MOVING INTO OUR SUMMER VEGGIE GARDENS, PART 1

Our veggie gardens are really cranking out the produce! Most of us are harvesting our spring veggies, some are actually still planting, some are waiting, and some are still trying to figure it out!

Whatever stage you're in, our Veggie Gardens are underway. Jump on in!

We came from here:

STARTING OUR SPRING VEGGIE GARDENS PART 6
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1314022/

Fresh slate! :)

...but I posted on the other one about my spider mite infestation and how I'm treating them. I reiterate: I hate spider mites.

Put me in the group of all of the above ,just had a very late start to spring then once it got started it turned to summer in one day..Evertime I planted my Okra it would come a cold rain wound up having to buy some seed to replaced what I had saved from some okra that branched on it's own ..Did want to get the branching type started it could be that the seeds of this mutant were not as strong as the old Cowhorn okra that I planted as a replacement..

So I watch along ,, about 90 degrees and swampy feeling here . #4 Is the Borage plant out of place in the back tomato bed , I hear they do that , the others are recognizable

My harvest today.
Cucumbers are producing like crazy now. The light cucumber is and Armenian.
One Zucchini ... weee and 3 Long Beans.
Delish

I didn't prepare a summer garden this year.

This morning, I was pulling weeds and found some volunteer basil. I also have volunteer tomatoes and what looks like volunteer peppers.

Sage and oregano are growing all over the place where they were not sown!

I did have a few melons sprout earlier, but I pulled them because I want to starve out the squash vine borers.

Linda, no link on the last thread to this one....

I really enjoy the Armenian cucumbers , only found it difficult to grow much more than a few cucumbers a plant Also the plants are not as strong here , I hear they do better in "hotter or warmer" climates .
Pretty harvest there .and before a couple times ..
All I have here so far is lots of bloom and green .. lol

I need to learn to proof read spelling a little better also ..

This message was edited Jun 12, 2013 7:25 PM

Link supplied now. Sigh. Real food feast for the eyes everyone

Thx for the link!

Today's harvest. More tomatoes, and the first picking of Black Beauty and Gretel eggplants.



This message was edited Jun 12, 2013 10:58 PM

The Armenian cukes are really melons so they have a different growth habit.

Honey-have you had problems in the past with SVBs in your melon plants? That's one issue I've never had. I haven't grown squash in this area ever before but the SVBs found it and so did the squash bugs. Where do they come from anyway?

Congradulations on your tomato Stephanie and to think you almost lost those plants to that late freeze. Lited buckets and all.

GG your pic is great. I love the colors.

Svbs are a pretty moth. Spot bright yellow blooms.

Gymgirl
congrats on your harvest.
Do you make fry green tomatoes? I often see pictures of your harvest with unripe green tomatoes. Just curios.

Time for the garlic harvest! It was a good year. I planted two heads of each variety, but the Lorz Italian makes a few large cloves so you get fewer heads the following year. Both of these varieties have done very well for me; I'm going to have to plant more next year just to keep up with the requests for starter heads.

1lisac -

My approach to bad bugs is to leave them alone and let the good bugs eat them. BUT - the squash vine borer had become a problem that seemed not to have an easy solution. Last year they destroyed a good part of my melon crop. So I did some research and realized I had seen the pretty moth flitting around the garden the past few years without realizing what it was.

Last summer was the first year I grew zucchini and yellow squash. This link says the moth is very partial to these:

http://www.toxicfreenc.org/organicgardening/vine_borers.html

I decided to think on it for a spell.... and came up with a plan. As you know, I grew up in England a long time ago! Farmers back in the "old" days rotated their land, putting farm animals on pasture during some years.

I figured if the emerging squash vine borer moths had nothing to eat when they emerged from the ground this summer, they would either die, or go elsewhere. I don't have any farm animals to wander around out there, so I've left the beds to grow weeds to hold-in the soil.

As to where the moths come from - my answer is: Heaven. All creatures are here for a reason, even if I can't figure out why. ^_^

Honeybee, I tried not growing squash for a couple of years and when I planted it again the squash bugs and SVBs had a party to welcome it back. Oh well...

greenhouse_gal - DRAT!

Thanks, Guys!

Drthor,
Haven't eaten a green tomato yet! It's a cat and mouse game with the birds and the worms. I pull any tomatoes that have the slightest blush on their butt, and ripen them inside on the counter, as you saw in my previous picture.

If I don't catch them, the birds or the worms will!

The last batch of ripened tomatoes were cored, cubed and put into the freezer. When I get ready to use my homemade tomato sauce, I'll add more fresh veggies and herbs, and the other tomatoes. Everything will get rough chopped and sauteed, then added for a chunkier sauce.

Linda

I might do some fried greens toward the end of the harvest. My concern is all the oil the fried greens soak up. I bake them instead for a healthier version;

Linda

I really meant jokingly where do the squash bugs come from?

