What are you eating out of your garden?

Pirl ~ That is exactly how I cook them! But the grandkids pick the garlic out w/a yuk face!

More for us, my dear!

Pirl and Ivy - is it too late in the year to put Epsom Salts on tomatoes? How bout dahlias?
Thanks

Go girl go! Never too late. You're adding trace elements.

You crack me up. I'm Goin NOW

Dahlia's like epsom salt???

Oh my gosh I never took my dahlia tubers out of the basement...

Ivy - soak them for a few minutes, if they're not brittle and shriveled and plant them. They should almost leap out of the ground.

I've never found a plant that doesn't like Epsom Salts. Roses adore them!

Our neighbor, four houses away, has family in the bulb business and he has sons in the impatiens and "geranium" (pelargonium) business and Epsom Salts are used in their watering system for all plants.

Pirl, How much epsom salts should one use? Is there an amount per gallon for watering container plants like geraniums? I currently sprinkle bone meal around my bulbs. do all plants benifit from epsom salts?

Go the easy way: sprinkle one tablespoon around each plant.

Now, wasn't that easy?

One tablespoon to one gallon of water.

All plants like it. Remember it's trace elements.

Bone meal can attract unwanted critters. Mix it into the soil surface and top dress with the bottled spicy peppers people (like me) put on pizza. Any critter than puts it's little paws to it's mouth to eat will NOT enjoy it.

Pirl, Thank you for the info and the tip about hot pepper. I did have something eating the leaves of my crocuses . This might be the answer for that problem.

Squirrels love them and bunnies maybe more so.

Quite welcome.

You can add a sprinkling of the hot peppers to bird seed. It will NOT hurt the birds but the squirrels will look for some soft Charmin and feel a burning sensation. That should be PC enough!

The photo says it all!

What time should we be over??

I'd say around 3......if you leave now. You must be at least 5-6 hours away! I saw 5-7 this size, and also some muskmelons and cantalopes in the garden this morning.

Oh, man.... those are mouthwatering.

Thnaks pirl for the advice about dahlias- they are sprouting! Green tops coming right out of the sand!

Slug bait them, stake them and get ready for blooms!

Steamed Bull's Blood Beets - and they are sweet as candy!

Remember I wrote about my non-bolting lettuce? Today I noticed that most of it had buds. My great green rapids Simpson Elite made it until August 20 before bolting!

Fresh beets are heavenly!

Dave - where did you buy the lettuce seeds, please?

Is it some secret law of nature that when tomatoes arrive the lettuce is gone?

Pirl, can't you hear here her giggling in the backround??? Mother Nature, that is...

Same time every year.

My lettuce bolted about a week after I put it in.... talk about a good laugh!

Pirl, They're from Johnny's.

Oh no Ivy! When did you plant it? Not in the heat I hope.

Thanks, Dave!

The rabbits got ours before it got to an inch tall. I was too late with the Blood Meal.

i planted a second batch of lettuce last week to eat with my tomatoes. i'm on my third planting of radishes. the kids love them, none ever make it in the house. and we are drowning in cucumbers. i don't even like cucumbers. i have no idea why i planted so many. probably because they are so expensive during the winter. now we are just letting them grow to see how big they will get. great compost for next summer i guess. (i've finally lost it, i'm actually growing things for compost. )

We have too many cucumbers, too. We give them to neighbors.

Ralph Snodsmith, on radio, says not to use them or any type of tomato, eggplant, squash, peppers for the compost. I'm just repeating his words so please don't think I'm giving orders here! :-)

That makes sense Pirl - I put tomatoes in the compost one year and found seedlings galore the following year.

I call those seedlings that come up from the compost - "mystery" tomatoes and let them grow where ever they want to. This year there is a small, cherry-type tomato that is SO good that I am going to save seeds and plant it for real next year!

Whatever happened to those potato guns they were selling on TV a couple of years ago that used potatoes as ammunition? I think there is a big market for zucchini (and cucumber) guns among home gardeners about this time every year. And why don't squirrels ever eat zucchini?

Now that is another of the great mysteries of the universe along with, "Why does my cheesecake crack?"

and where's the other sock?

and how can I look it up in the dictionary if I can't spell it?

dangggg it. I wanted more cucurbits and you got them all pirl. I had 6 vines and I think they are done. I wanted enough to ripen at once to give me bushels so I could make pickles. I was all set and then the cukes didn't show up except like 3 at a time.

aly ~ If you werent so far away I would gladly send you my cukes....to many to even pickel! Corn will be ready this weekend, summer squash is growing like crazy, butternut is coming along nicely, still eating swiss chard, and cherry tomatoes, string beans and wax beans are growing faster than I can harvest them, and lettuce is starting to bolt. Broccoli is done except for a few small heads, cauliflower is almost done...have 2 heads left, and the rest of the tomatoes are still green(romano and big boys). Watermelon is almost ready to pick but have a week or two left on the cantalope and muskmelons.

Oh no! That's what we forgot to plant - the Butternut Squash. Rats!

Cucumbers still coming in by the bagS full. Jack (my DH) picked three huge bags on Saturday and there are plenty more out there now.

Sorry you live so far away alyrics!

Pirl and Pix - I am honored to have been the recipient of your virtual largesse. Thank you.

and - I can tell you what your next 2 weekends are going to be like. Up to your elbows in vegetables.

I grew Burpees 'Picklebush' which is supposed to be a container adapted cuke that makes more of a bush than a vine. The cukes were supposed to be about 4" and suitable for pickling. Well I never saw the bush part happen but the vines did not wander far - they stayed very short. The cukes tasted great but the yield was much lower than I was hoping for. I did grow them in giant pots that hold trees from the nursery. I wonder now if cukes like a cooler soil -- and those big black pots would have stayed hot. I did keep them watered. Any cucurbit experts here? I would do this again as the only place to grow cukes at my house is in a rolling pot in the middle of the driveway.

From what I read, when I Googled, cucumbers like heat and produce more in heat than in cooler summers.

Maybe this is all a test by Mother Nature to find out if you're willing to give up your driveway in order to grow pickles?

Would you consider taking a photo of the cucumber, complete with the pot, and Emailing it to Burpee's customer service? Tell them production was low and disappointing, especially for a pickle lover, and ask what suggestions they might have.

Hi Pirl - thats actually a pretty good idea. Why not go to the source. If get around to doing it I will let you know.

Which solution? Digging up the driveway or writing to Burpee?

They do appreciate hearing from customers and getting reviews and comments.

Ok I'll write to Burp. Do it right now or I'll never do it!