Posted on 09/25/2021 5:16:56 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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On the front porch .... looking in the storm door at me!!
Good Morning to all :-)
It definitely has been feeling like Fall this week!
(The resource area is posted at the end of the the July 3-6 Gardening Thread beginning after post 112!)
(Brought over from the last thread:)
To: Pete from Shawnee Mission
Fried green tomatoes, ahead? :)
132 posted on 9/24/2021, 7:29:30 AM by Diana in Wisconsin
I’ll either cut the vines and hang them inside or put the green ones on paper on trays to ripen. If someone else wants to take some to make fried green tomatoes its up to her!
Sample

I went looking for crop spacing info to prevent cross pollination due to this: GM corn set to stop man spreading his seed
Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. 'We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies,' said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3997095/posts
It's already hard to find corn that hasn't been affected/infected with Monsanto's GMO genetics.
LOL! A bad, BAD combination, LOL! Drunk Squirrels are a hoot, though. ;)
Thanks, Pete!
Thank you! :)

I’ve got one that stretches out full-length on the front entry steps, facing outward, surveying the landscape like he owns the place!
Still waiting on my fig tree. They now have some in stock but I want black figs because the fruit is sweet and the plant is better suited for pruning with no ill effects. They said another week.
Coming to the end of my second full year of gardening. I’m working with less than 300sq feet that’s shaded on 3 sides. It’s a struggle for a n00b like me. Successes, failures and things I’ve learned:
Tomatoes - Tried several varieties of tomato seeds. For the first time some tomatoes were over a pound each (Mortgage Lifters). They looked like little pumpkins.
Honeydews - Grew 5. First time growing these. I started the vines indoors and transplanted 5 to the garden. Each vine grew a full sized melon.
Cabbage - Golden Acre cabbage had the best balance of space used vs head size and it tasted great. Other varieties like Flathead Dutch had giant leaves that took up too much space for what they produced.
Beans - Bush beans worked great. Pole beans produced vines and lots of leaves with few actual beans. :(
Brussels Sprouts - The plants grew but the sprouts are too small to be worth the effort. Don’t know what went wrong.
Bell peppers - I planted 40 of these close together (1 per square ft), hoping to get more than last year. It worked but not as well as expected. I think they shaded each other too much. Next year I will try planting fewer and spacing them out a little more.
Corn - Unlike last year, the kernels reached to the tip because I went out every night and knocked the tassels around with a pole to get lots of pollen floating around. The texture of the corn was a bit thick and starchy like last year, not like the kind from the store. Don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Our week looks similar - temps in the mid-70’s, sunny or mostly sunny days .... just spectacular!
Unfortunately, the mowing I’m doing this weekend won’t be the last. Typically, my last mowing is around Veteran’s Day to mid-November. We just had 2.5 inches of rain between Wed nite & Fri morning .... that will keep things growing for a while. The grass hasn’t done the big “slow down” in growth yet - growth might be off slightly. Our maples are showing some color, so Fall is definitely here. My Celebrities are still producing - mom picked a big bowl of tomatoes two days ago - she’ll be giving some of them away.
As of this evening, I’m on dog/chicken sitting duty for a week. I call the chickens the “Rowdy Girls” .... they like to peck - toes are the main target (but I know better than to wear flip flops after the first toe pecking) & one snuck up behind me and pecked me HARD in the calf - really hurt. Sunset is earlier now, around 7, so I don’t have to wait so long for them to go in the coop to roost. I’ll have fresh eggs for the week :-)
Good morning. I wish all squirrels looked so cute and friendly.
I am not a squirrel fan ... we’ve been pretty much overrun with them. I did not have issues with them in the garden this year - they did get in last year & chewed up some things. No bird feeders out yet .... that’s when we have the most ‘trouble’. We had a young hawk buzzing the feeders last year - that helped keep the squirrels in the woods instead of out in the open at the feeders.


Motorcycle customized to look like Alien, from the movie

It is seed harvesting time around her in the PNW.
I am harvesting heirloom tomato seeds for next year.
Keepers
Brandywine
Chelan Heirloom (unknown tomato bought at Chelan markers market 2 summers ago)
Blush tiger
Rutgers (1st year, doing well and delicious.
No more here
Black Krim. Taste fantastic but 2 years in a row low producers and plants are not growing tall.....will try again in Texas in 2 years
Peppers
Poblano
Bell peppers (green, a stray purple) and whitish/yellow)
Jalapeño
Round of hungary
Capperino
Roccotto (very hot ecuadorian which likes cool weather. Plant given to me my “Marco” who’d grandmother smuggled one through customs many decades ago and thr family has kept this seed line alive here. Mine are green then turn red. Others stay green or turn orange or yellow.)
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