† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
|
| Page 3 of 4 | First  |
1 | 2 | 3 |
4 |  Last |
It's happened! A miracle! Look!
I just went out to my balcony to sweep up the petals from the impatiens - and lo and behold - TOMATOES! RED tomatoes!!! I'm sooooooooooo pleased!
I could not believe my eyes. I'd given up hope. Thought those little guys would be green until Christmas. Remember how I was fretting and fretting in the early Summer that there was absolutely no sign of anything but lovely green leaves. Then suddenly I discovered wee tiny blossoms ... just a few. I watched them for a long time and nothing seemed to be happening with them. Someone on the forum suggested I tickle them. So, tickle I did. I think I tickled them every day for a week! I guess it worked huh?
I just ate some and they are very tasty. Mmmmm.
We've had such marvellous weather out here lately. Unbelieveable. I think they call this Indian Summer. It's just wonderful. Hope its like this at your place too!
Cheers!
RN
Thank you for all the warm wishes concerning my eyes! The swelling did go down during the day and evening and now, you can barely see it.
To answer bloominnana, I decide to mutilate my bed of day lilies because they were packed under at least 5" of grass clippings and other things. No one really took care to remove the weeds, make sure no garbage was swept in by the wind, etc. So, it took me nearly two hours to cut the plants, remove the dead grass, remove the weed, trow out some pieces of plastic, etc. Now, it's been two or three days and I can see that the leaves have already started to grow (at least an inch from what I can see).
It has a nice clean look to it and I am tempted to do this every year, but I most likely will not . I fear that it may weaken the plant and give me less flowers. To make sure that they do not overly propagate, I will dig a little and place some rocks or bricks or planks of wood.
As for the potted daylilies, I haven't cut those. They are neat and without weed or debris, they are even making babies! I will keep those in pots till next summer, when I can plant them in a decorative basket outside.
The tomato seeds are growing nicely. they are in an old plastic donut container, with a lid. I place them outside, in the sun, during the day and take them inside the house. I know some people have very elaborate settings with light and heat sources when it comes to growing plants, but I refuse to fall into that. I will spend money for soil, plants, seeds and that's it. Being poor and cheap is a nice combo! :)
And yes that is a lot of seed. I did only pay 10 cents of all of them... So, going back to money, it seems to be even more economical to just grow your vegetables and fruits than to buy them at the store. What's your opinion?
At any rate, If they all grow... Well, I'm SOL and PWF. (#@!$ out of luck and pretty well f*cked). Heard that lil gem from Gorge Carlin on one of his shows and I'm making it mine! Sorry if the cursing offended anyone. :)
So, yes, if they all grow, I will be in trouble, I know no one will take them so I will have to commit tomato genocide. and keep only 3 or 4 plants.
Plant food! I've had a bad experience. An out of date plant food was given to my pothos golden and my baby lemon trees. It smelt like cat pee, but hubby assured me that he purchased it a while ago and that it was actually plant food. Well my pothos golden stopped growing for a while! and it killed 2 out 3 of my lemon trees!
I've emptied the bottle, threw it in the garbage and told it I would see it in hell. Screw that, I am not using cold coffee for my plants. I usually brew 4 VERY strong cups and mix that with a gallon of cold water. Pothos golden, lemon tree, potted daylilies and asiatic lilies seem to love it.
I wanted to take some pictures, but I seem to have misplaced the usb cord (SOMEONE needs to be a better housekeeper!... oh wait.... That's me!) I promes pictures as soon as that lazy house keeper find the cord!
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
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.
I currently have uploaded all of my photos
online that I have taken during the 2007 gardening season. I have taken
photos from the spring time to the present. You will be able to see my
husband’s and my progress in the garden, including some of the canning that we
both have recently completed. This year, we grew roma, beef steak, and
Better boy tomatoes; jalapeño, chili, bell, Anaheim, banana and Habanero
peppers; cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and broccoli; Sugar Snap peas,
carrots, and radishes; spinach, Romaine, Black Seeded and leaf lettuce; red and
white onions, green beans, okra, and corn; cucumbers, summer, and zucchini
squash; pumpkin, water melon, and cantaloupe. Of my entire garden, the
only vegetables that did not produce, due to insects were the brussel sprouts,
cauliflower and broccoli. We did have only one head of broccoli and that
is all. Otherwise, our garden was truly blessed by the Lord. Our
neighbor’s gardens were blessed, as well. This year has been a great year
for planting and harvesting! Please feel free to take a look at all
my 2007 Garden Photos and enjoy what I have enjoyed this
year!
P.S. As I finish my canning season, I may add a few more photos of the vegetables and fruits that I can during the 2007 Gardening Season!
Our tomatoes look great untill they ripe and then they get a black rotten spot on the bottom. I
have been told that maybe it is some type of fungus....... has anyone had this problem if so
what can I do to prevent this?
