Weekly Gardening Thread
Flowering Fireworks - Aerial Display
Weekly Gardening Thread
Flowering Fireworks - Aerial Display
I hope all of you will stop by.
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Around this old homestead, the chicks (five Barred Rocks and a Broad-Breasted turkey) have shown that the key to ridiculous growth rates is to become eating-and-pooping machines.
That can only mean one thing: this rookie poultry farmer is spending the holiday weekend building a chicken tractor (yay).
Today carries a chance of rain followed by five forecast days of sunny and dry (if cool) weather. I cannot believe I spent a week in May worrying about a dry spell.
The tomatoes here are w-a-a-a-a-y behind. It will probably be another few weeks before we have fruit. Luckily the season here can extend into October if the weather is right. My record for harvesting a ripe tomato is November 5!!
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Thanks for the tomato info.
I am learning mucho the hard way as a new gardener.
My only quibble:
Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator!! It will affect the flavor negatively.
Pick when at the breaker stage and leave them in ventilated container (I keep the ones from the store) or on the counter until red-ripe. Then, store them in a Green Bag to delay further ripening and leave them in a relatively cool dark spot at room temperature. They will still last a week, or more.
I pick them at the stage where they appear orange-red on the plant, but are really only about half-ripe and then follow the instructions above. They also do not do anything at temperatures below 55-56, so if the nights are cool and the fruit is not fully ripe, I wait until the temperature warms up to pick them. There is then more sugar that has been transported into the fruit.
About two weeks before frost, tip all growing stems. You can cut off the growing tip or pinch out the growing tip. Pinching is better than cutting if the weather is cool/wet, to avoid mold infection in the cut. This tipping will drive sugar transport into the fruit and then, if you must harvest before frost, there is enough sugar in the fruit for it to ripen while wrapped (to concentrate the ethylene).
I place each green tomato (you can put several of them together if they are small; leave cherry tomatoes in a natural bunch on the vine) in a small, thin paper lunch bag and the bags go into an insulated cooler. Check the tomatoes daily or every other day. When they begin to turn red, take the bag out and place on the counter, so you can monitor ripeness. Without pinching, tomatoes may not ripen at all when stored and may rot, first.
I read about people picking green tomatoes early for fried green tomatoes. I prefer to let those ripen and use large light green/yellowish tomatoes picked at the end of the growing season for green tomato recipes. These have more sugar in them then early green tomatoes and are more digestible. Also, the early green tomatoes have the advantage of being able to turn into wonderful, ripe ones.
My gosh you get up early. And I thought I was an early riser!! Nice fireworks, BTW.
NH’s Governor Lynch aigned a ‘gay marriage’ bill last month, and it been in the upper 50’s with rain ever since. Upper 50’s...more than TWENTY degrees below normal. Thank the Almighty for container gardening...I am able to move things around to avoid the rain; and all veggies are still doing well.
We have been eating new potatoes for several weeks now.
I planted Yukon Gold. Someone told me to put a little bit of bonemeal with each potato piece when I planted them.
My potatoes are huge. And the plants are still green with some blooms. I dig around the plant and remove one or two potatoes and leave the plant alone to grow more.
Does anyone else use bonemeal?
Have a great 4th of July weekend RD...
re: tomato picking.
i have also heard that it is best to pick ripe tomatos in the afternoon for best flavor. evidently the sugars are more prominent later in the day and this improves the flavor substantially. i believe green beans are the opposite but not sure.
I have grown some where the flower, as in your picture, is a foot across! There are many sizes of these things but I only grow the big ones. When the flower dries it can be used in dried bouquets in the fall
Hi All,
I get to spend this week at home, as my sister came from Alabama to stay with Mom. Mom had the chemo side effects last week and was really sick, but she has bounced back and doing well now.
Gardengirl, I LOVE my yellow pear cherry tomatos. I have them planted in the ground, and in big pots everywhere. I planted some at Mom’s, as I knew I’d be over there a lot. I love the shape of these, and think every single seed I planted came up.
The other seeds you sent are also doing well. I have brocholli and lots of green beans to harvest.
I’m planning on buying a greenhouse and would appreciate any suggestions on good choices.
Just came in from weeding one of the gardens. Was gone for about 3 weeks (dad died) and hubby got most of the other 2 gardens tended. Pulled a row of turnips and a few beets. Potatoes are flowering. I think we should have been hilling them all along. Not sure if its worth it at this point, as they are pretty tall. We got wonderful strawberries a couple of weeks ago. Looks like they are done for this year. Everything else is coming along, slowly it seems. Then again, we got a late start this year due to all the rain.
