FishinBC's Blog
FishinBC's posts about: cukes
Aug 26, 2007 | 4:26 AM PST
Tags: Fall Veggies , Tomatoes , Cukes , Mums , Horse apples , Compost
Friday night brought us 4 good thunderstorms and lot's of steady rain in between! Yesterday was glorious. I did a lot of cleaning up in the flower beds, then headed out to the veggie patch to plant spinach, lettuce, beans & radish seed. Put in the broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts starts too. Also discovered that something had eaten all the tops off my new little beet sprouts. :( I was not pleased. I reseeded them and will hope for the best.
The major heat we had looks to have shut down the tomotes. Still have alot of fruit but no new flowers. The cukes got a second wind and I have about a dozen more pickle size cukes growing. The third planting of beans are about 3 feet high now and starting to flower.
Wally World got in a shipment of mums and I loaded up a cart. Potted some up for the deck and will put the rest in the front bed this morning.
Daughter #2 arrives Thursday evening for the long weekend. Looking forward to being able to show her around. She was here two years ago at Christmas but there was not alot we could do at that time, that and she thought it was too cold! Should have perfect weather while she is here. Suppose to be in the low to mid 80's.
One of my co workers has two horses and I think she thought I was off my rocker when I asked her if I could have some of their horse apples. When I told her I wanted it for my compost pile the light went on. I also kept her in tomatoes, peppers and cukes all season, so I think the idea of more fresh veggies won her over. I told her I would come out to her place and even shovel, but she said she would have her hubby load me up some large garbage bags.
My compost pile is finally large enough and has begun to cook and I am so thrilled. Doesn't take much to make me happy!
The light through the trees at sunrise this morning
Aug 19, 2007 | 4:20 AM PST
Tags: No Rain , Tomatoes , Cukes , Fall Garden , Internet , Dogs
Well we are suppose to have an 80 percent chance for rain today. Keeping my fingers crossed becaused I have really not watered much the last two days. Will get out this morning and wet some of the containers down real good.
My little old neighbor gave me a beautiful plant. She said it is swedish ivy, but this thing is no ivy. I will take some pix when the sun comes up and see if you all can help me figure out what this thing is.
The internet police at the office has blocked ALL but necessary websites. So I am unable to check GG in the mornings or at lunch. I am going to start carting my personal laptop to the office. I only peek in on MY time so there!!! Not like I don't do my work and 5 other peoples everyday!! Okay enough bellyaching. I know I sound bitter.
My fall beans are up and my beets are up. Too hot still for anything else and the clock is ticking. Might be all we get out of the fall garden. My cukes have a few more small ones left, but I am not seeing any new flowers and I think they are about finished up. Maters ripening all over the place and I have been living on toasted mater sandwiches for days. No problem there I love eating them that way. Though the boys will be glad when they are done. Because at least three times a week I tell them it is "fend for yourself night"! They don't eat maters like I do.
Well the dogs are up and giving me the evil eye. They want their trip to the lake and then we will come home and water, pray for rain and does anyone have a spare snake? Want to try out Angels grandfather's method for getting rain.
P.S. I posted some pix of the mystery plant in the General Discussion Forum.
Jul 20, 2007 | 6:58 AM PST
Tags: veggie , Pond , Daylilies , Squash Vine Borers , Tomato , Cukes , Zukes , raised beds , Banana Peppers , dogs , racoons , birds
Still dry but we are supposed to get some rain this afternoon. I should have watered last night but was just too tired. Been fighting a summer cold and trying to convenience myself I am not going to catch it. I am sure it will sneak up and bite me sooner or later. I don’t have time to be sick!
Gave some more pond plants away. I potted up some off shoots of the lotus and four leaf clover, added some hyacinths, water lettuce and gave them to a co worker who just put in a pond. My pond is still full!! Loads of lilies still blooming, but nothing from the lotus yet.
We will get the new raised bed up this weekend and do the soil prep, to have it ready for a fall veggie planting. Want to do some peas and beans and more greens. My yellow tomatoes have been the best producers so far. They sure are yummy. The red varieties are producing, just not as big or as many. I think the vine borers have finally discovered my zukes, I have two plants withering that I will pull out tonight. L Cukes are still doing great and I have one with dinner every night. I think the heat is starting to get to the peppers. The banana peppers are curling. I have been checking to be sure that they have adequate even water. Any suggestions?
