Photo below - here's the 5 sweet potato slips that made it through the rather touchy propagation period. I set them out before good root systems had developed, but was just eager to get them out there I guess. Just as a precaution, the parent potato has been in water for weeks now, and new slips are ready to go if needed....
Photo below - remember the planter bench that Granny dreamed about in a blog post a while back? Well, I took this picture just for her. Sweet dreams Granny, sweet dreams.... :)
Photo below - I've got a pepper! Although...I don't know what kind it is. It was supposed to be one of the orange bell peppers that seeds were shared by ShawnAnn, but as most of you know, i'm the worst in the world at marking my seedlings correctly during the propagation phase. Shoot......
In other news, the garden has been very demanding of my time in the evenings, and the brutal heat is comparable to what normally happens around here in late July - not the first of June....just the simple task of looking for squashbugs makes me sweat profusely, and if you've never experienced this kind of heat in your location - it'll literally take your breath away. However, I grew up here without air conditioning as a child - so am somewhat used to it.
Also, at least 50 tomatoes have formed already on the plants, and it should get really interesting around here toward the end of the month. Since it looks like several will be ripe at the same time, i'll just make a batch of salsa with the first surge that comes.
Take care, and happy gardening
EG
15 comments:
The heat has been incredible in my area, too..makes the simplest tasks a challenge.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong with Butternut, but I've never had luck with it!
We hit 101F yesterday. It is WAY too early for it to be this hot. No rain for what seems like weeks now. Extreme drought outside the river levees in southern Louisiana and massive flooding between the levees.
good for you for even getting out there in the evenings this week! I go out to water and I'm cooked after 7 am, LOL! 79 today so I'll be condensing a weeks' worth of work into today :)
Nope I haven't a clue what that kind of heat feels like. Well OK I do. My uncles live in Arizona. I've visited them in the summer when it was over 100F. Hot, hot, hot. There is a reason I live up here in the north. I'm a real heat wimp. As a kid I used to faint from the heat. I still remember him having to carry me out of an un air conditioned restaurant one time.
The toms you gave me are doing great! I can't wait to try them. Can you pollinate the butternut with the other squash if you aren't planning on saving the seed?
It looks like we both may need to save our pennies for more canning jars:o) the thought makes me happy!
I'm having trouble over here with my plants needing polination too! oh well! lets see what happens next.
I was wondering how you make sweet potato slips? Your bench looks great! Oh, and thanks for the information on Plum curculio pesticide. Although, after reading about it online, I doubt as home gardeners we'd ever find it! I believe they sell large amounts and only to commercial gardeners.
I like the trellis you have for the squash, EG. Did you ever post how you built it? I have to think about how I want to trellis my cucumbers and tomatoes this year.
Awww, you're such a sweet poopy head. Maybe I'll just go back to bed and dream I'm sitting on that bench! But then again, maybe not. I think it might get up into the 70s today, and the sun might shine. If so, I'm off to the garden!
Samantha - I only got 4 butternut squash last year, but this planting should do better, hopefully. If you do well with other squash, butternut should work for you too....
Cheryl - oh, it must be just terrible where you live too....
Erin - it's just something that us gardeners in the deep south have to get used to, and I'm usually ok for about an hour at a time...
Daphne - I've been in Phoenix when it was 105 outside, and I didn't even turn on the ac in the rental car. Ha!
Ribbit - that's great! I can't wait to see pictures of them later....unfortunately, the butternut can't be pollinated by the other squash flowers (different genus)
Gingerbreadshouse7 - well, I may need some 8-12 oz. jars, but have more quart and half gallon than I could possibly use....
Randomgardener - did you see Liisa's post about making slips? She had a great tutorial on it...oh, and the stuff for plum curculio is sold at my local cooperative at $39/4 lb. bag....
Thomas - not on this blog, but I did on my old blog several years ago. It's not there anymore, though.
Granny - you're welcome to come and sit on the bench anytime you want - but i'd wait until it was much cooler!
Add me to the list. I'm butternut squash-less. The acorn and spaghetti squash are coming in. But the butternut is being a pain in the butt.
We'll see how it goes.
Luis
EG, I agree with you 100%. I know people say it a million times, it's not the heat but the humidity, but it is a true statement. I was at Hoover Dam a few years back and our tour guide said it was 113 degrees outside. I was in blue jeans and a polo shirt and was not even sweating.
You get 95 to 100 degrees AND 80 to 95% humidity and brother you are in for some real heat. I would rather take my hot Georgia summers than those cold cold northeast winters. I think it is all what you are used to.
Luis - I'm having problems with the other squash too - there's just not many bees to be seen....
The heat is just about to murder our squash.
My squash are surviving the heat so far, but there were a lot of female flowers that went un-pollinated before the male flowers began to appear. When I go out in the morning to check on the garden, I don't wait for the bees to visit my squash. I do the pollinating myself -- using an open male flower with the petal-parts torn off to move pollen into those female flowers.
The mystery pepper made me smile. I have fifteen pepper plants, but the labels have all gone missing and I don't remember which ones are which! As they develop, I might figure it out, but maybe not . . .
Thanks for sharing the progress of your garden!
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