More bad news. In addition to dying peaches, the melons have developed a virus or fungus, and the vines are dying. Will have to research to see what I can do to prevent it for next year.
Y'all have fun conversing, and I'll be back ASAP. Have a great weekend and God Bless.
Pinging the List.
My first run of squash either croaked or was so mildewy sick I yanked it up,.
When I pulled it up, I decided to look at the soil..It was full of those red and black wood ants. Wood ants living in the garden..Go figure.
Sorry about the melons; we had about five or six butternuts (our vine too had/has some sort of ailment), but when young, something ate all but one... We call him “Mr. Squash.”
/johnny
We’ve been unseasonably cool, but the tomatoes and hot peppers are growing like crazy. I canned a lot last night and managed to forget to add lemon juice to the maters. Oh well. The hot pepper butter should be okay though. I hope the melons will have enough time to mature but I’m thinking that’s not going to happen. I’m planning for next year now. I’ll be experimenting with onion and potato quantity and storage so that I can make us self-sufficient on those.
My formerly sick ghost peppers are starting to ripen. One plant has 14, the other has 0.
Tougher Tunnel/Tube Type Greenhouse Frame (temporary type for plastic/shade cloth covers)
Here’s an idea for those of you in very windy places—something I thought of a couple of years ago. Get a quarter mile of barbless wire (yes, the kind without barbs). Erect semicircular hoops of grey, plastic, UV-resistant conduit, as others have done before.
Drill the conduit horizontally, and loop the barbless wire once around each pipe, working your way horizontally through the pipes for the tube. Anchor the barbless wire ends at each end of the tube. When you have enough horizontal wire strands through the whole structure (and vertical, if needed), cover with shade cloth and/or plastic. Maybe even 4 mil plastic will be heavy enough, if your grid lines are close together enough. Use large enough sheets of cover material to adequately anchor it on all sides with earth or whatever (might be better than putting holes in plastic for fastening to pipes).
There you are—a stronger tunnel-type frame for your garden without big costs. Winds in my area often hit over 60 mph in the summer (sometimes higher in dust tornadoes, er, dust devils) and over 100 mph in winter. Using the barbless wire, higher tubes can built and used with plastic in two layers to passively collect solar heat for whatever uses in the winter. Anyway, the frame with barbless wire can be uncovered, when the cover is not needed. The cover can be stored and used again, lowering costs a little more.
By the way, here at over 9,000 feet, near the Divide, we’ve been seeing a little relief from the drought so far. Looks like half-monsoon weather. Some afternoons, it rains. Others, it doesn’t. It’s an improvement over last year. Watch out for unusual cold fluctuations, though. We saw some of those last winter and don’t know what will happen next winter. But within the next 6 years or so, we might see cold fluctuations unlike any we’ve seen in our lives (maybe just past our very low solar max in this extended minimum—only a guess). There will be hot fluctuations, too, but not as noticeable for most of us as the cold ones.
Have fun. Enjoy the adventure.
Anxious to hear what you’ve found out! Our cantaloupes aren’t doing well either.
There are still some patches of ice on the peaks very near here, too, by the way. And hey, greeneyes, I moved to Mars here (one of the most brutal climate spots on the Rockies) from Muhzeruh (the way the old folks said it—kinda like that other state: Huwoyuh) a long time ago. :-)
I was about ready to pull up my tomato plants because the leaves had a white powdery substance on them and were dying. Someone on the gardening thread suggested a solution of bleach and water to spray on the leaves. I tried it and for a few weeks it was touch and go but now my plants are flourishing. Sorry I don’t remember the poster’s name but I really appreciated the help. Thanks.
As usual; tomatoes are all starting to ripen at once...OMG! We tried our first ‘Dances With Smurfs’ tomato tonight...unlike other blues we have tried; this one WASN’T a spitter. (Indigo Rose, I’m looking at you.) Should know how the other three blue ones taste within a week. Monkey Ass and Clint Eastwood’s Rowdy Red have been producing like mad. Hot peppers loaded, especially beautiful Bhut Jolokia Peach.
It has been busy here for me this month. My corn did very well and required much less watering than last summer's crop. I had 3 less rows this year and my ear pick count was 275 ears, of which I managed to freeze 73 cups of corn. My hands are still recovering.
I have managed to can 5 cookers of green beans and have close to a cooker full picked yesterday waiting in the refrigerator for my attention. I have two types of green beans Jade and French fillet. The Jade plants have produced wonderfully.
The cucumbers vines have produced a bumper crop. I made 4 or 5 batches of Kosher dill pickles. I call it a batch, although I am not certain that is the correct term. I intend to make some Polish dill pickle and some dill pickle relish. This is the first time I have attempted to do pickles. I use mrs.wages ‘quick process pickle mixes.