Can you believe it is August already? Where has this year gone? Seems like just yesterday was early April and I was out trying to save everything from the freeze we had. Still mourning the loss of my Japanese maple, the dappled willow that has replaced it is doing grand though! Before we know it fall will be here, can you believe it? Kinda of looking forward to the change in seasons again. Seems like we went from freeze to 90+ degrees over night.
The folks are coming home for September; they have been vagabonding in their RV since February. Don’t think they will hang out long though; they have plans to be in Arizona in October. They are having a blast and enjoying the road while they still can.
Daughter number 2 is coming out from So Cal for Labor Day weekend. This will be her second trip out. Last time she came for Christmas and really didn’t like the cold. Looking forward to her visit and being able to show her around.
I order some more daylilies (stops to slap mouse hand to keep from ordering more on line). Also put in an order for some bulbs to put in this fall.
We went by the nursery last night to see if they had their fall veggie starts. They said they should be in next week. Wow, I hope that will give them enough time. The fall raised veggie patch is ready and waiting for the starts to put in.
I am eating cucumbers for breakfast lunch and dinner. Even got the boy to try them and he liked them. What a surprise that was. Ryan is autistic and getting him to try new things is really hard sometimes. I have to catch him in the right mood. Haven’t had any ripe tomatoes the last few days. But there are lots of large greenies. My plants are loaded and leaning.
Just been watering constantly with our 90+ degree heat (gosh, I am going to hate to see our water bill) and even with twice a day water my containers are beginning to look sad. I moved everything into the shade on the porch last night maybe that will help.
Mom and the baby coonies are coming every night. I have started feeding them cheap dry cat food. My animal cracker & peanut expense account was dwindling. They seem to like the cat food and so far have been no trouble. They have their snack and move on. The squirrel trough now doubles at night as a raccoon trough. Sunflower seeds during the day and cat food at night. Cheri’s menagerie is growing…
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.
It's been a while, and everything's growing so well. I should have given the peas something higher to climb up because now they are climbing out. But they are delicious, and they seem happy enough.
The raspberries are getting close to their end, but they have been so delicious. Kudos to the previous tennents who planted them.
The parsley is looking happy inbetween the tomatoes, though I'm not sure the tomatoes in the terrace are going to bear fruit. I think the soil could use some compost in a bad way, but it's probably going to have to wait till fall. The beans are struggling on too, and so far one of them is trying for a bean. I must have kept them inside too long, because once I planted them outside, they all got eaten and sunburned (despite my shade cloth and soapy water spray), only to recover slowly with new, darker leaves that can handle the outside clime. Not sure if they'll get around to many beans, but I'm glad they struggled though.
And lastly, I pulled a garlic up yesterday. Not sure if it's too early, but next time I cook, we'll find out!
Since my last entry I've canned up the case of mators I bought from the Produce stand, made 22 pts an 6 pts of juice. Not bad I didn't think. The corn I got from my BIL made 15 1/2 pts, although I like using qt bags for them an they are a little more than a pint in them, then bagged 4 bags of corn on cob with 4-5 ears per bag. I got one of those "SealaMeal" things back for Xmas an will be interesting to see how well things hold up. Since most of the year I am cooking just for two I see no need in wasting food using qt jars or bags filled to the max.
A friend of mine is suppose to get me some more corn tomorrow an I thought I'd just bag them up for corn on the cob. Just in case my BIL gets busy an can't get me anymore corn I've got a backup plan. My luck both will come thru an I'll have overload. Suppose to work in the shop this week end as well, so I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.
Yesterday I picked quiet a few tomatoes from my garden an made some plain tomatoe sauce an more juice. I couldn't believe how many more were ready this afternoon to be picked again. So hopefully over the weekend I can find the time to do up some spaghetti sauce. I like using pt jars for those to, then I add 1 pt of the plain tomatoe sauce with it along with garlic an basil pesto. Usually turns out pretty good.
While at the grocery store a little while ago (which I don't go often) I did have to restock on a few things an wound up buying a 5 lb bag of carrots. We just love carrots with leeks cooked together. It is better using fresh carrots right out of the garden but I don't have any other than the canned ones which will do fine in stews, but we like a little crunch left in them with this dish. All I do is coat the bottom of a pan with EVOO an a little butter, Cut the carrots up to where they aren't to small or to large add a little salt an pepper an cook them just enough for them to be done but leaving a little crunch in the center, the last couple minutes of cook time add 1 cut up an cleaned, diced leek. Man is it good! I got this recipe from a friend of mine an have been making it ever since. No one in my house cared much for plain cooked carrots til I started making this, even my picky DD.
