And, yet another report is coming in about huge YELLOW tomatoes...
Alas, the foster parents have not yet gotten the hang of LABELING the babies before they shove them into the earth. So, we play the guessing game to keep the children happy!
Linda
P.S. I kept the variety sheet, so I have a fair chance of identifying what they're growing, even if they don't care to know them beyond, "a huge YELLOW tomato, a purple one, and a red one!"
What's going on with your Veggie Garden: Part 3
Good times down on the farm. :) I don't have a farm but there are some good things happening here....fresh eggs, 5 new pints of Mrs Wages chili base made from home grown tomatoes and another 2 quarts of crowder peas shelled.
kevcarr59's lizard has a buddy over at my place that likes to play chase with Ms Pretty. Mind you Ms Pretty has no front claws but she does OK. Got this shot yesterday morning while I was out on the porch shelling peas.
Great pic of Miss Pretty and her friend!! BTW, Miss Pretty is appropriately named. :)
Went to a baby shower in a spa this morning, and managed to drop my cellphone in the foot tub! Ya'll KNOW I went in after that computer chip!!! I got all my garden photos on that chip!
So far, so good, but the phone is toast...
Oh no, Linda!!
Linda,
I've got the Ball "Blue Book" guide to preserving, if you want to see it. LMK... Lot's of good info and recipes. Will copy what I need and send it to you....
Oh, my goodness, Linda. I hope you'll not be incommunicado for long.
Cucumbers, cucumbers, and MORE cucumbers!!
We'll soon be pickin' okra!!
Also waiting on the maters to ripen. Why does it seem to take SOOOO long???
She's BACK!
New and improved Android Galaxy Epic 3G. Never had a touch phone before.
I'm not that technology advanced!!
A couple of little green tomatoes, wait......wait.......wait some more.
Linda - sometimes is worth having something break just to have a good excuse to get a "new and improved version" ^_^
Took some photos this morning:
1) overview from the back door
2) overview from south side
3) sweet pepper
4) squash
5) my faithful companion "Chloe"
Has anyone tried to replicate the keeping qualities of a root cellar? We were freezing some carrots today, and i remembered how sweet the carrots would get about February or March in the root cellar in Idaho. Apples wrapped in newspapers would also keep all winter. There were empty potato bins in there, and i am sure other things would keep well also.
It was always cool in the summer but never froze in the hard winters. Has anyone ever built an insulated, mechanically cooled compartment that will keep root vegetables in their natural state for a long time?
Ernie
14 oz. From my neighbor across the street.
Linda, what variety is that beautiful tomato?
Honey, That's a very sweet looking Chloe!
Thanks, Mary!
Unfortunately, NOT one of the growers I gave seedlings to LABELED the varieties. I had a limited number of varieties, and pictures of each, so I'm just able to guestimate, based on the descriptions from the packets.
My best guess is that it is an indeterminate variety called "Beauty" beefsteak.
This message was edited Jun 5, 2012 10:34 AM
Thanks Linda. I know just what you mean about labeling.....most of my 'growers' didn't label either. Silly peeps.
Interesting edit there.
I have just about stopped giving tomato plants to my neighbors for the same reason. I furnish 4" plastic pots and white plastic label markers that cost ten cents and a nickle a piece and they won't even save the pots or labels for me to use the following year. Then I'll get this, "What was that tomato called with the stripes on it", and so on.
I'll ask what they did with the labels and they will tell me their grand kids pulled them all up. I ask don't you have a belt in your house? I then get a fixed stare like I am the idiot.
This all happened with a lady who got 60 plants one year and 40 this past season. All the plants were the $1.50 size the big box stores sell. You do the math.
I guess I am the idiot after all for trying to help people.
I sell my plants. People *happilly* paid $2.50/each. Next round it's going to $4 for friends, $5 for non-friends. I found a woman who helps at the community garden at her church - their goal is to feed the hungry in Phoenix - and she scooped up all the plants I had left at $2.50/per. Everyone is happy.
It's not worth it if the act of giving the plants away ends up annoying you. :- I get annoyed at folks who take the plants and let them die. That's when I started charging, thinking it would not bother me so much if the person who takes on more than she can care for lets the plants die. Nope. Still annoyed me even with money in my pocket. I'll not continue to solicit from her any longer. It hurts to see my plants dying on the vine when I visit. sob sob.....
LOL! Ya'll are too funny!
But, I totally agree about the "sad" feeling. I watched one neighbor's garden with humongous tomatoes from 28 seedlings of mine. The fruit was just rotting on the vine. Well, the condition this year for receiving my seedlings was that NO fruit was to rot on the vine! Especially when we living only two blocks from a food pantry!
So, now, I'm getting very regular tomato drop-offs, which is fine with me. All I have to do is sit them out on plates in one of our SIX lunch rooms, and they'll handle themselves!
We really DO have hungry people right here in America...
"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird..." And, it's a sin to let food rot on the vines...
