to be fryers...but very good and tender. I'll be butchering more this weekend...and in the weeks ahead.
Sometime in the next week we'll be hitting the raspberry patch. Last Thursday we were going to check them out after a dental appointment, but there was a new, closed, gate across the access road. When we got home, I called the Forest Service HQ, and the District Engineer told me that the new fence was to prevent liability for grazing cattle getting onto the public road, but the gate isn't locked, nor the area closed. He also told me the berries were just beginning to turn pink, and should be ripe in a week or two...and it's been a week. ;-)
We are getting a few pickling cukes every day, as well as our daily pattypans...but still no peppers or tomatoes ripe. The volunteer “squashkins are producing like mad, mainly ‘winter’ types. Our Pink Banana Squash is also starting to set fruit, as are the cantaloupes.
The beans are covered with blossoms; and the lentils are almost ready to harvest. Another week, and I'll be cutting the barley.
Wednesday, I “harvested” the first of the dying spinach, and got a ridiculously huge amount of seed from it. More...LOTS more...to follow in the coming days; leaf lettuce seed, too.
Last night, I planted a few feet of the fall carrots, where the Yukons came out. I'll be putting more in, just as soon as I remember where I put the packets.
Happy Gardening, all!
My green beans are proding enough to be worth cooking, and I’ve chosen a couple of plants to let go to seed. My watermelons have tiny baby melons on them, the largest is still just a bit smaller than a tennis ball. the strawberries are ripening again, and the raspberries are producing about 1/2 cup a day. My cucumbers have blossoms opening, and my zucchini has reached the top of the arbor!
Now the bad news. Sunday morning when I went out to the garden, I found a pile of vomit in one of the veggie beds. Using my (admittedly mediocre) tracking skills, I’d say some drunken jerk climbed over the back fence, peed on the maple tree, stomped around in my raspberries, then threw up in my garden because he couldn’t find his way out of the yard again (fenced on all sides). Fortunately the corner he chose was where the seedlings had died during the 3-week stint of no rain, and I hadn’t gotten around to replanting it. I cleaned it up as best i could, then sprinkled a few tobacco seeds there. No one in my family smokes, but it’s a good insecticide/antibacterial/antiparasitic, so after growing tobacco in that spot it’ll be safe to plant there next year. And, those tobacco seeds were given to me by an old Hopi fellow, who said his tribe had been cultivating that patch for centuries, so it’s kind of special, but that was 7 years ago so the seeds need refreshed.
Lamh Foistenach Abu! Sorry I wasn’t here earlier, but we were out on the water.
This was Pony Penning Week on Chincoteague Island, VA and we were on a friend’s boat watching the ponies not sold at auction yesterday swim back to there home on nearby Assateague Island, VA.
It’s hot as blue blazes here, and while we are in no where near the dire straights of our Texas FRiends, we could stand a bit more rain. Thermometer reading when we left the house at 6:30 this morning was 87.
When the thermometer reads 92 on my friend’s screened in, roofed and shaded porch on Chincoteague - we know it’s hot, because it’s a minimum of 7-10 warmer at our place 15 miles in on the mainland.
Good evening Red. Thanks for the thread. Left early this AM to go to a Summit in St. Louis. Just got in.
The heat has finally forced me to give everything getting afternoon sun a really good deep watering. Didn’t get home in time before dark to check everything today, but I’ll get out early tomorrow before heading back to the city.
Ate my first ear of corn from my raised beds yesterday. Prepared a mess of Green Beans before leaving this AM. Have some green tomatoes from the branches I stuck in the dirt this Spring. Most things are growing pretty well, since a lot of the areas have partial shade.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
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