The veggie garden looks pretty good, but something is attacking my flowering plants this year. I don’t see any bugs on them, but there are round spots all over the leaves. One of the apple tree’s leaves is covered in rust this year. There are lots of pine/cedar trees around here, so not sure what can be done.
Great fireworks!
I have tons of jalapenos and red chilis, a few bell peppers. I managed to somehow kill 2 cilantro plants. The 3rd is still going gangbusters.
Today I noticed that I have one cherry tomato starting to get ripe. Woo hoo!
The other day, I got to eat one green bean that seemed to come from nowhere. Yum!
Hey girl, welcome home! Enjoy your break.
I guess the best thing I can say about my garden is it is very neat.
I have had several servings of green beans, but they seem to have played out now so I think I will pull them up and start over. I yanked all the cabbage and broccoli I had. It was all being chewed to pieces by something, and wasn’t worth trying to save. So now I have some spaces for sewing new stuff.
The carrots are just plain refusing to grow. Beets and chard as well. I think our soil is just too young, and needs to be built up.
The tomatoes have a number of small ones showing. I am probably several weeks from eating though. The asparagus is doing great. The potatoes plants have started to fade in color and go yellow. I don’t know why.
Cukes, squash melons and zucs are all making nice progress. I have blossoms on all of the above, and very small zucs showing (I am ***sooooo*** excited!!!)
I am sure I won’t be able to put up anything this year, but at least I am starting to learn, and having some fun.
A few days ago, at the store, they had a bunch of gallon potted peppers and various squashes dirt cheap.
So I tilled up some space, and went and bought a bunch. Also cucumbers.
Now I had already put in some cukes and peppers and acorn squash but the problem is where I am situated, they never get enough sun to really get going. So I’ll get a few fruit but not enough to brag about.
But now, I put the new ones in a place they’ll get good sun, added some Alaska fish fertilizer, watered them real good. So we’ll see. Still about 90 good days of growing season here.
Don't be afraid of these unusual looking heirloom and
open pollinated varieties.
Instead, be afraid of being limited to the typical
hybrids that the local nursery or big box store are
offering.
Heirlooms and OP types are the Toms that our fore
fathers and mother grew and adored.
JJ61
tomatoville.com
Yikes —— where oh where do I begin............
Girlangler: nice to read your sister is helping out with Mom and that Mom is doing better.
Marmolade: My condolences on the loss of your Dad.
Garden? What’s a garden? This has literally been a week from Hades to me when it comes to anything related to gardening, it just seems like I haven’t been home.
I was supposed to have been finished filling in for the Church Secretary a week ago yesterday, but the Pastor called me in both Monday and Tuesday to get some stuff done because the secretary still couldn’t come back. (we can use the money, so I’m definitely not complaining)
Wednesday afternoon Jax was invited over to a friend’s which worked out really well because I was then able to go buy her a birthday present for her b’day on Thursday. Thursday we spent the afternoon at the beach with another FReeper and her family and then had dinner and b’day cake with a plan to go to the Carnival.........that didn’t work out and I was the bearer of the bad news to the 4 kids that we were not going Thurs., but would go instead on Friday night. As you can imagine, that went over like a lead balloon with two 11 yo’s, an 8yo and a 5yo..........
Well Friday she had a friend coming over for a couple hours, but then was being picked up by her dad (his weekend) and then we had a bunch of friends that insisted we bring the b’day girl to “our” watering hole because they all had presents for her. From there we went back to our FReeper friend’s place and had dinner and then took the kids to the Carnival.
One does not attempt to leave Chincoteague Island after dark, let alone after 11pm, on a Friday night, especially Friday of 4th of July weekend, if one has had a beer or 2 (which we had) but we had thought about that before we left and packed our tent. I’m going to do a major crash and burn tonight because I did not sleep well at all. My idea of camping is a motel without room service or a bar........not a tent with a half inflated air mattress, no pillows and a beach towel for a blanket.........
Right now I have a stock pot on the stove to boil water for the jumbo pasta shells I have to cook to stuff with the shrimp and chicken salads I made and I still have to bake a birthday cake because I’m doing coffee hour at church tomorrow for Jax b’day ——IOW, we’re working on the 4th b’day celebration for this kid.
Diana knows how tight I am with a buck, but I actually did something absolutely totally out of character for me and bought Jax an absolutely, completely and totally frivolous present for her birthday..........I bought her a set of pewter pushpins (thumbtacks) for the bulletin board in the shape of kitty-kat paws.
She starts Governor’s school on Monday, I’m not working at church anymore, and hubby has some worked lined up -—so maybe, just maybe I will actually get to go near the garden on Monday.
Steady supply of Okra coming in, it's really good roasted too