I got a good check up with the doc yesterday, upped my weight limit to 20 lbs. You know what that means right? I can now do a few things in the yard an garden, may not be much but its better than it was b4. So on my way home yesterday I stopped by the produce stand an bought a case of mators which came from Sloccomb, Al. So I knew they would be good. Sloccomb is known around here for having the best tasting tomatoes. Something to do with the soil there. They had just been picked the afternoon b4, an knowing how I need to replenish my tomatoe supply I figured why not. So today I'm canning those up.
This morning I got the veggie sprinkler going at 7:30 b4 the heat sets in. Ordinarilly I can only water in late evening due to my work hours, but while I'm on leave its nice to be able to water in the mornings. Everyday I have been harvesting a few things like cukes, mators, few staggered strawberries. A couple days ago the zuke plant replacement I noticed was wilting, well something apparently cut it off at the base. So I'm not sure if I want to replace it yet again or just give up on zukes this year.
Late yesterday afternoon after my nap an boredom set in I went out on the porch an decided to prune out some of the dead canes out of my 2 climbers at the entrance. Nothing strinuous, b4 I knew it I had a couple small piles I now need to take to the edge of the woods. But the roses look better! Hiding on a cane was a grown GA. Thumper (Grasshopper), they east everything in site. So far since seeing them in early spring everytime I see one or more I stomp them to death. By doing this I have decreased the numbers I see almost daily. So to grasshopper heaven he went.
Well time to get busy while the mood has hit me, trudy
Mine was yesterday…I am kind of like Garfield, I hate Mondays. Work was just plain Monday hectic, chased my tail all day at the office. On the way home, hubby murdered a squirrel in the road. Okay, okay, I know there are tons of them and this one won’t make a dent, but he could have slowed down and not hit it at all. Let’s just say that I let him know how I felt and he won’t be doing that again with me in the car. Really, he did feel bad about it and kept apologizing. I told him to tell it to the squirrel.
We got home to find that the murder victim’s friends had pulled over and chewed up my sunflowers. No real tragedy there, but the fallen stock knocked a bloom off my clematis. Went out to the veggie patch to find a major broken limb on one of my tomatoes. We had a pretty good storm yesterday and I am sure the wind took it down.
Next, I was walking around the pond to see my latest lily bloom and I think the murderer rigged one of the flagstones at the edge of the pond to try to get rid of his only witness to the crime. You know how everything moves in slow motion in a fall? Well that is what it was like, seemed to take forever! The flagstone landed on my foot and it took quite a bit of slipping and sliding to get myself up outta there. Luckily, there were no floating fish bodies, just my big old behind taking a dip. Of course I really got razed by hubby…grrrrr.
Took a shower to wash off the pond scum, made dinner, took two Excedrin migraine and went to bed. Note: when you need to take an aspirin for the pain caused by a flagstone that hit your foot as you fell in your pond, DON’T use migraine formula at bed time…it contains caffeine. So on top of the rest of my lovely Monday, I did not sleep at all. Hope y’all had a better day.
I'm a couple days late on this entry, had the surgery on Thursday, but on Wed. I bought 2/6pks of bell peppers to help fill in where the garlic was dug up an let the store owner talk me into Galieth (sp) tomatoe saying any plants I bought I'd get a 10% discount. I think he said that cause I was telling him he needed to start having some sales on the plants cuz its getting to hot to be trying to plant things here.
I had only planned on getting my chicks some more feed an the peppers, ok ok I'm easily persuaded when it comes to plants of any kind. His employee tried to get me to get the larger peppers that had blooms on them already, but I stood my ground on that one. I told him NO, that I already had plenty in the ground an by getting the ones smaller I wouldn't be overwhelmed all at once with peppers. Besides the bigger the plant in the pot may make it more difficult for them to get established. An knowing I wouldn't be able to be out there to tend to them I think I made the right choice. Dug a few more garlics an put them in the greenhouse shade area to cure. While there the ones I dug the other day were doing nicely, so I trimmed off some the roots on some of them an let them be a little longer.
Seeing how nothing got watered yesterday cuz we got home late from the hospital I turned on the sprinkler this morning an got DH to change out the stations after an hour per station. I knew not to try an pull on the hoses to change them out. But I did pick one of the Black Krim mators while out there. It was just calling my name, what can I say. Ok I can't sit here long so till next time. trudy
Hi everyone, how are you tonight? I hope this finds everyone well. I hope everybody's garden is growing and blooming as they should!
Just wanted to let you know that everything is going well in my garden. I now have tons of tomatoes, basil, sage, thyme, dill, scallions, radish, carrots, peas, strawberries and my coleus is growing beautifully!! I only have 1 green pepper so far and my broccoli raab is so far so good. I haven't had to really water the garden because we seem to be getting overnight showers almost every night so that saves me the water. I am waiting for my tomatoes to turn red. I posted here about it and was told not to water them and when I told my husband he told me that I have to water them. I don't know what to believe. This is the first time I have ever had more than 5 or 6 tomatoes. I have like 20 roma's, about 15 cherry and like 20 grape tomatoes. I am just waiting. Any other suggestions would be helpful. One person tells me to stop watering them so they will ripen and another person tells me to continue watering them so they get bigger and they will ripen on their own. Which one is true, false or are they both wrong????? Questions, questions, questions!!
