600 PAGE VIEWS!!!! WOW!! :)

A big HEY to all who have viewed this blog.   Today we reached a BIG 600 PAGE VIEWS!  I am so excited and honored!

I would love to hear from any of you, so please leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions or need advise or just say "HEY".

THANKS SO MUCH for checking out my blog!!!

Have a great day and I look forward to hearing from you all!!

HAPPY GARDENING!  :)

Mary

GARDEN VIDEO #8 - JULY 27, 2013

GETTING READY FOR FALL PLANTING

I harvested a bunch of  Sun Sugar, Lemon Boy, and Roma tomatoes last night and made myself this delicious plate.  I added some mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers and calamata olives along with some fresh picked basil and sprinkled just a little balsamic vinegar on top.  A nice glass of wine on the side and I was as right as rain!


I finally pulled out the dead melon vines and still need to remove the mulch and black plastic so I can dig out what ever roots may be left behind.

I decided to leave the big marigold "bush" also, but may need to transplant that somewhere else as it is taking up a lot of room.

Not sure what I'm going to  plant here yet, thinking about Corn or maybe beans.  I haven't had much luck with Corn in the past but am willing to give it another try.  This spot gets lots of sun and I think Corn would thrive here.....

 I need to pull most of the potted tomato plants as they are covered in blight and have stopped producing and just look really sad.  Nothing worse than seeing your plants just wilt away.

I plan to reuse the soil from the pots and will amend with some fresh compost and peat moss.  I think it should be fine.

The Gladiola has finally sprouted blooms and is going to be beautiful.... bright Red...  I just love Gladiolas!   I have only two that came up from the 10 bulbs I planted.  Not a big deal as I purchased the bulbs at a dollar store.

I also bought a box of mixed wild flower seeds and planted them in a few pots around the garden.  They sprouted pretty quickly and looked like weeds, but ended up blooming with what looks like a Black Eyed Susan.  Kind of pretty, don't you think?


I haven't seen any other flowers, but do see a few more buds getting ready to open.  Hopefully, they will be something different.




 I took out all of the Cucumber vines as they were seriously infected with some sort of fungus.  The black beauty eggplant plants are gone also, they did a big nothing this year.  The Japanese eggplant is still hanging in there though and I just picked a nice size fruit yesterday so they still have a home in the garden.

The bush beans I sowed are coming up and starting to flower, we may just have more green beans after all.  They have plenty of room now that the cucumbers are gone.

This space will probably stay open until later in the fall planting season.




I believe I have the bug problem on the Sun Sugars and Lemon Boys under control finally.  There are still a few here and there but nothing like the infestation a few weeks ago.  I think the  SEVEN definitely worked.  I purchased Pyrthins, 96% content, which is an organic product that should control the Leaf Hoppers, "fingers crossed", as I really don't want to keep using the SEVEN insecticide.


In the other raised bed, I removed all of the squash and zucchini.... it was time for them to go!

The sad melon vines I had growing on the trellis are also gone.  I planted more cucumbers along the trellis and they are starting to flower and looking healthy with the exception of some beetle damage.  It would be nice to harvest more cukes as I really enjoyed eating them this year.

The romas are coming along nicely and I'm hoping to have a large enough harvest to whip up another pot of sauce.  I also noticed the habanero's starting to put out some flowers.  I had almost given up on them completely.  Red Hot Cherry peppers are growing and I have a lot of fruit coming out.  Waiting patiently for them to turn red.

I'm starting to get excited about planting for the Fall Season and have my list going of what and when to plant........

Happy Gardening!!

Mary

Garden Video Blog #7 - July 19, 2013

WAY TOO MUCH RAIN

Melon Bed

 I haven't taken any photos or videos in a few weeks due to the enormous amount of rain we've received here in North Florida.  Now I know water is beneficial and required to grow healthy and prolific plants, but too much of anything is not a good thing as the pictures will show.

My melon bed was the most affected.  These once healthy and beautiful vines just drown from all the water, never getting a chance to dry out over the last two weeks.  Fungus set in and what ever fruit was on the vines either split open or fell off.  We tried to eat one of the cantaloupe but it was pale and tasteless...... too much water!

 I was heartbroken, to say the least.  Mother Nature has not been kind to me lately!  I shouldn't complain really because we did get to enjoy ONE delicious watermelon and I look forward to trying again next year.

 
                                                                       









 To the right are the sun sugar and yellow boy tomatoes.  Very prolific plants... I've harvested quite a few of both varieties and they are really
good.  Unfortunately, the rain also brings many different and destructive insects along with it.  The big brown leaf footed bug (see below) has totally infested these tomato plants.  Every time I would go to harvest, 20 or 30 of them would fly off and attack me!! Nasty buggers!  They were immune to both BT and Neem so the my last resort was breaking my organic oath and buying Seven Insecticide spray.  I hated to do it, but the only way for me to go near my garden again was resorting to that.

It must have worked as I only saw a few on the plants today.

My roma tomatoes are finally producing and are very healthy so far.  I'm looking forward to some home made sauce very soon.

 The cucumbers were doing really well until all the rain came.  Now they are also covered with fungus although I still see a few baby cukes on the vine.  Not sure what will happen, but I'm not ready to give up yet.

 The Black Beauty eggplant final set one fruit but it fell off.  I sure wish I knew what the problem was with these plants.

Basil

 I have lots of nice basil growing and plan to pick a bunch this week and make some home made pesto.  My daughter gave me a great recipe and I can't wait to try it.  yum!

"Mr Owl"

 My guardian "Mr Owl" has done a bang up job of keeping he critters away this year... thanks Mr. Owl!

Romas

Cow Horn Peppers

 Finally getting some hot Cow horn peppers.  I only have one of these plants but it is loaded with peppers.  These are my absolute favorites.

Red Hot Cherry Peppers

The Red Hot Peppers are taking a long time to produce but looking good.  These babys are going to be really hot.

Roma Tomatoes

Trimmed back Tomato plant, still producing

Crepe Myrtle

Juliet Roma Grape tomatoes

Crepe Myrtle

WATERMELONS

 When we returned from Orlando a few weeks ago, I found this.  my prized beautiful watermelons were split open.  There are a few reasons I believe this happened.  Too much rain and well, maybe they were ready to pick.  Unfortunately, I had to toss these as they were full of bugs but I did pick the last one on the vine that was still in one piece.  I wasn't going to take a chance of that one splitting.

I put it in the fridge and the next night we cut it open and WOW, it was the sweetest watermelon I had ever had.  The color was a deep pink, so pretty.

Live and learn here folks, bigger is not better!  Next year I will not wait for size on these beautys and will harvest when they are ready.

As for the rest of the garden, well not much to report as most of the tomatoes have either died or stopped producing.  Between the heat and all the water falling from the sky, it has drown the potted plants and brought all sorts of big insects now residing in the garden.

Still, it was my most successful gardening experience yet and I am already planning my fall crop.  Will start broccoli and cauliflower in august, maybe some peas and onions and lettuce too.

happy gardening!!

Mary