Veggies 2 (and other Edibles!)

I've been told that nasturtiums are a good companion plant for most vegetables. Here is the link http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html#ALFALFA: .

Anitbryk2....Thanks...I've been experimenting with them this year but not with vegetables. I'll toss them around the tomatoes next year and see what happens.

Have them in pots and in the ground.

One 14" pot is a mix of soil and potting mix (not potting soil but the sterile peat moss/vermiculite stuff)

The other pot is straight potting mix. That I hit with only 10-60-10 bloom booster. Plants in that pot produce several times the blossoms of the plants in the other pot and in the ground. The difference is stark (no weedy, woody tangled growth in the pot fertilizered with 10-60-10 either)

Every site I see says Nasturtiums do not like fertilizer. Wonder if that means only that they don't like much nitrogen. They certainly thrive on added phosphorus. Maybe the potassium too. Anyone know of research on this? I'm thinking next year of seeing how just Super Phosphate works in one pot, just muriate of potash (or something else high in potassium) works in another and how a mix of the two work in a third pot.

David - your testing sounds so interesting. If you do decide to go ahead with your experiment next year please start a thread for it. Currently we're testing two products and waiting to see the results.

Here are a few cukes, lots of green beans (they just keep coming!) and a few small walla wallas...not as big this year....yet! They are in my garden sink....

Yummy!

You betcha, Victor! Just delivered them to my chiropractor.....She is my FRIEND today, thanks to those gallant soldiers!! Ouch! In return for the veggies, she got me "straightened out" (wishful thinking!! heh heh).......

This thread got away from me. Kassia, Yankee, David and Louise, can I come along on that Road Trip to ME? You're going for veggie plugs, right? Next spring I'll start my first veggie garden. WooHoo!! I'll even do some 'three sisters'. Today I bought the stuff to build my compost bin. It's been a long time coming.

Anita, I love that companion planing link.

Louise, that sink and it's contents are gorgeous!

Pirl, which two products are you testing?

of course you can come... please do it!!!!!

WooHoo!

Yay!! Won't we have fun!!! I'm off to my son's house in Conn. today......I'll have to leave my garden to the whims of the chipmunks and the deer! Have a nice day everyone!! And thanks, Harper for the compliment on the garden veggies! No tomatoes ripe yet! :(

Happy to report that my Cherry Tomatoes are delicious. I was concerned when the first few I tried were horrible. Don't know what variety they are - lost the tag - but they are slightly bigger than average. Picking my Carrots in a few minutes.

Been making sauce. Never be able to replicate the taste because I'm whirring and cooking whatever won't last another day. These go in the blender and then the pot in a few minutes:

Started the sauce yesterday morning with these cultivars:

Great looking veggies all.

David, I got a chuckle out of your Buster Keaton movie reprise.

Watersedge, Is there a point where a veggie garden is so neat that it becomes illegal?

What do you do after the blender, David?

My garden looks neat when it's first planted. Now it looks as if the squash took over the entire garden and part of the lawn too. I literally had to mow out and around the vines that have trailed out onto the lawn. It looks like I let Justin mow the lawn!! LOL

Yes, anything in that family - zucchini, etc., will just take over. I call them MIL plants.

Victor and David.........really know how to hurt a tomato-less girl!!! I noticed this morning that I do seem to have a couple of Azoychkas almost ready to pick.........so soooooooo slow here. I have my eye on a new garden patch for next year where there's more sunlight hours and no gallant soldiers........yet..

Seriously - those tomatos look wonderful, David. I don't think we'll have enough for sauce this year....I'll be lucky to have some for salads and sandwiches at this rate.

David, your tomato photos look like professional shots! What beautiful composition. They look so good. I'm still regretting not being able to get myself out there to swipe some for myself!

Harper

david I was going to post a pic of my tomatoes that my nephew Victor and I picked today... well after seeing yours I am not sure....lol!!!!!!!! all I can say is WOW... let me google Clinton CT and see how far it is!!!!!!

