Just in from a thorough check and feeding of the *abandoned for a week* veggie patch...

All in all it looks pretty good. My once naked-looking tomatoes look very nice, and the pumpkin and melon plants are about 5 times bigger than when we left! Cucumbers and vining squash are climbing the fences, and the long beans have reached the tops of their 10 foot high supports and are now blooming.

Picked a couple of perfect-sized Spacemaster cucumbers from buds I missed when I was pinching them off, so I guess I might not have had to remove blossoms before we left after all. I'm still glad that I did though, since I'll be too busy playing catch-up this week to have done anything with bunches of them anyway.

Cabbage worms had their way while I was gone, but I only found a few (five or six) squash bugs scattered throughout my 20 or so plants. A few snap bean plants disappeared entirely (rabbits or groundhogs probably), but there are still a half-dozen or so left. The seedlings from seeds I planted a week before we left aren't showing in abundance, but I'm hoping that some water might bring some more out yet.



Susan,

This plant doesn't look terribly diseased or anything like that...to me, it just looks hungry. Have you tried multiple feedings of compost tea or something similar? Some of mine looked somewhat similar before I gave them plenty of manure tea...so if you haven't yet tried it, it's worth a shot, I think.

stilldew said:

[Edited for clarity]

Hurry! Welcome back chelle. The veggie patch sounds like it did well all in all during your absence.

I hope you pick off and drop those squash bugs into a soapy water container. You have any Neem? A nice Neem spray works well on killing the eggs of any pests.

Yesterday early afternoon I picked this little batch of veggies to make for dinner. I have green beans, a zucchini, and three eggplants, two of which are white. Then some peppers.


I was gonna cut up and stir fry them but I never got to it so it will be tonights dinner instead.

Then late last afternoon my grass cutting guys came around to cut my grass. Had the boss help me put these green fence stakes at each end of my tomato garden and tie rope so that the tomato cages don't flop forward.


That bed is steady now, we can have rain and winds and the tomato cages will stay put and not flop down.

Anyway boss said he was hoping I had red ripe tomatoes. Nope, not yet! So he spots the zucchini so I offered that instead. He wiped me out of zucchini last night. Plants better make more fast!

Thanks, Rita! It's so good to be back!

I've just been handpicking and squishing or drowning the bugs, eggs and worms I don't want. There are plenty of mantis, birds, ladybugs, parasitic wasps and other good guys here that will balance most things if I help out just a bit. I only wish they'd annoy the rabbits into leaving the garden, too!

On a good note: I haven't seen nearly as many of those tiny black leaf-eating beetles this year, as last. Hopefully, it'll stay that way.

Opps more pictures of my little veggie haul from yesterday.

Peppers, fairy tale eggplant, white eggplants, all eggplants, Cavili Zucchini and green beans.

chelle said:Thanks, Rita! It's so good to be back!

I've just been handpicking and squishing or drowning the bugs, eggs and worms I don't want. There are plenty of mantis, birds, ladybugs, parasitic wasps and other good guys here that will balance most things if I help out just a bit. I only wish they'd annoy the rabbits into leaving the garden, too!

On a good note: I haven't seen nearly as many of those tiny black leaf-eating beetles this year, as last. Hopefully, it'll stay that way.

Sounds like you know exactly what to do.


If I didn't spray my squash with the Neem, it would be a disaster here. But really mostly I just let things be.

Welcome back, Chelle!

It sounds like things didn't get too out of hand while you were gone.

Rita, nice harvest! You'll have a tasty dinner tonight. Now you just need a couple of tomatoes to ripen!

I was weeding like crazy today but still got rained out. I can see my strawberries. Not quite finished, but getting there. I took a picture but the rain blurred it.

Yes, I am really looking forward to red ripe tomatoes.

Planted my little zuc seedlings. Hope they grow quickly!

I cut up the veggies and then was thinking. This is the first time I have had eggplant from my garden. So instead of stir fry I added marinara sauce to the pan until I had enough to coat everything. Then I covered and simmered at a low heat until tender. Just tasted a piece of eggplant. Oh yummy!

