Our harvest from just today! We're thrilled our small garden is producing such wonderful tomatoes. (And that there is "Mr. Squash." Only one fruit to pick from two plants. Hopefully next year will bring two or more.)
Posted on 08/23/2013 1:53:26 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Good to hear. I only ever did pints because it made me "feel" I had gotten a lot more from my garden, than had I done quarts.:o)
I just transplanted three tomato plants, and five pepper plants from one part of the garden to another. They haven't wilted and died yet..
I want to plant brussel sprouts, toy choi, and chinese cabbage where thy were..hope that wasn't a bad idea..
You betcha!
“Good to hear. I only ever did pints because it made me “feel” I had gotten a lot more from my garden, than had I done quarts.:o)”
I’m the only one in the house but if an emergency happened, two or three family members would come here. However, who knows if they would come or not. Probably the son would.
I will do pints, too, instead of quarts, since right now it’s only me here.
Did you start your stevia from seed, or are you maintaining a plant someone else started? I’ve been having a difficult time starting it. Do you have any tips in starting and/or maintaining?
How were you able to measure the root ball without pulling it up and looking, which I trust you didn’t do....?
wow - cool! It’s lovely when a plan works out!
I got a few bell peppers, which are small, thin walled, and actually very flavorful. The plants are continuing to thrive except for the darn grasshoppers. No bloom buds, just leaves, but still I water, in case something more develops.
I have some to report on tomatoes hopefully in a little while! I have most of my plants in pots, so have not been faced with the problem of moving them at this point.
As far as the cruciforms, I haven’t tried to do that experiment yet, so am unable to give you any input about the validity of the idea of planting them where the other plants had been.
Thanks Marcella... thanks a lot... will do...
Our harvest from just today! We're thrilled our small garden is producing such wonderful tomatoes. (And that there is "Mr. Squash." Only one fruit to pick from two plants. Hopefully next year will bring two or more.)
Hello everyone!
The weather has gotten warmer and dryer. Lots of mosquitoes (HUGE) and grasshoppers. A lot of my plants have got little bite holes all over, but somehow most are continuing to survive. The neem isn’t doing it for the grasshopper control. Darlin’ is going to get me some sevin to spray in the grass around the pots. We are both concerned about the bees, so will not spray directly any of the plants which are attractants to bees and require them for pollination (ie my cucumbers and squash).
Greeneyes, you might be interested to know that even though my amaranth has hole-y leaves (presumably from the grasshoppers) the largest one in the pot has started developing a seed head!
I think I reported that my celery rooting experiment was doing well. While the weather remained cool, it was growing like topsy. Then, when it started heating up again, even though it was in the shade, it wilted. I still water it, but probably it is gone, even though it remains green....and straggly on the soil in the pot. A local gardener friend informed me that typically our area is too warm for celery. So if I ever want to grow it, I would need to have a more controlled temperature environment for it. But at least I proved to myself that the root hormone works both for the romaine and the celery, even though I have problems at this time keeping them happy.
The mammoth sunflowers I started last March are heavy laden, and I’m just thrilled with them.
Some of my sunflowers, the later ones I started have been having problems. One of them was cut almost off of its stalk near the base. Darlin swears that the weed whacker was under tight control all the time, and I mostly believe that’s the case. I know at least that if Darlin is the culprit, it was unintentional. It could very well have been a varmint. At any rate, I decided to splint it and tape the stalk together with duct tape, and wonder of wonders, it has remained alive, splinted as it is! Something has bored into its seed head, so I don’t know if it will produce. The other later sunflowers also have borers and in a couple cases the seed heads have been destroyed, and in another case the seed head has also been invaded, but still seems to be developing. We shall see.
I pulled a leaf off this morning when I was watering because it had a bunch of eggs and ants on it. I don’t know if the ants were predators of the eggs, or the somehow the culprits, but I pulled the leaf off anyway and stomped it.
As you know, I have been bemoaning my tomatoes. I’ve had lots of blossoms, with no fruit. I was despairing that there was something wrong with me not knowing how to make them happy, that the ones I grew from seed just weren’t doing anything. Over past couple of weeks I have done 3 things: 1)spread osmocote over their toes 2) shaken the stalks to spread pollen 3) persuaded the weather to turn hotter and dryer;-D.
