Posted on 08/02/2013 2:00:43 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Thanks, greeneyes. I don’t have a pressure cooker (can we say that here?) so have to forge ahead with pot I do have.
WE looked at the foliar spray last year, but decided it had too many chemicals. We’re attempting to grow organic. So your banana peel and egg shell solution will work wonderfully for us next year. Thanks.
Only the Purple Cherokee has calcium problems. Thought it would be easier to grow than the Black Krim I attempted last year, and which had bottom rot too. But purple tomatoes in general have been very difficult in pots for me. Oh dear, the ones I like best. More eggshells for those, apparently.
We had 15 big green mortgage lifter tomatoes on 1 plant that we were watching daily for any sign of a blush. They all disappeared overnight.
We found one little ping pong size leftover down in the brush where the bunnies like to run away to when we come around.
So far they have not been tempted by anything in the traps. Hubby said he thinks he needs to start keep trying after the harvest and during the winter when they will have less to steal.
Hot pepper mustard and hot pepper relish batches canned and being peddled by my neighbor at the mill in which he works! Ohio cottage food laws suck, so I use this method. I’d love to sell it at our farmer’s market though. Tomatoes are turning in twos and threes, and the Cherokee Purples are both lovely and super tasty. Garlic is harvested and ready for thier roots to be clipped, then braided and tied up somewhere. Same with onions. Busy busy, but completely worth it! I think I’ll make salsa tomorrow.
Blood meal for nitrogen, and bone meal for phosphorus if your compost/soil isn’t sufficient for those IIRC.
Here in Red Hampshire; the worst garden pest of all are New Yorkers...
Yep. I have to make some salsa this weekend too. After an excruciatingly long period without homegrown tomatoes, we finally have more than we can even eat sliced or on salads.
Last Saturday around midnight, in a combination of boredom, insomnia, and curiosity, I ordered 2 seed varieties from the government seed bank. I was expecting to spend the next 3 months doing paperwork to justify why they should send them to me. . . . . Much to my surprise, the seeds arrived yesterday! Only 10 seeds of each, though, so it’ll take a few years of expansions before I can really play with them.
My grape tomatoes are ripening one at a time. In a week or so they’ll really get going and I’ll be buried in tomatoes. I hope! My slicers are turning a little less green every day, but no ripe ones yet. My paste tomatoes are just now getting their first flower buds. (This is why I think they need some improvement.)
My cucumbers are starting to ripen. I picked the first ones way too early, but I was just happy to finally get some. They were good! They’re the Dragon Egg variety, no bitterness and no spines.
I’ve managed to recover enough from my surgery to be able to get around now. I’ve got a lot of weeds to pull!
We had a watermelon from the store that was just kind of so-so. On a whim I tried a piece still frozen, it was amazingly sweet! Like candy. I might have to do that more often.
I got the clippers out and cleared out about 30 feet of fence where the neighbor's bushes were growing over. Pulled up all the old corn that didn't do and threw out some seed hoping it'll maybe make with a little cooler weather into the fall but before the first freeze. I vow to baby this bunch and hand pollinate it and put a drop of oil on it, etc. It had bees every morning on the old crop and I shook them every day but that didn't do the job. If this doesn't work, I have a wee bit more seeds for next Spring but ABSOLUTELY NO MORE.
And squash is NO MORE. Every one is getting that moldy virus on it and bugs and no amount of spraying or dusting or squishing does any good. Need to order some of that long squash with the weird name.
A friend and I were at a farmers’ market and she bought some okra. I didn't because I'm determined to get mine producing. This 3rd planting is about 2” tall and the 3 plants that survived the armadillos are about 6” tall.
Speaking of the armadillos, they went through the herb garden last night so that's the end of that 3rd round of seeds. Guess next Spring I'll have to invest in some more chicken wire for the herb bed and to finish off by the okra.
Can't keep up with the weeds so may have to get a machete or carry a flag with me for when I get trapped in. Never had such a mess. About the time I get undepressed with some disaster Mother Nature brings down, she blasts another round.
We're in a weather alert with 3 digit temperature and no rain in sight. A couple days ago it was 110 at a reporting station not far from here. Last night, the evening news reported that we moved up to the next level of drought, that area lakes are at 1/3 full and that some towns are at stage 3 water restrictions. On the bright side, it's not as bad as a couple summers ago.
I’ve heard it called “fingerblight”. Thorny plants are somewhat resistant, but nothing is completely immune. On another forum I used to belong to, someone had a yard full of rhubarb cleared out overnight!
I had an entire crop from two Persimmon trees stolen a few years ago, probably 150 apple size fruit, some about 10ft up.
Glad to hear you had rain. Good to hear that you have enough to can. We eat all that comes out of our tiny garden.
We have not had any rain in about 10 days or so here. We are still getting tomatos and hot peppers. We have about 20 green maters still. I can’t believe that we are still picking maters this late. Usually the end of June is about it for us.
Can we cut back our non producing tomato plants to a few inches and have them become a fall crop? We have never had a fall crop of anything. It just gets too hot to garden for us, but picking maters, that’s another thing, we could do that.
I have several pepper plants ‘strategically’ positioned...Bhut Jolokia, Bhut Jolokia Peach, Trinidad Scorpion Moruga, and so forth. It will be easy to track potential thieves by the sounds of their screaming...
Most store bought watermelons have thin skins but if it has a thick skin make pickled watermelon rinds. Ooooh, good stuff!
Ack, now that you’re on the government’s seed list, you’ll be one of the first targeted when it hits the fan!!! Stock up on camo shade cloths.
Huge geographical difference between you and Kalifornia's low desert....I plant our sets by mid-September, and the harvest is usually about done by Super Bowl Sunday (easy to remember, as the neighbor always begs a bunch for her party salsa).
Yes, unless you have determinate varieties. I wouldn’t bother cutting the indeterminate ones back unless they’re out of control and then only give them a trim where needed. Keep them watered and about mid-Sept. they’ll likely start producing for you again. You can try rooting the trimmings in a container to bring inside when the weather gets too cold.
The afternoon before your first real freeze, you’ll need to rush out and gather every last one. Lay them on trays inside and let them ripen on their own. That will extend your eatin’ a couple more weeks. Fry up some fried green tomatoes!
The humidity and temp have been stupid high here so I spent 2 days to get my basil dried for the year. Harvesting the last small leaves (1 ft long) of tobacco. It should be done in a few weeks and I can clear that row.
Everything is winding down and soon I'll be on hold for the fall garden. I'll start my fall pinto beans inside on Monday.
I'm tasked with sitting with twin 13 year olds tonight while their family is out. I've picked suitable movies and have my earplugs. Grandma is leaving a box of wine in the fridge for me. ;)
Tomorrow is a party for a dear friend of mine, so the weekend is pretty well booked solid.
/johnny
Fixing to go work in my garden for the day. I’ll take pics and hopefully get them posted before it gets too late tonight. My rice is blooming en masse now! It smells DELICIOUS down there. I’ve probably got between 15 and 20 Rumbo pumpkins set, a couple Long of Naples, some Musquee de Provence and maybe a Futsu. My tomatoes are finally starting to set and my peppers are going crazy too.
I’ve got some freshly cut pineapple in the fridge, some strawberries from earlier in the season in the freezer and a couple habaneros that I’m going to make jam from tomorrow. Yummy.
Some short season BOS’s waiting for transplant on Sunday and finally got my fall corn mulched most of the way yesterday. I’ve been dragging around this year because of a hurt foot. Blargh.
Short season fall bush green beans to be planted next week. I’ll probably let the last making of those go to seed for next year.
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