Zones 8-9 Spr/Sum 2011 Veggie Gardening is UNDERWAY Part III

>> reversed the glass in the picture window of his cabin to "look in" and relived the years.

To me, that was the most depressing part of the story: a technology that encouraged you to never let go of grief.

I think the story was supposed to be mostly about the judge who decided to tell the jury to just render a verdict now, rather than 'wait five years" for the evidence to surface.

For me, the story is about how I can garden under trees or indoors!

P.S. I actually owned a large yard once, for about two years. It took 200% of my available time and energy to beat back some of the weeds, patch holes in the lawn, rake leaves and put in one rose bed.

When we had to sell it, we made it look better by buying around 12-15 cubic yards of fine mulch. 3-6" of rotting mulch made all the sad, crummy soil look GREAT. But the family that bought it included a professional landscaper, so it didn't fool him any - he just knew that he could do MUCH better with that big yard than I had.

Corey

Okay, I finally got my 12 bell pepper plants planted. I still don't have my maters in the ground. I think I'm really just starting early for my fall garden. ;)

Steph,

I just luv a forward thinker!

My Bell Pepper plants have start to make fruits.
Here is Quadrato D'asti !
Already maybe 4" ... my hands are really small ...

more peppers ...

This is a really curios Sweet Pepper: Shepar's Rams Orns
The fruits is up and it is not hanging down ...

I think this is also a sweet yellow pepper.
In this picture you can see a pill bugs in the middle stem !!
MONSTER .... they are the biggest problem in my gaden !

My eggplants are also starting to make fruits.
This is my favorite: DUSKY

This is Black Beauty

drthor
Did you start all of your vegetables from seed this season or did you buy any transplants?
Are you having any problems with any of your vegetables, other than pill bugs?

hrp50,
this season I have started all my plants from seeds my self. I am so proud.
The worst pest is teh pill bug for me.
Later in the summer I have those monster leafotted bugs ... but I keep squishing them.
Last year I add a few Tomato Hornworms ... To prevent them, I always add DE in my planting hole and it seems to work to keep them away.
Flee Beetles in my Eggplant leaves ... but they don't bother me.
and off course the Squash Vine Borer on my zucchini ... aaahahhhh
That's all ... but I don;t blame them. I might have the only vegetable garden in my neigbor, so if I was a bug I will come to my yard too !!

I have lots of lady bugs that take care of teh aphids, preying mantis too, lots of different kind of wasps, geikos, Purple Martins and bats.

I have read that bats are good for keeping down the mosquito population but I've not done the research yet to find out how to attract them to the yard and to keep them there. Do you have to put up some type of housing for the bats similar to purple martin boxes? Is there a way to limit the number of bats that take up residency (I only ask this question since I have visited the Congress Ave. Bridge in down town Austin, TX under which about 1.5 million bats live)? Questioning minds want to know.

I had a neat close encounter with a tortoise yesterday while working in the garden. I watched him crawling for about twenty feet and finally realized he was intentionally crawling toward me. He stopped at my foot and looked up at me like he wanted something from me. I didn't have anything to give him so I picked him up and put him the grass and I haven't seen him since. If I do I will give him a few red wriggler worms out of my worm bin.

.

I bought a bat house because I read that in one night one bat will eat 1000 mosquitoes.
I bought my bat house from NHG. They have a recycle plastic house built very well. It is green and it costs about $99 (if I remember right).
You will need to put the house up on a pole, away from trees and facing South will be the best.
My house hosts 150 bats. They are very little.
In the picture below you can see the house up on the right, above the wood fence. In teh other side of the fence there is a drop of 30' or more, since I am on top of a hill.

Thanks, I will check it out next time I am at NHG. Do you collect the bat guano and use it as fertilizer, with or without composting it first? I’ve read that it might take up to two years before the bats find your bathhouse. Did it take you that long? The good thing is that bats return to the same nest year after year, similar to purple martins. Do you ever see the bats flying around during daylight hours, or do they only come out after dark? I would prefer to have some visual interaction as I remember from childhood how neat it was watching the purple martins flying around catching bugs late in the afternoon and watching the parents teaching their babies how to fly. But, I have also learned that a bat will eat more mosquitoes than a purple martin, which prefer larger insects

I still have to figure out how to collect the bat guano.
One a year I buy the guano from one dealer at the farmers markets around town.
Let me know if you will need his info. He is very reasonable.
But I am worry that you are going to "over do" the fertilizing like you did on your tomatoes ... so maybe I will not tell you.
Anyway, I put out the house last fall ... I think I have some bats ... I still have to look.
For sure it scared my ladies from the garden club ... AH AH

Here's a hint on how you can tell if you have bats. Look over your fence and down the hill directly beneath your bat house. If you see bat guano on the ground, then you have bats!

You can keep the source of your bat guano a secret! I prefer using the manure my pet rabbit gives me as a gift every day and it can go directly on my veggies. And it gives me a chance to post a picture of him again because he is so darn cute and soft, like mink fur and about the same color.

