Posted on 09/09/2011 5:02:47 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. It has been beautiful weather here in East Central Mississippi. We received about 3 inches of rain out of TS Lee on Monday and the daytime highs have been in the mid to high 80s with overnight lows in the 50s. It is 50 right now. This is quite cool for this time of year for us. My garden is basically done for the year. I bottled my first batch of beer yesterday, 30 quarts. Now it is wait for two weeks and maybe up to a couple of months, while it conditions, until it is ready to drink.
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I hope all your gardens are flourishing.
DE is diatomaceous earth. It’s a non-pesticidal insect control. We use it as first line of defense as it’s ‘innocuous’ (you can use it day of picking and just wash it off) and it’s cheap per unit volume. Pesticides? Not so much with the cheap.
Apparently I’ve had a squash bug ‘issue’ for a while now, talking to hubby. The only plants they *really* cause a problem with are my zukes. All my winter squashes are c. moschata and more resistant or able to tolerate or something. We don’t let them ‘get away’ from us numbers wise, we have to use DE fairly regularly or they will repopulate the earth or something.
Wow what timing.
They where looking for a vine that wouldn't die on them.
I have seen the stuff along the highways down your way. It must be nasty stuff.
Hmmm, whiteflies? No idea. Best suggestion is to find an online extension service with the ag school closest to you. They will probably have a whole page on how to grow local grapes, varieties which work best, soil amendments you might need and diseases/pests that are a problem in your area.
Don’t think they are whiteflies...I know what they look like. These are more substantial and they actually leap...was very surprised.
Jinx!
I see your location says you’re in Oregon. Is there an ‘ag school’ in Oregon that might have info/pics for you? What you’re describing might not even live in other parts of the country. Bet you don’t have fireants?
Nope. Just hard livin’. No worker’s comp; I can’t really PROVE I hurt myself at work because I work as hard away from home as I do at work.
I have about 80 hours of vacation to cash in, but if I do that, no vacation this winter with Mr. Wonderful... :(
That’s Mr. Wonderful, my beau of about six months. So far, so good; he’s the boy version of me, though he hunts more than I do. At LAST! A good old genuine Country Boy in my life. I love it! :)
Seriously - I’ve known him for 20+ years as a family friend. He was widowed last year, and I divorced my loser ex last year. Months ago he told me he’s always had a little crush on me and would I consider dating him? It was kinda like dating my brother at first, but he’s grown on me... :)
And, I have excellent medical coverage through my employer. There might be some out of pocket, but I have a slush fund for that, too.
You are so right...no fireants! I visited Texas and they were something to fear in the backyard.
Yes, we do have an extention service that I’ll check with. I did a little research and looked at leafhoppers...but, the whitest colored one has yellow on it...mine don’t. But, I’ll get my magnifier out and look real close. So far none of the damage on leaves like that have been shown on the pages I researched. That’s good.
The hoophouse is now secure from the deer, and I've planted more tomato, some pumpkin, and a variety of sweet peppers.
The MRS. and I bought some apple trees a couple days ago. They are grafted types that are advertised to grow well in the Texas caliche and dry conditions. I may be able to make some cider in a couple years.
All you Freepers on teh east coast- if you don't want all that rain water, send it to Texas! I got a hose.....
He looks like a keeper, as long as he treats you as you deserve (like a Queen)!
Can you put DE (till it in) on my bed where I saw the squash bugs before? I mean can I pull up my squash, till DE into the empty bed and leave it to over winter as a control?
Prayer for your injured foot.
Well, I'm a complete rookie, but I had good luck last winter with calabrese broccoli, New Zealand spinach, Simpson black seed lettuce, and southern curled mustard. Kentucky wonder pole beans struggled with the frosts (so did I!), but once the weather cleared produced prolifically.
My cauliflower didn't do much, but what I did get tasted amazing. Utah (#57?) celery grew very well, but the stalks never thickened up.
This year I'm cutting back on the greens, because I had more than I knew what to do with, and growing (hopefully) more broccoli and cauliflower. Also trying a couple types of cabbage, as a neighbor seemed to have pretty good luck with his.
I'm almost in Tampa, with most of the garden getting full direct sun for only about half the day.
I don’t really know about DE that way. I don’t think it works as effectively if it gets wet. You might get some and one of the little ‘huffer’ thingies to spritz your zukes/cukes next year though. That’s what we use.
He does. Lucky me! :)
Thank you! Prayers, rest and extra calcium should do the trick, I’m thinkin’! :)
Wow, some great suggestions. The area is raised up and had bad dirt. I made hubby dig it out and put good stuff in there. Hopefully, the next plants will actually grow. I’ll have a few nice, cold months to think about it, except for the kudzu. I saw that stuff when we went to Florida one year and what a mess that is. It would freeze here, thank God.
About the squash and stuff not setting fruit. Mine did that earlier this year. After the blight from last year I figured it was a fungus and tried spraying the flowers with blossom set. Did the trick.
Thanks all for the help. Sorry I couldn’t get here to respond until now; had to work.
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