Some pics (mid April)....

Haven't had much time to post lately. Work has kept me busy, which in these times is a good thing I suppose. Anyways, a little update on my plant tally....

Tomatoes--- 28
Peppers--- 52
Cucumber--- 8
Strawberries--- 15
Bush Beans--- 20
Corn--- 24
Melons--- 4
Squash--- 8
Potatoes--- 12

Here's some tomatoes forming on my Beefsteaks in an EB. Probably about a dozen or so are making already.

Bush Beans looking like a hedge :)

Beans are starting to make :)

Hillbilly Toms in an EB. With everything being attacked by aphids and whiteflies. These remain almost pest free.

Golden Bell doing pretty good.

Silver Queen corn in a GP. I kinda experimented with the fertilizer, so we shall see what happens.

Nice strawberry ready to be eaten.

Sadly, I had to pick a couple of bells way too early. Something drilled a hole in them :(

Everything looks great! Good work, let's eat, LOL!

Some big Portabello mushrooms I grew from a kit. Grilled them on the BBQ. :)

EB Bells

Crimson Red Watermelon.....can't wait for powdery mildew. It's not if you get it, it when you get around here. :(

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 7:09 PM

Sun Golds were cranking out the goodness. Has at least 50 forming and hundreds of blooms. Then I got Leaf Spot(pic in next post)

BAM! It got ugly fast even after removing the infected leaves and spraying with 3 types of fungicides daily. I chopped them down last week. I saved a few ripe ones and will be planting more next week. Kinda sucked cuz they were over 4 ft. tall already with lots of tomatoes.

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 7:15 PM

San Marzano tom

I've heard that Purple Calabash is a horrible tasting tomato but is pretty. I had to grow one to taste it lol

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 9:43 PM

Hillbilly tom in a 1.5 Cu. Ft. container(approx. 11.5 gallon). Like the ones in the EB, it's relatively a bug free plant. I have no clue why. It's a Potato Leaf.....but that can't be the reason.

Black Widow and her newly hatch babies. I felt bad about killing them but there's plenty of them around here. They were less than 3 feet where I have plants so they got a full dose of Raid.

Thanks for the pictures, Ray. Dont let the bugs get you down. The only things I have had so far is three squadrons of harlequin bugs. They came buzzing in in formation and made three point landings on my 9 brussel sprouts. The only damage they have done so far is the brussel sprouts and a sunflower. I dont eat brussel sprouts anyway so I got rid of them and am still fighting for ownership of the Sunflower. Here is a photo of the sunflower growing out of the top of one of my stacks.

They are for the birds, I guess, cause I did not eat any of them from last year. That was my first year with them. They are day neutral so it is something you can just keep planting all summer and expect bloom in about 60 days from planting. You gotta admit.......they throw a lot of color.......there are more buds on this one that should bloom in about a week. I have about 6 "volunteers" from last years seed drops.........or bird drops.........I dont know which.

How many seeds does one sunflower yield? Yes, they do liven up the yard a lot with color. I may try to grow one or two. But I think I have plenty of color with the African Daisies, Clivia and Hibiscus. Need more room for veggies :)



This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 9:53 PM

Better Belle's busting....

Another Bell..

3 Different types of Cukes. Debating on letting them grow over the table or making them grow up? They have room either way.

Red Pontiac Potatoes .......close to filling them to their necks.

Ribbed youngsters....they are gonna be ready in probably a month.

Container corn....

Ray_Der what kind of bags are your Red Pontiac potatoes planted in? They look very sturdy, almost cloth-like?

Hey Karen. They are 15 gallon Smart Pots (gardeners.com sells them as Potato Bins).

I

Thanks Ray, they look great!

They look great now.....wait until our bugs find them. :) Regardless, gonna add more soil and flip up the cloth this weekend.

Ray: I love the size of that strawberry, it is huge and the peppers and mushrooms and everything else looks great too. You have really been busy and everything looks so delicious.

Jay: Just what is a harlequin bug? Never heard of them, until you mentioned them, they aren't out of a romance novel now are they?LOL

joy

Harlequin Bugs...........black adults with distinctive red markings (about the size of a lady bug)They and the wingless immature nymphs suck plant juices from the leaves of cabbage family plants.

Management.........handpick and destroy the bugs and egg masses, which resemble rows of barrels on leaf surfaces. Use floating row covers. Discard infected plants. Spray with insecticidal soap.

I have thrown away my brussel sprouts plants which was their main attraction and am fighting valiantly to save my sun flower. If you look around your garden and see a plant that looks wilted like it needs water but other's of the same type plants don't look wilted, check it out. Something is sucking the juices out of it. These things travel with lots of relatives and can devastate a plant in very short time. They seem to concentrate on one plant at a time.

And they ain't nuthing romantical about them.

So sorry Jman. You need me there during my manic phaze. I was a bug smasher extraorinaire!

This message was edited Apr 17, 2009 5:49 PM

hehehe Devota! One by one.....

Jaywhacker: Thanks will be on the lookout for them, they like picking on my cabbages do they........hmmm, we'll see about that one won't we?
joy

Karen, you know it. There are descendant bugs now that avoid our whole zip code. They've heard about D.

I already got harliquin bugs.........I don't need none of your danged old descendant bugs bouncing off of Tennessee and ending up in Texas.