This is my harvest today.
question about COW PEAS.
can you see that I have harevsted some really brown cow peas ... what shall I do with them?
Can I still eat them, maybe boiling longer ?
or not ....
HELP ...
Everyday I am harvesting a bag of greens ... yummy !!
This has really been a strange gardening year for me and I’m sure for others. Yes, drthor, you are correct that fall harvested tomatoes don’t taste to me nearly as good as the ones harvested in late spring and over the summer, and I don’t understand why. But my tomato plants are now loaded with fruit and look somewhat like yours did over the summer. I have picked quite a number of red tomatoes and I hope all remaining ones will ripen before we have a frost. Otherwise, I will be making a lot of green tomato relish. It was a good decision to leave the tomatoes planted the first of March in the ground until they finally came around sometime in early September.
Gymgirl:
I really like your idea of using 6.5 gallon buckets for planting strawberries and I think that they will work really well. I planted strawberries at different times over the past couple of years, but the ones that are bearing fruit now were purchased and planted back in February of this year. The original ones were planted about two years ago and were purchased bare-rooted over the internet. They did fine for six months or so but most all have since died. I found a great sale on Sequoia strawberry plants in 3” or 4” pots at Wal-Mart back in February. They were huge, healthy plants that were about 1/2 the price of the Bonnie brand strawberries that they also were carrying. Since Sequoia is a variety recommended for Texas, I bought 50 plants and then went back and purchased another couple dozen or so. I needed so many because two years ago I purchased strawberry pots from Lee Blivens out in California who invented the pots. The pots stack one on top of the other and each pot will hold 6 plants. I pound a 1 “ diameter 8’ tall metal pipe about 2’ into the ground to hold up the pots (each pot has a 1” hole in the bottom) and then I plant each pot and then slide them one at a time down the metal pipe and then snap each pot together. I don’t start with the first pot on the ground but use a metal washtub filled with dirt and a plastic bucket turned upside down with the pots stacked on top of the bucket and fill with dirt around the bucket. That way the strawberries are high enough off of the ground so that tortoises and other varmints are not able to reach them and the soil in the washtub provides space to grow an additional 4 or 5 strawberry plants. I bought 12 pots and made two separate towers each of which are six pots high. I have very little space in my yard so I was trying to grow as much as I could vertically. The soil I used was what I bought from Soil Builders, Inc. in Dallas and also used it to fill my 7 new raised beds that I built over the winter. I fertilize the strawberries with Hollytone which is for plants such as azaleas that like an acidic soil and also use it to fertilize my blueberries and raspberries. I harvested some strawberries in the spring, the few that the mockingbirds let me have, then it stopped and now they are producing again. I apologize if I provided you with enough information to know how to build a watch and all you did is ask me for the time of day (i.e. too much information).
One of the nice things about growing spring vegetables in the fall is that the mockingbirds aren’t around to take my tomatoes and strawberries, so I can let them fully ripen on the vine.
fall harvested tomatoes don’t taste to me nearly as good as the ones harvested in late spring and over the summer
hrp50 I agree about the fall tomatoes.
I have tried for 2 years with no success, so I have stop doing it.
My main reason is because of the limited space and I had to make choices.
I luuuvvvv your vegetable garden ... I bet Maria Thun is helping ...
HRP50,
VERY NICE! And, one can never have enough information, so all the details were very much appreciated. Now, I know how to tell time, AND how to build my own watch!
I love your setup. I had just about decided on building raised wooden beds, but my $$ has shifted me into another direction. I already have two small beds bordered with those scalloped limestone pavers, and for less than the cost of one 4x8' raised cedar box, I can buy a whole pallet of pavers, and build THREE 4x12' raised beds that will outlast the cedar. And, I can configure and re-configure them any way I want/need to in my equally small yard.
I sure can envision a pair of strawberry towers in the landscaping plan!
P.S. Do you have to battle squirrels for your strawberries? I have an army of them who are now burying pecans from the neighbors loaded tree, all over my yard! Holes everywhere...
Thanks, again!
Linda
Yesterday, I raced home to construct my hoop over the bucket patch. Winds were gusting at 30-35 mph and ALL the broccoli and cabbages and Brussels sprouts were leaning in one, wind-blown direction! And, temps were supposed to drop into the mid-30s overnight (which was NOT a problem for these cold-lovers).
