JoeParrott, you have such an interesting garden. I love seeing your photos as I always get an idea or two! I've seen those planter thingys around. They seem to really be popular in this area. Good luck for next year and this winter!
What's Going on in Your Vegetable Garden - part 6
Jo,
Do you have a schematic for how you built your pyramids? I've been admiring them for years now, and finally have a source for FREE cedar. It's the perfect time. I just need some visuals or explanation of how they're constructed.
Your garden (as usual) is SPECTACULAR! Can't wait to see everything filled in.
P.S. When did you seed your onions? I started mine this past weekend in the painted drawer seed trays. Hoping to have transplants by late December/early January. I figured out that if Dixondale Farms wouldn't ship me onion transplants before December, I could go ahead and grow my own!
Never have tried growing them before, but there's an excellent video tutorial on the Bayou Gardener's website. Google "The Bayou Gardener growing onions in a container YouTube" and you can see this guy in action!
Hugs!
Linda
Picked tomatoes again today. Here it is end of September and I am still picking tomatoes. What a great tomato year it has been here. Many of the plants look aweful, but I am still picking tomatoes.
Picked SUPERFANTASTIC and BETTER BUSH plus more VIVIA ITALIAs. Then I picked lots and lots and lots of Juliets. Those things never stop cranking out tons of fruit.
My tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes, and I transplanted some big ones out of the north bed outside to pots inside the soon-to-be-covered tunnel/greenhouse. They got frost, but I removed the black leaves and they're doing fine and still loaded with blossoms. Everything's in there except the hay bale tomatoes, okra, corn and some spinach in plastic tubs outside. I'm covering everything with a large sheet of plastic at night, and hopefully, weather permitting, will get the plastic on the hoops tomorrow.
You, Rita, have had a great tomato year, to be sure. I can't wait til mine turn red. :) I have some under a light here in the house, just in case, too, because I hate going through the winter without fresh tomatoes, and I recently discovered that the grocery store leaf lettuce is coated with plastic "smart film" - I peeled plastic off the individual leaves. I'll NEVER buy leaf lettuce at the store, again!! I'll just substitute fresh spinach from my garden if I can't get another lettuce crop going in the greenhouse. Those corporations don't care about us, that's for sure. They think we'll eat anything, if we don't know it's there.
This is the best tomato year I have had in at least three years.
OK, they're not vegetables - so shoot me. It's all the same to me down here - food. I picked these on Oct. 13. The Kaffir Lime (fruit on top) is growing on a large pot on rollers on the pool deck so it can be wheeled inside when a hard freeze is forecast. The Lakeland Limequat (bred from and very similar to a key lime) is growing in the ground just south of the pool enclosure. The picture shows on fully ripe fruit and one picked in the more common green state.
I was surprised that the Kaffir Lime actually does have quite a bit of juice in it (having always heard they were rather dry) and also that the juice was quite bitter (might make an interesting gin drink). The rind is so thick and oily that you need only poke a fingernail in to end up with a very fragrant hand. Wish I had a proper still set up - there's a lot more fruit on the way.
The limequat is tart with the typical key lime aroma and flavor, but unlike the very tender key lime it's hardy up here in Gainesville without any special care. Half of a fruit squeezed into an Iced tea glass of cold sparkling water makes a very refreshing drink, and it's a good addition to a sangria, or for any of the many other uses to which limes are suited.
This message was edited Oct 16, 2012 11:18 AM
This message was edited Oct 16, 2012 11:19 AM
This message was edited Oct 16, 2012 11:19 AM
Oh, gosh! I'm so jelous! Kaffir Limes are a favourite for me when I lived in FL. But can't grow here in TX =(. Great that you can grow them, rjogden. They look good!