My tomatoes are now bearing fruit and I have enough ready to begin making salsa... Probably tomorrow, as I need to do the pickles and green beans first.
I have three different types of pole beans planted for fall harvest, and my snow peas are just popping through the soil. Hopefully they can withstand the 90 degree heat until cooler days arrive.
I do enjoy reading the accomplishments of others.
I’ve got 10 ft cornstalks in the backyard that are just now FINALLY growing ears and tassle. For a while it looked like all stalk, no corn. SF Peninsula down by Palo Alto.
Tomatoes in abundance...great heirlooms and cherries. Nothing else planted this year, unfortunately.
This is the ultra-short stalk (not the only one) of Painted Hill corn, with full sized ear.
Rest of photos HERE. Click on the thumbnails to view them and the captions.
The more calculations I run concerning the idea of starting my own seed business, the better it looks. But then, right now all I have are calculations, my seeds aren’t ready to sell yet. Maybe this fall I’ll be able to do a test run with one of my tomato varieties, I have a jar of seeds in the fridge waiting for me to finish cleaning them.
Last week I picked a few baby ears of corn because the stalks they were on had been broken off. The ears were a bit big for baby corn, but too small for sweet corn. Kindergarten corn, perhaps? Anyway, I have a review. They are unbelievable at that stage! Like sweet corn x10! I sliced one into medalions and stir-fried it in butter, along with some leftover beef and a few tomatoes. The cob was pleasantly crunchy, not woody, and the flavor was amazing. After I expand my seed several times over, I might reserve a few rows just to pick like that!
My grape tomatoes are ripening by the handfulls now, and a few of my slicers are ripe. But, the slicers have been chewed on by something. There were so many holes and bad spots on the first 2 that I just chopped one up for seed. The other had a few salvagable spots, so as I was getting the seeds out, I threw the nicer chunks in with some spaghetti sauce that was cooking. De-lish!
My potatoes need hilling again. I was promished some stuff to mulch/hill them with, but when I opened it today it was moldy. Back to using lawn clippings and hoping they dry out before they rot.
I have 6 large white cucumber “eggs” ripening for seed. They’re almost the size of melons. I’ve been assuming they’ll slip from the stem when ripe, like melons do, but I’ll admit I haven’t looked that up yet.
Hopefully I’ll get out to the land tomorrow. I could use the sanity break. It was bad enough when it was just my coworkers acting like spoiled toddlers, but now one of the new guys is getting too touchy and stands in my personal space when I’m trying to work. Makes my skin crawl. I don’t like being a whiner, but I do need to be able to see my computer screen without his enormous gut in the way! Had to ask someone with a voice to warn him to back off, I’m mute and he was ignoring my sign on the wall. There are 3 girls in my office who look like supermodels, why do I have to deal with the creeps?!
I hope you are all having a rewarding gardening season!
Does anyone want to share some canning advice?
I'd like to make sliced Bread and Butter type pickles,(not refrigerated) and maybe later, if I get brave enough, some tomato sauce.
These are some of the recommendations I found on the internet, but it all seems contradictory.
First the pickles...I put them in a bowl mixed with pickling salt, and THEN A)Cover with ice and let rest 3 hours, B)Weigh them down with a plate and put in the fridge overnight, OR, C)Leave covered with plastic wrap on the kitchen counter at room temperature for 3 hours?
Second, once I've washed the salt off them, I should immediately......... A) pack cukes into hot jars, and pour just boiled brine in, B)add cukes to the just boiled brine, cooking for a minute, and then use a funnel and spoon to fill the hot jars?
Third, is it true that grape leaves help the pickles stay more crisp?
Do I need to sterilize the jars if they are clean?
I plan to heat process the canning jars for 10 mins.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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!
How long does it typically take butternut squash to develop, from the time the squash itself forms from the blossom until it’s grown and ripe?
No rain in Central Missouri. The soil is starting to get quite dry. I watered my orchard trees a bit over the weekend just to be safe. My peach crop has been extremely abundant this year. The trees that I started from seed are performing far better than the high-dollar grafted trees from the nursery. Japanese beetles have been quite a scourge though. Those doggone things chew on everything. And there’s some sort of bug that lays an egg in the peach and they develop a rotten spot that quickly becomes a moldy rotten peach if left on the tree. I despise the thought of spraying chemicals on my food but it may come to that. I can’t stand losing 75% of the crop. 100% in the case of my nectarine tree. It had at least two bushel of fruit on and every single one went bad.