Posted on 06/22/2012 7:06:41 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Anybody enjoying the heat???? Good morning, FRiends and fellow gardeners! My thanks to Red Devil_232 and his beautiful tomato plants for hosting last week's gardening thread.
Here in NELA, we welcomed the first day of summer with temps in 3 digits ... at one time yesterday afternoon, our digital weather station had the temperature outside at 102.4! The remote unit that is transmitting the temp is on the north end of the house, tucked up under the eve and out of the sun. Whew!
Lots going on here. We've been enjoying sweet corn (var. Serendipity) all week, and the harvest begins in earnest tomorrow. Three acres ready now and another 3 acres that is 2 weeks behind the first planting.
Last week, I think it was although everything is in a blur here lately, we happened across a few wild plum trees and picked until the heat and humidity wouldn't let us pick any more. After cooking them down and filtering the juice, I got 3 beautiful gallons with which to make jelly. Didn't really have time to do this, but when you try to live from the land as I do, you have to take what you can get when you can get it. We were thrilled.
My husband was kind enough to plant a few acres of scarlet cowpeas for me, which started coming up on the 2nd day after planting. Heat and adequate moisture are magic with seeds this time of year! Enjoyed the first tomatoes of the season from my volunteer plants. I have no idea what they were, but they were delish.
The apiary is also buzzing and keeping me very busy. I harvested another 7 gallons of honey Tuesday, off of 2 hives. Got a call yesterday to go look at 2 hives in one house that need to be removed ... both large and active! That will bring my beeyard up to 12 hives, more than enough to keep me busy and deep in honey year-round.
So ... what have you been up to???
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.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
I grow everything in containers since I am momentarily trapped in Red Hampshire; which has the rockiest soil to be found in the USA. (Granite State? They aren’t kidding.) Every container gets powdered dolomitic lime, and I don’t have ANY trouble with BER.
That is my experience also. Thus far, even though I know the original seed tomato was a hybrid, the volunteers leap to give fruit. Sadly, for me, they are not immune to BER.
Very interested in following your contributions to our threads.
That is my experience also. Thus far, even though I know the original seed tomato was a hybrid, the volunteers leap to give fruit. Sadly, for me, they are not immune to BER.
Very interested in following your contributions to our threads.
My ‘free range’ black cherries went up to the ROOF last year...there are MORE of them this year, and they are well on their way to the roof AGAIN. I am hoping that my other ‘free rangers’ are Dr. Carolyn’s Pink, Eva’s Purple Ball, Blush, Goose Creek, and Sungold (drooool)...we’ll see. Think I’m out of luck on the Blush, since none of the plants seem to have the wispy foliage...
Just picked for seed tomatoes the biggest, which for the plant was average, large red ‘free ranging’ cherry tomatoes. Here in SA there’s time for a second crop. Will be interesting to see what we get.
What will also be interesting to see is that as i picked and discarded the BER-afflicted fruit, i tossed the maters along the base of our privacy fence. Both hybrids and heirlooms. Will be curious to see what springs up as volunteers between now and the first frost . . . somewhere around November 15.
Just need to instruct my yard guy to distinguish weeds from tomato plants. :-)
Rather hard for him to do, since when working the ground garden, I toss perpetually raised rocks and stones along the same fence line (idea being I’ll eventually have a solid path of rock and stone between garden and fence.
Weeds are much more prolific and invulnerable than vegetable plants and how can you hold a good yard guy, weeding among the rocks and pebbles, to know what to weed out? :-)
For the fall I’m planting two varieties of cucumbers: Suyo Long and Baby Cucino. They’re kinda opposites. Suyo Long grow to almost two feet and thicker than my wrist. Bsby Cucino grow to maybe, if I let them grow, four or five inches with few seeds and give a crisp, deliciously crunchy taste.
Even the cucumber varieties recommended for SA have pretty much failed to produce for me. But Suyo Long and Baby Cucino have consistently produced in both in-ground and earth boxes.
I’m getting ready to pull a bunch of stuff from my raised gardens and prepare for them for Fall planting. Thank you for the cucumber hint. I’ll try them. I’ve transplanted a couple of tomatoe plants into large pots to see how long they will last through Fall and Winter?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.