Posted on 07/13/2012 8:35:18 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning and happy Friday (the 13th) to all of my FRiends and fellow gardeners! My special thanks go to Ellendra for posting the thread while I took a week to go to the mountains. I was hoping to find relief from the heat, only to find that it was in the 90's in SE Montana, not much cooler than here in Louisiana.
I began the long process of becoming a fly fisherman, and I am hooked, so to speak. Just what I needed ... another hobby to compete for my limited time!
Today is the first time I've seen the sun since Monday ... the rain followed me all the way from Kansas City, and it has stayed around. Thank goodness! It is my sincere hope that y'all are receiving some beneficial rainfall.
Before leaving on the trip, I spent 4 days making fig preserves ... the Italian White Fig tree was covered in a bumper crop, unlike anything I've ever seen. I also got all of my wild plum juice turned into beautiful jelly, and harvested another 5-gallon bucket of honey from the beeyard.
So ... what's going on with you???
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
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LOL, great minds! I'm jealous of new cookie sheets. I keep telling myself I need to retire the only ones I've ever known which I think were probably mother's long before they were mine.
I looked into preserving eggplant awhile back. Canning is supposedly a no-no, as eggplant is dense enough that it is hard to get up to a proper temperature (without making the mushy mess you are trying to avoid). This comes from the government, and I know I can trust them.
Thank you lysie. I’ll show it to hubby, maybe we can use somethink like that for a temporary greenhouse in the community garden. Even use trellis panels in the garden.
Sorry for the delayed response. I have been busy after just getting in from out of town, and trying to put together an Executive Summary of the conference.
AFTR, glad to hear about your rain. Praying this week, but weather report says no dice for about a week, IIRC.
JDAB, thanks for the link. That’s an interesting little gizmo, and not too much more expensive than what we have now. I snagged 2 walmart food grade buckets from the bakery for a dollar. Then I bought 4 walmart buckets for about $4 apiece including lids(all they had).
Our van has space for 3 more buckets or maybe the H2O to go. Will have to show Hubby. He is hauling in 30 gallons daily and sometimes more. The priority perrenials, fruit and nut tress, are getting just enough to eek out survival.
He gets 3 of the buckets(15 gallons) per wheel barrel load.
We are talking about buying a discounted above ground swimming pool at the end of season sales. In the spring set it up and collect water from the roof for the dry season.
That would hold around 5000 gallons, and go a long way toward being enough to keep the priority items and the produce(corn, beans, melons etc)as well.
I agree. I prefer to leave the skins on.
You all inspired me - I ordered the Excalibur!
The sale prices on the Excalibur website were very good. You will also always be able to get parts, if you ever need them. Their customer service is excellent. I have ordered several accessories from them.
My husband kept telling me to buy it but I was being frugal. Now I can’t wait till it’s here.
A local store has great sales on seasonal produce. Not always so pretty but very tasty. That’s where I got the peaches. I’m stocking up for winter. If I get a decent tomato crop I want to try canning which I’ve never done.
So far they look like the best thing I’ve grown. My zucchini still hasn’t done more than leaves and flowers. I can’t figure it out. Trials of a newbie.
I love your enthusiasm! I hope your tomatoes stay on a good track. How long has your zucchini been flowering without producing fruit? What formula of fertilizer have you used?
Seeded in flats:
Cucumbers: Suyo Long (8), Baby Cucina (4)
Tomatoes: Park's Container Choice (12), 4th of July (12), Hillbilly regular leaf (4), Kellog's Breakfast (4), BHN 640 (4) Husky cherry (4)
Tomatillo: Gigante (4)
Sweet peppers: Bannanarame (4) Big Early (3) Mystery Seed (3)
Eggplant: Masego (Thai 4) Black Shine (Japanese 4), Shoya Long (Japanese 4)
Squash: Hokkori 133 (Japanese 4), Waltham Butternut (4)
None of these varieties are recommended for central Texas. I've had pretty good luck trying new-to-me plants, since I have the time to tend to them. Biggest disappointment was a Japanese tomato, Grande, and an heirloom tomato, Lillian's Yellow. Grande started out great, produced nicely, but shriveled up and died when the heat hit. Lillian's Yellow never produced a blossom, but no big deal since being a cool weather, late season tomato I didn't expect anything until the Fall, but the plants also died. Other heirlooms which did well were Aunt Ruby's German Green, Beefy Boy, and Virginia Sweets, though fruit was overall significantly smaller than I expected.
