Posted on 08/23/2013 1:53:26 PM PDT by greeneyes
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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“”Viagra from Canada” ads can get annoying after awhile............”
Unless you are a guy who needs it. :o)
If you get emails from companies you don’t want, do a right click on it and see if you can label it as always junk mail and it will go in your mail delete folder from then on instead of your in box.
“At that time I gave the bore-holes some big squirts of neem oil, and that seems to have controlled them in those plants.”
I have two spray bottles with the Neem oil combined with two other organic compounds for other nasty stuff, and it stopped something from making holes in my sweet potato leaves in the ten gallon grow bag. Those holes appeared at least a month ago, and I doused the leaves over and under and the plant, too, for three days and that stopped whatever it was.
I've had a lot of mistakes going through this mine field of growing food plants. I have squirrels and birds and insects on my hate list - the murderers. Plants are living things and they murder them. When people on here talk about letting the rest of, or some of, the crop die, I feel like saying a prayer. :o) I'm trying to get over the death of my two squash plants by borers and three Sunflower small plants that something ate. And, my small lettuce was eaten and all the lettuce seed was eaten.
You see, no one told me I would be at war growing food plants. I know it now, and have gradually developed a war plan. Onward Christian Soldiers.
Johnny is the resident authority on Romas. Johnny could you speak to her about the Romas?
Romas should be a standard size, slightly larger than a hen's egg. If they are small, it may be due to weather or soil. I fertilize mine with about 6" of compost in the bottom of the hole when I plant them.
The problem could also be with sub-standard seeds. Who's seeds did you use?
/johnny
Gardening is a war, often against unknown enemies. You are blessed if you win.
/johnny
Hi Johnny. Some were plants purchased at Home Depot -just labeled as “Roma’s”. A few others were seedlings given to me by a fellow gardener at work.
Is there a special variety that you grow?
I'd pick a reputable seed dealer and start them from seed.
/johnny
You are prolly correct. Will do. I’ve always thought Roma’s were supposed to be 4-8 inches long. The ones I have are cherry tomato size.
/johnny
I’m sorry Johnny. I have no idea how big a hens egg is-I’ve never had the privilege of being around hens. Maybe someday.
Hen's egg = grocery store egg, Large AA.
I have some old cookbooks that routinely instruct to cream/melt/add etc. "a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg...". Some of the other "measurements" used are even more wonky.
I’ve been very impressed with neem for running off bugs. I tell you what, when I applied it the first time to the squash plant, you should have seen those squash bugs (we called them “stink bugs” when I was a kid) SCURRY! They couldn’t get away fast enough! Those that were directly squirted on were incapacitated to the point that they could be picked off and stomped.
Darlin just came in with the report that the bug spray has been applied to the area around the pots to beat back the grasshoppers.
Regular old chicken egg, Grade A, X-large, roughly 2 oz. ;)
/johnny
Sometimes I do live like it's the late 1800s, I confess.
/johnny
Cool. Thx. I tried several heirloom type Roma/paste varieties this year ( one was labeled “Amish paste”). Totally eaten up with blight and fungus. Sad. Tennessee can really grow the tomato nasties down here.
Thanks for the advice. Will do the seed route next year.
Ha! Indeed! I’ll never forget my dear mother. She knows everything. A friend had an old recipe that called for a “gurgle” of some liquid and didn’t know what that meant. My mom piped up right quick “but of course that is a quarter cup”. Amazing lady.
No; never: just pointing out how far away from the farm we’ve traveled of the last century; and how much more convenient it is for cooks, since Ms. Farmer standardized kitchen measurements.
As I recall, the Old Testament Hebrews had a liquid measure that was pronounced sort like a ‘glugging’ sound, and was more or less the amount of oil that went, “glug” as it was poured out of a storage jug.
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