Preserving

Friday, July 22, 2011

Hot Home Garden Happenings

Here's what's happening at the home garden. Warning...lots of pics!

The Spaghetti Squash vines growing at the end of the herb garden are doing well so far. I counted 3 nice size squash this morning without looking very well. It's just too darn hot out. I will be pleased to get 6 nice squash before the dreaded SVB's decide to take the vines lives! Last year the SVB's were out of control and I got absolutely no squash of any kind!

Here's part of the Herb Garden. It's actually shaped in an L and goes behind the patio furniture. I really thinned it out this year and continue to trim the plants regularly for drying. I really should add some much needed compost to this bed....but, that will have to wait until things cool down a bit.

My first attempt at growing Rosemary from seed has been very successful. All of the plants are doing really well.

Here are Beds 2 & 3 which have 4 tomatoes & some carrots in each bed. If you look close, (click to enlarge any picture) you can see that I used a plastic fencing as bunny protection. This plastic fencing was around half the bed and I had chicken wire around the other half. Well somebody decided to stand on the posts lying there, pull the plastic fencing down and have a nice snack! After finding what is pictured below, I added some chicken wire to keep that hungry critter out! I didn't have any more chicken wire at the time I installed the plastic fencing since it was being used in the spring to keep the bunnies from eating the peas next door.

That was a huge Pineapple tomato (seed from Diana)! The hungry critter ate about 1/3 of the tomato and it still weighed almost 22 ounces!

Bed 1, which previously had the garlic, celery and peas growing in it is half empty. There are late planted cucumbers around part of the perimeter and dry beans in half the bed. I will plant spinach in the other half of the bed for a Fall crop.

The left side of the cold frame bed has a couple of peppers, some leeks, basil and I'm desperately trying to get some fall carrots going under those boards. You would think somebody would go out there and start picking that basil for drying!!

The right side of the cold frame bed is like a jungle. I have two tomato plants on the right and couple of peppers, some eggplants and some basil growing in it. The one tomato is a MWC and is basically free ranging right now since it has out grown the tomato cage. It will however provide some much needed shade for lettuce to grow under it. You would think somebody would get this plant under control!

Here's another angle of the two tomato beds and part of the cold frame bed. As you can see the tomatoes are doing quite well and have seemed to stay about the same height of 7' for awhile now.

Although the plants are doing well, the fruit is having a tough time ripening correctly. They are also cracking. I'm sure it's due to this horrible weather we are having. I decided to pick a lot of the tomatoes and bring them inside to finish ripening and avoid further damage. "The Italian" really needs at least 100 jars of tomatoes to get him through the year!

Well, it's about 10:45 AM, I'm eating my lunch and in need of a little nap before I tackle any canning in the kitchen! This weather and very early morning and evening garden chores really takes the energy right out of you!

20 comments:

  1. Things look great in spite of the heat! I'm jealous, your squash vines look so healthy on the fence, the darn SVB's have gotten almost everything here, and the squash bugs are taking over everything, ugh the heat doesn't even faze them!

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  2. Very nice pics! Looks like you'll have some nice spaghetti squash if the borer will stay away.

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  3. I've got borers in my zucchini already. I'm so so sad. I hope they live. Occasionally they do, but of course they are never the same afterwards. All my winter squash is C. moschata which is resistant to them. So I hope I get a lot of winter squash. So far only one has set though.

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  4. Your garden is looking GREAT considering all the heat we've had! (i'm in detroit). I have man-eating rabbits, too, that are constantly thwarting my efforts to keep them out. I LOVE seeing all those pictures =)

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  5. Erin, I was inspecting the vines here at the house every other day for eggs....but, I have given them a good look for at least a week or more. Those vines looked good last year too until the dreaded SVB's got them.

    Thanks EG, I really need to go out in the heat and inspect those plants!

    Daphne, Do you inject the vines with BT when you have found signs of them entering? I was going to pick up a syring at the pharmacy last week but forgot to.

    Dorothy, The home garden is faring the weather well. It's the plots that I'm worried about. I can put the sprinkler on at home and give the gardens a good thorough watering....but not at the plots! These darn city rabbits are worse then any country rabbits!

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  6. wonderful pics! Everything is so very neat and organized. Maybe I should hire you to come up here and teach me a few things..lol Very envious of your herb garden!

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  7. Thanks Mrs.Pickles, The home garden may look neat and organized....but the plots are a hot mess! It's going to take me a couple of days once this weather breaks to straighten that mess out! Next year will be better over there. I just didn't have the time to do what needed to be done.

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  8. Well, hope you have luck finding SOMEBODY. I've been searching for weeks and can't find them!
    :D

    Don't forget to take some cuttings off your Rosemary this fall---you'll have fine starts by spring (and a bit easier than seeds)

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  9. I thought I'd have lots of tomato's this year to make a lot of my own sauce...not so..if it's not the worms,slugs and or deer it's the weather..I'm just harvesting what I can and hope for the best next time..

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  10. I am glad to see your CP look that way too. I thought it was just my plants. Normally they ripen so beautifully. It is a shame the critter got so much of that nice tomato. Good for you for still using it.

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  11. Your garden looks great! Wonder what munched on your tomato! That looks terrible! I would have been MAD! I have already been fighting the stinkin svb's! I need to go perform surgery on a few plants! But it is sooooo hot! I have injected some with some bt, but not sure it is working!uhg!

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  12. I like how you hang the spaghetti squash vines. It took me 3 years to get the squash bugs under control, I still get some, but not as bad. I have been using duck tapes to catch them and to get rid of the eggs.

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  13. How big are the tomatoes on your MWC? Mine have started ripening, but they are all the size of peas. Both the monster bush and the small one have the tiny tomatoes. I picked my first Cherokee Purple yesterday, and it was ripe and ready today....and I was gone all day! Shell I eat it for a bed time snack or take my chances it will still be good for a BLT tomorrow? Decisions, decisions ;-)

    I bought a new freezer today for all my beans.

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  14. Sue, I'll let you know if I find that Somebody! That's a good idea to take cuttings of the rosemary for starts.

    Ginny, It's been a tough year for gardening. We have to take what we get and make the most of it.

    Jane, The CP's were fine in the beginning. It must be the weather if yours are doing the same thing.

    Shawn Ann, It must have been either a bunny or a groundhog. Those darn SVB's are just horrible!

    Mac, My home garden is pretty small, so I learned to grow in every direction that I can. Duct tape sounds like a good idea!

    Granny, the MWC should be the size of a dime or a little bigger. Your weather must be making your tomatoes small. I hope that you ate that CP for a bed time snack!

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  15. i've tried twice to grow rosemary from seed - drat! never works for me.

    great work and hope you get tons of squash this time
    ;-)

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  16. It's cat protection I need in our garden.

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  17. You grew rosemary from seed!! That's amazing. I have hedges of rosemary...it's an evergreen plant here. Your garden looks lovely, by the way...

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  18. Your home garden is looking very good. I would take your tomatoes (cracks and all) as we are in a tomato holding pattern due to continued unusually cool conditions this summer. Hard to get peppers and tomatoes to ripen without some heat.

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  19. Ohiofarmgirl, this was my first try and I had no problem. That's probably because I had no clue it was hard to germinate!

    Sue, my kitties are good about staying out of the garden.

    Thanks Lynda, the plots are looking as good though.

    Laura, The heat wave is coming to an end. I just wish it would rain. We had about a 10 minute shower an hour ago.

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  20. The problem is that the kitties aren't ours so we have no control over them - other than when my sister's little dog is on patrol!

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