Still growing in the garden are Biker Billy Jalapeno, Joe Parker New Mexico peppers, Thai hot, Thai Giant, plablano and habanero. For some reason, I've never had much luck growing habanero, whether I put them in ground or in containers. Spring continued my bad luck. But the other hot peppers gave and will give great yields.
Odd story was my Cisneros Tomatillo plants. Had two in containers side by side. Both grew lush foliage. One was loaded with fruit and the other was barren. Gonna try Gigante for the Fall
Going into the ground in mid-August to mid-September will be yet-to-be-selected cabbage transplants (had great luck last year), Georgia Collard transplants (always good results), Blue Lake green beans, Usui Snow Peas, Orient Wonder yard long beans, Mape Green Mung beans for sprouts, garlic and onion sets.
And that ought to fill up all my ground and all my containers. Was hit particularly hard by Tomato blossom end-rot during the Spring. Curious to see what happens with the next crop.
Six weeks. The plants are big and healthy. Lots of flowers but I think they are all male. I use Plantone (5-3-3) and kelp spray. Its a new bed and I used composted manure mixed with the soil. The tomatoes are in the same bed and are producing well.
Last week I moved three Zucchinis out to another spot on the theory that they were too crowded. I think I structured the bed wrong. I moved some peppers too. Now I have two beds.
Tubebender, that is one of the best garden shop pictures I’ve seen in a long, long time. It looks like the salesgirl had a tough morning.
First wife and I went to the Arcata Ca Farmers Market Saturday to get our fix as 90% of the growers at these markets farm in the warmer regions of Humboldt County and have crops that don’t do well here on the Vast Bender Estate like tomatoes. I suspect this vender was showing her disdain for having her photo taken? Arcata has a well maintained central plaza (Google Earth) and there were about 50 stalls of various items. We are having a lite rain which is good for most of our crops and bad for a couple.
I miss the rain. When it rains, here in central Texas, I take a small walk. When we visit my family in Washington state, I always hope for at least one day of good rain.
On the flowers, there is nothing that I could post that would come close to what the Benders have at their home or church. But I am proud of my wife's accomplishments in restarting some 30 yr old beds that were abandoned many years ago. The previous owner was 91yrs old and had not tended the yard in a long time. I dont have any true before pictures, but I do have some from the reconstruction forward.
The old dead stuff and weeds were yanked out and the dirt made ready, along with a century plant.
Restarted beds, version 1.0 June 2011
Current version, July 2012, version 2.0
The rocks in the rock garden surrounding the Century plant are not thriving, though, they are still just as they were a year ago.
The front porch area under reconstruction, all the boxwoods are ripped out and the bed that they were in was removed, July 2011.
July 2012
All the beds in the pictures have drip irrigation under the mulch, and are on a timer for low maintenance There are some backyard improvements, too, but that is about enough pictures for one post.
YOU... can be replaced by a machine!!! I run from people who are that neat and I can assure you Lady Bender will not see your photos!
Heck, Mr Bender, I envy your place, and your talents and knowledge. Also, I envy all that sunshine that you have. We have a tree canopy over the entire yard except for two small plots about 12' x 16' where we grow a few tomatos, peppers and some okry. My wife has done well in adapting to using all shade plants in her beds. That was a serious change from the full sun that we had at our old homeplace.
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