Time for dinner!

Yesterday I planted (in pots) my Caserta zuc seedlings. I also pulled out and threw away one of those original zucs. The stem just fell apart in my hands as it was rotted clear thru. The other has a nice green zuc developing not far from harvest so I left the plant but it will go.

In the rotted stem I found a live borer so I guess I didn't do well on the injections on that one. Or not good enough. I am thinking that once the plant gets to the really bad wilted stage these were in then plants are gonners. My stratagy is to start replacement plants at various times during the season. And spray and inject healthy stems. Hopefully this will work.

Hot, hot, hot again today. Summer is back!

Sounds like a good plan.

Hot and humid here too. Babysat today but was able to get out to pick some cukes and tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes still rotting on the vines. At least the chickens are having a feast! But I cooked spaghetti sauce today from some of the "seconds." It was pretty good. I'm am very tired tonight though. Going to try and finish weeding and mulching the strawberries tomorrow. More rain AGAIN today!

Those naked-stemmed tomato plants of mine sure don't show it anymore!


Now...


Before...


I'd read somewhere to remove all leaves below the first set of flower buds on indeterminate varieties...so, I did it. Seems to be working out okay, so far. They look healthy and there's plenty of large fruit already...way ahead of my usual schedule.


Arlene,
I sure do hope all that rain has somewhere safe to flow away...

Your tomatoes do look very healthy. Mine got sick and all the bottom leaves died so I had to strip them. They look naked but some are loaded with tomatoes. The problem is so many are rotting on the vine. Everyone here is having the same problem. My garden slopes so I haven't had any pools of rain, just rain every day now for what seems like forever. I've had a fe peppers rot on the stems also. If it doesn't stop.soon I may not have a pepper crop either.

Hurray Chelle. Your tomato plants look FAB-U-LOUS!

Arlene, I sure hope your tomato plants grow out of their rotting stage.

Thanks, Rita, but I doubt there's much hope this year. We'll get some, just not as many as we could have but that's okay. And all the cracked ones I'll make sauce with and freeze.

I am late starting inside my cauliflower, etc. so today I just planted them right in the garden. Cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. I'm trying the purple and the cheddar cauliflower this year too. It's supposed to rain every day for the next week so they should germinate just fine and I can transplant from there. I also planted more beets and carrots. I still have to plant more wax beans because one customer asked if she could buy a bushel for canning and the ones I have now are about spent out. Oh, I also need to plant my parsnips, radishes and more lettuce. I guess I'll do a bit more Chinese cabbage too since no one else at market sells it. And turnips! Have to plant enough so we can do roasted root veggies for ourselves!

DH decided to do market again tomorrow since we have quite a few cukes and tomatoes. My son bottled up the rest of the honey and we will have garlic for the first time so he should do okay. I have to babysit but my son doesn't have to leave until afternoon so I can go with DH to set up in the morning and then go babysit.

Market twice in one week seems like way too much work. All all that planting and seed starting. You really are organised growing all that. Seems like you are always starting seeds! Well. hope you sell out.

Saw a SVB moth again today. Waited until she was committed to laying an egg and then squished her.

Meantime I harvested two green and one yellow zuc today. Humm, what shall I make for dinner?


I have some cherry tomatoes also.


And cucumbers.

Those Buckingham yellow zuc plants look really good. Very green and lots of new growth. The borers must be dead.




Unlike this one of my original green zucs. Wilted mess that I need to pull as soon as I harvest the fruit.

I wouldn't choose to do market twice a week but the veggies won't keep and it's more than we can eat so he'll try and sell what we can. He loves to do market so that helps!

In order to have a continuous crop I have to keep planting. Sometimes we scramble to have enough to sell. But We'll only do market through Oct. we'll have sweet potatoes and lettuce and broccoli, more than we can eat. Fairly easy crops to do. Then I'll get a break! Until seed starting starts again in Jan.!

Tivoli keeps getting bigger!


And the first fruit on Golden Egg.