Posted on 07/10/2021 5:57:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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My zone was wiped out with this heat wave in the PNW. Just about everything is wiped out. It went from low 70s as usual to 115 in a day. Hard to keep up with that “catastrophic climate change.” At least the tomatoes love it.
Looks SO good (low carb, too - especially if you peel the cukes)! I shared this recipe with some family members who are being overrun with cukes, peppers & the like.
My bell peppers are producing foliage & not much else. The jalapenos have plenty of peppers (popper recipe will be do-able soon!). I picked another 8 cukes last night, gave away 19 (all picked in one day) Friday a week ago ... local fire station took them. :-)
Zinnias blooming en masse now so there is color in the garden. Marigolds are heavy on foliage, low on blooms, but there are buds. Morning Glories took off this week and are climbing like crazy so I hope flowers will follow soon.
Anyone with dahlia growing experience? A relative has the most gorgeous dahlia flowers that she puts in arrangements and I would like to grow some .... didn’t happen this year (first year with 4 galvanized beds just for flowers), but I think I have room for a bush or two in the new beds.
Cucumbers will stop setting fruit if the temperatures get too high. Have you been having that Heat Wave by you?
Also, you either have too many male flowers and not enough females (that carry the fruit) or vice versa. They usually even themselves out in the end. ;)
Too much nitrogen in the soil, or what you’re using as fertilizer can cause that, too. Just like tomatoes, if you have too much nitrogen, you get big plants but little production out of them.
How are pollinators by you? Do you have bees and such buzzing around? Lack of pollination can be a problem for cucumbers, too.
Lastly, they have cucumber varieties now that are Parthenocarpic, which only produce female flowers and self-pollinate - no male flowers needed.
“A few parthenocarpic cucumber varieties are available for home gardeners. Parthenocarpic slicers include Sweet Success, Euro-American, Socrates, Tyria, Diva, Tasty Jade and Suyo Long. County Fair 83 is a parthenocarpic pickler, but the slicers can also be harvested young and used for pickling since seeds are not a problem.”
https://www.hunker.com/13426694/parthenocarpic-cucumber-varieties
Of those above, I have grown ‘Diva’ which was nice, but fatter than I wanted. I like the English-style cukes that are long and thinner with few seeds and thin skins. This season I am growing, ‘Sweeter Yet’ and ‘Summer Dance.’
Thanks, Pete!
Yes, the yellows seem to be rare in Hollyhock.
I forgot how big they got, so I planted ONE of the black ones (Nigra) in one of my raised garden beds. It was so vigorous it was crowding out Coneflowers, so I moved it to a spot - and Beau mowed over it a few times without me knowing. I was wondering where it went! Oh, well, seeds are cheap. If I can get him to move one of his junk piles (he’s SUCH a FARMER!) I’d have a perfect spot for a bunch along the barn wall.
Also - they are a biennial, so you may want to plant more this year, too, so they’re staggered in their bloom cycle so you’ll always have blooms each year. (You probably already know this, if you’re a Hollyhock Fan.)
And Hollyhocks were originally popular with Victorian Ladies. They would plant them around the Outhouse, so other ladies knew to ‘look for the Hollyhocks’ when they needed to use ‘the necessary’ and wouldn’t have to ask out loud where it was. :)
Phosphate fertilizers can encourage flowering in both Tomatoes and Peppers. At this point a fast acting fertilizer might encourage blooming. You could try something like seabird guano or Miracle Grow Sure Bloom both of which have a very high Phosphate content.
No experience with Dahlias.
(Rain and thunder..Signing off for now!)
We’ve picked 200 + cukes this season.
Local farmers mkt has em 2 for a $1...
I like Dahlia, too!
I usually start them from seed, and as soon as I see the tubers available at Walmart/Garden Centers I buy a few packages and start them in pots in my greenhouse to give them a head start.
A favorite from seed is called ‘The Bishop’s Children’ - I know - weird - but the seed was bred from ‘Bishop of Landlaf (sp?) which is a gorgeous dark-leaved Dahlia that’s been around for-ever. Seed Savers used to carry them - probably still do.
Since I buy inexpensive tubers, I don’t bother with the digging and saving tubers from season to season.
Seeds. Not available now, but will be in spring, again, I’m sure:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/flowers/dahlia/giant-hybrid-mix-dahlia-seed-3397.html
RECIPES
My mom literally begs for tomato pie every year .... this is a decent recipe. I’ve made it with slices & diced - both have their advantages.
http://www.tasteofsouthern.com/tomato-pie-recipe/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It may be too early for corn, but Ina Garten’s Fresh Corn Salad is just fabulous, IMO. I had an uncle who was over for dinner when I served it - first time he’d had it & I was worried he was going to dive head-first into the bowl (only slightly joking here). If corn is not in season, you can use frozen, cook & cool it.
https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/fresh-corn-salad
I bought a package of dahlia seeds this spring and none of them germinated. It was VERY disappointing!
I’ll keep an eye out at Walmart for tubers. I didn’t know they had them. They had seed packages out in the main store near the doors to the garden center, so I really didn’t look around very much. I usually head straight for the bird seed & this year, the peat pots!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E52NKFcX0AIDr_l?format=jpg&name=large
Thanks!
Awwwww! Sweet pupper looks happy!
I love hollyhocks but don’t have much luck growing them.
My “garden” is kind of a bust this year-too much other stuff going on and too many squirrels and birds snatching it all away from me.
They ate a few dozen sunflowers I planted! Grrrf!
Maybe better luck next year.
:)
Mamma laid a good ass whuppin’ on that snake, didn’t she?
Gadzukes!
108 in Eureka?
Unheard of!
Take it easy.
:)
A friend of mine has 10 greenhouses where he wholesales organic herbs and vegetable plants to many large retail chains in the southeast.
Since I was getting started late and he was coming to the end of the selling season, he put together a pretty big assortment of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and lots of herbs.
I just realized what some of them are. I have 6 Ghost peppers and 6 Carolina Reaper peppers. They are the hottest of hot. You are only to handle them with rubber gloves on. He never said a word to me what they were as they were with a big assortment. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, but it will be very interesting.
A few I never grew before: Patchouli, bay leaf, curry plant (also known as bhut), figs, cardoon.... and a few more
I cheated. Cut down 50+ huge trees, cut the stumps real short, two tri-axel loads of good soil/mulch mix, and spread it with a skid loader. This gave me about a 1,250 sq ft garden. A fraction of what I had previously, so I’m going vertical.
Sure did. And a cobra to boot! No fear from her at all, except fear for her babies. I wouldn’t have thought it possible. A mongoose, a bird of prey, or something like that, sure. But an ordinary chicken? Very impressive.
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