The plant which we bought from Lowes earlier in the season with several ‘maters already on it, is forming at least 4 more on it right now. I’m tickled that some of the other bushes which I grew from seed are at last deciding to bear. I went out and counted this morning, and at last count, I have 11 forming, including the 4 already mentioned! My recently started (in July) cherry tomato plant seems to be growing more at last also. I hope it will decide to bear, but it’s still pretty small.
Cucs are still producing, but slowing down for now. My poor yellow squash plant is still blooming, but not forming fruit. However, the acorn and scallop squash seedlings are growing, with the scallop seeming to be doing best at this time.
I have been trying to start a stand of chamomile, and had a hard time getting the seeds to sprout. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I got some! I planted them in a pot, and they do not seem to have made it, because I went out and was looking for them. I think I put them in the pot with the celery, but I don’t see them anymore. *sigh* I’m wondering if they are also liking a cooler climate as well. Can anyone give me any advice on them?
My okra has really taken off. I actually had enough to share with a gardener friend who is the only one in the family who likes okra, so doesn’t grow it himself. Today I went out and discovered a pod that had been hiding, and has gotten huge. It is at least 5-6 inches long and about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. I decided to just leave it as a seed pod. We’ve had a couple of bowls of soup with the okra and they taste SO GOOD!
My bean plants are also suffering from the grasshopper plague, and despite that have been gamely producing pods. The green garden beans are most hard hit. I had harvested the pods from the black turtle beans and the great white northern beans and the pods were pretty tough. I decided to just let all of them grow for seeds.
So, these are my most recent adventures!
It was 2 bucks for a 4 inch pot of stevia at the local nursery. Except for watering it, I've ignored it. and yes, I did dig it up..It's laying happily on it's side in the garden. I'm sending it to Marcella in a mailing tube tomoorow.
I decided I'd rather have two pepper plants in the space one stevia was taking up.
BTW, my garden is just 16 x 8 feet, raised bed. I put 38 bags of miracle gro garden soil in, and tilled it in to the black clay..this used to be a dairy farm..all black clay..
I am doing the Texas Prepper's Greenhouse on just an 8 x 8 foot side of it...so I'm moving tomatoes and peppers to that end...even though it won't freeze here until Nov or Dec.
Right now I just have the cattle panel arched over that one side, and have decorator's gauze I clothes pin over it for a little relief from the sun..
The idea is to have my tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and beans at the protected end, and the crucifers, and peas on the end that has no greenhouse.
Wow! Love the sound of your garden! We have a lot of black clay too. Darlin has been teasing me about my “gold plated dirt” I’ve been buying.
My experience with chamomile and tarrogon..too hot here in Central TX, and not enough humidity..The good thing is that at least bunches of manzanilla (chamomile) are pretty cheap at the grocery store.
I bet now that the nights are getting cooler you will get tomato blossoms that set. My eggplants that dropped every blossom since June are now setting..
Oops...forgot to enter my ping list into my post 170. Sorry.
Thanks for the insight into both the tomatoes and chamomile, sockmonkey!
Those videos are good, and authoritative, but just one or two really are not enough by themselves.
That is the 'water bath method', and is only safe for fruits in syrup, jams, jellies, and certain other high-sugar or high-acid foods that don't REQUIRE pressure-canning.
Low acid foods, such as nearly all veggies, and absolutely all meats and fish require pressure canning methods.
Buy a Kerr canning manual or a Ball Blue Book for canning, freezing, and preserving; recipes, as well as detailed instructions and explanations, are in them. One (or both) are authoritative and complete basic and intermediate level must-haves.
Also, IGNORE ANY WEBSITES THAT "TEACH" HOW TO "CAN" USING THE OVEN OR NUKER: THEY ARE DANGEROUS AND DO NOT WORK! Some even claim (erroneously) that you can us the DISHWASHER! Do NOT believe it!
It took me three or four trips in my SUV to get all that dirt, and haul it from Walmart. It was on sale,but still more than I usuallly spend..
I would say it was worth it though because of all the organic material/fertilizer in it..
Those tomatoes look tasty..I need to go cut some of mine up, and make a cucumber/tomato salad, or something with them.
I've canned tomatoes using the oven instead of water bath. Back before it was deemed unsafe, my old ball blue book had instructions for it..I remember the "don't put the lids on the jars while they are in the oven".
“That’s the basis, but there’s a catch. In order to kill the bacteria that causes botulism, you would need to hold those jars at a temperature higher than that of boiling water.”
I have all the information now so don’t worry about my doing acidic with water bath and non-acidic with pressure cooker. I could do either right now, and do it right.
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