Posted on 07/19/2013 12:45:12 PM PDT by greeneyes
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I have a little sugar baby watermelon about the size of a big black olive on the vine that is growing up the cattle panel type netting. My cukes are growing up the lines and flowering well should be getting some little cukes starting.
Corn is starting to silk. Last year's indoor peppers that I transplanted a few weeks ago are full of tiny pea sized peppers. Tomatoes are flowering. Hubby has green tomatoes still, but finally got 1 nice red one about 2 inches in diameter.
I can't believe it, but I still have little gem romaine and black simpson leaf lettuce doing well. Sunflowers, I am thinking that I could have climbing cut worms. One of the survivors that put on new leaves has had some damage, and another stem that is cut in half.
I wasn't aware that there was a cut worm that operated higher up on the plant. I think I need to investigate late at night when it's dark to see.
I put up a lot of pickles and green beans this week. I now have almost 2 cases of green beans, and 3 cases of pickled cukes, zukes, and summer squash. All of these are 100% pesticide free-such a good feeling to eat your own home grown healthy food.
Hope you are all doing well. Have a great weekend, and God Bless.
Deer love my sunflowers. Any largish footieprints nearby?
Pinging the List.
Any ideas from other Texas garden FReepers?
My first Cherokee Purple is blushing! I have fresh mozzarella waiting for it. I’m about to start the Great Garlic Harvest of 2013, which will be around 175 bulbs. I’m quite relieved because a few months ago I thought I might have the Great Amish Roofing Fiasco instead of a garlic harvest. The hot peppers are producing like gangbusters too. I’ll be canning next week. Now I just need to decide if it’s worth a potential run in with the health inspector to sell my goods at the local farmer’s market. The State of Ohio has decided for its citizens that certain canned goods are illegal to sell.
We had so much rain on this of DFW that one of the cantaloupe split. We ate it anyway.
I've got my fall tomato seedlings outside in Solo(tm) cups, and they are doing fantastic with the weather.
I've had at least 5" of rain here this week.
/johnny
Don’t sell. Keep it for your friends and family and Christmas gifts.
We’ve ordered some southern adapted garlics from gourmetgarlicgardens.com Hopefully they’ll be as tasty as they were last time.
Something ate my cherokee purple tomato plant about the time it got ready to bloom. Augh.
Something is biting off the flowers of our squash plants and just leaving them there. These squash are in containers hooked on the railing of a deck that is 8 feet off the ground, which puts them at about 12 feet or so, I think? It's bizarre.
My Bee Hive is doing quite well this week for having been tipped over last week!
I harvested a dozen red paprika peppers, cut them into slices and dried them in a convection oven. Drying was on a pizza pan, half hour at a time for three hours. The pepper slices were just crispy.
Outside on my porch, I ground the slices and seeds into dust with an electric coffee grinder.
Product so far should last a couple years and I have more peppers to pick...
Psst.... buddy, wanna buy some canned jalpenos?
/johnny
Don’t feel bad, most of our garden is behind too. First my dad was sick, in the hospital and then a persistent problem that was difficult to diagnose. Then my kids got sick. Then I got sick. Then I hurt my foot.
Those are my excuses and I’m sticking with them.
Strangely enough I had really good luck with basil too. Older basil seed. Although NOT that old. You must’ve gotten really fresh seed and stored it just right. I’ve got to plant out my basil and fall tomatoes tomorrow.
No clue about your squash flowers. Mine are usually deer bait. 12ft doesn’t seem like it would be deer.
After a cool spring, things have taken off nicely here on the southern reaches of Puget Sound. Our first try with corn (bodacious) looks great with 6 foot plus stalks and showing plenty of silk on the ears. Bush and pole beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, carrots and everbearing strawberries all doing great. Compost, Miracle Gro and fish fertilizer as needed.
We got over 4” in the gage, but the storm on Wednesday had the rain flying sideways. Winds must have been over 40 MPH. I had a pan in the yard that has vertical sides and it had over three inches in it, and the gages had 1.5, so I don’t know how much we got.
I did go with daughter and the grandkids to a movie this morning, and in the process wound up with an oven that I am 'storing' for her, since her apartment doesn't have room for it. She's also been buying food like she still lives in a big house with 2 fridges and a big freezer. She's slowly adjusting her shopping to living in an apartment, but I wind up with the overflow food.
/johnny
I have some other old seeds I may throw around in the next week or so. All I did was simply throw the basil seeds on top of the old dirt in a container and water once in a while. Go figure.
This deck is surrounded by a six foot chain link fence, and we have large dogs, so it's not deer. I haven't seen any squirrels in years, so it's not that, either. It could be one of those mysteries that is never solved, I guess. I'm just happy about the basil.
No we don’t really have any detectable prints since the bed is surrounded by grass. I did read though that sunflowers are a favorite of cut worms. The Amaranth and peanuts interspersed show little to no damage on leaves, and none of the stems are cut in two.
I have never ever seen a deer around our area, but I have seen foxes, coons, and skunks as well as rabbits and squirrels.
Also; my pimentos are big and green. Do they eventually turn red ?
How about it?? Are the rest of you texans getting any good rain?? I hope so.
I hate to hear about the bugs, but happy to hear about your watermelon and 5 cases of pickled veggies.
We had 2+ inches of rain in 2 days and mild temps; it’s only 83 here presently instead of 95-100.
We are still getting tomatos, but they are ripening sooner, golf ball size to tennis ball size, no more large one, but we are happy to have any maters in July. We have 2 hot peppers that are producing well. Melons and cantaloupes are not happy at all Will probably not get anything from them.
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