More of the new daylilies are getting ready to bloom. These should be the Crimson Shadows. I have to late season ones that I hope will bloom also. One is called Late Embers and the other Fall Pink Melon. The two blooming now are called Go Figure.
Have the inevitable weed pulling and deadheading to do as well. Been lazy about the weeds in the flowerbeds with heat we have been having. The black and white brigade has been promised a trip down to the lake in the morning, so we will be up before the heat and I will have no excuses after that. The boys will be good and tired after a swim and Briar will have a good long ball session. They deserve it after being put aside a bit while company’s been here.
Rob now has the timing of the raccoon family’s visits down. They show up on the deck at about 5am every morning now and he knows it. No barking this morning, he just sat at the sliding glass door to watch them eat their breakfast. The babies are growing fast. Got a couple of dark pix of them this morning and will try to get them posted tonight.
The bird feeders have been really busy in the evenings. I am seeing a lot more indigo buntings this year. Not sure if there are more than normal or I am just providing a better seed selection. Must make some more of Gene’s suet for the pileated woodies. They are now daily visitors too.
Jul 13, 2007 | 2:38 PM PST
Tags: zucchini , cukes , tomatoes
As much as I loved seeing the kids, I really must admit that it is nice to have my house and routine back to normal. We had a blast, but I am enjoying the peace and quiet again. Having my best bud here was wonderful too and we had a great time. I miss her very much!
The veggie patch is keeping me busy. So many tomatoes that I have started giving some away. I made some spaghetti sauce Sunday and it was delish! I will make some more and freeze it this weekend. Made a couple of jars of refrigerated pickled banana peppers while the sauce was cooking. In a week or two I will have cukes like crazy. I think I will pick some of the young ones and pickle those. Zukes and cukes are still flowering and I have had a few more zucchinis. We got the wood for the additional raised beds and I hope to get it started this weekend so that we can get some fall crops in.
This being my first veggie garden (done container tomatoes before) but never anything like this; I have to say I have learned a lot from everyone here and my own mistakes. Size does matter and for my little patch I have learned what to plant where next season.
The pond is completely covered in plants and I need to get out and take some photos of it. Had a neighbor down the road ask if we had taken the whole thing a part and started over, because she said it looked so different from when the previous owners of our house had it. Told her all I had done was added some rock to the top and the plants. She said she had a small pond in her back yard but only had a lily in it. I gave her a bag full of water lettuce, hyacinths and some cuttings with roots of the four leaf clover. Went by her place when I was walking the dogs and she showed me her pond with the new plants in it. It looked so nice and she has some really pretty fish too.
My daylilies are blooming like mad and I am really enjoying them, though my daughter was upset with me for planting them. They are poisonous to dogs! Okay my dogs don’t eat my flowers so what’s the beef? Right? She spent most of her vacation here keeping her 9 month old border collie from eating them. Sorry dear, I trained mine already. (teehee)
Been keeping the feeders and trough full and the squirrels are behaving. I have a Mama Coon and three raccoon babies visiting every night. I leave them a pile of peanuts and sliced apples. My neighbor brought me a homemade suet feeder and a recipe for the suet he makes. Bless his heart he is the sweetest ol’ guy. He says he sees me filling the feeders and sitting there watching the birds and knew I would enjoy it. I made his recipe and the next day had a mom and baby Pileated Woodpecker feeding at it. Got some great pix and framed one for Gene so he could see what his feeder and recipe brought to my deck. I will try to get them posted here later today.
Hubby is now off to Calif on business so for the next five days it’s just me and the boy and the dogs.
