Posted on 08/03/2012 6:25:21 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning everybody! I hope you've had a peaceful and productive week.
Last week I posted photos of my cowpea patch and it has changed drastically since. Not only did they blossom, I have pea pods that are already 5" long! We will be picking before too long.
Thanks to all who posted photos last week. It was a beautiful thread.
Looking forward to reading your comments about what is happening in your neck o' the woods.
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
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My tomatoes are now ripe and ripening. I have enough to begin making salsa. The forecasters say we are to be above 100 again and I have already made my early morning rounds to see what took place overnight... more ripe tomatoes.
I’ll be getting my garden plots ready for the fall veggies soon. It’s too hot here in central Texas for anything to survive. No rain for a couple of weeks and the water bill is bad enough trying to keep the back yard alive.
Oh, an 0bama spreader.
I can have pots on my balcony, and also at the bottom of my stairs. I will make it BLOOM! :-)
I can have pots on my balcony, and also at the bottom of my stairs. I will make it BLOOM! :-)Awesome... I look forward to your pics.. :)
We are still getting some tomatos, but lots of banana peppers and the okry is doing pretty good for young plants. We have picked a lot of Cajun Delight and Jade, with the others just starting to produce.
HUH!!! How did you do that?
Will hold you in prayers.
I am so sorry to hear about all of your problems, LTOS! May I say that I feel your attitude is inspirational. Prayers for you and I am extremely confident that anything you plant on a balcony will just awe us. Hugs, Mom
No, I think it’s th manure in the spreader???
Thank you so much for your prayers. I wish I could share some of this S. Florida RAIN with all our good FRiends on this Thread!
:-)
It’s raining now, so the pots I have set mout are getting some much-needed watering.
Finally getting a few tomatoes, though still only one from ‘in ground’ planting.
Voles unexpectedly have drastically attacked the potato crop; seems they have hit their 4-6 year population peak, just as the grasshopper population has crashed after two years of devastatingly high numbers. Sigh; always something.
The weather ruined the last set banana squash, though it was large enough to be picked and used like a large summer squash. New blossoms coming, but it is way too late to even dream of any maturing. Also, so far, only one pattypan and 2 zukes, though they now should start producing in the next week or so.
We hit the county 4-H fair yesterday, and the veggie exhibits were pretty anemic, so it isn’t just us. Not a “misery loves company” thing; rather just a validation that it isn’t anything we’re doing wrong.
I replanted all the blaupeas we harvested, in hopes of getting a fall crop from them. Instead of a space & water-saving short, wide-row bed, I put them in as a single long row this time, and will trellis them.
Today, it will be harvesting wild plums, both yellows & reds. Huge crops of them this year, after 2 or 3 years of poor to mediocre fruit set.
I also have 20 apricot seeds in a zipper bag of potting soil in the fridge; they came from a city parks tree in town, and apricots are the fruit that comes truest to parent from seed. I also tried to save a couple of peach seeds, but when I cracked the pits, the kernels were just dried out papery wafers.
The Egyptian onions rescued from the town’s yard-waste dump keep sprouting; have 35 of them up & growing now, out of the 50 I planted. Monday, the count was 28, and last Friday 21.
My area was without rain for nearly 2 months, then we had rain almost every day for 2 weeks. Now we’re getting a sprinkle every few days, so it’s evening out. The stuff that survived the drought is going gangbusters. My zucchini is taking over the back yard, one cucumber is tangled in with it, and my watermelons are starting to follow suit. They’re all laughing at me when I try to get them back on the trellis. I think I’ll just let them ramble.
My potatoes are growing faster than I can hill them up. I hope that means lots of potatoes this fall. I’m trying to replant some tomatoes on the off chance that we get a late fall and they can actually produce, the drought killed all the ones I planted this spring.
I’ve been harvesting radish pods from 2 different varieties. One is a Rat-tail radish, which is bred specifically for it’s pods, the other is a normal radish that Jungs was giving away as their free sample this year. The rat-tail has much bigger pods, but not as many of them. The regular radish has small pods, but there’s so many of them that there’s no way to keep them all picked. I’ve even taken to just cutting the branches off instead of plucking them individually, and they still outpace me! I hope someone in my family likes pickled radish pods, because I hate seeing stuff go to waste. Personally, I never liked radishes, I planted them for my dad.
On a completely different note, there’s been such a lull in the costume-making business that I’ve had to start looking for a new market. And I found one that’s being badly under-served: concealed-carry clothes for women. There are a few options out there right now, but not many, and quite frankly, the majority are ugly. I’m designing some things for the lady who wants to feel safe AND pretty. I’ve got a satin blouse design that’s almost ready for the market, and several other designs that are percolating. We’ll see how that does.
As an occupational hazard, I can’t look at someone now without trying to figure out how to alter their outfit for concealed-carry.
Please freepmail me pics when you get them done.
You are going to love those Black Krim! They have a fantastic flavor.
The standard 70% shadecloth was way too much for the plants, so it was left secured to the top rail. The raised beds are built from scavenged 2x12 lumber and are filled with horse manure. Watering is done with 3 small drip sprinkler heads, which are more than adequate. Needless to say, the plants quickly got out of control, necessitating modification.
Here is the hoophouse after we widened it 10ft. and added extra raised beds. Irrigation on this section will also be by drip heads. If you note the big green monsters in the center bed on the right, those are okra plants that stand over 7ft tall (Thanks for the seeds JADB!). The beds have been cleared of the squash, zuchini, melon, and most of the tomato vines in preparation for the next crop. We are going to replace the 70% shadecloth with 30% cloth when it comes in.
Will do!
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