See everybody later. I have to get my dinner out of the oven now.
Take care all, Byeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Jeanne
Never in my life have I EVER committed to writing daily for longer than, oh...3 days. This blog hasn't been any different. So, let me see if I can summarize the last week or so here to fill in the gaps. I planted 2 rows of corn and all of a sudden (it seemed like they popped up overnight) we have little corn plants. Side story: a handwritten sign at a road-side veggie stand near us says "cron" instead of "corn" each summer, so my husband and I jokingly call corn cron now all the time. It's gotten to where I almost automatically typed cron just now.
Anyhoodle, the corn plants are doing nicely. My topsy turvy tomatoes are flourishing. All our strawberries are being eaten, the bean plants have SHOT up so fast. The peas look okay, but they are a little pale and the veins are a light green color, giving them a variagated appearance. Don't know if that' s a sign that something's off, or what. Everything looks okay. Our rhodies are so amazing right now. Purple, red and hot pink are all blooming at once, as are our california lilacs and some lillies that are BRIGHT orange. It's a riot of color. I was thinking about gardening books I've seen that describe choosing flower colors that are complementary. I didn't put ANY thought into color combinations. I was too busy thinking of light and water needs. And the colors look incredible together.
My cilantro, basil and oregano have already started to bolt, darnit. I would love to find a way to grow cilantro and basil all summer without it bolting.
This weekend it's more chipping for me! We need many more cart-loads to cover the veggie garden area.
We're still waiting for the pumpkins and sunflowers to pop up. We're so behind with them.
There, I wrote. Let's see how long I procrastinate next time.
Hey all, I just wanted to pop on over and let everyone know that I have been very busy with the boys battling illness after illness and now I have an ear ache that is killing me and I am going to the doctor for today.
Everything in my garden is growing wonderfully. I have tons of tomatoes and strawberries that are not quite ready for picking. So far I have lots of herbs and 1 green pepper that is getting bigger everyday. My carrots, peas, radish, broccoli raab and more herbs are growing but are not ready to be harvested.
I lost all my spinach, it died on me so I am going to plant more. We ate the mesclun mix salad with dinner one night and the boys devoured it. They call salad "dinosaur food" and they couldn't wait to eat it, so I cut it down and we enjoyed it. Some of what was left over in the pot died and the rest of it is growing tall and now has flowers on it! I will also be planting more salad soon.
I really didn't think my garden would turn out to be as successful as it is. I am very proud of myself and I can't wait to get my hands on the first tomato, strawberry, radish, carrot and pea and taste the fruits of my labor! I absolutely have fallen in love with gardening. It is amazing to me when I go out everyday and see how big my tomatoes and pepper have gotten since the night before. I love seeing the strawberries popping up all over like crazy. It is like a dream come true for me. I have always wanted the ability to grow my own foods and be rewarded with success and now it has come true for me!!
I can't wait til the first tomato gets ripe enough to pick, I am hauling my butt to the store and getting some fresh mozzarella cheese and I am going to make my very first tomato, basil and mozzarella salad with fresh home grown tomatoes and basil from MY GARDEN!!! Oooohhhhhhhh, I am getting very excited!
Well gotta run now, take care all!
Jeanne
Well I had it all writen down, then stepped away an lost it all. Saying I wasn't logged in an couldn't find the page I requested. Really you admin should do something about that delay. The page was saying I was logged in, when I really wasn't. So I continued with my entry. Then to find out I wasn't logged in an all my entry was for nothing.
Now to get back my thoughts an rewrite this.
Not to much has been going on around here, I refilled my fish pond yesterday an left to go to a tournament weigh in an of course forgot about it. While out taking photos this morning I discovered it, oops!! Sure was clean looking, an really full, overflowing on the edges. The plants in the overflow edges where it made its path really loved the extra drink.
I dug some potatoes this morning from where the tops had died, suppose to be a sign that they are done growing. Boy what a disappointment!! The seed potatoes I planted were bigger than the harvest. Don't know what I'm not doing right, I think it must be my soil. Now I have a good size spot to grow something else, pehaps some okra.
I picked 2 beefsteak size Amillia tomatoes yesterday also, first for the season. Although they are a hybrid I don't mind some hybrids in the garden depending on what it is. Also picked a few banana peppers an a cucumber. My eggplants are not growing, I think I have ants on them or something, will have to recheck an treat them.
Well this is my shorter version of what I did have written, it'll do
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