Like I posted above, I haven't grown squash in 1 area, ever and I haven't grown it in the other area for at least 2 years but the bugs found it anyway. I thought I could starve them out too.

Squash bugs are good fliers so they can come from someone else's garden, and you live in an area with wild cucurbits. There's no starving them out.

Today in the garden, Mark and I worked on tearing out some grass that had grown in the bed where we'd had some onions planted. We then planted some tomatoes that we rescued from the "half-dead" bin in our backyard from the ones we had grown from seed and not planted yet. LOL We planted them sideways since they were about 4' long, leaving about 6" -12" above ground. We also planted 3 purple tomatillos, also from said bin. I also moved my lone jalapeno pepper outside and will plant that in a few days. We raked up the leaves that fell in our front flower bed from the big oak tree and put them on the tomato bed for mulch. We didn't mulch them with the mower first, but they'll still work well. Tonight, we have to spray everything with the aphid and bug deterrent insecticidal soap concoction. I've noticed more bugs since it's started to warm up. I also discovered another ripening tomato! This time, on the Beefsteak plant, but it doesn't really look like a beefsteak, so I think it's a NOID tomato. (How did that happen?!?)

#1 New bed with plants and leaves.
#2 Both tomato plants are Lg. Red Cherry plants. This one even has some baby maters on it! I hope they make it.
#3 Beefsteak tomato
#4 These really need to hurry up and get ripe!!

I have lots of milk thistle that grows as weeds and stinging nettle I grow as an herb .So far using that as mulch has slowed the insects, kept them off the lettuce.
Away from some of the cucumbers .
I don't know about the melons as of yet , I am also growing some rue to try . If your skin does not like it , neither do a lot of "Bugs" !
I read and tried spraying nettle water on plants some time ago , it was suppose to boost the other plants resistance , some of the plants did not like it sprayed on them though , , but around them it seems to work ,, whatever does right?
I hate that when the "Bugs" get to eat more of my garden than I do!!!

We use a combination of soap, compost tea, fish emulsion, and something else that I don't remember at the moment. Feeds the plants and kills the bugs.

what is a NOID?

I like hot pepper juice and milk to spray Tomato plants with , sometimes I will add kelp to that .
All looks good above there #4 is a nice looking bunch of green tomatoes !!!!


NOID is no identification or non identified


This message was edited Jun 13, 2013 1:59 PM

No identification; plant of unknown name.

"No idea"

"NOIDea.

ohhhh

Nichole-squash bugs can fly? I didn't realize that. They reproduce so quickly it's amazing. I even have new dirt.

Kit- the adult SVB isn't white. It's dark gray with red and doesn't look like a moth to me at all. Honeybee posted pics of them awhile ago I'd never known what they look like.

Edited to say sorry Kit I missed read your post about the SVB moth. But I still don't think they look like a moth.

This message was edited Jun 13, 2013 2:05 PM

I'm confused. I thought the Squash Moth was the parent of the Squash Vine Borer.

The Squash Moth flies, and deposits the eggs on the stems of the plants. Then, they hatch into the Squash Vine Borers that burrow into the stems of the plants and eat and poop the frass. Their bodies keep the plant from drawing up moisture and nutrients.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. The whole point of the tulle was to cover the squash so the Squash MOTH wouldn't be able to light on the stems and lay eggs. No eggs, no Squash Vine Borers...

Help...

I just miss read her description of the moth. I call them SVB moth, that's all I meant. Everything else is the same. Now I'm confused. Lol

Ok. "The blind leading the blind," here, LOL!

Saw my first squash bug today, out by the shed, although I am sure it will find the squash by tomorrow. They always seems to show up right when the squash start blooming.

The first time I saw a squash vine borer moth, I thought it was a hummingbird! Which was rather confusing because the only hummingbird that frequents this area is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird/id

Here are photos of the squash vine borer moth:

http://www.google.com/search?q=squash+vine+borer+moth&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RwO7Ub2lD4G29gS_zIGACg&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1536&bih=658

I say coat the stems with vicks. That'll teach em.

The cukes, zukes and butternut are mkaing female blossoms, the peppers are blooming, one of the tomatoes (Cherokee Purple) and finally set some fruit and the corn is swelling.

Yep, summer is here!

The best time to take garden pics, is of course when everything is growing but before it's overgrown. Here's my garden as seen from the bathroom window upstairs.

Nice garden, Nicole! Yes, this is the best time for pictures except that my flowers aren't as showy at this point.

NicoleC
I always enjoy so much to see pictures of you garden. Well done!

My harvest today.
This is the first week with daily temperature over 90F, and this is what I did notice:
tomatoes slowed down
cucumbers have lots of blooms and making lots of cukes
eggplants ... so far is an amazing year
long beans are taking over and starting to produce
also okra, more flowers and pods every day
peppers ... still changing color very very slow

Jumpin' in on the discussion... Here are a few picks of my garden these days... Once again, I will overgrow my tomato cage. There are worse problems to have!