Jun 29, 2007 | 6:41 AM PST
Tags: zucchini , Cukes , elephant ears , Critters , Squirrels , July 4th , racoons , veggies , tomato
Went out to check the veggie patch and pull a few green tomatoes to send to my mom. They are still off vagabonding in their RV and she loves fried green tomatoes. I have zukes and cukes all over the place. Wow. I put in a few extra plants just to be sure at least a few would take well, all of them took well! Also now that everything in there has matured, I am seeing my errors of where I planted and being able to maneuver around in that fenced space is getting more difficult. I can hardly wait for next year, now that I have learned these important lessons I have big plans!! Hubby is probably going to grumble about building more raised beds but if we get them up now I can work on the soil in them for next spring, right? And…still might be early enough to have a fall planting…more ideas!
My elephant ears are going crazy with all the rain and heat they are loving it! I think I will put in a few more next year; they really break up all that brick from the wall of the garage.
Will get up early tomorrow and get the lawn mowed and things spruced up outside, do the regular housekeeping when it is too hot outside. The house full is coming and I can hardly wait to see them all!! Two of the kids are leaving California this evening and should hit Arkansas Saturday night or Sunday morning. They are going to switch off and drive straight through. One more kid flies in on Sunday afternoon and my best buddy from Seattle gets in Monday night. I am so excited I haven’t been able to sleep. Like a kid on Christmas Eve.
The squirrels and I have worked out a great schedule with the feeding trough. They come for breakfast every morning and are gone the rest of the day. This allows me to fill it the night before and it’s all ready for them when they arrive. Thankfully it has kept them out of my herb pots and other flowers on the deck.
The coon has been coming nightly and I leave him a treat of peanuts and apple slices and he stays out of my bird feeders. He does continue to use the bird bath as his wash bowl, so that must be emptied and refilled every morning. Plan to camp out in the dark diningroom by the sliding glass door and watch for him Saturday night while I am waiting for the kids to arrive. Hopefully I can get some shots of him.
The chipmunk that I have been feeding at the back of my pond has planted his seed stashes all over my flower beds. I am still finding sunflower sprouts coming up all over the place. No more sunflowers in the front yard please! So sadly I have stopped feeding in that area of the yard.
The black and white brigade will get their baths and frontline tomorrow morning too. They need to be pretty and clean when their kids arrive. Rob to this day goes nuts when he hears a VW Beetle drive by. He is so sure that his girl is coming to see him. I feel so sad for him when he finally realizes it’s not his Shannon coming. Now we are all just counting the hours till they arrive!Jun 1, 2007 | 10:29 AM PST
Tags: Veggie , hostas , elephant ears , clematis , squash , cukes , compost , beans , tomato
Two of the three elephant ears I planted are up and growing like crazy. My white clematis has two buds on it and the red one has finally decided to grow. The annual bed with the sun flowers, petunias and zinnias is filling in more everyday. If I could just keep the neighbor’s sheltie from doing his business there I think it would do better.
The hostas in the shade bed are all putting up buds and will flower soon. The coleus are huge and have filled in wonderfully. All the impatience are thick with flowers and the calla lily now has five blooms on it.
My dinner plate dahlias all have buds now and I can’t wait to see them bloom!! Lion Bane, Larkspur, Sweet William, Columbines, Coral Bells are all going great in my woodland bed.
The veggie patch is my favorite place. Checked last night and my squash all have blooms or buds and the cukes are not far behind. I pick four beans and ate them right there last night, oh so sweet. My two later tomatoes are now blooming and will add to the high count of maters very soon. Think my lettuce and spinach are just about done and I have some more bean starts that I am going to put in their place. So I will pull out the last of those greens this weekend and get that area ready for the beans. Need to start looking for some canning or pickling recipes for banana peppers, I am going to have a ton of those. I love pickled peppers.
Hubbers cut the lawns last night and watered a few of my pots that were looking sad after the first sunny day we’ve had in a while. The new willow likes its new digs at the back of the pond. I sent photos to our vagabonding parents and they loved all the work we have done so far. I will try to get on later tonight and post some update photos.
Started my compost heap but with all the rain we have had this week it still isn’t getting warm. What have I done wrong? I layered browns and greens just like the book says, should I give it a stir already? I shredded leafs that I used really well and added a layer of sticks at the bottom for air. Then in went a layer of grass clippings and deadheaded flowers, a layer of dried leafs, then more of the same and so on, with a squirt of water. But then it has rained all week also, is that the problem?
