Nice Harold. I have room for blackberries and think about that idea from time to time. How long have yours been in the ground?

Great looking berries Harold. What kind are they? Brazos, Womac, or some other variety. I need to plow up the side yard for more planting space.

Thanks Mary. I'm wishing now we had built on our 3 acres behind Luke so I could plant it all in blackberries. LOL. They need a lot of room, and since you have it, go for it. We bought 3 plants 2 years ago at the Rare Fruit sale. (A the Spring sale I think.) Last year we got a few berries. But this year they have gone gangbusters. Mine get morning and high noon sun, but are backed up to our west fence so get no afternoon sun. A friend from the old Valley of the Sun Men's Garden Club lived on a big lot on 7th Street and he had a huge blackberry patch in his back yard with the same exposure.
I was disappointed with the rare fruit sale last month. The only extra vendor there was the herb society. Maybe the fall sale will be better.

rtl850nomore said:Great looking berries Harold. What kind are they? Brazos, Womac, or some other variety. I need to plow up the side yard for more planting space.

I actually have no idea! They just told us they do well here. Sorry.

Great blackberries Harold!

I wouldn't know blight if it slapped me in the face. I do know there are a lot of reasons leaves curl. Great links McP.

Dan, I had those gnat things too and sprayed them off with the hose. I also had aphids out the wazoo for about a week. Then they seemed to swarm my Dill so I left the Dill. Cut it down yesterday and gathered the seeds. You should have seen all the ladybug nymphs and ladybugs on that thing when the aphids were munching - lol. Now I really don't see any aphids so the good bugs are doing their job...

I saw two ladybugs today on new sunflower plants, just a foot or so tall. Lots of black creepie crawlie things on the underside of the leaves and when I was spraying with a soap mixture, saw the ladybugs. What are the black creeepies?

Don't spray the black creepies - they are ladybug nymphs. They are black with orange stripes and they sure are ugly. I killed them on a regular basis until I found out they were good guys.

Forgot the picture...

Oh cwap, now you tell me!

Eureka! I found my first tiny green Phoenix tomato!!!

Yeehaw!!!!

The Mexicana (from Jayne) and the Sioux (from Dan) are going gang busters. Mexicana look like they will be medium size fruits, Sioux, a bit larger. Zapotec has a couple of twisted sisters growing. ;~)

Had our first Phoenix tomato for supper tonight. It was a great slicing size and tasted wonderful. I like tomatoes as we ate them in Ohio: sliced with sprinkled sugar. My wife puts salt on hers. More still coming. Definitely want to grow these next year, or even this fall if available.

Yeah! I picked two today that were blushing. Should be ready to eat in a couple days. Glad they taste good. That's what I was hoping for. I'm going to check with my good samaritan in San Antonio to see if he can score us some seeds. I'll let you all know...

Why do you guys not let them ripen on the vine?

alan

Pretty red tomatoes attract the birdies. Best to pick them to eat before the birdies feast.

Alan, I always let mine ripen on the vine. As soon as they start to blush I put a footie on it. The birds haven't gotten one yet that was covered with a footie.

Jayne,
What type of footie do you use? I'd like to try your technique. I've been picking mine as they blush, taste great, but I know a day or two longer could make a big difference.

Susie, go into a shoe store and grab a handfull of those footies that are there for people to try on shoes with. The shoe store by me gave me an entire bag of them a couple of years ago. BTW when I pick the ripe tomato I look for the next candidate and slip that same footie right on it. When I am finished with the footies for the season, I wash them and put them away for the next season.

Ah! Got it. Wasn't sure what they were. I'll try to pick some up... going shoe shopping tomorrow!