I was going to show you the amount of Green Beans I have but it ain't happening!! I went to the edge of the garden where the green bean row starts and proceeded to pick. I got about 10 GB in my hands when I notice there are about 20-30 Bee's on my feet and pant legs. I slowly back up and realize the little devils had built a nest in the dirt at the edge of the garden. I then move down about 4ft and enter the garden there and it happens again...swarms of Bee's are around me again. They had another nest and this one was bigger!! Now they are getting aggressive and chasing me.......good thing i can still run fast for an old lady!! I run to the house and tell DH and DS....DH can't do anything about it. DS however hates bee's as they always seem to sting him no matter what. I tell him it's cause he's sweet. Not what a almost 20 yr. old male wants to hear unless it's from a pretty 18-20 female that's not related to him! LOL He poured gas on the nest and lit them on fire than ran. Now im watching the flames lick at my GB, Watermelons, ect. and swearing like a parrott at those bee's. I checked the garden this morning and it seems he burnt the honey cone and most of the nest but there are still bee's out there. I am going to try to to enter the garden from the other side and pick those GB later today. Wish me luck!!
In the mean time here are my Brussel Sprouts doing really well.

Yikes - good thing you are not allergic. Were you stung? Hey Victor, I wouldn't go near Celeste's garden.

This pumpkin is nice and orange already.

No I wasn't stung but DH & DS both got stung.
This is one of the white pumpkins i'm trying out this year. We had rain so it's kind of muddy.

Pumpkin still in mostly the green stage but slowly starting to turn orange.

Gourd blossom.....I love the shape of these.

Baby Gourd

One more flower with a little dew on it.

Ooh, you're scring me Celeste! What kind were they? It's best to spray the nest with a proper chemical later in the day when they're all back.

I hit a nest wihile digging my first year gardening. The ground literally started rumbling and a second later a cloud of YJ's rose up. I flew into my garage avoiding all but 1, who got me on the knee. It was my first sting since childhood and it swelled up big time. If I hit a nest and got swarmed, I would probably be dead in no time. Even two Epi-pens won't do much if there are tens or hundreds of stings. Not a great way to go.

Victor, they were in fact YJ and we have epi-pens in the house as Justin is allergic too. I have no allergies but with that many YJ it wouldn't of mattered I don't think. I'm not looking forward to going out there today.....the grass has grown around the garden and looks terrible but im at a loss on how to fix it with those bee's near by.

Price out some pro's to deal with them. I had to last year since they were right under my window. There was a 3-1 range in price! Had to bring them back 2 wks later to remove the bald-faced hornets nest. Here's a shot I took of one leaving the nest before I ran like heck.

yikes! I googled them and found this - http://www.essortment.com/home/yellowjacketsr_sdey.htm . Makes sense to me.

Victor....what do I do after tossing the ripe tomatoes in the blender and sterlizing the juice?

Wait for someone else to take it from there of course.

The plan isn't working however. So I better bring it all to a boil. In theory this could go on for a while.

Sofonisba...thank you! Using grow lights for the photos is working out well (27 W Trucolite Phosphor bulb). Verilux sells them as portable reading lights but they make great little grow and studio lights.

Sneaky photo tricks David! So you boil it down - then what? (I'm a newbie cook)

There's just no end to what I learn from these threads!! So........how did it come out, David??

Victor...my sister, who is a foodie, tells me if I don't take out the seeds the sauce will be bitter when I cook it down.

So she bought me some cheesecloth.

I'm holding out for an Imperia Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer/Squeezer.

And for her to come over and help. I sat here and watched the tomatoes grow. That was the hard part. Stressful.

Celeste I have tons of bees also... really scary.... I found 6 hives on the back ... and the worse is that there is another one right in the front....under a rose bed... but they are in the ground... I am getting help to just killing them... I am going to apply some thing to the hives so maybe they can be killed.... I have been stung this year and I am afraid to get closer to some of my roses.... and no bee will keep me away from my roses....

well, I think highly of bees.... but they are taking over my garden....

this one was sleeping in a zinnia... actually I found 2 of them today.... cute .... really cute....

David - You're a stitch!! LOL.....I agree about getting the seeds out.........sorry! :)

Picked my first melon yesterday...cutest little thing! they are called 'Serenade' and are a 'single-serving' type melon, about the size of a baseball. Andy got me going on these when he grew a similar one last year. I'm allergic to melon and DH loves it, so this is perfect. He pronounced it sweet and delicious! grown in an earthbox-type planter

Yum Gram! We had corn, very sweet.