Summer/Fall Gardens 2015 Pt 5

The piece of Chicory that i yanked up from the side of the road has rooted and im seeing little green shoots starting at the bottom. I also scattered some of its seed around the base just to double my odds in case the plant i pulled up didnt take. I must have those blue flowers in my garden, lol! Also there is a type of morning glory growing on the fence line that i really love, but no idea what variety it is, the red flowers are a bit on the small side, i would say about as big around as a penny

hmm maybe this is it:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/51759

jmc - That sure looks to be your morning glory. Gee 2 people have it and 34 want it.... Looks like it is big demand.... Very Pretty and I'm imagining the hummingbirds like that?

I harvested my sweet potatoes a little while ago. All tole I ended up with about a half bushel. Of the 3 varities I planted the Georgia Jet was the best. Some of them are bigger than my fist. I wanted an entry for the local fair, so that will be it.

Brendak654,
Do you have any sweetie pics to post?

I "robbed" my bed last week of a thumb-sized sweetie, and a bunch of leaves that I tossed into some lentil soup.

I left some pretty sizeable sweeties to continue growing until I harvest them around October/November.

Ya'll have a Godly weekend!

im wondering if i should go ahead and dig mine out, its been at least 3 months since they were first planted

I picked some long beans and tomatoes. I treated for stink bugs I've never seen this many, they are everywhere.

I'll try and get a photo of the sweet pots - soon. You should see my butternut squash harvest - best I take a picture of them, too. I thought I would never get them all harvested. BUMPER CROP for sure on butternut - and they are huge. They must have really enjoyed the wet June/July here. My sweet potatoes had so many vines and grass, my DH had to take the rotary mower to them, then I dug them with a potato fork. I ended up with about 3 pots stuck in the tines of my fork (that wasn't so good).

1lisac - When you say long beans, do you mean yardlong pole beans? That is what I am picking about every 3 days and they are happy campers, too. If I leave them any longer than that, they tend to form beans and I end up having to shell the more mature ones. The pole beans and the okra keep me busy harvesting them about every 3 days.

jmc - You can always cheat a little and just dig into one of the hills of sweet potatoes. Beggers can't be choosers, but I prefer my sweet potatoes about 2 inches across. Some of mine were considerable larger than that and some - a lot smaller.............HUMM!!!!!!!!!

Yes, those are the beans and when they are "happy" they grow so fast. If I miss one the "beans" develop overnite or so it seems.

I also found some small cukes, they are late but I got a late start.

Seems like everything is finishing up early this year, perhaps because July was so hot. Butternut is curing, sorghum is still on my counter waiting to be threshed, the determinate tomatoes just have a few green stragglers left, and the cucumbers are gone. But the peppers are all starting to flush again, and the cherry tomatoes are loaded with new blooms.

Most of the fall garden is seeded in the ground more than a week; I'm hoping the wet and relatively cool week we just had will get them off to a good start.

I've been hibernating indoors..too hot out!

But, gonna start some seeds indoors today. I have two empty beds, and would like to know if y'all think it's to late for some green bean seeds to be tossed in and finished by mid-October?

Also, is it too late for cukes in a container?

Thanks!

O.K. - here are the pictures of my bumper crop of butternut squash and my harvest of 3 varieties of dirty sweet potatoes.

Brenda,
That's a beautiful harvest!

Brenda, how many Butternut plants do you have?

Well some good news, the dwarf apple tree that i dug out of the yard and moved into a jumbo sized container is now showing signs of new growth, its not giving up just yet! And in this big container it will STAY....on the back deck, seeing as the deer can not get up there.

Also found a balloon flower plant today while on errands with my parents, of course it came home with me, lol.

I am harvesting tons of Long beans and a few peppers right now.
Indoor I am growing well: broccoli, cabbages, Swiss chard , fennel and yesterday I started kale seeds.
It is still too hot to plant anything outside.
In 2014 I recorded the hottest day of the year on September 3rd = 103 F degrees.
I am going to wait !

Here an interesting article for TX gardeners:
Texas farmer finds reasons to be cheerful despite dismal harvest
http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/08-24-15-texas-farmer-crop-recap-weather/

I have one more cantaloupe on my vine that im waiting to ripen up....or so i THOUGHT....went to inspect the vines today and came across this tiny thing hiding under some of the leaves, lol! The other melon that has yet to ripen up is more of a proper size though.

Today I planted more green beans in my raised bed.

I also sowed seeds for cowpeas in that same raised bed, and broccoli, lettuce, and cucumbers, in seed flats.

