GARDEN UPDATE VIDEO BLOG 6/28/13

MORE ISSUES WITH TOMATOES

Just a quick update with some photos to show some issues I'm having with the Tomato plants.

Most of the plants leaves are turning brown or yellow and have either brown spots or holes.  If anyone can tell me what the problem is, I would really appreciate it.

 to the right is one of my impatience plants... so pretty

 More brown sickly leaves, still producing though

 These are cherry tomatoes, looking good except for the stems and leaves turning brown and yellow.

 Pretty Lavendar plant

 to the Right is a Dahlia.. hope it blooms.

 These are Lemon Boy Tomatoes which I planted in the raised bed.  Looks like they may be starting to turn yellow...

 You can see a cantaloupe starting to grown on the vine planted in the raised bed.

 To the left is a cukecumber leave that has damage.  Could it be a beetle?

 Green Bean seedlings coming up in the raised bed.  Hopefully I will have better luck this time around.

 Bonnie Grape Tomato to the left, showing signs of producing more yummy tomatoes.

 baby cantaloupe to the right... still growing

 This one looks like it may almost be ready to harvest!

 Marigold plant in melon bed... just loves this spot.

 Growing growing growing... getting bigger every day. 

 Rose of Sharon

Cherry Tomatoes grown from seed

GARDEN UPDATE #5 - 6/23/13

HARVEST, REPLANT AND CLEAN UP

CARROTS, RED ONIONS, GREEN IONS

 Busy day in the garden today!  I had a lot of clean up, harvesting, and replanting to do.  I harvested the rest of the carrots, some were small - baby carrots, still delicious! I took out the rest of the red onions and can't wait to use them.  They are very mild tasting, almost like a shallot.  I'm not sure when to harvest the green onions as some seem ready and some are still barely developed.  I will have to research that.

pulled out all Zucchini

 The Zucchini was not producing any longer and looked really bad.  I suspected the squash vine borer which was confirmed when I pulled them out and saw the damage - a big hole with gross droppings!   It always saddens me when a plant doesn't make it and I have to remove from the garden.   So I dug out a good bit of the soil where the Zucchini was and replaced with a fresh mixture.

green beans are gone also

Sun Sugar Tomatoes

 I replanted one Zucchini plant along with a few different varieties of hot peppers and cilantro and added some cucumbers along the trellis also.

cucumber vine has more room now

Ichaben Eggplant - see the white MOTH!!

 I decided to leave the two squash plants that have fruit.  I removed the cages to give them room to sprawl.

Squash is hanging in there

Cantaloupe - big as my hand

 The green beans were also a disappointment this year.  I think 9 plants to a square is too many and they were crowded.  I only got one good harvest out of them, so they are gone and now the cucumbers have more room to spread out.






Here's a photo of the Sun Sugar tomatoes.  First time growing these, very prolific so far, and taste really good.  I love the color of them too!

The rest of my tomatoes are not doing as well as I had hoped.  Between the horn worms, aphids and other issues not identified, they are looking sad and unhealthy, but I am still able to harvest tomatoes, I don't see signs of reproducing yet.   I started a treatment of BT on all the plants and will watch for signs of recovery and dead worms.











I took this picture of the Ichaben eggplant but didn't notice the WHITE MOTH until I uploaded the picture.  They lay eggs that hatch  into  caterpillars that will eat everything!












I have two squash plants left, they both have fruit and no signs of the vine borer at least that I can see.




To the left is a cantaloupe with my hand showing it's size.  They are slower growing than the watermelon but are looking good!

Watermelon 1 getting big

watermelon 2 bigger

This cantaloupe is misshapen

Garden Video Update #4 - 6/21/13

HORNWORMS, WATERMELON HAMMOCK, OH MY!

HORN WORM~~

 During my clean up today, I spotted the horn worm shown in the picture to the left!  There were actually two of them on my Purple Tomato plant!  These are the most disgusting insects I've ever seen, even worse than the Pickle worms!  The only way to kill these buggers is drowning them in soapy water and I did just that and got much pleasure watching them!!!

 I decided to hammock the watermelons as they are growing quite fast and I don't want to take a chance of them dropping off the vine.  Old pantyhose came in very handy for this!

 The Cantaloupes are a bit slower then the watermelons but are starting to really show some size.

 I'm trying Sugar Snap Peas again, this time in a pot with a Trellis, full sun, as the Zucchini plants shaded the last crop I had planted in the raised bed.  They are coming up nicely and I hoping on a good harvest because these are yummy!

 This is a Lemon Boy Tomato.  I can't wait for it to start turning yellow and to taste it.

 My Nastursiams are all pretty much spent, maybe too much heat?  They need to come out soon.

I posted a short video below today showing the Melon hammocks and that nasty Horn Worm.  Enjoy! and happy Gardening.

Mary

GARDEN VIDEO BLOG #3 - 6/1013

WATERMELON, PICKLE WORMS AND MORE

Watermelon

Melon Patch

We had lots of rain last week thanks to TS Andrea, which was much needed as it's been really hot and dry for about two weeks.  It was a nice break not having to go out to water everything and sweat after working all day!  I was also out of town over the weekend, anxious to get home not only to my husband but to see how much everything had grown in just 3 days!!  I have TWO watermelons so far and they are getting huge, very healthy too!
 The melon bed is overflowing so much that I had to lay down some black plastic for the vines to sprawl over.
I spotted a Cantaloupe  on the vine today also.  I'm sure there's more hiding in there somewhere, just can't see them yet as the vines are very dense.


                                                                   I harvested what I could  Friday, a few Squash, Zucchini and some Tomatoes.  I had missed a few zucchini, which had grown way too big over the weekend and when I went to pick them, they were very sticky and I noticed many pinholes on the fruit along with some very slimy stuff under the plants which turned out to be PICKLE WORMS!!  I'm not sure what brought them into my garden, maybe the rain?  Unfortunately, they are a difficult pest to get rid of.   I made a mixture of Cayenne pepper, garlic and dish soap in water and sprayed everything with it today.  I also did a bit if research and found that you must harvest the fruit early, before the worms start munching.
I also noticed what looks like Powdery Mildew on both the squash and zucchini plants and treated that with baking soda and water.  I will have to watch that carefully as it will kill the plant if not taken care of.

The last bit of bad news I have is the dreaded squash vine borer is most definitely living in the squash plant that resides in my melon bed.   I poured neem oil over the hole at the base of the plant and will have to wait and see what happens.  

Cantaloupe

Bonnie Grape Tomatoes

It's amazing to me the havoc that was wreaked in just 3 days of my being gone.  It really is important to spend time and keep a watchful eye on your garden!  Preventative maintenance is the key to keeping your plants heathy and happy!  

HAPPY GARDENING.

Mary

Sweet Banana Peppers

Japanese Eggplant

Gladiola

Powdery Mildew????

looks like Squash Vine Borer!! OH NO!

Diseased Cauliflower

Purple Tomato problems with Splitting