I usually pound 12" sections of 1/2" PVC pipe into the ground, but that was taking waaaaaaay too much effort in dry soil. So, I pounded in 12" pieces of rebar instead (much quicker), and bent my 3/4" PVC hoops over those. About 7 Broccoli plants were too tall, so I just moved the buckets underneath the patio cover for the night. I love the portability of my bucket garden!
All was wonderfully fine this morning, and the plants under the hoop are righting themselves. Last thing I had to do was roll up the ends to vent the hoop so too much heat doesn't build up underneath. The sun is out shining brightly right now, and I don't want fried veggies on the stalks!
Linda
My harvest today. I guess I spoke too soon as my strawberries were under siege from a single rogue mockingbird this morning.
And thanks to the frost we had a couple of nights ago I have now picked the main ingredient for a fine green tomato relish.
Will my eggplant continue to produce until the first hard freeze if I prune the leaves and stems damaged by the frost and if I cover the plants the next frost(s) we have? I still have about 20 eggplants in various stages of ripening.
Lastly, I took a nice photo of a monarch butterfly sitting on a blue Greg’s Mist Ageratum flower. I guess he was left behind when his friends and family left for their migration back to Mexico. Unfortunately he doesn't show up well enough in the photo to post it unless I can talk my son into doing his magic with Photoshop.
I've decided to make peace with the squirrels in my yard. They bring me gifts, I let them live..
My FIRST BROCCOLI of the season !!
Yummy !!
I could have left it to get a little bigger but i am leaving tomorrow for two weeks and I couldn't leave without tasting my first broccoli.
Zucchino Trombetta still producing. Those zucchini are really sweet.
Pod-how are your tomato plants doing?
Hrp50-that's what I have done to keep production going with eggplants.
I don't have too much to harvest but will post a progress report set of pics here.
This is how my cauliflower is doing -- a few holes (sprayed BT recently) but I'm happy with the growth.
Here is a sort of top-down shot of one of my tomatoes -- I planted six this fall from nursery transplants. I have yet to see any red toms, though, and the calendar clock is ticking down pretty fast on the season.
Linda, this pic is for you!
To paraphrase an old saying, two heads are better than one, right? Okay, technically I have "none" but I'm hoping to have one or two eventually. The leaves are looking cool, anyway!
LISEP!
Girl, I wish you could see me standing up applauding those gorgeous purple cabbages!!!!! Outstanding, simply OUTSTANDING!!!!
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EXTRAORDINARY!!!!!!!!!!! STUPENDOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!!
I gotta come visit you. We've GOT to get together, sometime, ok?
P.S. Your cauliflowers are looking good, too. I haven't even got mine into the ground....yet.
But, still I have a progress report. About three weeks ago we had a torrential downpour on a Sunday. It STORMED for 1/2 the day, then let up for about 20 minutes, then started all over again for the rest of the night. Well, I had just sat out an entire tray of Snowball Cauliflower seedlings that were absolutely gorgeous. Getting them hardened off for planting that next weekend.
Well, when I say STORMED I mean hard enough that all I could do was stand under the patio cover looking at that aluminum pan of seedlings getting bashed. I figured, "Oh, well," I hope they make it, 'cause I'm not going out there..."
Well, they stayed in the flooded pan all night, and all day Monday. This is what they looked like by Monday evening.
So, I literally ripped as many apart as I could separate in the community pan, grabbed a handful of my pine bark fines, unsifted, chunks and all, and stuffed them into 16 oz. solo cups to try and save them. I think out of a tray of at least 30 seedlings, I salvaged about 26. Here's what they looked like when I repotted them...
They were in really, really bad shape!
Well, all those ratty leaves weren't helping any, so I decided a radical move was needed. I clipped off every leaf on every repotted seedling, except the central one that had some green on it!
Well, this is what they looked like last week.
Today, they look like a bouquet of artificial greenery, and are about 8-10" tall -- too tall for my light shelf, anymore, so back into the big bad garden they go, this evening, for hardening off, once again. (I'll post a pic tonight!)
The end.
Hugs!
P.S.
This is what they looked like when they went out the first time for hardening off, before the storm...
These were left in the pan, and have been outside in recovery since the storm. They're seriously hardened off and reading for planting!