That bunny is just too adorable!
My hubby made a bat house and put it up in the backyard. We got called on it in less than a week because we live in a neighborhood with a Neighborhood Nazi Association :) So he took it down and just hooked it up to the top of the fence. But I'm thinking it may not be high enough because no bat guano yet. I'll just keep it there and see.

bariolo, you can play around your HOA, because you are not having "bats" as pets, but you are just offering shelters ... and not buying bats to live in your house ... they are just flying around and "maybe" visiting the house ...
Is your HOA taking down trees because the English Sparrow are seating on them? no they are not ...
English Sparrows are worste than the bats !!
So you can play around their ignorance about "bats"
Good luck

I think it was a matter of it being an eyesore! Thanks for the encouragement! Janet

May I join in? I don't know if I'm in quite the right zone, but I've started growing a few vegetables!

Mindy in Tucson

Welcome Mindy! Nice looking mater!

Hey Mindy,
Welcome aboard! The more the merrier, and the more we all learen from each other!

Linda and her new friend Mindy! ^^_^^^^_^^

bariolo,
I think my bat house doesn't look as an eyesore compare to those Direct TV or Dish large satellites we have on the back of the house ...or the gas controller ... or the electricity boxes ...
In my opinion is up to us to educate people about nature ...
Good luck

I jumped I jumped..

drthor
I apologize to you for bringing this up again but I am still giggling over the fact that you’ve had a bat house up for six months and you don’t know if you have bats living in it. If it was my bat house, curiosity would have gotten the better of me long ago and I would do whatever it took to determine if bats had inhabited it.

My suggestion on my last post was seriously offered, just look for signs of bat guano. The next thing I might try is after dark turn on some outdoor lights to attract night flying insects and then watch for bats flying after them. As a last resort, I would get on a tall ladder and peek into the house during daylight hours when they are inactive (hanging out upside down I suppose). Just don’t let them get tangled in your hair (har, har, har).

yes, I wil look soon.
If there is guano , my landscaper mowed every time .... I will need to put a bucket of some sort underneath ...
As far as curiosity, hrp50, you are right ... I get distracted really easy and I always looking for something knew to do or built or challenge myself with ... sometimes I forget I have a bat house ....
I have seen bats flying in and out a few times ... so I know they are there.

Thanks for the welcomes...gardeners are the nicest people, as we all know. Drthor, your garden is stunning and I love the idea of a bat house.

Ok, I have a progress report:
Today I potted up all the floppy stupid okra plants for delivery. I have 3 Clemson Spineless and 1 Red Burgundy for myself.

I ripped a Bull's Heart that never took off, and probably was in 1st stage early blight, anyway.

I also think I figured out what was causing the putrid odor coming from some of my eBuckets. When I dismantled the Bull's Heart eBucket, I found that my plastic colander had a crack on top, almost to the center. If the top sagged down enough, the soil above was in constant contact with the water. There would have been no airspace, either, and the soil stayed too wet with very little oxygen.

So, I shored up the colander and planted an okra instead. I'll probably dismantle a couple bell pepper eBuckets for the same reason. I have a couple nice seedlings in far better health, so not a loss at all. Especially with about 9 more months of summer heat ahead!

Now, call me crazy, but I'm pushing the potato envelope. Jump on over to the "Potatoes under Straw" thread for that report!

Linda

I planted a blackberry plant where it will get morning sun/afternoon shade and so far it seems to like it!

Ripe tomatoes!!! Variety is 4th of July. Also harvesting green beans, snow peas, sugar peas. Cam

Hi! Been growing flowers for forever, but this is my first serious foray into veggies. I'm really enjoying this forum.

O.k., after doing all this reading and talking to friends, I'm now terrorized of the squash vine borer. I found a nice article on organic control, but everyone assures me it's hopeless. :( Without resorting to row cover (I think it's ugly, and my garden is right outside the back door), any one have success with combating these critters?

I'm not completely opposed (just mostly) to manufactured chemicals, it's just that the bulk of my garden is geared towards butterflies, toads, frogs, bees, birds, and I'd rather lose some plants to keep the wildlife happy and healthy.

Thanks,
Jenny

>> Ripe tomatoes!!! Variety is 4th of July. Also harvesting green beans, snow peas, sugar peas.

Cam, you're breaking my heart. My Snow Peas are finally starting to look fairly healthy - for seedlings that are only 1 1/2 inches tall! (That is 1.5", not 12".)

Everyone says this is one of the coldest springs they remember here, but SHEEZE!
I'm in Zone 8a, but I seem to be MONTHS behind you.

Corey

Steadycam Gymgirl and I are getting a group together to go to the Southeast Texas Tomato Fest if you'd like to come along we'd love it.

I need to check. I may need to do some re-arranging. I'll get back to you guys as soon as I know. Hope I can go. Thanks, Cam

bordersandjacks, I put a collar of aluminum foil at the base of all my vine plants and this year, I haven't been bothered (yet, anyway) by the squash vine borer. Apparently the eggs are laid at the base of the plant where it comes in contact with the soil.

GREAT TIP, LISEP!

LiseP, I'll give it a try. Thanks!

My husband built this veggie garden this spring. We had this path to nowhere outside the back door, as well as lots of dogs, armadillos and rabbits. I'm really happy with it! We have plans to expand in coming years, but for now are starting slow. I know I have the timing wrong on a few of the things I planted- oh well, I'll figure it out.

bordersandjacks, that is so nice and neat- What are the dimensions of it?

JoParrott it's 16' square.