I'm mitigating some of the financial pain by doing some "dumpster diving" to get supplies. Several retailers save pots & trays and I know a few I can visit on occasion to get stuff from recycle pile. It would still aggravate me if I gave or sold some plants to someone and they let them die from neglect, that would be the last time.
Found a local farmer's market & will sell some veggies there this weekend. No stall fee & the owner hosts it on her property.... Was there last Saturday morning & there was constant traffic flow in & out, and most people were purchasing items. Interested to see what happens Saturday morning...
What is the best way to stop something from eating my veggy plants? Happened in broad daylight wile I was at work, ate the swiss chard, beans, peas, squash..Help!!!
I think we all have the problem of having given things to people that do not show any appreciation for the gift, nor any respect towards the gift. It helps me to remember what Gibran said, about the beautiful flowering trees. {Paraphrased} "What purpose would the tree have in growing the blossoms, if there was no one to smell the wonderful wafting scent? "
Ernie
dem2rd ;your choice limited do to other concerns would be like sevin dust or dearth powder,a couple of choices.
ERNIECOPP; While get the point of that, the bees would the scent and pollen and any given creature still would the fruit. Somtimes we all get beyond ourself with our own concerns.
Reminds me of another thread I was reading where a woman lets people use the property for a market garden without charging for booth space or extras.people or persons in that catagory need to be appreciated there seem to be fewer that can ,want to , or will all the time. Still I'm a believer in the best of us as people and always will be.
I had to throw 3 real big ripe tomatoes away tonight that were chewed to death... Was going to hit with DE & Sevin dust bomb but we're supposed to get rain tonight POSSIBLY, and 40% tomorrow, with 50% Thursday & Friday. I know, I'll go dust now and we'll get a flood tonight and nothing Thur. & Fri.....LOL...
Texasrockgarden, is the great sign still at the canyon lake dam? Slow down and see our dam Speed up and see our judge. It was there in 1985.
Juhur, I think he included the bees, too, as the tree was giving them the pollen, etc. What i got from it was that what we personally gain by giving may very well be all we will get, because if there was not someone, or something to accept what we offer to give, our effort in growing or doing would be wasted. So, while it is nice when it happens, i just do not expect much except the satisfaction i get from the creating and giving. As others here have found out, there is not much appreciation shown in most cases, by either people or the bees.
Ernie
I agree as in all things connected, I meant to type while I get that..meaning as to emotional satifaction of mind and being of what is.
Plant_Thang,
Know the sign you're talking about very well. Right as you come down the hill just before the "Dam Road". If you knew it in 1985, they've actually put a traffic light up there about 10 years ago...
I haven't been there in a while, about 3 or 4 years, so don't know if it's still there....
Kevin
Kev,
Save yourself some heartache, and pull your tomatoes as soon as you see some blush on the butt. Just put it on the kitchen counter and it will continue to ripen inside. You don't even need to put it in the window sill, cause I believe that photosynthesis process stops once you pull if from the vine.
I've had beautiful tomatoes that I pulled as soon as the bottoms showed some color.
No more heartache!
P.S. Thanks to whoever it was that taught me that tip!
Linda
Thinking it was birds that got them, this was the first problem we had like that. Just really upset because those tomatoes were so nice... Noticed one of the ones I chucked had a bunch of little pin holes like what leaf-footed bugs would do. Thought I had them gone but did see one tonight, will have to get back after them when this rain passes....
What're you using on the Stinkbugs?
The only thing I've seen in the garden were the leaf-footed bugs, and they were on the cantaloupes. Dusted with the DE and within about 2-3 days they were all gone. Will look for the stink bugs, in the files, to see what they look like just so I know... Dusted just about 10 days ago, was getting ready to do again, but now it's supposed to rain... Will play it by ear, may just use the Bayer Garden Insect spray again, since it has only a few days before I can harvest after spraying.
kev, between the bugs, the birds, sun scald and BER, I didn't get many tomatoes this season. Yesterday I processed the 'big batch' of tomatoes I roasted on Sunday and got maybe a cup of sauce. It's so annoying to go out and find the tomato you've been eying as it ripened has been dined on already. I agree with gymgirl, pick at first blush, pull the stem and place on the counter stem side down. Something about preventing air entering at the stem spot.
Still picking tons of lemon cukes!!
Baby Rutgers maters--I'm ready for them to ripen already!!
Baby cherry tomatoes
I need to get some clips for the bird netting for the tomatoes. The birds are wayy to interested in my babies!
On the first picture of the Rutger's Tomatoes it looks like there are a lot of black specks on them. Could they be mites?? Curious if you had seen them..
Learning about the birdie's the hard way, had to chuck another tomato this morning, getting some netting this afternoon!!!!
I've never seen specks like those on a tomato before...
Didn't see any this year, but I saw some last year... maybe not on tomatoes, but do remember the little specks, think they might be mites...
What little I could salvage before the birds made another run, picked a couple more toms this morning... along with a bunch of cukes.... In the past 2 days lost almost a dozen tomatoes. Getting some bird netting today, of course no rain so far, now weatherman saying we might not get any...Oh well.... at least dusted DE this morning...