The seed flats are under the patio cover, and hopefully will stay comfortable enough to come up in a hurry.


This message was edited Aug 26, 2015 12:12 PM

It's going to be 55F tonight. In August. I'm a little stunned about that... 3 nights in a row in the 50s.

makes you wonder just what exactly winter will have in store for us... **shudder**

It's still summer here! I can't even imagine temps in the 50s. My AC went out yesterday the guy came and fixed it, it went out again this AM I called the guy (friend) back now something completely different has broken. Oh boy!

45º this morning.

Bernie just right for iceberg lettuce. I am down to tomatos, onions and maybe one more picking of blue lakes a few patty pans ad the odd zuke and it's almost time to rip it out and plant it in crimson clover.

one more big batch from my bell pepper plants

jmc1987,
Those eggplants look great, and, I have that exact bowl. I LOVE it, LOL!

nope, not eggplants, read again, LOL! :D

You're right, LOL!!!! They look so much like Black Beauty eggplants!

What variety are they?

Pretty bell peppers!

http://www.rareseeds.com/midnight-dreams-bell-pepper/

And there was no DG entry for this pepper so i made one :)

well i believe my impatience got the better of me...AGAIN...., wasted an entire sweet potato plant. at least i have 2 more. I was brushing away the soil from one of the plants just to have a look and i discovered that big guy down in the corner, my mind instantly jumped to the conclusion (oh boy, they must be ready).....yeah and what do i have to show for it, one good spud and a bunch of tiny fingers. out of optimism im leaving the other two plants in the ground until a threat for frost comes, or i see the vine dying off, one or the other. Also next year im growing them in huge pots instead, as the bed that i put them in is notorious for fibrous hair roots from the surrounding trees swallowing up the soil. I thought that wasnt going to be a problem seeing as how vigorous the plants grow.

Hopefully i will have better luck with the other two plants in a few weeks

Just picked some of my end crop of my tomatoes that I am giving to one of my friends today

Not sure how many butternut plants I had. I planted a row in the garden about May 1st and I planted them with the two-wheeled planter (I don't think I had ever planted them that way before), and it worked great. The row was about 20 or so feet long. It was a good stand and they must have really enjoyed the excess moisture here during June/July. They were way larger than normal.

I've been to the local fair and entered my sweet potatoes and low and behold, all three varieties placed. I haven't been back to pick them up yet, but all my efforts were worth it. Georgia Jet was by far the best producer for me this year. At the fair, I entered some of my butternut in an Ag fall produce arrangement and in a mixed soup entry and did well with them as well. My broomcorn placed first. But my big entries were flowers and flower arrangements.

My pole beans have been producing so well I decided to take my fair winnings and purchase a pressure cooker. I'm happy to save I have 14 fresh quarts of green/shelly beans. I should have purchased the pressure cooker long before now.

I've got lettuce, broccoli, green beans, and cream peas up!

The lettuce and broccoli are in seed flats, and the beans & peas are in a 4x8' raised bed.

Everything came up in three (3) days from sowing the seeds.

I've covered the raised bed with a sheet of perforated plastic over the pvc hoops, so it is holding heat inside. The beans and peas love the hothouse!

NO CLOSING UP SHOP HERE! Our fall/winter season is gearing up! Hurray! Hurray!

Congratulations Brenda on all your winnings. It sounds like you had a lot of Butternut Squash plants. I'm glad it worked out so well.

started putting compost around my autumn crops, but only got as far as my carrots, and some of my turnips before i had to come back inside from the sticky air. Curse you remnants of Erika for dragging that stifling tropical atmosphere back up this way, LOL. Supposed to last until friday before we are back down into our cooler lower 80s with lower humidity, hope it wont make anything bolt prematurely.

Just picked some eggplants this morning and plan to make a nice meal with them tomorrow.

How do you prepare your Eggplant?

Sometimes sautéed with onions ,garlic salt and pepper, or add curry powder and cooked it .

Thanks that does sound good.

carrots, perpetual spinach, and turnips are all coming along great, hoping this temporary heat wave wont affect them, its supposed to be over by the weekend. Also there seems to be a population explosion of leather wings in my garden, they are one of the good guys, right?

also there seems to be an unusual bloom showing up on one of my french marigolds, it has sort of a green-ish yellow coloring to it, you can see the correct coloring on the bloom that is opening up just to the left of it. wonder if saving seed from this green one would produce green blooming plants next year? probably not, right? Its the only flower on the entire plant with that strange color.