LiseP,
I'm gonna need your best cabbage recipes, ok?
Those purple cabbages are making me thing of my edible landscape plan. I can see a nice symmetrical row of them along the patio, or in a small bed of their own. Or, even as a border plant.
Totally awesome.
I grown only one purple before, and never managed to cook or eat it. It looked like a huge purple rose, so I left it alone to grow! Then it got hot...and you know what happens to a cabbage when it gets hot...
"Oh the humanity!"
Linda, I'd take your cauli's over a bouquet of artificial greenery any time -- and may they continue to thrive for you in that 'big bad garden' (love the image and it's so true!). They've been through so much, just think of the stories they can tell to the other plants.
Thanks for your exuberance over my cabbages. Really made me grin. And I owe it all to you because it was your photo that even made me think I could grow cabbage in a pot. Your comment about a row of them in an edible landscape plan is intriguing, but I gotta tell ya, the couple of cabbages that I put into the ground aren't doing nearly as well as these two in the pots. Of course they're getting less sun where they are at, and the soil mix is different. Just sayin, I still have some things to figure out.
Yeah, we are going to have to get together. I definitely could use your vision on that edible landscape plan, which I also want to do. And hopefully before long, you'll be able to inspect the hoop houses too and see if they measure up to yours. Hubby and I figured out the shopping list today, so I'll be getting the supplies here pretty quick.
Last pic for today: some Swiss chard that I transplanted as babies into one of the new raised beds. It's the only thing in there worth looking at, the rest is stuff coming up (SLOWLY!) from seed (spinach, beet, etc. and they are too wimpy to get very excited about).
LiseP,
You're waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of me on your root veggies. I'm still dilly dallying around with trying to get a raised bed put somewhere so I can plant my root crop. I don't want to put them into containers, but if I don't get moving, that'll be that!
You're doing yourself proud, Girl!
Can't wait to see the hoops!
We've already had a couple of freezes so I've lost all but 2 plants. Weird year to say the least. This time last year I had tons of tomatoes set. This year the plants that froze didn't even have tomatoes on them. I guess it had been too hot. I'm glad that this isn't my first year gardening, cause it might have been my last lol.
I hate getting home after dark. This time change is killing me. It's dark when you wake up so you have to garden in the dark in the a.m., and if you get home too late, it's dark by 6pm.
I went out with a lantern last night, and caught these.
And, this one, starting to head! I was so concerned, 'cause the hoop cover was left off because of the sunshine yesterday, and the wind was so blustery. But, Farmerdill and Shoe have assured me that properly hardened off plants should be fine in any outdoor conditions, short of a freeze. I'll stop worrying that the wind is whipping them up too much.
I have never covered a Cole crop due to a freeze and Ive never lost one. Sometimes the lettuce gets burned but it recovers in no time.
I brought in the last of the peppers and eggplants this weekend. I think thats it for the year except the spinach and chard.
Helenchild,
Keep 'a goin'!
Unless you're just plain tired, there's lots of time and lots of stuff that will still grow in your area.
Hey Gymgirl. Thanks for the encouragement but I am ready for rest from the garden. Now I have stuff to do inside (carving gourds) and tending my riduculous number of cactus and succulents I bring in the house for the winter. Not the mention the pesky detail of working full time and taking care of my 94yo mom. But next spring I will be all about my vegie garden again. I must grow more tomatoes, more okra, amd more eggplant. They were easy for me to grow and not to pest ladened. Although I can't forget the squash...
Helen
♥
Uh, can anyone besides me see the little Brussels Sprout nubs here?
I see um! Yeah!
Ok. So you can see these too, right?
Lookin good!
Wow, I'd never seen the nubs of baby Brussels sprouts growing before seeing your photo, Linda -- very cool! I'm going to have to try to grow some sometimes, because I love it and it's so darned expensive to buy -- if you can even find it. Nice bunch of stuff coming along very nicely.
Helenchild, love your collection of colorful veggies. Now that I've discovered that I like eggplants, that's another one I'm going to have to try.
LiseP,
Glad to oblige! Hope to show you more Brussels Sprouts (BS) development along the way.
Linda
Gymgirl
After seeing your picture of brussel sprouts, I went and looked and I too have nubs! I would never have known where to look.
